Sports

The 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show Trailer Combines Hits By Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, And Mary J. Blige

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A few months ago, hip-hop fans’ dreams came true when it was announced that Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige would all be performing together at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 13. Now, as the big day is less than a month away, Pepsi has shared a cinematic new teaser video for the performance.

“The Call,” a near-4-minute video helmed by Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray, features each artist getting an important call, prompting them all to head to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California for the big game. Through the cinematic clip, snippets of the legends’ iconic songs set the stage for the show, as the ad features “Rap God,” “The Next Episode,” “Family Affair,” “Humble,” “Still D.R.E.,” and “California Love.”

Gray says of the video in a statement (via The New York Post), “Each time I collaborate with Dre, it seems to mark an important moment in entertainment history, from projects like Friday, Set It Off, Straight Outta Compton, to now the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show. As a super fan, I consider it an honor and privilege to authentically build and create this moment with five of the most legendary artists in music history.”

Todd Kaplan, VP of Marketing at Pepsi, also said in a statement, “Now that we are just weeks away from the most anticipated Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show performance of all time, we’re bringing fans closer to the magic of what will certainly be a colossal moment in pop culture history.”

Watch “The Call” above.

Naomi Osaka Promoted Her Boyfriend Cordae’s New Album In The Most Adorable Way At The Australian Open

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Cordae Naomi Osaka 2021 Lakers game
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This past Friday, Cordae shared his second album, From A Birds Eye View, which boasted 14 songs and features from Gunna, Lil Durk, Freddie Gibbs, Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Roddy Ricch, HER, Lil Durk, and Ant Clemons. It serves as a well-crafted follow-up to his 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy, which gifted Cordae a pair of Grammy nominations. He’s been out and about promoting it, including on NPR Tiny Desk Concert. He also received a bit of help from his girlfriend, tennis star Naomi Osaka.

Following her second win at the ongoing Australian Open tournament against Camila Osorio, Osaka used some camera time to show love to Cordae’s new album. Osaka took a marker to write on the camera lens, but instead of signing her name on it, she wrote the letters “FABEV,” which is of course the acronym for From A Birds Eye View. She later shared a video of her signing the camera and tagged Cordae with an eagle and eye emoji.

You can watch the video of Osaka showing love to From A Birds Eye View above.

From A Birds Eye View is out now via Atlantic. Stream it here.

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

John Cena Says His ‘You Can’t See Me’ Gesture Was Inspired By G-Unit’s Tony Yayo

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John Cena recently made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his new HBO Max series Peacemaker, dressed in his wardrobe from the show. During the conversation, Fallon asked Cena for the backstory behind his infamous “You Can’t See Me” gesture, which became popular during his peak days as a wrestler in the WWE. Cena explained that the gesture started as a dare between him and his little brother Sean.

“The reason I did this is cause while we were making the album to which my theme music is on, my younger brother, Sean, was always our litmus test,” Cena said. “He kinda liked the same music and he would never go to the studio with us and we’d come home with our tracks and play it for him and he was ruthless man. He would never be satisfied with any song.

“He heard ‘My Time Is Now’ and just did this dance that Tony Yayo did in one of the G-Unit videos,” Cena continued. “It was like, he put his hand over his head and just kind of bobbed his head… and I was like, ‘Man, what are you doing? That looked just ridiculous.’ He said, ‘No, no, it’s Tony Yayo, he’s doing this thing.’”

Cena then suggested that he would mimic the move the next time he was on television, which prompted a dare from his little brother. Cena went through with the dare and the rest is history. “Years later, it just overcame the meme culture and now, literally, I’m invisible,” Cena added. “People are like, ‘Why is Jimmy Fallon talking to an empty chair?’ So many people are going to say that. So I’m invisible now. On a dare, by accident.”

Tony Yayo caught wind of Cena’s comments and showed him some love on Twitter. “Shout out to John Cena,” he wrote in a tweet.

You can watch the interview between Fallon and Cena above.

Quavo Says Drake Is Ducking Him After Losing Their Bet On The College Football Championship

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Drake’s got a plethora of hobbies — collecting women’s bags, shooting hoops with NBA players, and even hitting the links with his uncle — but the one that’s undoubtedly cost him the most over the years is his penchant for sports gambling. In 2019, Future revealed that the two spent their whole joint tour gambling. Drake’s had his share of ups and downs but after Monday’s College Football National Championship, he owes Quavo big.

Quavo, who backed his home state Georgia Bulldogs, called out Drake, who bet on the Alabama Crimson Tide, on Instagram, joking that his Canadian compadre was ducking his calls after Georgia beat Alabama, 33-18. “He ain’t answer the phone,” said Quavo. “I need my chips with dip, baby. I need my chips with dip.” The two rappers had engaged in some cheerful trash talk before the game after Quavo posted a photo of them, warning Drake, “U kno why I’m here @champagnepapi we are locked in we are down.” Drake replied, “Run me my bread right after nice and slow no sudden movements.”

It looks like Drake is regretting that bet, but in actuality, you could say he’s really just paying Quavo back after Alabama beat Georgia in the National Basketball Championship a couple of years ago. He’s probably already hoping to get it back in this year’s tournament, so good luck to both Alabama and Georgia, because this is one rivalry that’s entertaining even without the drama on the field.

Grizzlies Minority Owner Justin Timberlake Broke His Social Media Hiatus To Promote Ja Morant’s All-Star Campaign

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In his third season, Memphis Grizzies guard Ja Morant has risen to full-fledged stardom. Averaging 24.7 points, 6.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals on 57.5 percent true shooting, he seems en route to his first career All-Star berth. He’s been awesome and is vital to the Grizzlies’ 28-14 record that sees them just a game back of the three seed out West.

Last week, when initial returns on All-Star votes were released, Morant sat third among West guards, about 118,000 votes behind Luka Doncic for a starting spot. So, on Tuesday, Grizzlies minority owner Justin Timberlake ended his self-imposed social media hiatus to advocate for the high-flying playmaker’s All-Star campaign.

Fan votes compose just half of the criteria for selecting All-Star starters, but Timberlake’s efforts surely won’t hurt. Stephen Curry has nearly two million more votes than Doncic and Morant, while Klay Thompson is fourth, more than 300,00 votes behind Morant. Among fans, it seems like a two-man race between Doncic and Morant to join Curry as a starter.

Morant and the Grizzlies are riding an eight-game winning streak and have the NBA’s fifth-best record this season. They’ll have a chance to make it nine in a row and add another layer to Morant’s All-Star hopes when they welcome Curry’s Golden State Warriors to town Tuesday evening.

Shaq Is A Budding EDM Superstar And Just Dropped ‘Welcome To The Playhouse’ With Steve Aoki

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As Shaq gears up for his ridiculous — and quite frankly, very awesome-sounding — “Shaq’s Fun House” Super Bowl weekend party with Diplo, Lil Wayne, and bottomless Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, he’s also adding to his EDM repertoire. Through his DJ Diesel moniker, the NBA legend has been playing gigs and festivals and collaborating with electronic stars, but none are bigger than what he just pulled off with Steve Aoki.

On “Welcome To The Playhouse,” Shaq… pardon, DJ Diesel and Steve Aoki have put down a banging trap/dubstep “gametime anthem.” The two have a real buddy comedy vibe brewing and have been friends since Shaq first saw Aoki play at TomorrowWorld in 2014. The following year, Shaq played the festival for the first time as DJ Diesel. Then in 2020, Aoki’s label, Dim Mak, released the DJ Diesel track “Ultimate.” Of this latest track, Aoki spoke on how it’s been a long time coming in a statement:

“SHAQ and I have been wanting to collaborate on a track together for a while now, but it wasn’t until he came over to Aoki’s Playhouse one day that we finally found the inspiration for our collab. We hopped into the studio and the track just came together.”

Shaq echoed the vibe in his own words:

“Working with Steve on ‘Welcome to the Playhouse’ was a blast. We went back and forth for hours together in his studio and eventually ended up with one of my favorite DIESEL releases to date. WELCOME TO THE PLAYHOUSE!”

Listen to “Welcome To The Playhouse” and watch the animated video above.

Shaq Is Throwing An Open Bar Super Bowl Weekend Party With Lil Wayne, Diplo, Papa John’s, And Roscoe’s

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Go big or go home: Shaquille O’Neal clearly lives by these words. The gregarious NBA legend has seemingly never met a money-making opportunity he didn’t jump into in full force. Lately, he’s been headlining New Year’s Eve festivals under his DJ Diesel moniker, getting put through two tables in a pro wrestling match, and diving into the crypto-currency game so deeply, that his Twitter display name is no longer SHAQ, it’s SHAQ.ETH (a nod to the Ethereum blockchain.)

Now he’s getting ready to throw another edition of his wild Super Bowl weekend party that might just rank near the top of the insane-o meter. Dubbed Shaq’s Fun House, his Super Bowl Weekend… pardon… Big Game Weekend event at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium will feature musical guests like Lil Wayne, Diplo, and Zedd, plus DJ sets from himself and his son Myles O’Neal.

Did we mention that it’s open bar? That’s right, folks. Each ticket holder is entitled to a six-hour open bar, plus bites from “LA’s most iconic restaurants” like Roscoe’s Chicken And Waffles, Pink’s Hot Dogs, Diddy Riese Ice Cream, and LA… err…. institution, Papa John’s. The party is also a carnival, with the enormous FTX ferris wheel and circus performers. Shaq, who also happens to be dropping a collab track with Steve Aoki on Friday, laid out on his website that this is clearly an “over the top” affair:

“Los Angeles – I am back to win another Big Game Weekend championship! Part festival, part carnival, I recruited Lil Wayne, Zedd, Diplo and more to perform, plus will be building out a massive carnival experience. Get ready for LA’s most over the top party and celebrity filled event ever!”

This is a very of-the-moment function, with every attendee guaranteed to go home with free NFTs and even features an “Ultimate Giveaway” for $10,000 in Bitcoin among other prizes. The VIP area is hosted by Wynn Las Vegas and I’m not sure what parties you might be planning over Super Bowl weekend, but Omicron not withstanding, Shaq has you topped.

Ticketing pre-sale begins Thursday, January 6th at 10 a.m. PT here, with general on-sale starting the following day at the same link.

2021’s Most-Liked Instagram Posts Were From Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, And A Mermaid

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Musicians are major players in the realm of social media, and that remained true in 2021: A good chunk of the most-liked Instagram posts from the past year were by musicians or were music-related.

Ariana Grande has the top post among musicians and the second most-liked one overall, as a May 26 post featuring photos from her wedding with Dalton Gomez has over 26 million likes (according to Wikipedia, with data accurate as of December 23 and updated by Uproxx on December 27 for this post). It could be argued, though, that Billie Eilish actually fared better on the list: While the aforementioned Grande post is her only one in the top ten, Eilish has two posts on the list, the most among musicians. A post revealing her blonde hair ranks at No. 4 with 23 million likes and a photo from her Vogue photoshoot is No. 6 with 22.1 million likes.

Other musicians make cameos on the list as well. Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy announcement post from September, in which she tagged Travis Scott, is No. 3 with 24.6 million likes. Meanwhile, Iron Shore Mermaid, a professional mermaid performer, had a post in the top ten, a video set to The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay.”

Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez had the honor of having the year’s top post, as their pregnancy announcement racked up over 32 million likes since it was shared in late October. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi had three posts in the top ten, making him the person with the most top-ten posts this year.

In terms of the people involved, this year’s list looks similar to the 2020 ranks, as Ronaldo, Messi, Grande, and Jenner all had some of last year’s top posts, too.

Check out the top ten list of the year’s most-liked Instagram posts below.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez — pregnancy announcement (October 28; 32.3 million likes)
2. Ariana Grande — photos from her wedding with Dalton Gomez (May 26; 26.7 million likes)
3. Kylie Jenner — second pregnancy announcement (September 8; 24.6 million likes)
4. Billie Eilish — blonde hair reveal (March 17; 23 million likes)
5. Lionel Messi — First post after signing with Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (August 11; 22.1 million likes)
6. Billie Eilish — Vogue photoshoot (May 2; 22.1 million likes)
7. Lionel Messi — photo with the Copa América trophy (July 11; 22 million likes)
8. Lionel Messi — post announcing his departure from Barcelona during a press conference (August 8; 21.2 million likes)
9. Mermaid Montana — Iron Shore Mermaid (August 18; 20.2 million likes)
10. Tom Holland — birthday post for Zendaya (September 1; 19.6 million likes)

Matt Rhule Bizarrely Compared The Panthers To Jay-Z After Their Latest Loss

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The Carolina Panthers lost their fifth consecutive game on Sunday in a 32-6 loss to the Bucs that featured yet another lackluster offensive performance and, just generally, little resistance to what Tampa Bay was trying to do.

There are certainly injuries that have played a role, most notably to star running back Christian McCaffrey, but the lack of improvement as a team in Year 2 under Matt Rhule has led to plenty of chatter in Charlotte that the former Baylor coach should be on the hot seat. The Panthers don’t seem like a team ready to make another coaching change immediately, but every loss to close out this season will only increase the possible warmth he’s feeling under him.

After the loss on Sunday, Rhule tried to address those frustrations by insisting things are getting better, you just can’t see those changes tangibly in the on-field product — which, of course, is the only part that matters. Rhule did this by making a strange comparison to Jay-Z having to start his own agency (we think he means record label) to become an “overnight success” after seven years.

While I understand the general premise of trying to say that every “overnight success” is actually years of work behind the scenes that no one sees to become one of the best, this seems like a really weird analogy. The issue for Jay-Z in this story is that he was trying to get noticed and had to launch his own record label in order to get his music out, while the Panthers issue appears to be that they are simply bad at football, not that they’re actually good but no one can see them.

Unless they’re going to star their own football league in order to breakout on their own, I’m not sure Rhule has much going for him here, but it’s at least a creative effort at insisting he should be given a long leash because success is just around the corner.

LeBron James Trolls His Friends Maverick Carter And Rich Paul For Being Adele And Jay-Z’s Chargers Game ‘Plus-Ones’

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There was quite a stir on the internet when British singer Adele “debuted” her new beau Rich Paul after months of low-key “hanging out” (as he put it in an interview in The New Yorker in May), with fans flabbergasted (or outright confused, for the singer’s fans who don’t watch the sportsball) by the seemingly unlikely pairing. Paul, of course, is the agent of NBA superstar LeBron James, who it turns out isn’t above teasing his friend’s PDA with the “Easy On Me” singer, as he did on Twitter last night during the Thursday night football game between the Los Angeles Chargers (still feels weird to type) and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Adele, Paul, and LeBron’s other right-hand man Maverick Carter were all caught on the broadcast along with James’ mentor and favorite rapper Jay-Z, and he couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to troll his friends for being less famous than their companions. “Who the heck are Jay-Z and Adele’s +1s????” he tweeted, adding a monocle emoji for extra effect.

Of course, Mav and Rich are likely used to drawing just a little less attention after growing up with LeBron in Cleveland and helping to manage his career since he was drafted straight out of high school in 2003. Nearly 20 years later, it seems they’re as tight as ever — and enjoying the benefits of it, hanging out not just with LeBron, but with two of the biggest names in entertainment as well.

Oh, and the Chargers lost. Sigh.