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Rolling Loud Germany Tapped Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, And Wizkid To Lead The Inaugural 2023 Festival

Rolling Loud founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif are truly looking to make the staple multi-day music festival a global phenomenon. As if organizing the three events this year, including Rolling Loud Los Angeles (set for March), Rolling Loud Thailand (scheduled for April), and Rolling Loud Portugal (scheduled for July), wasn’t enough, the company has announced yet another festival.

Making its inaugural debut in Germany, Rolling Loud is looking to bring its signature energy to the area from July 7th to July 9th. It’s set to be headlined by Wizkid (on July 7), Kendrick Lamar (July 8), and Travis Scott (July 9). Rolling Loud Germany will be held in Messe München, in the heart of the Bavarian capital, Germany’s third-largest city.

Other notable acts slated to perform include Gucci Mane, Lil Uzi Vert, Latto, Metro Boomin, Kodak Black, Joey Badass, Coi Leray, GloRilla, and Lola Brooke.

Although Rolling Loud Germany isn’t set to place until the summer, tickets for the festival will go on sale to the public on Monday, February 27, at noon central European time (6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT). To sign up or purchase tickets, visit germany.rollingloud.com.

You can see the full lineup below.

Rolling Loud Germany 2023 Festival Flyer
Rolling Loud (@rollingloud.de)

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

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Ranking The Best Bears In Pop Culture History

Cocaine Bear, a film based on the true story of a bear who accidentally snorted mounds of misplaced cocaine and went on a murderous rampage in the forests of Tennessee, is finally out in theaters. It’s a movie that feels tailor-made for a release date during Fat Bear Week — a conservationist’s version of March Madness, and not the week between Christmas and New Year’s when I stop counting calories and eat peanut butter straight from the jar with my bare hands — but that’s neither here nor there. Cocaine Bear is out now, ready to be judged by the masses who question what a honey-hunting furry oaf looks like when they’re high out of their mind on that sweet nose candy.

Cocaine Bear has emerged as a kind of of-the-moment icon, but don’t get it twisted, this is not the first carnivoran mammal to grace the big (or small) screen. Below, please find our ranking of the pop culture bears who walked so Cocaine Bear could run … wild through woods … higher than a bat’s ass … on the Devil’s sugar.

12. Ted

Ted
Universal

A walking, talking, constantly dry-humping case study in why nostalgia is toxic, this childhood teddy brought to life and forced to age into his 30s with Mark Wahlberg as his only companion is proof Toy Story got it wrong. Sometimes it is okay to outgrow our youth and hurl its stuffed carcass into a burning dumpster fire. Ted can’t help that he’s a plight to society, a foul-mouthed relic of his friend’s prepubescent immaturity, but he made a choice to commit sex acts on top of sellable produce and hygienically speaking, we can’t support that.

11. Fozzie

fozzie
ABC

We hate to say this, but Fozzie would likely not survive our current cancel culture. It’s not that his jokes are too controversial, but there’s something about his pork-pied Blues Brothers vibe that feels like he’s one bad punchline away from becoming the Muppet Joker and in 2023, we only have room for one problematic bear.

10. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo Bear

Yogi Boo Boo Bear
IMPA

Yogi Bear gets marks for his unwavering self-confidence. Boo Boo Bear gets marks for his strong moral compass. Both are furry amateur thieves who delight in wreaking havoc on the pic-a-nic baskets of unsuspecting park visitors. Who doesn’t love a chaotically good anti-hero? But it’s the existence of the 2010 film starring Dan Akroyd and Justin Timberlake as the lunch-swiping duo that brings their pop-culture power meter down a notch. Like Drew Barrymore impersonating a serial-killing-robotic-doll on daytime television, it’s something you just can’t unsee.

9. Coca-Cola Polar Bears

Coca Cola Bear
Coca Cola

The Coca-Cola Bears are addicts, people! They crave that sugary, syrupy high only the brand’s glass bottles can give. They need help. They need to be drinking more water. But they’re cute and fluffy and endangered and floating on blocks of ice that are slowly melting because Kylie Jenner wants to beat Calabasas traffic by way of her private jet so really, if this is what brings them joy, we’ll take the Marie Kondo approach.

8. The Revenant Bear

The Revenant
20th Century Fox

This might anger some, but when you decide to do a ranking of the best bears in pop culture history, you don’t set out to make friends: The Revenant Bear is an ally. He was forced to lay eyes upon one-too-many deep dives into Leonardo DiCaprio’s strange dating history and he just snapped. He is all of us. But he didn’t finish the job, so we now have to read about the 19-year-old international model *he’s attending LA listening parties with. (Leo, not the bear.)

7. Baloo

Baloo
Disney

This fun-loving sloth bear is the poster child for the quiet quitting crowd. An ant-munching, river-lazing, jungle-dwelling himbo, he’s a great hang and a loyal friend even if his party girl ways often get him into trouble. He is, in a nutshell, the Chris Hemsworth of bears.

6. Iorek Byrnison

hisdarkmaterials5-4c36-1-jpg.jpeg
HBO

Some bears are cute. Some are terrifying. And some, like this battle-scarred behemoth from HBO’s His Dark Materials, are undeniable sex symbols. Is it weird to lust after an armored polar bear who becomes the reluctant father figure for an abandoned girl with a terrible destiny? Sure, but that’s something the writers of this show should’ve thought about before adding mounds on mounds of muscle to this hunky chunk of CGI bear beef. We’re only responding as nature intended.

5. Po

kung-fu-panda.jpg
DreamWorks

A two-toned butterball who exists on dumplings and is voiced by the hottest chaos tornado in Hollywood – Jack Black? No notes.

4. Winnie the Pooh

winnie-the-pooh
Disney

Is he a pervert or a fashion pioneer? A body-confident rebel or a lazy bumpkin behind on his laundry? There’s a mystery to this Hundred Acre-dwelling teddy with a honey addiction and the dad bod to match. How did he get here? Why is he friends with a seven-year-old boy? What’s lurking behind those pitch-black button voids? We may never know, but we respect the allure.

3. Little John

Little John
Disney

When SZA told the ladies it was “cuffing season” and announced she was looking for a “big boy,” she was talking about petite John.

2. Paddington

writerdirector-paul-king-returns-to-charm-again-with-paddington-sequel
The Weinstein Company

This Peruvian immigrant in a blue toggle coat and red bucket hat stole our hearts – and all of the marmalade in England – nearly a decade ago and not even a brief prison stint in a jail designed by Wes Anderson could diminish our unhealthy attachment to this tiny troublemaker.

1. Cocaine Bear

cocaine bear
universal

In the words of camp icon Ariana DeBose: The category is an outstanding debut and Cocaine Bear (like Angela Bassett) did the thing. Cocaine Bear (like Jamie Lee Curtis) is all of us. When Stephen Spielberg uttered the words, “You saved Hollywood’s ass,” he wasn’t talking to Tom Cruise, he was addressing Cocaine Bear.

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Karol G And Shakira Don’t Hold Back In Their Fiery ‘TQG’ Video

Karol G’s highly anticipated new album Mañana Será Bonito is finally out today. One of the record’s many highlights includes “TQG,” for which she teamed up with the one and only Shakira. This follows her collaboration with Romeo Santos for “X Si Volvemos.”

The intense track comes with a cinematic music video that begins with Karol falling in a seemingly never-ending plunge as she sings. In one scene, she dons a revealing red dress while Shakira is clad in a stunning blue gown as the pair dance to the beat. There are many outfit changes throughout, of course.

In our brand new interview with Karol about Mañana Será Bonito, she discussed working with Shakira for this video, saying, “She was very sweet! All the photos we have together, we are literally laughing. There was a lot of pressure days before to shoot this video. I was super afraid of how the vibe and energy would be like, but when we were on set, it was incredible. We had a great time. We helped each other a lot. We had a lot of admiration for each other. When she was filming, I was there. When I was filming, she was there. We were cheering each other on. Everything has been special.”

Watch the video for “TQG” above.

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Russell Wilson Denied The Report He Wanted The Seahawks To Fire Pete Carroll

A bombshell report from Kalyn Kahler, Mike Sando, and Jayson Jenks of The Athletic on Friday morning indicated that Russell Wilson’s trade to the Denver Broncos came not long after the veteran signal caller went to the ownership group for his old team, the Seattle Seahawks, and demanded major changes.

Primarily, Wilson allegedly demanded that longtime head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider were fired, and if he had his way, the team would hire the man who is now his coach in Denver, Sean Payton. Of course, none of that came to pass, as the Seahawks traded Wilson and kept both Carroll and Schneider.

Via The Athletic:

Wilson and Carroll had clashed in recent years over the quarterback’s role in the offense and the overall direction of a team that had gradually declined after back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. Convinced that Carroll and Schneider were inhibiting his quest to win additional Super Bowls and individual awards, Wilson asked Seahawks ownership to fire both of them, according to league sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details. Wilson also had a preferred replacement in mind: Sean Payton, who had recently stepped down from the New Orleans Saints.

Wilson’s attorney told The Athletic that this was “entirely fabricated,” while Wilson took to Twitter in the aftermath of the story and said “I never wanted them fired. All any of us wanted was to win.”

Denver, which agreed to a lucrative contract extension with Wilson before the season, went 5-12 during his first year at the helm. Before the campaign ended, the team fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

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Gorillaz And Bad Bunny’s ‘Tormenta’ Is A Brewing Storm Of Emotion On ‘Cracker Island’

Cracker Island, the eighth studio from Gorillaz, is out now. Although leader Damon Albarn is open to the idea of eventually stepping down from the mantle for the right person, for the time being, the group is going to celebrate its latest release by dropping a new single, “Tormenta.”

The reggaeton and indie fusion track, whose title translates to “storm,” features one of Latin music’s biggest stars in Bad Bunny. On the outside, the credit for the crossover track belongs to Albarn’s daughter Missy and her friend Salima who introduced him to reggaeton. During an interview with The Sun’s Simon Cosyns, Albarn shared, “[Missy and Salima] grew up together and went to the Spanish school at the top of our road. So they’re attuned to Latin music and into reggaeton.”

The song chronicles the pre- and post-emotional dealings of deep romantic love. Bunny is a fierce rapper, but on “Tormenta,” his vocal abilities are the central focus as he sings, roughly translated roughly translates to, “And make the most of me today, because tomorrow I’m gone / And I don’t know when I’ll get back, if I get lost in your eyes / And make the most of mе today, because tomorrow I’m gone / And I don’t know whеn I’ll get back, if I get lost in your eyes.”

Albarn was overwhelmingly impressed by the music star’s talents, saying in the aforementioned interview, “Bad Bunny’s the real deal. He’s got one of those annoying voices, which is exactly right every time. So accurate and so consistent, it’s amazing,” before jokingly adding, “If I could sing like that, I would be the biggest artist in the world, but I can’t, so I’m not!’”

Take a listen for yourself. The full track is embedded above.

Cracker Island is out now via Parlophone. Get it here.

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

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Turns Out ‘The Mandalorian’ Might Last A Lot Longer Than Most Of Us Expected

It’s starting to look like The Mandalorian won’t be going away anytime soon. While promoting the upcoming Season 3, Jon Favreau revealed that the show is maybe halfway through its tale. In fact, Favreau and showrunner Dave Filoni haven’t even decided upon a finale, which flies in the face of rumors that the bounty hunting series would end after four seasons.

As Favreau explains, he hopes The Mandalorian lasts for a while, and he doesn’t feel like the series is getting close to an “endpoint.” Via Total Film:

“I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story. And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters, I think that how these characters fit into the larger scope and scale, but it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind. Quite the contrary, I love for these stories to go on and on. And so these characters potentially could be with us for a while, and I really love telling stories in their voice, and I love the way the adventures unfold and I’m looking forward to doing much more.”

Favreau’s comments arrive at an interesting time for Disney+. The streaming platform has been under intense scrutiny from returning Disney CEO Bob Iger, who’s reportedly concerned with how much is being spent on original series and whether it’s worth the investment. That dynamic has already caused a slow down on releasing Marvel series. However, it appears the opposite is happening with The Mandalorian, which has been a juggernaut hit for Disney+. People freaking love that Baby Yoda, and Pedro Pascal is cool, too, we guess. He can stick around.

The Mandalorian Season 3 premieres March 1 on Disney+.

(Via Total Film)

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Donald Glover’s ‘Swarm’ Trailer Looks Like A Cautionary Tale About Beyhive-Style Fandom

Atlanta ended only last year, but Donald Glover is already back with a new show. Created by Janine Nabers and Glover, Swarm follows Dre (played by Dominique Fishback), a fan of the world’s biggest pop star — who definitely isn’t Beyoncé — and how her obsession takes a dark turn.

You can watch the stressful trailer above.

“We just thought it’d be fun to make a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy,” Glover told Vanity Fair about Swarm, referring to the 2001 Michaele Haneke and 1982 Martin Scorsese movies, respectfully. Nabors added that “we were really interested in creating an anti-hero story,” like the ones seen on Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but “through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman.”

Glover compared Fishback to Isabelle Huppert, “as far [as] risk-takers in performances.” While shooting the final scene in the pilot, “every single person stopped what they were doing and gave Dom a standing ovation for three minutes,” Nabors said. “I’ve been doing TV for a long time and I’ve never seen that. That was the moment that Donald and I looked at each other and we were like, all right — we got something right.”

Swarm premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 17.

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Vladimir Putin Marked One Year Of War By Choosing A Pouting Brat’s Method As His New Plan To Beat Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is in an odd spot, which admittedly is an odd thing to say about a man who launched a war that he thought was swiftly winnable but is still racking up thousands of deaths, month after month. Now, the Russian president is “celebrating” the one-year mark since he invaded Ukraine, and that lack of victory recently inspired him to throw a tantrum and pull out of a nuclear pact because the U.S. won’t recognize his prowess. Yet Putin has a new plan, according to U.K. intelligence, which says that Putin (via HuffPost) intends to “eventually exhaust” President Zelensky’s troops because Russia can’t seem to achieve straight-up victory on the ground or in the air.

Reuters also reports that Putin delivered multiple speeches leading up to this anniversary, for which he (by Reuter’s accurate description) arrives “empty-handed after a bloody winter offensive,” and he’s got a bunch of plans for launching intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2023. However, Putin’s only real plan appears to be hanging on until Kyiv decides that it’s weary and surrenders. That doesn’t seem like it will happen, however:

Moscow’s forces have made progress trying to encircle Bakhmut, but have failed to break through Ukrainian lines to the north near Kremmina and to the south at Vuhledar, where they have taken heavy losses assaulting across open ground.

Ukrainian forces repelled 90 Russian attacks in the northeast and east over the past 24 hours, the military said early on Thursday. Ukrainian military spokesperson Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said Moscow was trying to use its advantage in troop numbers to exhaust Kyiv’s forces. “The enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut,” he said.

Putin’s tactic appears to be the same one that a child would employ after asking for the same toy, over and over again, at the store. Eventually, some parents will decide to give into the kid, although that’s obviously not a strategy that works well long-term or for the betterment of society. Will Putin get his way, though? We may eventually find out.

(Via Reuters)

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Georges Niang Claims Ben Simmons ‘Kinda Handicapped’ The Sixers Last Season

The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t make any big moves at the trade deadline. While they swapped out Matisse Thybulle for Jalen McDaniels, Philly didn’t do anything close to the trade they made at the deadline last year, when they turned Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and draft capital into James Harden and Paul Millsap in a move with the Brooklyn Nets.

That continuity has played a big role in the Sixers’ success this year, as the team is 39-13 and three games out of the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference. Harden, of course, has been excellent for them this year, but as Georges Niang explained during a radio hit on Friday morning, Simmons no longer being around has had a big impact on the team.

As Niang went on to explain, Simmons not playing for the team despite being on a max contract meant that the front office had to figure out “where other role players have to step up and replace the passing, dribbling, rebounding, defense.” He also pointed out how difficult it was for the locker room to have no idea if Simmons would come back and join them at any point during the year.

“The team aspect is very important,” Niang said. “I think Doc Rivers does a good job buying into the team. So, when you don’t know who you’re gonna have, night in and night out, is he coming back? Is he this? I feel like the updates we were getting about him was, like, when I’d turn on my TV, I was listening to Stephen A. Smith. ‘He’s gonna be at practice tomorrow,’ and I was like, ‘Well, there he isn’t.’

“So, last year was difficult because you didn’t know who you had,” he continued. “And then the trade deadline’s coming up, and everybody’s walking in like, ‘Well, who’s being attached to him that’s going?’ So it’s just like, you had that uneasy feeling. Now it’s like, alright, yes, we did trade Matisse and we got Jalen, but you know who you’re going into war with every single night. And I feel comfortable with the pieces that we have, because we do have some great players in this locker room.”

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10 things that made us smile this week

Here at Upworthy, we have a handful of famous folks who regularly make our headlines for their consistent, continued awesomeness. The legendary Dick Van Dyke is one of them. The legend-in-his-own-right Kevin Bacon is another.

Both of these gentlemen are featured in this week’s roundup of joy, and we couldn’t be giddier about it. Is it possible to see Dick Van Dyke’s bright-eyed grin and not smile? Doubtful. Could someone watch Kevin Bacon sing with Kyra Sedgwick and a screaming goat and not be tickled? Unlikely.

This week’s list has plenty of additional delights as well, from a hilarious crash course in sibling rivalry to an unexpectedly stunning piano performance to an unassuming, crowd-pleasing kid named George and more. So many opportunities to smile! Enjoy!


1. Delighted crowd cheers louder and louder for a kid named George at his first hockey game

Aw, yay for George. So fun to see some hive mentality put to positive use. George has a core memory being formed right there.

2. Woman who was an only child asked what it’s like to have siblings, and her friends launched an immediate crash course

@lonnieiiv

Don’t ask, just bring it

Welp, she definitely learned. Too real and too hilarious. Read the full story here.

3. Blind, neurodiverse 13-year-old blows everyone away playing a challenging Chopin piece on the piano

Beautiful. Even professional pianist Lang Lang was amazed at how she played the deceptively difficult Nocturne in B minor. Read more about Lucy and her extraordinary abilities here.

4. Dad surprises his daughter with a day out, just the two of them, and it’s so joyful

Her disgust with fishing turned to sheer delight real fast. A day she’ll never forget for sure. (And Dad, too.)

5. A kid wrote to Costco’s CEO to ask for help with a school fundraiser. He personally responded.

Costco, Craig Jelinek

We already knew Costco was awesome, and CEO Craig Jelinek just pushed that awesomeness over the top with a literally humongous donation. Read the heartwarming story here.

6. 97-year-old Dick Van Dyke brought a judge on ‘The Masked Singer’ to tears with his surprise reveal

Nobody expected it to be him behind the gnome costume. What a legend. Read the full story and see his performance here.

7. Shelter kitten pushes its sibling out of the way when a potential adopter stops by

Cutest sibling rivalry ever. Definitely gotta take them both. Read the full story here.

8. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick sing a duet of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ and they could not be cuter

Total #couplegoals. The screaming goat is the icing on the cake. Read about how their 35-year marriage has survived Hollywood and how they often sing with real goats here.

9. Speaking of goats, you may not think you need to see goats eating tomatoes, but really you do

New goal in life: Enjoy anything as much as these goats enjoy downing whole tomatoes.

10. May we all dance with the self-assurance—and the support—that this kiddo has

Let’s allow ourselves to dance without embarrassment or apology like this little man and also remember how much it means to be someone’s backup dancer. Just goodness upon goodness.

Hope that brought some smiles to your face! Come back next week for more. And if you’d like to have these posts delivered to your inbox each week, you can subscribe to our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.