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Elon Musk‘s purchase of Twitter just took a major hit, which is reigniting speculation that the whole thing was just a giant troll. Early Friday morning, Musk announced that the deal is on hold because he now doesn’t believe the social media’s numbers on the amount of fake accounts.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.” Musk tweeted. “Still committed to acquisition.”

Musk’s announcement arrives on the heels of both a cryptocurrency crash and news that Twitter shares have dropped significantly below Musk’s purchase price. Musk’s announcement that the deal is on hold caused Twitter shares to drop even further, and analysts now believe Musk is using Twitter’s disclosure on fake accounts to weasel out of the deal. His leveraging of Tesla never quite made sense, and now, that calculus is proving to be even more precarious. Via The Wall Street Journal:

The tweets come as many big tech stocks have been falling on Wall Street, including shares of Tesla, which are down 29% over the past month. Mr. Musk is using his Tesla holdings to help fund the Twitter deal. Meanwhile, Twitter’s stock price had traded below Mr. Musk’s offer price as investors wondered if the deal might get reworked or not get done.

Mr. Musk might be using Twitter’s recent disclosure as a means to get out of or renegotiate the deal, said Daniel Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities. One reason is the impact on Tesla shares since the deal was announced.

While analysts hedge their bets on Musk’s next move, actual Twitter users are being a bit more blunt. Musk is currently being roasted for announcing that the purchase is hold (#ElonsProblems started trending shortly thereafter) and a significant amount of people are convinced Musk was never really going to buy the site in the first place.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Wall Street Journal)

On the new Kendrick Lamar album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, the rapper addresses a lot of topics. One track in particular that’s starting a lot of conversations among fans online is “Auntie Diaries,” on which Lamar raps about a couple of transsexual characters.

Twitter users were quick to praise the song, with one writing, “Auntie Diaries is the first song in major support of the trans community from a rap artist as big as Kendrick and I can’t voice how happy I am for it.” Another, journalist Khari Thompson, also wrote, “Yo ‘Auntie Diaries’ could be some REAL barrier-breaking stuff in hip-hop. Kendrick talking openly about his aunt and cousin transitioning and ‘choosing humanity over religion.’” Another user added, “Kendrick Lamar dropped Auntie Diaries, a song about trans acceptance & intersectionality, while conservatives across the country are pushing a full on assault on all LGBTQIA+ people & their allies. He didn’t have to do this – he’ll probably get sh*t for it – but he did. Powerful.”

Others addressed Lamar’s use of a homosexual slur with a line referencing how commonplace saying it used to be: “Back when it was comedic relief to say ‘f*****’ / f*****, f***** f*****, we ain’t know no better / Elementary kids with no filter however.” In response to those who apparently took exception to the lyrics, fans insist detractors are missing the point.

Listen to “Auntie Diaries” above and check out some more reactions to the song below.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. Get it here.

Chris Rock wasn’t kidding when he said he wouldn’t talk about The Slap until he gets paid.

During a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Thursday, the comedian immediately addressed the elephant in the room… kind of. “I’m OK, if anybody was wondering. I got most of my hearing back,” he joked. But anyone expecting Rock to go further than that was about to be disappointed. “People expect me to talk about the bullsh*t, I’m not going to talk about it right now, I’ll get to it eventually, on Netflix,” he said.

The first time that Rock acknowledged the time that Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars (which seems like it happened 500 years ago) was in late March during a standup show in Boston. “How was your weekend?” he said to kick off his set. “I don’t have a bunch of s*it about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that sh*t. And it will be serious and funny.” And profitable.

Meanwhile, Dave Chappelle’s Hollywood Bowl set, in which he was attacked by a man brandishing a replica handgun, will not be coming to Netflix.

(Via the Times)

Today is both a joyous and sad day for Top Dawg Entertainment: Kendrick Lamar released the feverishly anticipated Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but as he declared back in August 2021, it is his final album for the label. TDE had been his label home since the mid-2000s, back when he was releasing music as K.Dot and years before his 2011 debut Kendrick Lamar album, Section.80. Now, though, Lamar is moving on, and TDE president Terrence Louis Henderson Jr. (better known as Punch) seems to have no hard feelings about it.

This morning, Punch shared a quick social media post about the album, writing, “Shout out to Kendrick Lamar and co… congrats on the new album. Last one on TDE. We made history! Much love and continued success. [folded hands emoji].”

TDE founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith expressed a similar sentiment last summer, writing, “With this being Dot’s last album on TDE, this is more of a VICTORY LAP, a celebration. I know he will be successful in whatever it is he decides to do and will have our FULL support. As for Top Dawg Entertainment, we will continue to grow, develop, and give artists the platform to expand into whatever way they choose. Heart, honor, respect.”

As expected, Kendrick Lamar’s fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers arrived on Friday night. What was unexpected is the music, content, and some of the guest appearances found throughout the project’s 18 songs. Features from the likes of rap legend Ghostface Killah, fellow West Coaster Blxst, cousin and frequent collaborator as-of-late Baby Keem, and PgLang labelmate Tanna Leone were the expected or not-so-surprising contributors to the album. However, appearances from the likes of Summer Walker may have been a bit shocking, but none more than the multiple appearances that Kodak Black made on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Kodak Black can be found on three songs from Kendrick’s new album: “Worldwide Steppers,” “Rich (Interlude),” and “Savior.” On “Worldwide Steppers,” which caused some reactions for its own separate reasons, Kodak offers a quick introduction. On “Rich (Interlude),” he delivers a spoken word over sporadic piano keys. Finally, on “Silent Hill,” he steps in for a rap verse after Kendrick delivers one of his own.

Considering Kendrick’s high and practically unblemished status in music and Kodak’s past filled with controversial statements, sexual assault accusations, and run-ins with the law, the rappers’ collaborations on the album had a lot of people talking. Fans of Kodak were excited to see him stand in a bigger spotlight while others were not too pleased with one, never mind three appearances from him on the album.

You can hear the three songs that Kodak Black appears on in the videos above and check for comments from fans below.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The five-year drought for a new album from Kendrick Lamar came to an end tonight as he returned with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The project was made available with 18 songs and features from Blxst, Amand Reifer, Sampha, Taylour Paige, Summer Walker, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Sam Dew, Tanna Leone, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. While the music world was impressed and pumped with excitement after Kendrick prefaced the project with “The Heart Part 5,” the actual music on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers couldn’t be more of the opposite. An example comes on “Worldwide Steppers.”

The track is a two-part effort, and in the first half of the song, Kendrick unloads a spiraling and erratic confession about the first and second times he had sex with a white woman. He raps, “The first time I f*cked a white b*tch, I was sixteen at the Palisades, fumblin’ my grades.” Later in that verse, he adds, “Next time I f*cked a white b*tch, was out in Copenhagen / Good Kid, M.A.A.D City tour, I flourished on them stages.” He continues by mentioning his longtime partner Whitney Alford. “Whitney asked did I have a problem,” he raps. “I said, ‘I might be racist’ / Ancestors watchin’ me f*ck was like retaliation.”

The entire verse was jarring to say the least, as were other moments on the album. Fans felt the same way and they took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

You can listen to “Worldwide Steppers” in the video above and see comments from fans about the song below.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ahead of her upcoming album, I Used To Think I Could Fly, Tate McRae has unveiled the latest cut. On “What Would You Do,” McRae expresses disdain over not being treated well over the track she teased on social media earlier this week. Additionally, she revealed the music video will drop next week.

On the rock-influenced song, she asks an ungrateful lover, “What would you do if I leave and don’t come back?” before exclaiming “I hope it breaks you in two.” She continues, singing “If I gave back all the pain that you put me through, what would you do?”

On McRae’s upcoming album, she sings about past relationships, break-ups, and moving forward. When talking about the record with Seventeen, she said “…I feel like I wrote hundreds of songs. Deciding which ones were actually gonna make the cut was so brutal for me. I swear to God, my team was gonna chop my head off because I was changing my mind every two seconds.” She added, “I’m so nervous, I just have no idea how people are gonna receive it. And I think it’s crazy when something so vulnerable and personal gets released into the world because it’s out of your hands. It belongs to the listeners now and that’s really terrifying but exciting.”

The new track arrives after McRae dropped “Chaotic” earlier this year.

Check out “What Would You Do” above.

I Used To Think I Could Fly is out 5/27 via RCA. Pre-save it here.

The Miami Heat are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after finishing off the Sixers in Game 6 on Thursday night thanks to a huge third quarter run that was spearheaded by Jimmy Butler.

In a series not lacking on storylines, Butler putting the dagger in a Sixers team that he once played for was among the juiciest, and after the game both he and Joel Embiid lamented their breakup in 2019, heaping praise on one another. First it was Butler in his ESPN walkoff interview, talking about how proud he was of Joel and saying he wishes he was still on his team, while also noting he’s thrilled to be with the Heat.

Embiid likewise returned the love in his postgame presser, lamenting how the Sixers let him go and still not being sure why that was the case.

That fateful summer saw the Sixers sign Tobias Harris to a 5-year, $180 million deal and Al Horford to a 4-year, $109 million deal (who is now starring for Boston in the playoffs after a rather dismal tenure in Philly) instead of bringing back Butler. Part of the calculus for that decision was believing Harris was a better fit with the Embiid-Ben Simmons pairing, freeing Simmons up to be more of an on-ball player, which obviously didn’t work out as Simmons is now in Brooklyn and James Harden, who took two shots in the second half of Game 6, is in Philly.

After that walkoff interview in which Butler was quite diplomatic, he offered a more candid expression of his feelings towards the Sixers and their decision-making as he entered the tunnel, yelling “Tobias Harris over me?!”

It is another twist of the knife for Sixers fans who have more than a few “what ifs” to consider about major transactions in the past few years. That Embiid and Butler have been so public in acknowledging how much they miss each other, it also begs the question of whether they will eventually push to partner up again the next time one of them is approaching free agency.

Just months after dropping his highly acclaimed sophomore album, Candydrip, Lucky Daye has teamed up with Mark Ronson for a groovy new collab. On their single, “Too Much,” Lucky provides his sugary vocals, desiring an adventurous night with over a funky, jazzy Ronson-produced beat.

Lucky’s voice syncs perfectly with Ronsons’ thumping drums and intoxicating horns. “We’re just catching up to time,” he sings. “Let’s do too much, Something that we never tried, we never tried.”

Ronson and Lucky have previously collaborated on “Fly” from the 2019 Spies In Disguise soundtrack. For their most recent collab, the two teamed up with Audemars Piquet for their Syncing Sounds series, where they can be seen building “Too Much” from scratch.

“When I’m in the room with [Ronson], he doesn’t have to keep reminding me that he’s a legend, and I don’t even have to remind myself,” Lucky said. “I can literally vibe, and we vibe like it’s nothing, and every time we work, it’s just easy flowing.”

Ronson didn’t share an update in regards to an upcoming album, however, he recently revealed via Instagram that he is working on a book about his teens and his early 20s as a hip-hop DJ in New York City.

“It’s the story of an undocumented era before smartphones and VIP booths when ascending hip-hop moguls, artists, hustlers, models, posers, dancers and hard-working 9 to 5’ers all rubbed shoulders with each other in the club,” said Ronson in a post. “At that moment, New York was still the center of the music game and in the land of Biggie, Wu-Tang and Tribe, we celebrated them every night.”

Check out “Too Much” above.

This fall will mark two years since Davido released his sophomore album A Better Time. The project, which was a follow-up to his 2019 debut A Good Time came complete with 17 songs and features from fellow afrobeats artists Mayorkun, Tiwa Savage, Ckay, Sauti Sol, and more, as well as hip-hop R&B acts like Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Young Thug, Lil Baby, Nas, and others. With the 2020 project, it was clear that Davido’s mainstream crossover was in full effect and it was something that was proven time and time again after the arrival of A Better Time through stateside collaborations, late-night TV performances, and more.

However, all of that is in the past now as Davido prepares to release his upcoming third album. There isn’t a title for the project yet, but we’ve received the first taste of Davido’s upcoming body of work through his new single “Stand Strong.” It’s a triumphant effort that captures Davido beside The Samples, a choir that adds a glorious touch to the song. The new record is also produced by Nigerian singer-producer Pheelz, who is having a big moment of his own with “Finesse” featuring following Nigerian singer BNXN fka Buju.

You can enjoy Davido’s new song in the video above.

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