Category: News

In June, J. Cole released the poignant single “Snow On The Bluff” in response to demonstrations across the globe protesting police brutality. The single was the artist’s first new music of 2020, but it looks as though Cole may have an entire album in his near future.

Olu, who is one-half of the Atlanta duo Earthgang and also uses the moniker Johnny Venus, hopped on Instagram Live to chat with fans and update them about new music. The rapper revealed his listeners will only have to wait a few short weeks to hear new records from both Earthgang and his side project, Spillage Village. Along with speaking to his own projects, Olu also teased details about a new album from Cole.

Earthgang is signed to Cole’s Dreamville Records, so the rapper has particular insight into the status of Cole’s upcoming projects. Olu unveiled that Cole is preparing to release an album soon, but it was delayed due to the pandemic. According to Olu, the album is being held up at the border but is expected to arrive in the coming months. “Cole album is coming. It’s in [US] Customs [And Border Protection] right now,” the rapper said on Instagram Live. “Cole album gotta get through Customs ’cause you know, corona.”

Watch clips from Olu’s Instagram Live above.

Watch Dogs fans who may have missed the first sequel to the franchise now have no excuse to give the game a second look in quarantine. Ubisoft announced on Monday that it will give away Watch Dogs 2 for free after a giveaway glitch made it harder for fans to get copies than they initially intended.

Sunday’s Ubisoft Forward event was a chance for the video game company to show off what’s in the pipeline this fall, highlighted by a first (official) look at Far Cry 6. The event also gave us a look at Watch Dogs Legion and its combat system, featuring gameplay where any NPC is playable.

To celebrate the new release, Ubisoft had teased free copies of Watch Dogs 2 if fans tuned into the event and logged into their Ubisoft accounts to claim the game. But according to a number of fans online, they struggled to get logged in and had password troubles.

On Monday, Ubisoft’s support account updated fans to say the game will be available for fans — whether they tuned in or not — until July 15. They included a link to register and log in to snag the code, and hopefully not encounter any problems along the way. It’s a nice gesture from a company hoping fans are ready for a lot more Watch Dogs this fall, and getting back into the ecosystem for free is as good a way as any to start.

Late Sunday night, a report emerged that, in the bubble, players were to arrive at the arena fully dressed in their warmups and uniforms ready for game action.

The “tunnel walk” has become a staple of entertainment just as much as the game itself, as players have the unique opportunity to show off their latest fits and personal style prior to games, but in the bubble that was going to be taken away. Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, in particular, wasn’t too fond of the reported policy, telling ESPN‘s Nick DePaula it’s a key part of his and others’ pregame routines.

“That is crazy — I think that takes away [from] originally what getting dressed was all about. It wasn’t even about the tunnel walk, it was more about getting dressed up and going to work. To me, it’s like a mindset, getting dressed, and getting ready to go to my game. It puts me in the mindset that I’m ready to work and helps me find my focus.”

After pushback from Tucker, other players, and fans alike, the NBA reversed that decision on Monday, as a league spokesperson explained to DePaula.

“Considering the unique environment on the NBA Disney campus and warmer weather conditions, a different policy was put in place for players’ arrival and entry into the arenas.”

The players will have the chance to express themselves in the bubble as they have done in the past, and have a little sense of normalcy to a situation that is anything but.

Facts first, via bullet point, because there’s no time for paragraphs:

• Money Plane is a straight-to-VOD movie about a group of thieves attempting to pull off “an explosive casino heist in the sky”
• It stars Adam Copeland, better known as former WWE champion Edge
• It also stars, for some reason, Kelsey Grammer as a crime boss known as “The Rumble,” who growls and shouts through the movie in a performance you must see to believe
• Denise Richards and Thomas Jane are in Money Plane, too
• The movie is literally titled Money Plane
• When the trailer came out last month, I damn near had a heart attack from the excitement
• With so many other movies pushed back to next year because of various virus-related reasons, a reasonable argument can be made that Money Plane was the movie I was looking forward to most this year

So, yes, I watched Money Plane. It was everything I hoped it would be. But I imagine you have some questions about all of this. Please, fire away.

What, exactly, is a Money Plane?

Excellent place to start, both because it is important information you need to know, and because it will allow me to begin the process of posting lines of dialogue said by Kelsey Grammer’s character, whose name is, I swear to God, Darius Emmanuel Grouch III, also known as The Rumble, and who is introduced to the audience, by himself, thusly.

Holy crap.

Yes, holy crap indeed.

Here is how The Rumble explains the Money Plane to Edge, whose character’s name is Jack, but whatever: “There is a legend in the underworld, for those in the know, it’s called the Money Plane. Some of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet are on that plane, craving action, whatever you wanna wager on, Money Plane has you covered.”

He goes on to explain that the plane is filled with millions in cash and “billions in crypto,” which is hilarious, and that it skirts the law by flying over international waters, but most of what you need to know about the Money Plane can be deduced from this truly incredible sentence that Kelsey Grammer — Frasier Crane himself — says out loud and everything.

Jesus Christ.

This movie rules.

So… why exactly is Edge robbing this lawless gator-humping sky casino?

Ah, another good question. The short answer goes something like this: Edge and his team attempted to steal a painting for The Rumble but failed because the painting was already gone, and so now, The Rumble, who purchased Edge’s massive gambling debts and literally says “I own you,” wants him to take down the Money Plane as a make-good.

So we have a failed heist and this whole meeting where the Money Plane is explained… what are we, like 30 minutes into the movie by now?

No. We are nine minutes and forty-four seconds into the movie. The opening credits haven’t even started yet. We really need to get moving or we’ll be here all day.

Okay, but real quick, anything else we need to know about any of this?

Okay, yes. First of all, when The Rumble first meets with Edge, he threatens to blow his brains all over a blank canvas to create a new work of art, and says this…

… and then, right before the Money Plane takes off, we see this shot, which contains maybe my favorite bit of explanatory text ever.

Money Plane Terminal! Undisclosed Location!

I know!

Okay, correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems like the kind of movie where Edge’s character was the best at something, then retired, and now is back for one last job.

Correct on all fronts, my friend. This is covered in a really incredible exposition dump delivered by Thomas Jane, who plays Edge’s best friend and confidant. We learn the following things during their conversation:

• Edge was the greatest poker player ever
• He made a huge bet on something, got greedy, and lost everything and then some
• The Money Plane score will clear his debt and allow him to retire

Also, Thomas Jane smokes a pipe. Not super important but I figured you should know.

So, what, most of the movie is Edge beating people at poker and whooping the asses of bad guys on the Money Plane?

You would think!

It’s… not?

Nope! Edge’s character, Jack, the best poker player in the world, who is played by a man best known for choreographed fighting, plays one (1) hand of poker that he loses after going all-in with a pair of fours, and then gets in one (1) fistfight with the Money Plane’s gigantic co-pilot.

He spends the majority of the movie just sitting in the cockpit and video chatting with The Rumble to provide updates, neither of which involve poker or fighting. It’s kind of great.

What is The Rumble up to while this is going on?

Oh, you know, sitting around his mansion, yelling at an underling whose name is — I promise — P-Roach about getting blood on his terracotta floors, playing around on his… wood-paneled laptop.

Classic Rumble stuff.

Hmm. This is starting to feel kind of like a movie where a female member of the heist team dresses like a stewardess and seduces and then pummels a goon who is twice her size and then presses his limp finger on a fingerprint scanner to get access to a locked room.

I knew it. Tell me some more things about the Money Plane. More bullet points, though. Hit me.

Happy to:

• Because Money Plane was written and directed by Andrew Lawrence, it features other Lawrence brothers, including Joey Lawrence as the plane’s concierge (who shoots a cheater in the head right at the table), and Matthew Lawrence as a cartoonishly mustachioed Texan (who blows his own head off in a game of Russian Roulette immediately after shouting “I can’t lose!”)
• Other criminals on the plane include a dude who sold nuclear weapons to various Middle Eastern countries and a couple just generally evil guys
• One of the evil guys, at one point, says this regarding the rules of the Money Plane: “Rules were meant to be fucked”
• In addition to poker and Russian Roulette, there are also games involving people getting eaten by piranhas and snakes and getting their arms chopped off with swords

There is a lot going on in the Money Plane.

I want to see this cartoonish Texan.

Not a problem.

I feel like we haven’t spoken about the plot much. What else is going on here?

Well, very little, generally, until Thomas Jane calls Edge and reveals that the painting they failed to steal at the beginning actually belonged to The Rumble, and that he was setting them up, and that they needed to institute Plan B, which involved Thomas Jane hooking up a machine gun to a drone and mowing down a dozen bad guys.

Oh man, I bet The Rumble hated when that happened. I bet he was pretty steamed.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

How many times do people say the phrase “Money Plane” in the movie Money Plane?

I didn’t count but my conservative estimate would be somewhere in the low-20s. Money Plane is 82 minutes long.

Yessssssss.

So here’s the fun part: Remember the screencaps I just posted where Kelsey Grammer shouted his character’s full name and nickname and intention to take down the Money Plane?

I will never forget them.

Well, turns out he was being recorded. And the recording was played over the Money Plane’s loudspeaker. And then a new game was started: How much longer does The Rumble have to live.

What, like days?

Minutes.

Ahahahahaha

Rest In Peace, The Rumble.

So what, the crew takes the loot from the Money Plane and lives happily ever after?

No. They heave it out the window and distribute it to charities.

So… they just don’t get any money?

Also no. Remember the painting the were supposed to steal in the beginning?

Barely.

Turns out it was worth tens of millions of dollars and they found it and swapped it out with another painting and sold it. So they did end up rich and retired after all.

What did they swap it out with?

I’m very glad you asked.

Ahahahahaha

It’s quite a piece of cinema.

I can tell.

Anything else you wanna know before we shut this down?

I mean, you said the one goon was named P-Roach. Does Kelsey Grammer, at any point, with that Emmy-winning theatrical voice of his, ever say the phrase “P-Roach”? I would really like to hear that if he does.

Okay, it’s settled. I will watch Money Plane.

Excellent. I’m glad we had this chat.

Future began teasing a new project back in February and in mid-May, the rapper revealed his record High Off Life would be dropping just three days later. While the rapper didn’t give fans much warning before its debut, the project resonated with listeners and Future has now returned with a video accompanying the track “Ridin Strikers.”

The rapidly-cut video essentially narrates the verses laid out in “Ridin Strikers.” Future is posted up with his crew in front of an array of cars and rides them through Miami. The visual also features a cameo by the popular Cuban restaurant Los Caneyes.

Ahead of the visual’s release, Future found his abbreviated album roll out to be successful. High Off Life debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts, awarding the rapper his sixth consecutive No. 1 album. Along with topping the charts, High Off Life received a staggering 137,000 equivalent album units in streaming, which marked the most streams any of the rapper’s albums have had in their first week.

For High Off Life‘s cover art, Future went in a different direction from his previous records. The cover is a grainy, candid shot of the rapper dancing in his element. The title itself is a nod to the rapper’s recent admission that he cut back on drug use.

Watch Future’s “Ridin Strikers” above.

High Off Life is out now via Epic. Get it here.

As The Old Guard continues to dominate Netflix’s Most Watched list, director Gina Prince-Bythewood has opened up about bringing Greg Rucka‘s graphic graphic novel to life, and how her artistic vision for the immortal warrior action-drama was facilitated by the success of a major Marvel blockbuster.

Unlike most comic book movies, The Old Guard is not only directed by a Black female director, but it features a Black woman in a lead role with Kiki Layne‘s Nile. The Netflix Original also features a fully represented gay relationship between two of the main immortal warriors: Marwan Kenzari’s Joe and Luca Marinelli’s Nicky. But according to Prince-Bythewood, none of that would’ve been possible without Black Panther.

“Black Panther changed the culture, one hundred percent,” she told Collider. Prince-Bythewood also credits Logan for proving that comic book movies can be complicated and messy, which allowed her to tackle a story like The Old Guard, which pushes boundaries that other films in the genre don’t.

I love how they’ve gotten more complicated, over the last couple years, like Logan and Black Panther, where you have all of the conceit of a big spectacle, and yet I cried in both of those. They went there with those characters. And I love that new directors have been given this opportunity to bring their aesthetics to the genre. I felt like it need that jolt. It was missing that jolt. It’s an exciting thing to see, as an audience member, but then there’s that thing of, I wanna be in the big sandbox. I wanna play and create heroes that the world can be inspired by, that we don’t often get to see, like Nile and like Joe and Nicky. It was exciting to me, and I didn’t want it to continue to just be a dream. I wanted to actively go after it and have the opportunity.

As for a sequel to The Old Guard, Prince-Bythewood says there is a plan for more movies given that comic series is a trilogy, but whether that happens, and with her behind the camera, is currently up in the air.

(Via Collider)

UPDATE: Back in April, Ohio was leading the way of conservative leaning U.S. states in its response to the coronavirus. Part of that effort manifested in this simply brilliant PSA that showed how social distancing saves lives. The imagery of ping pong balls and mouse traps captured the “dilemma” perfectly: Would you want into a deadly trap when you could easily sidestep it? Of course not. So, why would you put your life and the lives of others at risk by something as callous as failing to respect basic social distancing guidelines?

Unfortunately, the number of new Covid-19 cases has been spiking across the country. In order to help give the public a reminder of just how deadly this disease is, and frankly, how easy it is for most people to practice social distancing, the PSA has been once again making the rounds. It’s sad that we’re all having to share this message again. But if it saves lives, the work must be done.

The original story begins below:

When it comes to shaping public opinion hard-hitting visual examples can be a lot more persuasive than words and statistics. The Ohio Department of Health created a visually dazzling public service announcement using ping-pong balls and mousetraps to explain how social distancing works.

This PSA is just another example of how Ohio is getting things right during the pandemic. As of April 9, the state has about 5,100 infections, fewer than a third of the cases in similarly sized Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Mouse traps and ping pong balls to show powerful message: ‘Social distancing works’

www.youtube.com

Ohio’s governor Mike DeWine was among the first governors to start aggressive shut-down measures in their state. “Every one of us is in this fight. We don’t need to go into the battlefield, we simply need to stay home,” DeWine said in a press conference.

UPDATE: Back in early June NYC reported zero coronavirus deaths, a number that unfortunately was updated as new information came in. This latest update appears to represent a more certain statistic. Even if there’s an adjustment, it’s clear that New York City has made an incredible evolution from the world’s epicenter of the virus to one that has become America’s shining light for paving a path forward to all other major cities and locales in how to combat this deadly disease.

According to Bloomberg News, NYC coronavirus deaths peaked at 799 in one day back on April 9th.

“New Yorkers have been the hero of this story, going above and beyond to keep each other safe,” City Hall spokeswoman Avery Cohen said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg..

Original story begins below:

New York State reported five deaths statewide on Sunday but didn’t specify where those fatalities occurred. The highest number of deaths statewide was reported on April 9, at 799.

New York City has reported a total of 18,670 confirmed Covid-19 deaths and 4,613 probable ones.On Wednesday, for the first time since early March, New York City logged its first day with zero confirmed deaths from COVID-19. For a city that became the nation’s biggest coronavirus hotspot by far, with a daily peak of 590 deaths on April 7, that’s wonderful news.

There is one caveat, though. According to the New York Daily News, records released by the city showed three “probable” deaths from the virus, which may very well end up being confirmed. Even at that, though, the milestone of zero confirmed deaths in a 24-hour period was met with celebration by officials in the city, which has seen nearly 17,000 confirmed deaths and more than 4,700 probable deaths in the past three months.

Mayor Bill De Blasio also explained in a press conference that the city had also reached three key reopening thresholds on Wednesday in hospital admissions, ICU admissions and testing. According to the New York State website, New York City will begin phase one of reopening on June 8.

“That is very good news,” De Blasio said. “Whatever else we’re fighting, whatever else we have to overcome, this is what is going to allow us to move forward.”

Of course, the virus hasn’t disappeared, so this milestone is not a mark on a linear timeline. Public health and infectious disease experts have prepared us for the idea that the pandemic will come in waves, with peaks and valleys and hotspots invariably popping up in different places.

But in some way, that’s all the more reason to celebrate when we do have a big dip. We need moments of hope to break up the long battle we’re fighting with this virus. After the intensity of lockdowns and the tragedy New York has experienced, having some space to breathe and something to feel happy about feels like a much needed—even if temporary—relief.

In August, Madden NFL 21 will unveil their full list of player ratings for the latest edition of the game, but before that happens, they’re offering up some of the marquee player ratings, beginning with the top-10 quarterbacks in this year’s game.

Unsurprisingly, Patrick Mahomes leads the way as the first official member of the 99 Club, and he’s followed closely by Russell Wilson at a 97 and cover-athlete Lamar Jackson at a 94. After a year in which seven players cracked the 90 OVR mark a year ago, this season just five earn that designation, with Drew Brees (93) and Tom Brady (90) just being able to hold on to a 90.

1. Patrick Mahomes (99 OVR)
2. Russell Wilson (97 OVR)
3. Lamar Jackson (94 OVR)
4. Drew Brees (93 OVR)
5. Tom Brady (90 OVR)
6. Aaron Rodgers (89 OVR)
7. Matt Ryan (87 OVR)
8. Deshaun Watson (86 OVR)
T9. Dak Prescott (84 OVR)
T9. Carson Wentz (84 OVR)

Preseason Madden ratings always generate plenty of buzz and arguments, but now that ratings can change on the fly as players play above or below their expected level during the season, they really don’t mean all that much. Still, there will be plenty of discussion about who they got right and who they got wrong over the coming weeks as more positional rankings come out, but for any player upset with his rating, the chance to improve it is waiting for them on the field.

DaBaby is enjoying a tremendous run atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and he’s made some history along the way. Last week, he became the first artist to occupy the top two spots of the chart since Ariana Grande did in early 2019. This week, on the chart dated July 18, his Roddy Ricch-featuring “Rockstar” is again No. 1 for a fifth week, and thanks to his other entries in the top ten, he has achieved another rare feat.

Jack Harlow’s “Whats Poppin” — which features DaBaby, Tory Lanez, and Lil Wayne — slides down from No. 2 to No. 3 this week. Meanwhile, Pop Smoke’s “For The Night,” which features DaBaby and Lil Baby, debuts in the No. 6 spot. This makes DaBaby one of only a handful of artists to ever simultaneously chart at least three songs in the top six spots of the Hot 100. He follows The Beatles (who did it for nine weeks in 1964), 50 Cent (seven weeks in 2005), Drake (six weeks in 2018), Justin Bieber (five weeks in 2015-16), Ariana Grande (one week in 2019), and Usher (one week in 2004).

As for Pop Smoke, “For The Night” is now his first top-ten single. This news comes after it was revealed his posthumous album, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.