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This week’s episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli — hosted by Kweli and Jasmin Leigh — features the infamous Redman. Over the course of a wide-ranging, intensely personal interview, the Newark New Jersey MC explains how his family has a legacy that still touches the hearts on the streets, beyond hip-hop. His mother Darlene worked for 40 years ensuring young Black people were given a fair shot in the workplace.

“My moms never taught me to be pro-Black,” he notes. “She taught me to be pro-me.”

Growing up poor in New Jersey during the 80s was not easy. Many of the apartments then (and now) still have massive roach and rodent infestations. It was one such roach that changed the life of Red and his tenacious, hardworking mom, Darlene Noble.

“We had mad roaches,” Redman tells Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh. “We had mad mice and mad roaches. And everybody knowsm — don’t nobody wanna live with no roaches.”

The infestation of roaches at the time was taking over the entire apartment. Red remembers the tipping point of her patience.

“One day she was fixing us breakfast before we go to school. She opened the cabinet door to get us some cereal. And a roach jumped out and jumped on her nose…And I seen her fucking lose it! She said ‘That is it!’”

After that Darlene focused on making sure her life, and her kids, were headed in the right direction. Reflecting on his own drive to do well in life he says “That’s what inspired me — at a very young age…As she worked her way up the ladder, I seen her progression. She ended up getting a job at city hall helping lots of people. She retired like seven or eight years ago. But ‘til this day I got dues that will come up to me- that don’t even know. That’s G’d up. They’ll be like ‘Yo, your mom- anything she needs’. They don’t give a f*ck about me. ‘I know you’re Redman my nigga or whatever. But anything your moms needs, I’m riding for her.’”

Darlene Noble ensured many underserved people got good jobs, weren’t unjustly fired or got boxed out of economic opportunities. She’s a hero and this story is a testament to that.

Learn more about the life and legacy of Redman beyond his lyrics on People’s Party with Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh — on Luminary and Youtube.com/UproxxVideo.

It’s a shitty time to be a GOP lawmaker in Ohio. At least that seems to be the message some unknown critic of the state’s 25 Republican senators was trying to convey when they mailed out more than two dozen bits of fecal matter from a Cleveland post office.

As The Columbus Dispatch reports, the poop-filled packages never made it to their intended recipients as they were intercepted by the postal pros at the Ohio Statehouse and post offices in Akron and Columbus. The U.S. Postal Inspector is investigating the incident, which is being treated as a federal crime.

You might be giggling about the idea of it all, but senator Jay Hottinger—who literally had a pile of shit with his name on it—is not. “It’s gross and stupid,” he said. “Immaturity at its highest level.”

Ohio House spokesman John Fortney called whoever sent the caca “pathetic, little cowards,” then suggested they step outside in the most Ohio way possible: “They should’ve just sent a selfie, because it’s the same thing. I’d be more than happy to explain it to them in a parking lot or cornfield of their choice.”

All Ohio senators and congresspeople have been warned to be careful when opening any packages at home.

(Via The Columbus Dispatch)

Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart when it was released in 1985. Nearly 40 years later, it’s the number six song in the country and reached number one in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK, all thanks to it being a) a great track, and b) prominently featured in season four of Stranger Things. Not everyone is thrilled by the success of “Running Up That Hill,” however.

Taika Waititi spoke to NME about the use of Guns ‘N Roses in Thor: Love and Thunder, which used “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in the trailer. When asked if he hopes for a Kate Bush-style resurgence in popularity for Axl & Co., the filmmaker replied:

“You mean how they ruined Kate Bush? I love that show, but as someone who feels a real ownership of Kate Bush music… I’m really annoyed! I’ve become one of those old arseholes who’s like: ‘These kids never listened to Kate Bush, they’ve heard one song on a TV show! They don’t know Kate Bush! I know Kate Bush!’”

Metallica might disagree with Waititi’s gatekeeping. And Bush definitely disagrees, considering that “one song” has introduced millions of younger Stranger Things fans to her music — and added millions of dollars to her bank account.

(Via NME)

Mark Ronson is one of the most accomplished musicians and producers of the past couple decades, and throughout his career, he’s worked with some of the best vocalists we have. Now, he has made his picks for which of them he thinks are the most naturally gifted when it comes to singing.

In a new Variety interview, he said:

“Yebba, definitely. Adele, Amy [Winehouse], Bruno [Mars], [Lady] Gaga — I’m not just listing them because they’re the famous ones. They all have this gift, whether it’s intentional or not, this precipice in their voice where it’s just breaking and they know how much it brings you in. Like, obviously I haven’t worked with Bruno on every song, but he knows how to write a song on this part of his voice where it’s gonna break, where there’s that urgency. When I worked with Adele, she was so happy to do 16, 17, 18 takes — not because she didn’t sing it perfectly the first time, but she knew there’s a part where her voice starts to get worn in a little bit, and then there’s that pain in it that makes us all just melt, you know? They’re all fantastic.”

He also explained why, as a producer, he likes to take bits and pieces from multiple vocal takes to use in a song:

“One of the things I really love doing is comping a vocal. I will sit and go through 15 takes of the same vocal, most of them near-perfect, and sometimes just steal an ad-lib from this one or a breath from that one — the idiosyncrasies and the nuances of those moments, where the voice breaks, or where instead of singing that word at the end of the phrase, they decided to speak it instead. And then that’s a whole other level of intimacy.

It’s this wonderful process of, yes, they sang it perfectly 40 times, but now I get to make this ransom note-type [collage] of bringing this beautiful performance that will sit as the definitive performance of this song. It’s not an ego thing on my part — I just love that people trust me to do it. I love laboring over these things, because for one person or maybe a thousand people, that one little take is gonna be their favorite moment of the song.”

Check out the full interview here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

While most of the world is fixated on the decades-long episodes of Stranger Things, something just as strange is happening in Middle Earth, and we have just gotten our first look.

The Rings Of Power is the upcoming Amazon series based on the uber-popular Lord Of The Rings franchise that dominated the early 2000s. Amazon is seemingly trying to get that momentum back but rebuilding the hype, and this sneak peek at the first trailer sure does inspire some anticipation!

We’ve got elves, creepy skies, cryptic old elf men telling us about the creepy skies, and, of course, some beautifully impressive Tolkien imagery. The show is expected to have some overlapping storylines and themes, covering everything “from deep within the dwarf mines of the Misty Mountains to the high politics of the elven kingdom of Lindon and the humans’ powerful, Atlantis-like island, Númenor,” according to the official description.

Rings Of Power has a gigantic ensemble cast, featuring Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, and many more.

The official trailer will drop next week. The series is expected to debut on Amazon Prime on September 2nd. Check out the teaser above.

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Chris Hemsworth as God of Thunder, but the actor wasn’t even in the top five when Marvel Studios was looking to add Thor to its burgeoning Avengers team in the very early days of the MCU. In a new interview, the actor reveals that his brother, Liam Hemsworth, was extremely close to wielding the mythical Mjolnir hammer alongside Iron Man and Captain America. Because of that close call, the elder Hemsworth would love to square off against his younger sibling as a multiversal variant of his Marvel character.

“My little brother (Liam Hemsworth) almost got cast as Thor,” Hemsworth told MensXP. “He was one of the first people who got right down to the wire on getting the part so I don’t know I could cross paths with him. That will be fun.”

As for how Chris ended up getting the part, the actor told Wired‘s Autocomplete last month that his younger brother was a little too young, which opened the door for the older Hemsworth who had already read for the role. “I think my audition sucked,” Chris admitted, which is why he was surprised to get pulled back in after Liam just missed the cut. Via IndieWire:

“They were like, ‘Look, he’s great, but he’s a bit young.’ My manager then said, ‘Well, he does have an older brother,’ which was me. I came back in, re-auditioned a few times, and just had a different attitude. Maybe I had a little more sort of motivation that my little brother got a look in and I hadn’t. I also had done a couple of films in between those two auditions, so I had a bit more experience and confidence in what I was going to do.”

With that kind of backstory, obviously, these two brothers need to settle their sibling rivalry on the big screen. The universe practically demands it.

Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.

(Via MensXP, IndieWire)

Trey Songz made many headlines over the last two years for sexual assault and rape allegations. However, MyNewsLA reports that the anonymous accuser filed papers to dismiss the $20 million lawsuit and the judge granted her wish earlier this week.

Initially, the “Slow Motion” artist was accused of assaulting Jane Doe at a Los Angeles house party in 2016. The lawsuit, filed back in February, also mentioned rape, gender violence, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.

TMZ reported that a representative for 37-year-old denied the allegations, specifically stating, “Earlier today, the attorney who drafted this suit was credibly accused of trying to pay a woman to falsely accuse Trey. Hours later, that same attorney has filed this suit on behalf of an anonymous client. It isn’t hard to see what’s happening here, and it is a shame for genuine victims of sexual assault.”

Back in April, Songz had a similar experience, evading sexual assault allegations filed back in November 2021.

“The LVMPD has concluded the investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Tremaine Neverson and determined that no criminal charges will be filed,” police shared with TMZ. “If any new evidence comes to light, the case will be reopened for further investigation.”

(Spoilers from Amazon’s The Boys will be found below.)

The Boys wrapped up its third season with a bang (on behalf of nuclear Soldier Boy), and the show left plenty of unfinished business to be cleaned up on The Boys’ end. Butcher had lost sight of the true goal, and Ryan’s now going to be a mini-Homelander, it seems, and although Maeve’s headed off toward private life (and good for her), the show has long since been renewed for a fourth season.

In other words, Homelander will be back and worse than ever, and it’s likely that this next season should arrive quicker than the last round, which was slowed down by Covid. When will we see this happen, though?

Karl Urban recently revealed to Collider that he’s gearing up for Season 4 filming (which means that the scripts should be close to set), which is set to begin on August 22. He kept things close to the sleeve on what will happen, only declaring, “I’m getting back, getting my Butcher back on, and I can’t wait…. I can’t wait to see where they take the characters from where we leave them at the end of this season.”

As for a formal Season 4 release date, there’s nothing official yet. However, it’s worth noting that showrunner Eric Kripke ran an efficient ship between Seasons 1 (July 2019) and 2 (September 2020), which arrived about a year apart from each other. Yes, Season 3 (June 2022) took longer, but Mother’s Milk actor Laz Alonso confirmed that this was due to the pandemic, so it doesn’t sound like we’ll be in for a two-year wait again.

So, hopefully this means that we’ll see the continuation of Annie January’s Supe-free lifestyle in 2023, probably fall-ish? Ideally, there will be some followup there on what Homelander did to Black Noir, but once again, expect that weekly rollout to continue because it’s really working for this show.

The Boys‘ first three seasons are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Young Thug has been in the news a lot lately, mostly for being scooped up in the wide-ranging RICO indictment alongside other members of the YSL label. Today, Variety broke the news that Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions and Rolling Stone Films are working together on a documentary series and podcast about Young Thug.

The companies describe it as a tale set against “the larger Atlanta hip-hop boom, and the ongoing RICO case against YSL that accuses Young Thug and 27 other alleged collaborators of crimes ranging from racketeering to murder. The projects seek to separate the fact from the fiction of the criminal charges against YSL members, while also interrogating the controversial practice of prosecutors using rap lyrics as evidence of criminal activity. The result will be a wild, enthralling story of music, money, crime and hip-hop on trial.”

Executive producer Gus Wenner, the CEO of Rolling Stone, added, “We’re thrilled to partner with the talented team at Jigsaw to tell this ambitious and important story about one of the most compelling and controversial music scenes of the moment.”

This announcement has been met with mixed reactions on Twitter, with most fans wondering how these projects can begin when the legal issues remain very much unresolved.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

No one thinks highly of police officers when they’re sitting handcuffed in the back of a cruiser, but for the Miami officer who arrested Polo G for assault in 2021, his experience was a hardcore exercise in patience considering the eloquence involved when the detainee happens to be a world-class rapper. Recently, body cam footage from the aftermath of the arrest surfaced online, revealing that Polo gave the dressing down of a lifetime to the officer, questioning all the life choices that led him to pursue his present career path.

“I’m just sayin’, do you got $10,000 in your bank account right now?” Polo inquests. “‘Cause if you die right now, what could you give your kids? If you die right now, what could you give the lady that you in bed with? What could you give to your mama? Have you ever bought yo mama anything? Did you buy yo mama a car? Did you buy yo mama a house? I did that.” The officer humbly replies, “Good for you, bro. I’m glad you did that… I would love to do that one day.” In his own fiery response, Polo posits that it’s unlikely as a police officer — something Polo seems very disdainful about.

Fortunately for the Chicago rapper, a pair of felony charges were dropped shortly after the incident, and the remaining misdemeanors were dropped earlier this year after he completed an anger management course. Hopefully, he can avoid any future run-ins with the police, but woe be unto any officers thinking they can flex on this rapper — they might end up being on the receiving end of one anti-motivational speech.