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Lil Nas X’s social media presence is a cup runneth over. Between his campaign to take over Twitter, his perfect comeback to Andrew Tate, or his wholesome selfie with Will Ferrell, he’s clearly way too busy to hold a grudge.

This morning, December 29, he posted a screenshot of Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” to his Instagram Story and wrote over it, “mfer sued the hell outta me but he got down on this” with two crying emojis. The soulful jazz song is the title track of Caldwell’s 1978 album.

As for what he’s talking about: In July 2019, as reported by Billboard at the time, Lil Nas X was sued by The Music Force for copyright infringement over his independently released single “Carry On.” The Music Force claimed Lil Nas X “appropriated parts” of Caldwell’s song of the same name and asked for “the court to determine that Lil Nas X’s ‘Carry On’ is a joint work.”

The lawsuit called for “at least $10 million in damages to remedy ‘confusion in the marketplace’ that it alleges completely destroyed the value of its property, as well as at least $15 million in punitive damages,” per Billboard.

The lawsuit hit the news cycle as Lil Nas X was becoming a ubiquitous star with “Old Town Road,” which netted him two Grammys, spent a record-breaking 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, and was RIAA’s all-time platinum-certified leader until last month.

Two-plus years later, the outcome of the lawsuit is unclear.

2022 was definitely a year that did happen, despite what you may or may not think. The year will likely be remembered as the specific timeframe when Tom Cruise was flying, jumping, and dancing in and around airplanes for the better part of 12 months. And it’s nice to know that he didn’t do all of that for nothing. Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t mind. But Cruise’s high-flying adventures paid off, as Top Gun: Maverick once again shatters some records during the last week of 2022.

Paramount+ revealed that the sequel became the streamer’s most-watched movie globally after premiering last week. It flew by the previous record holder, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, who, unfortunately, did not go fast enough to beat Cruise.

Brian Robbins, CEO of Paramount Pictures, says that this is just another example of how Paramount handled the tricky pandemic release, thanks to the staggered theatrical and steaming dates: “The runaway success of this film across theatrical, digital, and now in streaming is an undeniable proof point demonstrating the power of Paramount’s multi-platform release strategy.”

Top Gun: Maverick was finally released into theaters after years of pandemic delays this summer, and it was clearly worth the wait. The first film in the franchise also got a major 400% increase in streams, thanks to everyone and their dad marathoning the movies over the holiday break. When you think of the holidays, it just screams Top Gun, right? Glad we are all in the spirit.

(Via Variety)

The lies keep rolling in for newly elected GOP congressman George Santos. While the embattled politician has confessed to embellishing his resume and come clean that he does not have a college degree nor did he work at Goldman Sachs, there are still a multitude of fibs being unearthed. It’s so bad that the Feds are investigating Santos’ shady finances, which based on everything so far, probably won’t go well for him.

In this latest whopper to be unearthed, Santos appears to have lied about his mom being killed during the 9/11 attacks. According to screencaps and tweets that are still active on Santos’ account as of this writing, the incoming GOP rep told a Twitter user in July 2021 that his mother died when the South Tower was struck. Five months later, he told another Twitter user that she died of cancer in 2016.

Here are the screencaps, which went viral after being shared by Tyler Dinnuci:

And here are the original tweets from Santos:

British user Paul Lomax also noticed Santos’ campaign website uses some interesting wording. Namely that he claims his mother died a “few years” after the 9/11 attack. It was 15 years.

As for how the GOP is responding to Santos’ seemingly endless stream of lies, they’ve been mostly silent. However, there has been some movement. In a surprising twist, Tulsi Gabbard nailed Santos to the wall while filling in for Tucker Carlson. This move earned her the ire of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who so far, has been the only Republican to push back on the media uncovering Santos’ treasure trove of falsehoods albeit after he was elected. Really dropped the ball there, guys.

(Via Tyler Dinucci on Twitter)

Kristen Bell is happily married to Dax Shepard, but in another timeline, she’s hearing a daily “have mercy” from John Stamos. The Full House actor appeared on a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, where he told host Shepard about the time his press agent tried to set him up with the Veronica Mars star.

“I was freshly divorced [from Rebecca Romijn]. There was some award show or party or afterparty or something,” Stamos said about the 2005 encounter. “And my press agent [says], ‘There’s this girl that wants to meet you. You gotta meet her. She’s in the theater. She’s fun — you guys would be great together.’ It was Kristen.” Things obviously didn’t work out between the two of them because, as Stamos told Shepard, he (born in 1963) thought he was “too old” for Bell (born in 1980). “But then I got over that!” he joked, referring to his 36-year-old current wife, Caitlin “Disney Girl” McHugh.

A shocked Shepard — who met Bell, 42, in 2007 — let out an audible reaction to the news, which was the first time he was hearing about this potential missed connection. “Oh no, kidding?!” said Shepard, 47. Thankfully for Shepard, it didn’t happen, and the Punk’d star went on to marry the Bad Moms actress in 2013. They have two daughters together: Lincoln, 9½, and Delta, 8.

For their wedding anniversary, Shepard should hire a Jesse and the Rippers cover band to play “Forever” for Bell, just to prove he’s a good sport about the whole thing.

(Via People)

More often than not, Drake is flying high in his professional life. Her Loss, his collaborative album with 21 Savage, surpassed one billion Spotify streams and avoiding an Argentina “Drake Curse” in the World Cup. But yesterday, December 28, he denied flying out a woman who posted a TikTok about an alleged intimate evening she spent with him in November.

“Never met. Never spoke. Never flew,” Drake wrote on his Instagram Story. “I hope people start doing more with the one life we are given sh*t is sad out here.”

As captured by HipHopDX, this is what the woman had to say in her original video:

“Last month, Drake had flew me out. So I had made a video, and I posted it on my Instagram Story. It was a video of me inside a purple lingerie set, and I had tagged Drake inside my Story, but I tagged him and I, like, made it real small so nobody could know that I had tagged him in my Story. So, I did not know that he was even gonna see it. I’m not even gonna lie.

So, he had texted me [in] vanish mode and was like, ‘What’s your number?’ with the heart-eyes emoji. I sent my number, quick. He called my phone. We choppin’ it up or whatever. That’s when he was like, he tryin’ to see me, and I be like, ‘I’m tryna see you, too.’ So he had booked my flight for November 16. Mind y’all: we textin’, talkin’, all of that [on] November 13.

So, fast forward, I get off the plane. He had sent a private out to get me, but before I went inside his house, they made me sign an NDA. So, I can’t really say too much, but I had looked up my NDA rules, so I know what I can and can’t say. When I get in the house, we just sitting on the couch — chillin’, talkin’ — he kept on rubbing on my stomach and kept on asking questions like, ‘Do you want kids?’ And I’m like, ‘What you trying to say?’ Like, if you wanna baby mama me, just say that.’ … Y’all know we did what we did. I don’t have to go in detail about that because it’s self-explanatory. But, he did not use protection, which was a little weird, but I’m just going with the flow.

After we did what we did, we just cuddling and we watching another movie. Everything went left when I pulled my phone out. So, I had pulled my phone out and I had recorded him. As soon as he seen me recording him, he slapped my phone out my hand. I’m not even gonna lie, I got a little scared because that slap was aggressive, but after he had slapped the phone out my hand, he was like, ‘You gotta go.’ I was like, ‘Just ’cause I recorded you? Really?’ But I had posted the video on my Instagram. All the receipts is on my Instagram, so I don’t got time for y’all to be like I’m lying and all of that because what do I have to lie for?”

On a semi-related note, Drake also had time to clap back at the Los Angeles Clippers this week. During the Clippers’ 124-113 win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, December 27, the Clippers posted sarcastically that Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell were “with a fan” when they dapped up Drake courtside. Drake commented, “Win a ring.” For what it’s worth, the Clippers (21-15) have a better record than the Raptors (15-19) so far this season.

Logic is known to be a wholesome, caring figure in hip-hop, often exploring taboo, emotional topics in his songs. Earlier this year he teamed up with Russ for “Therapy Music,” which openly reckoned with mental health journeys.

He now shared a freestyle called “Like A Playwright” on Instagram. The flow touches on the way he views other rappers as brothers rather than competitors. “Logic known for telling stories like a playwright / Stay Black brothers and sisters is how we stay right,” he raps. “It’s that midnight marauder sh*t / Flow seamless over the beats it’s kinda like a partnership / I never even thought of it / ‘Cause see for me it’s not a contest / I want all my brothers to win, all my brothers to win.”

In June, the rapper talked about the harshness of cyberbullying. “It’s difficult, man, to see people tell you they hope your family dies, and your baby’s ugly, and X, Y, Z, and you deal with that every time you look on the internet,” he said. “I know, it’s messed up, man. Yeah, as human beings. It’s insane to know that a decade ago this isn’t how the internet was. It was actually a much more nicer place. You know what I mean? There were still trolls and stuff… but everything now, how people even discuss or talk about music, ‘Yeah, this was mid.’ What does that even mean?”

SZA has been in Hawaii to celebrate the overwhelming success of SOS, which finally arrived on December 9 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her sophomore album is currently spending its second consecutive week atop the chart, prompting SZA to reflect.

First, SZA posted an Instagram carousel featuring a series of selfies, a Wolf Of Wall Street screengrab, Billboard‘s article announcing SOS‘s second consecutive week, plus aggregate sites relaying that the album is “the first album by a Black female artist to spend its first two weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 since Beyoncé” and that SZA joined Taylor Swift as the sole female artists to ever chart at least 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

“Lol instagram randomly deleted my post last week .. but APPARENTLY ITS STILL TRUE THIS WEEK,” SZA captioned the post. “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.”

Then, last night (December 28), SZA doubled down on her gratitude on Twitter.

“I just wanna say the way y’all been riding for me and genuinely wanna see me win / get my first number one means SO much …community is everything and I couldn’t do any of this w out YALL,” she tweeted alongside heart, salute and “SOS emojis with the #KillBill hashtag. “THANK YOU I LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU.”

The SOS track “Kill Bill” debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and sits at No. 7 this week. The song also became SZA’s first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard Streaming Songs chart.

SZA fans will be properly rewarded during next year’s SOS arena tour, beginning in February. Omar Apollo will serve as the opener. See the dates here.

After Modest Mouse finished up their tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their sophomore LP The Lonesome Crowded West, it was revealed that drummer Jeremiah Green has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. His mother made an optimistic Facebook post, writing, “Please send healing vibes for my son, Jeremiah Green, who is battling stage 4 cancer. He’s is so strong and so brave and hanging in there!”

Now, bandleader Isaac Brock has shared his own personal statement through the group’s Instagram account. Luckily, he said treatment “seems to be going smoothly and making a positive difference” and he is asking fans to send good energy.

Read his full statement below.

“Hi. Some of you may have already heard, but I figured it would be good to hear the news directly from our camp. Jeremiah was diagnosed with cancer a short while ago, and he’s currently in treatment. It seems to be going smoothly and making a positive difference. Jeremiah, as am I, are believers in the power of positive energy, so if you would be so kind as to send ‘good vibes'( to quote Jeremiah) in the direction of Jeremiah and his family, that’d be great.

Thank you and love,

Isaac Brock.”

Back in 2016, Cardi B’s music journey started with Gangsta B*tch Music, Vol. 1, her debut mixtape. Like any other up-and-coming rapper at the time, Cardi put in the work to push the album, and now, she has taken a moment to reflect on some promotional photos from the era.

She shared three shots yesterday (December 28), which each image representing numbers in a countdown leading up to the project’s release. In one photo, Cardi wears just her underwear as she does laundry. In another, she sits, also scantily clad, on a mailbox. In the final pic, she wears shorts and a bikini top while cooking something on the stove. All the pictures include a graphic indicating how many days remain until the mixtape drops and a phone number to contact to secure a free pre-order of the project.

Sharing the photos, Cardi wrote on Twitter, “My first mixtape promo photos ….I had a dream.”

Meanwhile, a Twitter hater hearkened back to this era by accusing Cardi of not being passionate about music and insisting she “should been an entertainer or remained on Love and Hip hop.” Cardi replied, “I am passionate…I’m actually overly passionate that’s why I don’t drop lackluster music …..and if I drop something that ain’t my best I makes sure the next song or verse is my BESTEST.”

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

While Megan Thee Stallion’s (real name Megan Pete) trial with Tory Lanez is her most pressing matter currently at hand, she’s still involved in another significant legal squabble: Her dispute with 1501 Certified Entertainment, her former label. On that front, though, she just got herself a win.

This summer, it was revealed that in her lawsuit against the label, Megan is asking for $1 million in damages. At the core of the dispute is a disagreement over whether Something For Thee Hotties, Meg’s 2021 project that compiles previously unreleased material and other works, counts as an album when it comes to Meg’s obligations to her record deal with 1501.

In September, 1501 filed a request for a pre-trial ruling (a “partial summary judgment”) declaring that Something For Thee Hotties be deemed not an album. Their argument was that the project it included previously available recordings and “failed to follow the proper approval procedures.” However, yesterday (December 28), a Texas judge denied the label’s request (as Rolling Stone reports), so Meg’s lawsuit can go to trial intact.

Meg replied to the motion on December 19 and it read in part, “Pete should be allowed her day in court to present evidence and testimony to the jury demonstrating that she has done all that was required of her in the delivery and release of her albums.”

Had the judge ruled in 1501’s favor, Megan would still owe the label another new album.

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