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The coronavirus pandemic is keeping people inside, and musicians are finding new ways to pass the time, whether they’re working on new music or performing livestream concerts. Ariana Grande previously expressed that she “can’t wait to get back to work,” so she decided to sort of get in on the new livestream concert phenomenon. Grande didn’t go live, but she did share a video of herself performing “My Everything.”

Grande was joined (virtually, of course) by producer Tommy Brown on piano, and she captioned her post, “tommy n i sending u some virtual love. hope you’re all staying safe, sane, healthy and as creative as possible.”

Grande’s mother Joan Grande was a fan of the performance, as she tweeted, “I’m going to say it… and I don’t care… Ariana, you have the greatest voice in the world, this one and all the other ones, parallel and other universes.. there is nothing else to say!!”

Grande recently offered an update on how she has been doing during the pandemic, writing,”i’m fine. i’d be an asshole if i complained. just watching things, calling friends, cooking and looking for ways to help ppl who don’t have it as easily as i do rn. if any of y’all need anything, any help at all pls tell me to check DMs.”

Grande also recently made donations to multiple organizations to help people who have been adversely affected, and has even given money directly to some fans.

Watch the performance above.

The upcoming Lovers And Friends Festival may have been disappointingly postponed and reduced back to only one day by the coronavirus epidemic, but the ongoing quarantine did give us a nice consolation prize: A sequel to the song from which the festival received its title. As part of the latest “Verzuz” series of battles organized by Swizz Beats and Timbaland, Lil Jon and T-Pain traded hits on Instagram Live Sunday night then, at the conclusion of their battle, the two stars both previewed new songs.

While T-Pain’s song was a smooth, quiet storm-esque bedroom jam, Lil Jon’s turned out to be quite exciting for the 150K fans who stayed on the stream after the battle, as Jon previewed a portion of his latest collaboration with Ludacris and Usher from Usher’s upcoming Confessions III. He repeatedly played the dramatic piano intro and a few bars of Ludacris’ verse before cutting the clip short out of respect for Usher’s wishes to keep the song under wraps until his album’s release.

Of course, that will likely only make fans more hungry for the new song, as both of the trio’s prior songs, “Yeah!” and “Lovers And Friends,” were both massive hits in the early to mid-2000s, peaking at No. 1 and No. 3 on the Hot 100 respectively. Jon played both hits during his battle with T-Pain, matching up with the “rappa-ternt-sanga’s” own chart-stompers like “Buy U A Drank,” “Bartender,” and “Can’t Believe It.” While the battle turned out to be entertaining, the highlight for many was undoubtedly the news that Lil Jon, Ludacris, and Usher have made good on their promise to “do it again.”

Watch Lil Jon’s preview of his latest collaboration with Ludacris and Usher above.

Quibi has arrived. The widely-touted, highly-anticipated, and endlessly-promoted mobile video app launched today (April 6) after a months-long campaign to drum up interest poured seemingly infinite amounts of money into content from and featuring big-name entertainers like Chrissy Teigen, Jennifer Lopez, Lebron James, Megan Rapinoe, Reese Witherspoon and more.

Unsurprisingly, that list also includes a who’s-who from the hip-hop world as Quibi backed up the money trucks to give rappers (and rap adjacent comedians, directors, and producers) the chance to take over a new format from the ground up. They’ll produce, host, and guest-star in all types of shows on the infant app and here’s a handy list to help you parse through the options that are (or will be) on tap.

50 Cent (Producer) — Trill League

Based on animator-illustrator Ant Piper’s crowd-funded comic series, the Trill League is a comedic spin-off of the popular DC Comics superteam with characters like Blackmayne, Swolemayne, and Wondeisha. The comedy will likely appeal to fans of “hood classics” like Friday, Don’t Be A Menace To South Central, and The Boondocks.

Chance The Rapper — Punk’d

Reviving the popular MTV show for a new audience, the premise remains the same: Chance The Rapper pranks his famous friends for no reason other than to watch their hilarious reactions to the over-the-top situations he puts them in — and to finding out they’re being Punk’d. Among the victims: Adam DeVine, Liza Koshy, Megan Thee Stallion, and Offset.

Drake (Producer) — 48 Laws Of Power

Drake’s producing this series based on the popular self-help book, with each self-contained episode focusing on a different “Law.” While little is known about the show’s format or personnel, Drake’s earned enough goodwill from his Top Boy revival and the teen drama Euphoria to buy a little leeway on an admittedly kooky-sounding concept.

Eric Andre w/ Various — Rapper Warrior Ninja

Speaking of kooky-sounding concepts, this might be the show fans of both hip-hop and comedy can look forward to the most. Fusing Eric Andre’s absurdist physical humor with the obstacle course shenanigans of Ninja Warrior, Rapper Warrior Ninja expands on a fan-favorite bit from The Eric Andre Show in which Andre’s rapper friends are forced to navigate his demented traps all while spitting verses.

Lil Yachty — Public Figures

From Ian Edelman, the creator of How To Make It In America, Public Figures is a scripted comedy based on Lil Yachty’s real-life experiences. It’s a story that’s right up Edelman’s alley: Yachty moved from Atlanta to Harlem with $5 in his pocket and hustled his way into rap superstardom. It’s also a format that’s proven successful with other rapper’s stories, like Donald Glover’s Atlanta and Lil Dicky’s Dave.

Offset — Skrrt With Offset

Half interview show, half Top Gear spin-off (the shows will share a producer), this offering pairs Offset with his peers (wife Cardi B, Migos partner Quavo, Lil Yachty, and T-Pain) to show off their vehicles and tell the stories behind them, drive supercharged race cars, and even shoot up a bulletproof vehicle for kicks.

Usher, Ayo & Teo — The Sauce

Ann Arbor dancers/musicians Ayo & Teo host a cross-country dance competition, judged by none other than Usher, who also plays executive producer.

Various — &Music

A documentary show focusing on the non-musician professionals who make the music industry go-round, this series highlights lighting engineers, choreographers, audio engineers, stylists, and songwriters from all over the industry with the help of big-name stars like Anderson .Paak, Ozzy Osbourne, J Balvin, and YG. Hardcore hip-hop fans will love the episode centered around TDE in-house engineer MixedByAli.

Various — You Ain’t Got These

Rappers and sneakers go together like peanut and jam — you almost never see one without the other. This docuseries by Lena Waithe details sneaker culture through the eyes of some of entertainment’s biggest sneakerheads, from tennis star Billie Jean King to comedian Hasan Minhaj. Naturally, the show also involves commentary from hip-hop luminaries in the forms of Questlove and Nas.

Bonus:

Nikki Fre$h

I’m not sure whether this show is a scripted comedy or a reality show — or which one would be more bonkers. Nicole Richie bills herself as a “parent trap” rapper pursuing a legit career in music despite appealing mainly to “teachers, rabbis, Virgos, but mostly moms and gays” in her own words. Think of it as Wu-Tang by way of Goop. Bill Nye makes an appearance, as does Riche’s real-life husband Joel Madden and his brother and Good Charlotte bandmate Benji. This thing looks so nuts, I don’t think I’ll be able to look away — and odds are, neither will you.

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

The Strokes’ upcoming album The New Abnormal is set to drop this upcoming weekend, and ahead of then, the group has shared one more taste of the record: The curiously-titled “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus.”

Julian Casablancas get nostalgic on the song, which appropriately works a New Wave influence into The Strokes’ signature sound. Casablancas says at one point, “And the eighties song, yeah, how did it go? / When he said, ‘This is the beginning of the best years,’ even though / False, break.” Right before the second chorus, he sings, “And the eighties bands? Where did they go? / Can we switch into the chorus right now?”

In a recent interview, Casablancas explained a big battle The Strokes have always faced, saying, “Since the day The Strokes got signed, it was this wrestling match between doing cool creative things and smart marketing things. It’s a dance, and I respect the dance, but that’s why right now, pop music is king over art and quality, because it’s all been scientifically worked out. That’s why cars are ugly, because if someone makes a cool car, they’ll make slightly less money.”

Listen to “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” above, and check out our ranking of The Stokes’ songs here.

The New Abnormal is out 4/10 via RCA. Pre-order it here.

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For the past two weeks, John Oliver has devoted much of Last Week Tonight to the coronavirus pandemic, and how it brings out the best and worst in humanity. But during Sunday’s episode, Oliver turned his attention to a news (“news”) network that’s become an increasing presence during Donald Trump’s recent press conferences: OAN.

The One America News Network, or OAN, is a far-right news network founded by “conservative millionaire and sun-dried Jake Gyllenhaal” Robert Herring that’s replaced Fox News as Trump’s favorite source for information. “When you hear the kinds of questions that they ask,” Oliver said, “you begin to see why Trump calls on them so much.” Questions like, “Your approval ratings have been the highest they’ve ever been, as well as the ratings on your handling of the virus, yet there are some networks that are saying they’re debating whether or not to carry these briefings live. Do you think there’s a link between the two?” Trump’s response: “That’s a nice question, thank you.”

As Oliver put it, “The whole selling point for OAN is that they are Fox News with even less shame and even fewer scruples,” and while it’s tempting to mock “bullshit” tweets like this, now’s not the time for misinformation. “I know that it is easy to dismiss OAN as just a stupid, little-watched, borderline self-parody,” Oliver said. “The problem is, if we’re learning one thing right now, it’s that toxic things that start small can get big fast, and it’s dangerous to ignore them.” Except for when they cover “transgender penguins”:

“In the best of times, you can laugh at an almost Anchorman-esque parody of right-wing news, but much like the problem with Anchorman 2, it’s just not the right time for Ron Burgundy right now. OAN’s weird combination of far-right-wing talking points and dirt-stupid reporting is incredibly dangerous at a time like this.”

Watch the clip above.

After lengthy legal proceedings and some time spent in prison, Tekashi 69 is finally a free man. Well, somewhat: Last week, he was granted an early release due to coronavirus concerns, and now he is serving the remainder of his sentence on house arrest.

Tekashi’s house arrest comes at a time when plenty of people around the world are also spending a lot of time indoors due to the pandemic. Like a lot of folks, Tekashi is passing some of the time by using his phone: Over the weekend, Tekashi made his first activity on social media since his release, by commenting on a post about snitching.

The Shade Room shared a post on Instagram about recent comments from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The image was a photo of him with the headline “Los Angeles’ Mayor Is Offering ‘Rewards’ For Snitching On Businesses Violating The City’s Stay-At-Home Order.” Garcetti said, “You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.”

Tekashi apparently liked what he saw, as he took to the comments and wrote, “Coming to the rescue.” As of this post, Tekashi’s comment has over 200,000 likes. There doesn’t seem to be an official list of the most-liked comments in Instagram history, but the 200,000 likes Tekashi got seems to be one of the all-time highest figures, as suggested by a Reddit thread from last year.

Of course, Tekashi has been accused by many in the hip-hop community of being a “snitch,” by people like Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and others.

Check out The Shade Room’s original post below.

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