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Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group (CMG) label, which he founded back in 2012, currently holds one of the best rosters of hip-hop talents. Moneybagg Yo, Blac Youngsta, 42 Dugg, and EST Gee are all signed to the label. It remains seen what the future holds for CMG, but so far, it’s promising. On Thursday, Yo Gotti and the label’s respective acts help a press conference to announce some big news regarding CMG. It was here that 42 Dugg and EST Gee delivered a special announcement to their fans.

The rappers announced that they are finishing their joint album. “Last one’s left,” 42 Dugg said during the press conference. “Me and Gee, you know, that sh*t coming soon. We finishing it up right now. Just be ready for it.” They even revealed that the project, which is titled Last One’s Left, is slated for a tentative release on February 18, giving everyone just one week to gear up for its release.

42 Dugg and EST Gee’s announcement comes after they both had a successful 2021. 42 Dugg released his third project Free Dem Boyz which was highlighted by “Maybach” with Future. EST Gee released his fifth project Bigger Than Life Or Death last year which featured the standout “5500 Degrees” with Lil Baby, Rylo Rodriguez, and 42 Dugg.

In addition to the album announcement, Yo Gotti also revealed that Mozzy has joined the CMG roster. Mozzy’s last project came last year with he and YG’s Kommunity Service.

You can watch videos of the announcements above.

42 Dugg is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Much has been made of the rise of super-champs over on Jeopardy! in recent months (and that includes both Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio). And this week, it seems that the trend is spreading over to Wheel Of Fortune, where even host Pat Sajak can’t believe that two contestants (Lisa Kramer and Mark Baer) raked in the nearly unheard-of $100,000 grand prize on two consecutive nights.

That accomplishment was already a historic one, and now, it’s happened for a third night in a row. Bree Yokouchi won the $100,000 Bonus Round with a “Just You Wait” puzzle answer, and this brought her to $121,000 total for the game. As for Sajak, he mock-walked off the stage. “I’m outta… that’s it, I’m through,” he declared while tossing his card into the wind. “$121,000, I’m outta here.”

For her part, Bree did what any of us would do by jumping up and down in excitement. And Sajak hopped onto his phone for a video chat with his daughter (and the show’s correspondent), Maggie Sajak, to express his continuing disbelief: “I’m running out of words to describe my reactions: stunned, surprised…”

He comes by his shock honestly. Sajak’s been hosting this whole shebang, officially as of December, for 40 years, and this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Never say never, though!

The Rock’s so happy about Black Adam. He’s finally on the brink of arriving in theaters for his long-gestating Shazam! spinoff, which he forecast years before the Zachary Levi-starring franchise flagship movie charmed the masses in 2019. Yet the actual reveals of The Rock as his beloved antihero (who was, at times, supervillainish in the comics) have been cagey, at best. He teased that he won’t be wearing a padded muscle suit, and DC Fandome showed off footage that showed a cloaked version (basically in a massive hoodie) of Black Adam with no real look at his suit or face.

Well, we’re seeing a little bit more now, literally a glimpse, of what The Rock looks like in his suit. “2022 is the year for heroes,” Warner Bros. tweeted with nods to The Batman, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Behold, and seriously, don’t blink.

I mean, it’s more than we’ve seen before this moment. And it’s all the result of The Rock investing “[a]lmost two years of hard core, intense training, diet, character prep and execution” in physical prep atop his already impressive multiple-hours-daily in his home gym. The Rock also previously insisted that he “was born to play Black Adam,” and he’s thrilled to finally bring his “passion project” to life. It’s almost time.

Black Adam storms theaters on July 29.

After delaying the album for one week in honor of the late Young Dolph’s tribute album, NLE Choppa returned with his sophomore album Me Vs. Me at the end of last month. In his continued effort to promote his latest body of work, NLE Choppa returns with a new video for “Shotta Flow 6.” The visual marks the finale of the series which he started at the beginning of 2019. The song helped boost his popularity as its video tallied 10 million views in a month. Now, in its sixth and final installment, NLE Choppa flaunts his trademark high-octane energy as well as quickfire rap flow from start to finish through the new visual.

NLE Choppa’s new video comes after he released visuals for “Trap Phone” and “Lick Me Baby” earlier this month. With the video for “Shotta Flow 6,” NLE Choppa has now released visuals for nearly half the songs on Me Vs. Me as “Stompin,” “Drop Sh*t,” “Jumpin,” and “Mmm Hmm” have all received the visual treatment. Throughout the 16 songs on Me Vs. Me, listeners will also catch guest appearances from Young Thug, Polo G, G Herbo, and Moneybagg Yo.

You can watch the video for “Shotta Flow 6” above.

Me Vs. Me is out now via Warner Records. You can stream it here.

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

Fans of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift have been anticipating a collaboration between the two singers for quite some time now. It began back in November when Taylor dropped the video for “I Bet You Think About Me.” In it, viewers noticed a visual reference to Sheeran’s 2021 album, =. The next hint came through Ed’s video for “Overpass Graffiti” where he makes references to Taylor in a newspaper and a patch on his jacket. Some went as far as to guess that their upcoming collaboration would be a remix of “The Joker And The Queen,” and for those of you who thought so, we have some great news for you.

Ed and Taylor have delivered their new take of “The Joker And The Queen,” and it comes just a day after Ed confirmed the collaboration between him and Taylor was on the way during an interview before last night’s 2022 Brit Awards. As for the new song itself, ED kicks it off with his original verse before stepping aside for Taylor to add a soothing verse that details her falling for a man whom she was originally reluctant to entertain.

The new song is also the duo’s fourth collaboration together following 2012’s “Everything Has Changed,” 2017’s “End Game,” and 2021’s “Run (Taylor’s Version).”

You can listen to the new song in the video above.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The 2022 NBA All-Star Draft took place on Thursday and for the first time since they started doing this format, there was some serious drama caused by it happening on the same day as the trade deadline. James Harden pushed his way out of Brooklyn and into a trade to the 76ers for Ben Simmons, as the deal got reported as done at 1:30 p.m. ET.

About an hour after that, LeBron James and Harden’s now-former teammate Kevin Durant drafted their All-Star teams, with Harden sitting out there as a reserve option. As the draft wore on, it became increasingly clear that LeBron was taking advantage of the fact that KD was never going to take Harden, continually taking others in front of him, and when it got down to the final two picks, the entire TNT crew and LeBron broke out in laughter as KD talked his way through selecting Rudy Gobert over Harden.

It’s honestly the best moment in NBA All-Star Draft history, which has only been televised four times but has become increasingly funny as the Inside the NBA crew egg them into some spiciness — last year featured LeBron and KD poking fun at the Utah Jazz when they left Gobert and Mitchell for the last two picks. This year was so much better, as KD tried his best to play it straight while LeBron had a huge grin on his face as he knew he was pushing all the right buttons to create some incredible content.

The best part is LeBron pointing out that Harden’s missed time with a hamstring and wondering if he’s going to even play, with Barkley then interjecting that he’s healthy now that he got traded, which finally got KD to break and laugh about the whole thing. LeBron then poked further when KD tried to trade for Darius Garland and he refused to deal the Cavs’ star guard.

It is television gold and we might not see anything quite like it again, and LeBron and KD really are the perfect two to deal with it all.

The Death On The Nile reboot has become something of a hot potato for what could have been a home run, even during the pandemic. We’re getting an Agatha Christie adaptation from director Kenneth Branagh that stars Wonder Woman leading lady Gal Gadot, after all. Unfortunately for 20th Century Studios and Disney, Gal’s co-star, Armie Hammer, has been swallowed up by a social-media controversy (which he has called “bullsh*t”) that aired out alleged “cannibal” texts and accusations of rape against him. Hammer subsequently dropped out of Shotgun Wedding (starring Jennifer Lopez), but Death On The Nile was already too far into the thick of things to erase him.

The film did, however, attempt to minimize him in the newest trailer, but yup, it’s hard to convince anyone to watch an Armie Hammer movie these days. That’s not the only source of cast controversy, though. The film’s set to hit theaters this weekend, but two countries announced that it won’t be welcome there. As Deadline confirms, both Lebanon and Kuwait decided to pull the plug on screenings out of protest for Israeli-born Gadot, who served two (mandatory) years in her native country’s army. As Deadline further explains, the Gadot ban in these countries is an ongoing practice:

Given her connection to the IDF, Lebanon previously blocked the actress’ movie Wonder Woman from release in May 2017. At the time, the country was reportedly prompted to do so by the group Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon. Wonder Woman was also banned in Qatar. Wonder Woman 1984 was banned in Lebanon as well, however, at the time Kuwait theaters were closed at that point in time during the pandemic.

Gadot saw some backlash come her way last year when she tiptoed into the Israel-Hamas conflict over on on Twitter (she subsequently turned off replies), given that nearly any comment made on the subject is seen as incendiary by those who don’t agree.

With that said (and as noted by Page Six), Death On The Nile has a few other cast members who could be seen as political firebrands. One of them, Letitia Wright, came under fire for her expressed anti-vaxxer views. And Russell Brand got called out last year for an apparent far-right-wing bender, a label that he’s pushing back on, and that’s probably not the last word on that note. So, one can only guess how the Disney-distributed movie will fare on its February 11 release date (later to stream) in the U.S.

(Via Deadline & Page Six)

After a wild NBA trade deadline day, there was still an NBA transaction yet to happen on Thursday night as LeBron James and Kevin Durant needed to draft their All-Star squads.

The festivities got started with Kevin Durant addressing the James Harden trade, as they recorded the draft right after that news broke. Durant was drafting for a team he wouldn’t play on, and LeBron took advantage of his fifth year as a captain (4-0) to use some savvy in his draft strategy and steal some advantages. After Durant took Joel Embiid with his first pick, LeBron left Jokic for his final pick knowing KD wasn’t likely to select two centers, and then later left James Harden on the board the entire reserve selection, knowing Durant wouldn’t want to pick him after he just forced his way out of Brooklyn, leading to some hilarity on the TNT set.

It was the most entertaining All-Star Draft yet, and while both sides are stacked with talent as one would expect with an All-Star Game, you’d be hard pressed to find many that wouldn’t name Team LeBron as a favorite for the Feb. 20 exhibition in Cleveland.

TEAM DURANT
Joel Embiid
Ja Morant
Jayson Tatum
Andrew Wiggins
Trae Young

Devin Booker
Karl-Anthony Towns
Zach LaVine
Dejounte Murray
Khris Middleton
LaMelo Ball
Rudy Gobert

TEAM LEBRON
LeBron James
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Stephen Curry
DeMar DeRozan
Nikola Jokic

Jimmy Butler
Luka Doncic
Darius Garland
Chris Paul
Donovan Mitchell
Fred VanVleet
James Harden

If you ask the average baseball fan about great Negro League players, they’ll probably bring up people like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige or James “Cool Papa” Bell. Obviously, there are plenty of Negro League players that should be on the tip of any sport’s fan’s tongue, but the discrimination at the time meant that a lot of great names were never elevated to the status they deserved.

Google is paying tribute to a Negro League player from the ‘40s and ‘50s who should be known by Americans everywhere whether they like baseball or not. Marcenia “Toni” Stone, the first woman in history to play as a regular in a men’s major baseball league, is the subject of a new Doodle that’s gracing the front page of the search engine.

Stone should be known for her play on the field as well as the incredible tenacity that allowed her to break the gender barrier at a time when the thought of women in sports ruffled a lot of feathers.

“I am a woman, a Black woman, and I want and will play men’s baseball. I’m not even getting paid the same amount of money these guys are making. But I do it because I love the game, and I do it to show other women that they can do it too. Remember, a woman has her dream too,” she used to say.

The Doodle was created by California-based artist Monique Wray.

Stone loved baseball as a child but she was only allowed to play on the girls’ softball team and their level of play just wasn’t good enough for her. So she hung around the high school baseball team and badgered the coach until he gave her a shot.

“I just couldn’t get rid of her until I gave her a chance,’’ the coach recalled. ‘‘Every time I chased her away, she would go around the corner and come back to plague me again.’’

At just 15 years of age, she broke the gender barrier by joining the all-male semi-pro Twin Cities Colored Giants in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After moving to the west coast to live with her sister, she did it again in the spring of 1949 by talking her way onto the roster of the San Francisco Sea Lions. After learning that she was paid less than her male teammates, she joined the New Orleans Creoles, where she played for three seasons.

After playing professionally with teams in the West Coast Negro Baseball League and Negro Southern League, Toni Stone made history when she played for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1953. #BlackHistoryMonth https://twitter.com/GoogleDoodles/status/1491275693300363269u00a0u2026pic.twitter.com/EdcJec8s4c

— MLB (@MLB)
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In 1953, Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns where she played second base. She took over for Henry “Hank” Aaron, who had just signed with the Milwaukee Braves. In 1954, she played for the legendary Kansas City Monarchs but quit after the season due to a lack of playing time.

Life in the Negro Leagues was difficult for the male players, and for a woman, it was even harder. She endured barbs being thrown at her from the audience as well as her fellow players, who couldn’t stand having a woman on the team.

Stone was taunted at times by teammates, once being told, “Go home and fix your husband some biscuits,” but she was undeterred.

Stone claims that during her playing days she got a hit off of the legendary pitcher Satchel Paige, but the anecdote has been disputed.

“He was so good that he’d ask batters where they wanted it, just so they’d have a chance. He’d ask, ‘You want it high? You want it low? You want it right in the middle? Just say.’ People still couldn’t get a hit against him,” she said, according to Baseball Reference.

“So I get up there and he says, ‘Hey T., how do you like it?’ And I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, just don’t hurt me.’ When he wound up—he had these big old feet—all you could see was his shoe. I stood there shaking, but I got a hit. Right out over second base. Happiest moment in my life,” she continued.

After Stone retired from baseball she moved to Oakland, California to be with her husband.

Stone was inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame on February 9, 2020

Stone passed away in 1996 at the age of 75.

People and their pets are almost always a winning combo, but pets going above and beyond the call of duty for their humans is the best.

Reddit users are sharing the kindest things their furry friends have done for them, from emotional support to literally saving their lives, and if this doesn’t make you say, “Awww” you might want to get your heart checked.

It started with someone sharing a screenshot of a story from Sarah Booth:

“My parents had a dog named Charlie who was absolutely terrified of the vacuum cleaner. But after I was born, any time my mother vacuumed, Charlie would stand steadfast between me and the vacuum cleaner. ‘Trembling in every limb,’ my mother says, but determined to protect baby-me from the monster.”

Aww, right?

Then people started sharing their own stories of amazing pet savior behavior.

“I have a dog that does this! Before the kids were born, she would hide in one of the bedrooms when I was vacuuming. After the kids were born, she’s visibly uncomfortable, but stays in the room to make sure everything is above board with the situation.

“She’s too funny when my daughter has a sleepover with her cousin. The dog gets super excited to be part of the sleepover too. She just smiles as big as she can. She’s dumb as a box of rocks, but she is by far the sweetest and kindest dog I’ve ever had.” – NailFin

“My dog would wake me up several times a night by licking my face then lay back down right next to me. I couldn’t figure it out and it was starting to irritate me. Several months later I found out I have sleep apnea and he was licking my face every time I stopped breathing.” – ResponsibleBasil1966

“My parents owned a boxer when I was not two. They took us to the lake and he would not leave my side or let me go deeper than my ankles. Dempsey was a good boy.” – QCFENUPXJL

“In elementary school I had a bad allergy to dogs, which sucked for me because my grandparents had a dog and we visited them every week for half of the year. I used to be sad since I couldn’t pet or play with her at all, but she would keep trying to jump on me. There was a chair that my grandparents would vacuum for me before each visit so that I’d have a place to sit without triggering my allergy.

“Eventually, the dog seemed to understand that I couldn’t touch her. My grandparents told me that she would stop jumping on that chair, and after a while she did a special ‘greeting’ for me. While she’d jump up to the other members of my family, she’d pass her favorite ball to me, which was one of the only games I could safely play with her.

“Then I grew out of the allergy, and I finally got to actually play with her.” – placeholderNull

“I had a dog who would walk me to the bus stop everyday. One time I missed the bus, and it was raining really hard. I had to walk a few blocks to go get the bus in a other stop. And I tried showing him away so he could go back home and not get so wet. But he followed me to the other bus stop and stayed with me until the bus driver picked me up. It’s not much but it was one of the most loyal things a dog has done for me.” – theevilhillbilly

“My Dad had an Irish terrier named Ginger. The neighbor had left her baby in a carriage outside the house. The carriage started to roll into the street. Ginger barked and created a ruckus . The lady came outside to save the baby and told my Dad that Ginger had saved her baby.” – agedchromosomes

“My dog is terrified of my basement. To the point where if I try to carry him down the stairs, he jumps back and runs away. One time, I was really sick, like to the point where I felt like it was my last ride, and I had to go downstairs to do my laundry as I live alone, and after a violent coughing fit, I hear a small pattering of nails on the wooden steps behind me. I turn to look, and he’s halfway down the stairs, shaking, trying to slowly go down each step, just to be with me. He looked relieved when he saw me, and stopped shaking, and I carried him back upstairs and slept on the floor with him. If I wasn’t already snotty and covered in tears from my illness, I would’ve broken down even more.” – Red-XlIl

“When I was two my grandma’s dog saved me from drowning. I had escaped the house early one morning before anyone else had woken up and wandered to the lake and fell in.

“The dog, bell, had seen me leave the house and followed me to the lake. She dragged me out of the lake to the highway that was near by.

“There was a guy who had car trouble seen bell dragging me and came over to her. At first she didn’t allow him to touch me but then realized he wanted to help.

“She watched him closely and they eventually made it back to the house and seen my mom and grandma frantically looking for me. My family was grateful to her.” – rx7blue

“Anytime I get really upset my cat starts rubbing herself all over me and pushes for me to sit so she can lay on my lap. Petting her immediately makes me feel better. It’s weird because as soon as she senses that I’m upset she comes to be with me even if she was doing her own thing right before.” – Adventurous_Owl6554

“My parents had a cat named Casper when I was 2 years old. We lived in Arizona and Casper and I were out sitting in the lawn with my mother watching me through the window as she did dishes.

“Out of nowhere, Casper begins flipping out. Jumping up and down and hissing and my mom looks closer and sees a rattlesnake headed directly for me about 5 feet away. My mom freaked out and ran for a broom on her way out front. Casper, as terrified as he must’ve been, was provoking the snake and attempting to get it to alter its path. My mom arrived just in time to see Casper get bit and she began hitting and shooing it away with me in her arms.

“Casper died like 30 minutes later and my parents were heartbroken but thankful. Obviously, I don’t remember this, but I love hearing of our heroic Casper who literally gave his life for me.” – Ez13zie

“While my dog was out with his dog walker, he wouldn’t join the pack to go home. Just sat at the top of a 6’ bank above a river until a person came to get him. At that point, the person realized there was another dog stuck in the river mud below. She jumped down to rescue the dog, but couldn’t climb back up…so had to grab my dog’s collar to pull herself up (he was a Great Dane).

“I always knew my dog was awesome. Nice to get 3rd party validation.” – Guseatsstuff

“In high school I was suicidal as I had a bunch of undiagnosed mental health problems that had accumulated. My one dog who has anxiety herself knew something was wrong. And never let me alone in my room or in the bathroom. If it was just us home she was my shadow if others were in the house she’d always make sure to come check on me. I ended up talking with my parents with everything eventually but until I found the courage to she was like an angel watching over me to keep me safe. She saved my life… she just turned 10 and I don’t know how I’ll cope when she’s gone…” – Alymae_B

Seriously, these animal friends are amazing and prime examples of how pets can add enormous value to our lives. Here’s to our furry friends who watch over us and care for us as much as we care for them.