Category: Trending

Whether you think Kanye West’s decision to make access to his new album Donda 2 exclusive to his stem player is a genius idea or a massive grift, it looks like someone out there has found a way to (temporarily) capitalize on it with a scam of their own. A fake version of Donda 2 is reportedly charting on iTunes after being uploaded under the misleading — but not that misleading — name “Wanye Kest,” according to Complex.

The facts that the name is obviously wrong, the tracklist is too short, and that Kanye vowed not to release his album to DSPs haven’t deterred fans from streaming the fake album; according to Complex, Donda 2 by Wanye Kest has reached No. 40 on the Top Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time someone uploaded a fake album purported to be a highly anticipated one from a big-name superstar to Apple Music. In 2018, fake albums made up of leaked material supposedly from Beyonce and SZA popped up, while in 2019, even Rihanna had to react after an “unofficial” version of her ninth album found its way online. Meanwhile, in 2020, Mario Judah used the hype around Playboi Carti’s forthcoming album Whole Lotta Red to release his own version and hijack some of its buzz — at least until Carti actually dropped his album.

All those fake albums — save for Mario Judah’s, because it actually had his name on it — were eventually taken down, so unfortunately for Wanye Kest, their ill-gotten gains likely won’t last. For now, the only way to get Donda 2 for real remains shelling out $200 for a stem player — or using the slightly shadier method some of his fans cooked up to avoid such a fee.

Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts and ratings) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

10: (TIE) Vikings: Valhalla (Netflix series)

After six seasons of hair-filled action, this spinoff series to the O.G. conflict-packed History Channel hit streaming queues everywhere. This show’s set 100 years ahead of the original story with a new generation of destiny-seizing heroes. The show does follow some new history-famous Vikings, and those would include Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), and Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter). Expect all of the violence and bloodiness that fans of the original came to enjoy, all while the fight between principal characters and the English royals will get ugly, as will the battle between Christian and pagan beliefs in super harsh times for all.

10: (TIE) Pam & Tommy (Hulu series)

A solid Third Eye Blind dig and an Emmy-worthy deposition episode from Lily James continue to score raves from viewers who were alrady digging this irresistibly trashy show. You gotta wonder whether the Emmys will roll in here, especially for James but also if they create a special category for “voicing an animatronic penis,” which would obviously go to Jason Mantzoukas. And those mullets (on Seth Rogen and Nick Offerman) score even more points for the hair and makeup team.

9. Peacemaker (HBO Max series)

Peacemaker’s already danced off into the sunset, but do yourself a favor and — even if you aren’t a comic-book fan — go at least enjoy the opening scene and some of the humor. And if you missed this one even as a fellow nerd, you’ll wanna catch on the show’s connections to the DCEU at large, even if they’re arguably (with those Aquaman jokes) problematic. Can Eagly fix everything? Sure, if only for the moment.

8. The Power of the Dog (Netflix film)

This movie will figure in prominently at the Oscars, and it’s surprisingly breezily streamable, considering that some of the subject matter is very dark. Hell, it’s just fun to watch Benedict Cumberbatch put on sinister airs, given that we’ll soon end up seeing him in hero-ish move again in Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness. He’s a strong contender for acting awards all around, as are Jesse Plemons and Kristen Dunst and director Jane Campion, along with the rest of her crew.

7. Law & Order: Season 21 (NBC series)

You can probably thank (or blame) the layered (and shaded) return of Elliot Stabler to the Law & Order universe for the return of this Dick Wolf flagship series. There’s no Chris Noth to be found here, but you will see Sam Waterston and Anthony Anderson. In addition, Hugh Dancy is on board while SVU and Organized Crime are still going strong. NBC is pretty much blocking out a whole night for this trio, so crime-TV junkies must be in Thursday night paradise, while you can stream ’em on Peacock, Hulu, and elsewhere.

6. From (Epix series)

This selection’s not even trying to hide the deliciously heavy Lost influence, and that’s not a bad thing at all. The story follows a normal-seeming town, from which no one can escape, and there’s a sh*t ton of monsters afoot. This one’s a slow burn, so hang on while secrets and puzzles start to unfold, and yeah, sci-fi fans shouldn’t mind having this show tide them over until Netflix brings a final season for Manifest fans to gobble up with wild abandon.

5. Inventing Anna (Netflix limited series)

Ozark might very well be Ruth Langmore’s world, but the streaming realm similarly belongs to Julia Garner. The limited series feels like it’s an episode or so too long, but still, the overall project is worth a binge. Also, it’s all inspired (with a hefty dose of embellishment for additional characters, other than Garner’s Anna Delvey) Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article, in case you wanna do some background reading before you start the binge.

4. Euphoria (HBO series on HBO Max)

The season finale was rather devastating on several levels, and my god, high school should not be this traumatic or stressful for anyone. Thankfully, there’s still the music to keep everyone afloat, and now comes the countdown to Season 3. The show can be triggering to watch, but the sophomore season did eclipse what came before, so at least consider finding out what all the fuss (and Fez) is about.

3. Snowfall: Season 5 (FX series)

John Singleton’s brainchild continues, and let the power games and big-crime clashes rise up again. This season pops in with Franklin’s family in a ridiculously rich state and about to achieve all of their dreams. Yet the cocaine-associated death of basketball star Len Bias naturally puts a damper on the good times, especially when the heat (from politicians, law enforcement, and the essentially militarize LAPD) turns up on these characters. As a result, the surroundings of South Central LA grow ever-more dangerous while the walls continue to close in around the family, which only increases the pressure cooker situation brewing in 1980s LA.

2. Severance (Apple TV+ series)

Do you have a healthy work-life balance? Perhaps not, but no matter where you sit on that continuum, you’ll enjoy this show from the mind of Ben Stiller, who takes a real swing on this common struggle. Adam Scott is the perfect leading man for this story, and Patricia Arquette is always great, but we’re also getting bonus Christopher Walken here, and be sure to do your best Blue Steel at least once while basking in this Stiller affair.

1. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO series on HBO Max)

Hallelujah, he is risen. And by that, we’re talking about Walton Goggins acting his tush off as Baby Billy. The second season finale was chock full of wildness from Judy and the boys, all while the mystery of the cycle ninjas finally received some answers. Fans dug this finale even more than the Euphoria counterpart so don’t even try to resist the evangelical cry for you to check this out if you haven’t already. Don’t be “Misbehavin’”!

Who would win in a fight: Rocky or Rambo?

We’ve all had this argument on the playground after we were finished debating Batman vs. Superman, Alien vs. Predator, Ecks vs. Sever. But no one has thought about it more than Sylvester Stallone, who, after five Rambo movies of varying quality and eight Rocky films of better quality, has finally shared his results in a recent Instagram post.

“If it’s two men meeting in the street and going at each other with no rules I believe the outcome would be… If the fighters wore to remain upright Rocky would prevail. His body punches and Right Hooks Would eventually beat Rambo”

There’s your answers, folks. It’s… oh wait, there’s more.

“If the fight goes to the ground , Rambo will prevail In a bloody brutal fight to the end”

OK, so the victor is… never mind, he’s still not finished.

Rethinking this scenario, I believe that upon initial contact, since they will not be in the rain but fighting outside, basically a street fight, the Rocky will land the first five or six blows. If that does not incapacitate Rambo, which I don’t think he will unless he’s caught clean, Rambo’s skill set will definitely be in full display, , Which means incredibly vicious assaults on the eyes, the throat, every vulnerable part of the body eventually leading to being pulled to the ground and most likely mauled… Then again Rocky is incredibly resilient and pretty good on the ground too !!! That’s my opinion in this fictional world. Final result is neither man will ever be the same.

The winner: Sylvester Stallone, for being the only man strong enough to take on Sylvester Stallone.

Starting March 1, Netflix could find itself in a standoff with the Russian government. The issue: the streaming service has refused to carry 20 free-to-air Russian propaganda channels in light of the Ukraine invasion. As one of the larger streaming companies, Netflix is subject to regulation out of Moscow, which would force the company to comply with a new law that takes effect at the beginning of March and requires the airing of the Russian channels. However, Netflix has announced its intentions not to comply.

“Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety, which then explained the exact quandary the streaming service now finds itself in:

In December 2021, Netflix was added by the Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, to its register for audiovisual services because the SVOD reached over 100,000 subscribers. Consequently, Netflix is theoretically required as part of a law — known locally as the Vitrina TV law — to distribute 20 “must-carry” free-to-air Russian news, sports and entertainment TV channels.

The channels include Channel One, NTV and Spa, a channel operated by the Russian Orthodox Church. Channel One is understood to be aligned with the Kremlin and likely to broadcast Putin propaganda, Variety understands.

According to Variety, Netflix is the only streaming service large enough to be affected by the new law. At the time of this writing, Netflix has not revealed what it will do should it face pushback from Moscow to comply and air the propaganda channels. Historically, Putin and his government do not handle resistance lightly, as evidenced by, well, everything happening right now.

(Via Variety)

While it mostly traditional pop or hip-hop songs that hang out near the top of the charts, things have been different lately as standout Encanto hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has enjoyed a sustained run atop the Billboard Hot 100. It spent a fourth frame at No. 1 last week, and now it once again occupies that spot for a fifth time on the new chart dated March 5.

Billboard notes the song’s success this week is due to a significant uptick in radio airplay impressions (7.9 million of them, a 23-percent increase from the previous week) despite declines in streams and downloads.

A fifth week on top extends the song’s record for most weeks at No. 1 for a song from a Disney movie. In fact, it now has more weeks at No. 1 than the next two-biggest Disney songs combined: Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Sting’s “All For Love” from The Three Musketeers spent three weeks at No. 1 while “A Whole New World” from Aladdin logged a week on top.

Meanwhile, Gayle is having a moment, as her viral hit “ABCDEFU” has hit a new high on the Hot 100, rising from No. 4 last week to No. 3 today.

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

Machine Gun Kelly has been making headlines for more than his music lately. The rapper turned pop-punk revivalist has drawn attention for both his quirky relationship with actress Megan Fox and more recently, his efforts at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, where he represented for his hometown in the celebrity game, showing off his refined jumper despite being shown up by Jack Harlow. Over the weekend, he made another move practically guaranteed to get fans talking, debuting a new hair color on Instagram, along with matching nails and wardrobe.

On the music front, though, he’s been just as busy, contributing his efforts to new songs from both Willow Smith, who followed in her mom’s footsteps with a turn into punk rock on “Emo Girl,” and popping up on pop-punk pioneer Avril Lavigne’s new album Love Sux on the song “Bois Lie.” While those efforts have been mostly well-received, his interpretation of Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra cut “Swim Good” didn’t go over quite as well, ruffling feathers on Twitter and drawing ridicule. Fortunately, he had another bid for pop culture awareness up his sleeve: the Semisonic-interpolating “Thought It Was” with Iann Dior and Travis Barker. Could the new hair be a sign that his recently renamed album, Mainstream Sellout, is coming soon?

As she gears up for the release of her sophomore album, Painless, out this Friday March 4th, Nilüfer Yanya has graced us with one final single, in “The Dealer.” Debuted as BBC1’s “Hottest Record in the World” today, it’s another rhythmic groove from the Londoner and one last piece of the puzzle to what’s sure to be a killer record.

All of Yanya’s latest music has been consistently meaningful and empowering, but she doesn’t hit you over the head with a preachy message. Everything is just so damn fun to listen to. “When I was writing this song I was thinking about the transient nature of life and the cyclical nature of the seasons,” she said in a statement. “I find it interesting how we attach certain memories and feelings to different seasons and tend to revisit them time and time again, yet our lives move in a more linear motion and even when we feel like we are going back we never really get to go back anywhere. Musically speaking it’s a bit more playful and relaxed.”

Listen to “The Dealer” above and check out her tour dates which start next week.

Painless is out on 3/4 via ATO Records. Pre-order it here.

With the release of the Uncharted film, we’re all once again skydiving out of cargo planes into the wonderfully weird world of video game adaptations. Are they good? Are they bad? Are they faithful recreations or uneven homages? The answer to all of these questions is “yes,” because video game movies and shows are a little more complicated than the Konami code.

We all know those movies or shows that are so bad they’re good, but it seems like video game adaptations overwhelmingly fall into this category. Everything from the original Super Mario Bros. movie to the Resident Evil film franchise hasn’t always lived up to fan expectations or earned critical praise but many have achieved cult movie status with fans who see past the bumps to find a bit of charm. But cult status isn’t usually the ambition when you think of the big budget nature of these things. How to fix them? Who knows. Maybe some of these long-running series would benefit from different adaptations, like the animated TV show Arcane and how it’s been a hit for League of Legends. Our hosts have some ideas as well and get into it while also talking about their personal histories with these adaptations and which incredibad ones they still love, all while keeping a hopeful eye on the future of video game movies and shows.

So sit back, throw on UPROXX Recon, and enjoy before binge watching a few of your favorite video game movies!

Sarah Snook, unlike seemingly everyone else, was not watching the Euphoria finale on Sunday. She was too busy winning Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the SAG Awards with the rest of her Succession co-stars (Tiny Wu-Tang should have accepted on their behalf) and being featured in a joke on Family Guy.

In last night’s episode, “The Lois Quagmire,” Lois warns Peter that if he orders pizza instead of eating the healthy dinner she made him and the kids, “there will be consequences, mom’s out of town consequences, which according to the movies are the worst kind.” Peter is not pleased, so to get back at Lois, he tweets “mean stuff at celebrities who look vaguely like you.” His first stop: Snook’s Twitter. “Hey idiot, your father is stringing you along. You’re never getting the company,” Peter writes, followed a few seconds later by Kendall Roy liking the tweet. Good tweet.

“Here are three things that happened today. I think the middle pic says it all. That’s my actual face. (Gosh I wish I could’ve been there! So proud and bravo to all!),” the Shiv actress wrote on Instagram, along with, in order, her reaction to the Succession win, a selfie where she has a cookie face (?) over her face, and the Family Guy joke.

Plenty of people making their way through the music industry have some family members who have already fared well in it. Among those is 15-year-old Grace Franklin, whose grandmother is the iconic Aretha Franklin. She auditioned for the current season of American Idol, but, despite her lineage, she did not make it past the audition stage.

In a pre-taped segment, Franklin said, “I feel like people expect me to sing exactly like her, but I am my own artist and I have my own voice.” She then got to showing off that voice with a rendition of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” (inspired by the Lauryn Hill cover). While Lionel Richie was happily reminiscing about Aretha before Franklin sang, he commented on her perceived nervousness after the song. Meanwhile, Luke Bryan thought the performance was “sleepy and subdued” and Katy Perry called it “soft.”

Perry encouraged Franklin to take another crack at it, so she tried again with her grandmother’s “Ain’t No Way,” which she sang with more force than she used for “Killing Me Softly.” Perry was more receptive of that performance and so was Bryan, although he wasn’t completely swayed. Both Richie and Bryan encouraged Franklin to develop her voice more.

When it came time for the vote, Perry gave Franklin the go-ahead, while Richie and Bryan both passed, even after Perry’s fervent campaigning and playfully storming off set in disagreement.

Check out the audition above.