Month: July 2020

Despite being just a few months removed from his Janktape Vol. 1 joint mixtape with Kent Jamz and a couple of days past their video for “Bad Boys,” Compton rapper Buddy is already hard at work on new music, sharing a minimalist video for his sexy new single, “Faces” featuring RCA Records labelmate Lucky Daye. The song, built over a slow, bass-driven groove produced by D’Mile, finds Buddy and Lucky offering seductive come-ons to women whose half-hearted defenses belie their true intentions.

“You was talkin’ all that sh*t, now you butt naked at my spot,” Buddy brags. “Now we makin’ f*ck faces.” The video focuses on a sensuous female form in front of a hot pink backdrop but hidden behind a sheet of steam as droplets of water run down the screen for an enticing image suggesting the aftermath of the sessions being described in the verses.

Buddy’s having a productive year thus far, following up the release of Janktape with the sequel to his standout 2017 single “Black 2” in response to protests against police violence. Buddy also featured in the video for “Don’t Hit Me Right Now” from the deluxe version of Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III, the album for which Buddy also received his first platinum plaque.

Watch Buddy’s “Faces” video featuring Lucky Daye above.

Justice League came out three years ago, but it’s inexplicably one of the most talked-about movies of 2020. First, there was the successful Release the Snyder Cut movement (it’s coming out on HBO Max); now, there’s Ray Fisher v. Joss Whedon.

Earlier this week, Fisher, who played Cyborg in the 2017 superhero team-up movie, “forcefully retract[ed] every bit” of a statement he previously made about Whedon, who replaced Snyder after the 300 director departed Justice League due to a family tragedy. In the clip, taken from a 2017 San Diego Comic-Con event, he calls Whedon “a great guy and Zack picked a great person to come clean up and finish up for him.” About that.

“Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable. He was enabled, in many ways, by [Justice League producers] Geoff Johns and Jon Berg,” Fisher tweeted, adding, “Accountability > Entertainment.” The tweet is still live, although as his bio notes, “My posts don’t last forever. Enjoy them in the moment and let’s move on together.”

Warner Bros. and Whedon, as well as Snyder (who Fisher previously thanked for “EMPOWERING me (a black man with no film credits to his name) with a seat at the creative table”), have yet to respond.

After public deliberations by bench guard Lou Williams over whether he would join the Clippers in the NBA bubble in Orlando, head coach Doc Rivers threw water on the concern over his availability in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.

“I do expect Lou to be with us,” Rivers told the media. “I would be very surprised if he’s not.”

Williams has given several interviews recently where he said he had not decided about whether to participate, but always remained steadfast that it would come down to what the rest of the Clippers did.

“If the majority of the guys say, ‘This is what we gonna do, this is what we gonna stand on’, then I’m all aboard,” Williams told rapper Fat Joe on an Instagram Live chat last week. “Whatever my decision will be, it’ll be collective.”

Of course, the Clippers’ fortunes center largely around Williams’ decision. With him, they have a player capable of getting his own shot off the bench and occasionally closing games. In their pick-and-roll and isolation-heavy offense, Williams is a perfect fit. Without him, they lose a bunch of scoring around which their team is built.

If Rivers is right, and the collective team will to play encouraged Williams to participate, then the Clippers stack up as one of a handful of teams capable of winning the NBA championship this fall in Orlando.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie shared his strong Artist 2.0 album early this year which featured hits like “King Of My City” and “Numbers.” But A Boogie didn’t stop there. Since his album’s release, the rapper has remained prolific, releasing a few singles and a 29-track deluxe album. Now, A Boogie returns with the laid-back number “Flood My Wrist,” featuring frequent collaborator Lil Uzi Vert and label mate Don Q.

The new single arrives alongside a breezy, Perfect Picture-directed video. The joyful visual mirrors the carefree nature of the summertime anthem. It opens with Don Q in his home as he turns on the TV and is instantly transported to A Boogie’s iced-out tour bus.

“Flood My Wrist” arrives just a few weeks after A Boogie dropped his Artist 2.0 deluxe album, which featured an impressive nine bonus tracks. Along with releasing the deluxe record, A Boogie donated $100,000 to his old Bronx elementary school. “With everything going on in the world, I believe it’s important to invest in the youth because by doing so, we are investing in a better future,” he wrote about his charitable act.

Watch A Boogie’s “Flood My Wrist” video above.

Artist 2.0 is out now via Highbridge/Atlantic. Get it here.

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

Many of David Ayer’s movies are set in Los Angeles, whether it’s Denzel Washington showing Ethan Hawke around the city in Training Day, Jake Gyllenhaal having his life “changed” by End of Watch, or Will Smith working with an orc cop in Bright. There’s an entire Wiki page dedicated to every film of his that takes places in Los Angeles; in related news, David Ayer has his own Wiki page. We should all be so lucky. Anyway, the Suicide Squad director is returning to his California roots in The Tax Collector, which also finds him re-teaming with Fury star Shia LaBeouf. The crime-thriller, about two “collectors” (played by LaBeouf and Bobby Soto) working for a crime lord, was inspired by Ayer wanting “to get back to my roots. I wanted to share the streets I know, the world I know. It’s a personal and tough movie about the LA I love,” he told Collider.

Watch the trailer above. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

David (Bobby Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), are “tax collectors” for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings. But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.

The Tax Collector is in select theaters and on-demand and digital on August 7.

Breaking the law! Breaking the law!

Dust off your nostalgia from your late 1990s nights spent watching MTV. Beavis and Butt-Head, starring those profane and terminally chuckling couch-lovers, are coming back for more. This time around, they’ll appear in a reboot that Comedy Central is calling a “reimagining” of Mike Judge’s seminal MTV animated show. The announcement doesn’t give clues on whether the two leads will still be teenagers (who time traveled?) or if they’ll have finally graduated into adulthood, but Comedy Central stresses that “[t]he Gen X defining leads are back and entering a whole new Gen Z world.”

Judge, who will write, produce, and do voice-over work for his two lead creations, had an excellent statement to offer: “It seemed like the time was right to get stupid again.” (Once again, he’s capturing the zeitgeist.) Meanwhile, Chris McCarthy, President of Entertainment & Youth Group at Comedy Central, adds that “Beavis and Butt-Head were a defining voice of a generation, and we can’t wait to watch as they navigate the treacherous waters of a world light-years from their own.”

This news arrives not long after Comedy Central’s announcement that another MTV animated series, Daria (whose title character didn’t get along with Beavis or Butthead), would receive its own spinoff (called Jodie) that’ll be voiced by Tracee Ellis Ross. As for today’s update, it’ll be interesting to see how the Beavis and Butt-Head franchise will adjust its satirical spin to encompass our current times. In addition, the announcement alludes to spinoffs and specials atop at least two regular seasons of the revamped Beavis and Butt-Head series. It looks like Comedy Central’s getting even more serious about its place in the already plentiful adult animated market.

Fingers crossed for a Cornholio spinoff.

After laying low on solo releases and featuring on albums from Russ, Thundercat, and others, Ty Dolla recruits an all-star lineup of artists for his latest single, the long-awaited “Ego Death.” The who’s-who of big names on “Ego Death” includes Kanye West, who reproduces his “I Love It” loop on the beat, FKA Twigs, Skrillex, and Serpentwithfeet. Lyrically, the song deals exactly in its titular subject matter, with Ty sharing his rumination on letting go of self-centered concerns — although, in this case, his “ego death” involves being left behind after a bad relationship.

“Off too many drugs, it’s so bad for us,” he says of the toxic romantic encounter. “One too many drinks and you had enough.” However, on the hook, he details his ex’s escape, crooning, “It hurt my ego when you walked away / Gave you my all, that wouldn’t make you stay / Murdered my ego when you walked away.”

Ty and Kanye first teased the song during the Chicago rapper’s long-winded (and ultimately fruitless) rollout for the abandoned Yandhi, debuting it during Coachella in 2019. All the hallmarks of the Yandhi era’s excesses are present in full here, from credited artists only appearing for a few seconds to Kanye’s conspiracy theorizing in his verse. As a time capsule, it’s a fascinating glimpse at a moment in time. As a potential lead single for a new album… let’s just hope Ty’s got some fresher material up his sleeve for the next one.

Listen to “Ego Death” featuring Kanye West, FKA Twigs, Skrillex, and Serpentwithfeet above.

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

Prior to the NBA going on hiatus, one of the biggest questions in the league was whether the Philadelphia 76ers would have the services of All-Star point guard Ben Simmons for the playoffs.

Simmons missed nine of the Sixers last 10 games before the hiatus with a lingering nerve impingement in his lower back — playing for just five minutes in his lone appearance during that stretch — and did not have a timetable for his return. While the layoff has created a lot of questions around the league about conditioning of players once the restart happenings — among larger, more serious issues — Simmons and the Sixers stand to be among the clear beneficiaries of the time off.

According to Brett Brown, who met with reporters on Wednesday, Simmons is “good to go” for the restart and is near 100 percent health, which is a tremendous difference from March when he was at times vomiting from the pain in his back.

The on-court impact of a healthy Simmons is huge for the Sixers, but beyond that it’s just good to know that he’s no longer dealing with severe back pain, as anyone who has dealt with back injuries can attest to it being a miserable experience. With Simmons back in the fold, Philly figures to play heavily into the race for the Eastern Conference crown, and will be a dangerous team to face in the postseason. Brown also offered an update on the Sixers testing thus far for COVID-19, noting they expect a full traveling party with the exception of Zhaire Smith, who suffered a knee injury.

4th of July weekend is upon us. The nation longs for a stress release and the chance to connect in person. They want to sip beers and eat barbecue. But we are also in the grips of a pandemic, with only two states reporting a decline in cases. And while cities, parks, and public spaces are continuing to reopen, the risk of infection is not necessarily lower by any means. The onus has simply shifted: Governments seem to be trusting their citizens to make decisions that will ensure their safety and the safety of others. (Whether or not we, the people, can manage that responsibility is very much up for debate.)

A quick look at Google Trends makes it clear that for better or worse backyard parties are going to take place across the country this weekend. Some people will do so in creative thoughtful ways — designing small gatherings with social distancing in mind, requiring masks, taking temperatures at the door, setting up sanitization stations, etc. Others will simply throw caution to the wind (please don’t do this. Please.).

If you’re invited to one of these parties, you’ll have to consider the risks, the potential for exposure, the approach that the hosts are taking, and the current status of the virus in your city or county. It’s a lot. To help you manage it all, we reached out to experts in the field of epidemiology to unpack the issues at stake.

Before we get to that, the CDC has a clear set of guidelines if you plan to either host a backyard gathering or plan to attend one. The bullet points are:

• Remind guests to stay home if they are sick.
• Encourage social distancing.
• Wear cloth face coverings.
• Clean hands often.
• Limit the number of people handling or serving food.
• Limit contact with commonly touched surfaces or shared items.

That’s a strong start — and you can read the details here — but we found that three Ph.D. epidemiologists all working, teaching, and researching exactly these types of situations were able to add significant context to the CDC’s guidelines. Our panel is:

• Martine El Bejjani, Ph.D. Neuro-Epidemiology, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon
• Steve Mooney, Ph.D. Epidemiology, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA
• Marilyn Tseng, Ph.D. Epidemiology, Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Public Health at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA

We kept this as straightforward as possible and got right to the point. Hopefully, these answers will help you make a more informed decision on whether or not to stay home this weekend.

Even if you’re wearing a mask and use proper hygiene protocols plus social distancing, is hosting a backyard BBQ be worth the risk?

Prof. Martine El Bejjani: If precaution measures are followed religiously, and you keep your gathering to your closest people (people who you know have been careful and taking precautions during this pandemic), then a small gathering can be manageable. It won’t be like the good old times, though. It will require more vigilance about touching, getting your own food, and serving yourself after hand washing and hygiene, and keeping your distance.

Again, any gathering is risky, and it depends on how much the infection is spreading where you are, and how much you can control the risk you are getting yourself into.

Prof. Steve Mooney: I think so, though I would encourage people to move away from each other when eating anything. Most of us aren’t infected and socializing is really important.

But also: the size of the party matters — there’s a huge difference between a BBQ in a big backyard with five people I know and trust to notify me as soon as possible if they develop symptoms and a BBQ with 25 people who I don’t know in a small space.

Prof. Marilyn Tseng: If you’re wearing a mask and using proper hygiene protocols (handwashing, not touching your face, etc.), and maintaining six-foot distance from all others, then theoretically a backyard BBQ should be fine. I also believe strongly in the importance of getting together with others. Realistically, though, it’s hard to keep to those protocols. Backyard BBQs mean having to take off the mask to eat while getting your hands near your face, and then it becomes really easy to ease up on the other requirements. Unfortunately, some portion of the rise in cases recently is due to people getting together.

So I guess I’d say it’s safer not to unless you are incredibly vigilant about staying apart from other people, maybe even bringing your own plates and eating implements to minimize physical contact.

How close do you think some states are to another shut down now that there’s a real spike occurring?

Prof. Martine El Bejjani: It is difficult to say. With the absence of a vaccine, shut-downs are one of the very few tools we have to stop dangerous spikes and their consequences. We just have to be prepared for the potential occurrence of such scenarios, and adjust to the notion that we will have to deal with the many changes that occurred in our daily lives and having to take measures when stepping out for a while. And the more we invest in the small changes (wearing masks, hand and face hygiene, and social distancing) the better our chances of not having to endure the larger-scale ones like a shut-down are.

Prof. Steve Mooney: Based on what I’ve seen, I really hope all the states seeing upticks strongly consider why those upticks are occurring and act to intervene. That doesn’t necessarily mean fully shutting back down but maybe reconsidering the force of language around masks, or the size of allowable indoor gatherings, or whatever else seems like the most effective interventions based on the available data.

For example, it’s not out of the question that, say, reopening hair salons & barber shops is less of a problem than reopening dentist’s offices. If the data backs that up, I’d hope states take that into account when deciding how to react to a spike.

Prof. Marilyn Tseng: At this point, we’re already seeing some states shutting down again to some extent in response to the rise in cases.

What do you think people are failing to understand about gathering in public places in relation to the spread of COVID? Is it really just as mask issue or is it more of a comprehension issue?

Prof. Martine El Bejjani: I see it as a mix of both and that maybe both have the same root — that is, a difficulty to accept that this is a long marathon and to accept this new normal and reality. This is more challenging and restrictive than our pre-COVID way of being in public. So, we see in different contexts different manifestations of it, some are more “innocent” with people being fed-up and craving a little letting go and escaping, and some are more on the misinformation, irresponsible defiance, denial, or unnecessary risk end.

The reality is that we sadly currently cannot escape in public gatherings and that we are in the sphere of prevention, which is in itself a sometimes difficult concept (we can think of dieting or exercising or restrictions/avoidance of certain foods/consumption, and how difficult that can be sometimes). Maybe one way is to find a balance between letting go in safer spaces — on a hike, in nature, at home doing something we love — and understanding and accepting that public gatherings carry a risk and a responsibility to ourselves and others.

Prof. Steve Mooney: Masks seem like the biggest issue right now, for sure. But the deeper issue is that we’re all still learning about modes of transmission risk. We have to make decisions based on what we know, but we also need to make sure we’re studying the ongoing outbreak. We might learn that people shed more virus at certain phases of the disease than others, say, and that would be really important for understanding how public gatherings affect spread.

What would it take for you to feel comfortable to be in a crowded place (park, bar, movie theater) again?

Prof. Martine El Bejjani: I don’t think I feel or will be in the near future comfortable in a crowded place. I am comfortable in finding remote spots in a park or on the beach — again with the usual and up-scaled precautions — and meeting friends and family who I know have been careful and will be careful too when we meet in uncrowded locations.

Prof. Steve Mooney: I think we’d need the disease to be at a much lower prevalence. But also: we’d need competent and trust-inspiring leadership at the highest levels of government.

I’d be really comfortable being in a crowded place in New Zealand right now. Florida, less so. Even if the prevalence drops, I’d feel a lot less comfortable coming back to crowded places knowing that leadership doesn’t respect expertise or knowledge of disease control.

Prof. Marilyn Tseng: Honestly, it’s hard for me to see myself in a crowded place in the near future, at least indoors. Some things that will help me feel comfortable are:

• A redesign of public spaces to provide more space — less crowding — and better ventilation.
• A local public health system that is on top of surveillance, testing, and contact tracing. Because it’s important to know that we have a good handle on the level of risk in the community and to know that we can detect a rise in cases when it’s happening.
• A research-based understanding of environmental and host factors that will contribute to or lessen transmission and infection, so we can answer questions about the effect on risk of, say, time spent sitting indoors with others in public or having windows open vs. AC.
• A vaccine that is proven to be safe and at least as effective as the flu vaccine.
• Continued investment in our public health infrastructure so that we’re not as unprepared for the next new infectious agent.

All of this also assumes being in a community that is on board with following these recommendations, and transparency throughout the process by local, state, and national authorities.

Would you recommend people getting together at all, even in a backyard setting?

Prof. Martine El Bejjani: If it’s a small gathering and spread in the community has been low and you know the people who will be there and you know they have been cautious and you know that you and them will respect preventive measures, then people can plan a safe get-together outdoors.

There are a lot of “ifs” there and a whole new form of get-together, but it is where we are.

Prof. Steve Mooney: I would recommend people get together, with masks and with distance. Social interaction is important and, as humans, we can’t just live without it forever. It’s extremely important to be safe about getting together, of course, for both for the personal and for the societal consequences of contagion risk. But in places where disease prevalence is low, small distanced outdoor get-togethers with everyone masked seem like a safe enough thing.

I started dating someone shortly before the pandemic hit, and here’s something I wrote to a friend about how it feels sometimes: I think I read somewhere that opioids address pain by making you not care about the pain (unlike ibuprofen or other NSAIDs that make you not feel the pain in the first place). I feel like that’s what being near or touching someone is like when the world is awful. It’s not that the world is any less awful. It’s just that it doesn’t hurt as much right then, and that’s okay.
Obviously, this is personal. But I think it’s very important to my well-being. When I’ve spent the night at my partner’s house, all challenges the next day seem more approachable. We humans need contact. The pandemic just means we need to be cautious and limit the forms of contact to things that are safe.

Prof. Marilyn Tseng: This is a tough one, but my answer wouldn’t be much different from what I wrote for your social gathering question above. Getting together is important! I can’t overstate how important it is for people to stay connected. If people are satisfied with FaceTime or Zoom, that’s great, but I certainly understand that we all want or even need to see and connect with family and friends in person.

So I would emphasize that a safe get-together is possible, but “safe” requires adhering to recommended distances and wearing face coverings if indoors. The hug is so tempting, but we should keep in mind that an unknown but substantial proportion of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic. Any decision to break rules should factor in:

1. Your level of certainty that you are not unknowingly carrying the virus (so you don’t unknowingly transmit it to your family and friends).
2. Your level of certainty that if someone at the party unknowingly transmits the virus to you, that you won’t unknowingly also spread it further.
3. The stakes involved if you are potentially infected at the get-together — for example, stakes might be higher if you’re at higher risk for severe disease (older or with other health conditions), or if you’re a single parent with kids who depend on you to bring home food and a paycheck, or if you’re in a profession that involves close contact with others.

Spotify already has a family plan designed for several people to share the same account. Now, they’ve announced a new plan aimed at couples who live together. The streaming service unveiled their Premium Duo subscription plan, which allows two users to listen to music on their platform concurrently.

The Premium Duo plan includes all of the Premium amenities like ad-free listening, the ability to download songs, and unlimited skips. Those who already have individual Spotify accounts can move to Premium Duo without losing any of their account information or coveted listening history.

Costing $12.99 per month, the new plan also boasts extra features designed to help couples discover music together. Spotify will create a special Duo Mix playlist which regularly updates with music both partners routinely listen to.

In a statement, Spotify’s CFO Alex Norström expressed his excitement about the new plan. “Today we are proud to launch Spotify Premium Duo, a first-of-its-kind audio offering for just two people in the same household,” said Norström. “Premium Duo includes our extensive music and podcast catalog and everything users love about Spotify Premium. With two individual Premium accounts, you can both listen independently, uninterrupted, and get all of your personalized playlists and features tailored just for you. We are thrilled to bring this unique Spotify Premium plan to even more markets around the world.”

Get Spotify Premium Duo here.