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Roddy Ricch is fresh off the release of his second album, Live Life Fast, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. So, it’s only right that he is also Saturday Night Live‘s first musical guest of 2022, helping to kick off the remainder of the season when the show returns on January 15. The show will be hosted by Ariana DeBose, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story.

While Roddy is only weeks removed from the release of his latest album, it doesn’t look like he wants to rest on his laurels at all. He’s already begun promising that a new mixtape, Feed The Streets 3, will be released sometime this year as well. However, that may not come soon; he’s still promoting Live Life Fast, for which he’s released only a handful of singles, including “Late At Night,” which dropped last summer, and “25 Million,” which followed up the release of the album. Roddy’s known for slow-playing his rollouts — the video for “The Box” didn’t come out until weeks after it had dominated the charts — so fans will have plenty of opportunities to revisit the new album before the mixtape drops… including, of course, his performance on next week’s SNL.

Plant-based burgers have officially made it. It’s been a little over a decade since the world was introduced to the Beyond Burger but in 2022 the idea of a plant-based burger appearing on fast food menus feels less like an experiment and more like common practice, with fake burgers slotting right alongside milkshakes and chicken sandwiches nationwide.

Plant-based chicken on the other hand? The jury’s still out on that one.

There is a reason for that, it’s not quite as easy to make a convincing chicken product. The texture of ground meat and sausages is easy to mimic (I say that simply as a person who loves food, not as an engineer who understands the science of mimicking meat), but whole meat products are another story. Burgers also have the benefit of layers of toppings that can help to mask the ways plant-based meat differs from the real thing — you have sauces, juicy tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese all competing for your attention. Fried chicken is a lot more… naked. Once you bite into it you have only the flavor of breading before you hit the texture of meat, and texture is the biggest hurdle plant-based meat brands face.

Leave it to KFC to attempt to figure it out. Over the past two years, KFC and Beyond Meat have been working on a plant-based chicken product that replicates the same familiar flavor we’ve all come to expect from KFC in a plant-based product that actually looks, tastes, and chews like real fried chicken. Over the years the two brands have attempted multiple test launches in select cities to great success, but now they’re finally at a point where they’re ready to bring the KFC Beyond Fried Chicken nationwide.

Beginning Monday, January 10th, KFC’s new Beyond Fried Chicken will be available at all KFC locations nationwide for a limited time. The chicken was created to mimic the taste and texture of whole muscle chicken, but how well does KFC deliver on that promise? We headed to an early tasting in Hollywood California to find out if KFC is about to drop a game-changer on the world or if this misses the mark.

KFC Beyond Fried Chicken

If you’re already a fan of the Beyond brand or other plant-based meat products, you’re probably scratching your head at what makes KFC’s Beyond Fried Chicken any different, but as we mentioned, this was a project that took multiple years of research and development to pull off. The goal here was to create a product that didn’t just taste or look like chicken, but create something that actually pulled apart like real meat.

Many plant-based chicken products suffer from a chunky “put-together” quality that makes them come off as, well, artificial. I’m happy to report that the Beyond Fried chicken is the closest product to actual chicken that I’ve yet to experience. Once I bit through the nugget I marveled at the stringy layered texture that actually looked like a piece of white meat chicken. Now take that with a grain of salt — and a whole bunch of additives *wink wink* — because KFC isn’t giving us something that will replace a piece of their Original Recipe fried chicken, the Beyond Fried Chicken is essentially a chicken nugget. Having said that, it’s one of the best chicken nuggets currently on the fast food market, real or fake.

Not the best, but one of the best for sure.

The texture here is totally on point. Chewing through the nugg gives a bite that falls in line with the other top of the line chicken nuggets (think more Chick-fil-A than the McDonald’s McNugget) housed in a batter that tastes distinctively like the flavors you’ve come to expect from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Black pepper, salt, onion, and garlic powder, it’s all here, and you’re able to take multiple bites of each nugget without the breading detaching from the “meat” like a sleeve, which is a real unappetizing problem that other plant-based fried chicken products suffer from.

Once you dop this in one of KFC’s dipping sauces (I go KFC sauce every time), it’s essentially identical to chicken. I’m excited to try this in a blind taste test but won’t be at all surprised if it trips me up.

It’s worth mentioning that I had the benefit of eating these “chicken” nuggets piping hot and prepared fresh from a Beyond Food truck in the middle of a slow January afternoon. I realized that this won’t be everyone’s experience, so decided to give this chicken a timed test to see how it holds up to a 20-40 minute delivery or drive.

Sadly, once my nuggets cooled down a bit (exactly 20 minutes) they took on a density that wasn’t present when they were hot. I wouldn’t say that it tasted any less like actual chicken, but the denser more laborious chew I had to give each nugget was a dead giveaway that I was eating fake meat. That’s a problem that I think is remedied with a healthy dip of your favorite sauce, but you definitely don’t want to let these nuggets sit in a bag for very long if you want the best experience. It’s not a big enough issue that I think KFC and Beyond Meat need to head back to the lab, but it’s the next problem plant-based meat needs to solve if it truly wants to replace people’s preference for the real thing. (That said, real-life nuggets aren’t great when cold either — no fried fast food is.)

Finally, it should be mentioned that technically, because KFC fries its Beyond Fried Chicken in the same oil they use for their regular chicken pieces, the Beyond Fried Chicken isn’t prepared in a truly vegan/vegetarian manner. It won’t be a deal-breaker for everyone, but some people will definitely take issue with that. If this dish is a mega-hit — which it very well could be — I think they might just move to separate fryers for these (they could be fried in the same oil as fries, obvs).

The Bottom Line:

The closest any fast food brand has come to capturing the magic of fried chicken in plant-based form. The KFC Beyond Fried Chicken isn’t the best chicken nugget in the entire fast food universe, but it comes pretty damn close and competes from a flavor standpoint to other real chicken offerings out there. In fact, it beats many of them.

While even die-hard Donald Trump supporter like Ted Cruz have denounced the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol building as a “violent terrorist attack,” Republican representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are taking a different approach by proudly embracing their actions during the failed insurrectionist plot. During a Thursday appearance on Steve Bannon‘s podcast (of course), Gaetz and Greene did not look back on January 6 with regret, but instead, with a swell of pride for championing Trump’s Big Lie.

Via The Hill:

“We’re ashamed of nothing. We’re proud of the work we did on January 6th to make legitimate arguments about election integrity,” Gaetz said during an appearance Thursday on Bannon’s podcast. “We’re actually going to walk the grounds that patriotic Americans walked from the White House to the Capitol, who had no intent of breaking the law and doing violence.”

Naturally, Gaetz and Greene’s view on January 6 clashes significantly with that of President Joe Biden who delivered a fiery speech on the one-year anniversary of the attack. While refusing to call Donald Trump by name and simply referring to him as “the former president,” Biden blasted the MAGA rioters for their assault on democracy and the police officers they claim to care so much about.

“To state the obvious, one year ago today, in this sacred place, democracy was attacked — simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault,” Biden said on the steps of the Capitol. “A crowd that professes their love for law enforcement assaulted those police officers. Dragged them, sprayed them, stomped on them.”

But, hey, nothing to be ashamed of says two of Congress’ best and brightest.

(Via The Hill)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 23 (NBC, 8:00pm) — Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, and the rest of the crew return to investigate a wave of Christmas Eve hate crimes. On a personal note, Rollins is dealing with a repeat visit from an old flame.

Law & Order: Organized Crime: Season 2 (NBC, 9:00pm) — Dylan McDermott recently returned, and Chris Meloni’s beard has been getting lost. This week, Stabler joins forces with an informant with a surprising identity after a notorious cybercriminal goes on the lam.

Ghosts: Season 1 (CBS, 9:00pm) — Is Sheryl a ghost now? That’s what Sam and Jay seek to find out, all while Sassapis is angling with his fellow ghosts about an overheard conversation.

The Wasteland (Netflix film) — A horrible creature begins to wreak havoc upon society, beginning with a family who chooses to live away from society in tranquility, which is suddenly in more jeopardy than it’s ever been before this story began.

In case you missed this streaming pick from last week:

The Lost Daughter (Netflix film) — Olivia Colman portrays Leda, a vacationer who becomes obsessed with a young mother and daughter who also hang on the beach while their extended family isn’t so idyllic. Leda also becomes consumed with her own past, which arrived with a difficult bout of young motherhood, and she falls into an impulsive act that rocks her inner world. Maggie Gyllenhaal finally becomes a first-time director here with her adapted script of the Elena Ferrante novel of the same name. Expect to also see plenty of Dakota Johnson, along with Jessie Buckley, Ed Harris, and Peter Sarsgaard.

As much as the internet and social media have been boons to the music industry — especially those artists in hip-hop, who can use these digital tools to build fanbases without the resources afforded to major artists — it can also be a detriment. This is mainly in the form of unsubstantiated and often ridiculous rumors that can spread online like wildfire in the time it takes the artist to leave their studio sessions.

NLE Choppa has found that out a few times, most recently this week, when a headline claiming he’d been hospitalized surfaced and circulated until he was able to call it out. While rappers getting hospitalized is unfortunately not all that unusual, in this case, the reason for his supposed medical emergency was so outrageous he couldn’t help but posit that “If you believe this, you just slow.” According to the headline, was actually from a satire page on Instagram, he’d been laid low after guzzling human breast milk, of all things.

It’s easy to see how his predilection toward homeopathic and alternative remedies might make him a ripe target for parody. In the past, he’s embraced vaccine conspiracy theories, offered chlorophyll as an alternative to lean, opposed McDonald’s’ collaboration with Travis Scott to promote vegan diets, and threatened to quit rap to become a full-time herbalist. Of course, there’s a limit to satire — and despite the page’s rather large disclaimer, there will always be those who are either incredibly credulous or who only hear the information second or third-hand. Remember, folks, always check the original source.

The last two E3’s have been odd, to say the least. With E3 2020 being cancelled completely and E3 2021 being a digital only event there was a hope for some that E3 2022 would be able to go back to being an in-person event. There were reports that it could be a digital and physical hybrid event of some kind, but there were definite hopes that 2022 would have the event return to being an in-person affair in some capacity.

However, it appears that will not be the case. On Thursday, the Electronic Software Association that hosts and runs E3 said in a statement to GamesBeat that due to concerns with COVID-19 the event would once again be digital only. While obviously last year’s showing was just fine doing that, it does mean that the ESA will not be able to make the likelier higher profits it would have received had the event been an in-person showing.

“Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in person in 2022,” the ESA said in a statement to GamesBeat. “We are nonetheless excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon.”

For some people, this is going to be unfortunate news. There’s a desire for the world to return to some sense of normalcy, and while many will argue that there just isn’t a need for giant stage show events like E3 anymore, a digital only event just isn’t the same. What we do wonder however is how much longer an event like E3 will be able to continue operation.

Further reports from IGN’s Rebekah Valentine only contributed to the idea that E3’s future is in doubt. It’s being reported that E3 potentially gave up on the idea of having an in-person E3 as recent as fall of 2021, and their lack of communication in regards to not only a physical E3 but a digital one is leaving many wondering if an event will be happening at all.

This effectively means that currently, E3 2022’s very existence is uncertain. With no dates set and no physical event planned, that would theoretically leave a possibility for a digital showcase. But in a follow-up communication with IGN, the ESA added that it could not confirm at this time whether or not there would be a digital event this year instead of the physical event, as there was in 2021.

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Other industry sources suggested that while they would typically have heard about formal plans for E3 by now — digital or physical — the ESA’s silence on the matter had been deafening, and they are unsure what the plan is at all, if any.

We’ve seen the importance of E3 shrink over the last few years. Major publishers like EA and Sony have pulled out of the event in some capacity, Nintendo has been hosting digital only directs instead of stage shows for years, and in this technological age, many of us aren’t sure what the purpose of E3 is anymore. Is it a trade show? An event to show off cool games? A convention? Does the ESA even know anymore? We’ll just have to wait and see what more information the ESA will have to share about whatever E3 is going to be. If there even is an E3 anymore.

Jill Scott recently rang in the new year by “speaking specifics” about her resolutions and “manifesting like crazy.” But unless the famed R&B singer was manifesting a sex tape rumor, it looks like her manifestations may not have been specific enough. The internet’s rumor mill was working overtime this week when Twitter lit up with speculations that Scott had a NSFW video floating around somewhere. But even the best sleuths couldn’t come up with any evidence the video existed before Scott caught wind of the talk.

Hours after Twitter lit up with rumors of her sex tape, Scott herself took to the app to shut down the gossip — and she had the best response. Rather than getting mad at people for believing the lie, Scott said she expects her fans to bring the same energy to supporting her actual career. “Say word!?! I expect this energy when my new movies, albums and tv show drop,” she wrote. “Ya’ll too much. #headedbacktowork #hydrate”

Of course, her mention of “movies” caught the attention of some.

While the rumors aren’t at all true, it’s not the first time Scott broke the internet. Back in 2020, Scott’s Verzuz battle with Erykah Badu broke the show’s previously-held viewership record by raking in over 750k viewers and garnering one billion impressions across the internet.

Jim Jones, of the Harlem rap crew The Diplomats, is a couple of years removed from his last full-length project, 2019’s El Capo, and while he’s off album cycle, that hasn’t stopped him from making the usual media rounds for rappers trying to stay relevant in the fast-paced streaming era. His latest stop was Angela Yee‘s Lip Service podcast, where she talks about relationships and sex with hip-hop and R&B stars — the perfect venue for the sort of unusual, potentially viral quote that keeps one’s name in the headlines.

Jones, who recently ended his feud with French Montana, definitely delivered, offering up a semi-scandalous description of one of his earliest learning experiences in the arena of intimacy. When asked about his sex education, Jones shared that his mom was a big part of it — including teaching him how to kiss. When Yee asked what instructions he was given, she — and her listeners — were surprised to learn that this part of his education was (ahem) hands-on. “There wasn’t no instructions, she showed me with her mouth,” Jones said.

Naturally, plenty of fans had opinions, with the sentiment that Jones was taken advantage of prevailing. Many of the messages that popped up found fans calling Jones an unknowing victim of abuse, with more than a few chastening other commenters for cracking wise about his revelation. You can see more reactions below.

There’s a good chance that you follow Selena Gomez on Instagram. The multi-hyphenate currently has about 286 million followers on the platform, making her account the seventh most-followed one overall. She was actually the most-followed person on Instagram for over two years before Cristiano Ronaldo took over that title (one he still holds today) in October 2018. Prior to that, only Instagram’s official account had more followers than Gomez. Now, though, Gomez admits that she used to have a “really dangerous” relationship with the platform.

In a new interview with InStyle, Gomez said of the role social media plays in her self-confidence:

“At one point, Instagram became my whole world, and it was really dangerous. In my early 20s, I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough. There was a whole period in my life when I thought I needed makeup and never wanted to be seen without it. The older I got, the more I evolved and realized that I needed to take control of what I was feeling. I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and feel confident to be who I am. Taking a break from social media was the best decision that I’ve ever made for my mental health. I created a system where I still don’t have my passwords. And the unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down. I’ll have moments where that weird feeling will come back, but now I have a much better relationship with myself.”

Gomez also noted that therapy and self-care have been great for her, saying, “I’m a big believer in therapy, and I always feel so confident when I’m taking care of myself. If I’m not in the best headspace and my friends invite me out, I won’t go. I’ve lost my sense of FOMO, which I’m proud of. Sometimes I push myself too much, and it catches up to me. But I try to balance out everything as best as I can. I like to be there for my friends and celebrate everyone. But I have to make sure that I’m OK, you know? Because if I’m not OK, I can’t be OK for other people.”

Check out the full interview here.

Happy New Year everyone! We think 2022 has the potential to be one of the biggest years in gaming yet. With so many big titles coming out, some new hardware, and a full year of the new generation under our belts, we can’t see a downside for this year in gaming..

As we enter the new year, we’re expecting another strong year for Game Pass as well. Not only can we expect some new releases to come straight to the service, but we’re also anticipating playing some all-time classics as they’re added to it throughout the year. January is starting off no different by kicking off the year with some bangers. Not really interested in what’s coming? Why not try what’s been on the service for a while. These are our choices for the month.

One New – Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

One of the greatest video game franchises ever, Mass Effect was the must-play sci-fi RPG/third-person shooter of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation of consoles. The game was revered for its multilayered conversations and dialogue choices that would impact not only the outcome of events in the game, but events in future games. It made repeat play-throughs a must and gave everyone a different experience to talk about with friends. It’s hard to explain now, but getting together and discussing what choices led to which outcomes was a huge point in the franchise’s favor back when it first came out.

While many people felt the final ending of Mass Effect 3 as a low point for the franchise, it’s still an experience that is worth going through. It’s a perfect game for Game Pass because it gives everyone who hasn’t played it before a reliable entry point. Anyone who hasn’t played it can jump in for the first time ,while those of us who haven’t experienced it since the originals can see all the upgrades that were made in the Legendary Edition. This is the absolute must play on Game Pass this month.

One Going Away – Kingdom Hearts III

The biggest title leaving this month is Kingdom Hearts III. The climactic finish to the Xehanort Saga, Kingdom Hearts III is what some gamers wanted for 15 years. However, many of them were surprised to see that all those “spin-off” games that had been releasing over the years were actually establishing the main plot of the third game. Was it worth the wait? That depends on who you ask. The ending of this game left a lot of people feeling mixed and frustrated, because while it closes one chapter, it left open another.

That said, we still recommend this game because we’re sure some of you have been putting off completing the Kingdom Hearts trilogy for one reason or another. We don’t recommend making this your first Kingdom Hearts game, but if you want to see the absurdity and go in completely blind, we can’t stop you. The game is leaving on January 15, so play it while you can.

One Staying – Unpacking

Unpacking came out towards the end of 2021 and flew under the radar. It started to make some noise right as the new year hit and unfortunately missed out on a handful of Game of the Year lists because of that. It’s following the traditional indie path of spreading through word of mouth and then getting more popular as time goes on. One of the reasons it’s been getting popular has been because of Game Pass, which lets people try it out.

So, what is Unpacking? It’s puzzle game where you unpack a room, but the puzzle is less about where items should go and more about learning new details about the person for whom you’re unpacking. As the games goes on, you learn more about this person and see how they’ve changed or stayed the same throughout the years. Where the game truly shines though is in the details. You can spot small recognizable pieces like a Nintendo Game Cube, or a divot in a painting from where the fridge door has opened into it. Finding those small details and experiencing the very simple and relaxing gameplay makes this a great game to pop on whenever you’re stressed out. We recommend at minimum giving it a try.

Games coming to Game Pass in January

Gorogoa (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available Now
Olija (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available Now
The Pedestrian (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available Now
Embr (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 6
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (Console and PC) – January 6
Outer Wilds (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 6
Spelunky 2 (Console and PC) – January 13
The Anacrusis (Console and PC) – January 13

Leaving on January 15

Desperados III (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Ghost of a Tale (PC)
Kingdom Hearts III (Console)
Mount & Blade: Warband (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Pandemic (Console and PC)