Category: News

Decisions on whether to play the 2020 season are due soon across MLB, and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants became the latest to opt out, citing concerns over the recent birth of adopted twin daughters.

Not only is the task of raising two newborns a ton of responsibility, but Posey told media on Friday that they were both born prematurely and will have to spend time in the ICU for “some time.” He did relay, however, that the twins are doing well.

Daughters Ada and Livvi are stable, but Posey didn’t want to risk travel and the general busyness of the season while his wife tended to the babies and the medical challenges they face. Posey admitted he may not have opted out if their birth had not been premature.

After many NWSL and NBA players opted out to keep safe during the pandemic, the MLB setup only poses more health risks, as baseball players will be asked to travel to different markets all around their region of the country and play a much longer 60-game regular season plus extended playoffs. It wouldn’t be a surprise to hear more stars like Posey decide against playing this year before we actually make our way to Opening Day in a couple weeks.

Terence Winter is an HBO all-star due to his involvement with The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire (Vinyl? Never heard of it), and now he’s taking his talents to HBO Max. Winter and War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves are leading a new Batman show for the streaming service, this one centered about the Gotham Police Department. The still-untitled series is set within in the same universe as Reeves’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, and “will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms,” according to HBO Max.

Hopefully “multiple platforms” includes Happy Meal toys. More from HBO Max:

The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham.

Will Pattinson show up on the HBO Max series? Probably not, for the same reason that Robert Downey, Jr. and Scarlett Johansson weren’t regulars on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Unless producers trick the quarantine king into thinking it’s a cooking show.

“This is an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a longform format can afford,” Reeves said in a statement, “and getting to work with the incredibly talented Terence Winter, who has written so insightfully and powerfully about worlds of crime and corruption, is an absolute dream.” After hearing about this show, I looked up whether there any Batman references on The Sopranos. There aren’t, at least none that I could find, but I did stumble across a (cursed) video entitled “TONY SOPRANO meets THE JOKER (NSFW),” so, y’know, if Winter is looking to add some HBO spice to Gotham…

While Baby Yoda took the internet by storm the second his face hit the screen in Disney+’s The Mandalorian, there’s another defining aspect of the groundbreaking bounty hunting series that some might argue is just as rad: The music.

Coming off his Oscar win for Black Panther, composer Ludwig Göransson had the daunting task of crafting a unique score for The Mandalorian that would be just as distinctive as John Williams’ Star Wars theme, but still paid homage to that classic, bombastic orchestra sound that fans have loved for decades. What Göransson came up with was an immediately memorable blend of baroque recorder solos, drums, and a full-on sympathy that seamlessly mashed together the spaghetti Western and sci-fi. And now that sound is featured in a new music video featuring Göransson as he plays the various instruments that created the music of The Mandalorian.

For fans wanting to go deeper into the music, episode seven of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian is entirely focused on Göransson’s process as he worked closely with showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni to create an all-new Star Wars sound that moved the franchise forward while still honoring the past. Here’s what Göransson told io9 back in November:

My original thoughts and my original themes, I think, were a little bit more tied to the Star Wars sound as we know it. But Jon was like, “We have time.” So he wanted me to experiment and see how far we could take it. And if there were some sounds that he was reacting to, I was immediately like, “I’ll keep developing that sound.” So I think I started more in the vein of the Star Wars sound that we used to and then Jon kept wanting to take it to new places. And I think in the end, looking at it, he knew what he was doing.

As if developing a brand new sound for Star Wars wasn’t enough, Göransson recently finished scoring the upcoming Christopher Nolan blockbuster Tenet, and he’s hard at work on the second season of The Mandalorian, which is still on track for an October 2020 premiere.

(Via Star Wars)

Gucci Mane’s new venture with Atlantic Records is off to a strong start after the release of his new label compilation So Icey Summer. Rather than releasing a straightforward solo album for his first project of 2020, Gucci instead uses the project as a launching pad for his artists like Pooh Sheisty, Foogiano, and Ola Runt.

The latter two join Gucci and Memphis trap neophyte Key Glock in the video for “Lifers,” the latest single from the compilation project. The video sees the quartet of rappers performing in front of a primary-colored fleet of luxury trucks as color-coordinated dance teams shake and wiggle next to the autos. Secondary sequences for the younger rappers find Foogiano rapping to the camera as a kidnapping goes on behind him and Key Glock flexing in front of a few muscle cars.

The reception for So Icey Summer is pretty impressive, considering Gucci started off the new venture criticizing Atlantic for being “polite racist.” After he apologized, though, it was off to the races, putting his young artists in prime position to succeed as stars in their own right.

Watch Gucci Mane’s “Lifers” video featuring Key Glock, Foogiano, and Ola Runt above.

So Icey Summer is out now via Atlantic Records. Get it here.

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

An awesome rookie class of receivers might be one of the best reasons to play Madden NFL 21 (which arrives Aug. 25), as several already strong offensive teams upgraded at the position in April’s draft. EA Sports continues to tease the release by putting out ratings for the NFL’s rookie class day by day, with receivers headlining on Friday. Beyond putting out just their ratings in the game, Madden enlisted Chad Ochocinco to make a follow-up video to what we saw out of Steve Young on Thursday.

With a wide range of skills and styles, these rookie wide receivers should make an immediate impact both in the NFL and for gamers.

Henry Ruggs III, Las Vegas Raiders: 76

This makes Ruggs the highest-rated rookie released so far, tying No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow. Not surprisingly, Ruggs’ main attribute in Madden will be his speed, which the developers tagged with a 98. Anyone who relishes the joy of putting Tyreek Hill on a go route or remembers the joys of playing as early-2010s DeSean Jackson and the Eagles will surely get some run with Ruggs as he gives Derek Carr and the Raiders a badly needed deep threat.

Ceedee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys: 75

Just a reminder at how outlandishly good the Cowboys’ receiving corps has the chance to be this year, with Lamb sliding in as perhaps the third or fourth option on a Super Bowl-caliber offense. Lamb doesn’t have the same speed or acceleration rating as Ruggs, but outpaces Ruggs in terms of breaking tackles, toughness, stiff arms, and all the other stuff that generally makes Lamb a menace to tackle.

Jerry Jeudy, Denver Broncos: 75

Here’s where things get a little wonky. It wasn’t long ago that Jeudy was a presumed top-10 pick, a fairly certain top receiver in a class of studs. Ultimately, Jeudy fell in the NFL Draft, but placing him even with Lamb and below Ruggs feels like an overreaction to the draft order.

Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings: 74

Our first out-of-order rating! Madden buys into Jefferson slightly more than the next guy on this list, despite Jefferson actually being the fifth receiver drafted in the first round. Jefferson is ahead of Jeudy in catching, better than Ruggs with his agility, and the highest among all rookie receivers in what Madden calls “spectacular catch rating,” which encapsulates why Jefferson was a sleeper for many in the draft and should make an impact right away for Minnesota.

Jalen Reagor, Philadelphia Eagles: 73

Despite going one spot ahead of Jefferson, the Eagles rookie falls one rating point behind Jefferson. It appears as if this is solely because Madden developers don’t quite buy into Reagor as much as pure catcher, despite his athletic gifts.

Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers: 72

Rounding out the first round is Aiyuk, the unheralded Arizona State prospect whose tape against Oregon at home might have you think he’d be rated in the 90s. Aiyuk’s spectacular catch rating is higher than Jeudy’s and tied with Ruggs’, but his speed is on the lower end of the first-rounders as his stamina as a low-volume guy in college.

The rest of the big-name players should be exciting to try out when the game is released, too.

Laviska Shenault Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars: 72

Devin Duvernay, Baltimore Ravens: 71

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts: 71

Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals: 71

Madden is just as high on this incredible crop of receivers as draftniks and NFL teams were, and considering that many of the best prospects landed on teams with great quarterbacks already, we should see some highlights right away, both by gamers and on the NFL field each Sunday.

F9 was supposed to come out on May 22, but then, like every other movie scheduled for this summer (much to Christopher Nolan’s stubborn annoyance), it was pushed back: to April 2, 2021. I haven’t figured out the logistics, but I’m pretty sure Nathalie Emmanuel’s Ramsey could hack into the mainframe, as one does, and find a vaccine for COVID-19 in no time. Alas, she and the rest of Dominic Toretto’s family are busy… in space.

While appearing on SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle and Julia Cunningham on Thursday, Ludacris, who plays Tej, hinted that the ninth film in the Fast and Furious series will be partially set in space. “The reveal happened when Cunningham said she was trying to imagine how the blockbuster series could possibly keep topping itself with plots when she mentioned a few scenarios, which included space,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. The rapper-turned-actor responded, “I will say that you are very intuitive, because you said something right, but I’m not going to give it away.” When pressed for more information, all Ludacris would coyly say is, “I don’t know what you said.” Wink.

Dom, Letty, etc. are basically superheroes at this point, so why not send them to space? It’s something Chris Morgan, who wrote every Fast film from Tokyo Drift to The Fate of the Furious (Daniel Casey took over for F9), has considered in the past. “I get all versions of that question,” he told us. “I get, ‘Are you going to space?’ and ‘Please, God, tell me you’re not going to space because you’ll lose me if you do.’ The only way I’d go to space is if I had something so good.” Or because Vin Diesel doesn’t want Tom Cruise to get there first.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

When Ludacris wrote his hit song “Move, B*tch” — a song about fighting in the club — he never envisioned it becoming a protest song. That’s exactly what happened though, as the song has begun to crop up as a chant at multiple rounds of protests against injustice. In 2017, the song was used by protestors at an anti-Trump rally in Boston after Trump failed to condemn demonstrators at the Charlottesville “Unite The Right” march. Just last month, it resurfaced at a New York protest against police brutality as police tried to set up a barricade.

Ludacris addresses the development on a new episode of the Quibi show Musicology With Tim Kash. Kash prompts the Atlanta rapper to “talk about rap and hip-hop’s history as a rallying cry for Black artists.” Luda points out that hip-hop was born of trying to tell the stories of struggle. “You tracing it back to Ice T and NWA, there’s been so many records talking about what everyone is just now opening their eyes to.”

He also notes that artists like Kendrick Lamar, whose “Alright” has also become a popular choice for protestors, are “ahead of their time.” Of his own song becoming part of movement music history, he seems nonplussed, “I never in a million years, when I made that record, thought it would become a protest song. It makes sense now but that’s not what I was thinking when I wrote it. It’s one thing to be a part of pop culture and hip-hop culture, but when you start getting into movement culture, that’s a whole other thing, man.”

Watch Ludacris’ interview with Tim Kash above.

YG is not a fan of Tekashi 69 and hasn’t been for quite some time now. “f*ck Six Nine!,” he declared back in March 2018 over the rapper’s supposed fake gang affiliations. Then, in April of last year, he released a song called “Stop Snitching,” which he previously debuted at Coachella in front of images of Tekashi. His disdain extends to folks who collaborate with Tekashi as well, which puts him in a tough spot with Nicki Minaj.

The two previously collaborated on “Big Bank” in 2018, but of course, Minaj recently helped Tekashi earn his first No. 1 single with their collaboration, “Trollz.” During a recent Real 92.3 LA interview, YG was asked if he would work with Minaj again in light of this, and he seemed unsure, responding, “I don’t know, my feelings was hurt,” He added, “I’m a real street n****. Yeah, I’m cool.”

Minaj previously defended herself from detractors who criticized her for working with Tekashi again. Last month, she wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “You don’t have to defend me. I’m not afraid of internet trolls, blogs, artists. I don’t jump on band wagons. Many will never know what it feels like to have a mind of their own.”

Watch the full YG interview below.

Summer Walker’s new EP Life On Earth hit streaming services this morning, sparking a wave of approval from R&B fans — and from one, unusual source. When Laila, a self-described “Black, Muslim, K-pop stan,” posted her approval of the album’s sequencing, she became something of an overnight celebrity when one Donald J. Trump liked her tweet that read, “Summer Walker getting us in our feelings in ‘Let It Go,’ just to bring the stripper back in ‘SWV’ instantly.”

A few hours after posting the initial tweet, Laila returned to the timeline with an imperative question for her followers: “WHY THE F*CK DID DONALD TRUMP LIKE MY F*CKING TWEET?” Her timeline since then has been filled with reactions as fellow Twitter users come together to try to decipher the meaning behind Trump’s “Like” and help Laila process her newfound fame. “Is this really going to be my legacy?” she joked in response to one screenshot.

Even Lil Yachty had to wonder just what the heck was going on, posting a series of question marks along with his screenshot of Trump’s “Likes.”

There really is a lot to process here. We do know Trump has a certain fondness for sex workers, which could have led him to that tweet. He also apparently loves “the African-Americans” so maybe that extends to R&B music. Summer has indulged the occasional conspiracy theory on her Instagram burner account, an activity for which the Donald shares an affinity — although given his clumsiness with his real account, the likelihood he has a burner is pretty low.

Maybe Trump’s account is also being run by a staffer — a more likely scenario — and that staffer just really relates to media marketed to millennial Black women. Remember when Trump’s account liked a tweet about Insecure? Perhaps, like most Baby Boomers, Trump needed a younger relative to set up all his accounts and Barron still has the passwords. Maybe we’re all going a little stir crazy from four months of quarantine and civil unrest.

Whatever the case may be, Donald Trump’s Twitter continues to be a fount of head-scratching, attention-diverting activity. Check out more reactions above.

Who should play Vernita Green’s daughter in Kill Bill 3? Vivica Fox’s suggestion is perfection. Of course, this all assumes that Quentin Tarantino will circle back to that franchise after a few decades. He’s talked about it a lot over the years, but his auteur ways have led him down other paths, like toward killing Nazis taking out Manson goons. Still, Tarantino left himself with a perfect set-up for the movie, since Uma Thurman’s The Bride/Black Mamba let the daughter of Vernita Green/Copperhead know that, if she still felt bitter over her mom’s death one day, to come and find her.

Fans hope that day will arrive, and Fox feels the same way. Via IndieWire, the Set It Off actress spoke with NME this week about the possibility of original actress Ambrosia Kelley returning. If that doesn’t happen, she’d like Zendaya to pick up the knives:

“I had a feeling that hopefully [Tarantino] was waiting on the actress who plays my daughter to grow up a little bit. But then I was doing an interview and they asked, ‘What young actress would you get to play your daughter?’ and I was like, ‘No, Ambrosia!,’ but they meant an established actress. So I went, ‘Zendaya!’”

Fox believes that adding Zendaya to a third movie would not only greenlight it instantly in a studio’s eyes but spur Tarantino to fast-track this thing. “How hot would that be?,” Fox asked. Agreed. Zendaya’s effortlessly cool and would surely be up to going toe-to-toe with Uma. A campaign must be started. Get it in front of Tarantino’s eyeballs.

(Via NME & IndieWire)