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While 2020 came and went without much new music from Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky, that may change sometime in this young year, as the 32-year-old MC sparked speculation about an imminent project by clearing his Instagram.

As you may well know, it’s a move that artists have used as a provocative suggestion to their fans to prepare for a wave of promotional content, which is usually attached to a collection of music. Drake, Future, and Kendrick Lamar have all used the tactic in the past, and just this year, both Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj used the move to make their first overtures, with Doja inviting fans to guess at the significance of the six followers she kept and Nicki prompting rumors of both a potential new album and beef with her own mom.

Of course, ASAP Rocky would be what many fans consider overdue for a new project; Testing, his last full-length release, dropped in 2018, going gold and peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart. No one can blame him for being preoccupied, though. It’s been reported that he started dating international superstar Rihanna, whose bad habit of trolling fans over her next album may be rubbing off on him.

In any case, ASAP Rocky was recently featured on grime artist Slowthai’s new single “Mazza,” appearing in the video through the magic of editing despite filming his segment an ocean away.

Following the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol building by Donald Trump supporters who were determined to use violent force to stop the certification of the 2020 election, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat down with 60 Minutes to detail her experience during the attempted coup. As a regular target of right-wing rhetoric even before Trump took office, Pelosi’s life was in significant danger, specifically as the intruders stormed into her private office. One of the insurrectionists, Richard Barnett of Arkansas, mockingly propped his feet on Pelosi’s desk and boasted to news outlets that he stole a piece of mail from her desk. He’s since been arrested by the FBI.

While touring the Capitol building with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl, Pelosi showed a room where her staff had barricaded the door and hid silently under a table for hours while attackers banged on the door. It was a harrowing situation that could’ve easily turned deadly. Via CBS News:

Nancy Pelosi: The evidence is now that– that it was a well-planned, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go get people. They were vocally saying, “Where’s the speaker? We know she has staff. They’re here someplace. We’re gonna find them.”

But despite the now historic assault on the Capitol building, Pelosi coordinated with Senate Leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer to still certify in the Capitol building as a “show of strength.” Vice President Mike Pence, who was targeted by Trump supporters chanting “Hang Pence,” backed the decision to finish the vote. However, even after the violent scene, Republican members of Congress still attempted to challenge the election results. “Shame on them,” Pelosi said before calling out two-thirds of the GOP House members who are still enabling Trump. “I remember when Republicans in the Senate went to see Richard Nixon and said, ‘It’s over.’ That’s what has to happen now.”

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Saweetie and Doja Cat link up in a most delightful way and 100 Gecs put their spin on some classic 2000s music. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Saweetie and Doja Cat — “Best Friend”

Even before Saweetie and Doja Cat dropped their “Best Friend” video, they faced some accusations of plagiarism, which Saweetie ultimately didn’t take seriously. What was serious, though, was how much fun it looked like the two video stars had in the clip, which is a perfect visual accompaniment to the upbeat song.

Taylor Swift — “It’s Time To Go” and “Right Where You Left Me”

Physical releases of Taylor Swift’s new album Evermore came with some bonus tracks that were exclusive to those formats. Last week, though, Swift unleashed them into streaming services, meaning that some fans finally got to hear them for the first time. Interestingly, fans think Swift takes shots at some of her adversaries on the tracks, including Scooter Braun and Karlie Kloss.

Linkin Park — “One Step Closer (100 Gecs Remix)”

Linkin Park celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hybrid Theory last year, but the group is planning on keeping the party going into 2021. They did so last week by recruiting 100 Gecs to remix “One Step Closer,” and the idiosyncratic duo put their frenetic, electronic spin on the nu-metal classic.

Rhye — “Come In Closer”

Rhye has a new album, Home, dropping in a couple weeks, but ahead of then, he previewed it last week with “Come In Closer,” a characteristically smooth and subtly funky tune. Furthermore, the single was accompanied with an adorable video that shows a pair of kids leading the cutest lives.

Jazmine Sullivan — Heaux Tales EP

After a decade-plus of being one of R&B’s premiere artists, Jazmine Sullivan did something different: She released her first EP, Heaux Tales. It’s a bit of a concept album, as throughout its runtime, it tells stories of different sorts of women, showing off Sullivan’s powerhouse vocals all the while.

Dvsn — “Use Somebody”

On Dvsn’s first single of the year, he made an interesting move by re-contextualizing a pair of 2008 Kings Of Leon hits, “Use Somebody” and “Sex On Fire,” into smooth R&B. In fact, the members of Kings Of Leon are the only writers credited on the track, and it is basically a cover, albeit of two songs in one. Dvsn doesn’t really miss, so perhaps both unexpectedly and unsurprisingly, it works tremendously well.

RMR — “Her Honeymoon”

RMR became one of 2020’s most entertaining breakout stars thanks to the strength of his “Rascal” video, and now he’s back with another attention-grabbing visual. This time, with “Her Honeymoon,” RMR tells a tale of betrayal, but he had multiple ideas for how to end the narrative, so he went ahead and showed three different conclusions.

Russ — “Ugly” Feat. Lil Baby

Russ, who managed to thrive in 2020 while other artists weren’t as set up for success, started his year by linking up with Lil Baby on “Ugly.” Coming off huge years, both artists have a lot of reasons to be confident, so there’s a lot of justified flexing on their new joint effort.

Slowthai — “Mazza” Feat. ASAP Rocky

Slowthai pondered delaying his new album Tyron, but ultimately decided that he “cannot allow this virus to keep holding us back.” On the same day he made that declaration, he also dropped a new track called “Mazza,” an upbeat tune featuring ASAP Rocky.

Open Mike Eagle — “For DOOM”

MF DOOM’s death, which was only announced months after it actually happened, was a peculiar and unpleasant surprise to cap off a decidedly not great year. The influential artist had a profound impact on many, and that includes Open Mike Eagle. He decided to pay tribute with his “For DOOM” freestyle, and on the touching track, Mike’s lyrics include lines like, “Fool, you’re bout to sell more masks than Dr. Fauci / I’m copping one off Etsy to rock it proudly.”

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

It’s easy to imagine that Melania Trump’s ready to get the hell out of dodge, even if President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago neighbors really don’t want his chaos back in the neighborhood. Still, the current FLOTUS decided to address a matter that was getting under her skin, a few days before Donald leaves office. That would be the report that, unlike with Christmas decorations, Melania cares a lot about rugs in the White House and was (also reportedly) leading a photo shoot to capture those floor adornments during last week’s MAGA insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

Melania has now broken her silence, several days later, and one could suspect that the resignation of Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s chief of staff, might have something to do with the slow pace of of a FLOTUS response. However, the content of the statement is, well, oh boy. Melania is now pushing back at that report with an official statement from her website, in which she didn’t exactly invoke her “Be Best” platform, but close. After Melania expressed condolences for the families of those who died (she lists deceased rioters before late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick) when a Trump-following mob carried out a siege on federal property, FLOTUS turned to condemning gossip:

“I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week. I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.

The First Lady did go on to condemn the riot: “Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.” She did not, however, mention the president in this context or address criticism that he incited his followers to violence against Congress while they certified the Electoral Vote. Let’s just say that this isn’t going over well, both for Melania making this about herself with the rug-gossip subject, and for her naming those who died while attacking democracy ahead of a slain police officer.

It’s worth nothing that Melania also included a goodbye note of sorts, which included, “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady.” And she’s almost left the building.

(Via WhiteHouse.gov)

As if Kamala Harris doesn’t have enough to deal with already…

The Vice President-elect is on the cover of Vogue‘s February issue, but her team claims “the cover photo of the country’s soon-to-be No. 2 leader isn’t what both sides had agreed on,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The first African-American woman to be elected vice president is on the cover in a casual black jacket and Chucks that she occasionally wore during the campaign. That image was supposed to appear inside the issue, with this photo of Harris wearing a blue suit in front of a gold background on the cover; instead, Harris was “blindsided” and it’s led to a backlash against the publication.

“Kamala Harris is about as light skinned as women of color come and Vogue still fvcked up her lighting. WTF is this washed out mess of a cover?” one Twitter user wrote, while another added, “Folks who don’t get why the Vogue cover of VP-elect Kamala Harris is bad are missing the point. The pic itself isn’t terrible as a pic. It’s just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn’t put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it’s due. Disrespectful.” Many even questioned if the cover was real.

In a statement, Vogue representatives explained that they “loved the images Tyler Mitchell shot and felt the more informal image captured Vice President-elect Harris’s authentic, approachable nature — which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden/Harris administration. To respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward, we’re celebrating both images of her as covers digitally.” But it’s the image with the black jacket that appears on the more-prestigious print cover, which as the Washington Post‘s Robin Givhan notes, doesn’t “give Kamala D. Harris due respect” for making history. “It was overly familiar. It was a cover image that, in effect, called Harris by her first name without invitation.”

Harris styled herself. She chose her ensembles. But it was ultimately Vogue and its editor in chief, Anna Wintour, that selected the cover… A bit of awe would have served the magazine well in its cover decisions. Nothing about the cover said, “Wow.” And sometimes, that’s all Black women want, an admiring and celebratory “wow” over what they have accomplished.

The reactions continued to roll in:

(Via the Los Angeles Times)

Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet has proven on a few occasions that she got her father’s musical genes; She has shown off her superlative vocal abilities during multiple performances with her father over the past few years. Now it looks like she may be interested in making an album, and if that’s the case, her dad would love to be on it.

In a recent interview with Sunday Times Culture (as NME notes), Grohl said, “I did ask her the other day, ‘If you were to make a record, how do you imagine it would sound?’ And she said, ‘You know, I think somewhere within that shoegaze thing. Oh, and Dad, I need to get this new guitar pedal. It’s called Loveless, and I want my guitar to sound like My Bloody Valentine.’ I was, like, ‘Yes. Yesss!’ [My] next reaction was, ‘Can I be on your record, please?’”

Grohl went on to praise Violet’s musical taste and abilities while also admitting that being his daughter might not be the best thing for her potential music career, saying:

“She’s 14 and already in a deep Bowie phase. I’m not talking about Eighties Bowie or Nineties Bowie — she hasn’t even got to Berlin. All she does is listen to live bootlegs of the Station To Station tour. Or I’ll hear Cocteau Twins coming out of her bedroom. And the Passions. Remember them? ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star.’ She was born with perfect pitch and a soulful voice and a musical memory that is photographic. She has all the tools she needs. She writes, I see her notebooks and the lyrics she’s written. Part of the thing about becoming a musician is the drive that gives you the desire to do it. In that sense, I may be her biggest handicap. Like, she’s got to be my f*cking daughter? So I try to stay away.”

Find the full interview here.

The way it often goes when a musician dies is that their estate usually comes across some music they had finished but not released and shares some of it with the world. Whether or not that proves to be the case for MF DOOM, it at least looks like the rapper had some unreleased music in a finished state. Not only that, but those songs are part of a planned sequel to a classic DOOM project.

Peanut Butter Wolf, the founder of Stones Throw Records, joined Pete Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds on their Juan Ep Is Dead podcast, and he spoke about a sequel to DOOM and Madlib’s Madvillain album Madvillainy, revealing that it was nearly done. Wolf said, “DOOM was always telling me, ‘It’s 85 percent done, it’s 85 percent done.’ That was the magic number.”

He also admitted that he was growing impatient waiting for the project to get done, saying, “I got a little frustrated, and I was just like, you know, ‘It’s gonna happen when it’s gonna happen.’ I don’t wanna be the guy to force creativity or anything.” He went on to say that he has the permission of DOOM’s team and family to release the completed material, but said, “I don’t know what we’re going to do with those tracks.”

Listen to the Juan Ep Is Dead episode below.

Henry Winkler, the Tom Hanks of television and one of the most beloved men in the industry (despite his apparent feud with Hanks), has been in Hollywood for a very long time. He starred in Happy Days, after all, over 46 years ago, and in the intervening years, Winkler has been featured in numerous television shows and movies, and he’s worked with hundreds of people in the industry.

One might think, then, that Henry Winkler is friends with half the people in Hollywood, especially given his reputation as one of the nicest guys on the planet. That’s not exactly so, however, as Winkler explained to Michael Rosenbaum in an episode of his Inside of You podcast. Winkler explained that, in Hollywood, most friendships are based on “need.” For example, he spoke of two unnamed executives — one the head of a studio, and the other the head of a massive agency — who were inseparable best friends, but as soon as the industry changed, their relationship fell apart. “Their friendship was as best as their need was, and as soon as the need was over,” so was their friendship. “A genuine friendship in this industry is based on a need, a need of each other. It’s a reality.”

There are exceptions, Henry Winkler continued. Some people he has remained good friends with outside of that need. He explained that he does have a number of “friends for life” that aren’t entirely dependent on need. He cites Ron Howard, Adam Sandler, Jason Bateman, and Marion Ross. He also hopes that his Barry co-star, Bill Hader, will fall into that category after Barry is over.

Winkler, in fact, speaks glowingly of Hader. “I have great talks with Bill. I do great work with Bill. He guides me. He writes for me … he’s so complex. He’s such a great creator. And goofy, and he seems like such a wonderful Dad. I’m crazy about him.”

Unrelated, but Winkler also says that he often sends hand-written letters to people whose work he admires, and he cited, most recently, Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell for their work in Fosse/Verdon. That dovetailed into a story about Winkler meeting Christopher Walken for the first time when Walken was a professional dancer and Winkler was working as an usher at the Yale Repertory theater. That is to say, it’s a fascinating interview for anyone who is interested in Henry Winkler.

Source: Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum

The Cleveland Browns (yes, those ones) won an NFL playoff game on Sunday night, beating the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in a stunning performance that saw Cleveland take a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and hold on for a 48-37 win to earn a date with Kansas City in the Divisional round.

It was an unbelievable performance, one that Browns fans will savor for ages. For the Steelers, it may mark the end of an era as Ben Roethlisberger, who has one more year left on his deal at a preposterous cap number, had one of the strangest stat lines in NFL history, throwing for 501 yards on 68 attempts with four touchdowns but also four interceptions that helped the Browns create the gap Pittsburgh could never recover from.

After the loss, as the Browns celebration began on the field, Roethlisberger sat, dejected on the bench as he contemplated the game that was and, possibly, the potential that this was the last game of his career.

That shot of Ben — with a later closeup of him tearing up — naturally became a meme as the internet ran with it immediately with glee in their hearts to see one of the NFL’s villains down bad. There was, of course, a “Hello, darkness, my old friend,” dub, which is a classic that never fails to hit its mark.

We also got the Big Ben x Curb Your Enthusiasm theme mashup that is likewise a fan favorite all the time.

We also had the excellent side by side of Ben staring off into the distance next to Pablo Escobar from Narcos.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, whose “they’re still the same Browns team” became a rallying cry for Cleveland, also caught some strays as the zoom in on sad Big Ben got dubbed over with “Corvette, Corvette,” which is Smith-Schuster’s go-to song for TikTok.

Meanwhile in the Browns locker room, they likewise had some fun with JuJu, dancing to “Corvette, Corvette” as they celebrated their first playoff win since 1995.

Like many of us, Keri Hilson is suddenly worried about the boundaries and practices of democracy. But, instead of focusing that worry on how a group of violent, armed insurrectionists gleefully sporting white supremacist symbols forced their way into the capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election, she’s instead directed her attention to Twitter’s decision to ban President Trump. The social media platform has been under pressure to halt the president’s of misinformation, and now, incitement of violence and treason, for quite some time now. After the assault on the capitol on Wednesday, they finally did permanently ban him.

“This may be funny, but it’s a little dangerous too,” she wrote over a screenshot of Trump’s deactivated account in a now deleted Instagram story. “Take Trump out of it for a moment… a democracy must include freedom of speech. Imagine other leaders or popular figures not being able to voice their opinion if it opposes the majority of world leaders…Our freedom of speech being taken from us, slowly but surely (censorship). If the leader of the “free world” can be removed. Imagine that same right of civilians. Imagine believing every time you read “false information detected” and propoganda [sic]. Deceptive reports. And flat out lies being the only thing we see.”

Well, actually, freedom of speech does not and has never covered speech that leads to the potential death of other human beings. That’s why the infamous example of yelling “fire!” in a movie theater always stands as an example of what is not covered. Additionally, the warnings that Twitter was posting on Trump’s tweets were to help stop the propaganda, deceptive reports, and flat out lies he was telling. Hilson deleted the post, let’s hope she gets some perspective on the whole situation soon. Check out some fan reactions below.