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Omar Apollo Drops The Daniel Caesar Collab ‘Invincible’ And Announces A New Album, ‘Ivory’

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After finding initial success on SoundCloud, Omar Apollo dropped a pair of EPs before releasing his first full-length project, Apolonio, in 2020, which earned the young artist much acclaim. Now, a new album, Ivory, is on the way. Alongside this news, Apollo dropped a new single, the Daniel Caesar collaboration “Invincible,” a lush tune that puts the vocal chops of both artists front and center.

Apollo is also embarking on the “Desvelado” tour this spring, which has a run of North American shows from April to May before a handful of overseas appearances in June. Deb Never supports on a majority of those shows.

Watch the “Invincible” video above and find Apollo’s upcoming tour dates below.

04/05 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
04/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
04/07 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox *
04/09 — Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre *
04/10 — Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre *
04/12 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
04/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre *
04/15 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/19 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl *
04/20 — Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst *
04/22 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Shrine *
04/30 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
05/01 — Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
05/03 — Denver, CO @ The Ogden *
05/05 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre *
05/07 — Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall *
05/08 — Detroit, MI @ The Majestic *
05/10 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts *
05/11 — Boston, MA @ Big Night Live *
05/12 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5 *
05/14 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
05/17 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
05/19 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
05/20 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
05/21 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
05/22 — Dallas, TX @ House of Blues *
05/24 — New Orleans, LA @ Republic *
05/26 — Miami, FL @ Space Park *
05/27 — Orlando, FL @ House of Blues *
05/31 — Mexico City, MX @ Auditorio BB
06/14 — Madrid, ES @ BUT
06/15 — Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo
06/16 — London, UK @ KOKO

* with Deb Never

Ivory is out 4/8 via Warner Records. Pre-order it here.

Omar Apollo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Eminem Will Be Serving Mom’s Spaghetti In LA For Super Bowl LVI

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Not only is Eminem performing part of the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show but he’s also bringing his popular pop-up restaurant to hungry football fans. The pop-up, Mom’s Spaghetti — so named for a line from Em’s 2002 hit “Lose Yourself” — was so successful at previous events that he eventually opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in his hometown Detroit last year to the delight of fans.

This week, Mom’s Spaghetti will return to its roots with a pop-up shop in Downtown LA opening today through Super Bowl Sunday, when the big game will be played at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium between the hometown LA Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. For those unwilling to risk Super Bowl week traffic themselves (seriously, don’t do it, people) the restaurant will also be available for delivery via Postmates.

Fans actually at the game will get to watch Eminem perform at the halftime show along with Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg. The group will also have a pair of deaf rappers signing during the show, translating the classic songs for a wider audience. In other food-related Super Bowl news, Domino’s is offering customers $3 for picking up their pizzas instead of having them delivered.

Lizzo Is In The Studio Making Music With Max Martin And Benny Blanco

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Lizzo, who this past weekend teased a snippet of a new song in a buck-naked Instagram clip, just took to the platform again for a preview of her studio session with two of pop music’s biggest producers. In the video posted to Lizzo’s Instagram story yesterday, the “Cuz I Love You” singer is kicked back on a studio couch, moving her feet as she watches producers Max Martin and Benny Blanco work their magic.

Martin has been the primary producer for Grammy Awards Album Of The Year winners in Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Adele’s 25. He also won the Producer Of The Year (Non-Classical) award in 2015. Blanco has been nominated for the same Producer award in the past and has been the producer and songwriter behind hits from Halsey, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and FKA Twigs.

It’s a big look for Lizzo, who has typically worked primarily with producers/songwriters Ricky Reed and Nate Mercereau in the past. Not that her sound needs any more elevation per se, but if any or all of the follow-up to Cuz I Love You is done in collaboration with Martin and Blanco, then we’re gonna be in for something seriously special.

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

There Was Almost A World Where ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Starred Rihanna, Eminem, And Margot Robbie

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I’m not afraid to say it: Mad Max: Fury Road? Good movie. Maybe even the best movie of the 2010s (and now I’m sore about it losing Best Picture to Spotlight all over again). The action rules, the direction rules, the score rules, and the guy playing the flamethrower guitar obviously rules. In case I didn’t make myself clear, Mad Max: Fury Road rules, and a big reason for that is the casting. There’s Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, of course, but also Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and as the Five Wives, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee (she knew the assignment, as they say, in Old), and Courtney Eaton (Lottie from Yellowjackets!).

It’s hard to imagine Fury Road without them, Hardy especially, but as revealed in author Kyle Buchanan’s Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, the movie could have starred Rihanna, Eminem, and Margot Robbie.

[Director George] Miller and his casting director, Ronna Kress, began meeting with actors in 2009, and their casting search was expensive and extensive: To cast the five Wives that Furiosa escapes with in her War Rig, Miller and Kress saw hundreds of women, including future superstars like Margot Robbie and Jennifer Lawrence. Near the end of that process, Miller even set up a meeting with a pop icon.

That would be Rihanna, who “looked spectacular when she walked in,” Miller said. “I’m not sure she was even aware of the content of the movie, so she dressed up as Rihanna, which was the right thing to do.” It’s unclear why she didn’t get the job, as she’s the best (and only) reason to watch Ocean’s 8 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. But she wasn’t the only Grammy winner to be considered for a role.

“This is something I don’t hear about very much and that George never admits, but I have a very, very, very strong memory of George talking about Eminem for Max,” lead storyboard artist Mark Sexton said. Miller confirmed the memory: “He’d done 8 Mile, and I found that really interesting — I thought, He’s got that quality. We’d done the first Happy Feet with the late Brittany Murphy, and she had done 8 Mile, so I asked her what he was like and would this be something really interesting for him? She had no reservations about saying what a wonderful talent he is.” That’s as far as things got (“We were going to shoot it in Australia at that point, and he simply didn’t want to leave home,” Miller explained), which is probably for the best, but just remember: rapper Eminem almost played Mad Max because of the dancing penguins movie.

You can read the rest of the excerpt over on Vulture, and buy the book here.

(Via Vulture)

King Von And 21 Savage’s Colorful ‘Don’t Play That’ Video Pairs Cuddly Animation With Vicious Lyrics

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In the video for King Von’s new single “Don’t Play That,” the late Chicago rapper and guest 21 Savage engage in street-certified shenanigans, but as cutesy, animated avatars courtesy of director Cartune. The cartoony visuals contrast with the grimy content, creating a lighthearted sense of fun amid the dark subject matter.

In their verses, the two rappers filter their gun talk through their relationships with women, with Von boasting, “She fell in love with a shooter / I caught that girl playin’ with my Glock.” Meanwhile, 21 Savage echoes that sentiment, sneering, “I fell in love with the gun smoke / She caught me playin’ with my K.” Meanwhile, their bars play out in vivid computer animation, with their characters brandishing firearms and carousing with women. The song is the first single from Von’s upcoming posthumous album, What It Means To Be King, due March 4 via Only The Family/EMPIRE.

Meanwhile, Von isn’t the only one dropping new music soon. Savage recently hinted that a new album could be on the way, tweeting in January, “No album in a year and a half tho…it’s time.” He hasn’t been idle in that time, though, most recently contributing verses to fellow Atlantans JID and Gunna, while dropping two new singles of his own.

Watch King Von’s “Don’t Play That” video featuring 21 Savage above.

Little Simz Won Best New Artist And Dave Played A Flaming Guitar At The 2022 BRIT Awards

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Last night’s BRIT Awards ceremony gave a whole new meaning to the term “playing with fire” as rap music won big and dominated the onstage performances with dynamic sets from Black artists like Dave and Little Simz (who, incidentally, are also alums of “the British version of The Wire,” Top Boy).

Dave, who won the Best Hip Hop/Rap/Grime Act award, also performed his song “In The Fire” from his 2021 second studio album We’re All Alone in This Together with fellow Grime standouts Giggs, Ghetts, Meekz, and Fredo. After completing his passionate verse, Dave revealed a surprising talent, donning an electric guitar to play a dazzling solo as flames shot out the end, a la Mad Max: Fury Road. Watch the performance above.

Another big winner was Little Simz, whose 2021 album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert was widely considered one of the year’s best. Nominated for Artist of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act, Simz won Best New Artist, bringing her mum onstage for an inspirational acceptance speech encouraging fans to chase their dreams and holding herself up as an example of the fruits of perseverance. She also played album standouts “Introvert” and “Woman” alongside actress Emma Corrin from The Crown. You can check her performance out below.

Steven Spielberg Thought John Williams’ Two-Chord Jaws Theme Was A Joke When He First Played It For Him

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duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn.

John Williams‘ musical score for Jaws might be one of the most familiar pieces of film music in the history of cinema. And while it’s brilliant in its simplicity, it’s hard to deny that it is indeed a relatively simple tune. Essentially, it’s just two chords played back to back at varying tempos. And while it’s hard to imagine a visitor to Amity Island getting swallowed up by a great white shark without that ditty playing in the background, the truth is that Jaws director Steven Spielberg thought the tune was a joke when Williams first presented it to him.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Spielberg was interviewed in a previously released making-of DVD feature in which he admitted that he was momentarily taken aback by the theme. “I expected to hear something kind of weird and melodic, something tonal, but eerie; something of another world, almost like outer space under the water,” Spielberg explained. “And what he played me instead, with two fingers on the lower keys, was ‘dun dun, dun dun, dun dun.’ And at first, I began to laugh. He had a great sense of humor, and I thought he was putting me on.”

When Williams, who celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this week, made it clear that he was as serious as a shark attack with his composition, Spielberg gave it another listen—this time without giggling. “It suddenly seemed right,” Spielberg said. “And John found the signature for the entire movie.”

That streamlined, and definitely-not-a-joke, score earned Williams his second of five Oscars for Best Score. “I think the score was responsible for half of the success of that movie,” Spielberg said.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

2 Chainz’s Fiery ‘Free B.G.’ Video Pays Homage To The Incarcerated Cash Money Rapper

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Dope Don’t Sell Itself, the new album from 2 Chainz and allegedly his final trap rap project, is out now via Def Jam. During its rollout, Chainz has kept up a steady stream of content, including a live television performance of “Lost Kings” with Lil Durk and Sleepy Rose, a fire LA Leakers freestyle over Pharcyde’s 1992 classic “Passin’ Me By,” and music videos for “Million Dollars Worth Of Game” with 42 Dugg, “Pop Music” with Beatking and Moneybagg Yo, and “Neighbors Know My Name.”

Adding to that latter category, yesterday, 2 Chainz shared the off-roading video for “Free B.G.” In it, Chainz and a crew of motorsports enthusiasts take over a vacant airplane hangar to do donuts and wheelies on ATVs and dirtbikes while a whole fleet of scantily-clad women twerks to the Mannie Fresh and Mondo-produced beat. The lyrics pay homage to Mannie’s former labelmate B.G., with Chainz calling himself a hot boy — borrowing from the name of the quartet which B.G. belonged to with Juvenile, Lil Wayne, and Turk — and chanting to free the incarcerated rapper, who was convicted of gun possession and witness tampering in 2012 and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.

Watch 2 Chainz’s “Free B.G.” video above.

Dope Don’t Sell Itself is out now. You can stream it here.

ODB’s Widow Sues Wu-Tang Clan For $1 Million In Unpaid Royalties

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Icelene Jones, the widow of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, sued the rapper’s band, Wu-Tang Clan, on Tuesday, citing a decade’s worth of unpaid royalties, according to Variety. Jones is asking for at least $1 million, alleging that Wu-Tang Clan Productions paid no royalties to ODB’s estate from 2011 to July 2021. When royalties were paid out, it was only in the paltry sum (relatively speaking) of $130,000.

The basis for the suit is a 1992 recording agreement between ODB and Wu-Tang Clan Productions, which is owned and operated by Wu-Tang founder RZA, that promised 50% of net earnings on the publishing of his copyrighted songs as well as 50% of net earnings from the sound recordings — two very similar but slightly different subsets of income generated by artists’ music. Think of the first as all the money from the use of the songs in movies, TV shows, film trailers, and during sporting events, while the latter would be the actual sales of the songs via online and physical purchases, streaming, and radio play (not to mention, the auctioned, ultra-rare album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin). The suit says that royalties from merchandise have been withheld, as well.

Although the estate has received some payments from Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. in 2019 and 2020, the suit alleges that this is well short of the royalties actually owned. The estate has requested accounting from the time period in question but says it has not received it in all this time.

Even Kanye West Knows It’ll Take An Of God To Bring His Family Back Together

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Even though Kanye West has spent the past week (it’s only Wednesday, people) acting out against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, the volatile producer/fashion mogul apparently still wants to reconcile with her — even if he also seems to realize that to do so would take an act of God. Kanye posted to Instagram yet again today, this time crafting a grid of photos from Kim’s new Vogue cover story, writing in the caption: “GOD PLEASE BRING OUR FAMILY BACK TOGETHER.”

Kanye certainly hasn’t been helping the supreme deity on that count. Early this week, he lashed out at Kim over managing a TikTok account for their daughter North against his wishes, and after she rightfully called him out for repeatedly making their private problems public, he doubled down, posting even more accusations that claimed she tried to bar him from spending time with their kids, forced him to take a drug test, and even put out a hit on him as if the Kardashians were a mob family rather than reality TV stars.

Meanwhile, in the Vogue cover story, Kardashian herself cast even more doubt over the potential for reconciliation, saying, “For so long, I did what made other people happy. And I think in the last two years I decided, I’m going to make myself happy. And that feels really good. And even if that created changes and caused my divorce, I think it’s important to be honest with yourself about what really makes you happy. I’ve chosen myself. I think it’s okay to choose you.”

She also not-so-subtly calls out Kanye’s passive-aggressive behavior. “You could be so hurt or angry at your ex, but I think in front of the kids, it always has to be ‘Your dad’s the best,’” she said. “Make sure you are your co-parent’s biggest cheerleader, no matter what you’re personally going through.”