GoneTrending

Bryson Tiller has found a new decade to ransack for beats. After spending the early part of his career sampling ’90s R&B staples to sing and rap over, on his new single, “Outside,” he moves on to the early 2000s, jacking the beat to the Ying Yang Twins’ raunchy 2005 anthem “Wait (The Whisper Song)” to make his play for a wounded woman’s affections. “Hate to be your ex, know that n**** feel stupid,” he quips. “Thumbin’ through the ‘Gram, tryna figure out where you been / All he need to know is that you’re outside.”

The Louisville product has been relatively quiet of late, only recently re-emerging from musical hibernation to lend Diddy an assist on the Platinum-era pioneer’s new single, “Gotta Move On.” Tiller popped back up last week with a video on Instagram announcing his impending new single while teasing fans about a possible new project, which “we’ll talk about later,” he promised. Fans have certainly been waiting impatiently for the new album; his last full-length release, Anniversary, was released in October 2020, meaning there wasn’t really a tour for it, since “outside” was out-of-reach due to COVID-19.

In early 2021, though, he did give fans a promising update on his upcoming fourth studio album, tentatively titled Serenity. “Over the years, I realized how much f*cking music that I had for Serenity, all this different sh*t, so Serenity is now not one album, but it’s three albums,” he said during a live stream. “It’s three volumes, one is a rap album, one is an R&B album, and then one is a pop album.”

Until then, you can check out “Outside” above.

In July, Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin was accused of domestic violence and incest by his nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez, who filed a protection order against him. Sanchez claimed that he and Martin were in a relationship for seven months and that the relationship was marked by “physical and psychological attacks on him” by the singer. Shortly after, Sanchez withdrew the claims.

Now the singer is suing his 21-year-old nephew for $20 million in damages. Martin’s attorneys claim Sanchez is a “maladjusted person” who Martin has been “persecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked and extorted by.”

After the court case was dismissed, Martin’s lawyer shared a statement about the matter.

“Just as we had anticipated, the temporary protection order was not extended by the Court,” the statement read. “The accuser confirmed to the court that his decision to dismiss the matter was his alone, without any outside influence or pressure, and the accuser confirmed he was satisfied with his legal representation in the matter.”

It continued, “The request came from the accuser asking to dismiss the case. This was never anything more than a troubled individual making false allegations with absolutely nothing to substantiate them. We are glad that our client saw justice done and can now move forward with his life and his career.”

It sounds pretty unbelievable, but it has been nearly 24 years since rap last saw an all-women posse cut — and even longer since one had any commercial impact. The last two times more than three female rappers were on a song together spitting verses, Bill Clinton was still in office, the first PlayStation was out, and Cardi B still looked like she bit people. This week, that long drought is about to be broken thanks to Nicki Minaj, of all people.

With her new single “Super Freaky Girl” earning her first solo No. 1 (also the first for a female rapper since ’98), Nicki is upping the ante (super bonus points if you get what I did there) with a remix featuring the first all-women lineup since either Nicki D’s promo record “Six Pack” or Queen Latifah’s “Brownsville.” It’s unclear which actually dropped first — the internet back then wasn’t what it is today [*reminisces in dial-up*].

Today, Nicki finally teased the lineup for her remix, sharing the bootylicious cover art, which only shows the six women from behind, all wearing matching boots and teeny silver bikinis. The clues to their identities come in the form of a suitcase at the forefront of the picture featuring stickers with the women’s origin cities on them. They read: Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and New York.

Naturally, fans are already speculating on just who the guest rappers might be. Considering the cities involved, it would seem that Boston’s the easiest to guess: That would be BIA, who Nicki previously collaborated with on the remix to “Whole Lotta Money.” It only makes sense that she’d return the favor. Meanwhile, Miami would almost certainly be City Girls, although Trina wouldn’t be out of the question, as they’ve worked together before. Chicago gets a little iffier — the only really viable acts from there are acts like Dreezy and the unpredictable Cupcakke, with fans leaning more toward the latter.

Atlanta’s also obvious: If it ain’t Latto, I’ll eat my hat. Despite Latto previously worked with Nicki’s longtime rival Cardi B, the Atlantan rising star was also careful to avoid picking sides when media goaded her to. And as far as New York goes, sure, that could be Nicki herself, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see her roll the dice on a DreamDoll feature, which would launch the bubbling artist into the stratosphere. There’s one other female rapper from New York that would blow fans’ minds, and I wouldn’t put it past Nicki to use this opportunity to really surprise people, but the main reason it’d be a surprise is that it’s so unlikely. Some fans also seem to be projecting a Flo Milli appearance, but there isn’t a Montgomery, Alabama sticker on that suitcase.

The good news is, we only have to wait a work day to find out. Nicki says she’ll be premiering the song on her Queen Radio podcast at 8 pm ET and 5 pm PT, unless she has those timezones mixed up, in which case, it’ll be 11 pm ET and 8 pm PT. Stay tuned.

Towards the end of 2021, Jenny Lewis started a run of shows opening for Harry Styles. At one of those concerts, she enjoyed Styles’ performance alongside Olivia Wilde. Now, Wilde has reminisced about that moment, revealing that something Lewis said moved her to tears.

In a new Vanity Fair profile, Wilde explained, “[Lewis and I] were looking around and she said, ‘That’s a lot of happy women.’” After noting that there were plenty of men in attendance, too, Wilde continued, “I instantly started crying. Where else do we see this? Happy women? Women brought together with joy, loving each other, and cheering for each other? This has been like a gift to be amongst this.”

She also noted of Styles’ fan base, “His fans are a beautiful and loving group of people. I have had the opportunity to witness some of the most moving examples of compassion and acceptance. Standing in a room with 20,000 happy women, that’s…”

Wilde also discussed why she was interested in casting Styles in Don’t Worry Darling, saying, “My thing with Harry was that I knew he was fearless. I’d rather work with a non-actor who’s fearless than a trained actor who is full of hang-ups and baggage and judgment. What I love about working with singers and dancers is they commit 100 percent because, as a dancer, if you don’t commit 100 percent, you get hurt. With singers, it’s the same. If they sing at 30 percent, that song doesn’t work. I think actors sometimes think they can get away with 30 percent.”

Read the full feature here.

Jenny Lewis is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A lot has happened during the 2022 NBA offseason. Fortunately, we’re a few weeks away from the start of training camp, and we’re a little more than a month away from the start of the regular season. The focus is no longer on rumors and trades — instead, it’s going to be about the game of basketball, and like all of us, Shaquille O’Neal cannot wait to see what the upcoming year has in store.

Shaq will, of course, be a pretty constant presence during this upcoming campaign through his work with the Inside the NBA crew. But before that, Shaq, who has a claim for being the world’s most prominent endorser of things, is teaming up with Papa John’s, Mountain Dew, and NBA 2K to bring gamers the MTN DEW NBA 2K23 Player’s Pack Bundle, which gives gamers the opportunity to get up to $1 million in gear in the latest NBA 2K release with the purchase of a large, 3-topping pizza and a 20 oz Dew.

Dime caught up with Shaq to discuss the promotion, Steph Curry, the Lakers, the Nets, and more.

I want to start by asking what do you have going on with Papa John’s and Mountain Dew?

Well, I’m partnering with Papa John’s and Mountain Dew to create the ultimate — and I mean the ultimate — gaming bundle. We’re giving fans a chance to win $1 million worth of in-game swag. Listen, $1,000’s a lot, $10,000’s a lot, but $1 million? Me personally, I don’t even know what to do with all that. Just in time for the NBA 2K23 drop, nothing better than eating large 3-topping pizzas, 20 ounce Mountain Dew, and playing NBA 2K with your friends, talking smack, betting money, betting slices. Last time I did that was when there was a UFC event, my son came by the house and he was talking about — because he’s a shooter and I’m not a shooter — he was like, the only place you hit threes is on NBA 2K. And I was like, you can’t beat me, and he kind of dusted me off because this generation, it’s kind of what they do. But we have fun. I know a lot of people have fun. But my favorite part is that million dollars worth of in-game swag.

So I need to ask, I know you just mentioned it — have you ever been a video game guy or are basketball and your business ventures always just taking up too much time over the years?

I used to play it a lot. I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t play that much now. But whenever we do charity events for kids, it’s always an NBA 2K gaming station and I play the kids. Like I said, last time I played with last UFC event, Usman vs. Edwards. So we had that. But I love the technology of NBA 2K23. I’ve actually been a part of the game, Ernie, Kenny, and myself. We take countless hours, weeks, months at a time laying down those things. And it’s quite interesting how they have a scenario for what we are about to say. So like, they just come in and say, alright, I read these lines, but how do you get these lines, because algorithmically, they already know what’s gonna happen. So, when you’re playing as Steph Curry and you shoot a three, oh my God, he’s Stephalicious. I’ll say something and Kenny will say something, it’s just amazing how they do that.

NBA season is right around the corner. It seems like the big stuff in the summer is mostly done, who are the teams that you’re most interested and excited to watch once the season starts up?

I’m anxious to see if Golden State can run it back, anxious to see if Brooklyn can get their stuff together, anxious to see if LeBron passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in points, anxious to see if the Lakers can get themselves together, anxious to see who the Rookie of the Year is. Good thing about sports is, especially with the fans, we don’t care what you did last year, that’s over. But this year, Lakers, Golden State. That’s the good thing about sports, like, Golden State is the champs, but once October 18 comes around, nobody cares about that. That was last year, what are you gonna do this year? So it’ll be interesting, as usual.

On the topic of Golden State, I want to ask a couple questions about Steph. I know you’ve said over and over he’s your favorite player. What is it that makes him so unique? Is it his game, his approach to basketball, how he carries himself, whatever it might be?

Because there’s no one like him. People remember Shaq, there was no one like him. He’s one of those players — Mike, Kobe, LeBron, nobody like them. He has his own category: Best shooter ever. Not one of the best shooters, not Ray Allen, not Reggie Miller, he is the best shooter ever. I’m in a category, but there’s another name that you have to mention: Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal, the most dominant ever. I’m fine with that. But in his category, he’s by himself. Greatest player ever, 10 people in that category.

So, the fact that he has his own category and nobody’s even close, and nobody’s even coming close, that should tell you a lot. Then if you look at him, he still looks like a little kid. That’s what amazes me the most — Jordan was big, Kobe was big, Bron is big. If you saw Steph in the grocery store and you didn’t know who he was, you’d just think he was a regular guy food shopping. And so the fact that he plays and dominates all those big guys, I’m amazed by that, he can just get his shot off anytime. I love that, I’m jealous of that, I wish I could shoot like that.

Are there any other guys who you think have the capability to have their own category where they’re the best in the league, who have the potential to one day get there and be your favorite player behind Steph?

Their own category? No. There’s a lot of players that can be in categories that already exist. When I was coming up, the greatest never mattered to me because there was too many options. I’m psycho, I want to be up there by myself. So, I was kind of upset, because I only needed to average 10 points my last year to pass Wilt Chamberlain. I was going to arrogantly say, I’m the most dominant ever. I don’t want to hear Wilt’s name again. Wilt has two, I got four, and I passed him up in points, there you go, and oh yeah, Wilt averaged 50 during a season, but guess what, I still passed him up. I wanted to have that. But that was me and him, I’m cool with that. Giannis, of course, you’re gonna have to move him in one of the greatest, Kevin Durant, move him in a category, Reggie Miller, one of the greatest shooters, LeBron, move him in the category of the greatest ever, but to have that category by yourself? No, there is no other guys that can do it.

Laker legend, I want to ask about the Lakers and your general thoughts on their summer. It feels like so much of it is “if LeBron and Anthony Davis stay healthy, they’re going to be okay.” Do you agree with that, or do you think they still need more to get to where they want to go?

Yes, LeBron and AD stay healthy, they’ll be okay. But in order to be championship quality, they need to pieces around them. Pat Beverley is a good piece, he’s a defensive piece. Russ, I don’t know what he’s gonna do, I don’t know how they’re going to use him. But they need some dogs like Beverley, they need some rebounders, and they need some shooters. That’s all you need. It’s not rocket science. You need a floor leader, someone that’s gonna dominate consistently, every night, you need a knockdown shooter, and you need a guy that’s gonna ruffle some feathers. That’s it. That’s how you win a championship.

And so much of the attention this summer seems like it’s on Russ and what his role is if he stays. As someone who played at a very high level for a long time, how does a guy who’s a former MVP, who is used to such a huge role, accept aging gracefully in the league?

I don’t think it was his age. I think he was just, and I say this respectfully, I just think he was showing too much respect. I don’t care who I’m playing with it, I’m giving you 28. Fans pay a lot of money for me to make $100 million, I’m giving you 28. It’s not, “every time I get the ball, look for the other stars,” he can play, too, so when I got the ball, I’m gonna do my thing. I can’t do my thing, I’m looking for him. That’s how you got to play. You just can’t concede all the time — here, here, here. Nah, throw me the ball, let me go to work. I gotta average 28 and 15 for personal reason and for these fans.

He was just being too nice. I don’t know the relationship between him and LeBron, but if you put that down on paper and I don’t know nothing about basketball, that’s a hell of a backcourt, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James. Why it didn’t work, I don’t know, but watching him play, he was super passive. I don’t need you to be passive, I need you to play your game. I’ll be calling plays, when you get the ball after they miss a shot, run, if you ain’t got nothin, pull it out, give it to LeBron, and call some plays. That’s how it was me, he was just thinking too much. He’s a guy that, when he plays freely, he’s a monster.

My last question is about the Nets, but it’s specifically about Steve Nash and everything that happened around him this summer. He’s coming back to lead them — with what you know about Steve as a guy who was teammates with him for a bit, do you think he can navigate going back to coaching this team like normal?

Before I answer the question, I’m gonna tell you a little story. A guy asked me the other day, “you ever think about coaching?” And the answer is no. He said why? When a guy makes 20 times more than you, it’s gonna be hard for them to respect you. It shows that they don’t respect him. All the “I want him gone, I want him gone,” and then to come back and say we worked it out, nah, it ain’t that easy. As adults, we can have a heart-to-heart, we can iron it out. But it’s still right here. So when things don’t go right, they’re gonna blame it on him. So, he’s gonna have to demand their respect. As a player, if you know you were better than a former player who’s now a coach, it’s gonna be hard for you to, in tough situations, listen to him. So, it’s gonna be tough. I know the coaches I played for, they put their foot down. Sometimes you got to put your foot down, even if the player makes a $50 million, you got to put your foot down, especially 8f they ain’t gonna step up, anyway.

Tucker Carlson‘s interest in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be bordering on the obsessive. The Fox News host has called her a “rich, entitled white lady” looking for “booty call,” talked about her butt, and criticized her as the “Kim Kardashian of the Congress” after the New York representative revealed that she feared for her life during the Capitol riot. Carlson’s most recent attack on AOC came after comments she made in the October issue of GQ.

“Sometimes little girls will say, ‘Oh, I want you to be president,’ or things like that,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response to a question about a potential presidential run. “It’s very difficult for me to talk about because it provokes a lot of inner conflict in that I never want to tell a little girl what she can’t do. And I don’t want to tell young people what is not possible. I’ve never been in the business of doing that. But at the same time…”

AOC continued:

“I hold two contradictory things [in mind] at the same time. One is just the relentless belief that anything is possible. But at the same time, my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color. People ask me questions about the future. And realistically, I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September. And that weighs very heavily on me… I admit to sometimes believing that I live in a country that would never let that happen.”

Carlson dropped by Fox and Friends on Thursday morning to discuss Ocasio-Cortez’s valid concern that America will never be ready for a female president. Which is to say, he laughed it off, did an impression of AOC, and said, without a hint of irony, that “I’ve never met anyone who hates women.” Has he met some of his co-workers?

Somehow the impression isn’t the worst part, although it’s not great. Carlson’s laugh is.

Going into the Venice Film Festival premiere of Don’t Worry Darling, there were rumors of tension between director Olivia Wilde and the film’s star, Florence Pugh. At first, Wilde’s romance with Harry Styles was reportedly the cause of contention. However, Shia LaBeouf showing up with an armload of receipts that prove he wasn’t fired from the film added a whole new layer thanks to a video LaBeouf gave to the press that showed Wilde derogatorily referring to Pugh as “Miss Flo.” (Wilde had claimed in an interview that she fired LaBeouf to “protect” Pugh.)

Again, all of this was going down before the cast even arrived in Venice. Pugh didn’t attend the festival press conference, which left Wilde to downplay that there’s a problem between the two. (Wilde also declined to answer questions about LaBeouf.) In the background to all of this, Pugh’s hair and makeup team were wearing “Miss Flo” T-shirts and using the name in their Instagram posts. Once the cast did assemble on the red carpet, Pugh and Wilde had minimal to zero interaction. In a nutshell, things did not look great.

With the film’s release still two weeks away, Wilde is still continuing to damage control. Here’s what she told Vanity Fair in a recent interview about the alleged drama:

Pugh didn’t respond to V.F.’s requests for this piece, and her silence about the movie has generally been taken as shade aimed at its director. When I speak to Wilde in London, she tells me, “Florence is one of the most in-demand actresses in the universe. She’s on set on Dune. I gather that some people expect for her to be engaging more on social media. I didn’t hire her to post. I hired her to act. She fulfilled every single expectation I had of her. That’s all that matters to me.”

Wilde also sidestepped the messiness in Venice and blasted the media for taking the spotlight away from Pugh’s “astounding” performance in Don’t Worry Darling.

“It’s just baffling to me that the media would rather focus on baseless rumors and gossip, thereby overshadowing her profound talent,” Wilde said. “She deserves more than that. As does the movie, and everyone who worked so hard on it.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

Ted Cruz is tired of the Democrats and their hypocrisy. On Wednesday, the Texas senator appeared on Fox News, where he unloaded on Jesse Watters about California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to ban gas-powered cars — then took it one step further when he mocked Newsom for utilizing the luxury of air conditioning during a heat wave.

“I love that Gavin Newsom was wearing his fleece, obviously in cool air conditioning, saying ‘Let them eat cake. Let them sweat. You don’t get air conditioning,’” Cruz snarled. “It’s like John Kerry, who flies his private jet all over the planet lecturing people that ‘You poor, gritty working-class with dirt under your fingernails — you need to go without an automobile. You need to turn your air conditioner off. In fact, you need to just stay home and eat worms.’”

(We wonder what all the slacker baristas are thinking?)

If Cruz had any self-awareness, one might think he was actually trolling himself. As it was hard for anyone listening to him to not think back to that time, in early 2021, when “Cancun” Ted earned his nickname by quietly jetting off to Mexico with his family while millions of his constituents — devastated by the deadly combo of a powerful ice storm and a crappy power grid — were literally freezing to death. Cruz, of course, attempted to laugh his gross insensitivity off. But the people he serves weren’t amused, nor was his poodle Snowflake, who the Cruzes he left behind.

Tegan And Sara’s forthcoming TV series High School arrives next month. They revealed the casting in March and a new trailer yesterday. Now, the Quin sisters went on Late Night With Seth Meyers to discuss it in detail.

“We hadn’t done anything like this before,” Tegan explained. “When we sold the book, I think the first part of the process was just terror because we had to write a book. Then a couple months into it, our editor was like, ‘You need a timeline and some structure.’ We decided we would just tell our story in our own voices and just have the chapters alternate and there’s a lot of embellishment on both of our parts. It’s kind of cool when you read the book because there’s stories that come from both our perspectives and they’re very different so it’s basically like going to dinner with us.”

When asked more about the embellishment, Tegan said, “Yeah, I was like, ‘She’s lying, but that makes for a better story so we should definitely do it.’”

About the cast, Sara explained, “We were talking a lot about twins in front of our cell phones and we had not yet begun the casting process. But we were talking about twins a lot and Tegan sent me Raleigh, who actually plays Tegan on the show. She sent me her TikTok and said, ‘These girls could play us on our show.’ From that moment forward, we were really advocating for them all the time. They’re not actors. They were not musicians. They did have a lot of likes on TikTok — like, millions of likes…”

“So the most important thing,” Tegan jumped in, “that people look for these days.”

They also performed “Yellow,” from their forthcoming album Crybaby. Watch them perform the song below and watch the interview above.

Crybaby is out 10/21 via Mom+Pop Music. Pre-save it here.

On Wednesday, Barack and Michelle Obama hit up their old stomping grounds when they paid a visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to help unveil their official White House portraits. While most agreed that Michelle’s portrait was a sight to behold, some people were slightly confused by some of the choices made for Barack’s painting — Trevor Noah among them.

“I’m not going to lie: I am not an art expert,” Noah admitted. “I don’t know the difference between Michelangelo and the other Ninja Turtles. But what is going on with the Obama portrait?”

Noah’s questions didn’t end there:

Like, why is he standing in a white void? I don’t get it. It looks like he got his portrait taken at the DMV. Why does it look like this? He’s just like, ‘My license expired, so let’s kill two birds with one stone.’ No, because their portraits are going to hang in the White House forever. You understand that? They should look: White House!

Like, look at Michelle’s. She looks like a movie star, painted by a French artiste. Obama’s looks like they ran out of printer toner for the background.

If it seems like the Obamas’ big portrait reveals are a long time coming, that’s because they are. Traditionally, the unveiling ceremony is held during the tenure of the outgoing president’s predecessor. But, as Politico reports, Donald Trump reportedly refused to take part in this long-held tradition.