Category: Viral

It turns out not everyone had as enthusiastic a response to Drake‘s book of poetry as DJ Khaled did (and even his was a little noncommital). After Complex got a few full-time poets to review the book, Drake learned that he wasn’t being taken quite as seriously as perhaps he’d hoped.

With a title like Titles Ruin Everything, you’d think he’s in on the joke, but as New York Times bestselling author Hanif Abdurraqib pointed out, it’s kind of hard to tell. “None of these strike me as poems, because they’re not even attempting to push against any unknown in order to offer something revelatory or at least somewhat beautiful,” he says in the piece.

“Some of these are so absurd that they’re actually funny,” he continues. “But it’s hard to tell if he also understands that they’re bending into absurdist humor, and understands that there will be people who find it profound. Or if he’s convinced himself of the profundity. Really, it’s kind of just a book of puns. Silly lil’ jokes. It is a struggle for me to tell how in on the joke he is… I’m not personally offended by anything that masquerades as poetry, because it happens so often in every possible arena of entertainment and consumption, but this is essentially a coffee table book of one-line jokes.”

Houston poet laureate Aris Kian echoed Hanif’s thoughts, musing, “Drake’s poems operate within an excess of white space, a reduced set of images and limited punctuation. The tools of tension, breath and play are only explored through the typical two-line set up/punchline format.”

Of course, if any of this ruffled Drake’s feathers, he seems reluctant to show it. In his Instagram Story, he posted a response of sorts with a meme calling the critics “Randomly angry poets” (despite, y’know, the author calling them to ask their opinions and neither seeming all that angry) and shrugging off their criticism. Of course, this could just be a case of Drake coping with receiving pushback on yet another of his creative endeavors — even if it is, as one of my colleagues put it in Slack, “not poetry, it’s merch.”

Lil Uzi Vert just unleashed Pink Tape. With 26 tracks, an unexpected cover of System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey,” and features from Nicki Minaj, Bring Me The Horizon, Don Toliver, and more, it’s a must-listen. However, the most exciting collaboration on the album might be “Aye” with Travis Scott.

“Aye” is sure to be a hit as a live performance. The track is invigorating all the way through: “I put them diamonds my teeth (Aye) / Might put somе diamonds my nose (Aye) / Aye, I put them diamonds my teeth (Aye) / Might put some diamonds my nosе (Aye, huh?).” The two rappers together bring a lot of energy to the table.

The unveiling of this song is a relief for fans of the “Sicko Mode” performer, whose highly anticipated new album Utopia still doesn’t have an official release date. However, billboards recently intimated that the album might be arriving on July 21. The ongoing delay is a result of the 2021 Astroworld tragedy, which he will not face charges for: “He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt… Travis is not responsible,” his lawyer Kent Schaffer said. There were 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Listen to “Aye” above.

Pink Tape is out now via Atlantic Records. Get it here.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Jason Isbell, Weathervanes

It should go without saying that there are some real tearjerkers on this record. If the fractured relationship at the heart of “King Of Oklahoma” doesn’t get you, the school shooting lament “Save The World” will. Or maybe you will be able to hold out until the gut-punch that is “White Beretta.” But while the emotional haymakers are potent, Weathervanes leavens the devastation with some of the breeziest and loose-limbed music of Isbell’s career. After 2020’s very good but fraught Reunions, this album positively breathes with an ease and confidence that signals a potentially fruitful middle age for one of our best singer-songwriters.

2. Feeble Little Horse, Girl With Fish

I am happy to report that 2023 has been an excellent year for young rock bands that set deadpan-funny lyrics to heavy, woozy, and grunged-up guitars. Girl With Fish is among the latest entries in this crop, and it immediately landed on my favorite albums of the half-year list. I am doubly happy to report that this Pittsburgh-based act signals another promising trend — they come from a great local scene situated outside the NYC/LA axis. Might regionalism be making a comeback in indie-rock circles? I can only hope!

3. Queens Of The Stone Age, In Times New Roman

It seems impossible that these guys will ever touch the sleazy majesty of their first three records. But on In Times New Roman, Josh Homme manages to reconnect with the weird stoner vibes of Queens’ self-titled 1998 debut, which is an upgrade from the “slightly left-of-center Foo Fighters” sound that marked 2017’s Villains. Given the turmoil in Homme’s personal life of late, you might expect the songs to have a more mournful vibe. But musically speaking, this is the most flat-out fun music he’s put out in a minute.

4. Ratboys, “It’s Alive”

Earlier this month this winning Chicago band announced a new album, The Window, due in August. I’ll have more to say about that later this summer, but for now I have to shout out the lovably crunchy single “It’s Alive,” which spotlights what Ratboys do well — delectable guitar tones, perfect ’90s alt-girl vocals, infectious choruses.

5, Slaughter Beach, Dog, “Strange Weather”

This rootsy outfit from ex-Modern Baseball member Jake Ewald has been steadily moving closer to dad-rock nirvana since launching nearly a decade ago. On this recent single, Ewald just might achieve it. Over a leisurely mid-tempo stroll that layers vintage guitar and keyboard sounds, he affects his best approximation of a mid-period Wilco barbecue jam, like an outtake from Sky Blue Sky that Jeff Tweedy somehow has kept under wraps until now.

6. Bonny Doon, Let There Be Music

Speaking of dad-rock nirvana, this low-key Michigan band finally released the follow-up to 2018’s Longwave this month. For a while they were sidetracked as the backing band for Waxahatchee on her excellent 2020 album Saint Cloud and the accompanying tour. But on Let There Be Music, Bonny Doon picks up pretty much where Longwave left off, with a mellow barrage of simple, strummy songs that sound like they were recorded on a boat dock outside of northwoods cabin at dusk in the summertime.

7. Militarie Gun, Life Under The Gun

At some point, hardcore bands stopped sounding like hardcore bands and started sounding like rock bands who were played nonstop on KROQ in 1998. For some people, this might register as a sellout. For others, including me, it sounds like an improvement. On their debut album, Militarie Gun bring plenty of volume and attitude, but what makes Life Under The Gun are the type of undeniable bubble-grunge hooks that sound smuggled from a Third Eye Blind record.

8. Bruce Hornsby & The Range, “The Show Goes On” (from The Bear Season Two soundtrack)

Like a lot of people, I happily binged this month on the latest season of this FX dramedy, which happens to have one of the most distinctive soundtracks on television. Anyone who thought that The Bear might change gears from the dad-rock sounds of Season One were immediately informed otherwise at the very start of Season Two, with this needle drop from Hornsby’s (excellent!) 1988 album Scenes From The Southside. As much as I love the writing and the cast of The Bear, this musical aspect — which informs the characters and helps to shape the show’s world — makes watching the show feel to me like doing a late-night deep dive for musical favorites on YouTube with a serious buzz on.

The Indiana Pacers have been mentioned as a team to potentially watch as the NBA’s free agency period begins. The team is flush with cap space, has one of the league’s premier young guards in Tyrese Haliburton, and is built around a roster that sure seems like it’s only a piece or two away from being able to make a run at a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

With that in mind, Indiana is apparently on the verge of pulling off a deal with the team that sent them Haliburton in the first place. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Pacers and the Sacramento Kings are close to a trade that will send Chris Duarte to the Western Conference. In return, Indiana will get draft compensation.

The move would reunite Duarte, a 26-year-old guard whom the Pacers selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, with Domantas Sabonis, the player that Indiana moved in the deal that landed them Haliburton. After getting an All-Rookie Second Team nod during his first year in the league, Duarte saw his role decrease during his sophomore campaign in part due to injury woes. He appeared in 46 games with 12 starts while averaging 7.9 points in 19.5 minutes per game and connected on 31.6 percent from his attempts from behind the three-point line.

ESPN will be making some major changes to its NBA coverage next season, as their longtime lead booth of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson will no longer be together.

On Friday, word broke from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post that 20 on-air personalities were going to be part of this latest round of layoffs. Among those is reportedly Jeff Van Gundy, who will no longer be the network’s lead NBA analyst after being in that role for the last 16 years with the network. There are expected to be other big names among the layoffs, as this latest round was meant to trim those making near or above seven figures to limit the behind the scenes jobs that would get cut, per Marchand.

While Van Gundy’s propensity for on-air rants were grating to some viewers, he has always been one of the best at breaking down the X’s and O’s of the game as it is happening when calling an engaging game and not caught in a tangent. Losing that from the lead booth is a considerable loss, as is someone with the tenure and stature to call out the league when he sees fit, as Van Gundy regularly did.

As for replacements, Marchand notes Doris Burke, JJ Redick, and Richard Jefferson are all considered internal candidates to be bumped into the lead booth, with Burke having obvious rapport with Breen and Jackson having worked with that group as a sideline reporter for years. Doc Rivers is also floated as an external candidate to return to the broadcast booth, as his cost could be mitigated by the money still being paid out by his Sixers contract.

The coolest teen in rap is back with another trunk thumper. “Brand New Blues” fits right in with the rest of Luh Tyler‘s oeuvre, featuring swaggering verses and no hook to speak of, laid over a ghostly combination of synth sounds and a thundering kick drum. “I told you I don’t need no pen and pad, I’m comin’ off my top,” he smirks. “These n****s chasin’ hoes before the bag, that sh*t gotta stop.”

Those are the sort of priorities that ensured Luh Tyler a place in XXL‘s 2023 Freshman Class alongside other breakout stars like GloRilla, Lola Brooke, and TiaCorine. While there’s likely more content to come on that front, Tyler himself has stuck to his own grind, dropping the “Weeks” video just a couple of weeks ago and joining Moneybagg Yo on the Larger Than Life Tour later this summer. Tyler’s solo My Vision Tour is wrapping up this week with a show tonight in Orlando, just four hours from his hometown, Tallahassee, and the finale in Tampa tomorrow. Then, he’ll be headed overseas for Rolling Loud festivals in Portugal and Germany before a triumphant homecoming to RL Miami. That’ll be a sight to see.

Listen to Luh Tyler’s “Brand New Blues” above.

Luh Tyler is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Yachty neither forgives nor forgets, it appears: Sean Paul once threw shade at Yachty, and Yachty still isn’t cool with Paul.

Yachty recently shared the debut episode of A Safe Place, his new podcast co-hosted by MitchGoneMad. In the June 28 episode, Yachty and Mitch discussed “falling off,” with Mitch bringing up Sean Paul. Yachty responded, “Nobody ever said Sean Paul fell off. They just stopped making music. I don’t think they’re still dropping music… By the way, f*ck Sean Paul. I want to make that very clear, I don’t f*ck with Sean Paul. Sean Paul once dissed me in a radio interview.”

The interview Yachty’s talking about (as Complex notes) is a 2016 appearance on The Breakfast Club, not long after Yachty claimed he couldn’t name five songs by the Notorious B.I.G. or Tupac. Paul said, “If it was really about talent in the hip hop industry, you wouldn’t have some of these younger cats talking that […] the Lil Yachty dem. The ‘boat boy.’ I mean, I don’t know much of the dude’s music either. I don’t like his comments. Those are artists I revere. I understand that probably kids don’t care about writing right now. I understand they don’t know where hip-hop started.”

Watch the full episode above.

Just as April showers brings May flowers, so too does June movie duds bring July movie… studs? OK, that could use some work, but after The Flash and Elemental, two of the biggest blockbusters to come out this month, underperformed at the box office, excitement is high for the holy trifecta of films coming out in July: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer, and Barbie (which is also the order you should see them in).

Earlier this week, Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise initiated “back to the movies” protocol for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, as well as Oppenheimer and Barbie. “I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie,” he tweeted, along with photos where he and director co-writer Christopher McQuarrie are standing in front of posters for the three summer films.

Barbie star Margot Robbie and filmmaker Greta Gerwig have now repaid the favor. “Mission: Accepted!” a tweet on the official Barbie movie account reads. The Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Oppenheimer advertisements and tickets are still there, like in Cruise’s tweet, but instead of Barbie, the pair posed with a Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One poster.

Your move, Nolan.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One comes out on July 12th, followed by Oppenheimer and Barbie on July 21st.

(Via Twitter/Barbie)

The Game never passes up an opportunity to address the trending music news of the day. From Nicki Minaj’s impact on rap to the tragic passing of Aaron Carter, the “Ricky” rapper keeps his hand on the pulse of the music. Now, he’s taking the time to correct a headline related to his career.

In a sit-down with Amazon Music’s Bimma Williams, The Game finally cleared up the 50 Cent ghostwriting rumors. A few years ago, during a Clubhouse broadcast, music professional Wack100 claimed that The Game had written his former G-Unit leader’s 2003 song, “What Up Gangsta.” The song appeared on 50 Cent’s groundbreaking debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. However, it turns out that wasn’t the whole truth.

“I didn’t write ‘What Up Gangta’ for 50. I was in there and part of the influence,” said The Game.

When clarifying what he meant by influence, the entertainer turned his attention to the chorus, saying, “But obviously, you know, ‘What up, Blood? What up, Cuz? What up, Gangsta?’ is Los Angeles influenced. It’s LA. So it is what it is.”

He later added, “But yeah, I didn’t do no writing for 50, 50 ain’t do no writing for me. 50 is not a better writer than me. Not a better lyricist, you know what I’m sayin’? Better with melodies and hooks — that’s his thing. I’ll give him that. I’m not gonna take nothing away from nobody that’s good at what they good at, but as far as, like, lyricism, he can’t f*ck with me on that level. But he know.”

Too bad that the Power Universe producer has previously denied that The Game had anything to do with the track. When he appeared on The Breakfast Club, 50 Cent said, “[The Game] said he wrote ‘What Up Gangsta.’ I’m like, ‘C’mon, bro. You weren’t even around when we did that. That was Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. We didn’t even know who he was until after. There’s a point when you [reach] desperation, and you’ll say anything.”

Del Amo’s own Jayson Cash pulls up on UPROXX Sessions for a laid-back performance of his song “Some More Of It.” With a voice and flow like a cross between DJ Quik and Ab-Soul, Cash steps to the mic with enough West Coast swagger to launch a fleet of lowriders down Crenshaw Blvd. “Let me put some Jayson in it,” he boasts. Well, go on, then.

Cash’s buzz has grown over the past year since releasing his major-label debut project, Read The Room, which contained features from LA staples like Blxst and Dom Kennedy and fellow rising star Kalan.FrFr. There are big things on the horizon for the South LA native, so he’s worth keeping an ear to the street for.

Watch Jayson Cash perform “Some More Of It” for UPROXX Sessions above.

Jayson Cash is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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.