Marlon Wayans says that Paris and Nicky Hilton were the original inspiration for him and his brother, Shawn Wayans’ cult classic 2004 film, White Chicks. Marlon recalled a magazine cover featuring the sisters that gave his brother the idea for the film.
“The original ‘white chick’ and I… funny story one day my brother @therealdjsw1 calls me at 3 am saying ‘Marlon we should play white chicks’… I replied ‘n***a, you high?’. The next day he showed me a magazine with @parishilton and her sister on the cover and said we should play gurls like this,” Marlon wrote. “I immediately got it. They were so big and [were] the gateway to pop culture send up. We did that film in good spirit to celebrate a special time in all of our lives. So thank you Paris and Nikki for being muses. Love ya. When we do #whitechicks2 ‘let’s go shopping.'”
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The 2004 film stars both Marlon and Shawn as disgraced federal agents who go undercover as white women to solve a crime. White Chicks was directed by their other brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans.
The iconic film received mixed reviews upon release but has become a cult classic over the years.
Former Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire actress Janet Hubert caught wind of Rashad’s comments, and she immediately hit Twitter to slam the beloved Black actress for siding with the disgraced actor, who is widely considered guilty.
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“Phylicia what are you thinking!!!” Janet Hubert says while criticizing Phylicia Rashad. “I don’t know you but to say this was terribly wrong. EVERYONE knew what he was doing back then. How could you NOT! Get your umbrella sista here comes the shit shower. I am outraged that he has been released. Yes he is an old ass guilty man!”
“I would have said he’s old he’s out and I’m happy for him,” Hubert continues, “but he still …guilty. I know 5 women who have not come forward. Enough Ya’ll we know better. Powerful men do wrong things, black or white…”
Following the backlash from Hubert, fans, and several other notable celebrities, Phylicia Rashad has since come forward and addressed her support for Cosby, saying, “I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth…My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
Check out the exchange between Janet Hubert and Phylicia Rashad below.
What are your thoughts on this situation? Is Phylicia Rashad out of line for publicly supporting Bill Cosby upon his release from prison?
According to the singer herself, Njomza means “a fresh bud of a flower, before it blooms.” She shared this during a 2019 interview with FOMO Blog before adding, “It’s the new bud, so it means something fresh, something new, something youthful.” At just 27 years old, Njomza embodies the full meaning of her name. She’s still young and her music and presence in the industry could be considered new and fresh to many. With just two EPs and a mixtape under her belt, Njomza is just getting started.
That brings us to the release of her third EP, Limbo. The quarantine-made project captures the lengthy moment of uncertainty that Njomza experienced over the past fifteen months, one that those who listen to the project will surely relate to. Its seven songs deliver what is the Chicago-raised artist’s most collaborative affair yet as it boasts contributions from Russ, Ari Lennox, Metro Mars, and WurID. However, make no mistake, Njomza has plenty of experience working with other artists like Ariana Grande for example and she helped penned the pop sensation’s “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next” singles.
Fresh off the release of Limbo, Uproxx caught up with the singer to talk about the EP, how she dealt with her own period of uncertainty last year, and what she hopes listeners take away from Limbo.
It seems like the theme of this project, Limbo, is isolation with self or isolation with someone, confiding with them in a sense. What inspired this?
Being in quarantine, I feel like we were in a place that we were kind of in limbo. Also, I kind of noticed while I was writing the songs that they were kind of manifesting themselves into this project. I had initially finished my album first, and then Limbo came to be once I was already done with my album. So I was like, this needs to come up first before the album because I wanted it to be an EP. I didn’t see it as an album, even though I ended up treating it that way, but it’s really just like that back and forth of a relationship. That in-between space where you don’t know what direction y’all are headed, you don’t know if it’s the right thing for you, and the relationship really being in limbo.
Do you feel like you’ve broken out of limbo? If you have, what was the moment where you were like, “Okay, I’m free from this moment of uncertainty?”
I feel like I’m definitely coming out of it. The moment, I would just say, for me, is just choosing myself and getting to know myself first rather than falling into all those little traps to be in limbo. I really took time while being in that position to get to know myself and kind of figure out what I want for my life and my own self. So that was really the moment, just choosing me first before anything else.
With this period of uncertainty, are you someone that rides it out until it goes away? Or do you look for a way out of it as quickly as possible when it arrives?
I feel like I’m definitely the person that once I realized what’s going on, I have to pivot, I have to figure out a new direction. Especially if I’m seeing that it’s not serving me well. Obviously, we all fall back into stuff that we don’t want to fall back into sometimes, but I would definitely say I’m the second option definitely, as soon as I realize it I’m like, I gotta get out of here.
That brings me back to the pandemic. I can only imagine that if that’s an innate and natural feeling to you, it must’ve been hard for you to accept that breaking out of the pandemic world and its weirdness was hard.
During quarantine, I mean, it was so depressing, obviously, with everything going on in the world. Then, my whole career stopped, it was at a halt. I was supposed to drop my album, I was just planning to do so much. So coping with that, I really just leaned towards recording myself. I spent a lot of time recording myself at the house and trying to stay safe, but still being creative. The song “Honestly” on my project, on Limbo, I recorded at home and wrote it at home in my bedroom. That’s one of the songs on Limbo that I felt was birthed in quarantine. I was just trying to stay creative, trying to keep myself sane, while not freaking out every day.
What does this phrase, “finding comfort in discomfort,” mean to you? Especially now that we’re breaking out of pandemic life and getting back to a world that we once knew?
Finding comfort and discomfort, I feel like that phrase is my whole life in a nutshell. I feel like being an artist, for me, is exciting, but it’s also uncomfortable, like having to constantly present myself and be perceived to the world. I think the biggest thing for me recently has been being okay with being uncomfortable and being perceived all the time and having to constantly put my foot forward as an artist and show who I really am. I feel like releasing music is such a vulnerable process in all forms, when it comes to videos, the songs, [and] performing them. It’s just kind of finding comfort with that. That’s what it means to be at least, when I hear that that’s what I think about.
Have you ever found yourself trying to change how you create music so that it gets perceived in the way you want it to? Or do you just put it out and accept that everyone will receive it in their own way because that’s sort of the beauty of art?
I guess if I’m being completely honest, it’s got to be a little bit of both because as a songwriter, I feel like I can write any genre I want. I feel comfortable doing that and I listened to so many different genres, so in a way, I almost have to kind of think about what it’s going to be perceived as when I’m making a project. For Limbo, there’s a sound with Limbo and it kind of stays in this world. With my upcoming album, it’s the same thing. I feel like it’s different than Limbo, obviously, there are notes that are the same, like I’m singing all of this, so it’s still in that realm, but when I make projects, they become their own world. I think about what it means to me, but I also think about how my fans are going to perceive it or how the listeners are going to perceive it, I definitely think about that. But you can only think about it so much, because like you said, people are going to take it and run with it however they want. My hope is just that people feel it in a similar way that I do or at least they feel my intention behind it though.
Heading back to the music on the project, with the title track, “Limbo,” you mention money, fame, and pride as things that would interfere with a relationship. Are there any other things that get in the way whether it be through your doing or from your partners?
I guess pride is the best word out of those three, just covering all those bases, as something that can get in the way with not only romantic relationships, but friendships [and] all sorts of relationships. I definitely have dealt with that in my relationships and ego can definitely get in the way. There’s just a lot of paranoia all across the board when it comes to the music industry and especially living in LA. You just question people’s intentions and I think when you can put that aside and just realize we’re all human, we can prosper. I feel like those things definitely get in the way.
Moving onto “Over And Done,” you’re hit with the unexpected end of a relationship. How do you personally try and cope with things ending out of the blue?
You just have to realize that it’s just life at the end of the day. You can’t control people, all you can control is the way you react to situations. That’s just something that, personally, I just try to do in the best way possible. My new thing is that I’m trying not to take everything personally, that’s my new thing right now. My new motto is don’t take anything personally Because a lot of the times it’s not, everyone’s dealing with their own sh*t. I think that’s how I cope with it.
Contrary to your other projects, you worked with a lot of people on Limbo. There’s Russ, WurID, Metro Mars, and Ari Lennox. Why did you decide to incorporate so many new acts into this project?
I love collaborating and I’m excited that I’m finally just starting to do it. I’ve always just focused on writing my own music and getting my own sound figured out. I feel like I’m in a space now where I know what I’m bringing to the table, so I feel comfortable working with other artists and writers. I’m excited to see what other collaborations I’ll do in the future. I’m so open to it, so I guess we’ll see.
What’s the best advice you can give to someone who feels like they’re in limbo?
My best advice is to go inward and get to know yourself because I feel like we’ve finally kind of had the time and space to do so. Put yourself first as much as you can and just strive for the better. That’s the best advice I could give in this situation.
I don’t want to dive too far into this, but how might Limbo go hand in hand with your next body of work? In terms of how the journey from Limbo to your next album might go?
I think Limbo is leading me to a place where I really am finding myself and focusing less on my relationships, I guess, and — still focusing on my relationships — but putting more focus on me and dealing with my emotions. That’s what I would say Limbo is leading me to.
For someone who might be new to your music or even someone who’s been a fan, once they finish Limbo, what’s something that you hope they take away with it?
I just hope that you can feel me as a human on these songs and that you just get something positive out of it. Whether it’s literally just being able to ride home from work and listen to the project and vibe out or it hits you a little deeper and taps into what you’re actually going through in life, I just hope it hits a heartstring in one way or another.
Limbo is out now via SinceThe80s/Motown. Get it here.
Njomza is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After a year and a half of lockdown, Common is ready to reenter the world with a new perspective. Following up on the release of his 2020 album A Beautiful Revolution Pt 1, Common looks forward to a brighter future with his inspiring “Imagine” video featuring LA-based singer PJ.
Directed by Emmanuel Afolabi, the visual was filmed as LA began to lift lockdown restrictions across the city. It sees Common hitting the streets in his community, meeting with fans and preaching the importance of connecting to one another.
About the track, Common said he wrote the song during a difficult time, so he wrote the song to serve as inspiration for making it through:
“I wrote ‘Imagine’ at a time when we were all going through a lot. But something kept telling me to focus on the good and the things I wanted to see in the world. For me, music is one of the things that gives me hope and happiness throughout these times, whether I am creating it or listening to it. So I wanted ‘Imagine’ to create that feeling of how you can play a song and feel inspired. How a song can make you move and also move your spirit. Essentially, I want us all to feel like days are getting better and that great times are ours for the taking. And the first step in feeling that way is imagining it.”
Trump’s team is calling the charges a “politically motivated” attack on the former President stating, “the district attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other district attorney would ever think of bringing, this is not justice; this is politics.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is currently heading the lengthy investigation working hard to expose the financial crimes committed by Trump and the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg has spoken to investigators and revealed that Vance suspected Weisselberg and other execs were able to avoid paying taxes in exchange for fringe benefits, such as an apartment.
The future isn’t looking bright for the Trump team as D.A. Vance has only been advancing in his agenda since he won the rights to obtain Donald Trump’s personal and professional tax documents back in February.
One of the Trump Organization’s attorneys, Ron Fischetti, suggested Weisselberg is only facing charges because he would not give up information on Trump to investigators stating, “they could not get him to cooperate because he would not say that Donald Trump had knowledge or any information that he may have been not deducting properly the use of cars or an apartment.”
Bill Cosby is reportedly considering a lawsuit against Montgomery County, following his release from prison, earlier this week. After being incarcerated for the last 3 years, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his indecent assault conviction on the technicality that a prior prosecutor reached an agreement with Cosby that would have prevented him from being criminally charged in the case.
According to TMZ, Cosby is meeting with his legal team, Thursday, to discuss potential options for legal recourse.
Mark Makela / Getty Images
“This is the justice Mr. Cosby has been fighting for. They saw the light,” Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said, according to NBC News, after the ruling. “He was given a deal, and he had immunity. He should have never been charged.”
District Attorney Kevin Steele released a statement Wednesday condemning the decision: ″[Cosby] was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime. My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law — including those who are rich, famous and powerful.”
Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi loves to get on his dirt bikes and four-wheelers to terrorize the street in the late hours of the night. Aside from Meek Mill, Uzi is probably the biggest adrenaline junkie in rap. We’ve seen videos of him doing wheelies all across the city and this week, he brought his girlfriend JT along for the ride.
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Sharing a video of them pulling off a wheelie on a four-wheeler with JT hanging on for her dear life, Uzi wrote, “OMG [laughing emojis] @thegirljt YOU SO SCARY MOMMY. I literally couldn’t BREATH [face-palm emoji] I love you so much crazy lady …. My Partner in crime.”
In the video, JT screams when Uzi starts doing a wheelie as she holds him from behind. She commented on the post, writing, “Lmaoooooooooo why would you expose me pa? [laughing emojis] next time im gone be ready…..I love you more! You always put me in another world, never a dull moment.”
Seeing JT on the back of Uzi’s four-wheeler is nice, but she’ll definitely need to get used to the ride before she gets back on.
Kyle Massey, best known for his role as Cory Baxter on Disney shows such as That’s So Raven and Cory in the House, is denying the accusations of allegedly sending pornographic material to a 13-year-old, for which he was charged with a felony, earlier this week. In a statement released by his lawyer, Massey and his legal team labeled the accusations as “extortive.”
“It is unfortunate that Kyle Massey had to learn through the media yesterday that the 2019 allegations have resurfaced in the State of Washington a year after their dismissal,” attorney Lee Hutton told Page Six in the statement. “Massey claims that the allegations then and now are extortive.”
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
The victim and her mother first sued Massey back in 2019, and have provided police with a flash drive containing the explicit messages in question.
“Massey was never properly served or notified as represented to the court and the pleadings are procedurally and substantively deficient on its face,” Hutton said of the felony charge. “Massey intends to aggressively defend these accusations again and will seek civil damages from those that refuse to hear the facts. We plan to seek an early dismissal — finally putting these extortive attempts to rest.”
Earlier this week, Massey was scheduled to appear at King County Criminal Court in Washington, but never showed up.
At the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, Tyler, the Creator won “Best Rap Album” for his fifth studio album Igor, an album that Tyler himself prefaced by saying, “Don’t go into this expecting a rap album.” Despite its genre-bending nature and heavy pop aesthetic, Igor was shoved into the rap category and was crowned victorious, a misstep that the Grammys appeared to try and atone for by awarding Nas the win for King’s Disease earlier this year. Tyler, the Creator — while openly grateful for his Grammy — spoke about how the win felt like a backhanded compliment and wondered aloud, “Why can’t we just be in pop?”
Two years after Igor, however, Tyler, the Creator has taken a detour from his revered genre-fluid output and transitioned back to rap, a complete stylistic shift that he revealed was actually inspired by Westside Gunn. The result is CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, a 16-track album that returns the experimental artist to his raw, Hip-Hop roots. During the first ten seconds of the album opener “SIR BAUDELAIRE,” Tyler proclaims that Wolf Haley — the alter ego that dominated his first three projects: Bastard, Goblin, and Wolf — is back, but CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST doesn’t really mark a return to form for the once-polarizing artist. Instead, Tyler, the Creator’s sixth studio album showcases how much he’s grown since his angst-filled early output, as an artist and as a human being.
Tyler is full-on rapping again, but the gratuitous outlandish subject matter is replaced with absolute bars. “LUMBERJACK” still remains one of the best executed and pure rap tracks from the album, but songs like “CORSO” and “SAFARI” boast some of Tyler’s hardest verses to date. While there are some questionable bars sprinkled throughout the album, Tyler’s lyrics across the board are more focused and insightful than they’ve ever been.
Tracks like “MASSA” “MANIFESTO,” and “WILSHIRE” are CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST’s shining examples of Tyler’s maturity. On “MASSA,” the Golf Wang creator documents his journey as an artist and dives into an intense stretch of self-reflection, and “MANIFESTO” literally serves as a bold confrontation with his controversial past. Yet, it’s “WILSHIRE” — an uncharacteristically minimal eight-minute and 36-second track about falling in love with his friend’s girlfriend — that illustrates Tyler’s extraordinary growth. A decade ago, a song with subject matter similar to “WILSHIRE” would have been plagued with surface-level lyrics and references to rape, but now, Tyler is able to tell a prolonged story in a brutally honest and captivating way without hiding behind “shock factor.”
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With that said, as much as Tyler has grown, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST does expose the fact that the Grammy award-winning artist has become somewhat set in his ways. From habitually releasing an album every two years to making the tenth track of his albums a two-part song, the multi-talented artist can be frustratingly predictable, and songs like “HOT WIND BLOWS” and “SWEET/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” fall short of their full potential. “HOT WIND BLOWS” is a middling collaboration between Tyler and Lil Wayne, who have proven in the past that they can strike gold when teaming up on wax together. Then there’s the collaboration with Brent Faiyaz. Surprisingly, the first half of “SWEET/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” is one of the weakest and sonically jarring moments on CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, and Tyler’s signature jazzy and synthy production style — which used to feel grand and experimental on previous projects — now feels uninventive.
To be fair, however, Tyler’s knack for sticking to his creative guns yields far more amazing moments than lackluster ones, and quite frankly, with the arrival of CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, it’s time to admit that Tyler, the Creator has mastered the art of creating moments.
Throughout his career, he has had at least one insane or unexpected moment on each album, whether it be a six-minute therapy session with the voice in his head on “Bastard” or an unexpectedly beautiful and well-balanced Playboi Carti and Charlie Wilson collaboration on “EARFQUAKE.” CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST shows that Tyler has not only figured out how to craft those lightning in a bottle-esque records, he has figured out how to flood his projects with them.
Hearing NBA YoungBoy randomly storm onto “WUSYANAME” for the first time is an unforgettable experience, and if it weren’t for Tyler, the Creator, who knows if listeners would have ever heard YoungBoy so wondrously out of his element. Only Tyler could have tastefully pieced together a nostalgic 90s R&B-inspired cut that samples H-Town’s classic song “Back Seat (Wit No Sheets)” and features both NBA YoungBoy and Ty Dolla $ign. And while that song alone is in the running for one of the wildest Hip-Hop collaborations of 2021, Tyler’s sixth studio album is filled with several more just like it, from the blaring 42 Dugg-assisted track “LEMONHEAD” to the otherworldly 14th track “JUGGERNAUT” that features Pharrell and Lil Uzi Vert.
Furthermore, Tyler, the Creator’s decision to enlist the services of DJ Drama has arguably made his whole sixth studio album a moment in itself. Like many of DJ Drama’s most notable Gangsta Grillz mixtapes, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST has its own identity, and it is utterly entertaining to listen to, from Tyler’s unprecedented commercial freestyle over Westside Gunn’s “Michael Irvin” to the former Odd Future artist fully embracing his past, present, and future on “SAFARI.” Tyler, the Creator a.k.a. Wolf Haley a.k.a Flower Boy T a.k.a. Igor a.k.a Tyler Baudelaire has a Gangsta Grillz mixtape, and if you take the time to fully listen to it, you’ll never forget it.
Rick Ross undeniably has one of the best car collections out of everybody in the rap game. While Chris Brown, Travis Scott, and plenty of others have strong fleets in their garages, Rick Ross has over one hundred vehicles at his estate, putting every other rapper to shame.
Last week, the Florida-based rap icon explained how he can afford to have so many cars at his 400-acre property, revealing that people pay him exorbitant amounts of money just to take pictures with his vintage whips. Much like he’s done with his estate, Rozay has made a business out of his investments. Days after he spoke about his collection, the rapper felt like showing off some of his most prized possessions, walking down his driveway and focusing the camera on his classic Rolls-Royce cars.
“No loaners,” bragged Rozay in his caption, telling the world that he owns every car on his property. People are raving over his car collection, which rivals that of late-night show legend Jay Leno. Recently, they met up to compare collections, filming some content for socials, and becoming fast friends.
Watch the video below to see Rick Ross show off some of his coolest cars and let us know what you think of his collection.
