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Just when you think respected rapper turned curmudgeonly podcaster, Joe Budden, is finally turning over a new leaf, he makes sure to remind you why he’s one of the culture’s most controversial figures. During the same episode of his podcast in which he praised Cardi B as a superstar, he tore down her “WAP” collaborator Megan Thee Stallion, denying her the same appraisal on the basis of album sales — something he never had much of himself.

The question of whether or not hip-hop has any modern superstars was originally broached on Twitter by TDE President Punch, who posited that there might not be any. He was quickly shouted down on that app, though, by fans who pointed out that all the superstars are women, an oft-overlooked segment of hip-hop. However, even as women have taken over with endorsement deals, acting gigs, and a host of business plans, Budden still found a nit to pick with Megan’s outstanding record.

“You’re not a superstar if you can’t sell an album,” he declared. “What the f*ck are we talking about right now? What stops her from being a superstar if we’re taking out sales? She ain’t sold sh*t. Got every brand deal in the world, but also has all the backing from different people. She’s got a lot going on. That’s the game today.”

That’s… a weird way of looking at a Platinum-certified debut, Good News, two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, and a slew of Top 40 singles as both a featured artist and lead artist over the past three years. Of course, this could be just another example of Joe Budden’s decades-long case of sour grapes (and his longstanding issues when it comes to women), but Meg’s resume speaks for itself in this instance.

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

UK indie group The Pocket Gods decided to protest Spotify’s royalty rates for artists with 1000X30 – Nobody Makes Money Anymore, an album that, as the title indicates, consists of 1,000 songs that all run for about 30 seconds. Spotify actually caught wind of the project and have since changed some part of how they do things.

Pocket Gods leader Mark Christopher Lee was inspired to take on the project by a 2015 article from The Independent, which ponders the future of music given that royalties are paid on a Spotify stream after a track has been played for at least 30 seconds.

“I saw the article and it made me think, ‘Why write longer songs when we get paid little enough for just 30 seconds,” Lee told i News. He continued, “We wrote and recorded 1,000 songs, each a shade over 30 seconds long for the album. The longest is 36 seconds. It is designed to raise awareness about the campaign for fair royalty rates.”

He also noted his band earns about £0.002 (about a quarter of a US cent) from each Spotify stream of their songs.

The project was first presented earlier this month and Spotify has been paying attention, as Lee now says he was invited to meet with Spotify’s head of artist relations. He said that since the release of the album, the streaming platform has changed one of its rules: “Spotify said we’re ahead of the curve as shorter songs are the future — just look at TikTok. They said that I can pitch 30-second tracks to their playlists for consideration — I wasn’t able to do this previously as the songs were considered too short. So next week I’m releasing a 30-second single called ‘Noel Gallagher Is Jealous Of My Studio.’”

Lee says he was also told songwriters would see increased pay rates when Spotify rolls out an increase in its subscription price.

Hot Press notes The Pocket Gods are used to dropping atypical sorts of albums like this: They’ve released 74 albums since 1998, multiple of which have over 100 tracks.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Doja Cat linking up with an old collaborative pal and Avril Lavigne bringing the modern pop-punk revival full-circle with a new LP. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Tyga and Doja Cat — “Freaky Deaky”

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Tyga, as his last album was 2019’s Legendary. He popped back up in a big way last week by linking up with Doja Cat for “Freaky Deaky,” a smooth tune that serves as the pair’s second collaboration after a 2019 remix of Doja’s “Juicy.”

Earthgang — “Billi” Feat. Future

Earthgang’s profile has increased since their breakout 2019 album Mirrorland, as evidenced by the increase in features on their new LP, Ghetto Gods. One such collaboration is “Billi,” a brief, bouncy, Future-featuring number.

Avril Lavigne — “All I Wanted” Feat. Mark Hoppus

Lavigne recently told Uproxx of collaborating with the Blink-182 member of Love Sux, “It was crazy, even though we worked on Zoom with Mark Hoppus, I was like, ‘Damn, this guy is so talented.’ He was like recording himself, engineering himself, and writing. He was so fast with lyrics and melodies. Obviously, I love their songs, and knew that he was a good songwriter and singer, but to get to see him work in real time, I was really blown away by his talent. I listened to their music when I was younger, so it’s kind of come full circle.”

Kehlani — “Little Story”

Kehlani’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t only just dropped in 2020 but she’s already onto a new album, Blue Water Road. She offered a preview of it, “Little Story,” last week, which Uproxx’s Caitlin White describes, “After the song begins with a more fluid verse, she gets a little more staccato on the chorus, as the song opens up with heavier percussion and closes out with an epic swell of violins.”

Rosalía — “Chicken Teriyaki”

Rosalía has a big professional moment coming up, as she’s set to be the musical guest on the March 12 episode of Saturday Night Live. She’ll have at least one new song to perform, as last week, she dropped “Chicken Teriyaki,” a brief tune designed to get bodies moving.

Florence And The Machine — “King”

Early last week, Florence And The Machine sure made it seem like they were dropping a new song with their cryptic teasers. Indeed, that did end up being the case, as they returned with “King,” a haunting tune driven by drums, tambourine, and Welch’s idiosyncratic vocals.

Gang Of Youths — “Spirit Boy”

In his review of Gang Of Youths’ new album Angel In Realtime, Uproxx’s Steven Hyden writes, “Even at its bleakest — the part in ‘Spirit Boy’ when [David Le] Le’aupepe sings, ‘God died today / and left me in the cold’ qualifies as the single saddest moment — the constant uplift of the music successfully buoys the record.”

Leikeli47 — “BITM”

Masked (not in a CDC-approved way) rapper Leikeli47 last dropped an LP in 2018 with Acrylic, and now she’s returning with Shape Up. That’s set to arrive in April, but before that, she’s shared “BITM,” which Uproxx’s Danielle Chelosky notes “has a daunting, pulsating beat and assertive, whisper-like vocals as she repeats the confident hook.”

Denzel Curry — “Zatoichi” Feat. Slowthai

Zatoichi is fictional blind blademaster who’s the lead in a long-running franchise of Japanese movies and TV shows, and now he’s also part of the Denzel Curry universe. The rapper’s latest single (which features Slowthai, by the way) is named after the protagonist, who he references on the drum and bass-influenced song with lines like, “I’m Zatoichi, leading the blind.”

Central Cee — “Straight Back To It”

Central Cee is in the process of making a name for himself in the UK hip-hop scene, a task at which the West London rapper is performing admirably thus far. His 23 mixtape dropped last week, as did a video for “Straight Back To It,” of which Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli says, “A track about fighting back when you get knocked down, it’s an apt display of the rapper’s commitment to the grind.’

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

WARNING: Spoilers for The Righteous Gemstones below.

The Righteous Gemstones dropped its season finale on Sunday night, and in the process, finally revealed the answer to one of Season 2’s biggest mysteries: Who are the Cycle Ninjas working for? Just as Brian Grubb predicted in his weekly Halo Report — somebody get this guy solving murders — the cycle gang were, in fact, working for Lyle Lisson (Eric Andre). Not only that, but Lisson was also responsible for the murder of snooping journalist Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman) and not Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) as his own children suspected.

The finale also saw the Gemstones come together after being at each other’s throats all season (a recurring theme with this family), and Baby Billy Freeman finally did right by Tiffany and returned after initially abandoning her while she was pregnant with his child. Naturally, this return was followed by the birth of said child who came into this world just like his mother: as a toilet baby.

Unfortunately, all of this was going down at the groundbreaking of the Lisson’s Christian resort where things quickly went south as the Gemstones learned that Lissons tried to have them killed. After a confrontation on the beach that left B.J. with a nasty bullet wound, but more accepted into the family than ever, the Lissons managed to escape, but not for long. Armed with a neon-colored assassin gang of their own, they were tracked down by Martin in Alaska, where the couple was taken out in an amazing and hilarious homage to Young Guns.

With the Lissons out of the picture, the Gemstones now have full control of the Florida resort, and things couldn’t be going better for their filthy rich religious empire. For now.

As for how the finale went over with fans, they freaking loved it. There were also some bold claims that it was season closer was better than the Euphoria finale, but we’re not taking sides on that hot topic. You can see some of the reactions below:

The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 is available for streaming on HBO Max.

The Righteous Gemstones has finished its second round of evangelical mayhem, which might be the prime example of how a show’s cast can have the same amount of fun as the audience while crafting gem after gem. Walton Goggins and Edi Patterson are both absolute delights while gobbling up all of the stage curtains, and the latter previously told us that she signed onto this show before even hearing Danny McBride’s initial vision for the series. When a co-working relationship works, it works, but at home, viewers are probably already wondering when they’ll see more “Misbehavin.’”

Those halos sure do stack up, and the show gives us delightful little surprises like Macauley Culkin outta nowhere, so when will the grand return happen?

Patience, grasshoppers. The show’s pilot aired in August 2019, and then obviously, the pandemic slowed everything down, to the point where we had to wait until January 2022 for Baby Billy and Company to glide back onto our screens. Hopefully, there won’t be as much of a wait next time around. Surely, HBO and McBride want to ride that momentum, given that the show keeps growing in popularity. And although HBO hasn’t pinpointed a precise return date for this show, we do know that a Season 3 is coming.

What we also know is this: Season 2 began filming in March 2020 and shut down after only three days. What followed was an extensive rewriting process, but if one takes out all of the pandemic setbacks, the seasons could have realistically come together in two years. So we can cross fingers for January 2024 or earlier for more. Yep, we’ll want it to arrive faster, but the John Goodman-starring series is always worth the wait.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Big Thief, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

This may strike some as hyperbole but I don’t care because it’s true: As strong as the other Big Thief albums are, they feel like rough drafts for what they’ve finally achieved here. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You already feels like the kind of album that’s destined to be handed down from generation to generation, like Automatic For The People or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It’s music I know I will reach for on epic road trips or in the midst of profound grief. An all-timer. A masterpiece. They really did it this time.

Turns out recording in different places with different engineers — drummer James Krivchenia is listed as the album’s producer — had real impact on the music. The seething Old Testament sermonizing of “Sparrow” has heavy Catskills vibes. The sweeping country rock of “Red Moon” (featuring excellent fiddle playing by Mat Davidson, among the small handful of non-band members appearing on the album) carries with it the dust of the Arizona desert. The stupendous “Simulation Swarm” is classic ’70s L.A. soft rock with one of the best guitar solos on any Big Thief album. The gorgeous title track evinces the restraint and simplicity endemic to their work with long-time producer Dom Monks on the previous records. But honestly, every song here is terrific, which is a minor miracle for a band that sought out to (in guitarist Buck Meek’s words) “lose our minds a bit.”

2. Gang Of Youths, Angel In Realtime

For frontman and singer-songwriter Dave Le’aupepe, Angel In Realtime is nothing less than an act of transfiguration, an attempt to bring back his father — who passed in 2018 at the age of 80 — in the form of impossibly monumental tunes that integrate a kitchen’s sink worth of sounds: chamber pop, U.K. garage, Britpop, hip-hop, and indigenous music native to his family’s Samoan and Māori cultures. Over that music, Le’aupepe opens up the innermost sanctum of his life via lyrics that spin a dense web of autobiography, cultural criticism, self-laceration, and sports references. At times, he adopts his father’s perspective; in other moments, he wonders how he’ll move on without him. It’s so personal that as a listener you feel as though you’re eavesdropping on something you shouldn’t. But then the insistent, driving music inevitably pulls you back into the fray. If Angel In Realtime is not ultimately remembered as the best album of 2022 — though it is certainly in the running for that distinction for what is already stacking up to be a year loaded with potential all-timers — it might very well end up being the most album. There is a lot to chew on here.

3. Animal Collective, Time Skiffs

I don’t know if this record will reach listeners beyond their cult of devotees, but it certainly sounds like an attempt by the animals to leave the wilderness. After two difficult (though in my estimation underrated) records, Time Skiffs is the sequel to Merriweather Post Pavilion that many fans probably would have wanted a decade ago. What do I mean by that? Let’s start with the pair of songs that open the album. They are both bottom-heavy, harmony-rich, and immediate indie-pop songs with grabby choruses in the vein of “My Girls” and “Summertime Girls.” The basslines are slippery and the synths are warm and zippy. It’s pretty much as close to “normal” as Animal Collective gets, and it’s remarkable how much of Time Skiffs colors within those very same lines. As the album unfolds, tracks like “Walker” and “We Go Back” amble along at the same amiable mid-tempo pace. Animal Collective’s music no longer emulates the sonic meltdowns of Brian Wilson’s most drugged-out Smile outtakes. Time Skiffs signals the beginning of their Full House period.

4. Black Country New Road, Ants From Up Here

Are we in the midst of a mid-aughts indie rock revival? I’m not just talking about Animal Collective’s comeback. There is also a growing corps of younger bands who grew up on the expansive sounds of that period — when it was standard to have a half-dozen people in your line-up and nearly as many words in your band name — which until recently seemed to be out of fashion. Take this British band, who emerged last year with their debut, For The First Time, that was lumped in with the crop of ascendent post-punk acts with jagged guitars and talky lead singers. But on this new Ants From Up There, they change course, openly embracing the indie-orchestral sound of grandiose throwbacks like Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise. It’s a surprising and entirely arresting shift that has resulted in one of early 2022’s buzziest indie records. Though it also comes with the news from last month that singer/guitarist Isaac Wood has exited the band. Will a Phil Collins figure emerge to replace this band’s departed Peter Gabriel? We shall see.

5. String Machine, Hallelujah Hell Yeah

This Pittsburgh band has a lower profile at the moment than Black Country, New Road, but they might ultimately have a more stable future. Their just-released new album, Hallelujah Hell Yeah, also evokes the earnest emotionalism and large-band arrangements of the mid-aughts. But whereas BCNR’s music often takes on a dark, sinister edge, Hallelujah Hell Yeah is full of sunny melodies and insistent hooks. At just 27 minutes, it’s also the kind of album that you feel compelled to spin again immediately once it’s over. I suspect that Hallelujah Hell Yeah will be a word of mouth hit as the year unfolds.

6. The War On Drugs, Live in St. Paul, Feb. 15-16

Having seen the band more than a half-dozen times over the course of a decade — and after digging deep into their bootlegs — I am confident in declaring that they have never played better than they are right now. The shows in St. Paul found them in an enviable sweet spot — the performances were focused and powerful, and the camaraderie between the band and the audience was funny and celebratory. Along with the “Against The Wind” bust out, the birthday show was distinguished by a pizza being delivered to Adam on stage, which he then gifted to the band’s lighting director. That was after an epic balloon drop during the set’s cathartic high point, “Under The Pressure.” It all felt simultaneously tight and loose. Like The E Street Band, each member of The War On Drugs now has a recognizable persona — Hartley is the stoic consigliere situated to Granduciel’s immediate right, drummer Charlie Hall is the kimono-clad showman, keyboardist Robbie Bennett is the swaying creator of synth-y moods, multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez are the invaluable utility fielders, and new touring musician Eliza Hardy Jones is the Patti Scialfa figure.

7. Kurt Vile, “Like Exploding Stones”

Since I’m talking about The War On Drugs, I must also mention that a new Kurt Vile record, (Watch My Moves), is set to drop in April. This is the first single, and it’s a perfect slice of mid-period KV — a slow-motion reverie that drifts in like a THC-fueled dream and yet never overstays its welcome. There’s also that awesome part when Kurt drawls, “Welcome to the KV horror drive-in movie marathon.” Hell yeah. We can’t wait to dive into the rest of the record.

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

We live in a society where The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been turned into a gritty drama, How I Met Your Mother is now How I Met Your Father (“So, Poochie…?”), and Kelsey Grammer still thinks his Frasier reboot is a good idea even without David Hyde Pierce’s involvement, so it’s inevitable that The Office will come back in some form.

NBC is “standing by” for whenever inspiration strikes co-creator Greg Daniels, but he warned Collider about the dangers of trying to replicate the success of The Office… again. “[The Office] was such a wonderful and rare experience that obviously you don’t want to just go back to it and kind of possibly disappoint people when right now, they couldn’t be happier about it,” he said. But let’s say, hypothetically, he were to make a reboot. What would it look like? Something like The Mandalorian, apparently:

“I can’t tell whether fans would want more of it, and when I say more of it, I don’t think it would be the same characters. I think it would just be sort of like an extension of the universe, you know what I mean, like the way [The] Mandalorian is like an extension of Star Wars. But I don’t know if that would be something people would want or not, it’s hard to tell.”

The Office tried to do a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series with season nine’s “The Farm,” but it was not a success. You know why? Not enough Baby Yoda. Get that green rugrat on a cross-country road trip with Erin as she looks for a new receptionist gig, and folks, you’ve got yourself a successful reboot of The Office.

(Via Collider)

Every second of a show’s season finale is precious, especially when it’s a show with such a jam-packed plot and massive audience like Euphoria. This is why watchers found it funny and a little weird that Dominic Fike, playing the role of Elliot, took up a whole scene performing a song.

When Rue (Zendaya’s character) visits Elliot, she’s coming to forgive him for snitching on her; his response is to play a song he wrote on acoustic guitar… for five whole minutes. The song, which remains untitled, is about creating distance from someone you care for with the hope that they’ll use the time to improve themselves and return as a better person.

While many fans were fawning over this emotional moment, most were posting memes to Twitter about how he was getting too much screen time for promoting his own music rather than being his actual character. (A lot of fans were also wondering what happened to the plotline with the suitcase…). All in all, the online conversation made Fike and other Euphoria-related keywords trending topics on Twitter.

To be fair, Fike has previously said that his character Elliot is “exactly like me.” So maybe Elliot is just the type of guy to break out into song at the most inappropriate of times. You know the type. The situation, at least, provided a lot of meme content, so check out some more of that below.

Squid Game was an absolute juggernaut on Netflix, pulling in record breaking views that paved the way for a second season, and now, the Korean series is proving to be just as powerful of a force on the awards circuit. Both of the show’s leads, Lee Jung-Jae and Jung Ho-yeon locked down the awards for Drama Series Actor and Drama Series Actress, respectively. It was historic wins all-around as Squid Game became the first non-English-language and first Korean series to score a win at the SAG Awards.

Both Lee and Jung beat out such power hitters as the cast of Succession, Elisabeth Moss, Reese Witherspoon, and Jennifer Aniston. The show also won for stunts over high-budget Marvel series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki and the martial arts-heavy Cobra Kai. In fact, Squid Game only lost one of the categories it was nominated for: Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, which went to Succession.

Naturally, Lee and Jung were blown away by their wins, and they hope to see more Korean content make it to American audiences. Via Deadline:

“I think it’s just the beginning. There [is] a lot of amazing Korean content that’s just as entertaining and touching as Squid Game,” he said via an interpreter, “so I ask that you look out for [it], show us a lot of love and continue to watch a lot of great Korean content.”

Squid Game is available for streaming on Netflix.

(Via Deadline)

Eddie Vedder is on a solo tour right now, but the way he tells it, a few weeks ago, it appeared the trek may have been in jeopardy thanks to what he describes as a “pretty serious” case of COVID.

During a February 25 performance at Los Angeles’ YouTube theater, Vedder said between songs:

“I got the COVID right before we were supposed to start practicing, about five or six weeks ago, and literally saw my life flash in front of my eyes, and wasn’t quite sure, you know… I’ve done some very good things for my body and I’ve also had a lot of fun. I’ve done some things that […] I don’t want to get into the details. Just use your imagination [laughs]. But it felt pretty serious, and to get through that and then be back in a room like this, facing this many people facing this way, listening to us play music for you is really, truly, it’s been a gift and an honor. Thanks for listening; we’re so grateful.”

Fortunately, it seems like Vedder has recovered just fine, as he’s been vital enough to tour and bring his Mötley Crüe feud to the stage.

Watch Vedder speak about getting COVID below, at about 3:30 into the video.