Category: Viral

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Eminem tap some young guns for a new remix and DMX and Juice WRLD pad out their posthumous legacies. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Eminem — “Killer (Remix)” Feat. Jack Harlow and Cordae

One way Eminem has adapted to the times is by dropping new material with no advance warning. He’s done that with increasing frequency over the past few years and did so again last week by dropping a new version of “Killer,” which contributions from two leaders of rap’s new generation: Jack Harlow and Cordae.

DMX — “Hood Blues” Feat. Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, and Conway The Machine

Exodus, DMX’s first album since 2012, comes via morose circumstances, as it’s his first posthumous release. It’s a fitting celebration of the rapper’s life, though, and the tracklist reads like a guest list with all the features (including Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, and Conway The Machine on “Hood Blues“). Fans of the project may also have something else to look forward to, as a second posthumous DMX album appears to be completely possible.

Juice WRLD — “Lucid Dreams (Remix)” Feat. Lil Uzi Vert

Speaking of posthumous releases, since his death, Juice WRLD has had more material drop than many rappers who are still with us. His latest is a rework of “Lucid Dreams,” which now features Lil Uzi Vert and arrived with a slick 3D animated video.

Modest Mouse — “Leave A Light On”

A new Modest Mouse album is an event these days, considering they’ve released just two of them since 2007, counting that year’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. At last, they have a new full-length on the way and early looks at it have been promising. Last week brought “Leave A Light On,” a lightly psychedelic mid-tempo rocker.

Earthgang, Wale, and Coi Leray — “Options (Remix)”

Between their 2019 major label debut album Mirrorland and their 2020 Spillage Village album, the duo behind Earthgang have been busy. They’re not resting in 2021, either: They have a project called Ghetto Gods on the way. Ahead of that, though, they revisited “Options” with a new remix, adding Coi Leray to a track that already featured Wale.

Bachelor — “Back Of My Hand”

Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner took some time away from their main projects to team up for an album as Bachelor. Highlights like “Back Of My Hand” sound like two friends having a blast, and that’s apparently because that’s how making the project went. Duterte recently told Uproxx, “We really love each other, truly and genuinely. The hardest part of making this record was just laughing so much that sometimes we couldn’t get stuff done.”

Future and Hotboii — “Nobody Special”

It’s been a busy past few days in terms of Future addressing his relationships through song. Over the weekend, he had some words for and/or about Lori Harvey and Michael B. Jordan on a leaked “Maybach” verse. In terms of officially released material, though, he linked up with Hotboii on “Nobody Special,” on which both rappers decide exclusivity isn’t for them.

RMR — “Vibes” Feat. Tyla Yaweh

Locking down a sweet setting for a video is important, and RMR nailed that task with his “Vibes” visual. In the video, he is tasked with house-sitting for Jamie Foxx, an opportunity RMR seizes as a chance to throw a party. Foxx himself makes an appearance in the clip and all in all, it’s good fun.

Erica Banks — “Toot That” Feat. DreamDoll and Beat King

“Buss It” was a huge, career-defining moment for the Texas rapper, which also made it a tough act to follow. She’s done a fine job at that herculean task, though, like with her latest output: a remix of “Toot That,” originally from her self-titled mixtape. This time, she brought DreamDoll on board, who contributed a confident new verse.

Koreless — “Joy Squad”

Koreless (Welsh producer Lewis Roberts) has been making a name for himself over the past decade; For example, he re-worked a track for Perfume Genius’ remix album from earlier this year. Now he’s got his own album on the way, which he teased last week with “Joy Squad,” a glitchy, dark, and at times unsettling piece of electronica.

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

Owing to Memorial Day, HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver had the week off, but Oliver obviously had something he really wanted to get off his chest. In a video posted exclusively to YouTube, Oliver used the holiday to take a break from the news and instead spend nearly seven minutes ranting about a problem in America that not enough people are talking about—but should be: The lack of innovation in the breakfast cereal game. Specifically of concern to the host is the fact that “there aren’t enough new cereals anymore.” As Oliver explained:

“We haven’t had an exciting new cereal in what feels like 100 years. Remember how thrilling cereal news used to be? Remember when Trix tried to unite a divided country by introducing Wildberry Blue? A new fruit shape that wasn’t just red or blue, but both? Of course you do! It was as controversial as it was delicious, and it represented what a cereal could be at its best.”

Oliver’s thoughts on your boring bowl of breakfast didn’t stop there, though. He talked about some of the food’s innovations past—like when Reese’s Puffs were first introduced and how, according to Oliver, “No one even knew if that was legal. It was candy! For breakfast!”

That the most exciting thing to come out of the cereal industry is this terrible Frosted Flakes commercial starring Tony the Tiger and Shaquille O’Neal—and that “trash cereal” Frosted Flakes are like “human scabs that have been non-consensually dredged through powdered sugar.”

You can watch the full clip — including Oliver’s hilarious ideas on how to make cereal exciting again (“Make f*cking Gushers a cereal—I don’t care”) and why Cheerios is the “worst, toothless impulses that dominate positivity Twitter” — above.

(Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for HBO’s ‘Mare of Easttown.’ Consider yourself warned if you have not finished watching the series (Duh!.)

After seven weeks of red herrings, wild fan theories, Jean Smart being amazing, and lots of Wawa coffee, HBO’s Mare of Easttown offered up its final twists and turns on Sunday night when the identity of Erin McMenamin’s killer was finally revealed. Was Kate Winslet, a.k.a. Mare, surprised? Absolutely. And while all the credit for solving the murder goes to Mare, she might have been able to figure it out if she had just thought to ask the Master of Horror himself, Stephen King.

Late Sunday afternoon, the best-selling horror author tweeted out his prediction for how it would all end, noting: “My guess as to who killed Erin in MARE OF EASTTOWN: The boy, Ryan Ross.”

My guess as to who killed Erin in MARE OF EASTTOWN: The boy, Ryan Ross.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 30, 2021

Though it turned out that King was right on the money, some followers questioned the logic of King’s prognostication:

True, but that’s a kid with a lot of rage inside. Case in point, beating the bully with a lunch tray when the bully was mean to the girl with Down Syndrome, aka trisomy 21. https://t.co/SvRC5nKume

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 30, 2021

While King made it clear that he had no insider knowledge—that he, like the rest of viewers, was just a fan making a prediction for where our seven hours of TV-watching would all lead—he did seem pretty confident in his guess:

Just theories. I could be wrong. I was once, I think it was in 1973. https://t.co/jK4AYgAncf

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 30, 2021

All of which just goes to show you: Never question the opinion of one of the bestselling authors in the history of literature—especially one who has made his living keeping readers guessing.

Typically, when you check a book or another piece of media out of a library, you’re supposed to return the item relatively soon. That’s how it goes most of the time. Then, there’s Howard Simon. He recently returned a vinyl copy of Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait to the University Heights branch of Cleveland’s Heights Libraries, which is all good and well. The problem, though, is that he originally checked the album out in June 1973, which was 48 years ago.

The library shared a post about the situation, with Sara Philips, manager of the University Heights branch of Heights Libraries, saying, “I got a package in the mail from San Francisco that was record-shaped and — lo and behold! — it contained a record from our collection that was due back in June 1973!”

They also included an excerpt of a letter Simon wrote the library, which reads in part, “As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years. In that context, I am returning with this letter an overdue item (by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing)… it’s quite late, and I’m quite sorry!”

The library doesn’t charge late fees, but if they charged 17 cents per day the record was late (the average late fee for books in 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal), Simon would owe the library $2,971.60.

Demi Lovato had a big personal moment a couple weeks ago when they announced that they now identify as non-binary. Now, on a recent episode of Jane Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays, they revealed what they believe held them back from making the announcement sooner: the patriarchy.

Lovato said:

“After years of living my life for other people, trying to make myself smaller for the patriarchy, they run the industry, they are at the center of everything. When I realized that, I thought, ‘What are the ways that the patriarchy has been holding me back?’ And for me, it was putting me in a box telling [me], ‘You are a female, this is what you’re supposed to like, this is what you’re supposed to do, don’t dream bigger and don’t speak louder.’”

When Lovato officially came out as non-binary, they wrote, “Today is a day I’m so happy to share more of my life with you all — I am proud to let you know that I identify as non-binary and will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward. This has come after a lot of healing and self-reflective work. I’m still learning and coming into myself, and I don’t claim to be an expert or a spokesperson. Sharing this with you now opens another level of vulnerability for me. I’m doing this for those out there that haven’t been able to share who they truly are with their loved ones.”

Watch the full Fire Drill Fridays interview below.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Still D.R.E.” is an all-time hip-hop classic, and last year, Snoop dropped a major knowledge bomb about it: Jay-Z wrote the whole song. It was known previously that he had worked on the track, but it was a surprise to learn that Jay was behind all the lyrics. Now, Jay has spoken about the song and the reference track he made for it, on which he raps both Dre and Snoop’s parts.

Chatting on an episode of HBO’s The Shop, Jay said, “On that reference track, I’m doing Dre and Snoop, both of them. […] The reference track, it sounds like them.” He added with laughter, “I’m glad nobody can find that one.”

He continued, “But yeah, you gotta have like somewhat of a reverence for them. The music they were making and The Chronic and all of that. In order for me to really nail the essence of Dre and Snoop, it had to be like a studied reverence of what they were doing.”

Snoop previously said of Jay’s work on the song, “Jay-Z is a great writer to begin with for himself, so imagine him striking it for someone he truly loves and appreciates,” Snoop said. “He loves Dr. Dre and that’s what his pen showed you, that I can’t write for you if I don’t love you.”

Watch Jay talk about the song above.

A few weeks ago, Showtime shared a teaser for their new series Ziwe, which stars comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh. In that teaser, Bridgers went ahead and directed her instrument destruction efforts towards a ukulele. Yesterday, the full episode featuring Bridgers, titled “Allyship,” aired, and she really participated in the full spectrum of intensity. When she wasn’t smashing stringed instruments, she was engaging in some ASMR.

In a clip from the show, Fumudoh pointed out Bridgers’ enthusiasm about ASMR and then asked her to read some statements in a whispery way. The statements included, “I will do my own emotional labor,” “I apologize for all racism,” “I will never get married on a plantation,” and “Gay rights.” Once Bridgers reached a certain point in her note cards, though, she had to laugh and stop, saying, “I’m not reading these, these are ridiculous.”

Beyond her Ziwe appearance, Bridgers has been busy lately. Earlier this month, she put her record label leader hat on and introduced Muna as the latest Saddest Factory signing. She also helped out regular collaborator Jackson Browne by making an appearance in his “My Cleveland Heart” video, in which she snacked on his (formerly) internal organs.

Watch Bridgers do ASMR on Ziwe above.

For a 1-8 series, the Utah Jazz-Memphis Grizzlies matchup has been a whole lot of fun. Utah has been the best team in the NBA this season, and there’s a decent enough chance that they end up winning this whole thing in five games, especially since Donovan Mitchell is back from an ankle injury and looks awfully spry.

But man, these Grizzlies are making it a point to push them. After winning Game 1, Memphis put up fights in Games 2 and 3 despite losing both by double-digits. Led by the individual brilliance of Ja Morant, who is using this series as a chance to announce himself to basketball fans who might not have paid close attention to him since he went with the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the Grizzlies are playing entertaining ball and doing what they can to be competitive against a team with title aspirations.

On Monday, the two teams will go toe-to-toe for a game of outsized importance. If Utah wins, they’ll head back to Salt Lake City for Game 5 with a 3-1 lead and the chance to put the series away. But if Memphis can defend their home court, things are tied up at 2, and this frisky 8-seed will have every reason to believe they can win this series.

Game 4 TV Info

Tip Time: Monday, May 31; 9:30 p.m. ET
TV Network: TNT

Game 4 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Jazz (-2500), Grizzlies (+1000)
Spread: Jazz -5 (-114), Grizzlies +5 (-107)
Total: Over 225 (-108), Under 225 (-113)
Money Line: Jazz (-215), Grizzlies (+175)

The Washington Wizards’ last stand is on the horizon. After a difficult year that saw a slow start to the season, a COVID-19 pause, a lengthy effort to incorporate Russell Westbrook into the rotation, and trade rumors that swirled around Bradley Beal for months, Washington played just enough winning basketball to break through into the Eastern Conference play-in tournament and, eventually, earn a playoff berth by beating the Indiana Pacers.

Their reward, however, was a brutally difficult task: a first-round date with the 1-seed Philadelphia 76ers. Through three games, it’s gone about as well as one would expect, as the Sixers have looked fantastic and are now on the verge of the sweep. For Philly, this series has been an opportunity to announce to the NBA-watching world why, exactly, they are the top dogs in the conference. Led by the nightly brilliance of Joel Embiid, the best version of Tobias Harris, and Ben Simmons being one of the most unique players on earth, the Sixers look like a team that can win a championship.

Game 4 TV Info

Tip Time: Monday, May 31; 7:00 p.m. ET
TV Network: TNT

Game 4 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Wizards (+16000)
Spread: Sixers -8 (-110), Mavericks +8 (-110)
Total: Over 230 (-108), Under 230 (-113)
Money Line: Clippers (-360), Mavericks (+285)

Well the numbers are officially in, and not only is Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour a No. 1 album, it’s the biggest opening week of 2021. After rumors were swirling that at least four songs on the record were going to hit the top ten spots on the Billboard chart, and now the final album numbers support this theory and more. The album has been certified gold within its first week, and the album’s second single “Deja Vu” has been certified platinum, while the third single “Good 4 U” is also already been certified gold. Not too shabby for a first week out, eh?

Aside from being a No. 1 album in America — along with the No. 1 single with “Good 4 U” — Rodrigo also claimed that double No. 1 status in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Australia. She’s officially a global sensations, and considering the international buzz, who is she but not exploited? In case you didn’t catch that reference, it’s a lyric from album opener, “Brutal,” which as of yet isn’t a top ten single, but is likely on its way there. Of course, none of this can eclipse the success of her initial single “Drivers License,” which has already gone triple platinum, among other things. Congratulations Olivia!