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No wonder why SZA waited so long to put out her new album — she deals with a lot of bullsh*t. She recently had to point out how many songs on S.O.S. aren’t sad so people would stop writing off the LP as “sad girl music.” Now, she’s explaining herself again because haters are criticizing the content of her lyrics.

On Twitter, the singer wrote, “Sos is me singing about relationships from 6 years ago . Ctrl was about relationships from high school n college . Reflection is a part of growth . Reflection is good .”

It’s unfortunately not a surprise that her ruminating on past relationships is receiving unwarranted criticism; female musicians are constantly attacked for writing about relationships, something men rarely or never have to deal with. Many (men) have accused her of being “toxic,” when really they should just be grateful that SZA was so vulnerable and transparent with the world on this record.

The good news is that S.O.S. is getting a loving reception from those who are actually her fans, despite her previous worry that they would hate it. “I never thought in a million years that people would like it,” she said on a recent podcast. “My dad’s visiting right now, with my mom. Everybody came down to make sure I didn’t lose my mind if the album went bad once it came out. And now we’re just hanging out, ’cause it didn’t go badly!”

Lil Wayne just recently made headlines for bringing A Very Weezy Christmas to a New Orleans’ Dave & Busters for kids. However, now he’s in the news for some not-great reasons after TMZ obtained some documents from his former chef.

Morghan Medlock, who was the rapper’s personal chef for almost two years, alleges that she was fired after having to leave him in Las Vegas because her 10-year-old was being hospitalized for a head injury. When flying back to Los Angeles, she says Wayne and others in his crew were delaying the flight by smoking. So instead she got her own flight and informed his assistant. She says Wayne kept asking if she was quitting and she would answer that she was not. When she came back, their treatment of her was different. Someone on the team sent her an “ungraceful message” before Wayne said, “Tell Chef Morghan this isn’t going to work.” She’s suing for wrongful termination, retaliation, and a number of unlawful practices, and is asking for at least $500,000

Wayne smoking on a plane is not unimaginable. Once Machine Gun Kelly recalled watching him smoke 15 blunts while they were in the studio: “I pressed play on the song, he’s like, ‘Is that what we’re doing?’ ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Alright. You guys got time?’ ‘Yeah, for sure.’ He goes in the courtyard, smokes 15 blunts.”

Lil Wayne just recently made headlines for bringing A Very Weezy Christmas to a New Orleans’ Dave & Busters for kids. However, now he’s in the news for some not-great reasons after TMZ obtained some documents from his former chef.

Morghan Medlock, who was the rapper’s personal chef for almost two years, alleges that she was fired after having to leave him in Las Vegas because her 10-year-old was being hospitalized for a head injury. When flying back to Los Angeles, she says Wayne and others in his crew were delaying the flight by smoking. So instead she got her own flight and informed his assistant. She says Wayne kept asking if she was quitting and she would answer that she was not. When she came back, their treatment of her was different. Someone on the team sent her an “ungraceful message” before Wayne said, “Tell Chef Morghan this isn’t going to work.” She’s suing for wrongful termination, retaliation, and a number of unlawful practices, and is asking for at least $500,000

Wayne smoking on a plane is not unimaginable. Once Machine Gun Kelly recalled watching him smoke 15 blunts while they were in the studio: “I pressed play on the song, he’s like, ‘Is that what we’re doing?’ ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Alright. You guys got time?’ ‘Yeah, for sure.’ He goes in the courtyard, smokes 15 blunts.”

It’s been a year of comically short tenures. Liz Truss spent 45 thrilling days as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Elon Musk may last only a bit longer as CEO of Twitter. The Tesla and SpaceX honcho purchased the social media giant for an appalling amount of money, and he instantly left his mark. A month and a half later he may be leaving, after holding a poll in which voters overwhelmingly voted for him to step down. Unlike some people, he may actually acknowledge voters’ wishes — with a catch, of course. But his news promoted yet another round of jokes, including from another older king of social media.

On Tuesday night, nearly two days after the poll closed, Musk announced he would follow through on his promise to leave if asked. “I will resign as CEO, he wrote, “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”

It’s a vague promise, laced with his usual attempts at humor. Then again, there’s such a low bar when it comes to people honoring voters’ wishes that this is almost heroic. Almost.

Since the possibility of Musk actually stepping down as Twitter CEO was raised, some have had jokey suggestions on who should replace him. One of them was Tom Anderson, one of the co-founders of Myspace, the world’s first global social media service. Anderson wasn’t like Musk. Apart from forcing everyone to be his friend — and therefore having his picture on their wall — he knew well enough to leave everyone alone.

Musk launched the poll on Sunday after he’d already been on a roll. After a week of briefly suspending journalists he didn’t like, he spent the weekend briefly suspending another one then and enacting an instantly infamous new rule that banned people from linking to rival social media accounts. His antics have proven unpopular with many users as well as his investors. He’s instead cozied up to far right extremists. In other words, he’s alienating people who would buy his electric cars and embraced those who never would.

Anyway, if this is the end of the Musk era of Twitter

It’s been a year of comically short tenures. Liz Truss spent 45 thrilling days as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Elon Musk may last only a bit longer as CEO of Twitter. The Tesla and SpaceX honcho purchased the social media giant for an appalling amount of money, and he instantly left his mark. A month and a half later he may be leaving, after holding a poll in which voters overwhelmingly voted for him to step down. Unlike some people, he may actually acknowledge voters’ wishes — with a catch, of course. But his news promoted yet another round of jokes, including from another older king of social media.

On Tuesday night, nearly two days after the poll closed, Musk announced he would follow through on his promise to leave if asked. “I will resign as CEO, he wrote, “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”

It’s a vague promise, laced with his usual attempts at humor. Then again, there’s such a low bar when it comes to people honoring voters’ wishes that this is almost heroic. Almost.

Since the possibility of Musk actually stepping down as Twitter CEO was raised, some have had jokey suggestions on who should replace him. One of them was Tom Anderson, one of the co-founders of Myspace, the world’s first global social media service. Anderson wasn’t like Musk. Apart from forcing everyone to be his friend — and therefore having his picture on their wall — he knew well enough to leave everyone alone.

Musk launched the poll on Sunday after he’d already been on a roll. After a week of briefly suspending journalists he didn’t like, he spent the weekend briefly suspending another one then and enacting an instantly infamous new rule that banned people from linking to rival social media accounts. His antics have proven unpopular with many users as well as his investors. He’s instead cozied up to far right extremists. In other words, he’s alienating people who would buy his electric cars and embraced those who never would.

Anyway, if this is the end of the Musk era of Twitter

It wasn’t pretty, but the Kansas City Chiefs went on the road and beat the Houston Texans in overtime, 30-24, this past week. The game happened without one notable person in attendance, as a Chiefs fan known as ChiefsAholic — real name Xavier Michael Babudar — did not make it to NRG Stadium despite tweeting that he was going to make the trip.

A whole lot of rumors began circulating on Twitter in recent days that Babudar didn’t make it because he was arrested for armed robbery, which is, to put it lightly, an extremely serious thing to allege. But according to Tulsa County arrest records, Babudar was arrested on Friday afternoon and his bond is set at $200,000 for armed robbery stemming from an incident in the Tulsa suburb of Bixby.

Here is what happened, per Emily Farris of KJRH-TV:

Around 9:35 a.m. on Dec. 16, Bixby police responded to an armed robbery happening at the Tulsa Teachers Credit Union near 131st and Memorial. An eyewitness called in to report the robbery to the police and gave the description of the suspect and the direction he fled.

After officers arrived, they set up a perimeter in a nearby neighborhood where they caught the suspect trying to escape with a weapon and a large amount of cash on hand.

Beyond the armed robbery charge, the charges facing Babudar include several other felonies. One is wearing a mask in commission of a felony, but it is unclear if he wore what he usually wears to Chiefs games.

(Via NBC DFW)

The tragic death of Terry Hall from The Specials has shaken the music world. The vocalist was 63 and battling a “brief illness,” according to the band’s statement. Damon Albarn of Gorillaz and Blur just shared a tribute to Hall, covering The Specials’ song “Friday Night, Saturday Morning.”

On Twitter, Albarn shared the video of him doing a rendition of the song on piano, adding the caption: “Terry, you meant the world to me. I love you.” His playing is passionate and thoughtful.

People in the comments shared links to when Hall joined Blur onstage for a performance in the 90s.

The official statement about Hall’s passing read, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother, and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters, and lyricists this country has ever produced.” It continued: “Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love,” adding, “He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity. Terry often left the stage at the end of The Specials’ life-affirming shows with three words… ‘Love, Love, Love.’”

It’s Tuesday, which means another round of hijinks from the “Inside The NBA” crew are in store over on TNT. With the holiday season in full swing, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley have embraced the spirit and centered much of their mischief around the wintry theme lately. Two weeks ago, Smith shoved Shaq into a Christmas tree during their weekly race to the big board.

Prior to Tuesday’s game between the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, Jacquees performed “Let It Snow” on set. As fake snow sprinkled down upon all four panelists, Barkley was harshly met with much more than a light drizzle while he enjoyed the show.

Slightly bobbing his head to the music, Barkley is clearly vibing just before he’s greeted by a pile of fake snow from above. The best part is that half a second prior it all raining down, he’s clearly disrupted by something but doesn’t have anywhere close to enough time to figure out what. Then, the avalanche immediately hits. Shaq, Johnson and Smith burst out laughing. Barkley is defeated, but chuckles briefly and is smiling. Even Jacquees has to pause the song and revel in the humor.

“Hey, my bad, Chuck,” Jacquees said.

“I hate y’all,” said Barkley, with a grin on his face. “I hate y’all.”

The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 aired their final hearing on Monday, during which they dropped a bombshell: Among their criminal referrals was four for Donald Trump himself. They also mentioned that a Trump-backed attorney attempted to sabotage arguably their biggest (or at least most shocking) witness: Cassidy Hutchinson. Now that person has been revealed.

As per CNN, Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, allegedly advised his then-client, Hutchinson, to give misleading testimony to the committee. Passantino reportedly told her to say she didn’t remember certain details, even if she did.

Instead she got another lawyer, and she delivered the biggest blockbuster of the hearings. Among her allegations were that Trump attacked a Secret Service agent who wouldn’t drive him to the Capital, where violent supporters were poised to storm the building; that Trump knew they were armed but didn’t care because “they’re not here to hurt me”; that at one point he got so angry that he threw ketchup-laden food everywhere; and more. Trump had one of his signature meltdowns over the testimony, as he’s wont to do when cornered.

Passantino denied giving his client terrible, illegal advice. After the allegations broke, his professional biography was scrubbed from the website of a firm where he’s a partner, and that he was on a “leave of absence.”

There were many concerns over witness tampering during the Jan. 6 hearings, and it seems with good cause.

So what happens next? Trump has famously weaseled out of everything; the only time he’s had to pay for his deeds was when he failed to get re-elected in 2020. For now, though, his life at Mar-a-Lago sounds pretty darn sad.

(Via CNN)

The marvel of mushrooms is that they seem to sprout anywhere and everywhere. They’re certainly popping up like crazy these days, especially the psychedelic variety. From new patents and research to underground holistic treatment to self-guided journeys to festival enjoyment, psilocybin — “magic mushrooms” or “shrooms” if you are someone’s 47-year-old uncle — are hot on their way to defining a generation of partyers, healers, and seekers.

And… if this Christmas is any indication, mind-altering mushrooms have apparently influenced loads of interior decorators, too. Because these fungi are freaking everywhere. Not just niche sites like Etsy either — we’re talking Walmart.

Look around this Christmas. There’s a huge swell of mushroom imagery. Notice all those shiny red mushroom decorations? They’re everywhere. But why? Well, there are a few reasons — ranging from “cool and historical” to “incredibly f*cking jaded.”

We will get to both below:

THE HISTORY

Here’s the gist of it:

Centuries ago, the shamans of the indigenous tribes of Siberia and Northern Europe kicked off the Winter Solstice festivities (around Dec 21) by consuming the Amanita Muscaria (fly agaric) mushroom. Often found growing below sacred pine trees, these are the iconic red and white spotted mushrooms that housed the Smurfs and powered up Super Mario. Though they don’t contain psilocin (which metabolizes into psilocybin in the body), these things still induce a heavy trip.

According to lore and historical sources, the shamans would journey across the tundra — envisioning themselves as animals flying toward the North Star. After the journey, they’d drop through the smoke hole of dome-shaped yurts and share what they learned with their communities.

It’s now widely believed that this might be the foundation of the Santa mythos. When you think about it, metaphorically flying through the winter sky and returning down the chimney with gifts of knowledge is an image not far from the modern Santa (minus the materialism, but we’ll get to that).

So why is today’s Santa so different? Myths and traditions can sometimes be a long game of telephone; absorbing, adding, and losing elements as they pass through time. Add Nordic and Germanic folklore, a 4th-century Turkish bishop called St. Nicholas, and a new marketable Santa drawing by Coca-Cola in 1931 and we’ve basically got modern Christmas without the fungi.

But while this game of historical telephone has altered the original shaman tradition, the red and white Amanita Mushroom was featured heavily in Christmas decor… until the REEFER MADNESS and drug panic of the fifties. The old Christmas postcard above is just one of the thousands where the mushrooms make cameos.

Now clearly, the energy around this sort of imagery and decor is ramped up this year. After decades of being mostly expunged, the whole mushroom-Christmas connection is back with a vengeance. This brings us to…

WHY NOW?

Well, because of shifting cultural mores, basically. Because of mass cultural acceptance. Because all the cool kids are doing it. Because when the cool kids do something, the brands notice. Brands like West Elm stay ready to react to cultural zeitgeists like this. Why?

Because. They. Like. Money.

“It’s become commonplace and is generally believed that the whole ‘Santa Claus’ myth is a folkloric tradition of shamanic travel,” Carl Ruck, professor of Classical Studies at Boston University told Yahoo recently, ” and that reindeer are notorious for liking to eat these mushrooms and become inebriated on them.”

When Ruck says “commonplace,” he’s illustrating that the cultural attitudes around psychedelics are shifting rapidly. Heck, today there was news about a new bill to decriminalize psilocybin in California. Newsweek is covering microdosing!

Times have changed and many concepts once deemed untouchable have now seemed to have entered a state of re-evaluation. Psilocybin use is a prime example, but so too is history itself. By diving a little deeper, the celebrations of events like Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and The Fourth of July have all been recently questioned and investigated. Pair both phenomena with Christmas, and there’s no surprise to see mushrooms pop up all around the holidays for their historical and contemporary relevance.

When history meets the cultural zeitgeist meets capitalism — viola! There you have the recipe for a decor revolution!