Category: News

Rap fans haven’t heard from Gunna much since he was arrested a year ago as part of the sweeping racketeering indictment against Young Thug’s YSL Records. After being denied bond multiple times over the course of the next six months, Gunna was offered a plea deal in which he pled guilty to his one count of racketeering in exchange for his release.

Unfortunately, some rap fans have looked at his admission of guilt unkindly, and accusations of “snitching” have circulated online. While he’s repeatedly denied that he offered any information to authorities that could affect the outcome of the remaining YSL defendants’ trials, some observers have criticized him anyway, since despite giving a so-called “Alford plea,” his admission could still be used against Young Thug and the other members of YSL still locked up. Still, that hasn’t stopped hardcore Gunna fans from wondering when or whether he’s planning to release new music.

When a fan account posted the question “Gunna, where TF are you?” he popped up in the comments to reply, “I’m OTW [on the way].” While that’s an answer that could be charitably described as “vague,” it’s still more information than fans had before his reply. The more crucial question — will fans accept him back when he returns? — still remains to be answered.

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

For the first time in three seasons, someone other than Nikola Jokic was named NBA MVP. While Jokic was able to come in second place — an impressive honor in its own right — the MVP award made its way to Philadelphia, as Joel Embiid was able to become the seventh player in franchise history to be named the best player in the league.

The pair had gone 1-2 in each of the last three seasons, with Jokic beating out Embiid in 2021 and 2022. But this year, Embiid finished first, and unsurprisingly appeared on every ballot that was submitted. This also applied to Giannis Antetokounmpo, as the third-place finisher got on every ballot as well.

But that wasn’t the case for Jokic, who only appeared on 99 of the 100 ballots that were cast. It made folks wonder who, exactly, left the Nuggets star off, and on Thursday afternoon, we learned that ESPN analyst Mark Jackson was the only person to not include Jokic. Here’s his entire ballot:

1. Joel Embiid
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo
3. Jayson Tatum
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
5. Donovan Mitchell

This, funny enough, was almost exactly the same as the All-NBA First Team this year, with the difference being Luka Doncic made it over Mitchell. Anyway, the NBA put out full awards voting results on Thursday, and if you’d like to check them out, you can do that here.

Just because someone does something for a long time, it doesn’t make them good at it. For instance, Vanna White has been a co-host on Wheel Of Fortune for over 40 years, but does she know the logistics of buying a vowel in this economy? It sure doesn’t seem like it.

Unfortunately, White was a contestant on the most recent episode of Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune, where she competed against Jeopardy! hosts Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings. While one might think White would have a home-field advantage nothing can stop those smarty-pants Jeopardy hosts from spelling words!

The host was raising money for St. Judes Children’s Hospital and managed to rack up only $2k while competing. She also didn’t seem to pay attention too much, as she called out letters that had already been used. After learning that maybe she has spent the last four decades misunderstanding the rules, she exclaimed, “I’m terrible at this game!”

Even though she didn’t win (Bialik won the first, while Jennigs took the second) White was proud of herself for doing something out of her comfort zone. Coincidentally, her comfort zone was just a few yards to the right by the puzzle board, where Pat Sajak’s daughter Maggie took over co-hosting. Aren’t family businesses great?

White might not be a pro, but maybe Pat Sajak will have his time to shine and take a wheel spin. After all, he frequently gets frustrated when contestants don’t know the rules, so maybe he’ll crack under the pressure too.

(Via EW)

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, the former president participated in a CNN town hall where he proceeded to repeat the exact same attacks that lost him the civil trial. During the CNN event, Trump once again claimed to have never even met Carroll (before admitting that, okay, he posed for a photo with her) and proceed to call her a “whack job” that only won because of a “rigged deal.”

“Physically, she’s not my type, and now that I’ve gotten indirectly to hear things about her, she wouldn’t be my type in any way, shape, or form,” Trump joked to the crowd, which actually laughed at his jokes about Carroll thanks to CNN inexplicably stacking the audience with MAGA voters.

Trump’s smears were so bad that The View‘s Joy Behar wondered the next morning if Carroll could sue Trump for defamation again. Co-host Sunny Hostin, who’s also an attorney, said she could sue again, and according to a new report, Carroll just might.

Via The New York Times:

E. Jean Carroll is weighing whether to file a new defamation lawsuit against former President Donald J. Trump in the wake of his diatribe against her during a CNN town hall Wednesday night, when he said her claim of a decades-old sexual assault was “fake” and a “made-up story,” her lawyer said on Thursday.

Mr. Trump’s comments on CNN came one day after a federal jury in Manhattan awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million in damages after finding Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the mid-1990s and liable for defaming her last year when he described her claim of assault as a “complete con job,” a “Hoax and a lie” in a social media post.

In a comment to the Times, Carroll said she was asleep during Trump’s town hall, but her attorney sent her a transcript, which does not bode well for Trump.

“I am upset on the behalf of young men in America,” Carroll said. “They cannot listen to this balderdash and this old-timey view of women, which is a cave-man view.”

(Via The New York Times)

Last month, Killer Mike announced his first solo album in over a decade with the release of “Don’t Let The Devil.” The song, produced by his longtime partner in rhyme El-P and veteran Chicago beatmaker No I.D., finds Mike warning listeners not to “let the devil coerce you.”

This week, Mike followed up with a two-part music video release. The first part, which is for “Don’t Let The Devil” follows the Atlanta rapper as he unpacks his formative memories — literally, as he peruses a box of old photos — then attends a party where he plays cards with a group of OGs. However, he begins to reflect, remembering his relationship with his late mom, sparking the connection to Part 2: the video for “Motherless.”

In the second video, which features Eryn Allen Kane, Mike recalls his mom’s passing as he views dramatized scenes from her life. The video ends with a scene of benediction by a riverside, echoing the gospel elements in the song’s instrumental. In a statement, Mike revealed that “Motherless” was the last song he recorded for the album at No I.D.’s behest.

“It was the last song made for the album because I hadn’t uttered these words out loud since her transitioning. When I tell the story of my mother the tales told include one when I walked in on her attempting to take her own life- it gets to the heart of how deeply sensitive an artist and human she was. She survived, was diagnosed bi-polar and depressed; she fought that until the day she died. She lived a beautifully rich outlaw of a life and I am honored to show her as the total beautiful badass she was…

These aren’t meant to be sad videos or eulogies. This is a celebration of a BAD ASS BLACK GIRL from the westside of Atlanta. She’s been affectionately called OG Mama Niecy by the many people she helped stay on their path.

He also explained the inspiration behind the two videos. “El’s heard me talk about these bohemian-artsy-disco infused parties my mom used to throw when I was kid,” he said. “I’d hear everything there- that’s where I first heard Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow & Whodini. So when we were trying to figure out what the video for ‘Don’t Let The Devil’ should be – Jaime came back with this treatment written out and I cried at the end. What’s even crazier is he didn’t know what we were doing for ‘Motherless’ either but that’s the magic I guess.”

Watch Killer Mike’s videos for “Don’t Let The Devil” and “Motherless above.

Mike’s album, Michael, is due 6/16 via Loma Vista Recordings. His tour for the album begins 7/10. You can find the tour dates here.

The rollout for Janelle Monáe’s new era has certainly been provocative, like with her recent NSFW teaser. Now, things are looking more concrete: Today (May 11), she shared “Lipstick Lover” and announced The Age Of Pleasure, her new album set for this summer. Now, she’s shared some of her thoughts about the project.

In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Monáe said of the LP and the mindset behind it:

“All the songs were written from such an honest space. Look, it never stops. Even with this album, this project. I’m just like, ‘You know what? It takes work.’ I have to learn things all over again. I have to practice. I have to… and thank God I love the songs. Yeah. So it’s always a fun thing to do to. It’s like starting on a blank canvas.

So I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music, that they feel that when they come and counter with me when I’m around, I definitely have had an opportunity to evolve and grow and to tap into the things that bring me pleasure, the things that perhaps I should rethink and rework. Sometimes it really is just saying, ‘You know what? Let’s get back to the basics and also let’s honor the present.’

So all the songs were written from such an honest space. And what I’m super excited about with The Age Of Pleasure is that… Listen, I’ve had my age of depression. I’ve had my age of anxiety. I’ve had my age of struggle. And again, it’s not like life is pleasurable every single day, but I think I have actively just sought out… How do I create a space for myself? How do I redirect my mind on how I’m thinking about things? How do I realize that right now in this present moment, moments that we’ll never get back, this is where you need to find your pleasure? This is your moment. Don’t let it get confused that five minutes later, we’re going to try to go into doing something different. And again, this is just my experience where I’m at, even through, despite what I may be going through, there’s going to be a moment where this bad moment, I won’t even be around to even discuss it. I won’t.”

She also discussed how playing the album for people at parties helped her decide what songs to include:

“When I was writing ‘The Age Of Pleasure’, I wrote it with friends, four friends. I was just like, ‘If my friends f*ck with this, this is for us,’ because when we are together, I want them to want to play it. And what I would do is if I knew we were having a party on that Friday or Saturday, on Monday and Tuesday, I’d be like, ‘All right, we’re going to write three songs.’ If the songs can’t work at the party, they’re not going on the album. I was like, ‘If people are not trying to Shazam…’ Because I was like, ‘Don’t say it’s me. Don’t.’ If they know… whatever. I need them Shazaming. And so I have my friend who’s my DJ. He worked on some of the songs on the project with me. I was like, ‘Just play it. Put it after this song.’ We put it in the setlist. And that’s how we made the album. I was walking around. I was so scared. I almost went to the bathroom one time. But ‘Float,’ we did that. ‘Lipstick Lover,’ we did like that. I have a song called ‘Champagne Machine’ that’s on there. I don’t want to give away too much, but basically every song that you’ll hear on the project, that’s how I did it. I want it to be so specific to this Pan-African crowd who are my friends. I want it to be a love letter to the diaspora. And if they f*ck with it, it’s good. I’m great.”

Check out more from the interview here.

The Age Of Pleasure is out 6/9 via Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jack Black is the MVP of the highest-grossing video game movie of all-time (and the biggest movie of 2023). In the music video for “Video Games,” Tenacious D‘s first new song in five years, he and Kyle “Rage Kage” Gass pay tribute to some of the most iconic video game characters ever, including Link (it’s almost Tears of the Kingdom Day!), Kratos, and Lara Croft. Black is also transported into Mario, but not as Bowser. This time, he’s Mario. Which I guess means Chris Pratt is now… Lakitu? That works.

In a statement, the D wrote, “It’s about growing up and leaving childish things behing… But then realizing that video games are more than just mindless toys… in fact they can be a true expression of huge ideas that belong in the pantheon of great works of art! It’s about time someone defended the honor and integrity of this bold new horizon. Leave it to the greatest band in the world… Tenacious D!!!” They’ll lead (and play video games) as two kings.

Tenacious D are on tour. Here’s where you can see them:

5/11/23 New Orleans, LA @ The Fillmore
5/13/23 St. Augustine, FL @ The St. Augustine Amphitheatre
6/2/23 Nuremberg, Germany @ Rock im Park
6/3/23 Nurburg, Germany @ Rock Am Ring
6/4/23 Prague, Czech Republic @ Forum Karlin
6/6/23 Hamburg, Germany @ Sporthalle
6/7/23 Berlin, Germany @ Zitadelle
6/8/23 Nickelsdorf, Austria @ Nova Rock Festival
6/10/23 Milan, Italy @ Carroponte
6/12/23 Zurich, Switzerland @ The Hall
6/13/23 Brussels, Belgium @ Forest National
6/14/23 Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Ahoy
6/16/23 London, England @ O2 Arena
6/18/23 Clisson, France @ Hellfest Open Air Festival

A second Phoenix Suns starter will watch as the team attempts to stave off elimination from the playoffs on Thursday night. With Chris Paul already sidelined for Game 6 of their Western Conference Semifinal series against the Denver Nuggets due to a groin injury, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that starting center Deandre Ayton will likewise be unable to go in what could be the team’s final game of the season.

According to Charania, Ayton will not be able to play due to a rib contusion. Ayton was previously listed as questionable on the team’s injury report on Wednesday.

While it’s not 100 percent clear when Ayton got hurt, the big man took a shot to the ribs by Bruce Brown during Denver’s Game 5 win, which left him in some pretty serious pain.

Ayton has struggled in the series as he’s battled against Nikola Jokic. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 10.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and four fouls in 29.6 minutes per game over the five games the two teams have played. With Ayton on the sideline, it stands to reason that Monty Williams will turn to reserve big man Jock Landale, who has seen his share of minutes increase as the series has gone on.

Game 6 between the Nuggets and the Suns is scheduled to tip off on Thursday night at 10 p.m. EST on ESPN. Denver currently holds a 3-2 lead in the series.

Moneybagg Yo has been hyping the release of his mixtape Hard To Love for some time. Today, he not only revealed the tape’s impending release date but also the fact that he plans to drop another project later this year. In a post on Instagram, he shared an open letter to fans explaining the inspiration behind Hard To Love, which continues his Heartless mixtape series.

“I gained and lost more than I ever thought I would and had no other safe outlet for all the emotions and dark thoughts that came wit that other than making music,” he wrote. “I’m blessed to have an art form to express myself inside & out with you all. Demario is the one that all the sh*t happened to but nobody understood that I still gotta wake up and be Bagg every day to provide for my family and continue to carve my legacy but it’s not easy balancing the two.”

After detailing the string of unfortunate events that have plagued him since the release of his last album, 2021’s A Gangsta’s Pain, he explained that he had too much material recorded for just one project.

The first of these projects, Hard To Love, is due on May 26 via CMG Records/Interscope. The album will be announced at a later date.

The Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers are nearing the end of their NBA Playoffs battle at the moment, with Game 6 of the series coming up tonight (May 11). Before that, though, Pennsylvania native Lil Dicky (aka Dave Burd) hopped on ESPN’s First Take today and showed just how quickly his brain can work.

During the chat, Molly Qerim asked Dicky what a Dave scene involving co-host Stephen A. Smith might look like. The rapper/actor didn’t need much time to think about it before replying:

“Off the top of my head, I don’t know… I’m thinking about the Sixers and the Celtics, I’m just imagining: What if I got into a little bit of a gambling situation with the wrong bookie, and I need the Sixers to win or my life could end? And I find myself knocking on Stephen A.’s door at like 3 a.m. and telling him that tomorrow on First Take, he’s gotta do something that really eviscerates Jayson Tatum, to the point where it’s a distraction for the team. Something like… kind of a modern day Celtic Pride.”

Smith then came up with his own idea involving Dicky kidnapping a red-hot Tatum before Smith comes to the rescue.

Elsewhere, Dicky gave a pep talk to the Sixers ahead of tonight’s game, so check out the segment above.