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As fans wait for new Billie Eilish music, the singer has instead shared some old music: Yesterday (May 9), she brought “Hotline (Edit)” to streaming services. The track is just a minute long and it’s a cover of the Drake classic “Hotline Bling.”

While this may seem random, it doesn’t come completely out of nowhere.

Per setlist.fm, Eilish performed the song dozens of times in 2017 and 2018, seguing it into her own “Party Favor.” Those songs were paired up for a Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl release in 2018 and Eilish shared the two-minute “Hotline Bling” cover on Soundcloud shortly after. The newly shared version is just the second half of the Soundcloud upload.

As for why Eilish decided to share the one-minute version now, that remains unclear. “Hotline Bling” album Views just celebrated its seventh anniversary on April 29, so perhaps that make Eilish think about her old cover again.

Meanwhile, Eilish recently said of performing for huge crowds, “It’s weirdly in a way underwhelming when there’s more people. I played my first stadiums over the summer. […] I was like, ‘I’m in a stadium, it’s so sick, it’s so big, you’re a f*cking star.’ And then you’re on the stage and you feel like you’re alone. It feels like there’s a printed out wallpaper of thousands of people. They’re so far away that there’s like no intimacy.”

Listen to “Hotline (Edit)” and the longer 2018 Soundcloud version above.

Artificial intelligence has progressed rapidly in recent times and has therefore increasingly found its way into our everyday lives. Meek Mill had an encounter with AI recently and it left him scratching his head.

Late last night/early this morning (May 10), he tweeted, “Ai wrote a rap about my dad and this what he said WTF.”

The tweet included a video of an apparently AI-generated rap song, called “Back From The Grave” and credited to Big Robbie; Meek’s father, Robert Parker, died from a gunshot wound when Meek was a child, which Meek rapped about on “Traumatized.”

The lyrics of the AI song go, “I died in a shootout, just tryin’ to feed my fam / But death couldn’t stop me, I’m back in the lab / My son Meek Mill, he’s the light of my life / Gotta watch over him, I’m back from the afterlife / I’m Big Robbie and I’m back with a plan / I’m comin’ back to life to see my fam / My soul’s come alive, I’m gonna make it right / Back from the grave, I’m gonna fight the fight.”

Check out the AI track above.

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

“Housing alone will never solve homelessness, but community will.”

That’s the philosophy of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a faith-based organization in Travis County, Texas, that provides not only housing but a caring supportive community for people who have experienced chronic homelessness.

Homelessness is a challenging issue that affects communities across the United States, from small rural towns to large urban centers. It looks different in different places and for different people, but according to the 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, more than 580,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States on any given day in 2022.

Figuring out how solve the multi-faceted problem is an ongoing struggle. Some advocate for simply providing housing, but that doesn’t address the issues that might cause someone to be unable to maintain a home. Some suggest tackling the addiction and mental health disorders at the root of many homeless experiences, but that alone won’t solve the problem, either.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes doesn’t claim to have solved the homeless crisis, but the Community First! Village they’ve built sure looks like a solid step toward addressing it effectively.

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Sitting at the outskirts of northeast Austin, Community First! Village is a 51-acre master-planned housing development that “provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness.” The village, which has been built up slowly and is slated to have 500 homes by the end of this year, has an outdoor movie theater and indoor spaces where residents can gather, an art house where they can create and express themselves, gardens where they can cultivate their own food and more.

Mobile Loves & Fishes founder Alan Graham taps into the heart of homelessness and explains why the community approach works with just a handful of words: “It’s about being lonely, man.”

The idea that community is the key to ending homelessness has been gleaned from the 35 years Mobile Loaves & Fishes has been serving meals and building relationships with their neighbors experiencing homelessness, learning about what they truly want and need. Their model is both simple and not—it’s simple in its premise of focusing on personal connections, but multi-pronged in its approach to creating community. It truly takes a village to build this kind of community, but they’re doing it.

As is clear in the name Mobile Loaves & Fishes, the organization doesn’t hide its Christian foundation, but you’ll rarely hear anyone involved talking about it overtly. Proselytizing in the community is not allowed—anyone who wants to share their faith shares it through deeds.

“What we want people to do is preach the Gospel often, and only when necessary, use words,” Graham told the Today show. They are all about showing love and faith through service rather than preaching to people about Christianity. “It’s why most of our neighbors love Christ, but can’t stand Christians,” he added. There are no religious requirements in the community or for volunteers.

The community is not a utopia, of course. Residents bring struggles with them, but here they have a community to support them through those struggles.

“It’s life. It’s real life, with all the beauty in the marinade of dysfunction, all put into that one little tasty gumbo,” said Graham. Residents aren’t even required to be free from alcohol or drug use to find a home there.

“The two essential human needs are to be fully and wholly loved and fully and wholly known,” said Graham. “And when you bring all that to the table, it creates an environment of welcoming.”

Watch the Today show’s segment on Community First! Village:

You can learn more about Mobile Loaves & Fishes and the other work they do in the Austin area to assist people experiencing homelessness at mlf.org.

Folks, this blog is being written at 1:21 a.m. EST, you know that can only mean one thing: Something silly happened on Inside the NBA. Following a pair of stinkers in the NBA in which the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets took care of business against the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns, respectively, the fellas turned to the segment “EJ’s Neato Stat of the Night,” which revolved around the guys getting a bunch of customized hats.

This ended up being pretty silly, in large part because Shaquille O’Neal‘s hat had a picture of Shaq as Shrek on it, a long-running bit on the show that the big man hates. And then, things really escalated when one of those big hats that you have surely seen around got handed to Charles Barkley, who threw it on and laughed at it. “I look like a damn idiot,” Barkley said.

And then, things escalated even more when Ernie Johnson very obviously hinted that they were going to drop things on Chuck’s head, which Chuck did not realize, because he was too focused on how he couldn’t see anything. This meant he was ultra-surprised when a bunch of ping pong balls were dumped on him.

Ernie’s laugh here really tells the whole story, because he very rarely busts out laughing this hard. As always, Inside the NBA is the best show on television.

Late in the third quarter of Tuesday’s pivotal Game 5 between the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets, the Suns huddled as Devin Booker prepared to shoot a free throw following an away-from-the-play-foul assessed to Christian Braun. While Phoenix began huddling, Nuggets guard Bruce Brown and superstar center Nikola Jokic tried to sneak their way into the group, much to the dismay of Kevin Durant and Jock Landale.

Durant swiped away Brown, who curled around to the other side of the huddle. Then, Landale brushed aside Jokic, who entered the eyesight of Durant and received a forearm to the chest from the dominant scoring wing. At that point, Jokic embellished the contact, flailed his arms and stumbled backward. Both Brown and Durant were issued technical fouls, which Durant didn’t seem to agree with.

As TNT’s color commentator, Grant Hill, alludes to, this is the second consecutive game between these sides that’s involved some extracurricular flopping. During Sunday’s Game 4, Jokic, trying to inbound a ball that caromed into the stands and exploit an advantageous 5-on-4, extended a forearm to the chest of Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who exaggerated the contact. The two reconciled prior to Game 5, but it seems the theme of flopping lives to see another game in this entertaining Western Conference Semifinals series.

A little over a year ago, Bright Eyes announced that they would be reissuing all nine of their studio albums for the Companion Series project. First came A Collection Of Songs Written And Recorded 1995-1997: A Companion, Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion, and Fevers And Mirrors: A Companion. Then Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground: A Companion, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning: A Companion, and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn: A Companion.

On Tuesday, May 9, they the third installment is arriving: Cassadaga: A Companion, The People’s Key: A Companion, and Noise Floor (Rarities 1998-2005): A Companion. Singles out now include “Middleman,” “When You Were Mine,” and “Blue Angels Air Show.”

Here’s what Conor Oberst said about the release:

“We are really excited about the final installment of our companion EPs. It’s been an interesting journey revisiting and reimagining all of these old songs. 54 songs total seems ridiculous now looking back, but I’m glad we did it. This new batch includes great contributions from Alynda Segarra (Hurray For The Riff Raff), Johanna and Klara Söderberg (First Aid Kit), and an amazing cast of other fantastic musicians that brought these songs into the present tense. I hope all of the fun and neo-nostalgia we experienced recording these comes through to the listeners.”

Listen to “Middleman” above and “When You Were Mine” and “Blue Angels Air Show” below.

Cassadaga: A Companion, The People’s Key: A Companion, and Noise Floor (Rarities 1998-2005): A Companion are out 6/16 on Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

Scarlett Johansson may have spent years playing a superhero — though she’s done with that (or at least done with Marvel) now — but in real life she’s done something heroic, too: She’s taken on Disney. Two years ago the actress made headlines for suing the House of Mouse over how they released Black Widow, her MCU character’s first and only solo outing. She was awarded with a settlement — and she was awarded with random people giving her props.

“I couldn’t even walk through a restaurant without somebody saying, ‘Good for you. Stand up for yourself,’” Johansson said during a profile by Variety (in a bit teased out by Insider). “I could see that it had a bigger impact. I got support from strangers that have no skin in the game at all.”

Johannson’s lawsuit took Disney to task for dropping Black Widow in theaters and on streaming on the same day, back when theaters a good half-year from starting to return to normal. By doing so, her legal team argued, they violated her contract, which called for the film to be released exclusively in theaters. Disney retaliated by attacking Johansson for her “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” To make the scuffle all the more surreal for her, she was mere days from delivering her second child.

Two months later Disney settled with her, offering a payout that was reportedly in the area of $40 million, on top of the $20 million she’d be paid upfront.

The two parties have since made peace, with her starring in their film version of the theme park ride Tower of Terror. Besides, Disney is a little busy right now repeatedly out-maneuvering the governor of Florida.

(Via Variety and Insider)

The anticipation for Doja Cat‘s new album is building at a rapid pace. The “Woman” singer is stirring up the conversation on social media Tuesday, May 9 by leaking snippets of unreleased songs on her Instagram Live and claiming the title is no longer Hellmouth on Twitter. “its not called hEllMoUth either its called ‘First of All’ and yes I’m announcing the album title right now,” she wrote.

Along with that tweet, she also shared thoughts about her previous albums. “planet her and hot pink were cash-grabs and yall fell for it,” she wrote. “now i can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while yall weep for mediocre pop.”

Last month, she also tweeted: “no more pop.” She also confronted those criticizing her ability for hip hop: “i also agree with everyone who said the majority of my rap verses are mid and corny. I know they are,” she wrote. “I wasnt trying to prove anything I just enjoy making music but I’m getting tired of hearing yall say that i can’t so I will.”

Her resentment for pop music could have something to do with the way music gets overplayed, which she discussed in a Variety interview. “I just got an award [from iHeartRadio] for a billion spins on the radio, so with that alone, I’m constantly being shoved down people’s throats,” she said.

Being a Doja Cat fan is not easy. In March, speculation emerged about the title of the musician’s highly anticipated new album after she tweeted “#hellmouth.” It seemed like a simple announcement, especially after she kept confusing people about what the genre would be, saying it would be rave-influenced, rap, R&B, punk, and not pop.

However, as Doja backpedals on what genre it is, she’s also backpedaling on what the title is. “The whole album is no longer rap yall its rock/spoken word and the album title is not Hellmouth anymore,” she tweeted last month. A minute later, she added, “Album is called Moist Holes.”

The shenanigans continued Tuesday, May 9, when Doja took to Twitter to stir the pot further: “its not called hEllMoUth either its called ‘First of All’ and yes I’m announcing the album title right now.” This followed her Instagram Live in which she shared a snippet of a new song.

Moist Holes was hard to believe. First of All is now suspiciously normal. Fans are tired of hearing about it, though. In the replies, some are demanding she drop the record already. She leaked a possible tracklist on her Instagram Story last month as well. Still, no release date has been teased.

Perhaps the weirdest moment of the NBA playoffs so far came in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinal series between the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns. Nikola Jokic wanted to inbound the ball quickly after it went out of bounds and ended up right in the arms of the Suns’ new owner, Mat Ishbia. That didn’t happen because Ishbia refused to hand the ball over, and after Ishbia touched Jokic, the two-time league MVP shoved him, which led to Ishbia flopping into his chair.

Jokic was assessed a technical foul and there were concerns over whether he’d get suspended for the incident, but ultimately, he only received a fine — Ishbia, it must be noted, tweeted that he didn’t want to see Jokic receive any sort of punishment. Tuesday night marked the first game since all of this, and before things tipped off, the two linked up when Jokic ran over to Ishbia, threw a ball to him, and dapped him up.

Their interaction in Game 4 was legitimately very tense — Jokic expressed his belief that Ishbia should have gotten tossed from the game, while Nuggets coach Michael Malone was pretty explicit when he found out who the fan was. As such, it’s nice to see that the pair shared a pretty lighthearted moment before things tip off on Tuesday.