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As Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani knows many of the president’s darkest secrets, with a level of security clearance that only a select few (Trump’s son-in-law) are granted. But he’s also a goo-dripping huckster who gets duped by Borat, gives press conferences next to a sex shop, and now sells cigars and gold coins on his personal YouTube page. I guess that $20,000 a day isn’t cutting it.

As discovered by the Recount, Giuliani interrupted his most recent video, “Joe Biden: Top Of The BIDEN CRIME FAMILY Totem Pole,” to read ad copy for American Hartford Gold and Famous Smoke Shop. It’s the far-right’s Casper Mattress and Bonobos! “If you want a good cigar, go to a good cigar shop. You want the best? Go to Famous Smoke Shop” he said. “Let Famous Smoke deliver your favorite cigars right to your doorstep at America’s lowest prices.” If you visit Famous-Smoke.com/Rudy, you can even get $20 off your first purchase (if you spend at least $99). But it gets better! “Tell them Rudy sent you!” Giuliani reads during the promo for American Hartford Gold. What happens if you tell them Rudy sent you? Basically nothing! But don’t worry, Bill O’Reilly is also on board.

Again, this is the president’s lawyer selling stogies and coins in a YouTube video where he’s otherwise ranting about the Bidens like they’re the Corleone family. I can’t stress that enough. No wonder even Trump thinks he’s “a joke.” Watch the highlights here:

And the entire thing below:

Though Lil Baby failed to culminated his breakout year with any major award show trophies, the rapper is being lauded as by Apple Music as their Artist Of The Year. The award will be presented to the rapper on Thursday night and shortly thereafter, the streaming service will premiere a documentary which tells the rapper’s story.

Lil Baby just unveiled the upcoming film’s trailer, which is also slated to debut Thursday night. In the brief teaser, Lil Baby charts his rise to fame. In it, he admits that he never wanted to be a rapper but his “perspective changed” after being incarcerated for a second time:

“I was in jail my first time at thirteen. I dropped out of school somewhere between ninth and tenth grade. I never wanted to be a rapper. I was already young and turnt in the streets. But after I got locked up again, my perspective changed. I became an artist with something to say, people to stand for, and now, it’s finally time to tell my story.”

In recent months, Lil Baby has offered concrete proof that he’s dedicated to standing for a cause. After standing alongside protestors in demonstrations against police brutality in June, the rapper has supported George Floyd’s family members. Just this week, the rapper helped NBA player Stephen Jackson throw a massive, doll-themed birthday party for Floyd’s daughter Gianna. He attended the seven-year-old’s party, posed for photos, and sponsored the entire event.

Watch Lil Baby’s Apple Music documentary trailer above.

Earlier this week, Bud Light announced its first-ever New Year’s Eve livestream concert with performances from Jack Harlow, Post Malone, and Steve Aoki, with more performers to be announced in the weeks leading up to December 31. The first new star to be added to the lineup is Bay Area rapper Saweetie, who previously collaborated with Harlow and Malone on the remix to her hyphy-classic-sampling hit “Tap In.”

“Be sure to ‘tap in’ to this year’s Bud Light Seltzer NYE Celebration with me as we bring in the New Year together with songs from my upcoming album, Pretty B*tch Music,” she said in a press release. “We’re going to dance and celebrate the ICY way right into 2021. I know that’s right!”

The announcement is sure to excite Saweetie fans, who will want to tune in and find out whether she’ll preview any new songs from the album alongside hits “Tap In,” and “Back To The Streets,” or whether she’ll join her remix co-stars for a group performance. The performance will cap an impressive year for the standout star, who has kept busy through the pandemic with her Ice Life and Icy University web shows. She’s also got a highly-anticipated song with Doja Cat, “Best Friends,” coming soon, provided an accidental early release didn’t ruin her rollout plans enough to cancel the collab.

Check out the Bud Light Seltzer NYE Celebration on the brand’s social channels and budlight.com/NYE at 10:30 PM ET on 12/31.

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

In 2020, even legendary sports broadcasters are working from home. Now that the NBA is out of the safe confines of the Bubble, national TV broadcasts are having to figure out on the fly how to bring viewers a normal experience without sending out their game analysts all over the country.

That led to a hilarious clip on Tuesday night night of the delightful Kevin Harlan, booming his signature play calls for an NBA on TNT broadcast… from his basement. The dispatch from the basement came courtesy of Harlan’s daughter, Olivia Dekker, who is also a sports reporter.

It’s quite the setup Harlan has. There’s multiple monitors, the entire range of audio equipment, a panel behind him with the “NBA on TNT” logo, and some nice home decor to go with all of it. While viewers were treated to what felt like a natural broadcast of Kings-Warriors on Tuesday night, neither Harlan nor color commentator Grant Hill were in the building.

One would expect that by the time the NBA regular season rolls around next week, we will see a more normal travel schedule for those calling games for both TNT and ESPN, but it’s just not worth it for preseason. While it makes complete sense from a health and safety standpoint, it will nevertheless be pretty memorable to see these historic broadcasters squeezed into their homes calling games.

Joe Exotic, the controversial star of Netflix’s Tiger King, is suing the United States Department of Justice over his request for a presidential pardon being denied. Exotic has been making headlines recently after his attempt to secure a pardon from Trump were revealed, but in an interesting wrinkle, it appears that Exotic already knew he wasn’t getting sprung by the president back in September. According to the New York Post, Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, sent a request to the Office of the Pardon Attorney on September 8 and was shot down via email just two days later. However, his lawsuit claims the request was never presented to Trump and therefore the denial is invalid. Via the New York Post:

In the complaint, Exotic alleges that [Acting Pardon Attorney Rosalind] Sargent-Burns never forwarded a formal recommendation to the president — something the lawsuit alleges she was required to do as an adviser, due to the fact that Trump has the sole authority to issue pardons. The complaint also names Donald Trump Jr. as a supporter.

“Many people have come out and publicly expressed their disagreement with Joe Exotic’s conviction and subsequent sentence. Among those, are members of the President’s own family. Donald Trump Junior has been an advocate for Joe Exotic to be Pardoned.”

Exotic is currently serving a 27-year-sentence for numerous charges for animal abuse and two counts of murder-for-hire after trying to have animal activist Carole Baskin killed, but that hasn’t stopped him from appealing to Trump for pardon through any means necessary. That includes reaching out to Kim Kardashian in hopes that she’ll place a call to the president on Exotic’s behalf. “I do believe that you hold the values of our justice system dear to your heart,” he wrote in a letter to his fellow reality star.

(Via New York Post)

As the U.S. tops 300,000 COVID deaths, President Trump is busy tackling what he deems as an equally important crisis: showerheads. On MSNBC, Brian Williams played the above video montage to highlight the current president’s ongoing obsession with water pressure (from toilets, dishwashers, you name it). It’s quite telling to watch Trump’s water-rants all in one go, and Williams added a sarcastic condemnation: “You still have to admire Trump’s determination, and you have to wonder would we have 300,000 dead if he had been this diligent, this persistent about our uncontrolled pandemic?”

Williams’ words follow the White House finalizing two new rules rolling back restrictions on water efficiency when it comes to dishwashers, laundry machines, showerheads, and other household appliances. It’s part of Trump’s crusade against the “problem” of water pressure standards (even though these rules have been in place for nearly 30 years). He made it part of his bid for re-election earlier in the year, criticizing industry standards at rallies in places like Wisconsin and even giving a bizarre monologue at a White House event focused on easing regulatory restrictions this summer.

“So showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” Trump complained to reporters in July. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.” He made similar (and lengthy) remarks about dishwashers.

Right … anyway, the Energy Department explained that the new showerhead rule means each showerhead on any fixture can reach the two-and-a-half gallon-per-minute maximum water flow rate mandated by Congress. Previously, a fixture could only use that much water no matter how many showerheads were attached. The second rule Trump’s team pushed for concerns wash cycles on laundry machines and dishwashers, giving consumers the option for shorter cycles that use more water.

Obviously, these new rollbacks have upset environmental advocates who see them as worse than unnecessary: they’re potentially harmful to our current climate crisis. It’s likely Joe Biden will reverse these rulings as soon as he takes office, which makes the time the administration has poured into this particular Trump grievance all the more confusing, but his supporters will probably view it as a win anyway.

After all, “Showerheads over saving human lives” feels like a good fit for Trump’s 2024 campaign slogan.

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.

When the topic of artists with a cult following comes up, it’s impossible to allow Kid Cudi to slip through the cracks without being mentioned. The Cleveland native has collected ragers one by one during his near-15-year run in the music industry. It began with his 2008 breakout mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, and continued through his first two albums, Man On The Moon I: The End Of Day and Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager, all of which spawned classic tunes that his fans have held close to their hearts. However, Cudi’s next few albums presented a descent from the astronomical throne as he appeared a bit more human thanks to the sub-par projects. Ten years removed from the second installment, Mr. Rager returns to the moon to conclude the trilogy by hitting his fans with a healthy dose of nostalgia and clarity.

The qualities Man On The Moon III: The Chosen hold are both similar and different to the predecessors in the series. The third installment is constructed like the previous two; four chapters that capture the life and story of Mr. Cudi himself. Just like Man On The Moon I and II, Cudi allows listeners to reside in his world and watch him take on his demons, whether they were self-produced or brought onto him by an outsider. The difference is that Cudi is no longer drowning in the relentless quicksand that is his tumultuous life. The music on Man On The Moon III is great, but the promising story that appears on the album is even better because of all we’ve seen Cudi endure.

The highlights of Man On The Moon III arrive quickly beginning with “Tequila Shots.” The song is wrapped in a head-knocking bass and a melodic hook that finds Cudi reminding himself to press onward in his neverending internal battle. “Can’t stop this war in me,” he chants on the song. A decade sits in between Man On The Moon II and III and while the problems that riddled his life still exist to varying extents, the paralysis they induced on him isn’t as strong. Sure, he has momentary relapses as he does on “Another Day,” but that comes with the journey. The saying goes, “It’s not about how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up,” and Cudi makes it clear that getting up, staying up, and raging in a less harmful way is his goal.

Depression, isolation, drug addiction, struggles with fame and family, and more are themes that have appeared in Cudi’s music over the years. Nowadays, a paradise of peace and prosperity is something that the rapper craves more than ever. “Heaven On Earth” captures his itch to find euphoria amid chaos. “Ain’t no thing in this world that can keep me from peace but me,” he raps in the second verse. Cudi rips through potential momentum-halting obstacles with the force of a nighttime rider in the open streets, and the approach serves as the precursor to the explosion that is the album’s following track, “Show Out.” The collaboration with Pop Smoke and Skepta is easily the climax of Man On The Moon III as its peaking energy sees Cudi flow through it with a menacing approach, one that is sharper than anything else on the album.

Soon, things settle down on Man On The Moon III. The rapper’s hard-hitting entrance on the album is replaced by a string of lethargic tracks. “Sept. 16” promotes a search for endearment whether it be from an outside source or in the form of self-love, while “The Void” sees Cudi promising to stay grounded and not relapse into a former state. The high from the first half of the album comes to a close and Cudi settles into a pocket of meticulous thought rooted in his current journey. Both of the aforementioned songs are examples of how Cudi actively seeks to maintain his current lifestyle if improvement is not on the table.

Man On The Moon III is an earnest conclusion to Cudi’s trademark series. A happy ending is not waiting at the end. Mr. Rager doesn’t step off his spaceship to dust the particles of past struggles off his shirt. What Man On The Moon III accomplishes, however, is closing a chapter in the rapper’s life in a very real and authentic way. Cudi knows the depths of his struggles, but he’s also aware of how long his adoring fans followed him through it all. To give them a perfect, clean conclusion would be misleading for his fans and naive towards himself. Man On The Moon III is Cudi’s best album in a decade and the stories he has to tell will continue as it says at the end of the album’s closer, “I Know.” Whether he returns to the moon or comes back to Earth to do this, we can rest assured knowing that Cudi has at least returned to form for the foreseeable future.

Man On The Moon III: The Chosen is out now on Republic Records. Get it here.

One of the big promises from the NBA during the social uprisings around the country over the summer was a $300 million pledge from team governors to be given to activist organizations over the next 10 years. On Thursday, the league, led by its new social justice council, announced the recipients of the first $2 million in grant money.

Seven organizations in NBA cities around the nation, from New York City to Milwaukee to New Orleans, were named as the inaugural grant recipients: exalt, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Marcus Graham Project, Operation DREAM, TEAM Inc., The Knowledge House, and the Youth Empowerment Project.

These groups were picked because they fall into one of the following categories: skills training, mentorship, coaching and pipeline development for high school, college-aged, job-ready and mid-career Black men and women in communities across the United States and Canada.

“These inaugural grants aim to increase education and employment access in Black communities, as well as enhance and grow the work of these national and local organizations,” according to a statement from the NBA.

In conjunction with the grant money announcement, the NBA Foundation also named current NBA Senior Vice President of Player Development Greg Taylor to a new role as executive director of the foundation. An experienced philanthropist, Taylor will begin his new role on Jan. 4, where he will oversee the administration of grants and the implementation of the NBA Foundation’s programs.

“The Board sees this as an opportunity to continue to build momentum in creating meaningful opportunities and sustained change in the Black community, and we look forward to Greg’s leadership as the Foundation grows,” said NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum, who is also the president of the board of the NBA Foundation.

Over the next 10 years, Taylor and the board will be tasked with seeking out organizations that align with the NBA’s mission to advance the professional and social wellbeing of Black communities in America, using this $300 million pledge from team governors to financially support such organizations.

The holidays are upon us and since many people this season aren’t able to get together with family and friends, classic Christmas carols don’t strike the same chord this year. Because of this, Charly Bliss and Pup decided it was time for a holiday tune that actually reflects the anxiety, sadness, and exhaustion many are feeling. Joining together virtually, the two power pop bands teamed up to offer the aptly titled “It’s Christmas And I F*cking Miss You.”

The song offers a reflection on past holidays in the context of our current lockdown while the video laments a time when the bands were able to tour together. Edited by Dan Shure, their “It’s Christmas And I F*cking Miss You” visual stitches together some of the bands members’ personal moments, both past and present, to craft a nostalgic-yet-heartwarming collection of clips.

About the holiday tune, Charly Bliss’ Eva Hendricks said:

“Our managers have been trying to get us to write a Christmas song for years and we’ve never followed through, but we decided that enlisting our friends in PUP would at least make it fun. We never imagined we’d be so proud and absolutely thrilled as we are by the results. We tried to write a song that reflects the absolute insanity of this year and the fact that everyone in the world is stuck missing someone this holiday season and probably feeling a similar combination of emo, angsty and vulnerable!!!!”

Echoing Hendricks’ statement, Pup’s Stefan Babcock added: “I was so excited when Charly Bliss asked me to write a Christmas song with them. I don’t know if I’d be able to write a Christmas song under normal circumstances, but since Christmas is shit this year, seemed like it was right in my wheelhouse! Plus Charly Bliss are an amazing band and amazing people, so it was a no-brainer. If we’re judging it alongside other Christmas songs, I think we smashed it.”

Listen to “It’s Christmas And I F*cking Miss You” above.

A lot of fuss has been made over Travis Scott’s mind-reeling corporate sponsorships. Over the past year, his influence has grown, allowing him to link up with brands for lucrative promotions — which has, in turn, led to even more brands clamoring to work with the 28-year-old rapper. While some debate whether that’s a good thing or not, Travis just keeps announcing more and more money moves. His latest is a leap into the spiked seltzer game to compete with White Claw and Bud Light. His brand — brought to you by Anheuser-Busch — is called Cacti.

It’s made with agave — the same plant used to make tequila — and coming out in Spring of 2021 in three flavors: Lime, Pineapple, and Strawberry. Naturally, it’ll be relatively low in alcohol content — only 7% ABV — and sold in 9oz, 16oz, and 25oz sizes. Travis’s statement in the press release reads, “Cacti is something I’m really proud of and have put a ton of work into. Me and the team really went in, not only on getting the flavor right but on thousands of creative [prototypes] on everything from the actual beverage, to the can concept, to the packaging and how it is presented to the world… I’m a big fan of tequila so I came at it from that angle, too. I’m really excited to put this out in 2021 and see other people be able to enjoy it.”

The partnership with Anheuser-Busch — the makers of Budweiser and its related spin-offs — is just the latest for the Houston rapper, who also teamed up with the makers of the Fortnite video game, McDonald’s, and Nike, earning a spot on Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 and the nickname “brand whisperer.”