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Rising Chicago star HotBlock Jmoe is making a name for himself and his song “9 x Outta 10” is reflective of that with its mesmerizing melody coupled with soothing words that are relatable and just as reflective of where his future is headed. Jmoe recently stopped by our Culver City studio for a UPROXX Sessions rendition of the song and performed the one-shot take perfectly.

“‘9 X Outta 10’ is about me expressing, ‘I am who I am,’” Jmoe told Revolt in October about the track in an interview. “Embracing my new lifestyle, but still hungry for more. Long nights and consistency [go] a long way, so I figured if I keep working hard, [nine times] out of 10, I’ll be the hottest.” He’s not wrong and his UPROXX Sessions performance is a great indicator of how far that consistency will take him.

Watch HotBlock Jmoe’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “9 x Outta 10” up top.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Recently Mariah Carey, the undisputed Queen of Christmas (despite insisting she doesn’t call herself that), revealed that she owns not one, not two, but four Christmas trees. Are we surprised?

Carey stopped by The Late Show to chat with host Stephen Colbert for a special holiday edition of his popular segment, “The Colbert Questionert.”

When picking out tree toppers, Carey said she prefers both an angel and a star. One might wonder how she could put both on top of one tree but don’t worry — she has four Christmas trees. She can make it work.

The songstress also shared that she has loved the holidays since childhood, but because of her tough upbringing, she was never able to enjoy them as she can now.

“I always wanted Christmas to be perfect, and it never was,” Carey told Colbert. “So when I was finally able to provide for myself, my friends, and then later my kids, who are 11, we have the most festive Christmas ever.”

Additionally, Carey noted that her upbringing and love for the holidays have impacted her pathway into Christmas-themed music, saying that it comes from a “longing to have some normalcy and peace.”

Later this month, Carey will host her own two-hour special on CBS, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All!, which will be filmed during her December 13 performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City before being released on December 20.

Check out Mariah Carey on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert above.

Back in 2018, LA hip-hop producer The Alchemist released a pair of well-received EPs, Bread and Lunch Meat. Supported by singles like the Earl Sweatshirt-featuring “E. Coli,” the two EPs kickstarted a multi-year run in which the resurgent beatmaker dropped a string of successful collaborative projects with rappers like Conway The Machine, Armand Hammer, Boldy James, and of course, the Grammy-nominated Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs.

The prolific producer has been busy since dropping Bread and Lunch Meat, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten his past work. Today, he teased a new project, The Alchemist Sandwich, which will combine the previously released EPs with a pair of new songs to form a more complete whole. Names listed in the credits include Action Bronson, Benny The Butcher, Black Thought, Boldy James, Conway The Machine, Earl Sweatshirt, Meyhem Lauren, Roc Marciano, Schoolboy Q, Styles P, and Westside Gunn. What a lineup. He hasn’t given a release date, but it’s probably sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, fans are still wondering about the status of a pair of projects that were teased recently, yet have yet to surface. Last year, Vince Staples said that he had recorded enough verses for a full project with Alchemist and Earl, yet was waiting on them to put it out. Alchemist said that the Staples project was more or less complete. Alc also revealed he’d hidden a full Sweatshirt project on YouTube under a fake name. For now, though, his Alchemist Sandwich will have to be enough to keep fans … ahem … fed until his next body of work.

“In May 2009, 10 young actors made their TV debut on Glee,” says text in the trailer for ID’s upcoming docuseries The Price of Glee. “By 2020, all of them would be famous, and three of them would be dead.”

The three-episode docuseries follows the dark side of the Glee musical comedy/drama, which ran on FOX from 2009-2015. Three members of the series’ original cast have since died, and the series will explore these deaths and how Glee had an impact on their lives, and maybe also their deaths, somehow. Seems like a stretch, though.

In July 2013, Corey Monteith, who played Finn Hudson, died at the age of 31 in a Vancouver hotel room as the result of a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol. Monteith, who was in a relationship with on-screen love interest Lea Michele at the time of his death, had discussed his history of addiction and substance abuse in the past.

In 2015, Mark Salling, who played Puck, was arrested for the possession of child pornography. A search warrant found more than 50,000 images of child pornography, downloaded between April and December 2015. He pled guilty in 2017, and was expected to serve prison time. Salling died by suicide in January 2018, a little over a month before his March 2018 sentencing date. He was 35.

Naya Rivera, who played the beloved queer character Santana Lopez, died in July 2020 by drowning, after a multi-day search. Rivera set out on a boat on Lake Piru in California lake with her then-4-year-old son. Rivera was 33 years old.

The Price of Glee, which seems like it will make a convoluted attempt to blame all of these deaths on Glee, airs on Investigation Discovery (ID) from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET/PT on Jan. 16, 2023. The series will be available to stream on Discovery+.

Pete Davidson is back on Instagram but before you get too excited, it’s not a personal account where he’s sharing personal snaps of his current famous girlfriend (but not in the Instagram official way) Emily Ratajkowski. The Instagram is a joint account with former Giants quarterback Eli Manning, a person Davidson is apparently comfortable going Insta official with for some reason.

So far, the Instagram account features photos and videos of Davidson and Manning hanging out (hard) in Giants gear around New York City in what appears to be Davidson’s New York apartment. The account’s handle is @pete_eli10, and it has 36.7k followers as of the late afternoon of Thursday, December 8. The account’s first grid post was posted on Wednesday, December 7, and seven more individual grid posts have been shared since.

The account’s bio says, “We both don’t have Instagram so we made one together. Pete Davidson Eli Manning.” Very powerful stuff! The bio also includes a link to a YouTube video of the two hanging out, which was posted on the New York Giants official account.

“Hello Instagram,” Davidson said in one of the videos while laying on a bed adorned in Giants merch. “I have decided to come back, but only with the GOAT.” In one photo shared on the account, Manning lights a cigarette for Davidson with the Brooklyn Bridge visible in the background. “you always got my back -Pete,” the caption says. In another, the two are posing in front of a mirror in what appears to be a dressing room, but could actually just be a rich person like Davidson’s closet.

This friendship is a mystery (most likely some kind of New York Giants promotion), but we will watch regardless.

As far as new television from this year goes, The Rehearsal was one of the only shows to make every viewer have a collective personal crisis that may or may not have been brought up in therapy. But it worked, which is why HBO decided to give the show another season, and now everyone is scrambling to create a series experience that asks the question: are you confident that you understand what you are watching right now?

The next wave of meta-TV will come in 2023 with Peacock’s puzzling new series Paul T. Goodman, from Jason Woliner, director of the similarly bonkers Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, along with a single episode of Nathan For You, so the resume is pretty stacked.

Paul T. Goodman starts out with a simple premise. A nice and normal man named Paul T. Goodman wrote a book, turned it into a screenplay, and even acted out parts of it, as many teenagers with a flip phone and a dream did in the early 2000s. Only it caught the attention of Woliner, who then fell down a deep rabbit hole surrounding Goodman and his life.

“It instantly became my favorite book I’ve ever read,” Woliner said in a press release. “The story is equal parts fascinating, hilarious, shocking, and often weirdly moving. It has endless bizarre turns, and Paul himself is the most captivating person I’ve ever encountered.” As the story unexpectedly twists and turns, it quickly became a much larger project than Woliner anticipated. And he did it anyway!

Thus began the years-long push to create this story, starring Goodman himself, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Woliner added that the unconventional setting will be a mind-bending experience. “The format, combining familiar doc elements with dramatized scenes that Paul wrote about his story – starring Paul playing himself – and weaving that with behind-the-scenes footage from the making of this show was essentially my way of taking a camera inside this very unique person’s brain,” the director continued.

The plot details are sparse but there are hints that not everything is quite as it seems here. Plus the guy from those Allstate commercials makes an appearance, so you know you’re really in good hands. Here is the official synopsis:

Paul T. Goldman is a mind-bending series from the director of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and the producers of The Disaster Artist. It’s a project that director Jason Woliner has been shooting for over a decade and a story that continues to pile on jaw-dropping new twists. In the style of Woliner’s work on Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the series is a groundbreaking project that mixes fact and fiction to tell a bizarre and incredible tale.

The first three episodes of Paul T. Goldman will be available on Peacock on January 1, with the remaining three dropping every Sunday through January 22nd.

Many families around the country kicked off the month of December with staple traditions like sipping sweet cocoa, indulging in eggnog, and taking the kids for a seat on Santa’s lap while the first snow fell. But in Southern California, they had something better — the world’s largest Tamale Festival.

From December 1-4, the city of Indio kicked the month of festivity off with a mega event, The Indio International Tamale Festival. The festival not only featured an army of vendors selling mouthwatering, handcrafted Tamales, but also a swath of exciting events that highlighted the rich diversity of the Southwest for over 100,000 attendees. Led by Juan Carlos Barajas — reigning Tamale Festival award winner, and now culinary director for the event — this was the spot to get a taste of some of the best local and regional vendors.

Beyond the tamales, the whole family was spoiled for choice with a variety of exciting attractions including a classic car show, Luchador throw-downs, roller-skating, the world’s biggest bounce house, and to top it all off, four days of vibrant music. One of the region’s most progressive musical curators, Rene Contreras lined up over 40 musical acts including the likes of Jaliscan banda legends Banda Machos, LA’s Grammy-winning quartet La Santa Cecilia, local rockstars Together Pangea, Tijuana icons Bostich & Fussible and the LA hip-hop legend and pioneer, The Egyptian Lover.

This festival had it all and truly highlighted the diverse identities and traditions that make the American Southwest such a beautiful and exciting place. This was a quintessential merry weekend, “Cali style.” Check out the gallery of the festival down below.

Beloved series Carpool Karaoke has returned for its second season, which is set to debut on Friday (December 9). Ahead of the series’ upcoming release, Apple has unveiled its lineup of guests, which includes everyone from Duran Duran and Nikki Glasser to Sandra Oh and Hilary Clinton.

Legendary Chicago band Wilco, Ciara and Russell Wilson, and Method Man will also appear in the Apple original series.

The series started as a segment on James Corden’s Late Late Show. The bit would later be developed by Apple TV+ into its own series in 2017. Here are the official descriptions for each episode:

• Sandra Oh & Duran Duran: It’s a dream come true for lifelong superfan Sandra when she meets her idols for the first time—and even performs with them.
• For All Mankind Cast (Jodi Balfour, Edi Gathegi, Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, Coral Peña, Shantel VanSanten, Cynthy Wu): In space, no one can hear you scream—but can they hear you sing “Spice Up Your Life”? The cast of the Apple Original is determined to find out.
• Nikki Glaser & Wilco: The iconic Chicago band goes on an adventure with megafan Nikki, featuring a cameo by the great Mavis Staples and a Ferris Bueller homage.
• Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton & Amber Ruffin: Hillary and Chelsea turn to their gutsy pal Amber for support as they sing along to empowering anthems—with an assist from Vanessa Williams.
• The Bacon Brothers: This duo celebrates their longtime band by covering songs from other sibling acts—plus, Michael teases Kevin for his years of fashion fails.
• Method Man & Chris Redd: From Stevie Wonder to DMX—and even Nickelback—the rapper/actor and comic riff through their playlist and a round of Black Facts.
• Ciara & Russell Wilson: The power couple combines their passions as they sing along to Ciara’s bangers and hit the football field for a climactic pass.

Check out the trailer for Season 2 of Carpool Karaoke below.

Today in news that sounds way too good to be true but it is true: Reese Witherspoon is abandoning NFTs and reprising the role of the hardworking, very annoying, but also relentlessly charming Tracy Flick from the 1999 film Election in a sequel for Paramount+. Variety reports that the film is titled Tracy Flick Can’t Win and will debut on the streaming service Paramount+. The original film’s co-writer and director Alexander Payne is returning as a writer and director. Payne is co-writing the film with Jim Taylor.

In the 1999 film, based on Tom Perrotta’s novel of the same name, Witherspoon played high school student Tracy Flick, who runs an intense campaign for school president. A social studies teacher played by Matthew Broderick attempts to sabotage her campaign. The movie received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay, Witherspoon was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance, and it won the Indie Spirit Award for best film.

The sequel will be adapted from Perrotta’s follow-up novel (also called Tracy Flick Can’t Win), which came out in June 2022. Here’s a description of the book, from its publisher Simon and Schuster:

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy to ascend to the top job. Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life—a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice.

Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter will produce the film for Hello Sunshine, a Candle Media company, alongside Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Productions, with Perrotta executive producing.

(Via Variety)

When Armani Caesar dropped her 2020 debut The Liz, it was a fitting vibe for the grungy time we were in. Now that outside is completely open, Ms. Ceasar is once again, stepping to the plate with another fitting vibe for the times in the form of The Liz 2, which was released back in October. 17 songs deep, The Liz 2 features a variety of vibes taken from inspiration across the world.

One stop across the globe The First Lady Of Griselda took after the world opened back up is Houston, Texas, where she came together with the city’s own Beatking and Queendom Come to create “Sike.” In usual fashion, she pops her sh*t on the track, this time over Beatking Kong’s ass-shaking production in the poshest way ever. This week, she released the music video for the club banger, which was shot at a local high school over the course of 16 hours.

Uproxx spoke with Armani Caesar about why a Beatking and Queendom Come feature was a very necessary addition, why strippers make the best A&Rs, and how you can have dinner with her if you want to.

What made you tap in with Beatking?

I’ve always been a fan of Beatking music and early on when we started curating The Liz 2 I knew I wanted some Houston music and he’s Club Godzilla. As soon as I heard the beat and as soon as I heard Queendom, I knew I had to hop on it. I love her voice so it was a no-brainer. I was like “Nah, give me that!”

Were you in Houston when you made it?

No, actually, West (Westside Gunn), sent it to me. He was down in Houston. I just ended up flying out to Atlanta and meeting Beatking. He was playing me some records but that was the one that actually stuck and that’s when I ended up recording it. I recorded it in the A.

Did you play it out there at the strip clubs in the A to test it out, as well?

Plenty. At all the strip clubs. Blue Flame, especially. That’s our little spot. They was definitely fucking with it. It’s a vibe.

Since The Liz dropped during the pandemic and The Liz 2 is us (mostly) out of the pandemic, how are you adjusting?

With The Liz, because when I got signed immediately after the world shut down, I really didn’t have a chance to do anything that a newly signed artist could do. Everything was just kind of in-house and at home, so being able to go out and travel again once the world did start back opening up, I was around different sounds and producers and different environments and catching a vibe that’s why this sound is so eclectic. On certain jazzy songs or songs where I am singing a little bit more on it, we were in Puerto Rico when we recorded those. There’s a couple of them I recorded in Phoenix, a couple in the A, I was just everywhere with it and back in my bag.

Since you’re signed to Griselda, do you think your image, sound, or message gets lost?

It’s good to have a female on there to be able to complete the package. I think it was always West’s intent to bridge the gap to the mainstream artists to not only tap in and work with more of a club sound or a mainstream sound like I have with “Diana” with Kodak Black. It’s still fitting. It’s still me. We all come from the same place so we still have that story. That underrated sh*t, we have to continue to keep proving ourselves. I’ve always been proving myself, I’ve always been the standout, whether it was in the studio with a bunch of guys. Whether it’s me being out in a lane of my own. I’m the only female that is looking like this and acting like this. To be able to get acclaim from various outlets and people who are featuring me and really f*cking with the music and just f*cking with me for just being authentic. I’m not trying to be anyone else but Armani.

The Liz series cover art both have Elizabeth Taylor with a third eye, can you get into what all that means with the third eye?

The picture itself, it’s of the actual painting by Isaac Pelayo. That’s his style. To take classic people whether it be someone famous or influential, that can tie into music. With Elizabeth Taylor, it’s an older picture of her on the first Liz with the third eye and that’s just showing that multi-dimensional side of me. We woke — we know what’s going on. I’m not going to be some female rapping about her ass, titties, and p*ssy. I’m not going to be the status quo. What I look like; there’s so much more. I see beyond a lot of things that are surface-level in this industry.

This new cover is a more youthful Liz. Before, where it was giving classic; that classic boom-bap sound and that classic feel with bars and spitting. This time she’s a little bit younger. She’s more in her prime but still giving elegant. Still beautiful. But also, I’m showing off a more youthful sound and tapping in with different artists that are more mainstream. I wasn’t really too crazy about being on the first one because I didn’t want people to look at my album cover and judge me. Elizabeth Taylor is also someone who played Cleopatra, so there’s the Caesar tie. It’s so many layers, I can be here all day talking about it.

I love it because you came from the strip club world, right?

Absolutely.

So you’re showing that it’s not always what you see. There’s more if you take the time to find out.

Exactly and again, it’s still giving an elegant sound to something that is gritty and grungy and hard, boom bap — but still sitting like a bad bitch with production that is out of this world. Not your typical one-two beat.

I feel it’s dope you worked with Beatking because he once explained how strippers make the best A&Rs. Would you agree?

Oh, for sure! I think most of the records, club-wise, are broken in at the strip clubs before anywhere else. That’s where you can tell if a girl is making money off it, if guys is feeling it, if girls can really dance to it, and if the energy of the song is right — because it doesn’t necessarily have to be a fast song to do something.

Tell me about shooting the music video for “Sike” with Beatking and Queen.

We shot that in Houston. I flew down there for a couple of days and just tapped in, caught a vibe, and set up to shoot. It was a real fun shoot. It was at a real high school. We got to rent out the locker rooms and the gym. It was an all-day shoot that was probably 16 hours long just because of the different set-ups. They had a crane to get overhead shots. Between me, Beatking, and Queendom doing all of our parts, time was just flying so it didn’t feel like 16 hours.

What time did you guys wrap?

Like 1 or 2 in the morning. We probably started around 10 or 9 o’clock in the morning.

What did you end up doing after to celebrate the video being completed? Or did you go back to your room to rest?

I had a flight to catch so I couldn’t do too much, but I did end up going to the studio after. I had a session. I was wrapping up The Liz 2 when we shot it. This was the first video we shot for The Liz 2.

Never stop working.

Never.

You know how Beatking always has a t-shirt on with a wild-ass saying? What would your own t-shirt with a wild-ass saying?

“Girl, f*ck him.” It’s a vibe. I think a lot of girls would rock that.

I would! What else do you have going on?

I am starting a TikTok campaign for fans to enter to have a free dinner with me. All they would have to do is a video to the song and whoever has the best video will win. We picking a bunch of winners too. We not going to be stingy.

Just TikTok?

TikTok, Instagram, whoever got the best video will get dinner with me.