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Morgan Wallen is facing backlash after a video leaked of him using a racial slur during a druken night out in Nashville. The singer has since had his contract suspended by his record label and had his actions reprimanded by some of his country music contemporaries. Diplo was also briefly swept up in the controversy after he played his Wallen collaboration “Heartless” during a Super Bowl afterparty in Florida, so the producer is doing what he can to make amends.

While members of the music industry were distancing themselves from Wallen following the singer’s racist comment, many of his fans doubled-down on their support by buying up a lot of his albums. Some of that money went to Jason Isbell after Wallen covered one of his songs. But instead of keeping the money, Isbell announced that he was donating his earnings from the song to the Nashville chapter of the NAACP.

After seeing Isbell’s generous act, Diplo decided to follow suit after apologizing for playing “Heartless” during his DJ set. “‘Heartless’ is a old song of mine thats been in my live set for years,” Diplo wrote. “Im sorry, I didn’t mean to make anyone mad or offended by playing a song featuring Morgan. It was by no means a Political statement or a message.”

Diplo then noted that he also plans to donate the money he made from “Heartless” to the NAACP legal fund.

Just ahead of Diplo’s apology, Wallen similarly tried to hold himself accountable for his actions in a lengthy video. “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.”

See Diplo’s apology above.

Fallen A Tribe Called Quest member Phife Dawg’s long-awaited posthumous solo album will finally see its release this year, according to Rolling Stone. First announced in 2015, just months before his death at the age of 45 in March 2016, the album has seen numerous false starts and delays. Today, though, the first Forever single, “Nutshell Part 2” featuring Busta Rhymes and Redman, was announced. “Nutshell Part 2” is due for release this Friday, February 12. It’s a sequel to the J Dilla-produced “Nutshell” from April 2016. The album release date is still unknown.

Skeptical fans have a right to be wary of the release announcement; the album was originally set for release in 2017, although the group did follow up in November 2020 after three years of radio silence to announce that it would release this year. The group also celebrated what would have been Phife’s 50th birthday with the release of a limited edition “Phife Forever” T-shirt.

However, this is the first time an announcement has been accompanied by new music, which can only bode well for the album’s release plans. In a statement, Phife’s family shared their excitement for the upcoming release. “We are excited about the partnership with [indie distributor] AWAL for Malik’s posthumous album release. We give all glory to God for allowing Malik to accomplish everything his heart desired, including his solo music. He worked really hard to complete his album before he transitioned, and he was ready to share an album that was near and dear to his heart with his fans. His fans meant the world to him.”

Forever is due sometime in 2021 through Smokin’ Needles Records.

Disney’s Star Wars-centric subsidiary Lucasfilm announced on Wednesday that Gina Carano is “not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future” after The Mandalorian star continued to share hateful memes on social media. “Her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” a statement read. Carano’s exit has reportedly been in the works for months, but now it’s official (and the far-right is fuming).

Lucasfilm has yet to announce whether Carano’s character, Mando’s warrior sidekick Cara Dune, will be written off the show or replaced by another actress, but fans of the Disney+ series have already weighed on what they want to happen.

“Lucy Lawless as Cara Dune” makes almost too much sense. She’s got the ass-kicking background and science-fiction show experience. Plus, it’s not like Disney properties haven’t swapped actors before. James Rhodes/War Machine was originally played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man, but then Don Cheadle took over role for Iron Man 2. He continues to portray the character to this day — no explanation given, no explanation needed. Best of all, unlike Gina Carano, Lucy Lawless isn’t a hateful person.

The campaign for Xena to meet Baby Yoda begins now.

Another idea:

The Mandalorian season three will likely premiere in 2022.

The Biden administration’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic just took an optimistic turn. Dr. Fauci stopped by TODAY on Thursday where he delivered some much-needed positive news on COVID vaccine distribution. According to Fauci, all Americans should be eligible for the vaccine in early Spring. “By the time we get to April, that will be what I would call open season,” Fauci told Samantha Guthrie. “Virtually everybody and anybody, in any category, could start to get vaccinated.”

While the news should come as a relief as the pandemic has drastically affected the country for almost an entire year, the always even-handed Fauci made sure to temper expectations, which was something he was not encouraged to do during the previous administration. In fact, Fauci’s demeanor noticeably changed once Joe Biden took office, and the trusted physician was no longer facing death threats for telling the American public the truth about the coronavirus. Via PEOPLE:

“It would likely take several more months, just logistically, to get vaccine into people’s arms,” he clarified. “Hopefully, as we get into the middle and end of the summer, we can have accomplished the goal of what we’re talking about — namely, the overwhelming majority of people in this country having gotten vaccinated.”

Thanks to his tireless efforts during the pandemic, along with his over 50 years of work fighting infectious diseases, National Geographic will release a documentary on Fauci later this year. “This film will be an unprecedented, intimate portrait of our nation’s greatest public servant, whose relentless pursuit of truth and devotion to science has never been more important,” the Fauci writers said in a statement.

You can watch Fauci’s interview with TODAY below:

(Via TODAY on Twitter)

The 2021 NBA All-Star Game, despite objections from a handful of players, is scheduled to take place next month in Atlanta. As we barrel towards the full rosters being announced, the league is continuing with its tradition of doing frequent updates of how voting stands among fans, whose vote counts for 50 percent of the weighting to determine which players will participate in the game.

Much like the first round of voting, LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the leading vote-getters in their respective conferences — James, with 4.37 million, is ahead of Durant’s 4.23 million. They, along with Steph Curry, were the only players to eclipse 2 million votes, and this time around, that trio has continued to have a leg-up on the competition in their respective conferences/positions by being the only players to eclipse 4 million. Three other players — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic — have hit the 3 million vote mark, and while he hasn’t gotten to that point, Bradley Beal leads all Eastern Conference guards with a tick over 2.5 million.

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1359910560821874691

Along with fan voting, players and media members will also have a role in determining who will participate in the festivities in Atlanta on March 7. Both players and media will make up 25 percent of the vote. Should these voting trends continue, this would mark the first year since 2018 that someone other than Antetokounmpo would serve as the captain of the team that takes on James’ side.

Ever since his production work on his sister Billie Eilish’s debut album, Finneas is also sharing the spotlight. The duo’s success recently earned them the opportunity to write and record the theme song for the next James Bond movie No Time To Die. Now, Finneas is working on music for another feature-length film, but this time, he’s playing a larger role.

Finneas was chosen to score the upcoming film The Fallout.

Speaking about Finneas’ work in a statement, the film’s music supervisor Peymon Maskan said:

“Finneas brought a level of empathy to the characters that could only come from a composer who is from the same generation. He’s young, so he can relate to the story in a personal way, which was a big reason we considered him. But in order to tell this story with insight, it takes artistic maturity. Finneas is a singular artist who could offer both. Once he and the director Megan Park had their first conversation about the movie, I think we all knew he was the perfect composer for the film. His score is very much inspired by the hope and willingness to overcome such trauma, and it’s quite memorable.”

The Fallout is a teen drama centered around three high schoolers coping with the aftermath of a traumatic event and stars Jenna Ortega, Maddie Ziegler, Shailene Woodley, Julie Bowen, and John Ortiz.

Drakeo The Ruler’s hot streak remains unabated. After making his comeback with “Fights Don’t Matter” and releasing a string of cutting singles including “Mr. Mosley Claps Back,” “Captions,” and “Too Icey,” the absurdist Watts-bred wordsmith drops his “For Real” video, this time bringing guest rappers OhGeesy of Shoreline Mafia and Stinc Team wildcard Ketchy The Great along for the ride.

Back in 2018, Uproxx called Drakeo, Shoreline, and 03 Greedo the Los Angeles new wave of homegrown, street-life-oriented party rap. Since then, the movement was temporarily derailed by the arrests of both Greedo and Drakeo in separate incidents while Shoreline experienced some roster shakeups. However, all three groups — and their affiliates — somehow managed to remain every bit as prolific through various means including Greedo’s ridiculous archive of projects recorded before turning himself in for his sentence and Drakeo recording Thank You For Using GTL over the Men’s Central jail phones.

Now that Drakeo’s back out, it looks like they’re picking up right where they left off and doing so without missing a beat. The chemistry remains intact and the swag, if anything, has increased. The New New West remains intact and set on completing their takeover mission.

Watch Drakeo The Ruler’s “For Real” video with OhGeesy and Ketchy The Great above.

We Know the Truth (Deluxe) is out now on Interstreet Recordings. Get it here.

A lot of eyes have been focused on the UCLA gymnastics team lately and over the past few years. Earlier this year, Nia Dennis went viral for a floor routine that was set to songs by Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Missy Elliott, and Megan Thee Stallion. Fellow UCLA gymnast Margzetta Frazier has also made an impact since her freshman year, first with a 2019 voguing-inspired routine, then with a 2020 soul-inspired routine. Now Frazier, who is now a junior, is back with another display that’s making the rounds online.

This time, she drew inspiration from Janet Jackson. Not only does the new routine feature the legends music, but there are even nods to the choreography from Jackson videos like “Nasty” and “If.” All in all, it’s a confident display of Frazier’s skill and charisma that serves as a fitting tribute to Jackson.

Jackson, by the way, caught wind of the routine and it turns out she’s a big fan of it. Jackson shared the video on Twitter, added the hashtag #iLuvIT, and tagged Frazier in her post. Frazier offered an over-the-moon response, replying, “WOKE UP SCREAMING [crying emojis] I LOVE YOU. I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU LIKE IT!!! YOU ARE WHY I LOVE TO DANCE.”

Check out Frazier’s full Jackson-inspired floor routine above.

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

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

It only took one keyboard lesson for Claud to realize they wanted to be a musician. “When I was about 11 or 12, a contemporary music school opened up in my town and I took a trial keyboard lesson,” they tell me over Zoom. “The keyboard teacher was super cool. He taught me the four chords, it was just C, G, A minor and F. I was like, ‘I can do this, I can play these chords. And I can write my own melodies over them.’ And that’s how I started writing songs.”

It wasn’t long before Claud started releasing music professionally, beginning shortly after they landed on campus at Syracuse University and started attending house shows at the various DIY venues around the city. (“Shout out to Space Camp!”) It was there that Claud met another fledgling indie pop artist by the name of Clairo, and the two would eventually start writing together. However, after spending a couple of semesters writing more music than essays, Claud opted to leave Syracuse to focus on music full-time.

Claud became prolific after leaving school, releasing a string of seven EPs and other short-form releases between the summers of 2018 and 2020. During this whole period, they had their sights set on a full-length release. “With EPs you don’t really need to have a set theme or a message you’re trying to convey,” they explain. “But I really do feel like with a record you do have to have that. And you do have to know what you’re trying to say and find your voice a little bit more.”

One of the first things to stand out about their debut album Super Monster is the depth of its production and the confidence in its delivery. Claud’s songwriting process is one of those anomalies that defies standard explanation, but when a song begins to come to life in their head, it isn’t long before it exists in its full form, in the confines of their brain. At this point, it’s important for them to enlist the help of some collaborators in order to bring the full vision to life. “[I recorded] most of the guitar parts. I played around a lot with bass on the record, too. But I can’t play drums to save my life. So I did not do that. I don’t think you would like the record as much if I didn’t get a drum guy.”

From the first notes of “Overnight,” listeners are invited into Claud’s world as they describe the overwhelming feelings of love at first sight. “Soft Spot” continues the narrative that begun in “Overnight” to illustrate that relationship’s dissolution, and the sense of lingering feelings that remain even after a breakup. “You told me that it’s over now/But I can’t help that I think about/All the things that we used to do/’Cause I’ve got a soft spot/I’ve got it for you,” they sing softly over an affected acoustic guitar and compressed drums.

Much of the album revels in heartbreak – not only romantic, but also social. However, when Claud couldn’t land on a specific story to tell in a song, they would turn to their phone for inspiration. “I use my Notes app religiously,” they recall. “I have probably thousands and thousands of notes. Anything that I think I might want to pull from or anything that I find weird, I’ll just write it down. And then when I go to write a song, I’ll look through my notes and see if anything reminds me of something or someone and then I’ll start writing.”

After about a year and a half of writing and recording, Claud finally had the material for a full-length album. But it wasn’t until they received a call from Phoebe Bridgers, who was in the process of starting her own label, that the full scope of possibilities for the album finally presented itself. With the album already mostly recorded, the next stop was mixing at Electric Lady Studios, a process that greatly widened the lens for the album’s sonic capacity.

“When you’re making music in an apartment or even a garage or a living room it’s hard to imagine it in a space bigger than that,” they explain. “And then when you step into a space like Electric Lady that’s three times the size. Even that one studio, it was three times the size of my apartment. It’s like, wow, this is being played in a big room right now and has the potential, if I want it to, to be played in another big room.”

The result of building the album around big-room aesthetics is a sound that truly fills headphones to fully envelop a listener and welcome them into the world of Super Monster. Across the album’s thirteen tracks, Claud builds a unique indie-pop listening experience that doesn’t sound quite like anything else. Songs like “In Or In Between” or “That’s Mr. Bitch To You” are filled with rich, distinct layers that leave space for imagination and ruminating in Claud’s vivid storytelling.

More than just blowing out the sounds for the album, the mixing process at Electric Lady also provided the album with something a bit more demonstrable: a title. After the studios’ manager discovered a lost Daniel Johnston painting called “Claud And The Super Monster,” the undeniable coincidence snapped the album’s true meaning into focus for Claud and encouraged them to drop the album’s working title and run with Super Monster. In that moment, “it really hit me,” they recalled.

“The reason why I’ve been a fan of Daniel’s for so long is because I really have been fascinated by the themes of the way he talks about monsters and creatures in his work. I liked Super Monster because it felt like superhero, but also monster. It was a really interesting pairing. I asked the family if I could use the title and they let me use it. Then I did my own artwork for it. I wanted to draw my own artwork, because Daniel drew his own artwork and that’s what he would have done. And also, I just felt the most authentic thing that can come from me is my music and then also my own artwork.”

All told, Super Monster is a piece of work that is 100% Claud, from the lyrics to (most) of the instrumental tracks, even down to the artwork. They have been carrying around all of the pieces in their head for nearly two years, and it is a cathartic moment to nearly have them out in the world for others to experiences.

As our conversation winds down, Claud pauses for a moment to consider the album’s central focus, and what they want listeners to take away from their first full-length project. After a few seconds of silence, they are very deliberate with their answer. Super Monster is an album about love, “a reminder that to myself and to other people that you’re capable of being loved. If you open yourself up enough and remind yourself that you’re worthy of it, it’s possible and that you deserve it.”

Super Monster is out February 12 on Saddest Factory. Pre-order it here.

After slogging through a tough start to the year playing away from their homes and families, the Raptors on Thursday announced the routine will continue, as they will play the entirety of their 2021 calendar in Tampa as well. The choice, the Raptors said, was made in order to be “mindful of public safety measures” in Canada as well as travel restrictions between the two countries.

The Raptors’ inability to play games in Toronto seems to come more from the fact that teams from all over the United States would have had to travel into Canada, which is still closed to non-essential travelers who are not Canadian. Maybe the Raptors could have played games in front of an empty ScotiaBank Arena, but the Canadian government seemed unwilling to make exceptions for NBA teams to break the border restrictions.

“We’re living in a city of champions, and we intend to carry on the tradition of winning for our new friends and fans here,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a statement, in a nod to the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory.

Playing in their new digs, the Raptors are 4-5 at home and 12-13 overall. The team has struggled to defend all season and has greatly missed departed players like Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol. They have, however, gotten past some of their early-season struggles, winning six of their last 10 games and sitting in a tie for fifth in the Eastern Conference.