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This article originally appeared on November 5, 2013

When I saw these incredible photos Angelo Merendino took of his wife, Jennifer, as she battled breast cancer, I felt that I shouldn’t be seeing this snapshot of their intimate, private lives.

The photos humanize the face of cancer and capture the difficulty, fear, and pain that they experienced during the difficult time.

But as Angelo commented: “These photographs do not define us, but they are us.“

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Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

This week, Yung Bleu leads the way with “Walk Through The First, “his second single in as many months beside Ne-Yo. It comes shortly after Bleu released his late 2021 EP, No, I’m Not OK. Elsewhere, Oakland-based singer Elujay arrives with his debut album Circmvnt complete with features from Serpentwithfeet and HXNS. Raheem DeVaughn also returns with Bee Boy$oul beside him for their Back 2 Love project.

Yung Bleu — “Walk Through The Fire” Feat. Ne-Yo

Yung Bleu and Ne-Yo have already struck together with their late-2021 track “Stay Down.” While that track is a bouncy and upbeat release, the duo’s latest release, “Walk Through The Fire,” is the complete fire. On that record, Yung Bleu and Ne-Yo let off passionate accounts of their love for a special woman with the promise that to walk through the fire is their relationship calls for it. Whether or not this signals more music to come between the duo remains to be seen, but so far so good.

Elujay — Circmvnt

After years of mixtapes and EPs, Oakland’s Elujay has finally arrived with his debut album Circmvnt. It clocks in with 11 songs that include “Pandemia” as well as features from Serpentwithfeet and HXNS for a body of work that sees the singer exploring and pushing new sounds. “It’s about finding alternative routes to an ever transitioning/deteriorating world,” Elujay said about the project and its title, adding, “Striving to find peace and solace and new techniques to approaching life.”

Gemaine & Charlie Heat — “No Questions”

Back in the fall of 2020, Compton singer Gemaine arrived with his Lefty. It boasted highlight efforts that included “What’s Goin On,” “Take Off,” and more. After keeping things quiet in 2021, Gemaine is back with producer Charlie Heat beside him for “No Questions.” The song balances sultry with a light bounce for a record that amounts to a reminder to men “that there’s nothing wrong with being soft-spoken and romantic with your girl,” as Gemaine states in a press release. The song also serves as the lead single for Gemaine and Charlie Heat’s upcoming joint album New Jack City.

DJ Neptune — Greatness 2.0

Since his debut project, 2018’s Greatness, DJ Neptune has collaborated with some of the names in afrobeats. They include Davido, Wizkid, Mr Eazi, and more. Nearly four years after that project arrived, he returns with its sequel Greatness 2.0. Its sixteen tracks feature the aforementioned names as well as additional appearances from Rema, Joeboy, Omah Lay, Lojay, Ladipoe, Zlatan, and more who have all grown in their own right within the afrobeats world.

Adekunle Gold — “Mercy”

Adekunle Gold fans from near and far can rejoice as the Nigerian singer recently announced that his upcoming album Catch Me If You Can is set to arrive on February 4. So far, he’s released singles that include “Sinner” with Lucky Daye and “High” with fellow Nigerian singer Davido. Now he returns with “Mercy” for gives fans a trio of singles that represent the promise Adekunle’s project has for them.

Fave — Riddim 5

Nigerian singer Fave earned her spotlight moment thanks to the success of her rising single “Baby Riddim.” The track has tallied 45 million streams across all platforms while being used in 600,000 TikTok videos. Looking to use that momentum to her advantage, Fave returns with her debut EP Riddim 5. Altogether the five-track project combines sultry and addictive Afropop melodies with tropical Caribbean influences and nods to R&B and hip-hop for a diverse and genre-spanning body of work that boosts Fave’s appeal.

OHenry — “Racin’”

After concluding 2021 with “All You Need,” Nigerian-American and Oakland native OHenry makes his return in the new year with “Racin.’” On it, OHenry provides the sultry vibes for a lovestruck single that finds him moving at the speed of late to reconnect with his lover. Altogether, the song is yet another example of OHenry being open with his fans as he displays his vulnerability, versatility, and emotions.

Koryn Hawthorne — “You” Feat. Big KRIT

At the end of 2020, Louisiana native Koryn Hawthorne released her second project I Am. It arrived after she made her mark as a contestant on season eight of The Voice. After releasing The Worship EP last year, Hawthorne returns in 2022 with a fresh take of one of the most popular songs from I Am. Hawthorne recruits fellow southern artist Big KRIT for a remix of “You” that breathes new life into the song and boosts its appeal.

Ashlee — “No Ceilings, Just Feelings”

Long Island singer Ashlee is back in action after a 2021 year that featured a pair of singles: “Risk It All” and “Decide.” To start off 2022, she drops off “No Celings, Just Feelings,” a track produced and co-written by Jonxlewis. The song captures her attempt to ignore her growing affection for someone. Despite this, the feelings grow to be too much and she eventually opens the door for a new attempt at love.

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

After winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2019, expectations were high for Dua Lipa‘s sophomore album — and she very much lived up to them with Future Nostalgia. Leaning into a groovy, ’80s disco-inspired sound, Future Nostalgia gave Lipa another Grammy win and asserted her dominance on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. But as she prepares for her third studio album, the singer teases how she’s taking her sound in a different direction.

Lipa recently sat down with WSJ for a digital cover interview about her personal life, success, and various projects. The conversation eventually turned to what she has in store for her next album, and she mentioned that she’s already recorded “a lot of it” — but it might not be what fans expect:

“I’ve done a big chunk of writing: It’s starting to take shape; I’ve got a lot of it recorded. It has a vision. It has a name, I think—for now. It’s just been fun experimenting. I’m always going to make pop music, but it has its own unique sound, which is exciting and something that feels like a movement from Future Nostalgia. It’s still in baby form, so we’ll see as it progresses.”

Lipa also had another note about her next project, something she admits her fans will probably not be happy about. “In all honesty, it’s probably not what my fans want to hear, but I’m in no rush,” she said.

Read Lipa’s full interview with WSJ here.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills played an instant classic on Sunday night, with three touchdowns and a field goal scored by the two teams in the final two minutes of regulation, followed by a Chiefs touchdown drive to open overtime and end the game.

It was thrilling theater for fans in attendance and watching at home, but one fan missed all of the late fireworks thanks to some poor decision-making that led him to run onto the field at the two minute warning, only to get absolutely cracked by Stefon Diggs and then wrestled to the ground by stadium security.

It’s always a bit of a mystery as to why people decide to run onto the field, but in this instance, a viral TikTok explains the situation pretty simply. The man was bet $1,000 he wouldn’t run onto the field, and proceeded to do just that to the shock of the person who made the bet with him — which, is understandable because who does that.

For starters, $1,000 does not seem like enough money to get hit by an NFL player, wrestled to the ground, and likely being hit with a fine, an arrest, and a stadium ban. That’s just a poor value play by this guy, who also, as mentioned, missed one of the best final two minutes in NFL Playoff history. After he got slammed to the ground the Bills scored an amazing TD on 4th and 13, Tyreek Hill answered with an insane catch and run for a TD, the Bills answered with a touchdown with 13 seconds to play, Patrick Mahomes moved the Chiefs into field goal range in two plays and 10 seconds to send the game to OT, and Travis Kelce caught the game-winner. While all that was happening, our guy here was getting processed by stadium police somewhere in the bowels of Arrowhead, and who knows if he even got his $1,000.

On Monday, Joe Biden actually called Fox News reporter—and perpetual thorn in White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s side—Peter Doocy the thing most of us are thinking whenever the White House correspondent opens his mouth and says something: “Stupid son of a bitch.”

It was a hot mic that caught Biden’s decidedly unpresidential retort during a photo op following Biden’s Monday meeting with his Cabinet Secretaries. Doocy, never the most insightful of reporters, asked Biden “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?,” to which the POTUS snarkily replied, under his breath: “That’s a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a b*tch.”

While Doocy didn’t hear Biden’s response himself, it didn’t take long for others to alert him to the fact that he had been made a fool in the middle of the East Room. Still, as Doocy told his fellow Fox News colleague Sean Hannity on Monday night, Biden has indeed issued a mea culpa.

As Mediaite reports, Doocy—son of Fox & Friends loudmouth Steve Doocy—told Hannity that he got a call from the president within an hour of the incident and that the two had “cleared the air.” While Hannity was determined to know specifically whether the president actually apologized, Doocy tried to play it cool and let him know:

“He said, ‘It’s nothing personal, pal.’ And I told him I appreciated him reaching out. Hey, Sean, the world is on the brink of like World War III right now, with all the stuff going on. I appreciate that the president took a couple minutes out as evening as he was still at the desk to give me a call and clear the air.”

When Hannity replied that, “At least he called you ‘pal,’” Doocy assured Hannity that “You know what, I don’t need anybody to apologize to me. He can call me whatever he wants as long as it gets him talking.”

(Via Mediaite)

As the release date for The Batman comes closer, the audience is blessed with more and more tidbits about the upcoming superhero film, including how Nirvana was a key player in the creating the character, and how the film narrowly trails behind Avengers: Endgame in length, making it impossible to perfectly time out bathroom breaks.

But one of the most important and mysterious bits about the newest caped crusader is his emo boy band look, complete with some (honestly impressive) eyeliner. In a new interview with Esquire, director Matt Reeves defends his choice to have Pattinson don heavy makeup.

“You can’t wear a cowl and not wear that. All of the Batmen wear that,” Reeves says, insisting that the eyeliner is important for character development. With the eyeliner, even with the mask off, he is just becoming the batman. “I just loved the idea of taking off [the mask] and under that there’s the sweating and the dripping and the whole theatricality of becoming this character.” Reeves adds.

It seemed to take a lot to convince the Warner Bros execs to cast Pattinson, who has been working on a slew of great films, but none of them as high-profile as this biggest DC superhero. When Reeves and Pattinson met, that’s when the director was convinced he could actually handle the role.

“[Pattinson] heard that we were doing this and got excited about the idea that there was going to be another version of this character,” Reeves says. “And so when I met him, and he read the script, we talked for a long, long time and I realized, ‘This guy is a massive fan.’” He then had to audition wearing Val Kilmer’s old suit.

Still, Reeves defends his casting choice, despite backlash from hardcore fans. “The people who were excited, I knew it was because they knew Rob’s work post-Twilight,” The director said. “The people who weren’t excited, I knew it was because they didn’t know Rob’s work post-Twilight.” Lesson learned, just get any Rob haters to watch The Lighthouse and they will be convinced of his ability to play a brooding recluse.

Kanye West interviews are nearly always a treasure trove of over-the-top declarations and wild reveals, and his latest one is no different in that regard. Linking up with gossip reporter Jason Lee of Hollywood Unlocked, Kanye shared his thoughts on a variety of subjects, from his failed political campaign to his recent controversies involving his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and the fan he allegedly punched in Los Angeles earlier this month (he says that the “fan” was an overly aggressive paparazzo).

However, amid the drama of his love life with Kim, — or lack thereof, now — he revealed that he felt so slighted by her public relationship with Pete Davidson (whose ass he threatened to beat on a new song) in part because of the lengths he went to in order to protect Kim from another potential sex tape scandal. According to Kanye, Kim’s ex, Ray J, who… ahem… co-starred in Kim’s previous sex tape, had apparently made another, keeping on a personal laptop which Kanye says he retrieved from Ray J after a red-eye flight to LA.

“How you gonna bring me to SNL and kiss the dude you dating right in front of me?” he questioned. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ After I went and got the laptop from Ray J that night, right? I met this man at the airport, then got on the red-eye, came back… delivered it to her at 8 a.m. in the morning. I gave it to her, and she cried when she saw it. You know why she cried when she saw that laptop? It represents how much she’s been used… It represents how much people didn’t love her, they just saw her as a commodity.”

While this is treading dangerously close to gaslighting territory in the same way he turned on Big Sean and John Legend for not supporting his ill-advised political campaign despite him signing them to G.O.O.D. Music in their early careers, it seems Kanye, at least, has an explanation for his hurt feelings — even if he has mostly proven to be his own worst enemy.

Dwayne Johnson has starred in two movies based on video games, 2005’s Doom and 2018’s Rampage, neither of which are very good. (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level are video game movies, but they’re not based on a video game, an important distinction. Also, go outside, nerd.) Maybe the Rock will have better luck the third time. In a recent interview with Men’s Health, the dinosaur skull fanatic teased that he’s bringing a video game to the big screen — but he won’t say what it is.

“I can’t tell you which game in particular we’re doing, but there will be an announcement this year. We’re going to bring one of the biggest, most badass games to the screen, one that I’ve played for years. I’m really excited to bring it to fans around the world. Of course we’re going to do right by our gamer friends — but really we’re just going to make a great movie.”

Hm, what could it be?

It’s a game that Johnson has played “for years,” so it’s probably nothing recent, like Cyberpunk 2077 (Keanu Reeves has that on lock). It’s also likely to be heavy on action and violence, so unless Tom Nook gets absolutely ripped and murders K.K. Slider (not out of the question), it won’t be Animal Crossing either. I think it should be Kingdom Hearts because I would like to hear the Rock try to explain the franchise’s incomprehensible lore. Also, he doesn’t play Sora, he’s Goofy. They have a history.

(Via Men’s Health)

Earlier this month, Dreamville’s wordplay wizard JID lit up the rap world with the release of his new single, “Surround Sound,” which will presumably appear on his long-awaited sophomore album The Never Story. And while JID did his thing as usual on the new song, fans still gave plenty of attention to its guest rappers, 21 Savage and Baby Tate, albeit for different reasons.

While Savage’s verse was praised for its dexterity — especially in comparison to such an accomplished lyrical acrobat as JID, fans lamented that Tate’s verse was cut off when the song pulled a beat switch at its halfway point, leaving them to wonder whether Tate would have impressed as much as her collaborators. Truthfully, it was a foregone conclusion that she would but it was still disappointing that we didn’t actually get to hear her do it… that is, until now.

Knowing that fans were hungry to hear her full verse, Tate celebrated “Surround Sound” reaching the Hot 100 by posting what she called the “HIGHLY REQUESTED BABY TATE EXTENDO VERSE” to Twitter via a video of herself twerking along to the song in her bathroom. The full verse finds Tate dismissing an ex, cycling through three different flows, and bragging on her own prowess and accomplishments. While it remains to be seen whether the full verse will see any sort of official release — fans are still waiting on her remix of Doja Cat’s “Get Into It (Yuh)” to become official — it’s still fun to see Tate showing off her own underrated rap skills.

Watch Baby Tate’s video below.

Baby Tate is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

By the time Amy Schneider started showing up on TV screens to quickly rise through the ranks of Jeopardy! champs, she had already completed filming the hit game show months earlier. So while it seems like these contestants are just magically appearing on Jeopardy! that day, in reality, they’ve already gone through a gauntlet of trying to balance their work schedules and personal lives with the demands of flying to Los Angeles to film new episodes.

In a new feature on the secret life of a Jeopardy! champ, Schneider opens up about how she had to make significant changes at her job to accommodate her then-secret success on the show. For starters, she had to step down from being an engineering manager, which is how she’s introduced on the show, and take a position with less direct reports so she didn’t let down her work team. Via The Ringer:

Schneider got into a routine of flying to L.A. on Sunday nights, then heading back home on Tuesday nights, then trying to cram a full week’s worth of work into the next three days. “It’s funny because my boss and the vice president, who are the two people who really knew that I was missing so much time—neither of them really watches Jeopardy! and had no real conception of what it meant that I had to keep going down,” she says. “I had to let them know that in a shocking development in the modern world, I was actually not going to have access to my phone for the taping days.”

Of course, now that Schneider has been racking up huge money on Jeopardy! she’s contemplating what to do next after she finally gets that big check.

“Like so many people during COVID, I had started thinking about—is this what I want to be doing with my life?” Schneider told The Ringer about her day job. “I’d felt like, well, it sounds nice, but I really like the financial security. But now that I’ve got that anyway, I’m really thinking about it.”

(Via The Ringer)