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Jack Harlow is quickly becoming one of the most decorated rappers of our time. This past Wednesday (February 1), the “First Class” hitmaker was honored with the Thomas Edison Award at the annual Greater Louisville Inc. soiree.

The Thomas Edison Award recognizes extraordinary achievement and commitment to the community of Louisville, Kentucky, where Harlow is from. According to Louisville Business First, who was in attendance at the event, Harlow reiterated his love for the city in his acceptance speech.

“People ask me where I live and I tell them I don’t live in Atlanta or New York. I don’t live in California. I live in Louisville, Kentucky,” Harlow said. “I try to make sure I let the world know if you want to do a photo shoot, if you want to take a meeting, if you want to shoot a commercial, if you want to get in the studio and make some music you’re going to have to book that connection flight and come.”

He continued, saying, “We’re going to do some incredible things in the city over the next few years, I promise you.”

Next Sunday (February 12), Harlow will appear in a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos, alongside Missy Elliott. While the stars have remained mum about what to expect from the TV spot, the two have teased a love triangle in the upcoming ad.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rihanna is staging her comeback on one of the biggest nights in television, Super Bowl LVII, which is set for February 12. A source close to the Barbadian-bred mogul reveals that the “Diamonds” singer is more focused than ever for her upcoming halftime performance.

“She is ready for the Super Bowl,” a source told People. “She is rehearsing right now. She’s very excited, ready, and focused.”

Despite the 34-year-old new mom being under a presumably grueling rehearsal schedule, the singer reportedly “can’t wait to kill it,” according to the source.

In October, ahead of her highly-anticipated halftime performance released a teaser trailer, only further amping up excitement.

But before Rihanna hits the stage, Country star Chris Stapleton will open the show with the National Anthem. Emmy award-winning Abbot Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is also expected to appear, performing a rendition of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice.” Iconic producer, singer, and songwriter Babyface will also grace the stage to perform “America the Beautiful.”

In other news, Rihanna has a lot to be excited about. Aside from her new bundle of joy that she had this past May with boyfriend ASAP Rocky, Rihanna’s track for Black Panther 2, titled “Lift Me Up” — her first major project since 2016’s ANTI — has been nominated for an Academy Award.

Jennifer Coolidge is bigger than she’s ever been, and good for her. The always welcome character actress has been Hoovering up awards for her turn on The White Lotus, which gave her the meatiest role of a career that first took off over 20 years ago, thanks to films like American Pie and Legally Blonde. Speaking of the latter, a threequel is in the works, and while star Reese Witherspoon is clearly stoked about it, she has one make-or-break stipulation.

Entertainment Tonight recently caught up with Witherspoon, asking her about her onetime costar’s recent mega-success. “I’m beyond myself about Jennifer Coolidge,” Witherspoon said. “She deserves every one of those flowers she is receiving right now. And she’s just one of those people who is so naturally gifted and funny and that you can just tell people love her, ’cause she gets up there and everybody’s like, ‘I love her,’ but she’s just done a lot of good work in our business for so long, that it’s really nice to see her getting this incredible moment.”

How much does Witherspoon love Coolidge? So much so that it absolutely has to have Elle’s manicurist pal Paulette. “There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge,” Witherspoon averred.

Can Coolidge fit a third Legally Blonde into her surely busy schedule? Will White Lotus creator Mike White find a way to bring her back for a third season? Who’s to say? For now, though, Legally Blonde 3 is happening, and with a little help from another belated sequel: Top Gun: Maverick.

(Via ET)

We’re only two months into the new year and Drake is already busy breaking records. It’s been reported that the “Rich Flex” rapper has surpassed 75 billion streams on Spotify, becoming the first artist to do so. According to Chart Data, that makes him “the first artist in history to hit this milestone.”

While the Toronto rap star appreciates the acknowledgment, he believes that artists deserve to be compensated for their work to “motivate the future artists to be consistent and competitive,” according to a recent post to his Instagram story.

“We should get bonuses like athletes to motivate the future artists to be consistent and competitive…so feel free to send me a Lebron-sized cheque. I have enough dinner plates @spotify,” he wrote with a crying laugh emoji.

In 2019, the Canadian hitmaker was among the most streamed artists of the decade, alongside other commercial juggernauts like Eminem and Ed Sheeran. It feels like Drake’s record-breaking streak won’t be coming to an end anytime soon. This past December, Drake joined rarified company, becoming the highest-selling singles artist in the Recording Industry Association of America history, surpassing Eminem.

Last year, the rapper earned 10 new plaques from the RIAA, bringing his total to 184 million.

Following a heated lawsuit with Bacardi, Jay-Z has accepted a multi-billion dollar deal with the premium coganc brad regarding D’Usse, which the two have co-owned since 2011. In October, the “Family Feud” rapper sued the liquor company demanding “financial clarity,” TMZ reported. However, according to Complex, after striking this new deal, Jay-Z and his company, SC Liquor, is excited more than ever to renew the partnership.

“Growing D’Usse over the past decade from an idea to one of the fastest-selling spirits in history has been a blessing,” Jay-Z said in a recent statement. “The next phase of this journey will further cement D’Usse’s legacy as one of the world’s most respected brands. I am excited to renew this partnership with Bacardi.”

Prior to the lawsuit, Jay offered to purchase the spirits company for $1.5 billion but was rejected. Despite him asserting that the liquor brand was around $2.5 billion, Bacardi countered with a significantly lower offer of $460 million.

The new agreement required Jay to sell a significant stake in D’Usse. Before this incident, he held 50/50 ownership of the cognac brand with Bacardi, so presumably, Bacardi now owns at least 75 percent of D’Usse.

Complex estimates “that the newly announced acquisition stake was sold at a valuation of at least $3 billion.”

It’s well-documented that Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have not been on speaking terms for some time. Barkley has spoken at length about an argument the two had after he critiqued the way Jordan ran the Charlotte Hornets, which did not sit well with the six-time NBA champion.

Barkley has expressed his desire for the two to reconcile for years, although he recently made clear that the ball is in Jordan’s court for that to happen. And in a recent appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast, Barkley revealed what Jordan explicitly said to him that led to their falling out with one another.

“That would be on his end, Matt,” Barkley said at the 1:33:41 mark of the above video. “He was my best friend at the time, and I love the guy and I miss the guy. But you know, I gotta do my job.”

Barkley then told the now-famous story of how he said that Jordan surrounds himself with too many yes men in his role as the owner of the Hornets, and that he thinks it’s unfair to critique others while he lets some folks slide.

“And he went ballistic,” Barkley said. “And he called me — that’s the last thing I heard was, ‘motherf*cker, f*ck you, you’re supposed to be my boy and blah blah blah.’ And I said, man, I gotta do my job. And we haven’t spoken since that night.”

Tove Lo is back and she has big plans for 2023. While attending Spotify’s Best New Artist party, the Swedish singer-songwriter opened up about her plans to release new music. Along with a new tune, she said there will be an accompanying video released with the song.

“I’m putting out a new song very, very soon,” Tove Lo told Pop Crave. “Like, within weeks! There’s gonna be a video for it. The story continues!”

The new project — her first since last year’s Dirt Femme — doesn’t currently have a release date, but it will be dropping presumably soon. It’s also unclear what this new album will be about. The singer’s previous project, Dirt Femme, focused on her relationship with feminity. Tove Lo, whose real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, also talked about her journey with sexuality, revealing that she was pansexual.

“When I started out as a writer and an artist, I used to view my feminine traits as weaker and would enhance my masculine traits to get ahead in life. I feel a big energy shift in my environment since then, and this album reflects the various ways my feminine side has both helped and hurt me,” she said in statement. “I’m a pansexual woman married to a straight man. I believe masculine and feminine live on a spectrum in all humans. There are so many more interesting nuances than most people want to accept.”

With more confidence as time passes, it’ll be interesting to see what Tove Lo has under her sleeve next.

Adele is excited for Super Bowl LVII, but only for one reason and one reason only: Rihanna. Wow, she’s just like us.

While performing a set during her Weekends With Adele concert series in Vegas, which is a part of her residency, the UK singer talked with fans about the upcoming annual sporting event. The “Easy On Me” singer jokingly reveals that while she is thrilled about attending the event, she only cares to see Rihanna’s halftime performance.

“I’m going just for Rihanna,” she told the crowd. “I don’t give a freaking flying f*ck.”

Joining Rihanna is Country star Chris Stapleton, who will be opening the show with a rendition of the National Anthem. Following that, Emmy award-winning Abbot Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph will belt out the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice.” Iconic producer, singer, and songwriter Babyface is also expected to appear and perform “America the Beautiful” at the ceremony.

In true Rihanna fashion, ahead of her highly-anticipated halftime performance released a teaser trailer, only amping up excitement.

One of the biggest nights in television of the year, Super Bowl LVII, which will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona this year, will premiere on February 12.

For the last week, the nation has been gripped by the biggest balloon story since 2009’s “Balloon Boy.” A mysterious balloon cruised across the nation, first spotted over Idaho. It was soon revealed to be from China and alleged to be surveilling the country. It became known as the “Chinese spy balloon.” It even caused a minor international incident. But on Saturday, mere hours after President Joe Biden vowed to “take care of it,” the balloon met its maker over the coast of South Carolina.

As per The Associated Press, Air Force fighter aircraft shot down the balloon Saturday afternoon as it made its way over the Atlantic Ocean. Before the operation went into play, the FAA closed down air space while the Coast Guard told mariners to leave the area, warning that operation could prove a “significant hazard.” The shooting down of the balloon was caught live on Fox News, who happened to have a feed on air.

There were plenty of other videos of it from different angles.

Biden was first briefed on the balloon on Tuesday and he initially talked about taking it out then. Pentagon officials advised otherwise, arguing that it was a potential risk to those on the ground. Better, they said, to wait until the balloon was over the Atlantic Ocean.

During its tour of the United States, the balloon made a diagonal path from Idaho to the Carolinas, where it perished. Before it was gunned down, it was the size of three school buses and it tended to fly at about 60,000 over the ground.

The appearance of the balloon over America prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a visit to Beijing. China denied that it was a balloon made for spying, claiming it was made by civilians for meteorological research. Numerous figures on the right had reckless suggestions for how to handle the balloon, including Fox News host Jesse Watters telling regular Joes to shoot it down. Luckily cooler heads prevailed.

(Via The AP)

What’s the deal with telemarketers? They’re a pest that enrages many, including Jerry Seinfeld (or at least his Seinfeld character) and GOP senator Jon Bramnick. As per Mediaite, the New Jersey lawmaker so despises them that he’s introducing legislation inspired by the famous Seinfeld scene where Jerry gives a caller a taste of his own medicine.

Last week Bramnick introduced a bill that would require telemarketers to provide customers with “the name and telephone number of the person on whose behalf the call is being made.” Should the bill pass, they would have to do so within the first 30 seconds of the call — provided people don’t angrily hang up on them.

Lest anyone was wondering where he got the idea, Bramnick posted the Seinfeld scene, from the Season 4 classic “The Pitch” and written by the uncancellable Larry David, in which Jerry takes a break from chatting with Kramer, George, and the latter’s new (doomed) girlfriend Susan to field a call from a telemarketer. After being asked about changing his long distance service (a beautiful time capsule, this scene), Jerry says he’s busy and asks for the telemarketer’s number so he can call him later. The telemarketer refuses.

“Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you at home?” Jerry asks.

“No,” the man answers.

“Well, now you know how I feel,” Jerry replies.

Of course, telemarketers aren’t quite the scourge they were in the days before caller ID, to say nothing of smartphones. Perhaps a Seinfeld episode made today would feature Jerry raging against a more modern annoyance: robocalls.

(Via Mediaite)