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It’s been more than eight years since fans of DMX received an album from the rapper, but it looks like that drought will come to an end soon. In a recent appearance on NORE and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast, the Yonkers native revealed that he has just two songs left to finish before the album is complete. Next, he shared some guests that listeners can expect to hear on the album. While DMX previously mentioned names like Pop Smoke and Griselda, it’s another artist that will feature on it that’s catching some by surprise, that being U2’s Bono.

DMX revealed that the collaboration between him and Bono is titled “Skyscrapers” and it came together thanks to some help from Swizz Beatz, who he labeled as a “magician” and who has been friends with Bono for years. He also shared his excitement about his collaboration saying, “Sh*t’s crazy. It got a Miami feel to it. I feel like I want to shoot the video here!” before praising Bono for the song’s bridge adding, “all muthaf*ckas need to do is listen to it, and we good.”

The rapper also revealed that Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys, and Usher will also appear on his upcoming eighth album. “It’s called ‘Letter To My Son,’” DMX said about the Usher collaboration. “When I first did it, the only issue was the piano. Then my man, Ryan King Joseph, he play the violin. It was just piano on the song, and I never did a song with one instrument before. It came out crazy, it hits you. And then I heard [Joseph’s] work, and put him on the joint.”

Watch the full Drink Champs episode above.

For nearly a year, Verzuz has delivered thrilling battles to music lovers in a number of genres, helping to ease the boredom and solve the lack of entertainment that the quarantine has produced. As the one-year anniversary of the show’s first event between Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, who created Verzuz, looms, the platform is switching things up a bit. At the end of the month, Verzuz will bring their talents to Harlem’s famous Apollo Theatre for a battle headlined by R&B singer D’Angelo.

The legendary act who is responsible for classic albums like Brown Sugar and Voodoo will take over the legendary venue at end the of the month in a battle with unnamed music guests labeled as his “friends.” This signals that the Verzuz will most likely be a bit different than the traditional battles we’ve seen from the likes of Monica and Brandy as well as Gucci Mane and Jeezy. The singer made the announcement during an appearance on DJ D-Nice’s Instagram Live and the platform confirmed the news shortly after.

In addition to the upcoming event, D’Angelo also confirmed his fourth solo album will drop soon. The project would be his first musical contribution to the world since last year’s “Behoove” track with Slingbaum and Erykah Badu and his first album since 2014’s Black Messiah.

You can read the announcement above.

Tune in on Saturday, February 27 at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET on Instagram and Apple TV to watch D’Angelo and friends duke it out.

In what’s being described as an “unprecedented” weather event, Texas is being absolutely pummeled by a winter storm leaving residents who aren’t accustomed to dealing with large amounts of snow in disarray as power outages and highway pile-ups roll across the state. In a move that’s already distinguished this administration from its predecessor, President Joe Biden issued a federal state of emergency for Texas and has mobilized resources to aid residents during the unusual storm. Meanwhile, local authorities have been scrambling to encourage people to stay off the road and prepare for rolling blackouts as temperatures dip into the negatives for the first time in 122 years and has already frozen power turbines in some areas. Via ABC News:

As of 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning, there are 1,834,260 customers without power in Texas due to the winter storm and state officials have warned that number could get higher.

ERCOT, the energy provider in Texas, entered its highest alert level overnight Sunday into Monday and has begun rolling blackouts to conserve power during this harsh winter storm.

One can understand the panic, since Texas isn’t exactly equipped for snow and ice.

You can watch Good Morning America‘s coverage of the historic winter storm below:

Despite the dire conditions, Texas residents have been sharing their winter storm experiences on social media. For some people, it’s their first time seeing this much snow, and they’re in for a lot of fun when it comes time to try and remove it all. You can also see which folks thought it’d be no big deal to drive out onto the roads, which have been a complete mess since icy conditions started on Sunday. Stay inside!

Over the past year or so, as Hayley Williams has spent more time focusing on her solo career outside of Paramore, fans have wondered what the future of the band will look like. However that takes shape, it might not take too long until we find out, as Williams has revealed that she’s ready to make new Paramore music.

Last night, Williams took to Twitter to answer some questions from fans, and one asked, “did you write more songs for FFV that weren’t eventually included in the tracklist and if so are you gonna use them either for a future solo project or for a Paramore album?” Williams responded, “there are more songs, yeah. but I’m not planning on another solo album. and I’m not sure if they’d be great for Paramore. I’m ready for the next Paramore album. let’s go.”

She also referenced her band in response to some other questions. One person asked, “are you going to be more involved with the instrumental writing process in paramore albums now,” and she replied, “I wouldn’t say I’ve been un-involved up till now but the thing is we grew up playing together and learning (and the re-learning) how to write together. they are my favorite musicians in the world. I’m excited to see how our writing together grows for this next project.”

Somebody else wondered, “Which song are you most excited to hear us sing back at you on tour,” and Williams answered, “Tour… what’s that??! (kidding) honestly, I can’t wait to hear a lot of songs sung back at me. I’m most looking forward to hearing whatever the next @Paramore songs will sound like.”

Check out more from Williams’ Q&A session here.

Hayley Williams is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Following Disney and Lucasfilm’s decision to fire The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano over a series of controversial social media posts that were increasingly anti-Semitic, transphobic, and conspiratorial (Carano pushed anti-mask propaganda along with the “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen), fans have launched an online petition calling for Disney to rehire her. While the petition attempts to take a middle of the road approach by refusing to say whether Carano’s posts were “right or wrong,” but concedes they were a “little extreme,” it doesn’t take long before it rolls out the predictable argument that Carano is a victim of “cancel culture” because of her conservative beliefs. Via Change.org:

This petition is for the executives at Disney. Please, why can’t you just leave politics out of the industry and press on? “The Mandalorian” is a fantastic show, and Gina Carano’s portrayal of Cara Dune is a joy to watch. The Mandalorian wouldn’t be the same without her. To the fans of “The Mandalorian,” please. Speak out. Disney needs to stop the trend of firing actors for controversial tweets, and just keep treating the fans to a great show. Rehire Gina Carano. Firing her isn’t justice.

While Star Wars fans launching online petitions demanding changes to the franchise is nothing new, the authors of this latest endeavor probably should’ve paid attention to Carano’s actions immediately after she was let go by Lucasfilm. The actress signed a movie deal with Ben Shapiro‘s far-right website The DailyWire, and the two of them have been very publicly thumbing their noses at Disney. In fact, Carano claims she couldn’t be happier now that the “totalitarian mob” can’t silence her. “I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same,” she wrote in a statement to Deadline. “They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”

(Via Change.org)

Cyhi The Prynce is more than grateful to be alive at the moment. That’s because the GOOD Music rapper was recently involved in a brutal car accident that he claims was caused by an attempt to kill him on an Atlanta highway.

He shared the news with his fans through an Instagram post on Valentine’s Day. “Today is a day about love, but in my city (the city of Atlanta) there’s no love here anymore,” he said. “A couple nights ago there was an attempt on my life… somebody tried to gun me down on the highway. I tried everything I could do to lose them, but they were adamant about taking me off this earth.”

He added, “They where shooting at me while I was driving and even after my car flipped, hit a pole and crashed into a tree, they came back and shot the car up some more.” The incident confused Cyhi so much so that he labeled the situation as a result of mistaken identity, an attempted robbery, or payback for an incident that occurred when he was younger.

“I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA, and I have tremendous love for my city … but it’s chaotic out here,” he said further into the post. “I’m trying my best to keep a level head, but when you don’t know who is after you its hard to wrap your mind around it and not be paranoid. By the grace of god and my lord and savior jesus christ I am still here. I just want to let the people know who were trying to kill me that i am not a bad person. I don’t want revenge, I just want understanding and closure.”

The rapper then implored his followers and fellow citizens to be safe and to stop the violence in his hometown of Atlanta as he was clearly rattled by the accident and the events that led up to it:

“It’s time to stop the violence in Atlanta. I don’t have all the answers and I definitely don’t have the power to make it stop, but i do feel like somebody gotta step up and say something. So much love to every artist, label, hustler, and crew in my city pleaseee lets resolve our problems man. We don’t have to kill each other man. SMH thanks again, Atlanta. I wrote this letter to y’all with tears in my [eyes].”

You can view Cyhi’s Instagram post above.

Last week, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter North went viral for a beautiful landscape painting that she made, which was especially impressive considering that she’s only 7 years old. Right away, her work drew Bob Ross comparisons, and now North has gotten some attention from the Bob Ross Experience, a museum that is housed in a refurbished version of Ross’ former studio.

TMZ reports that Sarah Strohl of Bob Ross Inc. says the company was “thrilled” to see North’s painting and that they’re inviting her to visit the Muncie, Indiana museum. If North were to find her way to Muncie, she would be able to check out Ross’s paintings and take a class to learn about Ross’ painting techniques from a certified instructor.

After North’s painting was first shared, some people questioned whether the young artist actually painted it herself. That prompted outrage from Kardashian, who wrote on social media, “DON’T PLAY WITH ME WHEN IT COMES TO MY CHILDREN!!! […] I’m seeing op-ed pieces in the media and social media from grown adults breaking down whether or not my child actually painted this! How dare you see children doing awesome things and then try to accuse them of NOT being awesome!?!?! Please stop embarrassing yourselves with the negativity and allow every child to be GREAT!!! NORTH WEST PAINTED THAT PERDIOTDDDDDABCDEFGZFDT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Morgan Wallen is found himself in the midst of controversy over the past couple of weeks thanks to a video that captured him using a racial slur with friends. Despite this, it hasn’t stopped the singer’s recent success on the charts as his sophomore album, Dangerous: The Double Album, kept its No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 chart dated February 20. The project tallied an additional 150,000 units thanks to 107,000 streaming equivalent album units and 37,000 pure album sales. In addition to retaining his crown on the charts, Wallen’s 2018 album, If I Know Me, made its top-ten debut coming in at No. 10.

Dangerous is just the third album in the last 12 months to spend five weeks at No. 1 on the charts. The other two projects to accomplish this were Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Lil Baby’s My Turn, which were the two most popular albums of 2020. Wallen’s sophomore effort is also the first country album to land five total weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift’s Red. The last country album to spend its first five weeks atop the charts was Shania Twain’s Up, which accomplished this between December 7, 2002 and January 4, 2003.

The singer’s return to No. 1 comes after he shared a five-minute Instagram apology video for his use of a racial slur earlier this month. “The video you saw was me on hour 72 of 72 of a bender, and that’s not something I’m proud of either,” he said at one point. Elsewhere, he acknowledged the severity of his actions and revealed some of the work he’s done in the last week to turn things around.

“Since that video was taken, I’ve been sober for nine days,” Wallen said. “It’s not all that long of time, but it’s enough to know the man in that video is not the man that I’m trying to be.”

John Oliver made his much appreciated Season 8 return on Last Week Tonight and not a moment too soon. After all, a lot has happened in the past month, and it’s been almost a year since Oliver handed out much needed advice on COVID-19. Unfortunately, it is still very much with us, so Oliver sort-of made it the subject of his deep dive, but not before putting his thoughts on Netflix’s sultry, sexy Regency England-set hit, Bridgerton, on display for all. He did so in a backhanded way while acknowledging that “if you want to see a British person do something hot or interesting,” then Bridgerton is there for the taking. He added his one-sentence take on the series: “Lots of jizzing in blankets on that show.” He’s not wrong! (My regards to the Duke.)

However, Oliver needed to get serious, so he dove not into COVID-19 but brought a dire warning for “the next pandemic,” which no one wants to think about but should consider. After all, the world saw multiple epidemics (Swine Flu, Ebola, MERS, and Zika) in the decade prior to our current pandemic, and not too many people listened to those warnings. So, Oliver made a lengthy dive into how humanity’s disruption of the Earth’s landscape, particularly through deforestation, has almost guaranteed that we’ll unearth new diseases, and the time is now to prepare for more payback from Mother Nature:

“If we’re not very careful, the next pandemic could be even worse… So for the good of future generations — and in all likelihood, us in a few years’ time — we really need to remember how we feel right now and invest accordingly, because the truth is you never know where the next pandemic is going to come from.”

Urbanization and “wet markets” are other key cradles for emerging diseases, and Oliver notes that “it does being to seem like we’re actively trying to start pandemics.” There’s surely no way to help shut down all of humanity’s most disastrous vices because “draconian measures are just not going to work,” acknowledges Oliver. In other words, black markets will exist if wet markets shut down, but he sure hopes that mankind will at least consider that the COVID-19 situation could happen again, and that nations will take some preparatory action. Watch the full clip above.

Mariah Carey is music’s queen of Christmas, but that’s not her only holiday, as she has a Valentine’s Day presence as well. She has a number of sexy hits in her discography, including the classic “We Belong Together.” Over the weekend, she offered up a new rendition of the track in honor of the romantic day.

She and a band performed a rendition of the song, dubbed “Mimi’s Late Night Valentine’s Mix,” for Live With Kelly And Ryan. Parked in front of a seductively burning fireplace, she, a bassist, keyboardist, and drummer ran through a sultry performance.

Sharing a video of the cover, Carey wrote on Twitter, “Happy early Valentine’s Day! Hope you enjoyed ‘We Belong Together’ on @LiveKellyRyan which we did after a late night jam session! We actually recorded a 7 minute version of this song, thinking of putting it out for the lambily!”

Unfortunately, Carey apparently planned to drop the full 7-minute version on Valentine’s Day, but unfortunately, it looks like something got in the way of that, as she tweeted on Sunday, “I wanted to release it today but I guess it’ll take a few more days [broken heart emoji].”

Watch Carey and her band perform “We Belong Together” above.