Month: October 2020

Earlier this summer, Coachella announced they were working to expand their representation of Black voices within their organization by launching the committee GV Black. Now, sharing their next step in working with GV Black, Coachella has unveiled a line of Black Lives Matter merch designed by Black artists.

For the new line of merch, Coachella tapped a handful of artists. Among the designers are Diana Boardley (who has created designed for Grammy winners and NFL players), Nicholas Mayfield (whose work has been noticed by Migos and Lil Wayne), Supervsn (a South Central LA native who has collaborated with Nipsey Hussle), and Bricks & Wood (a streetwear brand founded by visual artist Kacey Lynch).

Alongside announcing the new collection of merch, Coachella detailed a new initiative aimed at fostering diversity withing their community. In a statement on how they will amplify the voices of Black artists, Coachella said they plan to “share our platform with Black creatives to support their brands and Black nonprofit organizations of their choosing as part of a specialty merchandise collaboration” and “continue this dynamic partnership within the entire festival merchandising ecosystem from design, to strategy, to final product.”

The festival continued to say they will foster an environment that welcomes people of color and the LGBTQ+ community:

“Deepen our work across the intersections of race, gender and mental health as they connect to our existing — transformative justice inspired — harassment prevention program, every one.

Celebrate and empower the LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community through a Queer/Trans mentor-led festival experience meant to support discussion of issues that affect the community and lead to actionable dialogue and change beyond the festival – curated by Juice x Navi, Queer +.

Further our festival’s inclusivity and accessibility efforts, including employment initiatives aimed at BIPOC people with disabilities, via an inaugural program that will host and honor guests within the community, with a focus on forwarding issues facing this group – led by Sabeerah Najee in partnership with Accessible Festivals.”

Check out the merch designs above.

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

YouTube star Queen Naija has been officially pursuing her music career for a little under three years but has made plenty of headway in that relatively short span of time. Later this month, she plans to release her debut album, Missunderstood, on Capitol Records, with her new single “Lie To Me” leading the way. The song, built on a classic DeBarge sample (hip-hop favorite “A Dream”) and featuring Chicago rapper Lil Durk, finds her stressing what sounds like a semi-toxic relationship.

“Love me good and lie to me,” she urges on the chorus. “Don’t want broken promises, don’t want apologies.” Durk reciprocates, “Lowkey I be textin’ all her friends, she told me she don’t care.” In terms of love songs, it’s low on romance but probably relatable to plenty of listeners who are out there overlooking some serious red flags for the promise of good sex. The video, directed by Teyana “Spike Tey” Taylor, chronicles the creation of the song as the two artists flirt back and forth on the phone before meeting up in-person to record it.

Naija’s recruitment of Lil Durk comes at an opportune time for the Windy City rapper. He’s in the midst of a career resurgence after a bout of legal battles, getting a huge co-sign from Drake on “Laugh Now, Cry Later” then capitalizing with his own single “The Voice,” and a new album of the same name coming out later this month. He’s also featured on Bia’s “Same Hands” and Nas’ King’s Disease.

Watch Lil Durk and Queen Naija’s “Lie To Me” video above.

Missunderstood is out 10/30 via Capitol Records. Pre-save it here.

Jason Momoa was recently living the decadent breakfast life in Detroit, but this week? A whole new setting, and it’s not nearly as tasty, probably. The Aquaman star traveled into Canada, where he’s presumably preparing to finish See‘s second season for Apple TV+. And because Canada’s taking this whole pandemic thing seriously, Lisa Bonet’s husband must quarantine all by himself for two weeks. In other words, Jason Momoa is not lifting weights with Lenny Kravitz in the Bahamas, like many of us would prefer to spend isolation time. Instead, he’s confined to a small house. As Momoa confessed to Trevor Noah while calling into The Daily Show on Monday, he’s “going out of my mind.”

Officially, Momoa was on hand to discuss the new documentary, Gather, which he executive produced while hoping to shine light on hardships faced by indigenous communities. The film, which spotlights the vital issue of food sovereignty, is only one example of Momoa’s ongoing activism, and he profusely thanked Noah for watching the film while suggesting that not all interviewers go to such lengths.

The man who embodied Khal Drogo then proceeded to be far too relatable, despite checking into the video feed while wearing a helmet. A helmet for what? No one knows, since Momoa admitted that he’s got “a bike that I can’t ride” while in quarantine. He called the process “gnarly,” and I think many people can agree with what he’s going through right now. However, not all of us have a ton of cool guitars and a drum set to amuse us during this down time. It’s always a blast to watch Momoa fanboy over music, so if you’re at all inclined, you won’t be disappointed to watch the full video above.

As the future of live music remains uncertain, architects and investors behind Oda home speakers are offering a different kind of live music experience. The new line of speakers comes with a subscription service that streams rotating performances by a bevy of artists like Madlib, Arca, and The Microphones.

Each weekend, Oda owners will be able to hear broadcasts of performances by varying artists alongside surprise guests and special programming. In between live performances, Oda speakers transmit a continuous live high-quality stream from locations around the world like a bird sanctuary in Costa Rica and New York’s Tompkins Square Park. Of course, music lovers will also be able to play their own music through unique speakers via Bluetooth.

In a statement, founder Nick Dangerfield described his vision behind Oda speakers:

“We made Oda because live music is a vital part of our lives. We believe all of us should be doing our part to preserve the cultural value of music. Artists are increasingly subjected to unfavorable terms, yet they continue to give us music of life-affirming quality. We’re just trying to build something positive. And our secret mission is to make you listen carefully. If you truly listen, everything will be fine. […] Oda was born as a solution to allow musicians to perform live from their home and studio, and envisioned as an additional revenue stream, and new creative challenge. The intention was never to replace touring or live music, but quite the contrary: the dream was always to bring more live music into our lives. We promise to bring you a varied, world class program of live music performance throughout the week.”

Founded in 2016, Oda was born out of necessity for Dangerfield. As a huge fan of Phil Elverum’s music, Dangerfield was disturbed to hear that Elverum was going to take a hiatus from touring. Still wanting to hear Elverum’s music, Dangerfield built 50 speakers that would connect to an app on Elverum’s phone so the artist could broadcast songs for his fans whenever he had the time.

Oda is available starting at $299 with $79 for seasonal membership. Get it here.

When the Finals end, whether as early as this Friday or as late as next Tuesday, the real work for the NBA and NBPA will begin, as they must come together to figure out exactly how to proceed with the 2021 season and beyond.

Adam Silver has made it very apparent that next season likely won’t start until January or later, and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts echoed that sentiment to The Athletic’s Shams Charania in an interview on Tuesday. Roberts said that the “latter part of January, February” makes the most sense for the start of the 2021 campaign, with hopes of having some fans in arenas through rapid testing as it is becoming more readily available.

Roberts noted that starting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day would be great, but also could still be a bit too early, depending on what happens with the pandemic over the winter months. Whatever the case, starting in January or February or later, there will be ramifications on the schedule for years to come from pushing the 2021 season back. As Roberts sees it, it’s an opportunity to experiment with an idea that’s picked up steam in recent years, which is to start on Christmas and avoid most conflict with the NFL — pushing the NBA Playoffs into July and August, rather than May and June. She told Charania that she “wouldn’t bet” on the old October to June schedule ever coming back after this.

Even before COVID happened, there was a conversation about starting our season later. Why compete with football in the fall? Why don’t we start our season around Christmas? It may very well be that our regular schedule is going to change, not so much because of COVID, but because of the ability to experiment. I wouldn’t bet on returning to the old normal.

It’s a conversation that’s come up at times, with some falling on all sides of the issue. Some players, particularly those with children, like following the school year model that gives them summers off, but starting on Christmas Day, when many fans really begin tuning in to NBA action anyways, would allow them to avoid having to deal with football — the league tries to avoid Sundays as best they can until January and February currently — and would put them in a position to have their most meaningful games in the summer when there’s far less competition for eyeballs.

At the same time, there is a question of whether there are as many eyeballs to draw during the summer months, as we’ve seen ratings dip across the board with sports being moved to late summer, early fall this year. That, of course, could simply be [gestures at the overall hellscape we live in] and not that people don’t want summer sports, but it will be something the league will monitor next season and beyond to see if a permanent shift is worthwhile.

The ramifications of moving to a December to August schedule are numerous, but the TV partners might enjoy having more programming that isn’t in competition with the NFL and college football. There would be implications reaching as far as the WNBA and how it would effect their scheduling, as they play in many of the same arenas as the NBA, as well as TV deals for the W, but they’ve enjoyed tremendous success this season in terms of viewership running right alongside the NBA.

A permanent shift in the sports calendar would certainly lead to groans and complaints from fans, as happens with any major change, but ultimately it seems inevitable. Just one of the sure to be many long-term impacts of living in a post-COVID (hopefully) world.

Last December, Westside Gunn tweeted that “2020 my last year rapping I’m going down as one of the Illest Ever.” It’s a tenuous task to believe any rapper’s retirement talk. But Westside is one of the few who just might leave the booth. His desire to move on from the mic doesn’t come from dissatisfaction with a label or tepid fan reception to a project — the transition is on his terms. The Buffalo rhymer just has a desire to explore other things.

He told Hypebeast in April that, “I don’t even wanna be considered a rapper. I bring so much more to the game. I love art, fashion, design, executive producing, putting songs together with the skits — all of that sh*t I love more than actually rapping.”

The Buffalo rhymer’s passions reflect throughout his catalog. He’s won his fanbase penning scribes of Prada and peril over impeccably curated soundbeds. His ear for beats has been apparent throughout his 2020 output, including his Pray For Paris, FLYGOD Is An Awesome God II albums, as well as his executive production work on Boldy James and Jay Versace’s The Versace Tape.

He recently promised “Only 3 more months left and I’m still at peace with my decision but this will be a dope 3 months,” and he’s hit the 4th quarter of 2020 looking good. Enter Who Made The Sunshine, a feature-filled effort where he plays player-coach for Griselda. His stream of consciousness, imagery-filled bars are intact throughout the project, but his most impressive effort is fusing 16 artists onto the 11-track project while keeping it cohesive. This is perhaps the boldest exhibition of his executive producer skills — imagine DJ Khaled except with infectious gun ad libs and bars like “Allah would never make another me / Dropped the ki and whipped up anothеr ki’ from “The Butcher And The Blade.”

Benny The Butcher and Conway also show up on the sinister track, adding another memorable song to the trio’s seemingly endless array of heat. Newer Griselda affiliates Boldy James and Armani Caesar are also on the album, with Boldy James making a strong appearance on the meditative “All Praises” with Jadakiss, and Armani Caesar popping up twice.

It’s Armani and Westside’s “Liz Loves Luger” that’s one of the album’s most demonstrative moments. There was an entire generation of late-2000s and early-2010s era New York-based spitters who floundered when it came to exploring romance and sex because they veered too far out of their comfort zone. There were too many stunt features or out-of-place songs that made it too apparent that getting sultry wasn’t their lane. In 2020, that kind of MC would try this track with a London On The Track type beat, a Tinashe feature, and maybe some off-putting autotune.

But Westside knew he didn’t need all that. He kept it inhouse with Armani Caesar, used a warm Alchemist beat that fit the rest of the album’s production, and let his charisma do the rest. That kind of insight is what a slew of MCs need to be paying him for. The beauty in Westside Gunn’s ear for beats is that he can choose production with a range of sample source that all serve to immerse a listener and have their head nodding while waiting for the next bar.

Any good coach, or executive producer, also knows how to get the most of a veteran that the rest of the game may not be thinking about in current terms. On Who Made The Sunshine, that vet is Slick Rick. The rap legend is largely viewed as a classic act, but as Jay-Z and Black Thought (who killed “Ishkabibbles”) show, a true MC will always have some bars on deck. Westside, ever a student of hip-hop, knows that. His flamboyant narratives are reminiscent of Ghostface Killah, who has always lauded Slick Rick as an influence. By showing love to Slick Rick and collaborating with him on “Good Night,” (titled after the closing of Rick’s “Children’s Story” classic) he paid homage to the past but also made it clear that he can still make noise in this era.

Now, the “Westside Gunn should EP a Slick Rick project” tweets will be in abundance in a way they never were before. He also paired Rick with Busta Rhymes on “Ocean Prime,” where he set the table and let the legends go from there over an idyllic soundscape. The yin-and-yang of Westside and Busta’s energy with Slick Rick’s makes the track another winner.

That said, the production choices aren’t flawless. “Frank Murphy’ sounds like a mere imitation of Hitler Wears Hermes 7’s “Undertaker Vs. Goldberg,” while the rock-tinged “98 Sabres” was a tad too ambitious, though the bars are right on both tracks. Even in those missteps, however, his intent was apparent, which is all one could ask for from someone overseeing a project.

Who Made The Sunshine shows that If Westside Gunn really does retire, he’ll still be a staple in rap through EPed projects, and maybe even the occasional “boom boom boom” surprise appearance.

Who Made The Sunshine is out now via Griselda/Shadey/Interscope. Get it here.

Anderson .Paak returns with another funky single, the Timbaland-produced “Jewelz.” Featuring an airy beat with a face-scrunching bassline, strategically placed talkbox, and distorted vocals, Anderson does a little boasting and bragging, rhyming “I just wanna ball, show off and show off.”

The song lands after Andy teased the track for several weeks, culminating in a deluge of fan requests to put the thing out already. The California crooner made light of the situation with a tongue-in-cheek trailer a few days before releasing the song, collecting some of the more enthusiastic requests into a video that piled them one of top of the other until revealing the release date. Shortly after the release, .Paak promised a video as well, with a teaser clip featuring an animated Anderson dancing with his son, Soul Rasheed. It’s set to premiere at 7 am PT on FootLocker.com. You can check out more of their adorable father-son dance routines on Anderson’s Instagram.

Anderson’s been making use of his corporate connects to sponsor releases including “Cut ‘Em In” from Madden NFL 21 and “Don’t Slack” from Trollz World Tour while also speaking on the current political climate with “Lockdown.” He’s also put together some strong feature appearances with the likes of Busta Rhymes, India Shawn, and Nas.

Listen to Anderson .Paak’s “Jewelz” above.

There is nothing more delightful as a parent than when your child says “Mama” or “Dada”—or some variation thereof—for the first time. That verbal recognition is a precious moment that most parents treasure, but few are able to catch on video. Unless you have a camera on your little one 24/7 (which would be a little creepy), most major kid milestones live only in our memories or as notes in a scrapbook.

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer got lucky this week, though. She managed to catch her son Gene, who is 16 months old, saying “Dad” for the first time on video. And naturally, it’s adorable.

“We just wanted to say hi Daddy, we miss you and we hope you’re having a fun day,” Schumer said in the video, referring to her husband Chris Fisher, who wasn’t home. “Can you say ‘Dad’?” she then said to Gene, who paused for a moment then obliged.

Schumer and whoever is behind the camera gasped in surprise, and a woman sitting at the dining table started clapping when he said it. And for a moment, Gene got excited, too.

But then, total toddlerhood happened. Watch:

Poor Gene probably got startled by everyone celebrating and it overwhelmed his little 16-month-old self. Such is life with a toddler. Over-the-top adorableness and joy followed by bursts of tears and wailing. It’s just how it goes. That dichotomy is toddlerhood in a nutshell.

“This video was clearly a surprise to us Getting to experience these first moments with my son makes me feel so lucky,” Schumer wrote in the caption. Then she made reference to a friend, Angelia Henry, and her son. “I would like to ask anyone reading this to google DJ Henry,” she wrote.

According to InStyle, D.J. Henry was a college student at Pace University who was shot and killed by police in 2010. Henry at a party at a restaurant when other patrons got into a fight. Police were called, and as Henry was driving away from the scene, a police officer shot him through his windshield. He was pulled from the car and handcuffed on the ground. He died on the pavement.

The family sued. but a grand jury did not indict anyone involved in the killing. The family accepted a partial settlement in 2016, but in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the family is asking for a new investigation into Henry’s death.

“This was murder. It’s plain and simple,” Henry’s sister Amber told local Boston news outlet 25 Investigates. “It’s obvious it didn’t have to end this way. I have a hope in my heart and a fire in my soul that I’m not going to give up until it happens. I know if my brother was here he would do the same thing for me.”

Joe Kennedy III shared the Henrys’ story in July:

How lovely for Schumer to draw attention to these parents’ pleas for justice while sharing her own parenting moments. With more than 2.6 million reactions to her “Dad” video, that’s a powerful way to use her influence and reach a lot of people with their story.

Last month’s charity table read of Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a viral success thanks to Dane Cook (you read that right) rounding up an all-star line-up of celebs including Sean Penn, Julia Roberts, Matthew McConaughey, John Legend, Ray Liotta, and more. Cook also scored an impressive headline-grabbing coup by reuniting Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to read the infamous pool scene together. Not to mention, the whole thing was narrated by Morgan Freeman. But there was one performance that stole the whole virtual show: Shia LaBeouf as Jeff Spicoli.

LaBeouf’s fully-committed stoner performance from inside the front seat of his truck had Penn, the original Spicoli, repeatedly cracking up, so that’s high praise already. And now comes word that Fast Times screenwriter Cameron Crowe watched the table read and absolutely loved LaBeouf’s “wild and brave” acting. Via Variety:

“Tore up the room, too. It just brought everybody to a place of giddiness, that made the whole thing work, for me,” Crowe says. “Though I may not ever get over Morgan Freeman reading my stage direction that I wrote when I was 22. That’s kind of like, ‘Whoo. Okay.’ It’s like Morgan Freeman reading your diary. It was thrilling and slightly scary. But it was fantastic.”

While LaBeouf’s Spicoli was a viral sensation, it had stiff competition from Freeman whose narration of the classic masturbation scene that Pitt and Aniston reenacted was deemed his best work ever by the internet and even his fellow celebs at the table read. As the production wrapped, Julia Roberts can be heard yelling, “Morgan Freeman, you’re the MVP!”

(Via Variety)

Jeff Tweedy continues his illustrious solo career, which he launched after years of fronting the Chicago-based indie rock group Wilco. Now gearing up for his upcoming album Love Is The King after announcing it with two singles, Tweedy shares a wacky video alongside his brand-new song, “Gwendolyn.”

Directed by James Fleischel, Tweedy’s “Gwendolyn” video tackles cameos in a time when people are encouraged to keep their distance from each other. The visual opens with Tweedy walking in front of a camera with a mask on. He takes it off, revealing someone else’s mouth over his. With each new verse, a new mouth appears to lip sync Tweedy’s lyrics. “It’s a little wacky and a whole lot of fun,” Tweedy said about the visual. “A special thanks to mouths of our friends and family who participated!” Those participants who lent their smiles include some big-name stars like Jon Hamm, Fred Armisen, Seth Meyers, Courtney Barnett, Elvis Costello, Nick Offerman, and many more.

In a statement about the album, Tweedy said it first started as a way to soothe himself during the pandemic lockdown:

“At the beginning of the lockdown I started writing country songs to console myself. Folk and country type forms being the shapes that come most easily to me in a comforting way. ‘Guess Again’ is a good example of the success I was having at pushing the world away, counting my blessings — taking stock in my good fortune to have love in my life. A few weeks later things began to sound like ‘Love Is The King’ — a little more frayed around the edges with a lot more fear creeping in. Still hopeful but definitely discovering the limits of my own ability to self soothe.”

Watch the “Gwendolyn” video above.

Love Is The King is out 10/23 via dBpm Records. Pre-order it here.