Category: Worldwide

Cardi B has done what a lot of rappers are aiming for: Build a massively successful career for herself from the ground up. While her exact path may not be reproducible, she has offered some advice for up-and-coming artists who are looking for their shot at fame.

Cardi participated in a roundtable conversation with Rubi Rose, Sukihana, and Mulatto on Apple Music’s New Music Daily, and she told artists that to succeed, they need to do their own thing:

“Sometimes when I see these girls on a blog for some dumb sh*t, I be wanting like to hop in they DM and be like, ‘b*tch, don’t even worry about that. B*tch, you want to know what you do? Post a badass picture of you. Girl, post a freestyle or something. Don’t even pay [attention].’ I be wanting to say that because I been through it. I been through it. I been through f*cking responding to people. I been embarrassed before. I been canceled. I go through a ‘Cardi B is canceled’ party five times a year, you know what I’m saying? I been through all of that bullsh*t. So it’s like, when I be seeing girls coming up, I be wanting to tell them, ‘This what you should do. Just do your own lane.’”

Elsewhere in the conversation, she also encouraged hard work and collaboration:

“When you start climbing up there and you reaching up there, they’re going to embrace. You never know when one of these male rappers and everything they’re going to want to start doing a song. You never know. And if people ask you to do features, just keep doing it no matter who it is, just keep doing it. Just be there, just go to everybody. Everybody who has a fan, just go and do it and do it. And just be everywhere.”

Cardi also recommended that artists thinks of themselves as a brand, not just a musician:

“You just got to keep showing that, this why I’m the one, this why I’m that b*tch, this is why y’all got to pick me. This why you’re going to stan me. And just keep it going. Focus on your looks, focus on the music, focus on your brand. Because you’re going to be more than an artist, you got to think about being a brand. One day, you’re going to be more than just a artist. You’re going to be representing somebody’s product. You’re going to be f*cking… you might be in a movie. You might be in… bigger than life. After a while, you’re going to have so much opportunities.”

The conversation will be available to hear in full on Apple Music today at noon ET.

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

With the slew of singles he’s released over the past months, one can only hope Guapdad 4000 has something bigger in store for his fans. Bringing June to a close with his second collaboration with Denzel Curry, the two rappers joined forces for their “Lil Scammer That Could” collab, one that came attached with quite the surreal music video. The track was then followed by his “No Home For The Brave” and “Orgasm Full Of Pain” singles in the following weeks before he returned for a third consecutive week with “Choppa Talk” alongside TyFontaine. Keeping the pedal to the metal, Guapdad keeps it coming with another single.

Holding it down by himself this time around, Guapdad returns with his latest release “Deadly Assassination Summer Squad.” The track centers around Gupadad’s fight to stay alive, one that always seems to come up during the summertime. “I was fightin’ for my life in the summer time,” he raps. “N****s always tryna catch me when I’m doin’ right.”

Earlier this year, Guapdad went on a similar streak in releasing singles week after week. The end result of that was the Platinum Falcon Tape, Vol. 1 so it may be possible that volume 2 is on the way. Whether it is or not, the music and the Rona Raps series amplifies the generosity and creative skills he holds within.

Listen to “Deadly Assassination Summer Squad” above.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Coming off the success of his 2019 debut album, Is He Real?, IDK pushed full steam ahead in 2020 as he made his mark on the year in the second quarter with a pair of singles, “Mazel Tov” and “In My White Tee.” The latter featured a sample of Dem Franchise Boyz’s 2004 songs, “White Tee” and “I Think They Like Me,” while the former landed on IDK’s late June effort, IDK & Freinds 2, the sequel to his 2018 project. Showing no signs of slowing down this year, IDK returns with some more friends for a new single.

Calling on DJ Scheme, JID, and Kenny Mason, IDK touches down with “Cereal.” While the track is his first release since his IDK & Freinds 2 project, the song is his second collaboration with JID as the two last connected on “Porno” from IDK’s Is He Real? debut. As for Kenny Mason, who is off to a great year thanks to his Angelic Hoodrat debut, and DJ Scheme, the song marks the first time the acts have collaborated with IDK.

The track comes after IDK shared a celebratory video for his ASAP Ferg collab, “Mazel Tov” and made his late-night TV debut with a performance of “No Cable” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Listen to “Cereal” in the video above.

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

Juice WRLD’s legacy received a new chapter this year after his estate and labeled worked together to give fans the late rapper’s first posthumous album with Legends Never Die. The album was received well by fans, selling over 497,000 units in its first week to land the No. 1 position on the Billboard albums chart. Juice WRLD’s reign would continue atop the charts thanks to as second well-performing week. With promises of another posthumous Juice waiting to be fulfilled, the late rapper’s team came through with a dream collaboration Juice WRLD hoped to fulfill in his career.

Back in late 2019, Juice WRLD sent out a tweet expressing his desire to work with The Weeknd on what would be a smash hit saying, “me and The Weeknd would make a diamond record.” While the record never came to fruition before Juice WRLD’s untimely death, the record finally came to live nearly nine months after his passing as The Weeknd lends his vocals for their “Smile” collaboration.

The new single arrives after Juice WRLD made Billboard history by becoming the first artist to have five songs debut in the top ten on the singles chart. Shortly after Legends Never Die released, Lil Bibby, who works on the board of Juice WRLD’s label confirmed more content from Juice WRLD would be released in the future. “I don’t think the albums are gonna stop,” he said. “It’s plenty of music. So, yeah.”

Press play on the video above to hear “Smile.”

Scanning the last half-decade of hip-hop, Megan The Stallion and Cardi B both enjoyed lengthy moments in the spotlight upon their arrival to mainstream music. Cardi’s moment came in late-2017 with the rising success of her “Bodak Yellow” single and continued throughout 2018 thanks to her debut album, Invasion Of Privacy. Megan Thee Stallion’s success would begin at the top of 2019 as her Tina Snow standout, “Big Ole Freak,” was released and began her mainstay on the singles charts with efforts like “Cash Sh*t” and “Savage.” Fast-forward to the present and Cardi and Megan are both two of music’s most popular acts, so it’s only right they join forces for a new anthem.

Announced earlier this week, Cardi and Megan’s “Wap” touches down right on schedule, becoming the two rappers’ first collaboration. Fans first became aware of the possibility of the Cardi and Megan working together after DJ Khaled revealed a single existed between the two artists. Days after the announcement and less 48 hours before the song released, fans crashed Cardi B’s website as they all rushed to grab a copy of a vinyl picture disc, or other versions of the song, one of which included a limited edition signed by Cardi.

The single marks the third time Megan has collaborated with one of music’s most popular female acts following her “Hot Girl Summer” track which featured Nicki Minaj and her chart-topping “Savage” remix with Beyonce. Both artists are hard at work on their upcoming albums with “Wap” serving as the lead single for Cardi’s upcoming sophomore effort. As for Megan, she recently revealed her album will address the Black Lives Matter movement and arrive by the end of the summer.

Listen to “Wap” in the video above.

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

In March of 1986, Rambo: First Blood Part II won five Razzie awards, including two for Sylvester Stallone for acting and writing – dragging poor James Cameron down with him, who got a credit on the film, even though his version of the script doesn’t look much like the final film. (By the way, I do not like the Razzies. I wrote many, many words about this back when I worked at Movieline, but that site is now long gone. The gist was I wish the Razzies would truly find the worst movies of the year, those peculiar oddities that aren’t the second-biggest movie of 1985, like Rambo was. Though, having said that, Frank Stallone very much deserves his Razzie for the end credits song “Peace in Our Life.” It’s truly a remarkable piece of work.)

For being the second-biggest film of 1985, Rambo: First Blood Part II doesn’t have much of a cultural footprint today (though the Rambo character itself somehow still does), even though most of the blockbusters from that year – Back to the Future, The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, and Stallone’s own Rocky IV certainly still do.) There are probably a few reasons for this. First, Rambo returning to Vietnam, inflicting carnage, isn’t really an idea that’s going to fly today for a whole host of reasons. And even beyond that, if you look at the Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies that still have a cultural footprint today – the Terminator movies, Predator, Total Recall, and even the resurgence of Last Action Hero – they all have a sci-fi genre background to them. It’s fascinating that Schwarzenegger was savvy enough as an actor to attach himself to these types of films, because these types of films have a tendency to last. When Stallone did action, he had a tendency to forget about this part. (And, yes, Demolition Man is the exception that proves the rule.)

I haven’t watched Rambo: First Blood Part II since I was a little kid as it was making its nonstop rounds on cable. But quarantine has sure changed a lot of my viewing habits, so here we are. Now, before we get into the sequel, I do want to point out that I think First Blood is a great movie. I’ve seen this film numerous times in recent years and watched it again in full before I watched its sequel. Stallone strikes just the right balance between dangerous and sympathetic. And he gives a truly emotional monologue at the end of the film about how the U.S. government has abandoned him and so many Vietnam vets and how society has shunned them. If you haven’t seen First Blood because you think you know what it is, you should probably watch First Blood because it’s not what you think it is.

So, before watching Rambo: First Blood Part II, my feeling about it was that it was a big, dumb, patriotic pro-Reagan shoot ‘em up with John Rambo marching into Vietnam and rescuing American POWs. And if you read the reviews of the time, a lot of them seem to agree with this assumption. And the thing is, the imagery of the movie – Stallone screaming and firing rocket launchers – kind of supports this. But what’s weird it, the actual nitty-gritty of the plot doesn’t support this at all. In fact, Rambo is betrayed in the movie, by none other than Ronald Reagan.

The actual plot of the movie hinges on the U.S. never paying war reparations to Vietnam. It’s basically one line in the movie and it’s pretty easy to miss if one is not actively paying attention to the dialogue of a Rambo movie. But the point is there’s a swelling outcry to investigate if Vietnam is still holding American POWs. The U.S. government sends John Rambo back to Vietnam to take photographs of a camp the U.S. government already knows is abandoned. It’s a fake mission. What the U.S. government wants is Rambo to come back with photos showing there are no POWs, which will quell the outcry for proof. The last thing the U.S. wants is to find actual POWs because then it will come out that the U.S. reneged on paying Vietnam war reparations, which is why Vietnam is still keeping POWs. (There is truth to this plot point. It’s pretty complicated, but you can read about it here.) When John Rambo finds a POW at the camp that is no longer abandoned, what does the U.S. government do? It aborts the mission and leaves Rambo to be captured by enemy forces.

It’s Charles Napier’s character, Murdock, who gives the order to abandon Rambo. When pressed, he keeps talking about how this order comes from the top and he himself is just following orders. It’s insinuated this fake plan comes from the President himself, who is never mentioned by name. But Murdock has a big picture of Ronald Reagan pinned to his wall. So in the Rambo universe, either Reagan is President, or Murdock is just a huge fan of this aging actor.

Look, even I am having some problems making a case that Rambo: First Blood Part II is some sort of secret, misunderstood American protest movie, because it’s so ingrained in American culture that the second Rambo movie is this big patriotic spectacle, not a movie about unpaid war reparations to Vietnam. But the plot is the plot. It’s right there. The characters tell us this is what it’s about as we, once again, are betraying a Vietnam Vet because it benefits the U.S. government to do so.

I couldn’t help but think of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” a song so famously misinterpreted that it’s now pretty much common knowledge that it’s a protest song. But back then it wasn’t. Originally slated for Springsteen’s haunting Nebraska album (if you’ve never heard that version, well, here you go), it instead became the title song of Springsteen’s best-selling album. The melancholy anger of the original version was replaced by booming synth. The album was so successful, Springsteen started touring in full-on stadiums, which created imagery of American excess as Bruce screamed he was born in the U.S.A. – of course this song was misinterpreted.

Then people started paying attention to the actual lyrics, about a man who is given the option to go to jail or go to Vietnam, then when he gets back there are no jobs and now, 10 years later, he has nowhere to go. Honestly, the song might as well be about First Blood. And it’s not surprising that that song and Rambo: First Blood Part II were released within months of each other. As Rambo played in theaters, “Born in the U.S.A.” played on the radio. Both were pieces of popular culture that were used as American propaganda, but both told a dark tale of an abandoned Vietnam veteran. The only difference seems to be that Springsteen made it clear what his song was about. The movie seemed fine with whatever interpretation brought them success, but that doesn’t change the fact the plot is about American betrayal. In the film, even Rambo saves most of his rage for Murdock.

Rambo’s last words in the movie are literally that he wants “our country to love us as much as we love it.” In retrospect, it’s a very strange movie to interpret as a “pro-Reagan, patriotic movie.”

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

As they’ve done for the past four months, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’s Verzuz platform returned with yet another highly anticipated battle, this time between Rick Ross and 2 Chainz. Many fans gathering around to see if their favorite would pull away with the win, while others showed up simply to pass almost two hours of their time with good music. At the end of the battle, the general consensus was that Rick Ross pulled away as the winner in tonight’s bout. However, as the battle came to a close, Ross decided to share a treat with fans in the form of an unreleased verse.

Dating back to 2016, Ross shared an unheard verse he had on Kanye West’s 2016 track “Famous” off The Life Of Pablo album. The track — which was released with verses from West, a hook by Rihanna, and background vocals from Swizz Beatz — faced a large amount of ridicule thanks to its Taylor Swift reference, one that was worsened when West displayed a nude sculpture of Swift and others in the song’s video. For what it’s worth it may have better for Ross to stay out of the mess that followed with the official version of the song, but fans were still upset that his verse was removed from the song as they took to social media to share their reactions.

Press play on the video above to hear the unreleased verse.

The race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference continues and, with a handful of teams jockeying for position, every game matters for those in pursuit of a playoff berth. With that in mind, the Portland Trail Blazers needed a win against the current 3-seeded Denver Nuggets on Thursday evening, and Terry Stotts’ team was able to get one as a result of a spectacular performance from Damian Lillard. The All-NBA guard finished the evening with 45 points and 12 assists and, along the way, Lillard tied his career high with 11 made three-pointers on 18 attempts.

Lillard’s onslaught began in the first quarter, when he produced 14 points on seven shots, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.

While the second quarter was his quietest of the night, Lillard still managed to knock down a pair of long-range offerings to keep Portland in a comfortable position.

Coming out of the locker room, Lillard continued his barrage, including his ninth (!) three-pointer with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter.

By the end of the third period, Lillard had 35 points, seven points and three steals, but the game was far from over. In fact, the Nuggets slashed the margin late in the third quarter and, with a 6-0 run early in the fourth period, Denver actually claimed the lead. Much of the work was done by Michael Porter Jr., who finished the night with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting and 12 rebounds in 34 minutes.

Porter Jr.’s strong play wasn’t enough, however, as Lillard and the Blazers had another gear on this night. With more than four minutes remaining, Lillard buried his 11th three-pointer of the game, tying his career high set earlier this season in a 61-point performance against the Golden State Warriors.

The Blazers used a 13-2 run to take a double-digit lead with three minutes remaining and, down the stretch, the Nuggets weren’t able to mount a full-blown charge. While Lillard was unbelievable throughout, he wasn’t the only part of Portland’s success. Gary Trent Jr. knocked down 7-of-10 from three-point distance off the bench as he remains a huge contributor for this Blazers team, with Jusuf Nurkic adding 22 points and seven rebounds. Beyond that, Portland set a franchise record with 23 three-pointers (on 39 attempts) and it was a memorable night for the Blazers.

With this victory, Portland is now 4-1 in the bubble and within a half-game of the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed. There is more work to do but, in a flash, the Blazers have closed a sizable gap and, in the end, it helps to have one of the game’s best on full display in Damian Lillard.

Things are weird right now, everywhere, in a lot of different ways. We’ve all been stuck inside for months, some of us alone, some of us with our families, neither option ideal. People are shouting at each other about masks, online and in person. Our political discourse is the equivalent of two circus animals heaving rotten produce at each other. You have every right to be fried extra crispy right now, to be stressed, to need something to slow your brain down a little and give you a few fleeting moments of peace. We all do. You can find lots of suggestions for how to do this (deep breathing, taking a walk, etc.), but here’s another one if you need it: Maybe you should just chill out for a while and binge the Harley Quinn animated series.

Are you familiar with the Harley Quinn animated series? I’ll forgive you for now if you aren’t. It premiered last November on DC Universe, a more niche streaming service tailored to fans of the DC Comics. The second season came out in April. Critics love it, as you can see by taking a quick scan through the reviews at the time of its premiere, but if you’re not the type of person who wants to plop down $8 a month for content from one specific comics brand, it might have slipped under your radar. That’s a shame because the Harley Quinn animated series is very good. And this is a very fixable problem, especially now, today, because both seasons of the show came to HBO Max at the beginning of this month. You might have access to it and not even realize it. What an exciting development for you.

You should check it out if you can, too, because it is really very fun and good. The show is smart and funny and powerfully strange at times. It’s dark and violent and silly. It’s the kind of show where someone’s Nana might get killed with a shotgun in one scene and a hulked-up supervillain like Bane might be holding a coffee mug that says “CAFFEINE IS MY RECKONING” a few minutes later. This, to be clear, is exactly the kind of show I need in my life sometimes.

It’s also an interesting take on the character of Harley, one we’ve all become very familiar with recently thanks to Margot Robbie’s live-action portrayal in Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. This version, voiced by Kaley Cuoco, has broken up with The Joker — portrayed here as equal parts toxic boyfriend and supervillain — and is setting out to form her own crew, with the help of Poison Ivy, who never actually joins the crew but serves as a kind of emotional and physical support system as Harley’s best friend. There are moments between the two that are legitimately touching. The show has layers.

It also has an incredible voice cast. Cuoco is properly unhinged as Harley. Lake Bell gives Poison Ivy a touch of exasperated Voice of Reason. Tony Hale plays a cackling Dr. Psycho. Ron Funches plays a sweet but menacing King Shark. Alan Tudyk plays like half a dozen characters, including Joker and Clayface, the latter a member of Harley’s crew who can shapeshift into anything and is very pleased to give it more theatrical flair than necessary. Jason Alexander is in there, too, as are Andy Daly and Wanda Sykes and Giancarlo Esposito and about two dozen other recognizable voices. J.B. Smoove plays a murderous houseplant names Frank. It’s upsetting how long it took us, as a society, to make that happen.

My favorite character on the show, though, is Bane, voiced by James Adomian as a well-meaning doofus who sometimes wants to blow up service workers who get his name wrong on a takeout order. Here, look at my sweet evil boy.

Everything on the show is like this, tilted maybe 30 degrees off of what you know and expect from characters you’ve seen in other DC projects. The Legion of Doom — the villainous collective that features Joker, Bane, Lex Luthor, and more, and which Harley is at times desperate to join on her own — is shown as a bureaucratic mess, middle-managed out the wazoo, with forms that need filling out and mandatory meetings and break rooms with microwaves and refrigerators. Jim Gordon is an unshaven wreck who likes playing with the Bat signal. Batman shows up every once in a while and it barely ever matters, which is actually refreshing in a way. Creators Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker have refocused the whole world through Harley’s eyes, making you root for a series of mini-triumphs for a sociopath who loves her friends and doing crimes pretty much equally.

The show works so well as a binge, too. The episodes are like 25 minutes each and flow so well from one to the other that you can easily lose four hours in its world. You don’t even need to be super-familiar with the comics to get into the action. I had zero clue who King Shark was until I Googled him halfway through the first season and I still love him anyway. If you’ve seen the Dark Knight trilogy and are generally familiar with Harley Quinn, you’ll be fine and get the vast majority of the jokes.

And again, it’s very good. It’s one of my favorite shows of the last year or so, one I only refrained from shouting about because it wasn’t accessible to a lot of the people I wanted to shout about it to. But again, it’s on HBO Max now. And you probably need the mental vacation a show like this can provide. And I really think you’ll like it.

So, once again: Maybe you should just chill out for a while and binge Harley Quinn. I promise it can’t hurt.

Though neither side was at full strength due to the absences of Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley and Seth Curry, Thursday’s matchup between the L.A. Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks likely qualified as a playoff preview. After all, the Clippers and Mavericks are widely projected to occupy the No. 2 and No. 7 spots in the Western Conference, respectively, pitting the two teams against each other later this month. If a postseason series is in the offing, Thursday’s tilt provided optimism for entertainment value, and the Clippers secured the victory by a final score of 126-111.

For the most part, the first quarter was sluggish, especially when compared to the offensive baselines of the two teams involved. The Mavericks and Clippers rank as two of the top three offenses in the NBA this season, but neither scored even one point per possession and both struggled to maintain efficiency.

There were a few highlights, though, including a big-time dunk from Kristaps Porzingis over Ivica Zubac.

Both Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncic got off to slow starts, but that didn’t last. Doncic connected on a step-back three late in the second quarter, before finding Porzingis for a dunk that prompted all kinds of celebration.

Almost immediately, Leonard retaliated by scoring 12 points in the second quarter to lead the Clippers to a one-point halftime lead.

The Clippers continued their upward trajectory to begin the third quarter, spurting to an 11-2 run to take a double-digit lead. While Leonard and George were crucial, Ivica Zubac also made a tremendous impact, posting a double-double by the middle of the third quarter.

Eventually, L.A. built a 12-point edge but, to their credit, the Mavericks battled back. By the end of third period, Dallas slashed the margin to four points and, with 6:41 left, Maxi Kleber connected on a three-pointer to tie the game. Unfortunately for the underdogs, though, the Clippers threw a counterpunch.

The Clippers scored the next nine points, with a timeout from Dallas in the middle of the run with the game teetering.

With L.A. leading by ten points with three minutes remaining, Doncic did connect on a deep three-pointer to pose something of a threat. Still, that was too little, too late, as George answered with a three-pointer of his own to put things on ice.

Predictably, Leonard (29 points, six rebounds, five assists) and George (24 points, seven rebounds, six assists) were tremendous for the Clippers. With that said, Zubac’s performance was potentially enlightening for L.A. in this matchup. The starting center didn’t miss a shot, converting all ten attempts, and he finished the night with 21 points and 15 rebounds in 24 minutes. Beyond that, Dallas started Bojan Marjanovic but, after six minutes, he never returned, and Dallas leaned heavily on Trey Burke in a smaller lineup.

Overall, it isn’t terribly surprising to see the Clippers outlast the Mavericks, even in a game that didn’t mean all that much for either team in the grand scheme. In the sense of a playoff preview, however, there were things to take away and, if L.A. gets the kind of performance from Zubac they did on Thursday, they will be difficult to beat.