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There was a time early last season with the Chicago Bulls were near the top of the East standings and it appeared as though their roster overhaul was getting set to pay big dividends.

After trading for Nikola Vucevic at the deadline in 2021, they went out and added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso over the summer, and that group jelled quickly, jumping out to a 26-10 record in early January of 2022. Then, injuries started to mount, with Zach LaVine dealing with knee issues, Alex Caruso missing some time, and Lonzo Ball suffering a torn meniscus. The hope was to get all of them back by the stretch run, but 14 months later and Ball is still nowhere close to returning to a basketball court.

Ball has had two surgeries already, but discomfort still exists in his day-to-day life and he will now undergo a third surgery that, per Shams Charania, will likely cost him most, if not all, of the 2023-24 season as well.

It is a devastating reminder that while we are used to seeing athletes come back from serious injuries and have a general timetable for what most recoveries take, sometimes injuries that have become fairly common can be career-altering. Ball was thriving in Chicago, but is now set to miss more than two full seasons, with no guarantees that this third surgery will be the one that gets him back to being able to play. The main hope at this point is that he can be pain-free in his day-to-day life, and then basketball can come back into focus for him. The Bulls, meanwhile, will have to make some decisions this offseason about the direction of their franchise, knowing they’re likely not getting Ball back until 2024 at the earliest.

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“I couldn’t imagine a more perfect show to watch… high on heroin.” -Dave Manheim

The block is hot and the pod is hotter as Dave Manheim from the Dopey Podcast joins Pod Yourself The Wire to help Matt and Vince break down The Wire, season two episode nine, “Stray Rounds.”

This episode has a fun little cold open in which we are introduced to a child who is shortly thereafter killed by a stray bullet from a territory dispute between a Barksdale crew and a Prop Joe crew. It makes sense that Dave and Matt bond over watching the show while on heroin, because opiates might be the only way to maintain a positive attitude while watching this show.

We lose one favorite character, Ziggy’s duck (couldn’t handle his liquor), but gain another notable character in Brother Mouzone, leading to debate about whether he is a cool, interesting, Omar-of-New-York type of character, or a corny ass Fargo on FX quirky villain guy. Either way, his valet Lamar needs to find him a Harper’s Bazaar, ASAP.

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-Description by Brent Flyberg

Despite repeatedly citing Justice League as one of the “worst experiences” he’s ever seen in his career, Ben Affleck surprisingly agreed to return as Batman for last hurrah in The Flash. The actor is completely done with the role, which even he admits is kind of unfortunate because after years of struggling to get the character right, he finally figured out the Dark Knight while shooting his cameo.

“I nailed it in The Flash,” Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter. “For the five minutes I’m there, it’s really great. A lot of it’s just tone. You’ve got to figure out, what’s your version of the person? Who is the guy that fits what you can do? I tried to fit myself into a Batman. And by the way, I like a lot of the stuff we did, especially the first one [Batman v Superman].”

Affleck’s remark echo previous remarks he made in January 2022 where he cited The Flash as his “favorite scenes in terms of Batman.”

“Maybe they will decide that it doesn’t work, but when I went and did it, it was really fun and really, really satisfying and encouraging,” he told the Herald Sun.

However, don’t misconstrue Affleck’s excitement for The Flash as any sign that he’s looking to get back in to the DC Comics world in any capacity. He quickly shot down rumors that he was in talks to direct a DC Film for James Gunn.

“Absolutely not,” Affleck told THR. “I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.”

The Flash races into theaters on June 16, 2023.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Since the last update of this weekly R&B and Afrobeats column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists. 6lack delivered another single with “Talkback” ahead of his upcoming album Since I Have A Lover while Chlöe shared the trailer for her Peacock musical comedy, Praise This. SZA brought out Cardi B, Phoebe Bridgers, and Summer Walker as guests on her SOS Tour and Tori Kelly announced her return to R&B and fans couldn’t have been more excited.

Here are some more releases on the new music front that you should check out:

6lack — “Talkback”

It’s been nearly three years since 6lack released an album, but in just a couple of weeks, that drought will end with the release of his third album Since I Have A Lover. The latest preview of the album comes with “Talkback,” a confident single that finds the Atlanta native standing firm in his belief.

Blxst — Just For Clarity 2

Next month will mark one year since the release of Blxst’s debut Before You Go, and before that anniversary comes around, the LA singer returns with his new EP Just For Clarity 2. The sequel to his 2021 project delivers four songs and features from Mustard, Terrace Martin, Roddy Ricch, and Larry June.

Musiq Soulchild & Hit-Boy — Victim & Villains

Musiq Soulchild and Hit-Boy may not have been the singer-producer duo you expected for 2023, but that is what the year brought us and it’s turned out to be a wonderful collaboration. The duo released their Victim & Villains complete with 11 songs and a feature from The Husel for a project that is

Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington & Dinner Party — “Insane” Feat. Ant Clemons

In late 2020, Dinner Party — the collective comprised of Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, and Kamasi Washington — delivered their self-titled project. Its original seven songs, which only featured Pheolix, were later revamped with new features from Buddy, Cordae, Snoop Dogg, Alex Isley, and more. There’s no telling what’s in store next for the group, but their new single “Insane” with Ant Clemons is a step in the right direction.

Dende — ’95 Civic

Dende has been on a roll lately. The Houston native began 2023 with his Before We Crash, and just two months later he’s back in action with his new album ’95 Civic. On the 12-track album, Dende works through love and heartbreak for a project that juxtaposes what was heard on Before We Crash.

Reggie Becton — “Life”

For his first solo release of the year, Reggie Becton gets back to what he does best: making great passionate and soul-driven R&B music. That’s evident with his new single “Life.” The new track is a warm and soft release that’s perfect for the impending warm months. If you enjoy this record Becton, you expect more from him in the near future.

Zay Johnny & Phabo — “Poed Up”

Over the past year, Dallas singer Zay Johnny has been turning out singles that boost his stock with each release. The latest finds him working beside California’s own Phabo. Their collaboration, “Poed Up,” is as woozy as much as it is confident for a song that both artists use to describe the comfort they have with a lover during their most intimate moments.

Elmiene — El-Mean

After a pair of singles that he released over the past few months, British singer Elmiene is here with his new project El-Mean. It arrives with six songs including the previously-released “Endless No Mores” and “Why (Spare Me Tears)” for an equally sultry and emotive body of work that you’ll surely enjoy.

Khamari — “On My Way”

Khamari’s first single of the year, “On My Way,” looks back at the first big move of his career. During the pandemic, Kharami moved from Boston to Los Angeles and this new song looks back at that big transition. He added that the song is “about my move, my confidence in knowing I was making the right decision starting fresh so I could build something from the ground up.”

Yinka — Let’s Get Romantic

Nigeria-born, New York-raised singer Yinka has finally checked in with her debut project Let’s Get Romantic. Through seven tracks, Yinka creates a body of work about romance and inspiring a closed-off generation to love. She adds that the album is “this generation’s reminder to give a f*ck about love again… to be intentional about how we love. A reminder that love is as fragile as it is scarce.”

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

There’s a reason why one of hip-hop’s largest festivals, Rolling Loud, planted roots in California. From NorCal to SoCal, the Golden State is flooded with talent both in the underground scene and blazing a trail in the mainstream culture. Longtime affiliate of Sacramento artist Mozzy, rapper Celly Ru is one of those acts burning up the underground scene.

Although Mozzy is currently serving time in federal prison, Ru was sure to include his friend on his latest album, Money Family Respect. The project is flooded with features. Stunna Girl, ZayBang, YN Jay, Louie Ray, and more all make an appearance. But it is Celly Ru’s standalone track, “Frozen Heart,” that has the streets on lock.

To bask in the love the track has received since the album’s release, Celly Ru stopped by our studios for a special UPROXX Session performance of the song.

Watch Celly Ru’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Frozen Heart” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Kanye West has avoided battery charges after he threw a woman’s phone in the street for filming him without permission, according to TMZ. The January incident saw police investigating the controversial music star after footage surfaced online of Kanye accosting the woman in her car. After an argument, Kanye was seen grabbing her phone from her hand and throwing it.

However, according to TMZ, the woman declined to press charges, and the only damage done was to the phone’s case. The argument started when Kanye became upset that the paparazzi were filming him at his daughter North’s basketball game. “You didn’t have to run up on me like that,” he told her. “If I say stop, stop with your cameras!” A bystander filmed the exchange, as did the woman’s companion, sitting in the passenger seat.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release that confirmed that Kanye wouldn’t face any charges, and that only around $30 of damage was done. So, aside from the photographer needing a new phone case, there was no harm, no foul.

Kanye’s issues with the paparazzi are well-documented, but he’s apparently been trying to stay out of the spotlight recently after stirring up a ton of controversy over the past year from making antisemitic comments.

On the heels of her Billboard’s Women In Music Awards performance, Lu Kala joins our video call in full glam, sporting her handy dandy bonnet to protect her vibrant orange tresses. This is what her life has become as one of the most promising acts in pop music. A genre distinction she has fought tooth and nail to secure.

The Congolese-Canadian songwriter goes from stage to press set, and if time permits, the studio (or as Lady Gaga famously said, “No sleep. Bus. Club. Another club. Plane. Next place”). However, she is sure to emphasize that she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’ve put in 10,000 plus hours of work, and now I’m finally starting to smell the flowers a little bit. I’ve been working at this my whole life. From the moment I put out my first-ever song nearly four years ago, 100% independently,” exclaims the musician.

In fact, to the singer, her inaugural Billboard Hot 100 placement alongside rapper Latto for their collaborative record, “Lottery,” is only the beginning. Despite her true start in the music industry dating back to 2014 after Kala landed her first songwriting placement on Jennifer Hudson’s JHUD album, it wasn’t until around 2018 that she began to release music as a solo act. Then during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kala decided to cash in all of her creative chips by dropping the debut EP Worthy.

Ever so poetically titled, the 8-track project was the catalyst of self-reassurance she needed after dropping out of college to pursue music full-time. When describing the body of work, Kala shares, “[Worthy was] about me finding and falling in love with myself. Realizing that who I am as a person is worthy. No matter how people in the past have counted me out.” Kala holds nothing back as she continues to call out the naysayers, “the music industry, especially being a Black woman in pop music, being a plus size. In my dating life. Even [former] friends! Sometimes people don’t want to be friends with a plus-sized person. So I feel like I’ve always been counted out and made to feel like I’m not worthy. But I came through this cycle where I was like, no, I’m worthy of everything I want. I’m worthy of love.”

To be clear, Kala isn’t standing on a soap box when chronicling the mistreatment she’s experienced as a plus-size woman. She’s just calling it like it is. “For me, me making it is a big deal because I’m fighting so many different battles being a Black woman. A Black plus-sized woman. And you add all these different titles, but it’s like, I’m not telling anyone to look like me. But I’m telling people, I’m allowed to be here as well,” says Kala.

Body neutrality isn’t a cause Kala volunteered to fight, same as fellow pop singer Lizzo; rather, they were forced to take it up as the genre has maintained a vile history of gatekeeping who can enter the ranks mainly rooted in desirability politics. This means pushing white-abled-body cisgender heterosexual men primarily to the forefront, followed by their white cishet woman counterparts while all others duke it out for their spots. Every so often, an outlier will break through the boundaries, and for today’s rising stars, Lu Kala aims to be that dismantling figure.

“It’s so stupid. I don’t know why people make a lot of this stuff political just because you’re in a different body size. People are like, ‘oh, I love her, but she needs to lose weight.’ Or ‘this advocating for obesity.’ Just because someone is being shown to the world and people are loving on them doesn’t mean they’re telling you any message. If there is a message that they’re telling you, it’s ‘this is me. Take it or leave it.’ If you see someone that’s smaller, you don’t see them as a gym ad. But for some weird reason, if you see someone that’s bigger, you see them as an obesity or diabetes ad. And that’s very odd.”

Under those divisive circumstances, Lu Kala wasn’t supposed to be here, but thanks to her fierce belief in self and great solo music such as her single, “Pretty Girl Era,” which has dominated TikTok’s trending sounds, her career as continued to flourish in ways beyond her imagination. Still, Kala doesn’t deny it has been an uphill battle, saying, “That’s the tough part about this journey. As a Black person, I’m fighting so hard to just be seen as exactly what I’m doing. But, you know, a lot of times when you’re white in this industry, or sometimes even other races, but mainly, predominately white, you’re allowed to be the most popular genre. Even if that’s not really the kind of music you’re making. You get to be in any space. You get to drop an R&B album but be considered for a pop album. And here’s a nuance in some of these things, but it would at least be great if it went both ways.”

Musicians like Justin Bieber and Doja Cat have both verbalized their frustrations with the ways in which their music has been categorized in the past. On the other hand, legacy acts, such as Dionne Warwick and he impact on pop music, are often forgotten. In spite of that, thanks in part to the camaraderie of musical sisterhood, Lu Kala and her music continues to occupy spaces of reverence. Rapper Latto is certainly one of those allies.

When asked to detail her experience working with Latto on their record, Lu Kala poured with excitement. “It was pretty cool,” shares the singer. “I actually started writing the hook for the song with some people I love nearly a year ago. I wrote it because I was in my confidence bag. Like, ‘being with my babe, is like winning the lottery.’ But that hook was originally supposed to be on a song for my project. In the end, Latto heard the record and was a big fan of it, but I hadn’t really worked with rappers, so I didn’t know what the pop-rap collaboration would be like.”

The prospect of reviving the traditional formula of what crossover songs did in the early 2000s is what was the selling point for Kala. As she says, “what made me love pop music so much was the fact that everyone knew the words to the song.”

Kala continues, “when I got back to Los Angeles, they played me her verses, and I was like, ‘oh, okay. She went crazy on this.’ In the end, it ended up being her song. I’m just so grateful that she kept me on it. I just feel like it was meant to be. I’m so excited to see what this song does for the both of us. I think that we’re gonna be hearing it a lot this summer.”

With the odds stacked up against her as the child of conservative Christian immigrant parents, a Black woman, and a Black plus-size woman in pop music, Lu Kala’s work ethic and unabashed displays of vulnerability have garnered her a fanbase that shows no signs of slowing down. “I’m just happy that I’m finally living in a time and space where pop stars can be Black. They can be queer. They can look completely different. But Black women, especially, are allowed to be whatever they want,” she declares before adding, “I’m so excited for the girls that are coming after me because they get to see me, Hemlocke Springs, and Willow Smith. There are just so many options for who they can be now. And hopefully, when it comes to they can freely create the next new thing.”

Thanks to artists like Lu Kala, the next generation of pop music lovers have nothing to worry about. As for her ultimate goal as a musician, she says, “I really believe music has the power to heal us. To shift us. So, I hope people feel a shift hearing my songs. Words are very important, but so is the musicality. I want to heal the world. I want everybody to dance and have a good time while we’re here being human in this thing called life.”

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

In a fundamental way, it makes sense that Yves Tumor‘s new album, Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds), begins with a scream. Perhaps it’s in recognition of the horror that there are people in his life that they still don’t know, as they sing on album opener “God Is A Circle,” or maybe it has to do with something entirely unrelated; but the concept of a scream tying thematically disparate ideas together into something shocking and beautiful ends up being the thrust and thesis of Tumor’s brilliant new album. The blend of drastic differences and epic scopes of Tumor’s previous two records — the weirdo-left field pop thriller from 2018 Safe In The Hands Of Love and 2020’s alien-invades-a-stadium-rock-show effort, Heaven To A Tortured Mind — would lead one to believe that Praise A Lord would offer a different touch, but it’s hard to imagine the otherworldly and thrillingly unfamiliar places Tumor goes without listening to this one-of-a-kind album.

Rather than analyzing where Tumor’s been, though, perhaps it’s best served to contextualize Praise A Lord through its producer, Noah Goldstein, who veers far more towards the art-meets-pop center than anything Tumor’s done before. Rather than sacrificing their style in favor of something closer to commercially friendly, though, Tumor expands their sound to see just how far towards the edges of consumable this work can go.

The results are quite often breathtaking. Goldstein has worked with Frank Ocean, Rosalía, Drake, Rihanna, and Bon Iver, and as such it’s clear that the pop demarcations are going to — to a certain degree — set the course for Praise A Lord, but the album’s true style lies in the subtle details Tumor plants like seedlings; ideas that eventually grow into the hanging canopies that shade the record.

Take the album’s most recent single, “Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood,” an AM ’70s-inspired psych-pop jam that suddenly shifts into a sludge-affected slow pop banger. Tumor employs their upper register, floating above buzzing bass lines and cathartic piano chords.

When they sing, “This world feels so ugly when life makes a fool of us,” the song sounds heartbroken and defeated. But it’s in Tumor’s ability to manipulate feelings through vocal feats that allows the song to operate on multiple emotional planes. After all, the chorus ends with, “I love the color blue because / It’s in the sky / And that’s where God is.”

The idea of God also plays a big role in this album, mostly as an abstract figure Tumor can look to. In their hands, the all-being figure is less a dominating presence than a source of strength to look towards in times of struggle. It is the Platonic ideal of what religious figures should represent, namely a safe haven to rely on when shit gets really, really bad. It’s more than ironic that politicians across the country are enacting such a being to protest against people like Tumor, but raging against this sort of broken moral compass also contributes to the brilliance of this album.

On Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds), Yves Tumor creates a world for everyone who wants a space away from our ruined hellscape. This is a place to be who you are, and who that is doesn’t matter; as long as you treat others the same way. To be chewed but not spit is to be loved but not discarded. On their new album, Yves Tumor takes a bite out of the world, but rather than puncturing it, they find places where we might have been weak, and make us whole again through the long, testing process of healing.

The Atlanta Hawks came to terms on a contract extension with one of their more productive players over the last three seasons. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Hawks and veteran guard Bogdan Bogdanovic came to terms on a new deal that will pay him $68 million over the next four years. As Wojnarowski noted, Bogdanovic will facilitate his deal by declining the player option he has for 2023-24 on his current deal.

Because this contract begins next season, Bogdanovic is now signed through the 2026-27 campaign. After missing the first month and a half of the year due to a procedure he had on his knee in the summer, Bogdanovic has averaged 14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 28.5 minutes per game while connecting on 43.7 percent of his attempts from the field and 40.1 percent of his threes. All but five of his 43 appearances have come off of the bench.

It has been a tumultuous year for the Hawks, which swung for the fences in the offseason by making a move to acquire Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs. Atlanta is current 34-35 and sit in the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Back in February, the team fired head coach Nate McMillan and replaced him with former Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder.

Vladimir Putin has largely put on a display of bravado concerning his Ukraine war while only occasionally admitting to shortcomings with his plan. He also pulled out of a nuclear pact in what felt like a temper tantrum, and overall, things are not going well with this conflict. Russia has turned to recruiting female troops, and Putin’s private gathering of mercenaries, the Wagner Group, is now recruiting Pornhub visitors, and that doesn’t even account for what’s happening with Russia’s economy.

Between the reported Viagra and paper shortages in Russia and the sorry imitation of McDonald’s that the country attempted to install, consumers already aren’t happy with the war’s effects. Then there are all the sanctions flying from various Western countries, but Putin is here with a solution: attempting to guilt billionaires into fixing Russia for him. In a speech geared towards Russia’s elite, as Reuters reports, the Russian president also sounds pretty steamed about oligarchs growing fearful about their nation’s economy and increasingly moving into offshore-asset mode:

“A responsible entrepreneur is a real citizen of Russia, of his country, a citizen who understands and acts in its interests,” Putin said. “He does not hide assets offshore, but registers companies here, in our country, and does not become dependent on foreign authorities.”

Good luck with that? I’m guessing that no oligarch who has lost his $600 million superyacht or several homes to sanction-based seizures will be willing to pony up all of the assets to help save Russia. Nope, Vlad is gonna have to figure this one out on his own.

(Via Reuters)