Month: October 2020

Akon has made quite the name for himself over the years, but he’s not the only person in his family who is a big deal in the music industry. His brother, Abou “Bu” Thiam, is a former Def Jam A&R VP who currently serves as Kanye West’s manager. Thiam was profiled for a Rolling Stone feature recently, and in it, he offered some insight about Kanye’s new music and explained why it’s some of his finest.

He asserts that Kanye’s recent activities — his presidential run, business dealings, etc. — are giving him more material for his art, which is helping to make it great: “It’s some of the greatest music he’s made. And everything that’s happening now is making the music better. He has more to talk about, more to say.”

Thiam noted that involved with Kanye’s new album is rising artist KayCyy Pluto, who landed a writing credit on Lil Wayne’s Funeral album (on “Big Worm,” under his legal name, Mark Mbogo) and may have been with Kanye earlier this year. He also revealed of Pluto, “Kanye and I are in the process of doing some other stuff with him.”

He also said of Kanye more generally, “I’ve never met another human being like Kanye. God has put something on this guy; he sprinkled extra greatness on top of him. He has a vision and a drive like no other. We can all make money, but making history, doing something that’s going to be around for hundreds of years to come — that’s what I’m excited about.”

Read the full feature here.

How do you improve upon the residual hype from what just might be the greatest fast-food chicken sandwich on the market? With a side of powdered sugar-dusted chocolate-filled beignets, apparently! Popeyes is currently testing out their take on the French Quarter classic at select stores in Massachusetts, according to Foodbeast who was able to track down the beignets in Everett and near Malcolm X Park in Boston.

The beignets come in sets of three for $1.99, six for $3.99, or a dozen for $7.49, though prices mary vary when they finally get a nationwide release which is apparently coming… sometime soon a Popeyes rep to confirmed.

If you’ve never had a beignet, we envy the sweet position you’re in. Prepare yourself for a deliciously airy fried treat dusted with powdered sugar that is chewier than a donut yet also flakier. They aren’t always filled with chocolate, but when they are, it truly is an out of this world flavor experience that is absolutely worth trekking through the New Orleans humidity to procure.

If you’re ever in New Orleans, do make sure to get the real thing. But we’ll take the Popeyes version in a second, too. Popeyes already won the fast-food chicken sandwich game last year, did they just win the fast-food dessert menu game too? Only time — and a forthcoming taste test of those beignets — will tell.

There are very few things in the world more fun than the first two-to-ten episodes of a ridiculous primetime soap opera. Things can and usually do careen off the rails at some point after that, which is understandable because there are only so many things you can do with these shows before you devolve into self-parody, but the beginning, right in that little window where everything is fresh and new and just being explained for the first time, that’s the sweet spot. So much happens so quickly and, if you’re lucky, it becomes something so crazy that people stare at you with their mouths open as you explain it all to them. It’s a lot of fun to do.

This brings us to Filthy Rich, a new primetime soap on Fox that stars Kim Cattrall as the matriarch of a scandal-plagued family of televangelists. The show aired its second episode this week and has already burned through, conservatively, about three seasons of plot. There’s no way the show can keep this up. It’s not a sustainable situation. Someday soon this sucker is going to start rattling and falling to pieces on the highway like a used car doing the Cannonball Run, but until that happens, man, it’s a heck of a ride. I can’t wait to explain it all to you.

But I’m sure you have some questions. Please, fire away.

What do you mean by scandal-plagu-

I’m sorry. I have to stop you there. I need to tell you some things that happen before the opening credits of the very first episode.

Okay, shoot.

In order:

• Kim Cattrall torches her family’s New Orleans mansion while wearing a white fur wrap and says “rot in hell” as she stares at the flames
• Her character’s husband, Eugene, the head of the huge Christian television empire the family operates, appears to die in a private plane crash while entertaining two prostitutes, moments after he removes his belt while saying “I am one rich son of a bitch”
• Both Kim Cattrall’s character and the home audience learn at the will reading that Eugene had at least three illegitimate children with three different women and they are all entitled to a piece of his estate

This is a good way to start a television show.

I’m sorry. I’m still stuck on Kim Cattrall burning down this mansion.

It was great. The whole thing was set to, I swear to God, a cover of “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood complete with wailing Christian guitars that was later revealed to be performed by the network’s charismatic and power-hungry reverend. Here, look.

Mother of God.

Yeah, buddy. This is barely 30 seconds into the premiere.

Do… do we meet the illegitimate children? What’s their deal?

I’m very glad you asked. We do meet all three of them and, yes, I need to go back to bullet points to introduce them. We have:

• Antonio, an MMA fighter who is raising a young son — named Jesus, because everyone on Filthy Rich believes in God but not subtlety — by himself
• Jason, a Colorado drug dealer whose first action on the show involves walking into a trailer filled with weed
• Ginger Sweet, a media-savvy Las Vegas entrepreneur who runs a very adult-oriented farm-themed webcam service called — again, no subtlety required or even desired — Sinwagon dot com

It’s fantastic. It reads like the beginning of a great joke. (“An MMA fighter, a weed dealer, and a porno tycoon walk into a church…”) It’s kind of like… remember the old TNT continuation of the show Dallas, the one that aired a few years back and once featured Judith Light doing lines of cocaine at a rodeo?

Yes.

This is all kind of like that but with Jesus instead of oil.

That’s high praise. Tell me more about Kim Cattrall’s character.

Gladly. Her character is named Margaret Monreaux, the spelling of which, in addition to the Southern accents characters dip into and out of from scene to scene, is our constant reminder that the show is set in New Orleans. She and the family are trying to start a kind of all-Christian Amazon called SunnyClub. It is struggling to land subscribers and these new revelations will not help.

Margaret Monreaux is also a perfect Kim Cattrall character. At one point her family catches her smoking a cigarette with a rubber glove on and she explains that she is trying to keep the nicotine stench off her fingers because she is “a lady who smokes, not a smoker.” At another point she orders a martini “very cold, hold the vermouth,” and when it is pointed out to her that this is just a glass of vodka, she replies “Your point?”

My favorite extremely Kim Cattrall moment, however, was this exchange with Ginger, regarding SinWagon and its continued existence.

I… I love this. Ginger Sweet seems fun.

Oh, is she ever. She’s a classic bomb-thrower, like a Julie Cooper from The O.C., someone who carries a 50-pound sack of chaos with her everywhere she goes and sprinkles it about liberally. She turned down the family’s payoff and moved her entire SinWagon operation to New Orleans (yes, she and her mother drive around in a vehicle emblazoned with “SinWagon,” but you probably figured that out already), and, in the second episode, agreed to be baptized live on the family’s network — an attempt to legitimize Eugene’s misdeeds — only to, surprise, reveal that she had nothing on under her now-soaked robe but an advertisement for her new Bible-themed rebranded adult webcam service called SaintWagon dot com.

SAINT WAGON DOT COM

Correct.

Okay, just a few more questions here.

Whatever you need.

Earlier, you said Eugene “appears to die in a private plane crash.” Does this mean…

Oh yeah, he is super alive. He was fished out of the swamp by an old woman who is nursing him back to health in a dilapidated cabin and re-baptized him in the bayou at the same time on the show as Ginger’s baptism.

… Baptism montage?

Correct again.

This feels like the kind of show where one of Margaret’s children kisses her new half-brother on the mouth and feels gross about it until she — and we — later discover that the “half-brother” is actually the doppelgänger adopted brother of her biological “half-brother,” who is in a coma, and this is all part of a Parent Trap ruse to get money from the family for medical bills.

I mean… wow. Yes. That is exactly what is happening here. I’m honestly very impressed.

I figured it was a short walk from “secretly alive philanderous religious figure finding god on the bayou after a plane crash” to some coma shenanigans.

Fair point. Oh, quick note about the plane crash…

Mysterious circumstances? Foul play suspected? Possibly by a recently fired investigative reporter who announced to anyone listening that he “doesn’t do puff pieces”?

Okay, don’t lie to me. You’ve been watching the show, too, haven’t you?

I mean…

DO NOT LIE.

OKAY, FINE. THINGS ARE WEIRD. I DON’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO YOU.

It’s okay, man. It’s really okay. I’m glad you’re watching it. It’s a decent escapist release for 45 minutes a week. And it means I can ask you about the reveal at the end of episode two wh-…

WHERE IT TURNS OUT THE LONGTIME SECRETIVE SINWAGON/SAINTWAGON BIG SPENDER WHO HIDES HIS FACE IS ACTUALLY MARGARET’S JEALOUS SON WHO IS PLOTTING WITH THE SINGING PASTOR AND MAY BE TRYING TO WRIGGLE CONTROL OF THE NETWORK AWAY FROM MARGARET?

lol yes

I somehow saw it coming 10,000 miles away and yet I still gasped like an old woman who just saw a ghost.

Same.

It’s a fun show.

Agreed.

There’s no way it can keep this up.

Probably not!

But I’ll take the ride until it’s out of service.

I think that’s a solid policy here.

With its highly-anticipated return only a few weeks away, Disney+ has unveiled a brand new poster for The Mandalorian Season 2. Featuring Mando (or Dyn Jarren as we learned in the Season 1 finale) on the move on a speeder bike with his cape fluttering in the wind, the badass looking poster also contains a super cute addition tucked into the corner. With his big reveal already out in the open, Disney can lean into featuring Baby Yoda now, and there he is riding shotgun in a cloth pouch. Judging by promotional photos and the Season 2 trailer, it seems like something will happen to green guy’s floating cradle thingy, and he’ll be spending some time being carried around in a side pouch as Mando searches for The Child’s “people” a.k.a. the Jedi.

You can see The Mandalorian Season 2 poster below:

Star Wars fans are itching for the new season to begin thanks to reports that beloved characters like The Clone Wars‘ Ahsoka Tano and the original bounty hunter himself, Boba Fett, will be popping up when the streaming series returns. Katee Sackhoff is also reportedly making an appearance as her Star Wars Rebels character Bo Katan. Although, none of these castings have been confirmed by Lucasfilm who are playing things close to the chest, but the season two trailer did seem to tip its hand by seemingly revealing WWE wrestler Sasha Banks as Sabine Wren. (Or is she?)

What we do know for certain is that Mandalorian fans won’t have to watch the new season alone because of the pandemic. Disney+ recently unveiled it’s new GroupWatch feature, which will allow users to have socially distanced watch parties without anyone leaving their houses. Watching Baby Yoda and not spreading COVID? That’s a win-win.

The first thing I notice with PES is that I really, really suck.

My evolution as a soccer gamer goes something like this: When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I got a FIFA game for my Nintendo 64. I used France a ton because they had this guy named “Zinedine Zidane” and he was extremely good. From that point on, I played a whole lot of FIFA. That’s, uh, the end of the story.

As you can tell from that abrupt tale that also spans about 23 years of existence, playing PES was never really in the cards. It was, to be clear, a brand loyalty thing: Like someone who wants a Google Pixel but has always had iPhones, I just never really felt the urge to try and learn a new soccer game when I’ve known the intricacies of another for such a long time. As such, I had literally never played PES, save for one demo of PES 2019 for about two minutes before I realized how bad I was and decided to go, I dunno, read a book or something.

It’s part of why I wanted to review eFootball PES 2021 Season Update. There are only so many opportunities in the world of sports games when you can go into something completely new and unaware of everything — every NBA 2K release is pretty similar to the last, every Madden features little tweaks here and there, every edition of MLB The Show follows the formula that has made it a juggernaut. Playing PES offered a chance to try something completely new, and for a person in my shoes, it’s something new at a discounted price.

This year’s edition is a season update as opposed to a standalone, gigantic release, and Konami responded to this by putting together a full game for $29.99. There is a conversation to be had about whether this should be the model for all sports sims — it is so hard for companies to come up with new, innovative games every year, they can oftentimes grow really stale because of this, and perhaps it might be wise to adopt a monster season update every other year so a new game can legitimately be new. That’s a conversation for a different time, though. As for this game, I figured it would the perfect entry point into the series, and I was excited to try out the various bells and whistles with fresh eyes.

For all of these reasons, I fired up the game, used my beloved Manchester City against small Belgian side Cercle Brugge and oh dear god I lost 1-0.

The act of playing PES is, even for the worst first-timer, fun. It isn’t the most dynamic and video game-y soccer playing experience, but it managed to be a slow, controlled game that doesn’t feel like it’s stuck in the mud, a really hard balance to strike but one it finds very well. The presentation is also very, very good, although we’ll get to some of the quibbles I have in a little.

The big thing, though, was I had zero idea how to actually play PES. Fortunately, the game does a great job in looking to get you up to speed. Its training menu is quite vast, and seeks to familiarize you with dribbling and passing mechanics of all sorts. It takes quite a long time to get through everything if your goal is a complete understanding of the controls, but PES creates the exact kind of hyper-immersive experience that really helps new players figure out what they need to do when they’re playing.

Still, spending this time is invaluable, and getting into a game when you know what’s going on is, shockingly, a much better experience. The weight of the ball is the biggest thing that comes through as you play — again, the game doesn’t feel nearly as quick and loose as its virtual footy counterpart has in previous editions, but there’s legitimate weight to every pass, the dribbling feels incredibly controlled, and you get to mix in skill moves and feints that look and feel authentic. That authenticity in gameplay is something that PES really seems to hang its hat on, and it’s a joy.

The game’s presentation is also outstanding, when it’s able to be. There is a pretty obvious issue that the game has when it comes to licensing for most clubs — the Premier League is the English League, with teams like Chelsea B, Liverpool R, and Manchester B in it — but the players all look pretty good. And when you play for or against a team with whom PES has an official license, like Barcelona, Juventus, or Manchester United, the presentation is absolutely stunning. Using the Catalan giants, for example, leads to a breathtaking pregame experience, while the in-game version of the Nou Camp looks lifelike. The stadiums, in particular, my word. They look remarkable if you are using one with which the game has a licensing agreement — Celtic Park in Glasgow and Stade Louis II in Monaco look just as good as, say, Wembley Stadium or Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. In the places where Konami was able to leave no stone unturned, they made sure they did not.

The feel for the game does take a minute, though. If you are like me and PES is not your soccer game of choice, getting the buttons down is particularly tricky. But on the whole, the act of actually playing soccer in the game is a blast, which was the one thing I anticipated coming in — other PES players I know have said that while FIFA is the bigger game, PES is the better football-playing experience, and it’s very easy to see how you can come to that conclusion the more you play. It manages to feel lifelike in so many of the right ways, although if I had to file a complaint with anything outside of the licensing stuff, it’s that I really, really wish defending in the game felt a little more even.

One thing that I love about FIFA is how easy defending feels, both 1-on-1 and with the AI, and PES just isn’t quite there. Speaking of the AI, I feel like it’s not quite intelligent and reactive enough to what you’re trying to do on the pitch, which can be a gigantic pain in the neck. This is a really hard balance to strike, because, well, you can’t know what’s going on in a person’s head and how they imagine a player off the ball is moving, but there is room for improvement here.

The menus as you’re assembling your team can use a little work as well. They just look clunky, with players’ heads sitting on top of their positions/ratings and names, although I do like how you can quickly adjust positioning and have that play to a player’s strength and see what happens to a player’s rating if they are put in an unfamiliar position. The list of formations isn’t particularly gigantic, but PES is really good about giving you the flexibility to move players around and position them as you like. And when it comes to putting together attacking and defensive instructions, along with giving yourself the ability to use a collection of advanced instructions that you can bust out during matches — telling your striker to play as a False 9, making it so your fullbacks fly up and down the flanks, having your defensive line sit back deep — the options are both plentiful and fun to explore.

I still need to do a lot of digging into the other various modes, such as myClub, which is Konami’s take on EA’s various Ultimate Team modes — I generally avoid these due to my aversion to things that are built on microtransactions. Master League is a career mode in which you take over a team and try to lead them to glory (fun twist: you can make your manager a number of footballing legends, like Diego Maradona). Become a Legend is basically exactly what you’d expect a thing called “Become a Legend” to be, where you either make a player or take over an existing one and play through their careers.

But overall, I wanted to use my first however many hours of PES to learn about the game, learn how to play it, and get a sense for a virtual footballing experience I’ve never had before. It’s not a perfect game, because there are scant few of those, but for individuals who want to get into it, picking up a copy at a relatively cheap price is not a bad idea in the slightest. It’s like an audition before next year’s game, which Konami promises is going to look far different due to the implementation of a new game engine. By then, hopefully I’ll be able to give a review that is a bit more informed based on prior experience, and can answer decisively whether it’ll be worth that price. Until then, a full, fun game for $29.99 is quite a steal, even if you are like me and you really, really suck at soccer in the PES universe.

Eddie G is a Canadian actor/hip-hop artist who is currently a series regular on Transplant, a medical drama that was a hit on Canadian television and will soon move to NBC. Previously, he was a series regular in the award-winning Canadian series 19-2, and will soon have a leading role in Lifetime’s upcoming biopic, Salt n Pepa.

Eddie G recently took some time to participate in our twenty questions questionnaire series.

1. You walk into a bar. What do you order from the bartender?

Water is what I’ve been trying to drink religiously but.. Shirley Temple, extra grenadine. It ain’t a Shirley if it ain’t red-red. Like cherry red. Speaking of cherries, I need a few of those in it too. I don’t care if it’s girly. Let’s get it!

2. Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

@chakabars insightful, controversial, funny, love it.

3. What’s currently waiting for you on your DVR or in your streaming queue?

Just finished The Affair. Top quality series. Now It’s just Power ll: Ghost

4. It’s your last meal — what are you going out with?

Oh man, nothin’ like a home-cooked meal. Haitian Fried Chicken, white rice and sauce pois (pea sauce), macaroni salad & SWEET plantain. Mmm, with a little champagne Kola on the side and I’m ready to die.

5. Which website do you visit the most?

Instagram.com/eddie.g (Follow me)

6. What’s the most frequently played song on your mobile device?

“GoldLink” – CREW ….. til this day.

7. If you could go back and give your 18-year-old self one piece of advice what would it be?

To invest my acting cheques and other earnings from then into real estate, especially in Toronto. There’s so much growth & appreciation in that city now. Getting in as early as possible would have changed a lot of things. I’d share all that early knowledge with people and close friends to help them set their future up. Creating long-term cash flow from rental properties etc. Nowadays, it’s like half a mill for a 1 bedroom condo, which is crazy, makes it impossible for some. Sadly, it’s set up so that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

8. What’s the last thing you Googled?

That new sexy C8 Corvette. I’m low key a car guy. Been married to a Jeep but there’s room for a side piece.

9. Dogs or cats?

My cat buries his poo, he respects me.

10. Best concert of your life was…?

Hard Knock Life Tour by far. I was 14. JAY-Z, DMX, Method Man & Redman. Lost my voice that night then went and booked my 1st studio session.

11. What book are you most likely to give as a gift?

48 Laws of Power. That’ll help you get through a lot of challenging scenarios in this life where you come out on top. It’s about taking control of your life.

12. What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Someone wrote/recorded a song for me. The beat was well selected too. It was humbling. I put a ring on it.

13. South Park or Family Guy?

Family Guy, hands down.

14. You have an entire day to do whatever you want. What would you do?

I don’t need much. I’m an introvert. I’ll cuddle up with my queen, turn on HGTV so we can judge these interiors together while eating some PHO. Simple.

15. What movie can you not resist watching if it’s on?

Training Day. American History X. Set It Off. Home Alone 1/2. Get Out. That’s the top five, right there.

16. The sports team or teams you’re most passionate about?

Is rap battle a sport? Cause I mean, that’s where my attention goes. It’s like UFC (which I love) but instead of physical abuse, it’s verbal abuse. So inspiring.

17. Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

This resto called “O Noir.” It’s this dining room, that is lights out, pitch-black dark. You’re escorted to your table by visually impaired servers. The fact that you don’t know and don’t expect what you’re about to eat, actually heightens the taste of the surprise dish. The experience is probably even better than the food.

18. The last movie you saw in a theater?

Bad Boys For Life. I was anticipating that 3rd one for like 15 years. That first Bad Boys is one of my favourites. I gotta get my manager to send me an audition for a role in the 4th, if they make one.

19. Who was your first celebrity crush?

Halle Berry since Boomerang. She was my crush even when she was a crackhead in Losing Isaiah.

20. What would you cook if Nic Cage were coming to your house for dinner?

Normally I’d cook but to ensure I don’t mess up I’d probably find out his favourite restaurant and meal. Order it, take it outta my stove and act like I made that sh*t.

PREVIOUSLY: Colin Quinn

Earlier this year, the subject of two of the nicest guys in Hollywood (Henry Winkler and Tom Hanks) and their apparent, long-running feud popped up again. Yes, after TMZ asked Winkler, the Barry actor explained, “What everybody says and what is true are two different things. I just saw him at our SAG Awards. It was beautiful.” This appeared to be the end of a 30-year saga that began with the Winkler and Hanks not loving each other on the 1989 set of Turner & Hooch, which cost Winkler his directing job.

Winkler had tossed gasoline on the subject during an episode of Watch What Happens Live while not exactly articulating that he isn’t a fan of Hanks. Winkler did admit that something led to him getting fired, and he stressed that he adored the crime-solving canine that aided Hanks’ policeman character “I got along great, great with that dog.” So… what’s the real story? Well, Ron Howard recently spoke with The Guardian, and the conversation moved to Winkler vs. Hanks. Howard did not take sides (because obviously), but he confirmed that there was a kerfuffle, and both men came to him to discuss it:

“It was disappointing. I’m friends with them both and both men felt compelled to come to talk to me about it. It was just one of those unfortunate things where they really had a working style that did not fit. I know it was painful for both of them and I was able to lend an ear, if not offer any solutions.”

If it was “painful” for both men, then the feud certainly existed at some point, but Howard says that he believes things are alright now. He referred to them as “two men with a lot of water under the bridge” and didn’t discuss the matter further. So, does that mean we’ll eventually see a happy photo of Hanks and Winkler together? We sure could use some positivity in 2020, so I’m rooting for it to happen.

(Via The Guardian)

If you think back to life before COVID-19, you may have vague memories of seeing a sign at the airport or DMV about something called a REAL ID, and how, if you wanted to keep flying on a plane, you were going to need to get one by a certain date.

Well, that date was today. But you’ll be pleased to know that because of the pandemic that deadline has been pushed back until next year, October 1st, 2021. Which means if you plan on boarding a plane for domestic travel anytime after that date, and chances are you do, you’re going to need a REAL ID. Which means, yes, you’re going to need to make an in-person appointment at the DMV.

Beginning on October 1st 2021, the Transportation Security Administration will officially stop accepting driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards that aren’t REAL ID-compliant at the airport for domestic travel. Travelers who don’t have a REAL ID will need an alternative form of ID to board their plane such as a passport, a military ID, or a Border ID card, or else they’ll be turned away at the security checkpoint.

To obtain a REAL ID you must make an in-person visit to the DMV and bring at least one identity document — though rules vary from state to state — that includes your full name, which can include a valid unexpired U.S passport, a Certified copy of your U.S. birth certificate, a foreign passport with a valid U.S. Visa, Certificate of Naturalization or of U.S. Citizenship, a valid permanent resident card, or a valid driver’s license. You’ll also need to take a new photo, so if you’re in love with your current driver’s license photo, be prepared to have it replaced with your new quarantine-era look.

According to Forbes, REAL ID-compliant cards have beefed up security features and were intended to create a national standard for driver’s licenses as part of the REAL ID Act, which was passed in… 2005 (government sure does move fast!). To apply for your REAL ID hit up your state’s DMV website and make an in-person appointment.

Louisville, Kentucky rapper 2KBaby’s melodic new track “Mad” is racking up plays and rapidly growing his following online, so it’s only right he stops by Uproxx Studios to perform the bubbling viral hit on this week’s episode of UPROXX Sessions. His performance proves his success is no fluke, as he slides through the one-take with ease and enough charisma to show viewers he’s more than just a voice and a polished flow.

2KBaby has been on the rise since going viral in 2019 with “Old Streets,” a freestyle turned official release that put him on rap fans’ radars with its poignant message and fervent delivery. After signing to Roger Gengo’s Masked Records, 2KBaby set out to build his catalog, releasing the Pregame Rituals mixtape in April this year and collaborating with industry veterans like G Herbo, Lil Durk, and YFN Lucci. He’s got a song with DaBaby stashed away and a growing following on social media that suggests the 20-year-old’s dream of rap stardom is just one hit away.

Watch 2KBaby’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Mad” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too..

2KBaby is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As someone who’s only been to the barber once over the last six months, my hair is a mess. I desperately need a cut to fix the shaggy bowl cut that I’m currently sporting. But hey, it could be worse, at least my hair isn’t trying to kill anyone (only my self-esteem). Directed and written by Dear White People‘s Justin Simien, Bad Hair follows Anna, a young Black woman who’s trying to make it in music TV. When her white boss suggests that she get a weave to advance her career, Anna does so — except, oops, there’s “a hidden toll to pay at night,” Simien told EW about his 1980s-set throwback. “It’s a psychological social thriller that is a commentary on the American experience and the kind of quiet little deaths we all have to endure to advance and be seen by mainstream society.”

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

Bad Hair follows an ambitious young woman who gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career comes at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.

Bad Hair, which also stars Elle Lorraine, Vanessa Williams, Lena Waithe, Laverne Cox, Jay Pharoah, Kelly Rowland, Blair Underwood, James Van Der Beek, and Usher Raymond (THAT Usher, the one from Hustlers), premieres on Hulu on October 23.