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Heading out on the open road? Gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure? Planning a hang with friends? Spending a rainy day solo with a good book? Whatever the moment, there’s a playlist for it and UPROXX’s newest series, Sound Fixations, is here to help you build it.

The theme for the show’s premiere? Fall road trips. Host Cam Jones, who you may recognize from his popular @studiotwotv channel on TikTok, is here to capture the unique essence of a fall car ride. It’s a blend of nostalgia-inducing moments and thrill-seeking experiences and it deserves a fire soundtrack to go along with it. That’s why Jones has curated a handful of songs — some that may sound familiar, others that feel like hidden gems just waiting to go viral — that should inspire the right kind of vibe, no matter the destination.

From “Invincible,” Omar Apollo’s neo-soul ballad with Daniel Caesar to Lucky Daye’s dreamy, almost soothing “Magic” and the quirky, upbeat tempo of BENEE’s “Glitter,” Jones gives his recs for the sounds that will define the season. It’s all about serene introspection, the feeling of possibility, an appreciation for nature, and the discoveries we make along the way.

Watch the full video above and feel free to add these tracks to your own road trip playlist.

The Milwaukee Bucks are in a familiar situation with Giannis Antetokounmpo. In multiple interviews over the last few weeks, the former league MVP has made clear that he will only sign an extension with the team if he believes they are still all-in on competing for a championship. He said something similar the last time he was up for an extension, and after the team traded for Jrue Holiday, he put pen to paper on a new deal and won his first title a few months later.

This time around, Milwaukee has a little bit of time before he can hit the open market, as Antetokounmpo is under contract each of the next two seasons before he has to make a decision on his player option in 2025. But there’s a whole lot of time between now and then, and in recent comments to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, one of his teammates made clear that he’s not too worried.

“I think it’s kind of business as usual either way,” Khris Middleton said. “It doesn’t affect me personally. I don’t think it affects us as a team. I think this is something he said almost every year he’s come up in contract extension talks.”

Middleton made it a point to say that everyone in Milwaukee wants Antetokounmpo, who he referred to as “one of the best players in the world,” to stick around. At the same time, he recognizes why he’s making it a point to challenge everyone within the Bucks organization — himself included — to do whatever it takes to be in a position to compete.

“But I think it’s just something that he just wants to keep putting pressure on everybody,” Middleton said. “And that’s himself also. He’s not just pointing a finger at everybody else saying, ‘You guys have to do this for me. I think he’s putting that pressure on himself to be better, to come in and be great every year. So there’s no pressure on, there’s no added pressure when he says that to us as a team, or me as a person, that I have to be better.”

Middleton, of course, was teammates with Antetokounmpo the last time he made clear what needed to happen for him to sign a new deal with the Bucks, so it makes sense why he’d take this approach. It certainly helps that Milwaukee is in a position to make a run at a championship this year, as the team will enter the 2023-24 campaign with the third-best odds to life the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The latest installment in the John Wick universe doesn’t involve John Wick at all (unfortunately). But it does take place in New York in the 70s so you know there will at least be a little bit of disco involved. It makes up for the lack of Keanu Reeves. Kind of.

The prequel follows a young Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the films, and Colin Woodell in the series) who is climbing his way up the organized crime ladder in New York City. The series also stars Mel Gibson (yeah, that guy) as mob boss Cormac. Ayomide Adegun portrays a young Charon, while Peter Greene, Ben Robson, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jessica Allain, and Katie McGrath round out the rest of the cast. The three-part event begins this weekend on Peacock, with a new episode on Fridays through October 6th. Here is the official synopsis:

The three-part event will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.

If you don’t get your John Wick fill from The Continental, no worries! The first three Wick movies are available to stream on Peacock now. At least you have Keanu in those.

When the Jonas Brothers, Uproxx’s June cover stars, opened their ambitious The Tour on August 12, Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas’ wife of four years, showed her support by wearing a Taylor Swift-inspired “Mr. Perfectly Fine” friendship bracelet. Just over one month later, it seems nothing is fine between Jonas and Turner, who confirmed their plans to divorce with public statements on September 6.

Jonas has issued a statement to Page Six refuting a lawsuit filed by Turner, as NBC News obtained and shared earlier this morning (September 21), asking “for the return of their two young children to England” because she felt Willa, whom they welcomed in July 2020, and their second child, whose identity has remained private since birth in July 2022, “have been wrongfully retained in New York City since September 20 from ‘their habitual residence’ in England.”

Through his representatives, Jonas stated that he didn’t “abduct” their daughters and called Turner’s filing “a harsh legal position,” which surprised Jonas because they’d previously agreed to an “amicable co-parenting setup.”

“Less than 24 hours [after meeting last Sunday], Sophie advised that she wanted to take the children permanently to the UK,” Jonas’ statement reads. “Thereafter, she demanded via this filing that Joe hand over the children’s passports so that she could take them out of the country immediately.”

It continues, “Joe is seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father, and is of course also okay with the kids being raised both in the US and the UK.”

Additionally, Jonas’ took issue with the assertion in Turner’s court documents that she only learned of Joe’s divorce filing “through the media” on September 5. Jonas offered that he believed Turner was “aware” of his filing because they’d had “multiple conversations” about the state of their marriage prior.

Page Six noted that Jonas’ divorce filing in Miami from earlier this month “restricts both Jonas and Turner from relocating with their children.”

However, Turner’s filing states, “They decided that as Turner started filming a new drama series in the UK in May, the kids would travel with Jonas and a nanny as he kicked off his tour with The Jonas Brothers in the US in late July.”

Earlier this week, Turner was spotted with Taylor Swift in New York City. Meanwhile, the Jonas Brothers’ ongoing tour is next scheduled to hit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Thursday night, September 21.

On Wednesday, September 20, Jada Pinkett Smith posted throwback videos of her and Tupac during their junior year of high school as a way to promote her forthcoming memoir, Worthy. In the clips, Pinkett Smith and the late Tupac are performing to Will Smith’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” with DJ Jazzy Jeff from 1988.

This morning, September 21, Smith revealed plans to explore that time period even more thoroughly with his Class Of ’88 podcast. According to Billboard, Smith “will celebrate 1988 hip-hop with episodes alongside Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rakim, and Chuck D.”

The publication additionally relayed, “Smith will explore the landmark year of 1988, which included the rise of Public Enemy, the ascension of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and the outpouring of female MCs such as Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah.”

The Wondery podcast will last for eight episodes. Beginning on October 26, Class Of ’88 will be available exclusively on Amazon Music and Audible. Amazon Prime members can listen to the podcast’s trailer here.

“Today, hip-hop dominates pop culture,” Smith says to start the trailer. “But it wasn’t always like that. Before 1988, a lot of people saw our music as just a passing fad.”

The nearly two-minute audio trailer also includes excerpted perspectives from Smith’s A-list guests, including Queen Latifah recalling, “[Hip-hop] had an expiration date, like milk. That’s what they were saying.”

In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince released He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper, housing “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” The track claimed the first-ever Best Rap Performance at the 1989 Grammys, which DJ Jazzy Jeff and Smith boycotted because the category wasn’t televised (as revisited by Andscape in January 2018).

X, formerly Twitter, is gradually becoming more and more of a dumpster fire. Owner Elon Musk essentially asked Taylor Swift to help him save the platform by posting her music directly on it. Now, pop star Kim Petras is expressing dissatisfaction with the website.

The singer, who just dropped a surprise album cleverly called Problematique, is living up to her provocative image. On her Instagram Story on Wednesday (September 20), she posted a screenshot indicating she was banned on X for having a NSFW avatar. It demanded she “delete profile image” for “violating our rules against graphic violence or adult content in profile images.” She put several middle finger emojis over the screenshot.

NSFW imagery is a key part of her campaign for her music. The artwork for her June album Feed The Beast depicted her topless. She also spiced up Paris Hilton’s 2006 hit “Stars Are Blind” for a sultry remix earlier this year.

Surely, this hiccup with Elon won’t ruin her party. She’s about to bring her new songs to the road on the Feed The Beast World Tour, which kicks off in less than a week in Texas.

Problematique is out now via Republic Records/Amigo Records. Find more information here.

Rick and Morty fans are used to long waits between seasons. That’s not the case for season six, which wrapped up in December 2022, and season seven, which premieres next month, but there’s another source of anticipation.

Who will voice Rick and Morty?

Co-creator and voice actor Justin Roiland is out after Adult Swim “ended its association” with him after he was charged with felony domestic violence (the charges were later dismissed). Everyone involved with the animated series has kept quiet about his replacement — or possibly replacements if Rick and Morty are voiced by two people. We will find out the answer soon, however.

The trailer for season seven of Rick and Morty will be released on Monday, September 25th. Unless every line is given to Jerry, which isn’t out of the possibility, that’s when we’ll hear the new voices for the first time. (On Solar Opposites, which was very good this season, Roiland was replaced by Dan Stevens.)

Earlier this year, Rick and Morty executive producer Steven Levy discussed the recasting. “We are closing in on the end of our process of the recast, but I do want to say it’s gonna be great,” he said. “I am thoroughly impressed with everything that’s going on, including all the work on season seven. Truly, that’s the thing I don’t want to be overshadowed. The show is as good as it’s ever been.”

Rick and Morty returns to Adult Swim on October 15th.

Keanu Reeves, being the kindest celebrity out there, is always inspiring his peers in unique ways. Whether it’s through his comics, or with his ability to stop a disastrous wardrobe malfunction, or just how his face looks when he’s holding puppies, Reeves is a man of the people. So when he met up with his old bandmates nearly two decades after their last album, it made sense that they would pick up where they left off, even though his career has skyrocketed since their initial musical endeavor.

Reeves told Entertainment Weekly how the band got together after all this time, and it turns out, it would not have happened without The Matrix Resurrections. It seems like the movie resurrected more than just Neo and Trinity.

“There was a premiere for Matrix 4 in San Francisco, and the next morning [the former band] had breakfast,” Reeves told EW. “That was the initial spark.” This is why they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day! You might just have a band reunion and write a new album.

Drummer Robert Mailhouse explained how it all came together organically after that. “We got excited, one thing leads to another, and then we all took it extremely seriously,” Mailhouse says. “It wasn’t going to be another one of those casual get-togethers. You could just tell. It was like we were on a mission.” That mission? To rock. They succeeded.

Now, Dogstar is heading out on a national tour ahead of their latest album release, and it would have literally never happened if Reeves hadn’t put a rubber duck on his head in the bath. Think about that!

(Via EW)

Say what you want about Sean Combs, aka Diddy — and a lot has been said about the man formerly known as Puff Daddy, both good and bad — but as a producer and an artistic force in the music industry, he is undeniable. He has been for a very long time.

He brings all that irresistible force to bear on his new project, The Love Album: Off The Grid. Incredibly enough, it’s only his fifth studio album to date despite his 30-plus years as a recognizable name in the music business.

It’s also his first solo album as Diddy since 2006’s Press Play and his first album as Diddy overall since the 2010 collaborative album Last Train To Paris (a 2015 mixtape, MMM (Money Making Mitch), was credited to his former moniker, Puff Daddy).

Like Diddy’s previous projects dating all the way back to his first, the 1997 debut album No Way Out (released as Puff Daddy & The Family), calling this a solo album feels like a stretch. Even then, Puff’s albums were littered with features and showcased his prowess as a producer as much as a vocalist (a thing I’ve always found cool about Diddy is his proficiency as a rapper despite not writing the verses — it’s a lot harder than it sounds).

The Love Album: Off The Grid is no anomaly in that respect. With 23(!) tracks, the album features nearly 30 credited guest artists, from Puff Daddy contemporaries like Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Babyface, and John Legend to contemporary stars such as 21 Savage, H.E.R., Justin Bieber, and Summer Walker.

It’s also a showcase for rising talents, both those under the umbrella of Diddy’s own Love Records and otherwise. Songwriters Jozzy and Nova Wav receive some spotlight, as does Compton rap-singer Kalan.FrFr. The album is, to paraphrase Diddy’s own words, something of a love letter to R&B as much as it is a hip-hop album from the self-described “greatest rapper that ever lived” (a quote from “Stay Awhile” with Nija — one of greatest rap lies in hip-hop’s 50-year history, to be sure. You sort of have to respect the audacity).

In fact, somewhere around the midpoint of the album, Diddy basically disappears almost entirely. This feels odd to write, but you kinda wish Diddy’s much-touted comeback album featured more… well, Diddy.

Think about all the hits the rapper-producer has been responsible for over the years: the “Benjamins”; the “I Need A Girl” parts one and two; the “Pass The Courvoisiers.” For all the accusations of shady business practices and not actually writing raps or making beats, he’s always been the best part of those collaborations, often through the sheer magnitude of his personality. It’d be nice to get more of that here.

Fortunately, the other hallmark of Diddy’s storied career has been his ear for talent. And, my God, what a collection of talents is arrayed here. It’s nearly impossible to choose a standout. The Dirty Money reunion “Deliver Me” is candy for the ears. Not even a poorly advised Fabolous cameo can drag down an all-time performance from Jacquees on “Pick Up.” (For the life of me, I cannot understand why men in rap close ranks around proven abusers; there’s more nuance in this discussion than can be shared here, but still… it’s so easy to just… not.)

Ty Dolla Sign and Coco Jones form a heavenly combo on “Reachin’.” H.E.R. remains magnificent on “Space.” And the touching “Kim Porter” wisely employs two of R&B’s greatest emotional songwriters ever for Diddy’s tribute to The One Who Got Away.

However, the back half of the album, which you can imagine Diddy meant as an ode to Quiet Storm and slow jams, becomes a slog as the tempo winds its way lower and lower ’til it gets stuck in the mud. It wastes all those great performances because the first half of the album is vintage Diddy.

The funk bop of the album opener “Brought My Love” with The-Dream and Herb freaking Alpert is a welcome dodge away from the conventions of modern rap. It’s upbeat, fun, reminiscent of Diddy’s best without being derivative, and taps into the contemporary wave of dancefloor-ready rap without being gimmicky.

“Homecoming” with Jozzy updates Diddy’s favorite approach to sampling (Ecstasy, Passion & Pain’s “Born To Lose You”), and “It Belongs To You” is slinky bedroom funk at its best. But then the first intermission hits and the production switches to that murky, Drake-esque slush — which has its place, to be fair. But the thing about Quiet Storm is there still needs to be some… let’s say “motion in the ocean.”

A lot of the back half is great from a songwriting and performing standpoint but placid and downright inert if you’re thinking of “music you make love to.” Diddy made a lot of fuss about bringing R&B “back” with this album but had he been paying attention, he’d have seen it never left — and he could have incorporated more of what modern singers like Lucky Daye, Arin Ray, Ari Lennox, SZA, Cleo Sol, Khalid, Tems, Victoria Monét, and more have been doing all along.

But what’s here is still a great sampling of what’s out there — in fact, it’s more of a smorgasbord, for better or worse. It’s overstuffed, indulgent, and overlong, but it’s also sumptuous, charismatic, and satisfying, if not sonically audacious. Basically, it’s all the things you want from a Diddy album.

The Love Album: Off The Grid is out now via Love Records and Motown.

If there’s one thing that separates the pros from the home cooks, it’s how clean your work area is when you’re getting ready to cook, cooking, and finishing up. Be assured that if you can’t keep a spotlessly clean station in a professional kitchen as you work, you will not be on the schedule the next day. This simple truth of cleanliness in the kitchen is the cornerstone of our new series, Clean Cookin’.

In this episode, Nashville country artist Mickey Guyton is welcomed into the kitchen of celebrity Chef Jamika Pessoa to make some delicious lasagna rolls. But before they dive into the cooking, Chef Pessoa breaks down the steps of cleanliness necessary to operate a pro kitchen. Step 1: “Everything Starts Clean,” which means that you need to clean your kitchen — and your hands — before you pull a single thing out of the fridge or fire up the stove. Step 2 is where a lot of home cooks can get into the proverbial “weeds,” but it’s a crucial step — “Clean As You Go.” While this seems obvious, it’s really what separates the pros from the novices. Make a mess? Clean it up right away. You’ll have more space and less room for contamination.

Naturally, having the cleanest possible kitchen is of paramount importance because you don’t want to get people sick — and a messy/dirty kitchen is the fastest way to that terrible outcome. No one wants to make themselves, their partner, or family and friends sick with their cooking from a disastrously messy and unkempt kitchen.

Chef Pessoa has more advice for keeping the kitchen clean while also offering an outstanding lasagna roll recipe that you can try at home (in your super clean kitchen). So watch the whole episode above to see it all.