Edge

Saweetie Plots A Heist For A $75K ‘Candy Crush’ All Stars Tournament Championship Ring

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Gaming is big business these days and everybody wants a piece. Last year, Lil Nas X teamed up with League Of Legends to release a theme song for the game’s world championship, and Snoop Dogg joined the cast of Call Of Duty. Earlier this month, Grand Theft Auto tapped Dr. Dre and 50 Cent for an in-game event leading to the announcement of a spin-off TV show produced by 50.

Not to be left out, Saweetie has partnered with Candy Crush to help promote the Candy Crush All Stars tournament, which kicked off today. Yeah, I didn’t know that was a thing, either. In a delightful teaser, Saweetie recruits a team of Icy Girls to plot a heist for the championship rings, only to be foiled by Atlanta-based jeweler, Z, who also helped design the rings with his brothers Mo and Rafi (collectively known as Icebox). While she fails to get the rings, she certainly looks like she’s having a blast chasing the jeweler around the “Candy Crush Headquarters” garage.

She’s got good reason to want to skip the line; according to a press release, the diamond-encrusted rings are worth $75,000. Unfortunately for her, they’re only available to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of the tournament, so hopefully, she’s been keeping her skills on Candy Crush Saga as sharp as her nails. You can check out the game today to sign up for the tournament, which is open to anyone over 18 years old and level 25 and higher. Ten finalists will be flown to London for the last round and compete for the $250,000 prize pot.

Saweetie is no stranger to video game partnerships; in February, she performed in-game for the ever-popular Roblox and a couple of years ago, she and Uncle Snoop hosted aa Madden NFL tournament.

The Cast Of ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’ Sang The Game’s Iconic Theme With The Roots And A Special Guest

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie is just a month away from hitting theaters and the Nintendo/Illumination PR team is going all-out to promote it. In addition to crafting an interactive website for a hypothetical Mario Bros. plumbing business and releasing a new, final trailer yesterday showing off even more of its Mad Max-inspired Rainbow Road sequence.

The cast and crew weren’t done yet, though. The film’s voice actors — consisting of Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, and Charlie Day — stopped by The Tonight Show for a musical sketch in which they sing the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game theme song acapella alongside the show’s host Jimmy Fallon and house band The Roots.

In a Brady Bunch-like sequence, each singer appears in their own squares, which slide and shift across the screen while scenes from both the video game and the movie scroll by. Jack Black appears to be having an utter blast, especially when the game’s underground theme kicks in. Then, as they all reach the “end” of the level, they’re joined by a few more special guests: Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (who gets vocal backup from the Minions, naturally).

It’s a cute bit, which is to be expected from The Tonight Show, but it’s also a testament to how truly iconic and generational the Mario brand has been for the past four decades.

Watch the clip above.

It Turns Out 50 Cent’s ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Teaser Was On The Nose But Not Quite What It Seemed

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Earlier this month, 50 Cent shared an image from the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and wrote, “I will explain this later, GLG GreenLight Gang this sh*t bigger than Power trust me. Boom.” Naturally, this had people thinking that he was teasing some sort of involvement with the GTA franchise, perhaps in the highly anticipated sixth mainline game in the series. Now, though, we know what the post was really about: A new show that has a current working title of Vice City.

Deadline reports that Paramount+ is developing the show from Lionsgate Television, Paramount Television Studios, and G-Unit Film & Television. The publication’s summary of the show reads:

“Vice City follows three friends, and former soldiers, who return to their home city of Miami in the mid-’80s after being dishonorably discharged from the military for their involvement in the Iran Contra scandal. Disgraced, displaced, and forgotten by the country they served and with no good job prospects, the three friends partner with a mysterious Colombian immigrant, uniting their financial needs and criminal ambitions to form a heist crew. Fueled by the need for American green, they traverse a violent and dangerous path in pursuit of the American Dream.”

The show is written and executive produced by Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (both known for their work on Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts), while Chad Stahelski (of the John Wick franchise) will serve as executive producer/director.

Drake Wasn’t Happy That Game Streamer IShowSpeed Called His Voice ‘Sexy’ On A FaceTime Call

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Drake’s usually got a great sense of humor about all the jokes people make about him, but it turns out that even he has a limit.

The Toronto singer has been popping up on gaming streams a bunch lately, cozying up to Gen Z’s version of rap stars. This week, he surprised IShowSpeed, a streamer famous for his viral reactions to games, via a FaceTime call. The two talked about soccer a bit, including whether Drake was a bigger fan of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.

However, when things took a turn, Drake was apparently too flustered to continue the conversation.

As Drake told IShowSpeed how much he appreciated him, Speed made things a little too awkward by complimenting Drake’s voice. “You’re doing your thing,” Drake said. “I was talking about you the other day in the car … I’m proud of you, for real.”

Speed complimented him in return, saying, “Bro, your voice is so sexy. How is it so smooth like that? How your voice so smooth like that?” Immediately after that, the call dropped. Whether Drake meant to hang up due to the comment, lost service, or had some other pressing concern, it looks like the streamer felt like he blew his shot.

“He’s not gonna answer the phone again, bro,” he said. “I didn’t mean — I said it wrong, bruh. I meant to say his voice is smooth, but I said it wrong. On God, I said it bad.”

A reminder to the kids out there… sometimes, you just gotta touch grass.

Drake, meanwhile, is $1.4 million richer thanks to some Super Bowl bets he called “psychotic” in the moment.

So Many Fans Are Making The Same Nintendo-Related Joke About Rihanna’s High-Wire Super Bowl Performance

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While it seems that plenty of fans are divided about Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance (some loved it, some were disappointed, and many were distracted by her baby bump reveal), one group of viewers is having a field day with Photoshop thanks to her high-wire act.

Rihanna began and ended her set standing on a platform that was suspended high over the field. Her dancers flanked her on similar platforms. And for a certain kind of fan, the whole setup wound up looking vaguely familiar…

That’s right: Rihanna’s a Super Smash Bro. now (give us the DLC, Nintendo!).

For those who don’t know, Super Smash Bros. is a Nintendo fighting game series that brings together characters from the company’s most popular properties (Super Mario Bros., The Legend Of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Starfox, to name a few) to beat the hell out of each other on… suspended platforms hovering over a bottomless pit. The goal of the game, unlike many fighting games, is for fighters to throw their opponents off the stage — the last man (or Pokémon or anthropomorphic animal or whatever-the-hell-Kirby-is) standing wins.

So many fans had a ball making the same Nintendo-related jokes and adding graphics from the game, but there’s one, clear winner here:

Check out more fans enjoying Rihanna’s high-flying Super Bowl performance below.

Saweetie Is Headlining Her Own Super Bowl Concert Within The Virtual World Of Roblox

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Saweetie has had a quiet year so far, but the Bay Area rapper is set to make a splash as she confirms her first big performance of the year will be at the Super Bowl — although, rather than playing at the big game itself (that’s Rihanna), her concert will be a virtual one within the popular Roblox platform.

According to Billboard, the Saweetie Super Bowl Concert will be a free show on Roblox presented by Intuit premiering on February 10 at 7:00 ET. It will re-air every hour on the hour until February 12. The set will be fully motion-captured and “family-friendly” according to Warner Music Group, which recently launched its Rhythm City partnership with Roblox. A screenshot provided by WMG shows what Saweetie’s in-game avatar will look like as she performs in a virtual “Intuit Stadium” (IRL, the Intuit Arena is currently under construction in Inglewood, California, and will be the home of the Los Angeles Clippers).

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Meanwhile, Saweetie, who debut album Pretty Bitch Music has been one of hip-hop’s most anticipated through a string of delays, will continue to branch out in 2023. She’s billed to appear as herself in an upcoming episode of Peacock’s Bel-Air, and has been teasing new music as a follow-up to her six-song EP The Single Life.

Drake’s ‘Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin’ Video Features Mike Tyson, $3 Million Worth Of Pharrell’s Jewelry, And A Gold PSP

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Drake is wealthy, and if that wasn’t obvious based just on his long-running musical success, he takes every opportunity to show it off, whether he’s sharing big bets or buying an amusement park. Now, his new video for Her Loss highlight “Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin” is more of the same.

The video is presented as a slice-of-life look into three days of Drake’s life. Well, it looks like he packed a lot into those 72 hours. Perhaps most notably, he took time to show off a ton of jewelry. HipHopDX notes that some of the wares come from an online auction Pharrell hosted last October, in which he sold off his personal jewelry and other items. Spotted in the Drake video were “a 14K three-tone N.E.R.D pendant chain ($2,184,000), a white gold brain pendant chain ($725,000) and a skateboard pendant chain ($103,750),” and the publication estimates Drake flexed about $3.3 million worth of Pharrell’s old jewelry overall.

Elsewhere in the video, we get appearances from Mike Tyson, Lil Baby, and French Montana. Drake also nods to the gamers watching by prominently showing off a golden Sony PSP (that handheld video game console from the 2000s, in case you forgot) at multiple points.

Check out the “Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin” video above.

Steve Lacy Isn’t Shy About Sharing His Biggest Musical Influences, Which Include Paramore And ‘Guitar Hero’

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Recording artist Steve Lacy is living life like a true rockstar, and apparently, that was always written in the stars for him. The Grammy-nominated singer has come a long way since bursting onto the scene as part of the band The Internet. Now, as a chart-topping, sold-out headlining tour solo act, the guitarist has found an artistic lane for himself that blends the sounds fans have come to know him by as well as what made him want to be a musician in the first place. The songwriter sat down with The Guardian to share what musicians inspired his irresistible sound and more.

Beginning his career in alternative R&B, Lacy shifted to an indie rock-influenced sound with his breakout single, “Bad Habit.” When asked by journalist Shaad D’Souza about this genre blending, Lacy replied, “I’ve always loved doing that — if I have a rocky beat, putting a soulful melody on it. Like ‘Dark Red’ and all those types of songs. It’s a way to play and introduce new ideas into things that we know already.”

He later added, “Growing up playing [the video game] Guitar Hero put me on to a lot of rock and guitar music. As I got older, artists such as Paramore raised me. Mac DeMarco, Dirty Projectors, Vampire Weekend. Even Weezer’s ‘Undone’ is one of my favorite songs ever.”

The singer did not hold back from gushing about Paramore’s Hayley Williams, sharing, “Hayley’s voice and melodies are crazy because she takes the rock thing and makes it soulful.”

As for what he loves about Weezer, Lacy said, “With Weezer, I love the wit and humor. The dissonance of the chord progression of ‘Undone’ is truly just weird. For something like that to exist was super important for me in my musical journey, to be, like: ‘Oh, wow, you can make this sound fun and dope.’”

Other muses of Lacy include late musical icons Prince and Jimi Hendrix. “When I make music, I take a small piece of everything that I love – I’ll take certain melodic approaches from Prince, but I’ll play it as if someone else was mimicking Prince, like if Jimi Hendrix tried to be Prince,” he said. “But I like to mix different approaches together. It happens naturally. I’m never doing it all purposely. It’s just inside of me.”

Lacy concluded his inspiration list by shouting out about indie act Faye Webster, calling her “dope.”

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

Lil Nas X Announces His New Song’s Release Date And Is Elected President Of ‘League Of Legends’

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While on his Long Live Montero Tour for his Grammy-nominated debut album Montero, Lil Nas X previewed a new song for audiences called “Star Walkin’.” Little was known about the song or when it’d get an official release, but today, Nas announced its release date — along with a new partnership whose launch is timed to the release.

Nas is pretty well-known for his brand partnerships; in the three years since he became practically a household name, he’s teamed up with Wrangler, Grindr, Taco Bell, and M&Ms. Each time, he’s shown off his flair for the dramatic — for instance, Taco Bell made him Chief Impact Officer, a made-up but significant role expansion from when he first worked for the fast food chain.

His latest pairing will be with Riot Games, the creators of the popular video game League Of Legends. This time, he’ll take on another impressive-sounding role: President of League of Legends, which will involve “creating explosive musical moments, an ingenious League champion skin, and a spectacular live Worlds performance,” according to the press release. He’ll kick off the League Of Legends World Championship with a performance of “Star Walkin’” on September 29 in Mexico City, then debut a new skin he helped design for a new character in the game, K’Sante the Pride of Nazumah (say that five times fast).

This isn’t the first time Riot has collaborated with rappers. Like competitors/colleagues Epic Games (creators of Fortnite), they’ve incorporated hip-hop organically into their game’s world through creations like in-game band True Damage, made up of real performers, and recruiting JID to work with Imagine Dragons on the theme song for the League Netflix spin-off show Arcane. They even previously worked with Lil Nas X to create a hype video for one of the competing teams in last year’s Worlds.

J. Cole’s ‘NBA 2K’ Cover Was Partially Inspired By His Dunk Attempt At All-Star Weekends

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While J. Cole has always put his pro basketball ambitions at the forefront of his rap career, he’s come way further than perhaps even he could have foreseen. At the start of the month, he was announced as 2K Games’ first-ever non-athlete cover model for the latest iteration of NBA 2K. The rap star-turned-hooper features on the Gamestop-exclusive Dreamer Edition cover of NBA 2K23. He’ll also appear in the game as himself; the player will encounter him and Dreamville associates Bas and Elite in the MyCareer mode, helping the player character achieve their own hoop dreams.

As it happens, though, Cole planted the seeds for this idea even before he’d managed to make it onto a Basketball Africa League roster. In a new interview with Complex, 2K’s digital marketing director Ronnie “Ronnie2K” Singh explains how J. Cole actually approached Singh with the concept for his inclusion after giving the world one of his first public demonstrations of hoop talent at the NBA’s 2019 All-Star Weekend. There, J. Cole allowed himself to be used as a prop in fellow Fayetteville native Dennis Smith Jr.’s dunk attempt before attempting a dunk of his own. Although Cole got blocked by the rim — in his defense, he was wearing street clothes and hadn’t warmed up first — he was able to pitch Ronnie2K about being in a future version of NBA 2K.

According to Singh, “Three and a half years ago, when he dunked during one of the breaks of the All-Star Weekend Saturday Night, J. Cole said, ‘Ronnie, I’d love to be in MyCareer and help think about the ideation around that.’ I worked with our team on bringing this to life but it was very fitting to work with him. When we put out that tease, everybody thought it was going to be another basketball player…it allows us live in fashion, culture, music which 2K has a seat at the table now.”