Music

Ice Cube Is Reportedly At Odds With Warner Bros. Over A ‘Friday’ Sequel

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Ice Cube‘s Friday series is a classic, but the chances of getting another film in the series is apparently in doubt due to a dispute between the multi-hyphenate and the studio behind the series.

According to a Wall Street Journal story detailing the dispute, Ice Cube apparently wants Warners to surrender the rights to the Friday series as well as All About The Benjamins and The Players Club, two other films he made with the studio.

According to letters between the parties, Warner Bros. doesn’t intend to do this, instead blaming Ice Cube for dragging his feet on a new movie with the studio.

Warner Bros. replied, calling the demand “extortionate” and saying it won’t release rights to the valuable franchise or any other Ice Cube movies, according to the correspondence.

One letter from Ice Cube’s lawyer said the studio has been excessive in its feedback notes on the scripts Ice Cube wrote for the latest “Friday” and contends Warner Bros. has been a “poor steward” for the franchise. “These guys don’t get me, and I don’t get them,” Ice Cube said in an interview.

The report indicates that Cube’s other projects, such as the Big 3 basketball league, is distracting him from the next installment in the series, titled Last Friday. Meanwhile, the rapper and actor says potential discrimination in allocating resources is part of his issues with Warners.

In one letter, Ice Cube’s representative wrote that movies he has done for the studio “are habitually underfunded in comparison with projects featuring white casts and creative teams.” The correspondence points to other Ice Cube films he says weren’t well supported; it doesn’t offer specific comparisons to projects from other filmmakers.

Warner Bros. denies it has discriminated against Ice Cube or that it gave short shrift to any of his projects. In a letter sent in May to Ice Cube’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, the studio said the complaints are “grounded in a libelous set of knowing falsehoods.”

The disagreement between the two sides seems serious, and also doesn’t seem likely to be resolved anytime soon. Which means a sequel to Friday, which came out in 1995, isn’t on the horizon anytime soon. As the report noted, an agreement to make a new Friday movie was first signed in 2012. The story details some plot details the studio objected to, and the pushback that Cube gave about the film’s direction.

It’s all certainly been a long time coming, but fans are likely to have to wait even longer before any real progress is made on on Last Friday.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Kevin Huerter Disgusts Hawks Fans By Picking Rich The Kid Over Outkast

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Fans of the Atlanta Hawks turned on one of their own players on Saturday night … well, kind of. As is oftentimes the case in NBA arenas, the Hawks tried to pass some time in between timeouts by running little segments involving players. One appeared to have some sort of bracket element with Atlanta-based rappers, and Kevin Huerter, bless his heart, earned himself a whole lot of boos.

Huerter was asked to choose between Rich the Kid and Outkast. Now, you and I know that regardless of your thoughts on Rich the Kid, you should say Outkast every single time when asked this question, especially if you are doing this in a large venue in Atlanta.

And yet Huerter decided to give his honest answer, and thanks to a video from Taylor Rooks, we learned that the crowd at State Farm Arena showered him with boos.

The video is great because you can hear the crowd react to “RICH THE KID OR OUTKAST” by making a noise as if to say, “Oh, this one is obvious.” Huerter then zags where everyone expects him to zig, which gets the crowd all riled up. We can’t totally make out what is said on the video, but whatever it is, Huerter chuckles at it. Anyway, Kevin, if you read this during halftime, know you’re gonna need to score like 40 in a win to make up for this.

Vince Staples Shares The Tracklist For His Upcoming Self-Titled Album As Its Release Date Nears

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After nearly three years, Vince Staples is finally releasing a new project. The Long Beach rapper will share his third album, a self-titled effort, at the end of next week. It’s a project that will feature heavy production by Kenny Beats, something he revealed in an interview with W magazine.

“[Kenny] sent me a beat that I recorded on, and it just went from there,” he said. “We didn’t go into it intentionally thinking that we would end up with as much as we had. We ended up working two days a week for a month, from after Thanksgiving until before Christmas in 2020. A couple of weeks in, we looked up, and we had some stuff.”

As the release for Vince Staples nears, the rapper shared the tracklist for the upcoming effort on Saturday.

Vince’s third album is comprised of 10 tracks with a lone feature from rising singer Foushee. It also features his previously released single, “Law Of Averages,” which he released for fans last month. A quick glance at the album’s Apple Music pre-save page shows that Vince Staples clocks in at just 22 minutes, which happens to be the exact length of his last project, 2018’s FM!.

Blacksmith/Motown

You can check out the album’s artwork above and its tracklist below.

1. “Are You With That?”
2. “Law Of Averages”
3. “Sundown Town”
4. “The Shining”
5. “Taking Trips”
6. “The Apple & The Tree”
7. “Take Me Home” Feat. Foushee
8. “Lil Fade”
9. “Lakewood Mall”
10. “Mhm”

Vince Staples is out 7/9 via Blacksmith Recordings/Motown Records. Pre-order it here.

G Herbo Is Deep In Introspection As He Travels Through Chicago In His Video For ‘I Don’t Wanna Die’

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It’s barely been a year since G Herbo dropped his third album, PTSD, an effort many called the best and most well-rounded project of his career. Now, he’s back with his fourth effort, titled 25, after the age he’ll turn later this fall. With the new project comes a brand new video for “I Don’t Wanna Die.”

The visual captures the Chicago native standing on top of a bus as it rides through his hometown. Clips of children playing in the street are displayed in the first half of the video before things take a turn for the worst as Herbo shows the darker side of the city that raised him.

25 arrives as a 19-track effort with guest appearances from Polo G, Lil Tjay, 21 Savage, The Kid Laroi, Gunna, Yosohn, and Rowdy Rebel. Prior to the album’s release, Herbo detailed the road that led to his fourth album in an Instagram post.

“I LOST MORE THAN I EVER GAINED BEING IN THE STREETS & STILL NEVER COMPLAINED,” he wrote in part. “NOW THAT I TURNED #25 I JUST GREW A LIL WISER BUT IM STILL JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS SH*T & EVERYTHING I BELIEVE IN! I COULD GO ON & ON ABOUT THIS SH*T BUT IM NOT!”

Scroll up to watch the video for “I Don’t Wanna Die.”

25 is out now via Machine/Epic. Get it here.

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

Cordae Takes A Shot At Capitalism And The Greedy People Of The World On ‘Taxes’

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After staying quiet for the better part of a year following the release of his Grammy-nominated debut album, The Lost Boy, Cordae has returned to active duty. Now we have his latest single, “Taxes,” a song that first appeared in the Barack and Michelle Obama-produced Netflix series We The People. The lyrics take direct aim at the capitalists in the world, questioning whether or not taxes are actually used towards improving communities.

The track comes after he dropped his EP Just Until earlier this year, which featured features from Young Thug and Q-Tip, as well as videos for “Wassup,” “Dream In Color,” and “More Life,” also from the same project. Prior to that, he dropped his single “Parables” and teamed up with Roddy Ricch for their collaboration”Gifted.”

On a more recent note, he stood beside Freddie Gibbs to guest appear on an official version of Nas’ “Life Is Like A Dice Game.” He also teamed with Common for “What’s Life” and funded scholarships for HBCU students in a partnership with Disney and ESPN.

You can listen to Cordae’s “Taxes” in the video above.

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

Cordae Takes A Shot At Capitalism And The Greedy People Of The World On ‘Taxes’

by

After staying quiet for the better part of a year following the release of his Grammy-nominated debut album, The Lost Boy, Cordae has returned to active duty. Now we have his latest single, “Taxes,” a song that first appeared in the Barack and Michelle Obama-produced Netflix series We The People. The lyrics take direct aim at the capitalists in the world, questioning whether or not taxes are actually used towards improving communities.

The track comes after he dropped his EP Just Until earlier this year, which featured features from Young Thug and Q-Tip, as well as videos for “Wassup,” “Dream In Color,” and “More Life,” also from the same project. Prior to that, he dropped his single “Parables” and teamed up with Roddy Ricch for their collaboration”Gifted.”

On a more recent note, he stood beside Freddie Gibbs to guest appear on an official version of Nas’ “Life Is Like A Dice Game.” He also teamed with Common for “What’s Life” and funded scholarships for HBCU students in a partnership with Disney and ESPN.

You can listen to Cordae’s “Taxes” in the video above.

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

Britney Spears’ Conservators Deny That They Forced The Singer To Do A European Tour Despite Her Claims

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A lot has come to light about Britney Spears’ conservatorship in the last couple of weeks. During a court hearing about the conservatorship on June 23, the singer called it “abusive” and asked a judge to end it altogether. “All I want is to own my money … and for this to end … and for my boyfriend to be able to f*cking drive me in his car,” she said. It was during that same hearing that she claimed conservators forced her to go on a European tour back in 2018.

“I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do … my management said if I don’t do this tour, I will have to find an attorney and by contract, their own management could sue me if I didn’t follow through with a tour,” she said during the hearing, according to TMZ. “He handed me a sheet of paper as I got off the stage in Vegas and said I had to sign it. It was very threatening and scary. I couldn’t even get my own attorney, so out of fear, I went ahead and did the tour.”

However, the publication reports that sources “connected to the conservatorship” tell them Spears wanted to do the tour. They said that after her 2018 Vegas residency, she realized “she had nothing on her calendar for almost all of 2018. She then asked Management to find something for her to do so she wouldn’t be bored for a year.”

They added, “She literally begged to do the 2018 European Tour run. She was very excited about it and called repeatedly to ask to have it confirmed. There is a text message exchange between Management and Britney on December 16, 2017, where management provides her with the tour routing. She asks a few questions, and expresses how excited she is to do it.”

Taylor Swift And Adele Are Rumored To Have A Collaboration On The Way And Fans Are Beyond Excited

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Earlier this year, Taylor Swift earned her third No. 1 album in less than 12 months with the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), making her the first woman in music history to achieve this. It’s part of her latest project, which involves re-recording her older albums following a dispute with her former label, which resulted in her losing the masters of her first six albums. This fall, the singer will share her next one, which takes on her 2013 album Red. She also promised previously unheard music, and it may include a collaboration that will surely be one for the books.

As rumor has it, the album may include Taylor collaborating with Adele on “Broken Hearts,” which was registered online with both artists appearing as writers on the song. It reportedly appeared on the SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers) registry, one of the oldest performance rights organizations in the United States.

After the registry appeared on social media, fans of both singers began to share their theories about when the song would arrive and which album it would appear on. Most believed the song will land on Red (Taylor’s Version), which is due on November 19.

You can read some thoughts about the rumored collaboration from fans below.

Report: Britney Spears Is So Tightly Controlled That She Secretly Borrows Phones From Strangers At Gyms And Grocery Stores To Contact People

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Britney Spears has been actively seeking to alter her conservatorship, a court-ordered arrangement that began 13 years ago. There have been multiple hearings about the matter, and on June 23 she finally got the chance to address the matter, calling the arrangement as “abusive” and describing the many ways it restricted her desired lifestyle. “I’ve been in denial,” she admitted. “I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. I just want my life back.”

Nearly two weeks we learned more details in an article by The New Yorker. In it, the singer’s ex-manager, Sam Lufti, shared an example of the increased surveillance the singer allegedly endures under the conservatorship.

“I’ll go years without contact, and then I’ll get a call every once in a while from her in a closet,” Lufti said. He also suggested that the singer’s phone is monitored by her lawyers and that she calls and texts only when she gets another phone. “Last time she called me, she was at Ralphs, in Calabasas[…] After she hung up, I got a call from the same number — it’s an Asian doctor, who says, ‘Wow, this is surreal, Britney just borrowed my phone.’ Five years ago, she borrowed a phone at the gym and just made off with it.”

Lufti added that his last in-person meeting with Britney, which occurred back in 2015, left him concerned for the singer’s well-being. “My opinion is that this conservatorship has drastically affected her mind-set,” he said.

You can read the full piece on The New Yorker here.

Lil Uzi Vert Reportedly Flashed A Gun In An Altercation With Saint Jhn In West Hollywood

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Something went down in Hollywood today between Lil Uzi Vert and Saint Jhn.

According to a frequently updated report by TMZ, Saint Jhn and Lil Uzi Vert were involved in an altercation today at Dialog Cafe in West Hollywood. Uzi apparently came to the cafe because Saint Jhn was meeting with his ex-girlfriend Brittany Byrd. TMZ’s sources claim that Uzi and Jhn got into a physical altercation, and Uzi’s gun fell out onto the table when Uzi tried to land a punch and missed. Other reports claim that Uzi flashed the handle of his gun, causing everyone to flee the scene out of fear of a shooting.

According to Byrd, she was meeting with Jhn strictly for business purposes, but something about the two of them together set Uzi off. vByrd filed a police report later in the day at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s substation alleging that Uzi put a gun to her stomach and struck her during the altercation. Uzi and Saint Jhn have both yet to comment on the fight, though the artists never seemed to have beef before this and Uzi even featured on a song with Jhn, “High School Reunion, Prom” in 2020. You can hear that collab below.