Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez have been best friends for a long, long time. From appearing alongside one another as pretend enemies in the “Bad Blood” music video to dancing together at award shows, the duo’s friendship just screams goals.
There’s even theories that Swift’s 2021 song, “Dorothea,” was actually about Gomez. And while both artists are busy with their respective projects, between Gomez’s Rare Beauty makeup line and Swift’s recent record-breaking album, Midnights, they still find time to pay tribute to each other and their passions.
Swift even praised her friend on social media today. “So proud of you @selenagomez Love you forever,” Swift shared on her Instagram story. It featured the trailer for Gomez’s new My Mind & Me documentary on Apple TV+. The film details Gomez’s Bipolar Disorder diagnosis and how she copes with mental health in the public eye.
“The most influential artist, for me, it is kind of Taylor,” Gomez reciprocated on her Sirius XM radio show. “Not because she’s my friend, but she has been an artist that can transition into so many different genres and she is able to do it seamlessly and I admire that so much. And that’s so rare. I love her process and I just admire all the work that she’s done. She’s definitely inspired me.”
Selena Gomez’s My Mind & Me is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
J Prince’s name is coming up again, this time, by Drake in a new song. In November of last year, J Prince attempted to help Kanye West and Drake put their beef aside for a concert supporting Larry Hoover. Hoover is an ex-gang leader who was sentenced to life in prison in 1997 for his role in Chicago’s Gangster Disciples.
“I met with @kanyewest night in Htown at the Rothko Chapel,” said Prince in a tweet. “It wasn’t in my plans to meet him there but I must say I’m glad I didn’t allow a worship place for God to detour our meeting.”
I met with @kanyewest night in Htown at the Rothko Chapel. It wasn’t in my plans to meet him there but I must say I’m glad I didn’t allow a worship place for God to detour our meeting. pic.twitter.com/GM9FIN80Uj
In the tweet is a video, in which Ye said, “I’m making this video to address the ongoing back and forth between myself and Drake. Both me and Drake have taken shots at each other and it’s time to put it to rest. I’m asking Drake on Dec. 7 to join me on stage as a special guest to share the two biggest albums of the year live in Los Angeles with the ultimate purpose being to free Larry Hoover.”
While they were able to put their beef aside for the night, it appears their reconciliation was short-lived. On “Circo Loco,” a new track from 21 Savage and Drake’s collaborative album, Her Loss, the latter raps, “Linking with the opps, b*tch, I did that sh*t for J Prince.” This line in particular has fans wondering how far Drake and Prince’s friendship goes back.
How are Drake and J Prince connected?
Prince is best known for finding Rap-A-Lot Records in 1987. He has also helped launch the careers of Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, Do or Die, Geto Boys, and several others.
In 2006, Prince’s son, Jas Prince, brought Drake to Prince’s attention after he discovered the then-Degrassi actor and budding rapper on MySpace. The following year, Prince signed Drake to Aspire Music Group, which was partly owned by Jas, as well as Lil Wayne’s manager, Cortez Bryant.
Because of this, Prince is often associated with helping Drake get signed to Young Money.
Which evidently, Drake hasn’t forgotten.
Drake certainly must hold Prince in high regard if he’s willing to reunite with one of his longtime rivals for the sake of his longtime mentor.
Drake’s new collaboration album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, has raised fans’ eyebrows for many reasons. One of them is that, along with appearing to shade Megan Thee Stallion, the Canadian rapper also seems to take a dig at Serena Williams’ husband — Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie / He claim we don’t got a problem but / No, boo, it is, like you comin’ for sushi / We might pop up on ’em at will like Suzuki,” he raps on the solo song, “Middle Of The Ocean.”
“The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the best at whatever I do—including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter,” Ohanian seemed to coyly respond to Drake’s line on Twitter today.
The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter. pic.twitter.com/oaEKuRWFnj
Many new fans might be wondering: did Drake and Serena date? And if so, when? The answer is… they might have. In 2011, he was first recorded attending her matches, and even hinted at their relationship on Twitter. “@SerenaWilliams I cannot wait to put it on you and make you sweat……. during our match this weekend,” Drake posted, according to Capital Xtra.
From there, he also namedropped the tennis legend for the first time. In TK, on his song “Worst Behaviour,” Drake notes, “I’m with my whole set / Tennis matches at the crib / I swear I could beat Serena when she playin’ with her left.” Drake would go on to exchange disses with Williams’ ex, rapper Common. “For me, I think it was an emotional thing,” Common eventually shared in an interview. “Unfortunately the war might have been over a girl, even though at the time I never said that.”
Drake continued to be spotted at her tennis games over the years. There were two alleged videos of them making out that circulated online — once in a Cincinnati restaurant and the other leaving a spot to get into a car. They even left together at the US Open semi-finals in 2015.
Yet, things clearly didn’t work out. Williams married Ohanian in 2017, and the couple welcomed their first child, Alexis Olympia, that same year.
Drake’s last known interaction, prior to this diss, was attending Wimbledon in 2018 — where Williams played.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
New Holland/New Belgium/Devils Backbone/Founders/istock/Uproxx
The best thing about beer in general is the fact that there are styles and flavors to fit any palate. Drink what you like. If you enjoy piney, bitter IPAs, you’ll drink them all year long. The same goes for crisp pilsners.
How about bold, malt-driven brews? Well, if that’s your thing, there are countless beers available well-suited for you. And while you can drink them any time of the year, they just hit differently in the fall.
That’s because, regardless of where you live, you likely need something richer, robust, and more warming, with a slightly higher alcohol content on a chilly, potentially rainy, windy fall day. That’s where barley wines, scotch ales, dark lagers, amber ales, brown ales, and porters come in.
To find these malt-centric gems, we decided to go to the professionals for help. We asked a few well-known brewers and craft beer experts to tell us their absolute favorite beers for malt fans. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Devils Backbone’s Schwartz Bier is a can’t miss malty, early fall beer. The beer was made for shorts and hoodie weather. Little roast, some bottom-of-your toaster notes, but Euro-hopped to balance it out and keep it crisp. You’ll want to stock up on this beer for the next few weeks.
Founders’ Dirty Bastard is my pick. Being a native Midwesterner, Founders’ Dirty Bastard scotch ale is the first that comes to mind when I think of malty, rich beers. Full-bodied and boozy, scotch ales are brewed with a smattering of specialty malts that provide flavors ranging from toasted bread to candied fruits while producing a wonderfully captivating deep ruby color. This brew is no exception. Just a hint of peat smoke wafts through the mix, while a hefty hop dose brings the IBUs to 50 to balance out the malt sweetness and keeps you coming back for more.
Forager’s Wolf and Otter. It has a big rich, big mouth feel without being overly sweet or cloying. Forager’s beer is an English barley wine that spent a significant amount of time in different types of barrels. What could be better on a cool fall day?
If I’m drinking a malty beer, I’ll usually go for a Fat Tire. The flavor is classic, with notes of toast and a slight floral hop in the nose. There’s a reason this amber ale is one of the most popular on the market. It’s well-balanced, loaded with flavor, and well-suited for autumnal drinking.
Sam Adams Utopias. Clocking in at almost 30% ABV, this beer is so rich and the most full-flavored beer around — it drinks more like a fine port or cognac. If you can get your hands on a bottle, make a point to savor this malt-driven, flavorful beer as long as you can.
Suarez Estimation. The beers from Suarez Family Brewery are not unlike the family themselves — humble, honest, and welcoming. They produce many fine beers, but one near the top of my list is their Altbier, Estimation. Inspired by a particular brewery in Dusseldorf, Estimation encompasses what can be achieved when malt complexity meets top-tier drinkability. Fruity, crackery, yet floral and slightly bitter, every sip unfolds a new layer and leaves you wanting more.
Drekker Sticky Digits
Drekker
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
2021 was the first year I got my hands on Sticky Digits from Drekker and I’ve been waiting for them to release it again. As of writing this, they have. Sticky Digits is a s’mores porter that’s not just blowing smoke – it’s sweetened with chocolate malt, cacao nibs, graham crackers, brown sugar, toasted marshmallows, lactose, and vanilla beans. Here’s the thing about this beer: it’s thin and drinkable. This is not your buddy’s heavy, pastry-filled stout that you can only take a few sips of before getting full. I’ll have another! Sticky fingers and all.
New Holland Dragon’s Milk
New Holland
Max Shafer, brew master at Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk Stout harmoniously melds all the flavors I want in a malty, rich beer. The bourbon barrel aging enhances the coffee and chocolate notes hugging your taste buds, leaving you warmed and soothed. It isn’t every day that you can find a beer as bold and rich as this.
Austin Beerworks brews a beer seasonally called Black Thunder. It’s a beautifully made Schwarzbier. Toasty and roasty, but super clean which makes it a great Southern drinker. Filled with flavors like nutty sweetness, roasted coffee beans, caramel malts, and lightly grassy hops, this is a great malty fall beer.
Bierstadt Snüpinator Doppelbock
Bierstadt
Nico Cervantes, brewer at Resolute Brewing in Centennial, Colorado
ABV: 8.6%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Snüpinator Doppelbock from Bierstadt. It’s a big-bodied flavor bomb reminiscent of almost-burnt caramel, honey, and toffee. Deceptively drinkable for how much alcohol is present, but always a treat to enjoy for the brief time of the year that it’s on tap.
Listen, with those two names in the mix — let alone alone the same project — it’s no wonder so many artists were willing to move off the date, expecting them to take up all the air. Still, plenty of artists still put some skin in the game throughout the week. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie dropped “Ballin” from the NBA 2K23 soundtrack while Brockhampton shared “Big P*ssy” ahead of their final group album.
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending November 4, 2022.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
Bobby Sessions — I’d Rather Keep It To Myself
Bobby Sessions
Dallas rapper Bobby Sessions follows up his 2020 album Manifest with a short EP of more confessional, fiery, revolutionary rap.
Drake & 21 Savage — Her Loss
Drake 21 Savage
The most anticipated project of the week has turned out to be its most controversial. Although both principal rappers are at the top of their game and push each other professionally, a number of the bigger star’s lyrics have become distractions as fans debate the tastefulness of some of his double entendre.
Lecrae — Church Clothes 4
Lecrae
Lecrae is back with the follow-up to 2020’s Restoration, tapping Andy Mineo, PJ Morton, and more for a 13-track effort adding to his long-running Church Clothes mixtape series.
Various Artists — Music From And Inspired By Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel
Just like its predecessor, the Black Panther sequel gets an impressive compilation of both American and African talents, running the gamut from Afrobeats and grime to hip-hop and R&B, reflecting the film’s themes and setting. There are contributions from artists all over the diaspora including Burna Boy, E-40, Stormzy, and Tobe Nwigwe, among others.
Singles/Videos
Headie One & Koba LaD — “Link In The Ends”
UK drill upstart Headie One teams up with French rapper Koba LaD for a defiant anthem laced with smirking wordplay and boasts.
Macklemore — “Faithful” feat. NLE Choppa
What might seem to be an unexpected collaboration between an odd couple has a strong thematic throughline that sees them meditating on the results of drug abuse on their friends and family and lives.
MIKE — “What Do I Do?”
MIKE’s abstract stylings remain consistent as he builds up to the release of his upcoming album, What Do I Do?
Paolo Banchero has gotten off to a strong start in his rookie campaign. Through nine games, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft is averaging 21.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists a game. He’s a large, 6’10 forward who can get to any spot on the floor, make tough contested jumpers, and find open shooters around him. It can be funny to remember that Banchero wasn’t considered the top prospect in the Draft, and Orlando waited until the very end to signal he was their guy.
His early success hasn’t translated to many wins in Orlando’s season, but when Golden State visited the Magic on Thursday night, Banchero led his team to a victory over the defending champs. It was a surprising win, and after the game, Draymond Green heaped praise on Banchero and how he can transform his team.
“I really love his demeanor,” Green said about Banchero. “That team hasn’t won many games. I think that was their second win of the season. But they are competing, and if you are watching these games, they’re not getting blown out anymore. They’re right there, and they’re learning how to win. And if I’m being honest, I think his demeanor and who he is has a lot to do with that.”
The Magic have wandered through Eastern Conference mediocrity since the Dwight Howard trade. They have drafted some talented players over the years, and the Nikola Vucevic trade netted them both Wendell Carter Jr. and Franz Wagner. They had the infrastructure in place to be a respectable team, but they could never get the guy who could lead their franchise back to contention. It’s early, but it appears that Paolo Banchero is that guy, and one of the biggest names in the game agrees.
One of the more fun genres of post in the basketball content world is “look at this insane thing Victor Wembanyama did.” Wembanyama, the favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, is a 7’4 French dude who has the skill set of a guard and also is capable of erasing shots near the rim. We have never seen anything quite like him, and the big man is considered the best prospect to enter the Draft since perhaps LeBron James.
We’ve seen plenty of fun stuff out of him, and on Friday afternoon, we got our latest glimpse into how he is capable of doing things that do not make sense. Metropolitans 92, Wemby’s squad, took on Limoges, and at one point, the 18-year-old was isolated on the perimeter against a defender. Instead of using his size to his advantage, well, get a load of this.
He goes between the legs five times in rapid succession to create some space, and then throws up this one-footed triple that does not even touch the rim. He is, depending on the source you’re citing, seven feet and four inches tall. This should look easy for, say, the 6’5 James Harden, not for a guy of Wembanyama’s size. Want another angle? Of course you do!
After a 13 year wait, Avatar: The Way of Water is finally hitting theaters, giving audiences a long-awaited return to the alien world of Pandora. As for what took so long, well, the answer is pretty obvious: James Cameron is a known perfectionist. To capture the watery locales of the new film, the legendary director made both the cast and crew learn how to perform underwater to give the film an unprecedented level of realism despite the presence of giant blue aliens.
Cameron also wanted to make sure that, like the original film, The Way of Water pushed the boundaries of visual effects to provide a theater going experience like no other. However, that required waiting for film technology to catch up to his vision for the sequel, which didn’t always happen. Via ScreenRant:
A noted perfectionist, he made no qualms about taking his time and waiting for the technology to catch up to his vision. In 2011, Cameron had talked about wanting to film the Avatar sequels in a higher frame rate, something that didn’t become mainstream in cinema until Peter Jackson made The Hobbit trilogy (and quickly disappeared after). By 2016, he was talking up the possibility of shooting the film in a non-glasses form of 3D, although he later admitted that the technology wasn’t there yet.
On top of waiting for the film tech to meet his needs, Cameron also wanted to have the scripts all the way up to Avatar 5 ready to go before shooting The Way of Water. Understandably, that process added a considerable amount of time.
“The scripts took four years,” Cameron told Vanity Fair. “You can call that a delay, but it’s not really a delay because from the time we pushed the button to really go make the movies [until now], we’re clicking along perfectly. We’re doing very well because of all the time that we had to develop the system and the pipeline and all that.”
The wait for the rest of the Avatar sequels should be much shorter going forward. The films are locked into a bi-yearly release schedule with release dates set all the way to December 2027.
Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16.
Westworld,the most confusing show on television that also happened to be very fun, has been canceled by HBO, presumably to make more room for Game of Thrones content, though that’s just a very well-educated guess.
HBO confirmed that the sci-fi series, which accumulated a very impressive 54 Emmy nominations over the last six years, would not return for a fifth season. HBO released the following statement, as per The Hollywood Reporter:
Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.
Kilter Films, the production company for the series, added:
Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We’ve been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness – both human and beyond – in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so
The fourth season of Westworld wrapped up in August, and the show has been in limbo ever since, whereas HBO normally jumps to renew their fan-favorite shows. Even though the series has a pretty steep decline after season two, the introduction of Aaron Paul in season three was the smartest move they could have made. He will be missed.
Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert sits in a precarious place ahead of next week’s midterm elections. Her Democratic opponent, the relatively unknown Adam Frisch, has achieved a statistical tie in Colorado’s 3rd district, and only a few days remain between now and November 7. Boebert seems to be kind-of pleased, however, at how The Denver Post, which is east of most Boebert territory, penned a scathing op-ed to implore voters to pick Frisch or basically anyone else. Maybe a write-in candidate? That might create a bigger mess, but here’s part of what the publication wrote about the incumbent candidate, who the paper called out for investing “time and efforts contributing to the toxic political environment in this nation”:
“We grieve that this is who represents our great state in Congress — a state known for our moderate positions and our policy-first approach to politics. Rejecting all Boebert has come to represent — angry rants without offering real solutions — is important for the 3rd Congressional District, Colorado and this great nation.”
Not flattering stuff, but it fired up Boebert enough to hit the streets and ask Republicans what they thought of this newspaper. Unsurprisingly, the responders seem cherry-picked, but that’s politics for ya. Boebert repeats herself plenty of times with the words “toxic and dangerous,” and let’s just say that she’s no Jordan Klepper, but she is pulling off a parody of a satire by unintentionally vibing like a The Daily Show correspondent.
Lauren Boebert OBLITERATES Lib Colorado Media Cabal with ONE simple question to her constituents…
Earlier this week, Boebert also went into Rifle Republican mama mode while delivering a taxation lesson involving Halloween, although she probably lost some points raging against “lesbian dance theory” for whatever reason.
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