Category: Trending

Cardi B is back. Of course, she also never left. Over the five years since she released her groundbreaking debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, the Bronx rapper has been a near-constant force in the hip-hop/pop landscape. Her collaborations become instant classics. Her unfiltered observations on current events are the most salient commentary we’re ever going to get. Even her feuds dominate headlines — whether real, imagined, or just plain silly.

But with the release of her new single “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi promises that she’s finally kicking off the rollout for her long-awaited second studio album. So, it seems important to say: Welcome back, Cardi (and if you sing it to the tune of the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song, it just resonates even better). And “Bongos,” Cardi’s second high-profile collaboration with Meg, seems like the perfect way to start the ball rolling, if only because it also represents a second chance for both artists.

In 2020, “WAP” was everywhere. Kids loved it, even if they didn’t understand it. Conservatives hated it, seemingly because they couldn’t relate. Everyone sang it, even if they had to adjust the lyrics in a way Cardi herself wasn’t too fond of. And it entered the social lexicon the way Judd Apatow movie quotes dominated dorm room conversations throughout the mid-aughts. The song was every bit as ubiquitous as Cardi’s first breakout hit, “Bodak Yellow,” seemingly presaging the inevitable release of another world-shaking full-length LP.

Cardi, though, had other plans. Despite the success of “WAP” and its follow-up “Up,” the outspoken artist decided to instead focus on her family and building her empire with a succession of endorsement deals, acting roles, and other business moves. Where many artists would have struck while the iron was white hot hoping to maintain the momentum, Cardi showed that she was perfectly confident that her brand would withstand taking a couple of years off.

She was right, of course, but mostly due to her own hustle. She maintained her iron grip on the public’s attention by releasing a string of high-profile collaborations. Smartly, she mixed it up; there were guest features from Cardi on songs from mainstream hitmakers like Normani, Lizzo, and Summer Walker, as well as a run of remixes to fan-favorite street hits from GloRilla, FendiDa Rappa, and Latto. In the meantime, roles in films like Hustlers and Fast And Furious sequel F9 kept Cardi’s face in front of appreciative audiences’ eyeballs until she was ready to return on her own terms, shaking off the anxiety that came from achieving so highly on her first musical outing.

“Bongos” displays that reinforced confidence deftly, while also expanding Cardi’s toolbox in fun and interesting ways. Back in 2018, I wrote in my review of Invasion Of Privacy that I wished Cardi had included more songs like the boogaloo-sampling, reggaeton-featuring “I Like It,” because the song’s Latin flair both evoked Cardi’s Dominican roots, giving listeners a better sense of who she is, and stood out from anything else in hip-hop at the time. She also sounded like she was having the most fun on the record, which resonated outward to the listener.

Apparently, audiences at least somewhat agreed with me; the song became Cardi’s second No. 1 hit and appeared at No. 7 on Uproxx’s Critics Poll in 2019. It was the sort of smash most artists can only dream of having. As far as hits go, I hope “Bongos” has similar success to “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It,” and “WAP,” because it’s the sort of hard left turn that Cardi’s been executing her whole career, but at a higher level of performance. Not only has her flow improved — where it was once a locomotive, it’s now like a bullet train — but she also raps in Spanish, displaying yet another facet of who she is without needing to tell us.

The song also functions as a bit of a pick-me-up for her friend Meg, who’s had a rough go of it over the past couple of years. She could also use a fresh start, and what better way than with a reunion with the peer who helped her net her own first No. 1 hit? The song is certainly a departure for Meg, who has dipped her toes into the pristine disco-pop of Dua Lipa and house renaissance (sorry, not sorry) of “Her,” as well as a K-pop swing with BTS’s “Butter” remix. But so few of those songs have connected the way “WAP” did. “Bongos” offers her another chance for an inescapable ubiquitous hit like earlier singles “Big Ole Freak” and “Savage.”

I don’t know if it has record-breaking, culture-shifting potential like Cardi’s past big hits, but it’s a perfect place to restart her solo career and remind folks that she’s more than a “features artist” or a one-hit wonder. It reveals just enough of a peek at Cardi’s growth to leave us hankering for more. With its repetitive sample, quirky beat, and catchy lyrics (“he look like a brokie” is the one), “Bongos” is also guaranteed to get stuck in more than a few cerebrums as Cardi prepares her next album. Cardi never went anywhere, but now, it looks like she might never go away.

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

When Green Day isn’t poking fun at some of America’s biggest idiots by way of their merchandise drops, the band is causing great mischief with their music. Their forthcoming 30th-anniversary reissue of their album Dookie is a reminder of when the group’s rebellious spirit was birthed.

Ahead of the project’s release, Green Day has dumped out three glorious outtakes from their vault: “Walking The Dog,” “Christie Road,” and “409 In Your Coffeemaker.”

When the trio — consisting of Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Tre Cool — first announced the reissue, they took to social media to share a touching note. On the group’s official Instagram profile, they shared the cover image to the pop-punk classic with the caption, “Sometimes you take a gamble, and luck’s on your side. Back in the summer of ’93, Green Day went into the studio to record Dookie and had no idea what their destiny would be. They were young, rebellious, and absolutely scared sh*tless. There was no telling if they were about to prove everyone wrong or make the biggest mistake of their lives.”

Take a listen to “Walking The Dog,” “Christie Road,” and “409 In Your Coffeemaker” above and below.

Dookie 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is out 9/29 via Reprise. Find more information here.

Green Day is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Just about three months removed from the release of his sixth studio album Michael, Killer Mike has announced the impending release of a deluxe version of Michael alongside a new single, “Maynard Vignette.”

An ode to one of his heroes, former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson, “Maynard Vignette” features fellow A-Town rappers JID and T.I., along with singer Jacquees, as Mike reflects on the impact of Jackson’s tenure — and his own.

“I’m a young, Black Maynard, mama gospel singer / Daddy dope slanger, born from the anger,” he raps, while his collaborators also look back on the unlikelihood of their various successes.

Jackson’s success was also unlikely; as the 54th mayor of Atlanta, he was also the first Black mayor of Atlanta and of any major city in the South at a time when sentiments against Black folks in leadership were… let’s just say, “shaky.” He served from 1974 to 1982, then again from 1990 to 1994. His terms were marked by his commitment to public works projects and his work to improve race relations in and around Atlanta.

Mike just wrapped up his High And Holy Tour, while JID is working on multiple follow-ups to his album, The Forever Story. Watch the “Maynard Vignette” video above.

On Friday, USA Basketball was bounced out of the FIBA World Cup semifinals by Germany in a 113-111 shootout that saw the Americans unable to slow down the Germans at any level of the floor.

It was the second loss by Team USA, who dropped their last game of the second group stage to Lithuania, with both coming against opponents with big rosters that could punish them inside while also being capable shooters from long range. Size was always the concern for this USA Basketball roster, as they simply did not have much of an interior presence. Reigning DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr. was supposed to be the defensive anchor of this team, but against bigger teams his impact was muddled, particularly against Lithuania and Germany squads that deployed bigs capable of popping to the perimeter and drawing him out, leaving the rim unprotected given the lack of size throughout the rest of the USA roster. Beyond Jackson, the Americans played Bobby Portis and Paolo Banchero at center, with Walker Kessler — the lone true center on the roster — remaining glued to the bench.

With the 2024 Olympics right around the corner, USA Basketball clearly has work to do in figuring out how to construct their roster, particularly what to do at the center position where they figure to face an even stiffer test in Paris, as the likes of Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, and others who sat out the World Cup should be in the mix. The good news for Team USA is they also should have a deeper player pool to pick from for the Olympics than they do the World Cup, as the World Cup simply isn’t enough of a draw to get top American players to put extra miles on their bodies in the already short NBA offseason.

The Olympics is, though, and while we figure to see more familiar faces on next year’s roster in the backcourt and on the wing, center depth will likely remain the biggest concern. There are a few different options and directions for Team USA to potentially go in, but it all starts with having a more coherent roster building plan than what was shown for the World Cup.

Jackson Jr. is a tremendous defender, but is at his best as a roaming agent of chaos, blowing up opposing team’s actions with his length, quickness, and anticipation. He’s freed up to do that in Memphis by playing alongside Steven Adams, who is the anchor that grounds the Grizzlies defense, providing cover for Jackson to take risks because he mitigates the potential for disaster by being a capable rim protector himself and, maybe most importantly, being an elite rebounder to clean the glass when Jackson is away from the rim hounding perimeter players.

Team USA seemed to take none of that into account when building this roster, asking Jackson to slide into that center role with no one grounding the defense to allow him to wreak havoc in the way that makes him such a nightmare to play against. The result was a lot of defensive variance, as there were times Jackson was able to erase shots at the rim and engulf driving opponents with his length, but there were also times where he’d get drawn away from the rim and there was no one home when the ball got moved and a new attack started. Against big teams, they also had few answers on the glass, with Jackson not being a dominant rebounder as is, in part because of how often he switches and defends outside the paint.

Compounding those issues was the fact that they paired Jackson with an awful lot of mediocre perimeter defenders who didn’t have the size or abilities to take on a switching, havoc-inducing defense that you’d want to try and run if you are deploying Jackson as your main center. Their best offensive lineups featured Tyrese Haliburton and Austin Reaves, but those were fairly flammable defensively, particularly on switches where teams would happily post them up to great success.

The smaller Jalen Brunson faced similar issues in switches, and just generally the American side lacked the strength and size in the perimeter to handle some of the top teams. Simply put, there has to be a much more cohesive plan built around what bigs Team USA brings to Paris and how the guard play complements their skill set.

The one potential ace in the hole for USA Basketball is convincing Joel Embiid to play for them over France, as he has yet to make that decision and would, obviously, be the best center option available given he is the reigning NBA MVP. Embiid fixes an awful lot of Team USA’s problems, but he’s not a guarantee to be available for a couple of reasons. For one, he could choose to play for France and try and help the home side in Paris bounce back from the embarrassment of being knocked out in the first group stage at the World Cup. Beyond that, Embiid has to be coming out of the playoffs healthy enough to be able to play international ball, which is far from a guarantee for the Sixers star.

As such, they cannot put all their eggs in the Embiid basket. Beyond Embiid, the list of obvious answers for the Americans at the center position gets pretty short pretty quickly, and if any of those names can’t play for health reasons, age reasons, or don’t want to commit if they’re coming off of a deep playoff run, it could get very interesting.

Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis would be at the top of the list for Steve Kerr and Grant Hill, and I would bet Adebayo, who won gold in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, will be on the roster. Davis, on the other hand, might not be particularly interested in adding wear and tear to his body, and also just generally isn’t particularly keen on playing the center position — there’s already a report he’d like to play less at the five this coming year in L.A.

Draymond Green also figures to get the call, as he was on the 2020 Tokyo squad as well and it’s possible both he and Steph Curry decide to suit up for their guy Steve Kerr. Green would bring an obvious fit for what Kerr wants to do and he and Adebayo would be one helluva versatile center rotation, albeit a touch of an undersized one.

Finding the traditional big man to eat up minutes against bigger teams is the real question if Embiid doesn’t go. Brook Lopez would be the ideal option, but beyond him it gets a bit dicey should he not feel healthy enough coming off of the playoffs to go. The best young American centers all tend to be more of JJJ types — very lean frames, with hyper athleticism and skill, but lacking a dominant physical presence. USA Basketball doesn’t need more players who can hit crossovers into pullup jumpers, they need more players who hit the buffet line and the glass. Kessler could maybe get the call again to fill that role, but given he didn’t touch the floor against teams dominating them with size in the World Cup, it’s hard to have much confidence in a year this staff will have the belief in him to throw him out there in the Olympics.

From there you have a bunch of guys that present the same problems. Chet Holmgren, Myles Turner, Nic Claxton, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and, of course, Jaren Jackson Jr. will all be in the potential player pool, and depending on what you want offensively (floor spacing, rim-running, screen setting) you can find someone you like and all are good rim protectors, but all are also undersized against the best international bigs.

If they can get commitments from three of Embiid, Adebayo, Green, Davis, and Lopez, this is all probably a moot point. However, as we know it’s not always a guarantee you get your top picks — JaVale McGee was the third center in Tokyo. With more veteran stars at the other positions, the issue at center is mitigated, but it is the one thing that can present real problems for Team USA on the international stage. There are so many teams that just have a ton of size to throw out there, and when those teams can combine that with shooting (as many of the best international teams can) the recipe is there to upset the Americans if they don’t have the answers inside.

All eyes will be on Embiid’s decision, whenever he makes it, and from there we’ll know where to set the panic meter going into Paris.

Italy’s beloved Måneskin are on the road. The polarizing group are known for controversial performances that fans adore, whether they’re topless at the VMAs or covering a classic Britney Spears hit.

The Rush! World Tour kicked off on September 3 in Germany, and they’ll be traveling over to North America later this month. The tour will hit Japan, Ireland, Australia, and several more countries as well before ending in December.

About performing topless at the VMAs, bassist Victoria De Angelis said in a pre-show interview, “I think it’s very important for us to share a message of freedom, generally. So just for everyone to be free to be themselves and express who they are […] and also to have more equality [between showing] a woman’s body and a man’s body.”

Check out their setlist from their first night of their tour in Germany, according to setlist.fm.

1. “Don’t Wanna Sleep”
2. “Gossip”
3. “Zitti E Buoni”
4. “Honey (Are U Coming?)”
5. “Supermodel”
6. “Coraline”
7. “Beggin’” (The Four Seasons cover)
8. “The Driver”
9. “For Your Love”
10. “Gasoline”
11. “If Not For You” (Acoustic)
12. “Timezone” (Acoustic)
13. “Formidable” (Stromae cover)
14. “I Wanna Be Your Slave”
15. “In Nome Del Padre”
16. “Mammamia”
17. “Bla Bla Bla”
18. “Kool Kids”
19. “The Loneliest” (encore)
20. “I Wanna Be Your Slave” (Reprise) (encore)

Scream VI was the first Scream movie without Neve Campbell. And hopefully the only.

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 4, shared his thoughts on Campbell not returning for Scream VI after the actress declined a salary offer that she thought “did not equate to the value” she brought to the horror franchise.

“I know exactly where she’s coming from,” he said on the Happy Horror Time podcast, according to Variety. “I know her well. I love and adore her, and that’s what she did and it’s great for her. I love everyone involved with Scream and all I can say is pay her the money. Yes, you heard it, everyone. That’s what I would do. I would give her the money.” He added, “I’m sure there’s a number they can agree on that will make them both happy so hopefully one day they will figure that all out, and who knows. One day.”

Campbell, who plays Sidney Prescott in the meta-horror series, previously told People that the salary dispute would not be an issue if she was a man. “I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man,” she said. “And in my soul, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk on set feeling that — feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that.”

You can listen to the podcast with Williamson below.

(Via Variety)

Busta Rhymes and Coi Leray already demonstrated impressive lyrical chemistry when he remixed her hit single “Players.” But that chemistry is even more advanced on “Luxury Life,” where the two rappers trade dynamic back-and-forth rhymes over a sample of The Whole Darn Family’s “Seven Minutes Of Funk.” In fact, it’s the very sample from Jay-Z’s second Reasonable Doubt single “Ain’t No N****” with Foxy Brown, which used a similar rhyme scheme. Busta and Coi even sing the hook in the same style, which was originally lifted from the Four Tops’ “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got).”

The video is similarly an ode to the ’90s, with Busta and Coi sticking up a diner in a visual homage to Pulp Fiction (a scene that gets referenced quite a lot in hip-hop, such as in Sleepy Brown and Outkast’s “I Can’t Wait” video), then battling it out in a dojo with references to The Matrix. There’s also a pull of Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s fight scene from Game Of Death. Busta loves his movies, it’s nice to see him keep that trend going while passing the torch to the next generation.

So far, Busta’s last two videos have featured BIA (“Beach Ball“) and Coi Leray… can we get a Rah Digga reunion, too??

Watch Busta Rhymes’ “Luxury Life” video featuring Coi Leray above.

When Beyoncé tells the world to stop, typically it does. However, that wasn’t the case for Hairspray actress Sarah Francis Jones. In fact, the excitement from the Grammy Award record holder’s final Renaissance World Tour stop in Inglewood led the actress to give birth to the Beyhive’s youngest member.

While attending the recording artist’s September 4 birthday performance at SoFi Stadium, Jones recorded herself having a grand ol’ time dancing and singing along but by the end of the night, the audience around her was a medical team as she was set to deliver her baby girl. During an interview with KTLA, the star revealed that initially, she thought the sharp aches she was experiencing when at the concert were false labor pains (medically referred to as Braxton Hicks).

“I said, ‘Something’s happening.’ Usually, I like to dance at the concert, and I was like, ‘OK, I need to sit down for a second,” said Jones.

But as the discomfort increased, Jones and her partner, Marcel Spears, knew it was time. “The biggest contractions happened during ‘Virgo’s Groove.’ As the concert went on, we were like, ‘I don’t know about this.’ By the time we got to the car into the parking lot, it was full-on intense,” Spears added.

Jones vlogged the experience on her official Instagram page. In the video, as she participated in the ‘Eerbody On Mute’ challenge, you notice a shift in her bubbly personality.

Although Jones and Spears’ baby girl is indeed a Virgo, just like Beyoncé, their daughter missed the cut-off date to share the same birthday with the star as she was officially born on September 5. Friends and family of Jones, as well as fellow Beyhive members, took to the entertainer’s comment section to offer their well wishes.

See their responses below.

d4vd’s rise to fame happened at the speed of light. This hyperbole accurately describes how the 18-year-old Houston native went from an active video gamer who uploaded clips of himself playing Fortnite to YouTube (where he tallied 15 million views in total) to a touring musical act who is set to hit the road with SZA for her second leg of the SOS Tour. It’s all happened in the blink of an eye, but don’t be mistaken, d4vd is extremely talented as his debut EP Petals To Thorns proves.

The nine-track project is one that d4vd used to excellently capture a rise and fall in love. The petals — the first half — represent the good moments, while the thorns and final half of the project capture the bad and the eventual end of the relationship. Just three months after releasing Petals To Thorns, d4vd is back with another project: The Lost Petals. This new body of work contains just five songs and lives as the aftermath of the events on Petals To Thorns.

Together with the arrival of The Lost Petals, Uproxx caught up with d4vd to talk about his rise in the music world, The Lost Petals, touring with SZA, and his future plans for both music and gaming.

You’ve had a quick rise to fame, which can be a bit rattling for anyone. How have you adjusted and does it feel a bit normal now?

Yeah, it’s always been normal. I feel like I’ve acclimated well. I was home-schooled for four years so being outside was like a need for me. I was inside the house for way too long. So as soon as the time came for me to start going on tour, things like that, going on press runs, [and] traveling to different countries, it was like boom, this is what I needed to get out of the house. So I ran with it.

If you had to take all your influences, what qualities would you take from each one to make the artist you are? Like who most inspired your writing? Singing style? Artistic direction?

My biggest writing inspiration isn’t even in music. It’s an author from Japan named Hajime Isayama who wrote Shingeki no Kyojin, most famously known as Attack On Titan. Yeah, so Hajime Isayama for my writing, sonically it’d be Chet Baker and Michael Jackson. My stage presence? Michael Jackson and maybe XXXTentacion.

You’re a couple of months removed from your Petals To Thorns project. What would you say you’re most proud of about it?

The theme. I feel like sonically, it made sense, and the theme was very clear. I tried my best to tell the story with it. Having all the songs made already, without even having the intention of making a project that had to be cohesive, is mind-blowing to me. Everything was already done before I even had an idea of making an EP. But just being me and being a storyteller, it kind of just worked anyway. So I’m very proud of storytelling. Looking at the rose, having the thorns all representing love, just the theme of going through a relationship from top to bottom. It was just cohesive.

Now we have your The Lost Petals project, which fits into the world of Petals To Thorns. Do they fall in line with the original project or would you say this is more of a different perspective?

If we’re talking experience-wise, Petals To Thorns is the concert, you’ve been at the show, and “The Bridge” is leaving the show and now, The Lost Petals is that post-show depression. So it’s very sad, there’s not one single happy song. The way “The Bridge” left off, this [The Lost Petals] picks up and then it’s kind of like the conclusion. It’s like a closing of the book, two chapters being Petals To Thorns and The Lost Petals]. We’re closing that book and we’re moving on after that.

What would you credit most to your success?

My faith in God bro because God did amazing things early on. The way it kind of worked instrumentally with the gaming and everything. It’s like all the full circle moments of me wanting to be a professional esports player so bad that I was like tunnel vision into that one goal. But then, as soon as the copyright strikes hit, the gaming kind of pushed the music and the music started to push the gaming and they kind of worked together and they both went up at the same time. I don’t know, it would not have happened if it weren’t for those copyright strikes.

You’ve had a couple of tours already in your career, and now, you’ll be joining SZA on her SOS North American Tour. What experience do you hope to take from that may be different from the others?

The audience, of course. Playing in front of 10,000-15,000 people, that’s gonna be insane. I feel like getting used to not being so close to the crowd because it gives you a chance to really be a performer. When you’re that close to the crowd, really feeding off of them, but [at arenas], sometimes you can’t see everybody especially when you’re on that big stage and it feels like it’s just you up there. I feel like the nerves kind of go away when you can’t see. I feel like I’ve had the most nerve-wracking experience when I’m playing in front of maybe three people doing a little acoustic performance or even doing a music video shoot. But when it’s that many people it kind of becomes you and I’m just excited to see myself progress in that stage.

Stepping off music for a second, you said that music and gaming have worked hand-in-hand for you. What are some plans you have for the gaming world next?

I want to leak too much, but I literally just left a meeting about gaming. I’m working a lot on Fortnite stuff, the new Fortnite season is dropping, and everybody’s on the game again. Gaming is going back on the radar, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is dropping. I’m working hand in hand and being more in the gaming space and telling a story because that’s where I came from. I’m more of a gamer than a musician, it’s telling that story even more. I’m working on scoring and a lot of soundtracking, too. The thing is with the Fortnite montages, I would make a Fortnite little montage and then make a song for it. So I was really doing scoring before I was even thinking about actually scoring. So having the opportunity to go back into my roots, and just be able to make music for the game that I’m such a fan of is insane to me. Maybe a concert in a Fortnite. A lot of stuff is coming gaming-wise, and 2024 is about to be lit on the controllers.

You’ve achieved a lot in such a short period of time, what are some goals you have for yourself going forward?

I want to make the best music possible. I feel like this past week I made my best music. I feel like I’m finding what I want to do. In terms of the artistry. I produced on a song for the first time two days ago. I’m getting used to being back on the keys playing piano again and finding myself instrumentally. So just becoming a greater artist. I’m not very sentimental, but I really do enjoy the evolution of self rather than the fruits that come from it. I feel like the best goal for me is just to be a better me. So, 2024 is all about evolution. I feel like it’s gonna be very evident in the music, the visuals, and the creative surrounding everything. It’s going to be next level.

The Lost Petals is out now via Darkroom/Interscope Records. Find out more information here.

Elon Musk reportedly became so obsessed with his “robotaxi” concept that he demanded that Tesla engineers start building the driverless vehicles despite the fact that the electric car company was, and still is, far behind on it’s questionable Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. The revelation comes from Walter Isaacson‘s upcoming biography, Elon Musk, in an excerpt that cements Musk’s compulsive fixations and wild mood swings.

According to Axios, Musk was supposed to be focusing on Tesla’s plan to deliver the first $25,000 electric car to consumers, which would have been a “game-changer” to the entire automotive industry. Instead, Musk became hyper-focused on creating an autonomous robotaxi that he theorized would make its owners up to $30,000 a year and “eliminate the need for people to even own cars.”

Musk became obsessed with the idea in November 2021 and began instructing his engineers to begin building the vehicle with some very concerning specifications: “No mirrors, no pedals, no steering wheel. This is me taking responsibility for this decision.”

When the Tesla engineers raised obvious safety concerns and suggested building a model that could have a steering wheel and pedals that are easily removed, Musk reportedly went into a “cold mood.”

“Let me be clear,” Musk slowly said. “This vehicle must be designed as a clean robotaxi. We’re going to take that risk. It’s my fault if it f–ks up. But we are not going to design some sort of amphibian frog that’s a halfway car. We are all in on autonomy.”

Ultimately, the Tesla designers found a “non-challenging way” to convince Musk to “cover his bet” by including the necessary safety features they proposed and not have the robotaxi completely rely on FSD.

(Via Axios)