Nowadays, Mary J. Blige is heavily focused on her career as an actor. A few months ago she completed her first season as Monet on the 50 Cent-led show Power Book II: Ghost. She also contributed to films like Trolls World Tour, The Violent Heart, and Body Cam. The newly-inducted Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer’s next screen gig finds her looking back at one of the highlights of her career. Later this month, Blige will share her new documentary, My Life, which will examine the time period around her classic 1994 album of the same title, and today, she shared the trailer.
“I’m so excited to share the trailer for my new documentary,” she captioned the preview. “Get ready to learn the story behind one of the most inspiring albums of all time in.” The film’s synopsis reveals that viewers will see Blige speak about “the demons and blessings” behind the album’s songs. “My Life is probably my darkest album at one of the darkest times I’ve had,” she says in the trailer. “Most of the time, I was just depressed and didn’t want to live. I had it all inside and I was able to sing it and write it, and I didn’t know that so many people felt the same way.”
The documentary will be available on June 25 through Amazon Prime. Blige will also perform the album live for the first time ever to celebrate the film’s release.
DaBaby has had his fair share of run-ins with the law since his rise to fame in 2019 including his being “unlawfully” arrested toward the end of that year and arrested again early this year for allegedly carrying a loaded firearm in Los Angeles. TMZ reports that Monday night brought his latest encounter with police, this time in Miami, but rather than being arrested, he was detained and questioned about a shooting near a restaurant on Ocean Drive.
Witnesses told police that just before midnight, they heard a few dozen gunshots, as reported by NBC Miami, and according to Page Six, the rapper — who was in town to perform at a private event at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium that night — and his entourage were among those the police stopped and questioned about their potential involvement. According to a source, “DaBaby and his crew had an issue with people right next to them in the car. DaBaby and his crew were traveling in around six SUVs, and either a car pulled up on them and started something or their doors hit each other and they got in a fight. Rumor has it that DaBaby and 10 to 12 members of his entourage have been detained by police.”
No arrests have been made as yet; two people were reported injured. One was hit in the shoulder and the other was hit in the leg and while one remains in the hospital, the other has since been treated and released.
As a longtime passenger/oft-times driver of the Saba fan bandwagon, I am extremely here for the Chicago rapper doing more features lately. After joining Audrey Nuna for the introspective “Top Again” video, Saba contributes a verse to rising R&B star Cautious Clay’s Nintendo-inspired, animated video for “Strange Love.” The video follows a CGI version of Clay as he shops a store full of Strange Love plushies. However, after being hypnotized by one of the strange heart-shaped products, he gets addicted, shoveling more and more of them into his shopping cart until he creates a monster.
The metaphor seems pretty obvious here and watching the animated protagonist try to dodge the toxic monster he’s accidentally created (a la the No Face scene in Spirited Away) might dredge up some memories for viewers. The video ends on an ambiguous cliffhanger, evoking the video-gamey graphics by leaving our hero with a choice to accept or reject his monster’s offer of another heart plushy.
The Cleveland, Ohio-born Cautious Clay has been rolling out his self-released debut album Deadpan Love over the past several weeks with a release date set for June 25. You can watch the “Strange Love” video above and pre-order the album here.
Action Bronson may have lost 140 pounds since last year, but he’s still got that unmistakable Action grin. It comes paired with a “smiling eyes” brand of warmth that’ll make you feel like you’ve known the guy for years. His vibe has always been to live loud. Smoke what you want, eat what you want, do what you want, and give yourself over completely to life’s pleasures. It’s part of what makes his personality so infectious and why people flock to catch his show F*ck That’s Delicious, currently airing on YouTube, which is literally just about Action eating at the places he likes to eat (now with more kettlebell squats!).
But if you were worried that the new, healthier Action Bronson might live like a monk, fear not. He’s still the same dude with the same passion for food and life. He just felt like the fast life was catching up to him and he needed an adjustment.
“I put it out there for people to be free and fat and this and that, and eat what you like,” he says. “But unfortunately, some people have genetics like me where it just fucking sticks to your ass. I wanted to make amends… I realized that I was a fuckhead and I should stop doing these things and change shit up.”
That realization came while the multi-hyphenate was working on his new self-help book, Fuck It I’ll Start Tomorrow, which Action admits began as an attempt to get a check before morphing into a genuine journey of self-examination. We linked up last week over Zoom to talk about writing the book, getting fit, eating plant-based, and how it will all affect Fuck That’s Delicious going forward.
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Let’s talk a bit about your new book Fuck It I’ll Start Tomorrow. It’s positioned as a self-help book — what kind of lessons do you teach people in the book?
Deceit, lying, lying to yourself, coming to the realization that you’ve lied to yourself and you’ve lied to everybody else… you know all kinds of things. It’s experience-based, a lot of people can relate to some of the things I’m saying, but I wrote it with deceit in my mind. When I wrote the book I had no intention of putting my all into it, which is unfortunate because I only do things that I put my all into. This I did strictly because it was a check and a way to get to another cookbook, which I really wanted to do. I didn’t want to do a fucking self-help book because “I don’t fucking give a shit,” that was my attitude.
The bottom line is, this book was written with bad intentions but somehow it turned a mirror on me and I realized that I was a fuckhead and I should stop doing these things and change shit up. Never do anything that you don’t put your all into and this book taught me a lesson.
The book ended at the pandemic, it was a prequel to all the change that’s happened now, but it was a catalyst. The book was a catalyst unknowingly, I hated every second of it, you could ask Rachel Wharton the woman who wrote the book with me, James Beard award winner, two times New York best-selling author. She went through hell with me to do this shit, I feel terrible. At one point I called them up and was like “Yo, I’ll give you the money back I’m not fucking doing this.” It was a shit show, but I’m just glad everything worked out.
In the book, you could feel my pain and my joy.
This year has been a definite journey, you’ve totally changed your life and changed the way you eat. What has impacted you the most about transforming, not just the way you look physically, but your diet, which was originally built around excess?
I’ve always been able to eat right, I actually went to school and got a 100 in nutrition, I know what we’re supposed to eat. I know what we need to eat to be healthy, I know what not to eat, I know not to eat 10 desserts at one time, but I’m an addict.
You have to break through that addiction, but the mind is stronger than anything and I feel like my mind is ironclad. 140 pounds bro. That’s not easy, I was disgusted I had 140 to lose, I still got to lose another 20 to 30, it’s unreal. At least I’m at a normal weight now, before I was so abnormal, it was disgusting.
I caught some of the new episodes of Fuck That’s Delicious, and I noticed just because you’ve gotten healthy, you haven’t gotten soft, you’re rocking the kettle ball to the pizza joint, you’re still as passionate about food as you’ve always been. That’s particularly inspiring because you’ve changed your whole life around but you haven’t given up the joy, and I think that’s an important message to share with people. What was your thinking going into the new season?
My thinking going into it was pretty much trying to mix my new lifestyle with the show. Every time we do Fuck That’s Delicious, all this shit was made up because this is my life. It was chronicling my life with the homies, and that was it, we never put any stage shit on, it’s all just one take, put a camera on and we just lived. So I just put the camera on and lived again, and this is just the way I’m living now so we’re capturing this.
For so long, it’s been just “blast yourself with 45 meals a day and desserts. It’s okay, just laugh, drink your face off, and smoke your life away.” Yeah, cool. There comes a point where it catches up and it caught up heavy to me. I had to chill out but the love of food is always going to be there. It doesn’t mean you have to stop eating, it just means you have to stop being an animal.
You gotta know when to hold them and you gotta know when to fold them. I learned when to fold them. Before, I didn’t know how to fold them.
Right now you’ve got a partnership happening with Field Roast and their show Make Taste Happen, what should we expect out of that partnership?
Big things man, it’s exciting, I love doing things where it’s something I use organically and it’s not just some bullshit. I was once a little bit intimidated by food that was mimicking real food but is made with plants, but these things, they’ve made in an approachable way. I understand sausage, I understand the way it is, I understand what’s going on in the world now.
It’s innovative and delicious and healthy. It’s this canvas that allows you to make unbelievable things, not just from a taste angle alone. It allows you to imagine and take the mind places you’ve been in the past — some real nostalgia stuff.
What makes Field Roast different? Why partner with them?
Just in my own opinion, I’ve tried plant-based sausage and plant-based burgers, and the texture usually isn’t there. It’s grainy or the flavor is off. There are only a couple of brands that seem like they’re doing the right thing, and in my estimation, Field Roast has been the best product I’ve tried so far. It’s very versatile, it browns up the way it should, it tastes amazing, it’s a vehicle for all kinds of flavors.
If you just have a couple of items in your pantry it’s really all you need — you can create masterpieces.
What are some of your favorite things to prepare? You sent me a photo of you doing apple sausage, broccoli, onions — what are we cooking here?
See that’s a classic Italian dish, I believe it’s a Roman dish, when you do the sausage with the orecchiette, the little ear pasta, with the broccoli. I decided that I’m going to mimic a dish that I have and I love and make it ethnic as well and take you around the world and give you flavors that go “mmm.”
I made this unbelieved pistachio pesto [full recipe here] to top it with, you could eat it every day. Use a little bit of Sambal. People submitted some items that I should be using and they tried to trick me on some Chopped stuff but I just created a masterpiece.
Field Roast
What’s your secret to a plant-based meal?
Not treating it as if it’s something different. You don’t put white gloves on like “ooh its plant-based” you just hit it with hard flavor like you normally would. It’s all about flavor, good olive oil, good products, it’s still all about the products. Make sure you keep it nice and fresh and creative.
During a recent interview with TMZ about the return of live shows in 2021, Lil Yachty revealed that despite counting himself as one of Nicki Minaj’s biggest fans, Mrs. Petty still has him blocked over supporting Cardi B (with whom he shares a connection through Quality Control Music) during the two female stars’ tiff in 2018 — and the measures to which he’s gone to try to rectify the situation.
When the TMZ hosts brought up the inciting interview with their former colleague Raquel Harper on her show Raq Rants, Yachty chuckled. “It’s the Barbz, man!” he declared. “They still killing me!”
Explaining the situation, he said, “I’ve got a lot of love for Cardi B and she’s damn near a family member, so through whatever I’m gonna ride. I’ve loved Nicki Minaj since I was a child. Yesterday, I went on Twitter retweeting my tweets from middle school praising Nicki and I went on Instagram Live letting the world know that Nicki has me blocked from that interview. I even hit Drake, like, ‘Tell Nicki I love her!’ I checked this morning — I’m still blocked… I think she’s standing strong, but my love for Nicki is forever.”
Yachty’s not the only one with whom Queen Barb and her fans have had issues online. Lil Nas X apparently received enough backlash from Barbz mad about his previous denial (an unforgivable sin, clearly) over mentioning his prior love for Nicki Minaj on his new song “Sun Goes Down” that he made a statement on Twitter that he’d no longer mention her in his music.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Coachella is officially happening — next year. The juggernaut festival will occur from April 15 to 17 and April 22 to 24, 2022, according to an announcement from its promoter, Goldenvoice.
“Our desert homecoming is officially set for April 2022,” said the release. “Our advance sale begins this Friday, June 4th at 10 am PT. More time to plan and more time to pay for your passes over time with our flexible payment plan options. Information about flexible payment plans and more at coachella.com.”
Coachella’s sister festival, the country-themed Stagecoach, also announced that it will take place next year, from April 29 to May 1. “Stagecoach is back in the saddle!” said the announcement. “Be the first to find out about the advance sale right around the corner at stagecoachfestival.com.”
Artists playing at the festivals won’t be revealed until the beginning of the new year, per Variety. Coachella’s 2020 headliners included Travis Scott, Rage Against The Machine, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, and Megan Thee Stallion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 program was rescheduled several times before getting cancelled altogether.
Variety noted that YouTube will partner with Goldenvoice to live stream the festival for the 10th year. “We’re back and thrilled to be partnering with Goldenvoice,” YouTube said in a statement. “As the world’s biggest virtual stage, we are more excited than ever to celebrate live music and to bring two weekends of extraordinary performances to music fans around the world.”
See the announcement below.
See you in the desert Coachella returns April 15-17 & 22-24, 2022. Register now to access the 2022 advance sale beginning Friday, June 4 at 10am PT.https://t.co/qujCsdCWkppic.twitter.com/0PzCZYrbB6
While rap songs and videos can have the unintended side effect of making gang life look cooler than it is, YG & Mozzy are here to remind you that it’s still quite “Dangerous” in the latest video from their recently released joint album Kommunity Service. The first verse finds the California natives trading quick-witted quatrains upbraiding posers who claim affiliation without the muscle to back it up, while G Herbo brings the song home with his own chest-beating feature to close things out.
The stripped-down video keeps to the established aesthetic from their “Bompton To Oak Park” clip, with a legion of goons mean-mugging the camera to underline the street-loyal lyrics, shot through a perspective warping fish-eye lens. The duo has shown an impressive degree of flexibility with the album rollout so far, as well; while thoroughly praising their expected “Gangsta” credentials in these videos, they’ve alternated them with more positive messaging in the semi-romantic clip for “Perfect Timing.” Album cuts like “Vibe With You” have also offset the menace, because you can’t always be in war mode.
Meanwhile, the duo’s members have done their fair share of good work in the world, too. YG recently gave away $20,000 worth of sneakers to former inmates to ensure that the project’s title wasn’t just figurative.
A group of recent college graduates owes a sizable sum to the owner of the Airbnb where they threw their graduation party after their exuberant dancing caused the floor to cave in, resulting in $15,000 worth of damages. The musical culprit that caused the overly enthusiastic reaction? Atlanta’s own Young Nudy, whose 2017 song “EA” featuring cousin 21 Savage is playing the clip that captured the heart-stopping scene, which the party’s organizer posted to Twitter along with the link to a GoFundMe raising funds to pay off the damages.
“We threw the littest graduation party of 2021 at a AirBnB and the floor caved in,” reads the explanation for the clip. “We was listening to EA by Young Nudy and n****s got too lit. Now I have to pay for 15k in damages.” You can see the results in the videos below.
We threw the littest graduation party of 2021 at a AirBnB and the floor caved in. We was listening to EA by Young Nudy and niggas got too lit. Now I have to pay for 15k in damages. Can y’all fwm ?? https://t.co/2kGZRSDlOdpic.twitter.com/9Mz8AUnZ17
According to the poster, the party was approved by the home’s owner and was upstairs the whole time. He also requested that followers “spam” the rapper to let him “kno what his music doin to people.”
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time a street rapper’s music prompted partygoers to collapse a floor. In 2018, a group of Clemson college students attending a fraternity party and dancing to Chief Keef’s “Faneto” also broke through a floor leaving 30 people injured.
With so much music being created, shared, and stored digitally these days, it’s easy to take for granted the easy access to rarities and behind-the-scenes snippets that at one point would have been impossible to hear. Highlighting this, Virginia rap veteran Skillz (aka Mad Skillz) recently posted a rare treasure indeed: An original cassette tape given to him by Detroit production legend J Dilla containing the original instrumentals for Skillz’s breakout singles “It’s Goin’ Down” and “The Jam,” as well as the one for The Pharcyde’s 1995 fan-favorite “Runnin’.”
Skillz found the tape over the weekend, taking a photo, posting it to Instagram, and tagging Q-Tip in his excitement at unearthing a one-of-a-kind, historical item. Unlike digital formats, cassette tape can degrade over time and the casing can become damaged, so Skillz had to perform “surgery” on the cassette (as he put it in his Instagram Story documenting his discovery). After fixing the tape, he was able to digitize it and share its contents, which included some previously unheard samples as well tracks from some of Dilla’s best-beloved beats, including “Runnin’,” revealing how the song was transformed from its original incarnation to the one heard on the LA group’s album Labcabincalifornia.
It’s truly a fun discovery for any hip-hop head and a glimpse into a creative process that would ordinarily have been lost to time. Check it out above.
After taking 2019 off, Florida’s Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival returned in 2020, from March 5 to 8. That was right before pandemic-caused quarantines were put into effect in the US, making it one of the last large-scale events to happen before the world changed. There’s not going to be an Okeechobee this year, but organizers have announced dates for the 2022 event, their fifth overall: March 3 to 6.
Pasquale Rotella, founder and CEO of Insomniac Events (one of the companies behind the festival), offered a statement, saying, “After this long year, I couldn’t be more excited to return to Sunshine Grove and be back in nature with all my Okeechobee friends and fam. This festival is all about music, camping out, and making s’mores while dancing in a jungle, grass fields, and on a beautiful beach. It was the last festival I attended before the pandemic hit so I can’t wait to be back!”
Soundslinger (the other company behind the fest) founder Rechulski also says, “It’s been quite a difficult 14 months for all of us, especially everyone in the live event mass gathering community. I hope that music can once again shine as a beacon of light and hope and bring us a much needed distraction. I’m just glad to be back and have the chance to do what I love the most!”
Tickets will be available to purchase in a limited pre-sale starting on June 3 at noon ET. Learn more about the 2022 Okeechobee festival here.
Coachella returns April 15-17 & 22-24, 2022. Register now to access the 2022 advance sale beginning Friday, June 4 at 10am PT.