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Megan Thee Stallion begins her “Cobra” video by saying, “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again” — the same message she used to tease the song on socials last week — and proceeding to crawl out from inside of a cobra. Objectively, the best part of an artist dropping new music is the race to subjectively decode what it all means, and in this case, the shedding of the cobra skin could very well symbolize Hot Girl Meg’s recently becoming an independent artist.

In October, Billboard reported that Megan Thee Stallion and her now-former record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, “mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences,” which had lasted for over three years, and would “amicably part ways.” Days prior to the news publicly breaking, Meg hinted at it during an Instagram Live.

“Hotties — the real Hotties, not the Notties, kinda them, too — this part of my album is definitely very much funded by Megan Thee Stallion,” she said, in part. “Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now. And we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf*cking Hot Girl Productions! The next sh*t y’all about to see about to be all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We in my pockets, Hotties!”

As promised, “Cobra” was released under Hot Girl Productions LLC.

Watch the “Cobra” video above.

Killers of the Flower Moon is filled with Oscar-worthy performances: Leonardo DiCaprio is great, Lily Gladstone is great (give her Best Actress now), Robert de Niro is great, Jesse Plemons wears a big hat, and therefore, he’s great, too.

Some people think Brendan Fraser also gives a great performance; others find it distracting and over the top. Guess which camp Martin Scorsese is in.

“We thought he’d be great for the lawyer and I admired his work over the years,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker said at a recent press conference, according to Variety. “He actually came in for, I think, a couple of weeks on the picture, particularly when it was in our later shoot. We had a really good time working together, particularly with Leo.”

Fraser plays attorney W. S. Hamilton, who represents William King Hale (de Niro) in court. He does a lot of wide-eyed yelling at Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio). Scorsese was particularly proud of The Mummy actor for the scene where he says, “They’re putting a noose around your neck, he’s saving you dumb boy.”

“Really for us, when we heard that… he brought the whole scene down on Leo. It was perfect,” Scorsese added. “And he had that girth. He’s big in the frame at that time. He’s a wonderful actor and he was just great to work with.”

“He had that girth” needs to enter the vernacular. Like:

“Did you see Victor’s PowerPoint presentation to the boss? He had that girth.”

Thank you, Marty, for your movies. And your influence on language.

(Via Variety)

Sam Bankman-Fried has been convicted on all seven counts of criminal fraud in his high-profile court case centering around his mishandling of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange while serving as CEO. The jury only deliberated for four hours before handing down a verdict.

The disgraced crypto guru, who was such a rising star that he reportedly had presidential aspirations, is now facing a maximum sentence of 115 years, according to CNBC.

“Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a briefing following the verdict. “While the cryptocurrency industry might be new and the players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new, this kind of corruption is as old as time. This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we have no patience for it.”

Bankman-Fried presided over FTX when it infamously cratered in November 2022, triggering Bankman-Fried’s ouster as CEO and an investigation into his financial practices, which lost billions of FTX customers’ money. After ending oddly frank DMs to reporters about what went wrong at FTX, Bankman-Fried was eventually arrested in the Bahamas.

Like the collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried’s trial was also a media circus as his ex-girlfriend testified against him and revealed that Bankman-Fried thought his unkempt hair was the key to his success. That hypothesis didn’t hold.

(Via CNBC)

The 50th anniversary of hip-hop discussions proved how competitive the genre has been throughout the decades. Each emcee is vying for their chance to snatch the attention of the listening audience for the coveted yet ever-elusive crown of the best rapper. The ability to be ranked at the top of any profession is an accolade most would be willing to fight for, including “Passport Bros” rapper J. Cole.

Dreamville’s head honcho has made a habit of calling his peers — hell, even newcomers — out for a light, lyrical sparring match. Fans fueled his inner spark by deeming him the conqueror in a few big-name collaborations. His first career No. 1 record, the Drake collaboration “First Person Shooter,” is one example. According to J. Cole, although Drake ultimately chose the “song over the competition,” he expects revenge from the recording artist soon.

During an appearance on “The Secret Recipe” collaborator Lil Yachty’s podcast A Safe Place, he spoke about the public’s (including Joe Budden) favorable response to his verse.

“At that moment, [Drake] chose the song over the competition and what the public is going to say [about his performance],” Cole said. “Drake ain’t looking at it like, ‘I’m going to take Cole’s f*cking head off at some point.’ Don’t think he ain’t’ looking at it like, ‘Nah, we just gonna make the best song.’ No, he comes from that cloth. So… at some point in time, he going to want his lick back.”

Drake, under pressure, has created bangers in the past (i.e., “Back To Back”). Cole better keep his head on a swivel.

Watch the full episode of A Safe Place podcast above.

Megan Thee Stallion politely requested that her Hotties “stop trying” to guess what her next single, “Cobra,” would sound like because “y’all are not gonna be able to guess.” Within the same post, Meg also shared, “I spilled my guts on this song, I helped produce this song, I’m just so proud of it.” When “Cobra” arrived this morning, November 3, Hotties no longer had to guess about the song’s sonic contents, but now, they’ve shifted into hypothesizing who “Cobra” is about.

In the accompanying “Cobra” video, Megan Thee Stallion emerges from inside of a cobra after saying, “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” Once she’s standing on her own two feet, she shreds everyone who has done her wrong. If you’ve been paying attention over the last three-ish years, that’s a lengthy list.

Who Is “Cobra” About?

Disclaimer: We don’t know. We can’t know unless Megan Thee Stallion explicitly says whom “Cobra” is based upon. She’s endured an overwhelming amount of people projecting opinions onto her, especially after Tory Lanez was alleged to have shot her in her feet in July 2020.

That said, it would appear that the majority of “Cobra” finds Meg venting about how she navigated Lanez’s abuse toward her — evidenced by brave and vulnerable bars like “Breakin’ down, and I had the whole world watchin’ / But the worst part is really who watched me / Every night I cried, I almost died / And nobody close tried to stop it” or “Yes, I’m very depressed / How can somebody so blessed wanna slit they wrist?”

For reference, Meg testified during Lanez’s trial, in part, “I can’t even be happy. I can’t hold conversations with people for a long time. I don’t feel like I want to be on this earth. I wish he would have just shot and killed me, if I knew I would have to go through this torture” (as NPR relayed last December).

Lanez was found guilty on three felony counts (assault with a semiautomatic handgun, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence) and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Additionally, there’s this: “Damn, I got problems / Never thought a b*tch like me would ever hit rock bottom / Man, I miss my parents, way too anxious, always cancel my plans / Pulled up, caught him cheatin’, gettin’ his d*ck sucked in the same spot I’m sleepin’.” People were quick to assume that those bars were reserved for her ex, Pardison “Pardi” Fontaine.

Megan Thee Stallion is excited to be independently releasing “Cobra” (and her presumed forthcoming album — her first since August 2022’s Traumazine) after she and her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, “mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences” (as reported by Billboard). Read Uproxx’s timeline of the lawsuit here.

Watch the “Cobra” video above.

Jimmy Kimmel had a feast laid before thanks to Donald Trump‘s eldest and least brightest sons took the stand in the former president’s fraud trial that’s unfolding in New York. The late night host was particularly focused on Eric Trump, who tried to distance himself from the Trump Organization’s shady finances by basically claiming he’s just a construction guy.

But, first, Eric stumbled out of the gate by struggling to figure out which hand is his right, prompting Kimmel to dub him “Tweedle-Even-Dumber.” From there, Eric launched into his construction guy schtick when pressed about the finances for the family business.

“Eric repeatedly said: ‘I don’t focus on the financial side of things… I pour concrete.’ He said that several times,” Kimmel quipped via The Daily Beast. “He said, ‘I’m not a money guy, I’m a construction guy.’ He’s a construction guy like the guy in the Village People’s a construction guy. He owns a yellow hat.”

The late night host also noted that Trump Sr. was nowhere to be seen as his own sons tried to save his bacon by testifying under oath that they have no idea how their own business works.

“Donald Trump not showing up to watch his kids testify in a fraud trial is the Trump family version of not showing up for their school play,” Kimmel joked after giving his assessment of Eric and Don Jr. or “The Stinklevoss Twins” as he called them.

“I haven’t seen a more likable set of brothers on trial since the Menendez boys,” Kimmel said.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Al Pacino, age 83, unexpectedly became an expectant father earlier this year with his girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, age 29. This is Pacino’s fourth child, and at the time that the news initially broke (via TMZ), word also spread that Pacino had asked for a paternity test because he didn’t believe that he was still able to father children. However, and as Jeff Goldblum first said in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.”

The LA Times reported that Pacino and Alfallah welcomed son Roman in June, and the above Getty photo was taken (on the set of a Bad Bunny video shoot) in August. In September, however, Alfallah filed court papers for custody of Roman with the LA Times relaying word from a source that they were “still together” despite the filing. Now, Page Six is reporting that the custody issue has been settled (Noor will retain full physical custody, and she and Al will share legal custody), and Pacino will be opening his wallet, big time:

Al Pacino has to pay his girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, over $30,000 a month in child support, according to documents obtained by Page Six.

A Los Angeles judge further ordered the “Scarface” star to pay Alfallah $110,000 upfront before continuing with the monthly payments, $13,000 for a night nurse, and cover any medical bills outside of health insurance coverage.

Not only that but Pacino has been ordered to make a yearly $15,000 deposit into an education fund for his youngest son.

Previously, Page Six also reported alleged chatter that Noor, who previously dated Mick Jagger and billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, “is very positive and not an opportunist… She loves old people and these guys are fascinating.” And as TMZ previously pointed out, “Pacino would be 100, God willing, when the child turns 18.” There’s been no word of a breakup between Alfallah and Pacino as of yet, but perhaps in light of their age difference, they thought it best to get things straight on a legal note.

(Via Page Six)

Warning: Spoilers for Gen V’s season finale are below.

In Gen V, like in the bigger Boys universe, heroes are often villains, villains are usually monsters, and nothing is ever really as it seems. So, if fans were expecting the show to wrap up its first season with a climactic battle on the campus grounds of Godolkin University that ended with Marie and her supe crew scoring a hard-fought win for the good guys well then, what f*cking show have you been watching?

Cate and Sam are on a warpath, unleashing the troubled kids of The Woods to wreak havoc on the human faculty and staff at God U, and they’re not afraid to rack up student casualties in the process. Stopping them means getting down and bloody, and facing off against the most powerful member of The Seven who, unsurprisingly, is getting a hard-on from all this murderous mayhem.

Here’s our ranking of the most WTF moments in Gen V’s season finale, “The Guardians of Godolkin.”

The End of Hot Jeff Summer

Vought’s undercover social media guru almost escaped the carnage that Cate and her band of crazies unleashed on the human population at God U. He was one more dial of his radio-wave frequency box away from living his best, Hot Jeff Summer life. Unfortunately for him, Cate has a flair for the dramatic and what’s more shocking than watching a live stream of a guy who’s been mind-controlled into thinking it’s the fourth of July and his head is a firecracker?

Cate Gets Handsy

In yet another example that Dean Shetty was right to be drugging her protege all these years because the girl is too powerful and damaged for her own good, Cate pushes one of the guards of The Woods to literally eat his own hands once all of the prisoners have been freed. The munching of flesh and crunching of tiny finger bones will be haunting our dreams for a while now.

Sam’s Turn To The Dark Side

Sam, like Cate, has been abused enough that the line between right and wrong hasn’t just blurred — it’s completely disappeared. Faced with the opportunity to punish the people who hurt him (and ensure humans think twice before trying that again) he makes the devastating decision to turn on Emma and embrace the unfeeling void promised by the tips of Cate’s fingertips. He doesn’t get the chance to kill that many people considering Andre is there to stop him, but his choice to betray a person who’s only ever tried to help him in order to sate his own need for vengeance feels like the final nail in the coffin of the Sam/Emma ship. We hate to see it.

Emma’s Shrinkage

Speaking of bad break-ups, after Emma fails to convince Sam to be the good guy in this impossibly f*cked-up situation, he throws some of her biggest insecurities back in her face — which, rude. Somehow, without purging herself, Emma’s shrinking ability kicks in, which begs the question: Could this girl get small just by being sad? That’s all it took? Hormonal teenage girls are sad on the daily, she could’ve been Honey I Shrunk The Kids-ing herself without gagging herself in a public restroom this whole time?

Marie’s Glow Blow Up

Marie also discovers some interesting new uses for her blood-wielding abilities during the university uprising. She manages to turn Maverick visible and stop a girl’s heart. She even finds a way to collect the blood of the many dead bodies around her and transform them into throwing knives — which is as disgusting and cool as it sounds. But her best trick? Accidentally blowing up Cate’s hand when mindflayer Barbie tried to use her powers on her genderfluid hook-up buddy Jordan. That’s romance, people!

Homelander’s Visit

If there’s a supe-caused sh*tshow happening, you can bet Homelander is going to be there at some point. Superman’s evil alter-ego shows up just as Marie seems to have quelled Cate’s rebellion, but instead of congratulating her, he accuses her of turning on her own kind and lasers her unconscious. We forgot how much of a hypocritical a**hole this guy was.

The Real Guardians of Godolkin

If beaming down Marie didn’t already hint that Gen V’s finale wouldn’t get the happy ending it was heading for, then watching as she woke up in a sterile hospital room with no windows or doors and only Emma, Andre, and Jordan for company should’ve clued us in. Not only is Homelander spinning the disaster to make it look like the four of them were solely responsible for the destruction on God U’s campus, but he’s also painting Sam and Cate as the heroes who stopped the massacre. So, we guess that answers the question of which Gen V characters we’ll be seeing in season four of The Boys, right?

Warning: Spoilers for Gen V’s season finale are below.

In Gen V, like in the bigger Boys universe, heroes are often villains, villains are usually monsters, and nothing is ever really as it seems. So, if fans were expecting the show to wrap up its first season with a climactic battle on the campus grounds of Godolkin University that ended with Marie and her supe crew scoring a hard-fought win for the good guys well then, what f*cking show have you been watching?

Cate and Sam are on a warpath, unleashing the troubled kids of The Woods to wreak havoc on the human faculty and staff at God U, and they’re not afraid to rack up student casualties in the process. Stopping them means getting down and bloody, and facing off against the most powerful member of The Seven who, unsurprisingly, is getting a hard-on from all this murderous mayhem.

Here’s our ranking of the most WTF moments in Gen V’s season finale, “The Guardians of Godolkin.”

The End of Hot Jeff Summer

Vought’s undercover social media guru almost escaped the carnage that Cate and her band of crazies unleashed on the human population at God U. He was one more dial of his radio-wave frequency box away from living his best, Hot Jeff Summer life. Unfortunately for him, Cate has a flair for the dramatic and what’s more shocking than watching a live stream of a guy who’s been mind-controlled into thinking it’s the fourth of July and his head is a firecracker?

Cate Gets Handsy

In yet another example that Dean Shetty was right to be drugging her protege all these years because the girl is too powerful and damaged for her own good, Cate pushes one of the guards of The Woods to literally eat his own hands once all of the prisoners have been freed. The munching of flesh and crunching of tiny finger bones will be haunting our dreams for a while now.

Sam’s Turn To The Dark Side

Sam, like Cate, has been abused enough that the line between right and wrong hasn’t just blurred — it’s completely disappeared. Faced with the opportunity to punish the people who hurt him (and ensure humans think twice before trying that again) he makes the devastating decision to turn on Emma and embrace the unfeeling void promised by the tips of Cate’s fingertips. He doesn’t get the chance to kill that many people considering Andre is there to stop him, but his choice to betray a person who’s only ever tried to help him in order to sate his own need for vengeance feels like the final nail in the coffin of the Sam/Emma ship. We hate to see it.

Emma’s Shrinkage

Speaking of bad break-ups, after Emma fails to convince Sam to be the good guy in this impossibly f*cked-up situation, he throws some of her biggest insecurities back in her face — which, rude. Somehow, without purging herself, Emma’s shrinking ability kicks in, which begs the question: Could this girl get small just by being sad? That’s all it took? Hormonal teenage girls are sad on the daily, she could’ve been Honey I Shrunk The Kids-ing herself without gagging herself in a public restroom this whole time?

Marie’s Glow Blow Up

Marie also discovers some interesting new uses for her blood-wielding abilities during the university uprising. She manages to turn Maverick visible and stop a girl’s heart. She even finds a way to collect the blood of the many dead bodies around her and transform them into throwing knives — which is as disgusting and cool as it sounds. But her best trick? Accidentally blowing up Cate’s hand when mindflayer Barbie tried to use her powers on her genderfluid hook-up buddy Jordan. That’s romance, people!

Homelander’s Visit

If there’s a supe-caused sh*tshow happening, you can bet Homelander is going to be there at some point. Superman’s evil alter-ego shows up just as Marie seems to have quelled Cate’s rebellion, but instead of congratulating her, he accuses her of turning on her own kind and lasers her unconscious. We forgot how much of a hypocritical a**hole this guy was.

The Real Guardians of Godolkin

If beaming down Marie didn’t already hint that Gen V’s finale wouldn’t get the happy ending it was heading for, then watching as she woke up in a sterile hospital room with no windows or doors and only Emma, Andre, and Jordan for company should’ve clued us in. Not only is Homelander spinning the disaster to make it look like the four of them were solely responsible for the destruction on God U’s campus, but he’s also painting Sam and Cate as the heroes who stopped the massacre. So, we guess that answers the question of which Gen V characters we’ll be seeing in season four of The Boys, right?

The NBA is going all-out for the newest addition to its calendar. For years, it’s been reported that Adam Silver wanted the league to adopt some sort of additional competition that took place during the regular season, and earlier this year, the announcement came that the NBA would institute the inaugural In-Season Tournament during the 2023-24 campaign.

We’ve seen some of the ways that the league wants to hype up the event already. There will be dedicated nights of the week over the next month — Tuesdays (minus Election Day) and Fridays — that will serve as tournament nights. There will be special courts and jerseys for those games, and there’s a terrific ad for the whole thing that seems ripped from the Oceans series. Once the four semifinalists are determined, those teams will head to Las Vegas for the semifinals and final.

And on Friday morning, the league unveiled the latest way it’s looking to add a little bit of excitement to the festivities. LL Cool J and The Roots teamed up to combine the song “Mama Said Knock You Out” with the melody of “Here I Come” to create the official anthem for the event.

“I’ve been a fan of the NBA ever since I can remember, and it’s a real honor to have my record serving as the anthem for this monumental moment,” LL Cool J said in a statement. “I’m excited to see the energy of the song translate to the play on the court during the NBA In-Season Tournament.”

The first slate of In-Season Tournament games begins on Friday, Nov. 3.