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Despite being a well-known rapper for the past 20 years, Jim Jones has self-admittedly been equally (or even more) well-known for his antics outside of music. From feuding with his fellow Diplomats (and French Montana) to appearing on gossip-baiting reality television, Jones musical ambitions seemed to take a backseat to his hitmaking potential, despite having an absolute banger like “We Fly High” on his books. However, in recent years, he’s refocused his efforts on hip-hop, making a marked jump both in output and the quality thereof.

In this week’s episode of Fresh Pair, Just Blaze asks him about his commitment to making music over headlines, receiving an earnest, self-effacing answer that really illustrates Jones’ personal growth. “It’s something personal I’ve got to prove to myself,” he says. “I’ve been in this sh*t for a long time and for the most part, my actions were louder than my music. Now it feels like my music is just as loud as my actions.”

He explains why he used to shy away from music as his primary focus, saying, “Before, I used to consider music like homework and now, I’m more eager to do it than I used to do it before.” It really shows, as the four projects he’s released since 2019 have all been aimed more at proving his rap skills and generating attention for those rather than his extracurricular activities.

Watch this week’s full episode of Fresh Pair featuring Jim Jones above.

Lupita Nyong’o is part of two famous social media moments in Oscars history: the “best photo ever” selfie (which has, let’s say, not aged well) and The Slap. The 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress was caught on camera reacting to Will Smith yelling at and slapping Chris Rock for not keeping his wife’s name out of his f*cking mouth.

“Once the moment was over,” Nyong’o told the Hollywood Reporter about seating behind Smith, “I realized, ‘Oh my God, there’s no way all this transpired and I’m not in the shot.’ I knew as soon as it was over that I was going to be a meme.” As for her feelings on the slap, she said, “I don’t want to add any more fuel to that thing, quite frankly.” Good call.

But Nyong’o did discuss Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she reprises her role as Nakia. “He affected how I move in the world,” she said about Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020. “But that’s the thing about Chadwick. Chadwick wasn’t trying to have everyone be like him. What he inspired was you to be your best self. So how I’m going to lead a set is nowhere near — I’m not that person. I’m not Chadwick at all. I’ll never be.”

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens on November 11.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

After the Lakers got smoked by the Warriors on opening night, LeBron James was not shy about speaking on the shortcomings of the Lakers roster, particularly their three-point shooting.

It wasn’t exactly groundbreaking stuff to note that they don’t have a lot of great shooters — or “lasers” in his words — but given the formula for great LeBron teams since forever has been “surround him with shooters” it does not bode well for the Lakers this season. To the untrained eye, it was a standard critique from a star who has never been afraid to call out his team’s weak points, but one longtime observer of LeBron noticed something in the way James said it that piqued his interest.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has been covering James since high school and followed him around the league for his entire 20-year career, seeing him in just about every postgame presser for more than two decades. As such, he knows LeBron’s tells, and one of them is what he calls the “Truth Shake,” in which LeBron does a little head and shoulder shake when he’s saying something he really means. Windy broke it down on NBA Today on Wednesday and explained why it’s notable LeBron is talking like this one day into the season.

This is honestly incredible insight from Windy, who I like to believe has been fleecing LeBron in poker games for years off this tell, as it’s not something most anyone else would pick up on. As he notes, this is usually LeBron’s move when talking about where the team needs to improve before the trade deadline, and that he’s doing it this early when talking about the team’s deficiencies, it’s not hard to extrapolate that James will be not so subtly pushing the Lakers to fix this area on the roster sooner than later.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise given the reporting after he signed his extension that he was doing so with the expectation the Lakers would make moves to become a contender — which they have yet to really do. I would all but bank on the Russell Westbrook for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield rumors to resurface for the fifth separate time this year in the coming days.

Puerto Rican singer iLe released the music video for her new single “(Escapándome) De Mí” on Tuesday (October 18). She also unveiled the tracklist for her upcoming album Nacarile that will feature Ivy Queen and Trueno.

iLe is known for her work in the Puerto Rican group Calle 13 alongside her brothers, Residente and Visitante. She has also released albums of her own like 2019’s Almadura. Later that year, iLe and Residente worked with Bad Bunny on the song “Afilando Los Cuchillos.” Their collaboration was made in protest against Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló, who resigned shortly after following a leak of controversial Telegram messages.

This past year, iLe has teased her new album Nacarile. In the dreamy video for her latest single “(Escapándome) De Mí,” she sings about her fears of getting wrapped up in the entanglement of relationships. In the psychedelic track, iLe also noticeably alters her vocals with Auto-Tune.

“I didn’t want the song to stay in the monotony of my voice,” she said in a statement.

iLe also revealed the tracklist for Nacarile that will be released on October 21. In “Algo Bonito,” she collaborates with Puerto Rican reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen. iLe teams up with Argentine rapper Trueno for “Ningún Lugar.” Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade joins her on “En Cantos.” She also links-up with Chilean rocker Mon Laferte for “Traguito.”

Find the Nacarile tracklist below.

1. “A La Deriva” Feat. Flor de Toloache
2. “Ningún Lugar” Feat. Trueno
3. “(Escapándome) De Mi”
4. “En Cantos” Feat. Natalia Lafourcade
5. “Lo Que Yo Quería”
6. “Algo Bonito” Feat. Ivy Queen
7. “Cuando Te Miro” Feat. Rodrigo Cuevas
8. “Donde Nadie Más Respira”
9. “Traguito” Feat. Mon Laferte
10. “Paisaje”
11. “No Es Importante”

Nacarile is out 10/21 via Sony Music Latin. Pre-order it here.

You can always count on a few things on the opening night of the NBA regular season: four (well, or three and the Lakers) of the league’s top teams will be in action, last year’s champions will get their rings and raise a banner at home, and Charles Barkley will fail spectacularly at another edition of “Who He Play For?”

TNT’s coverage of opening night, which now sends the Inside the NBA crew on the road, always includes one of the desk’s favorite games, in which they pick five role players who have changed teams this offseason and task the Chuckster with naming their new team, knowing fully well that he has not watched any preseason basketball.

This year, Chuck faced a new quintet to figure out and while he GUARANTEED he’d get one, he once again went 0-for-5 faced with figuring out where Aaron Holiday, Justin Holiday, James Johnson, Delon Wright, and Garrett Temple are currently employed.

Ernie calling Garrett Temple a “Who He Play For?” Hall of Famer is spectacular — Temple has changed teams an incredible 14 times via trades and free agency in his career — and Shaq and Kenny even try and help Barkley out to no avail with the cruel trick of asking about Aaron and Justin Holiday, as both brothers play for the Hawks now. Chuck gets hung up on guessing the Sacramento Kings a bunch, which backfires, and Kenny laughs realizing he was trying to use the jersey from the headshot as a clue.

Grupo Firme will be returning to Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium for another concert. On Tuesday (October 18), the Mexican band announced that fans can catch them at a third show that will be taking place next year.

Grupo Firme have become rock stars in the regional Mexican music scene. In April, the group brought Mexican banda music to the mainstage of Coachella. The following month, Grupo Firme sold-out two concerts at the SoFi Stadium where Super Bowl was held earlier this year. Those two concerts were a part of the band’s Enfiestados y Amanecidos Tour that is selling-out in stadiums across the US.

Now Grupo Firme will be returning to SoFi Stadium for a third time on May 23, 2023. For this next time, the band will be putting on a 360-degree concert so that fans all around the venue can enjoy a great view. Tickets for concert will be available starting Friday, October 21 on Ticketmaster.com.

At the 2022 Latin Grammy Awards, Grupo Firme is nominated for Best Regional Mexican Song for “Cada Quien” featuring Maluma. At last year’s awards ceremony, the group won for Best Banda Album for the LP Nos Divertimos Logrando Lo Imposible. Earlier this month, Grupo Firme joined Karol G as surprise guests on her Strip Love Tour.

Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves recovered from a 16-20 start to end the year 46-36, going 30-16 over their final 46 outings, which featured victories against a slew of playoff opponents. Eventually, they made their way into a first-round matchup with the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, who dispatched them in a competitive six-game series. Memphis undoubtedly earned those victories, but various second-half, self-inflicted blunders throughout a few different games helped prevent Minnesota from making its first second-round appearance since 2003-04.

To build upon that momentum of last season, Minnesota acquired All-NBA center Rudy Gobert this summer, pairing him with fellow All-NBA big man Karl-Anthony Towns. The Timberwolves sent out an array of future picks, as well as some key contributors from the 2021-22 squad, such as Jarred Vanderbilt and Patrick Beverley.

Both Gobert and Towns, who signed a four-year, $224 million supermax extension this summer, are in their primes, as is point guard D’Angelo Russell. With Minnesota short on future assets to alter or improve this roster following the blockbuster trade, the time to win is now, and Towns is embracing the high expectations.

“Just wanna be great. It’s always talk about us being good and are we good enough?,” Towns said. “It’s not time to be good anymore. It’s time to be great. We made these moves. We made these trades, so we gotta be great. Good is not good enough anymore.”

Tall-ball is not an unknown concept, but two All-NBA centers joining forces to promote that tall-ball approach is novel, at least over the past half-decade. Minnesota is an incredibly interesting and talented team, one that should contend for a top-four seed out West this season. We’ll get the initial returns on this experiment when the Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder kick off at 8 p.m. EST inside Minneapolis’ Target Center.

Jessica Chastain apparently has expert timing when it comes to pranks. During a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, she revealed how she pulled off a stunt on a helplessly strung-up James McAvoy while filming 2019’s Dark Phoenix. While the film may not have been great, the prank sounds highly entertaining.

According to Chastain, the moment happened when McAvoy’s Professor X is lifted out of his wheelchair by Sophie Turner’s out-of-control Jean Grey, who uses her Phoenix powers to make him walk up a flight of stairs. The stunt required McAvoy to wear a wired harness, and that’s when Chastain saw her opening. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“He does the scene and it’s good,” Chastain recounted to host Kelly Clarkson. “The director said, ‘Okay, fine. Roll take, let’s do it again.’ So they lift him up and he’s acting, you know, like he’s being lifted by this magic… and, all of a sudden, the ‘Macarena’ starts playing. And the guys who were holding the wires were having him dance the Macarena.”

She added, “There’s no topping it. It was the best.”

However, like all pranks, they turn quickly. Not only did McAvoy start busting out dance moves while suspended in the air, but he ensnared Chastain in her trap.

“He leaned in,” Chastain told Clarkson. “In fact, at one point, because he was at the top of the stairs, he kinda, like, grabbed me and lifted me off the ground, and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, no, no. We gotta stop because I could now get hurt.’ He was good fun.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Fans are eager to get their hands on new Ava Max music. Although Max’s second album, Diamonds & Dancefloors doesn’t arrive until early next year, leaks of the album have made their way online.

Max has caught wind of the leaks, and took to TikTok to address the stolen music.

“I wanted to come on here personally and talk about all the leaks that have been happening [with] Diamonds & Dancefloors.,” Max said. “I am extremely upset about it, obviously,”

“I don’t want anyone thinking I am trying to avoid this or anything,” she said. “I see what is happening. I, personally, haven’t seen the leaks or where they’re coming from online. I just know that it’s out there and — I don’t know… My team and I are trying our hardest to bring it down. We’ve all worked so hard on Diamonds & Dancefloors and I can’t wait for everyone to hear every single song on the album.”

In the video, she is visibly saddened, however, she maintains her composure throughout.

“I just wanted you to hear it from me that it is upsetting,” she said.

Diamonds & Dancefloors was originally planned for release this October, however was pushed to January of next year. Tracks are thought to have been leaked in response to the delay.

Diamonds & Dancefloors is out 1/27/2023. Pre-save it here.

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

The Banshees of Inisherin is kind of being sold as getting the In Bruges band back together again. Director Martin McDonagh reunites with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson about what happens when one of two close friends doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Even Kerry Condon, who plays Farrell’s sister, has worked with McDonagh before on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. So Barry Keoghan really was the “news kid at school,” here. Not to mention, he idolizes McDonagh so much, he has a picture of him as his phone wallpaper. Something he decided to delete before they had their first meeting. (I asked McDonagh about this later and he said he did find out about it and joked that’s what got Keoghan the job.)

Barry Keoghan seems to play a lot of characters with sinister streaks. In The Killing of a Sacred Dear, in which he also co-starred with Colin Farrell, he plays a young man who torments a family as part of a deranged plan for revenge. In The Eternals, he plays an immortal being with a growing chip on his shoulder. And in Matt Reeves’s The Batman we got a glimpse of him as the Joker (officially billed as “Unidentified Arkham Prisoner”) who, historically, is pretty sinister. (A deleted scene was later released that gives us a much better look at what Keoghans’s take on Joker will be like, which he talks about ahead.)

But in The Banshees of Inisherin, Keoghan plays Dominic, a sweet but troubled soul who tries his best to fit in with his fellow townspeople and to win the affection of Siobhán (Condon), but also has to deal with his alcoholic, abusive father who regularly beats him and also happens to be the town’s police officer. Keoghan may be new to the world of Martin McDonagh films, but he brings a heat and earnest soul to this movie that doesn’t work quite as well without it.

Ahead, Keoghan talks about living his dream of being in a Martin McDonagh movie and why he’s excited to show audiences a different, not-so-sinister side of his acting chops. He also talks about the possible future of The Eternals (and why he keeps texting Kumail Nanjiani for updates) and why he’s happy everyone has seen his extended deleted scene as Joker in The Batman.

Where in the world are you right now?

Literally forgot there for a second. New York.

That’s where I am.

Oh, you could have come seen me!

They didn’t offer that as an option.

[Jokingly yells to someone off camera] Hey! What’s the deal?

There’s a line you deliver in this movie that gave me the giggles I couldn’t shake. When you find a stick with a hook on it and you’re asked what you’re going to do with it and reply, “I’ll use it to hook something a stick’s length away.”

That’s Martin, because I remember Martin literally pulling me a few times on one of those lines about the stick, and Martin would say it for me in Dominic’s way. He was actually my acting coach as well that, Martin. He knew the character, but he knew a great way of putting him across to me, which made it really easy for me to do.

It’s not said with any sarcasm. It’s so sincere and it really sets up this character.

[Laughs] What are you going to do with a stick with a hook on it?

Colin and Brendan keep getting all the headlines for reuniting. You’ve done more movies with Colin at this point than Brendan has. You should point that out.

I think I have, right?

You have. You’ve done three with Colin.

Yeah, that’s another thing, I’m going to blow them all up on this … three times, actually.

I don’t know if The Batman counts. You’re not really in scenes together, but technically that’s the same movie.

Yeah, it’s the same title, you know? Well, I worked with Brendan also on Trespass Against Us. That was great. I was much younger then and we had a great time and that was years ago.

What is it like showing up on set of this? Because it is kind of being built as the reunion of In Bruges between Martin and those two.

It feels amazing to be part of that circle and cause they’ve all worked together, Kerry as well. And then it’s just to be invited in a way into the group and for them to give me their trust and stuff is, it’s just amazing. I mean it really is. To be a part of a Martin McDonagh movie, it really, really is. It’s so Irish. It’s so Irish. I can’t wait to bring it home and open it as well. And it’s going to be amazing.

I love In Bruges. So expectations were pretty high for me and it exceeded them. It might be my favorite movie this year…

Oh that’s nice man, that’s a nice big deal.

Top Gun: Maverick‘s really good, too, though.

I’ve seen it. I love Top Gun!

Oh, so how does this happen? Does Colin mention to Martin he should bring you in on this? Or does something else happen?

I remember Colin saying it to me in Sacred Deer. He was like, McDonagh, he has you in mind for a part. And the script, it’s lovely. And I was like, really? And that was it. Then I met Martin at a Three Billboards screening and I got to talk to Martin for a bit and then Martin emailed me. I was just like, fucking hell man. And I was just, yeah, it was a really nice thing to get an email and say, would you like to meet and talk to discuss this part? And I just couldn’t believe it, you know what I mean? Because I wanted to work with Martin McDonagh for so long. I had him on a list. I had him on the front of my phone! Yeah, the picture, literally, until we met. I took the picture off.

Wait, you had a picture of Martin McDonagh on your phone? The main picture?

Yeah.

Like I have Darth Vader here, like that?

Yeah. Literally had him on my phone. And then I was sitting in New York in a little burger place and I was waiting for him. And I literally looked at my phone. I was like, I should probably… yeah I need to get rid of this picture. If he sees it on my phone he will go “that kid is insane.”

Yeah, I’m curious what he would’ve thought if he would just seen that. Why does this guy have a picture of me on his phone?

Crazy. Crazy! But I told him and we laughed about it. I actually showed him the picture, I’ll pull the picture up again. But yeah, it was just a dream come true basically.

You mentioned Killing of a Sacred Deer. This is a very different role than that. You’re good at playing sinister characters. Even in Eternals you are sinister. Your character here, Dominic, is so sad and profound.

It is. To get to play that kind of part of being innocent and a sweet little soul, it’s nice because people are used to seeing me in that sort of role, with a bad streak or devious. And to get to play someone where we’re opposite? Totally opposite, is kind of like I get to show my range as an actor and that’s all I want to do. I’m being quite honest, literally show my range and bring people on board and get them to relate in any way they can and then make them ask questions and feel. So that’s all I want to do. And also to go on and enjoy myself with it to learn something from it as well, and to enjoy it and be challenged. So yeah, it’s quite nice.

It is interesting hearing you say you to bring people on board. You’re on the Irish Times list of greatest actors in Irish history already. I think things are going pretty well for you.

Good little Ireland put me on that list, did they?

Did you go to SNL when Brendan hosted?

We got in and I’ve got a newborn son, his name’s Brando and he’s only eight weeks old….

Congratulations.

Thank you. He needed his sleep and he comes first now so, yeah. But I would’ve loved to go. I did see it and the lads killed it and I’d watch Brendan and Colin do anything all day. They’ve got a great energy together. Is it Midnight Cowboy with Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman? Like that kind of thing? I’d love to see something like that. That’s what they kind of remind me of. I’d love to see that.

Who plays Ratso?

Hm…

I’m sure you like In Bruges, right? That’s a dumb question. It would be weird if you’re like, no, I hate it. What a bad movie.

I love it.

Is that why you have Martin on your phone? Or is it is plays? Or the whole package?

Movies yeah. And the plays. I mean, I’ve seen The Cripple of Inishmaan, as well. Never got to see Hangmen, never seen that. But when I read the script, it’s just a rhythm to it that makes it so easy to read in a good way. And there’s so much being said in a way, if you get what I’m saying, it’s not off the page. But he brings you to a place of knowing that there’s so much depth basically is what I’m trying to say. So yeah, I mean Seven Psychopaths, not in any order, but Three Billboards and the short film, Six Shooter, I remember seeing that. He’s just unreal man. He’s just unreal. And I’m curious to see what he does next. But he’s a lovely man. He’s a lovely fucking man.

So with Eternals, do you hear anything? Do you know what’s going? Do they keep in contact with you about what’s next?

Kumail is always the one I’m texting. I’m like, “Yo, have you heard anything on Eternals 2?” Kumail knows everything. You know what I mean? He loves comic books. The comic world.

They’re secretly giving you all the information and you’re just not telling Kumail. Maybe that’s what’s actually going on here.

Well, I’m always texting him like about San Diego Comic-Con. I’m like, “Hey, are we going to San Diego for Eternals?” but I’d love to see where it goes. I really would.

I mean there’s literally a giant stone Celestial coming out of the ocean. Someone’s going to notice that.

No, there’s a lot that we could dive into and there’s a lot of character stories that we can go with and that as well. So I will be curious to see where Kevin, Victoria Alonso and they all take it.

I hope Chloé Zhao gets to do it again, too…

It was shot and made, you really get, with the characters, it sort of felt like an independent movie at some points as well. But she, she’s amazing. Chloé, she’s another great one I would work with. At the drop of a hat again.

After The Batman came out they released your deleted scene as “Arkham prisoner”…

Seen it, right?

I have.

Well, I’ve done the job, if you’ve seen it. I think the lad’s done quite well with it. They wouldn’t release anything that they didn’t think needed to be released. And again, yeah, I am super happy it got released because it was a massive deal for me and everyone involved. So it’s good to put it out into the world and put my take and spin on it.

I’m out of time. Again, that line about the stick with the hook on it, it still makes me laugh.

[Laughs] Collect your money.

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ opens in select theaters this Friday, October 21st. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.