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The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Time always progresses, whether it be one day closer to when our taxes are due or one day closer to when our existence on Earth is over. The sun rises, it sets, and the moon appears. It progresses whether we’re ready for it or not. Sampha seems to understand that on his second album Lahai, his first body of work in six years and first since 2017’s Process.

However, for the London singer, accepting it is a more difficult task. Amid heartbreak and grief, it almost feels like Sampha hoped time would be courteous enough to wait for him, allow him to sort and recover from his feelings, and not be so fast to move on. The opening record on Lahai, “Stereo Color Cloud (Shaman’s Dream),” begins with a female voice that chants choppily, “I wish you, could, time / Time, missile, back, forward / I miss you, time, misuse / Time flies, life issues.” Though broken up and missing words, the message is still clear.

In “Jonathan L. Seagull,” Sampha poses a question that seems to be directed at this progression of time, among other things. “We’ve both dealt with loss and grief in separate ways / On the same track running at a different pace / Will I catch up or will you just race away someday?” Watching the world continue to spin as you work through grief or heartbreak can make the task of catching up insurmountable. The balance between the days where we fall behind and the ones we feel faster than the world keeps us on pace.

For someone who questioned so much in the face of loss, Sampha sings with hard-won clarity throughout the 14 songs on Lahai. He stands optimistic under blue skies and the bright sun, opposing pessimism under rain clouds with records that aim to be the light at the end of the tunnel for listeners who might be struggling with the latter. “Only” encapsulates Sampha’s existential questions well while also coming clean about the emotional damage that was incurred over time.

Sampha’s lyrics capture the swarm of uncertainties that lie in his head. Fluttering and erratic instruments are juxtaposed with Sampha’s soothing vocals as a way to show that peace can exist amid the whirlpool of the unknown as Sampha acknowledges the freedom to be him with love and protection from others on “Spirit 2.0.” Likewise, he conquers regression on “Can’t Go Back” as rapid drums and high hats dance in the background. There’s a mental and emotional fight at hand and Sampha excels at both telling, showing, and making us feel its existence.

Much of Lahai is inspired by Richard Bach’s 1970 book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. As Jonathan, a literal seagull, aims to discover more about the capabilities of their own body through their growing passion for flight and travel, Sampha seeks to accomplish the same level of self-discovery, growth, and more. In the book’s namesake track, he sings “Even though we’ve been through the same / Doesn’t always mean we feel the same / Doesn’t always mean we heal the same / You are not me and that’s okay” — a reminder that comparison is the thief of joy.

Lahai contemplates life, death, love, and the time to experience it all. Although the questions are neverending and the answers often don’t arrive as quickly as we’d like them to, there’s no fear in Sampha’s eyes. Instead, he runs head-on into and through the uncertainty that lies ahead of him. He’s now on the other side and proud of the progress he made.

Furthermore, Lahai is an enchanting display of growth and acceptance as a result of unfortunate events. Sampha’s sophomore album was created with the intention of capturing both the swarming winds and settled dust that occurs on the journey. Six years gives you plenty of time to figure things out, and with that time available for him to use, Sampha made the absolute best of it.

Lahai is out now via Young Recordings. Find out more information here.

Apple is bumping up the cost to stream its library of original movies and TV shows on Apple TV+. The streaming platform is now demanding subscribers pay $9.99 per month, up from its current $6.99 per month price tag. That increase also applies to its annual subscription option which will go from $69 to $99.

When the streamer launched in 2019 it cost just $4.99 per month to subscribe, but the company has added dozens of shows and films since then, churning out Emmy-winning dramas like The Morning Show and sleeper sci-fi hits like Silo and For All Mankind that Apple execs believe justify this latest price hike.

“Since launching four years ago, Apple TV+ has made history for streaming services by crossing major milestones in a short span of time, thanks to its extensive selection of award-winning and broadly acclaimed series, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family entertainment,” a statement from the company read. “We are focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services.”

Apple TV+ isn’t the only product hiking up its price tag. The company’s Apple One bundle — which covers Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and cloud storage — is also getting more expensive for users to opt into, going from $9.99 per month to $12.99 per month. Apple TV+ is just the latest streaming service to raise its cost of entry this year — Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Amazon either already have or soon will charge more for their ad-free options — but the markup does come at a particularly tough time considering the Writers’ and SAG-AFTRA strikes have paused production on any new or returning shows and films that will likely bleed into the new year.

(Via The Wrap)

MF DOOM‘s widow, Jasmine Dumile Thompson, has now filed a lawsuit against the late rapper’s former label manager, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, according to Billboard. Thompson claims that Alapatt stole 31 of MF DOOM’s notebooks that contained both lyrics from his albums, as well as ones for unreleased songs and “other creative ideations.”

Thompson filed the suit in a Los Angeles court yesterday (October 24). Before the lawsuit, she had already accused him of the theft, after posting emails on social media between MF DOOM and Alapatt. “Egon, Give the Notebooks Back,” she captioned.

According to the publication and the filing, Alapatt has admitted to having MF DOOM’s writings but is reportedly not giving them back to his estate. Instead, he allegedly wants them “donated to a university or government archive” or a “museum or other institution.”

However, the lawsuit comes because according to Thompson, this goes against MF DOOM’s wishes. “[The notebooks] were intended by DOOM to be secret and confidential,” it reads.

“Alapatt never consulted with DOOM about his acquisition of the notebooks and took advantage of DOOM’s being out the country to obtain them,” it adds, with the alleged theft taking place before the rapper’s death. He had been stuck in the UK over immigration issues, and Alapatt allegedly used this to take them sometime around 2016.

Along with seeking “significant compensation” in the lawsuit, she is also requesting a jury trial.

It looks like TikTok may have churned out the next Afrobeats superstar thanks to Tyla and her endlessly catchy single, “Water.” While the singer has been around for a few years, as so often happens, the single caught on shortly after its release via a dance challenge and quickly made the jump from the video-sharing app to the Billboard charts. In the process, “Water” made Tyla the youngest-ever South AfricanTyla the youngest-ever South African to chart in the US and the first to do so in 55 years.

So Is Tyla?

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa as Tyla Laura Seethal, the 21-year-old singer’s debut single, “Getting Late” was released in 2019 and eventually became a local success, receiving a nomination for Music Video Of The Year at the South African Music Awards in 2022. Epic Records signed Tyla in 2021, and has been setting her up for success throughout 2023, releasing another viral hit, “Been Thinking,” and brokering performances on tour with Chris Brown and at Milan Fashion Week for Dolce & Gabbana.

“Water” came out in July, and since then, it has skyrocketed, peaking at No. 46 on the Hot 100 and topping the UK’s Afrobeats chart. This makes her the first South African to appear on the Hot 100 since Hugh Masekela did so with “Grazing In The Grass” in 1968. Tyla recently made her US television debut, performing the song on The Tonight Show earlier this week. You can check out the video below.

A thrilling Netflix telenovela about an orphan out for revenge against a group of teen girls who abandoned her as a baby has left fans frustrated as hell thanks to one simple-to-solve plot hole.

The streamer’s latest hit, Pact of Silence, tells the story of Brenda, a powerful social media influencer with millions of followers and too much time on her hands. So much in fact that, despite her success and wealth, she’s obsessed with finding her biological mom, and her mom’s school-aged best friends, after they left her to die as a newborn. Brenda hopes to track the now-grown women down, one by one, to discover who her real mother is and punish the lot of them for the trauma and suffering she endured while homeless and living alone as a young girl in Mexico.

Which, fine. That sounds like a pretty sh*tty thing for a parent to do, even if they were just a scared teen girl at a private boarding school terrified of what their parents would think. And, technically, Brenda wants to give each of the girls their comeuppance, so while she’s saved something particularly nasty for her bio mom, all of the women will eventually suffer her wrath. But the show drags viewers along for 18 (yes 18!) episodes, making them question who actually gave birth to the baby in a past timeline as Brenda pursues her form of f*cked-up justice. And that long, drawn-out reveal has really struck a nerve with fans on social media, especially since in 2023, the year of our lord Taylor Swift, DNA tests are, you know, a thing that exists.

(Via Tudum)

Swifties are reliving Taylor Swift‘s 1989 era ahead of the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) this week. The album was originally released in 2014, and while a lot has changed in her life over the past nine years, fans can’t help but pick apart the lyrics line-by-line. While much of the album is about love and the dissolution of a romantic relationship, one particular song is about a friendship turned sour.

Who was Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” about?

Many fans believe “Bad Blood” is about fellow pop star Katy Perry — and the clues seem to line up. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Swift didn’t call Perry out by name, but she alluded to one of her peers in the industry,

“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not,” Swift said. “She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?’”

Swift added that the person “basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour,” and fans noted that many of the dancers from Swift’s Red Tour went to perform with Perry on her Prism Tour.

In 2017, upon the release of her fourth album Witness, Perry spoke with James Corden during the Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show With James Corden about Swift. She shared her side of the story, about how she allegedly tried to sabotage Swift’s tour.

“Okay, so there was like three backing dancers that went on tour with her tour, right? And they asked me before they went on tour if they could go, and I was like, ‘Yeah, of course. I’m not on a record cycle and get the work, and she’s great and all that. But I will be on a record cycle probably in about a year. So, be sure to put a 30-day contingency in your contract, so you can get out if you want to join me when I say I’m going back on,’” Perry said. “So that year came up, right? And I texted all of them because I’m very close with them and I said, ‘Look, just FYI, I’m about to start. I want to put the word out there.’ They said, ‘Okay, well we’re gonna go and talk to management about it.’ And they did, and they got fired.”

Despite a highly-publicized feud, the two have since made up. Perry appeared in Swift’s video for “You Need To Calm Down” in 2019, in which, the two are seen embracing amid chaos.

It seems that Swift and Perry are at peace — and most importantly, so are the Swifties and the Katycats.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) is out 10/27 via Republic. Find more information here.

Not unlike his Terminator persona, Arnold Schwarzenegger has come bursting in the door with a presidential hot take. The former California governor shared his thoughts on the 2024 race that’s shaping up to be another rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

In Arnold’s opinion, they’re simply not young enough.

“I just hope that America finds some really young blood,” Schwarzenegger told the BBC via The Hollywood Reporter. “Because to me, it is a little bit odd that we are having a battle between people today in the late 70s and early 80s, rather than people in the 40s and 50s or maybe even younger, and have them have a chance at this great, great job.”

However, while Schwarzenegger is eager for an American president who just barely clears the 35-year-old threshold to be eligible for office, the Governator is willing to throw his age concern out the window if one particular candidate had a shot at the Oval Office: himself.

Despite being only a year younger than Trump, and four years behind Biden, Schwarzenegger thinks he’d do a great job running things.

“I feel like I would make a great president,” Schwarzenegger said. “But I feel that, at the same time, everything I’ve accomplished was because of America. America gave me so many opportunities and the American people were so embracive, and they just received me with open arms. There was no one there that stopped me from my success. So the only thing that I can’t do, which is run for president, I’m not going to complain about that.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

When you think about dining out, you hope for flavor explosions, creative dishes, and solid service. You know what you likely don’t think about? Restaurant cleanliness. But it’s as essential, if not more, than any other piece of the dining experience.

A clean kitchen isn’t as exciting as a well-plated dish, but back-of-house standards define the food sent out to diners. Chefs and staff behind some of your favorite restaurants take that commitment to cleanliness very seriously. In speaking with some restaurant staff, we found a few commonalities. Read up on the work that goes into helping keep restaurants cleaner and safer below and be sure to look for the Ecolab Science CertifiedTM seal when dining out!

Keeping A Clean Station

Things can move a mile a minute in a busy restaurant, which is why everyone from the kitchen staff to the wait staff is always making sure that food waste never has a chance to build up. While you see people promptly clearing and wiping down tables and services, the behind-the-scenes process is also rigorous with team members wiping down surfaces and mopping high-traffic areas to avoid sticky floors.

Kitchens, in particular, are made of tiny stations where each meal prep station is separated to not only ensure the organization of tasks but to keep areas as clean and food-safe as possible.

That’s why something as simple as keeping a trash can at every station can be a powerful tool that’ll ensure waste is disposed of as quickly as possible and your food is prepared in a clean environment.

To dive deeper into keeping a clean, waste-free station, watch this episode of Uproxx’s CLEAN COOKIN’.

Towels & Sanitary Disinfectant

Simply throwing away food waste isn’t enough to keep an area clean. That’s why chefs and kitchen staff rely heavily on hand sanitizers, towels, and sanitary disinfectants for those deep cleaning needs.

Sanitary disinfectants kill impossible-to-see bacteria and viruses on kitchen surfaces, helping to ensure that your food is prepared in a cleaner and safer space. You can rest easy knowing that sanitary disinfectants are at just about every kitchen station, which helps keep areas clean and is on hand for accidental spills and messes.

At an Ecolab Science Certified location, you can have confidence knowing they are committed to advancing cleaner, safer, science-based practices so you can focus on enjoying that flavorful meal.

Organization And Stocking Is Everything

A well-organized kitchen is a must. It might not seem obvious, but ingredients and supplies being properly labeled, making sure storage space is maximized, and having an abundance of tools on hand are all vital ways to keep a restaurant clean and operating at its highest level.

Check this episode of Uproxx’s CLEAN COOKIN’ for more details on setting up a workstation.

The Nightly Deep Clean

The most important ingredient in the recipe for a cleaner, safer restaurant is the nightly deep clean, using quality products, backed by science. When the last customers have left, the stoves are off, and the tables are clear, restaurants take cleanliness to a whole other level with the nightly deep clean.

This is when the entire staff attacks the grit and grime that can build up in a kitchen and the wear and tear of a busy day in the front of the house. Once the deep clean is done, chefs can return to a pristine kitchen for a new day of service, and wait staff can rest easy knowing customers will be able to enjoy their next meal in a clean environment.

After years of discussion, the NBA is finally launching its In-Season Tournament this year, where teams will compete in groups with regular season games doubling as tournament games until they reach the semifinals and finals, which will be played in Las Vegas in December.

The league is excited about the concept, but the response from fans has been a bit tepid and it’s probably going to take a little bit of time to make it something fans really start to care about. For this year, the NBA is doing its best to get people excited for the inaugural tournament, and they’re leaning into the Vegas aspect to promote it. On Tuesday night, during TNT’s opening night games, the NBA debuted a delightful new “Heist” spot featuring Michael Imperioli and a number of NBA stars lurking around a Vegas casino trying to steal the In-Season trophy.

As someone whose favorite movies are the Ocean’s flicks, this hits the sweet spot for me. Seeing Kawhi Leonard slinking around a Vegas kitchen in a black beanie and some glasses, while Draymond Green goes full Malloy brothers pushing a cash cart with the trophy in it really hits all the finer points — really it’s a combination of the Malloy’s in 11 and Rusty Ryan in 13, but I digress.

I already was a fan of the In-Season tournament, as anything to add a little spice to the long NBA regular season is a good thing in my eyes and, despite being new, I think guys are going to care about it because it’s something to compete for. But with this commercial? I’m all in and will be contemplating the full NBA/Ocean’s crossover universe.

Work is work and life is life, but it’s important to squeeze some joy out of your job, right? This week’s Daily Show guest host Desus Nice gets it. He’s two days into this high profile temp job and having a time, hanging out with his old friend AOC on night one and embracing the chance to go in on his rival, Breakfast Club host DJ Envy, on night two in a moment people have been waiting for since news broke that the radio personality might be in trouble for his alleged role in a possible house flipping ponzi scheme.

While Desus didn’t make a reunion with Kid Mero happen to break this all down (check out our interview with him for insight into why that was never going to happen this week, when Desus is getting his chance to shine solo), he definitely brings his A-Game. This isn’t a quick meal, either.

Shortly after the 3:30 mark above, Desus is savoring it, giving a cliffs notes version of his (and Mero’s) feud with DJ Envy and gently mocking his leaning on “The Lehman Brothers of hip-hop” for financial advice while summoning all his powers of restraint to avoid passing out from the irony-rich laughter. It’s great stuff unless you’re DJ Envy… who was, like the rest of us, probably waiting for Desus to enter the chat while rueing the timing. Then again, he may have more pressing matters on his mind.

Daily Show correspondent Dulcé Sloan joins near the end of the clip to double down, but the high point is Desus’ ice cold closing line: “DJ Envy’s a DJ, a man who turns tables. And now the tables have turned.” Damn. There really is nothing as inspiring as seeing someone really taking pride in and getting pure happiness from their work.