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The hip-hop community remains divided over the Daystar ‘Tory Lanez’ Peterson v. The State Of California criminal case. Unfortunately, the victim in the case, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, has found herself in the middle of some vicious attacks from veteran acts 50 Cent and Joe Budden. Thankfully, now that Tory Lanez has formally been found guilty of shooting Megan, the public has begun to flood the “Anxiety” with support, including Drake’s long-time producer Noah “40” Shebib.

Social wellness organization On Canada Project shared a gallery of images on Instagram declaring their support of the musician. Fans quickly noticed Shebib in the comment section.

The producer used a few emojis, including the hands of praise and applause, to second the organization’s #IStandWithMeganTheeStallion caption. While fellow commentators enjoyed seeing Shebib’s outward support of Megan, several were confused due to his long-time friendship and business partnership with Drake.

As the co-founder of the OVO Sound label, Shebib has worked on all of Drake’s albums, including his collaborative project Her Loss with 21 Savage. His public support of Megan Thee Stallion directly contradicts his professional work on the album. On the song “Circo Loco,” featured on the album, Drake subliminally disses Meg, rapping, “This b*tch lie ’bout getting shots, but she still a stallion / She don’t even get the joke, but she still smiling.”

Later rapping, “Shorty say she graduated, she ain’t learn enough / Play your album, track onе, ‘kay, I heard enough,” which is a direct jab at Meg graduating from Texas Southern University in 2021.

In the credits for the song, Shebib isn’t listed as a producer. However, he is listed as a writer.

Shebib’s attempt to show support for the H-Town hottie may have backfired.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Macaulay Culkin’s favorite Home Alone movie is the one without Donald Trump.

“The first one was more fun because we didn’t know what we were walking into and it was a lot less flying all over the place; it was all in Chicago. Also it had 100 percent less Trump,” The Pizza Underground singer said in 2018. Culkin even supports Trump being removed from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which “he [bullied] his way into the movie,” according to director Chris Columbus. But even though basically everyone (except Rob Schneider, probably) wishes he wasn’t in the film, Trump is still proud of the time that he told Kevin McCallister that the lobby is down the hall, to the left.

In response to a Truth Social user who called Trump’s Home Alone 2 cameo the “best part of the movie,” the former president wrote, “Thank you!” I’ve always said movies should have more scenes where characters give directions. That’s way more exciting than the Wet Bandits, Tim Curry, or the Pigeon Lady, who definitely isn’t Piers Morgan.

The rest of Trump’s Truth Social feed is the usual mishmash of bad nicknames and inexplicable uppercase letters. “Merry Christmas to EVERYONE,” he posted on Christmas, “including the Radical Left Marxists that are destroying our Country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is illegally coercing & paying Social and LameStream Media to push for a mentally disable Democrat over the Brilliant, Clairvoyant, and USA LOVING Donald J. Trump, and, of course, The Department of Injustice, which appointed a Special ‘Prosecutor’ who, together with his wife and family, HATES ‘Trump’ more than any other person on earth.”

The post ended with “LOVE TO ALL!” But especially to Kevin McCallister.

Yesterday, a Phoebe Bridgers fan posted a side-by-side photo of herself in front of the famous and distinct rock formation. You know, the one that Bridgers used as the backdrop for 2020’s Punisher album art. “what if i told you i feel like i know you but we never met?” she captioned, using a lyric from the title track.

The tweet gained enough attention for Bridgers herself to spot it and respond. “can’t believe you found it,” the impressed musician replied.

Needless to say, the fan (named Courtney) and her friends were shocked. “I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY WHEN PHOEBE BRIDGERS IS IN MY MENTIONS,” she added to Bridgers’ comment about finding the exact spot.

She told others who had asked where she found it that it’s located at Trona Pinnacles. A national park in San Bernadino, California, the location is known for its “unique geological features” and “unusual landscape,” according to the Bureau Of Land Management.

“The red light-desert-scene was the one I was looking forward the most and had the strongest vision about,” Olof Grind, who photographed Bridgers for the cover, told Our Culture in 2020. “Phoebe always told me that she liked my creepy images the best, so the creepier/the more surreal the better. I always love a good adventure while shooting, and driving out in a pitch black desert at 3 AM on dirt roads definitely added to my excitement for the shoot.”

Continue scrolling for some additional fan reactions to the Bridgers’ Punisher location post.

SZA has every reason to celebrate this holiday season. On top of appearing on Saturday Night Live, going viral with a parody track, and finally releasing her long-awaited sophomore album SOS, December keeps proving fruitful for the “Nobody Gets Me” singer. Yesterday, it was revealed that SOS topped the Billboard 200 for a second week.

It appears SZA spent the holiday in Hawaii. To commemorate her latest feat, she shared some pictures of herself on location, wearing a swimsuit that left little to the imagination. In the post’s caption, SZA appeared to reference a post celebrating the first week the album went No. 1 that had since been deleted. However, she was still in good spirits for the second consecutive week.

“Lol instagram randomly deleted my post last week .. but APPARENTLY ITS STILL TRUE THIS WEEK,” she said. “number 1 two weeks in a row .. God is incredible. I won’t repeat it all but thank you everybody for supporting me and speaking power n love into me. It’s 9:43 in Hawaii. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Life is beautiful and what it should be.”

Also in the post were other notable accomplishments, like the fact that SOS is the first album by a Black woman artist since Beyoncé’s 2013 self-titled surprise album two spend its first two weeks at No. 1. There is also a stat in there that notes that SZA and Taylor Swift are the only women artists to have at least 20 songs charting simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100.

Check out the celebratory post above.

Rap/pop superstar Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) may forget the name of a fan, but she never forgets a tweet. She once turned a tweet from her friend Cardi B into a song, for instance. Now, she’s using the old tweets from a fellow musician to form a potential love connection.

Back in April of last year, Yung Gravy let the world know he wanted to explore a love connection with Lizzo, writing, “I wanna f*ck Lizzo so bad.”

Ensuring he was hacked, the rapper followed up his initial tweet with, “Hell nah. I’m not hacked. Duster. Lizzo bad as f*ck.”

The “About Damn Time” singer used rapper Yung Gravy’s past public declaration to jump onto “The Mom Trend” on TikTok. The trend calls for users to show their mother’s personal style, then cut to their mother dressed in their child’s clothing. While at home with her mother, Shari Johnson-Jefferson, Lizzo uploaded the video with the caption, “Yung gravy [eyes emojis].”

Dressed in her daughter’s Yitty line red bodysuit, commenters immediately shared how the pair were nearly twins. The Emmy Award winner may be off the dating market, but she has no problem finding love for her mother.

Yung Gravy has shared his love of the trend as he has been open about pursuing older women, notably when he and Addison Rae’s mom Sheri Easterling had something going on earlier this year. However, he hasn’t responded to Lizzo’s video yet.

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

It’s not easy being an ally (intentional or not) of Vladimir Putin. Reports have indicated that remaining cooperative Russian elites and State TV propagandists now fear being accused of war crimes when the war ends. That’s because things are increasingly looking more dire for Russian troops, and no one knows how Putin can possibly win at this stage (even he has admitted to failing to provide even basic supplies for soldiers), which probably explains his nuclear talk.

For the moment, though, Putin is in the Christmas spirit, and he left the bunker on Monday for a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States group with gifts in hand for leaders of the former Soviet republics. As Russian independent news outlet Meduza reported, the group included “the presidents of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as the Armenian prime minister.” Putin handed out some fancy “rings of power” (surely he didn’t mean to reference a certain J.R.R. Tolkien franchise?), and only one leader immediately donned the trinket. From The Moscow Times:

Each of the leaders attending the meeting was presented with a gold-coloured ring with New Year’s greetings engraved on it, although only Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko put Putin’s present on his finger immediately, it was reported.

That’s awkward. The Moscow Times (which includes a photo of these rings) also notes that Putin’s Ukraine war has caused disagreements within the group, which Putin (during the summit) called an “unfortunate” occurrence, but he stressed, “The main thing, however, is that we are ready and will cooperate.” He also called for “providing each other with comradely assistance and mediation” in solving any internal issues that arise due to the war. Putin also apparently also had a ring fashioned for himself, but god only knows whether he’ll wear the jewelry if he flees Russia, as he’s reportedly planning to do if he loses the war.

(Via The Moscow Times & Meduza)

Lil Uzi Vert and their partner, City Girls’ JT, had quite an extravagant holiday, based on a new Instagram Story. JT posted that Uzi got her a gold Richard Mille watch, which HipHopDX has noted ranges in cost from “$60,000 to $1.3 million.”

While it’s still unclear how much Uzi exactly spent, JT’s watch is definitely fancy, so it’s safe to say it was still a lot. “Thank you Santa vert,” she captioned the picture with a pink heart.

Back in November, it was also speculated that the rapper power couple had split. JT herself had tweeted “SINGLE!” — but it seems now that it could have been referring to a song rather than her relationship status. Plus, as recently as July, she shared a heartfelt Instagram post for Uzi’s birthday. (It has since been removed.)

“I love you uzi,” JT wrote. “I’m crying making this post because you are literally a dream come true! I feel like with everything I been through in life you are one of my greatest rewards! I wake up everyday to either your frown or smile …either works for me, as long as you’re right there.

“You are my best friend, my twin flame. you work so hard, you deserve the world!” she added. “I love everything about you… from your main character energy to still being able to make me feel like I’m the only person in the room! I saw you go through so much & in those times you still held me down.”

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As a late Christmas gift, NBC shared some additional clips from earlier this month, when pop icon Cher made an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. During her appearance, Cher showed her four-piece Decades Eau de Parfum Collection, with scents representing each decade.

When Cher showed host Kelly Clarkson the perfumes, the two began to share stories of some blazing encounters with country legend Willie Nelson.

“I was shocked the ‘70s didn’t smell like marijuana,” Clarkson told Cher of her “Me” decade-themed scent. “I was like, oh, this one will obviously smell like Willie Nelson’s bus.”

“Oh my God, I’ve been on Willie Nelson’s bus, it smells exactly like marijuana,” Cher responded, laughing.

Clarkson responded with her own story of Willie Nelson’s bus, saying, “I went on Willie Nelson’s bus and I got a contact high.”

“It was a terrible old bus,” Cher added. “But he was great. And just… drugs everywhere.”

Though Clarkson said she only felt a slight high, she remembers having the munchies after her visit to Nelson.

“When you walked out, you were definitely hungry,” Clarkson said.

Check out the clip above.

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

Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, and Octavia Spencer put their stamp on this holiday season with Spirited, their new Christmas Carol-inspired movie that debuted on Apple TV+ on November 11. Just before Christmas itself came and went, Reynolds celebrated the movie’s success with help from another famed Canadian cultural export: Nickelback, who he recruited to cover the song “Unredeemable” from the movie.

In the video shared on December 23, Reynolds introduces the performance with a simple self-shot phone video in which he explains, “Hi there. Will , Octavia, and I want to thank everyone who’s made Spirited the most-watched movie ever on Apple TV+. That’s crazy. A turning point in our film is the song ‘Unredeemable.’ It’s an emotional anthem about whether humanity can overcome our mistakes, and I hope we can. So, merry Christmas, everyone, and let’s be kind to each other. Also, ladies and gentlemen: Nickelback.”

From there, the band emerges and performs the song (their cover is dubbed “Unredeemable (Redeemable Version)”) in a performance space flooded with hanging lights. Their rendition is delivered in their signature alternative rock, gruff-voiced style that’s unmistakably Nickelback. At the very end, Chad Kroeger nods to the band’s classic “Photograph” video by holding up and pointing to a framed picture of Reynolds and Ferrell.

Check out the “Unredeemable (Redeemable Version)” video above.

To put it lightly, things have been a little rocky for Kanye West over the past few months, from antisemitic comments to reports of his inappropriate conduct with Adidas and Yeezy employees. Through it all, Ye and Kim Kardashian have been co-parenting their children together, a process that Kardashian now says has been difficult.

Kardashian is the guest on a new Angie Martinez IRL Podcast episode shared yesterday (December 26). In it, Kardashian, on the verge of tears, spoke about the challenges of co-parenting and navigating West’s controversies with her children, saying (as ET notes):

“It’s hard. Sh*t like co-parenting, it’s really f*cking hard. I had the best dad. And I had the best memories and the greatest experience. And that’s all I want for my kids. As long as they can have that, that’s what I want for them. So, if they don’t know things that are being said, or what’s happening in the world, why would I ever bring that energy to them? That’s real heavy, heavy grown-up sh*t. And they’re not ready to deal with it, you know? When they are, we’ll have those conversations. And I’ll be so prepared. But until then, I’ll do anything to keep their life as normal as possible.”

Watch the full podcast interview above.