Month: July 2020

Way back in October, 100 Gecs announced what was then titled 1000 Gecs & Th3 Phant0m M3nac3, a remix album of songs from their debut record, 1000 Gecs. Since then — perhaps for reasons from a galaxy far, far away — the name of the project has been changed to 1000 Gecs And The Tree Of Clues. This afternoon, the duo has taken to social media to reveal when the record will be out: Pre-orders will be available starting at midnight tonight, and the album comes out next Friday, July 10.

The group has been previewing the album for months now with the remixes they’ve shared. Most recently, they got UK pop singer GFOTY and DJ Count Baldor to help out on a remix of “Stupid Horse,” for which they also shared a video. They also worked with Rico Nasty, Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito on “Ringtone Remix,” which will also be on the record. The duo also got Dorian Electra to remix “Gec 2 U.” When Tree Of Clues was announced, that news was accompanied by an A.G. Cook remix of “Money Machine.”

1000 Gecs And The Tree Of Clues is out 7/10 via Big Beat Records.

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

Good news for those who like to fire up the video game console of their choice and make their way a post-apocalyptic hellscape: A Fallout television series is coming sometime soon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan will bring the show to Amazon, although there is no word on when folks will get to fire up their streaming devices of choice and start watching.

The news was confirmed by the official Fallout Twitter account, which posted a short video revealing that Kilter Films will be behind the project alongside the game’s developer, Bethesda Game Studios.

In a statement, Joy and Nolan said “Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time. Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios.”

Fallout isn’t the only recent game-to-television announcement that we’ve heard lately, as The Last of Us will make its way onto HBO sometime in the future. There’s no word on whether this series will specifically be based on any of the Fallout games — which first hit the shelves in 1997 and had its last release, Fallout 76, in 2018 — or if the television series will use the general concept behind the series as a road map for something else.

Daily Show correspondent and Trump rally explorer Jordan Klepper was “curious and interested” in politics as a kid but didn’t get ensnared by the trap of it all until college and his days in the Chicago improv scene. He leveled up even further when he found himself in his present gig. That was the first time Klepper signed up to be a part of The Daily Show. That experience and further, solo endeavors into the dark heart of politics with the satirical The Opposition and activism with the experiential with Klepper have continued his evolution on-screen and off.

Now, back on The Daily Show, Klepper has been navigating a relatable kind of dread. He’s still working, but it’s not the same while stuck in his apartment (though it absolutely packs a punch). He’s already tussled with a months-long lockdown in New York City, the feeling of watching parts of the world come undone, and the experience of getting COVID. Now, he’s eager to get back out there to rallies and into a conversation that, he believes, is aided by allowing people every opportunity to hear themselves talk and have their truth be seen. Even if what we see is scary as hell.

Are you regretting that you weren’t at the rally in Arizona?

I looked at the weather and was a balmy 111. My body doesn’t do very well in temperatures above 70 or below 68. So on that side of it all, no. Although I’m fascinated by the show and I’m eager to get out there.

How does that work as far as what you guys are actually doing to make sure that you are safe? And not just from COVID, but from people wanting to rip your mask off and give you a little COVID kiss.

Well, that’s a traditional greeting at a Trump rally, to spit in someone else’s mouth. I want to support the customs of a Trump rally, so I get it. I have a camera crew with me, I deserve to be spat into my own mouth. You have to read the fine print. You came to see Donald Trump, and you’re going to spit in the face of the fake news media. They put it right in the fine print.

That’s why all the TikTok kids didn’t go. They read the fine print and they were like, “Whoa. Hold on.”

They think those TikTok kids have short attention spans, but they’re the only ones who read Apple agreements. And the Constitution. They’re going to win in the end.

The end’s a long way away though, unfortunately.

That’s very true. No, we’re eager to get out there again, though. Basically it all comes down to what we’re allowed to do. But the machines over at Viacom have put into place very specific protocols that are honestly changing day to day as each local government changes day to day. We’re just waiting to get the green light so we can get on the road and see all this up close. Or as close as six feet… You can see a lot from six feet.

In terms of security, are you ramping up beyond what you’ve done before?

We try to keep a low profile, but we go out there with a security guard. Traditionally going to any kind of rally or event, especially if there are competing protestors to the rally, we go out with a security guard. The last few we went to we bumped that up to two just to be safe. We haven’t talked about what we’re going to need for these future ones.

Seven.

It might be double digits. [Laughs] To be fair, we have very professional security guards who are great at keeping a low profile. And for the most part, people get angry, but I haven’t run into any physical altercations. I do think people are really redlining right now in a way that they feel backed into a corner. So when we go back out there we’re going to have to basically take that into account. We’re not out there to provoke. We’re out there to question, to follow up, and discuss the logic of the arguments that are out there. And more often than not, people are getting tied into knots more than they’re throwing punches.

There’s a skill — you’re able to get in a jab at someone but keep the conversation rolling. Almost like they don’t realize that you’ve cut them off at the knees. How do you do that?

If you have a big, dumb Midwestern face, people will trust you, and therefore they see the big smile on your face and they don’t listen to the words that come out of your mouth. Which tends to be the case with a lot of people there. You realize that they’re reading body language, but they’re not listening. You’d be surprised how far you can get listening to what people say and realize that more often than not, they’re not really paying attention to the things that you’re saying as well. I think the skill of going to a rally like these is truly listening to the argument that is there. And more often than not, the humor comes from me just parroting back the ideas that are already just being thrown in my face.

Obviously, The Daily Show has a long tradition of that style of using people’s statements to highlight their hypocrisy. You’re doing that still, and it’s good fun. But does it make an impact?

Well, I think I changed the world. I definitely put that on my business cards.

[Laughs] You’re a comedian! That’s the job!

[Laughs] Get ready. I’m going to fix it all with a clever retort! For me, I do think contradiction is often the most revealing trait of any human. And watching somebody understand the hypocrisy, but still fight against that, I think you get to see the duality of most human beings. So I think it’s often very revealing of people holding onto these ideas that are being sold. [They’re] fighting something that is against their own interests, or against even the logic that they’ve laid out. It shows you tribalism, it shows you how people need to believe this thing they’ve already bought tickets to. And I think baseline: it’s very revealing of these types of mindsets that we hear about.

I also think that for an audience, I think oftentimes I’m having the conversation or the arguments that the audience might be having back at home or at Thanksgiving. Or at least the conversation that they wish they were having. So at the very least, I think there’s some catharsis that you might get in confronting some of these ideas right to the face of the people who actually hold them and the people who are connected to the person who has the most power in our country right now.

Yeah, I think that’s definitely a fair read on it, specifically the catharsis part and using you as an avatar to have those conversations. Is it hard to be restrained and not really clap back at someone when they make a ridiculous statement? How do you not make real-life Twitter, essentially?

[Laughs] Oh boy. I genuinely like engaging with people. I like going out there, I really like being up close at campaigns and seeing what people actually believe. So at a baseline I really like having some of these conversations. Most of them become incredibly frustrating because it does feel like you’re talking past one another. I think, yeah, there are times that I’ve… I don’t think I’ve lost it, but I lose some of my hope that we’re going to get anywhere with it. Especially as we got closer to the election four years ago.

I think of all those moments that say so much more about this moment than I ever could. I think back to one of the last ones I went to where I was talking to somebody about whether or not John Bolton should testify and the fact that Trump was trying to keep witnesses from testifying at his impeachment. And so I was talking to a woman about it who, we got so deep into this idea, and she was like, “He has nothing to hide. He has absolutely nothing to hide. He’s an open book.” Then I pointed out, well, he is keeping people from testifying. She took a long beat, and her response was, “I don’t care.” To me it was like, that’s it. That’s all of it in a nutshell.

In that moment I wasn’t angry, I was almost relieved because it was boiled down to its purest sense. We’re having all these fights, this fight is just foreplay. The reality is it doesn’t matter. All of these ideas that he’s given you are just tools that you use to fight people off and you just want the feeling of camaraderie of going to these rallies and feeling like your team wins.

That is, yeah, the essence of the truth. But I don’t know how someone doesn’t honestly lay down where they stand and have a nap after that. Because that is really heavy and really depressing to realize. And also, I’m sure, not unique to that one person.

I don’t know if I mentioned, I also then drink heavily after all of these rallies. Because it’s sad. Yeah, I think I’ve watched the American dream crumble, although I think the realization was, oh, perhaps it had crumbled decades ago, I’m just realizing it now in 2020.

I remember talking to you for an interview days before the election in 2016, and it sticks in my mind because you sounded hopeful about the idea of talking about things that weren’t related to Trump, and it was the last time I remember someone being hopeful. Do you have that hope going into this next one? Is this going to be another Lucy football where they get you thinking that you’re going to be able to do stuff that isn’t about Trump again?

You know what, I do have that hope. Perhaps it’s naïve, and I think deep down I am an optimist. I’m wanting this thing to turn out aces. Oddly enough, I listened to a podcast, Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates a few weeks ago, and Ta-Nehisi Coates was hopeful and optimistic. And he was even surprised by that perspective. But he spoke to this moment, specifically the protests, and these examples of people actually taking action. A diverse coalition of people speaking up and saying no more. And I think he spoke to the idea that this has happened before, but what we’re seeing is collective action. Collective action is good. It’s not as if these things haven’t existed, but what we’re seeing now is resistance to them is so much more widespread in a way that it’s actually positive and worthy of hope.

I think I do gain some strength in those images and seeing people really feel like now is the time to take that action. As scary as these times are, and as broken as I see the American system [is.] I think there are revelations that a lot of people on all sides and a lot of liberals are also realizing, “oh, I guess I didn’t look closely enough at how broken the system was.” And I’d like to think that in that is a real desire for change. Now it’s going to be applied to a political system that might be a binary choice between what we already had and somebody who might not be as exciting as some people would want, but I do think there is still an option for change. And I think there’s also an option for other forms of political action that we’re starting to see take hold. And I do have to hold onto that. And maybe I hold onto it to keep from crying and throwing in the towel completely, but we’re not going to be caught unaware.

At some point, you just hope a survival instinct kicks in.

[Laughs] My fear is, I’d like the American survival instinct to be “let’s take care of this democracy that we have tattooed across our chests for eons,” but I’ve also seen the survival instincts of people like Ted Cruz, who’s like, “All right, what do I need to do? Let me grovel to the person who made fun of my dad and my wife just because I want to hold onto power.” That’s weasel instinct. I’d like to think our survival instincts are a little bit more pure and true.

I should say, I don’t have a lot of faith in our survival instincts considering the amount of people who walk out without a mask right now.

I think that’s a good point, yeah. I think that statistically, we have the worst survival instincts on the entire globe. That should be taken into account.

Is another season of Klepper in the cards still?

As of right now, no. As of right now, we were told we’re not getting another season of Klepper, and that’s part of the reason I was like, well, I want to get out there on the road. And I was like, Daily Show, get me out there again. I would love to get out there and do another season. It was one of the most rewarding times of my life, and also following these movements really did instill in me this desire to be a part of good trouble, as John Lewis would call it. And also just seeing what it looks like on the front lines of American activism. It’s messy, but it’s really rewarding. So as of right now, there’s no Klepper on Comedy Central, but I sure would love to find Klepper somewhere else in the near-ish future. Whenever that is. A show on the road is a little bit tough when I’ve lived in my apartment for the last three months.

Just do it with little dolls, like Marwencol, and you could set it up and go on little adventures.

That could be it, yeah. There we go. Sell it.

I was such a huge fan of that show, and I really do hope you get to go back out and do that. How do you think the experiences of Klepper informed the stuff you do on The Daily Show now?

Well, I think Klepper very much reinforced to me that it is a great honor to be able to tell stories, and so make sure you pick wisely. And also it reinforced that I like… as an artist, as a comedian, I like to be out there. I like to craft things out of being out in the field. That doesn’t mean I’m not trying to find other avenues and ways to be creative, but I think what I brought to The Daily Show from there was I want to be out there, I want to talk to people. I like responding to people, I like trying to find the story out in the actual places where it’s happening.

But also what I took from the [show] mostly is just give a shit. Show up. Be a part of these conversations. I watch the news right now and I see the conversation is around what it takes to be a good ally. I think I was able to get a crash course in that with Klepper. So whether or not I bring that to my work, I’d like to think I bring it through my interests and my perspective at The Daily Show, but I also think more so I bring into my life and the way I approach just being a good citizen.

Alright, man, it’s always an extreme pleasure to talk with you, and I’m sure we will get a chance to connect again before this whole civil war breaks out.

It breaks my heart a little bit, the memories of us talking optimistically right before 2016. Maybe we’ll talk a little bit before the 2020 election and check-in and see how we’re feeling about the next four years.

Yeah, that, or just maybe strategize on combat maneuvers and things like that.

That sounds good too. Yeah, survival. [Laughs]

After their tragic love story became one of the defining moments that echoed through AMC’s Breaking Bad all the way to the end, Aaron Paul and Krysten Ritter are reuniting for a new project. Only this time, they’ll be on the other side of the law instead of playing star-crossed heroin addicts.

The Breaking Bad alums will be voicing characters for author James Patterson‘s latest venture in developing Audible Originals, which are audio-only projects based on all new stories. The author has four stories in the works, and Ritter and Paul will star in “The Coldest Case: A Black Book Drama” along with Nathalie Emmanuelle, who Game of Thrones fans will recognize as Missandei, the trusted confidante to Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys. Via Variety:

In “The Coldest Case: A Black Book Drama” — a prequel to Patterson bestseller “The Black Book” — homicide detective Billy Harney sends his new partner, Kate, deep undercover to infiltrate a notorious Chicago drug ring. When several members of the ring turn up dead, Billy abruptly pulls Kate out, blowing her cover. Kate’s informant inside the gang disappears — along with the ring’s black book. As Billy and Kate investigate the ring’s murders, “they’ll be pulled into a dangerous web of corrupt politicians, vengeful billionaires, drugged pro-athletes, and violent, dark web conspiracies, all in search of the missing black book,” according to Audible.

Paul is coming off the latest season of Westworld where his character Caleb helped Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores in her war against humanity’s attempt to control hosts and humans alike. Ritter has been laying low since giving birth in July 2019 after the final season of Jessica Jones aired. She filmed the last season during her first trimester, which she thought she hid well, but in an interview with UPROXX, she revealed that pretty much everyone on set knew what was happening.

However, Ritter did make time to show up in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which focused on Paul’s Jesse Pinkman surviving the fallout from the series finale. So, technically, the Audible Original is their second reunion, but we’ll take it.

(Via Variety)

The Weeknd and Doja Cat’s “In Your Eyes” remix gets a trippy, animated video courtesy of director Jeron Braxton. Playing off the seedy, hedonistic themes of The Weeknd’s album After Hours, the video finds Abel’s digital avatar — complete with the bloodied nose bandage, red suit, and sunglasses that have marked the loose storyline of the album’s visual complements — roaming a psychedelic cityscape, where Doja appears as a holographic billboard character, a la Blade Runner 2049.

Throughout the video, the city’s decadent nature can be seen in its constantly-flashing advertisements for “Endless Consumption” and soda machines that dispense products such as “Cocaine” — a riff on Coca-Cola, which incidentally used to actually include the drug as one of its ingredients — and “Peyote,” which bears the familiar logo of the Pepsi Cola. There are also some not-so-references to the current political climate, with a burning police car bearing the signet “KKKPD” and leering, chain-bearing silhouettes in the back of The Weeknd’s car making pointed reference to both the prison-industrial complex and the conspicuous materialism that plays its part in feeding that particular beast.

Like The Weeknd’s music, the “In Your Eyes” video hides some dark messaging in the colorful setting, proving that the concept for After Hours works just fine in quarantine, too. Abel may not be able to shoot more companion videos for the album at the moment, but on the bright side: at least no one else is beating him up.

Watch The Weeknd’s “In Your Eyes” video featuring Doja Cat above.

Pharrell and Chad Hugo announced their reunion as The Neptunes at the top of 2020, saying they were collaborating with Jay-Z and Lil Uzi Vert. It turns out those two weren’t the only artists the pair was working with. In May, they linked up with Deadmau5 for “Pomegranate,” a sunny single that spawned from recording sessions at The Neptunes’ Criteria Recording Studios back in December. Now they have shared an animated visual for the track.

Director and animator Nick DenBoer has been working on the clip for two months, and it serves as a creative way to make a quarantine-friendly video during the pandemic. The clip opens with Deadmau5 in his tricked-out car, lining up for a street race against other animated characters. He activates “leg mode” on his car, taking his time getting off the starting line after the race began. From there, though, the ever-shifting vehicle takes to the sky outer space and beyond.

Ahead of the video, Deadmau5 and DenBoer hosted a live Q&A, in which DenBoer shared some trivia about the clip, like the fact that Hugo and Pharrell were originally going to be depicted as themselves, instead of represented by the planet Neptune.

Watch the “Pomegranate” video above.

Over the phone, actor/musician/filmmaker Aryeh-Or exudes calm. His tone is mellow and his cadence is measured. He’s mastered the sort of serene charisma that seems rare at the present, when just about everyone is feeling frantic. But Aryeh-Or’s deliberate manner belies a burning sense of urgency as he navigates his lane as an artist in our collective sociopolitical moment. Make no mistake, this is a man who is enraged about the state of things — his fury simmering just below the surface, ready to bubble up whether he’s out marching in the streets or breaking down how the system has failed Black Americans in the video for his recent song “Stand + Deliver.”

The self-directed video, released on Juneteenth, reflects something of Aryeh-Or’s mindset after weeks of joining with protesters in Los Angeles and Palmdale, California. It’s righteous anger tempered by hope. A balance of undistilled emotion and thoroughly considered action.

This dual attention to the head and the heart is, at least in part, responsible for Aryeh-Or’s wide-ranging success. Whether acting across from Leonardo DiCaprio in 2011’s J.Edgar, embodying the role of ridiculously good looking merman in Siren on FreeForm, or releasing music via his personal social media platforms, the multi-hyphenate brings a certain depth to everything he does. This was evidence when we spoke over the phone last week about his commitment to the protest movement, his deep desire to help create systemic change, and his focus on never overstating his role (and therefore taking space from day-in-and-day-out organizers).

Check our conversation below.

First of all, let’s talk about the genesis for this track — where did that come out of? Because it seems “of the moment” but obviously police violence and systemic oppression are as old as the nation itself.

I wrote this song in 2016, the week of the election with clenched fists, tears in my eyes. I expressed myself the only way that I possibly could — but trying to also be productive rather than shutting down. I wrote this song, jumped into the studio within the week, started recording it.

Ty Taylor from Vintage Trouble happened to just drop by the studio that week. We just got to talking as two black men, unpacking our emotions and he heard what I had written and just said, “Let me in the booth,” and jumped on the hook. We got almost everything done in that first session. And then I actually ran off to protest at Standing Rock. I have always been as much an activist as I am an artist — desperately wanting to have some kind of means to make a tangible, immediate change. I saw the atrocities happening at Standing Rock and raised several thousand dollars, shot up there, and stood on the front lines with the Water Protectors, as I am also of Indigenous blood.

When I got back, it was like, “all right, let’s finish this project. Let’s get it done.” We polished up the song, shot a version of the video, which we actually dropped first in 2017 for the inauguration. And then, as everything has flared up in our country, I decided to just radically retool the entire thing — knowing that it’s only become more relevant with time.

Your history, and I don’t know a ton about it, but you’ve mentioned a couple of references in previous conversations to being Indigenous, Black, and Jewish. That’s distinctly American. Do you feel like, to whatever degree, the embodiment of kind of our idealized American identity and that melting pot notion?

I do. I absolutely do. I don’t think that I could have come into existence anywhere else. In addition to my bloodline as an African American-Indigenous American-Jewish man, my parents are LGBTQ. My mother is a white Jewish bisexual. My biological father is a black trans woman and made her gender transition in my early life. So I actually don’t have any memories of my biological father living in the masculine. So on top of all the racial and religious identities, there’s that other layer. I definitely feel like a melting pot on the personal level, because I either am or am directly influenced by almost every minority demographic you can imagine.

I don’t think that there’s another country in the world, another culture in the world, where I could have come into existence with this amazing multifaceted lineage as history. And with that, I do feel deeply a part of the American experience, and I can’t extricate myself from it as an outsider. In fact, I want to fight for the idea of our country more than ever, because this is my home. This is the land that’s allowed me to learn and grow and become the powerful creator that I am. And all of the culture here, all of the experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly have made me the man I am, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

In your song and on Instagram, I see this deep underpinning of hope that you have for America. I find myself very optimistic about the pathway forward to a better America that you sing about — with much reconciliation, healing, and both literal and metaphorical reparations needed along the way. And I think that’s what the song does really effectively.

I definitely try to infuse it with that underpinning of hope but we’ve also got to have safe spaces to put the anger and the pain on the table. Because if it’s not addressed, it’s suppressed. It’s all of our responsibility to let the feelings come to the surface so they can eventually be transmuted. I think about the truth and reconciliation chapter in post-apartheid South Africa. Mandela and his government created specific containers for people to come to the table and just get everything off their chests and air it out. That’s one of the logical next steps for how we have to move forward. And this piece for me is both getting it off my chest and articulating the deep pain, anger, and sadness, while also affirming that I do believe that we — as a collective people of all shades colors, shapes, and sizes — can come together to live the American dream that our country was founded upon.

I love that. I also think it’s particularly powerful that you shot a music video of people protesting the streets, because that’s very real for you — you’re very much in the streets. Can you, can you speak to that a little bit?

I’ve been in the streets since high school. I think the first protest I attended was when we decided to invade Iraq. I was laying down in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard, shutting down traffic in front of a Federal building in Westwood. One protest after the next up to Standing Rock and subsequent and subsequent and… here we are now. It’s been interesting in this time, having been on the front lines of the protest all my life, being specific with when and where I’m putting my energy in the street, and when I’m using my voice and my mind and my heart, because we’ve all got a different role to play. I haven’t been out there every day, but I will say the most powerful day, I actually went to Palmdale this past week or this past weekend actually. I was at the protest for Robert Fuller, the 24-year-old, young black man who was found hung in the city square. [Palmer’s case is currently being investigated.]

When I showed up, there were maybe a few hundred people. They didn’t have any kind of PA or amplification. And I brought a very powerful bullhorn with me. At first, I just walked straight to the center and handed the mic, so to speak, to a young man who was speaking. And then started amplifying other voices, stood up myself, and just used every gift that God has given me to speak and lead — calling cadences through the streets.

I think the most powerful moment or the two most powerful moments of that protest were — one, marching everyone up to the police in riot gear and then turning my back to hold peace. And two, after 20 minutes plus of everyone just yelling at the police and being angry, I waded to the back of the protest, stood up on a big rock, and asked everyone to turn their backs on the officers remind themselves why we were there. Because even though we’re nationally protesting police brutality, we showed up that day for Robert Fuller and our attention didn’t need to be on these officers. Our attention was on the young man who had just lost his life. I personally was done giving them my attention and we didn’t owe them any of our energy. I turned and walked away, I said, “I’m going to go back to the tree where Robert was hung and pay my respects.” We shifted the energy and everyone gathered around the tree and we knelt and prayed. I can’t tell you how emotionally powerful it is to have knelt and prayed and placed my hands on the tree where this young man lost his life. I never thought I’d have that kind of experience.

Thank you for sharing those complex emotions. I think the song does that too. Navigating the wide range of feelings — agony and frustration and fury and sadness. How does your own philosophy, just your personal philosophy and the people who are in your orbit inform your approach to all of this?

I run in a lot of different circles and I’ve always been able to flow seamlessly from one to another. Whereas some people may see some of the new American Bohemian pseudo hippie in me, I’ve also still got friends on the block. Like you will find me having completely different conversations with some real n*****, so to speak. My ideology and perspective are rooted in and informed by the fact that I am constantly shifting through different social circles and perspectives. But that larger ideology of hope and fundamental faith in humanity, I think comes deeply from my spiritual practice. Even though I was raised Jewish, I’m no longer religious, but I’m deeply spiritual and Indigenous plant medicines and ritual work have become a big part of my life.

I’ll just say it outright working with ayahuasca and other shamanic medicine works have really informed my spiritual path and helped me to see the deep truth that we are actually all part of the same God-consciousness. And that the only separations that we perceive are illusions of this 3d reality, and they are inserted into our consciousness and affirmed by the world around us to keep us divided because in division we can be controlled. Basically, I have a deep knowledge that we really are all the same.

When people hear your song, when people see your philosophy, when people see you in the streets, when people understand a little sliver of Black pain through you — what do you hope they walk away with? What is your invocation to America right now? What is the wisdom that you’re holding after creating this music and after living your life as a revolutionary? What do you want to share with people?

No one is safe until everyone is safe. And we have a fundamental responsibility to stand on a higher moral code and see ourselves in everybody and everybody in ourselves. And as much as we have to stand absolutely firm in Black Lives Matter right now, my hope and my dream and all my efforts are to get us to the point where one day we can truly say that all lives matter and actually mean it.

The NBA bubble rules may seem reasonable and safe until you’re facing them head-on. This is the reality for many players, and likely the reason the league set such a soft deadline for players to decide if they will participate in the Orlando restart. While many have broadly questioned the safety of the Wide World of Sport compound setup, DeMar DeRozan this week explained just how difficult it will be for players.

“I got through 10 lines of the handbook and just put it down because it became so frustrating and overwhelming at times, because you just never thought you’d be in a situation of something like this,” DeRozan said. “So it’s hard to process at times.”

While Dr. Anthony Fauci and others such as the epidemiologist Dr. Zachary Binney have supported the NBA’s plan relative to others, it remains risky. COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing in Florida, and it remains difficult to entirely secure the bubble when Disney workers are traveling in and out on a consistent basis.

DeRozan is a particularly well-suited spokesperson for the concerns of players for several reasons. His team, the Spurs, are on the brink of the playoff picture and will be without veteran star LaMarcus Aldridge. A team like San Antonio could question the value of even taking the plunge into the Orlando bubble in the first place. In addition, DeRozan has been a vocal advocate for players’ mental health, and even if the NBA restart stays safe from a public health standpoint, the isolated nature of the bubble will challenge players’ mental wellbeing.

“It’s tough,” DeRozan said. “You’re taking guys that have been with their families every single day for the last few months and all of sudden, separating everybody into this one confined space and taking away a lot of joyful things we do outside of basketball that we won’t be able to do. It’ll be something for every single player when it comes to mental health.”

While ESPN’s story rightly pointed out that others, especially international players like Domantas Sabonis or Giannis Antetokounmpo, are more familiar with campus environments in places like the Olympic village or at international tournaments, this is surely a unique circumstance. Most importantly, players will be without their families until the second round of the playoffs, meaning someone like DeRozan is unlikely to ever bring their family into the bubble. And while athletes are expected to remain mostly restricted to the village at the Olympics, there is no fear of what lies outside, just perhaps a slap on the wrist from the IOC.

Most players who’ve spoken publicly seem to agree this is the best contingency plan all things considered, and it’s gotten the green-light from epidemiologists and physicians, but that does not mean it will be easy for anyone.

Kehlani dropped her highly-anticipated sophomore album It Was Good Until It Wasn’t in May. Because the record was released in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, Kehlani was forced to master the art of the quarantine video. The singer shared several self-recorded videos, like “Toxic” and “Everybody’s Business.”

Kehlani got creative for her “Open (Passionate)” visual, where she rented a Ferrari and hit the open roads to shoot the video with her director from a safe distance. The production seemingly went off without a hitch, but a recent report from TMZ suggests otherwise. According to TMZ, Kehlani actually wrecked the Ferrari in a collision while shooting the video and returned afterward. Now, the singer is reportedly being sued for the $25,000 worth of damages she caused.

The report states that Kehlani rented a Ferrari from a rental car company back in April. The company claims Kehlani told them she was renting the car for personal use, only to have it appear in her “Open” video. The company is reportedly now suing the singer, saying they lost $1,000 each day the car was being repaired. TMZ’s initial report claims the company is seeking money from the singer in damages and is even pushing for Kehlani to lose her license.

It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.

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

Just when you got “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” out of your head, there’s another dark horse lurking on the horizon. Am I talking about Geralt of Rivia’s horse? Roach would never. And I’m not talking about Eurovision Song Contest‘s “Ja Ja Ding Dong” either.

“Toss A Coin” was truly a monster of our own making, in the way that a fandom can elevate an earworm to faux-legendary status in the time that it takes to binge an entire season on Netflix. It was also a song that laid an emotional groundwork between Joey Batey’s “humble bard” and the crotchety Geralt, as well as a tune that contextualized the lone monster hunter’s relationship with society. The song helped lovers of the games and books to embrace the show, which was far more enjoyable that it ever needed to be, and it stood to reason that Jaskier would return in Season 2, or else there would be complaints. Rest assured that showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has not only confirmed to TV guide that Batey would return, but that there will definitely be more Jaskier bangers coming our way. Oh boy:

“Joey’s an amazing singer. We want him to sing as often as possible. And I also think the idea of narrative is really important to The Witcher and the idea of who tells stories. So we’re absolutely going to keep doing it.”

While we’re at it, we might as well pour Joey Batey some ale as well, since he’s described the infamous tune as “pretty hellish.” Also in the above interview, Hissrich emphasizes that Jaskier and Geralt will likely “stay together for the rest of time” if the “Toss A Coin” song proves correct, so Batey had better get used to those hellish tunes. That’s (presumably) why he gets those coin tosses himself.

The Witcher is expected to resume production on August 17 for Season 2, which has been embracing a working title: “Mysterious Monsters.” Expect fewer confusing timelines and additional Witchers, including Geralt’s mentor and father figure, Vesemir, who will be portrayed by Killing Eve‘s Kim Bodnia. So… early 2021? Let’s hope.

(Via TV Guide)