Month: November 2020

Welcome to The Best New Hip-Hop This Week! You may have noticed that my usual column, The Best Hip-Hop Albums Coming Out This Week… did not come out this week. You also may have noticed that Uproxx’s other faithful hip-hop column, All The Best New Rap Music To Have On Your Radar, is also kaput, as its author Andre Gee has moved on from Uproxx. We wish him well and we’re all very proud of him.

His departure has left a void, however — a void that must be filled, due to both the laws of nature and the hunger hip-hop fans have for new writing about the latest and the greatest content the culture has to offer. To that end, this new column will sort of combine both the old columns into a “best of both worlds” situation, only without the creepy R. Kelly connection. Basically, I’ll be a one-man Watch The Throne — or Super Slimey, if you’re a little younger/more Southern — delivering commentary on all the best releases in hip-hop each week, from albums to songs to videos and even the occasional Verzuz battle. It’s a work in progress, so bear with us as we get this thing off the ground.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending November 20, 2020.

Albums

Courtney Bell — Poverty Stricken

Detroit newcomer Courtney Bell brings streetwise raps and progressive thinking to his debut tape, which features a verse from TDE’s Reason. Riding the line between backpacker’s density and mainstream accessibility, Bell counts Nipsey Hussle as one of his primary influences.

Jeezy — The Recession 2

Smartly pairing the release of his latest album to the hotly anticipated Verzuz battle between himself and former rival Gucci Mane, Jeezy gave a preview of what to expect from the sequel to his fan-favorite 2008 album with the single “Therapy To My Soul.”

LVRN — Home For The Holidays

Hip-hop could always use more Christmas albums. 6lack, Boogie, Summer Walker, and the gang are more than happy to oblige.

Megan Thee Stallion — Good News

Overshadowing just about any other release this year, Houston hottie Megan Thee Stallion finally delivers her long-awaited major-label debut album. Boasting appearances from Big Sean, City Girls, DaBaby, Lil Durk, Popcaan, SZA, and Young Thug, it’s certainly a star-studded affair. However, ahead of its release, fans’ attention remained sharply focused on the opening track “Shots Fired,” on which Megan was expected to finally address her alleged shooting by Tory Lanez on record. The song didn’t disappoint, using Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya?” to refute Tory’s smear campaign.

Rexx Life Raj — California Poppy 2

Over the course of the last few years, Berkeley’s Rexx Life Raj has carved himself a lane as a provider of mellow, thoughtful tunes that weave breezily between soothing R&B singing and tongue-twisting, eyebrow-raising rap. The sequel to his popular 2018 EP delivers more of the same, from the motivational “Tesla In A Pandemic” to the boastful “Look At This.”

Russ — Chomp

Refocusing fans’ attention on his raps instead of his antics, Russ hangs right in there with rap luminaries like Black Thought and Busta Rhymes, even though he ultimately becomes an afterthought on most of his own EP.

YSN Flow — Long Story Short

Ohio rapper YSN Flow has been building his buzz over the past year and a half, paying off their patience with this mixtape produced by Iceberg Beatz.

Events

Verzuz: Gucci Mane Vs. Jeezy

In what could very well have been the best Verzuz matchup yet, two of Atlanta trap rap’s founding fathers met up for the first time in fifteen years to dispel all the bad blood between them — of which there is plenty. Of course, it wasn’t all water under the bridge; Gucci Mane brought some serious aggression to Atlanta’s fabled Magic City, where the battle took place, dredging up quarrelsome mixtape classics like the taunting “Truth.” In the end, as always, the real winner was the culture, as the two united to perform their only collaboration (and the song that kicked off their feud in the first place), “So Icy.” The battle ended with the sense the pair would never be friends but would at least keep the violence to a minimum — for the kids.

Singles

Boldy James feat. Stove God Cooks — “Thousand Pills”

Old-fashioned boom-bap drug rap at its finest.

Kembe X feat. Ab-Soul & IceColdBishop — “Back At It”

Ab-Soul goes bonkers on this one, Kembe X does his thing, and newcomer IceColdBishop brings uncommon energy.

YFN Lucci — “September 7th”

A heartbroken anthem of betrayal and survival, Lucci is at his caterwauling best.

Yung Baby Tate — “Rainbow Cadillac”

Bringing the same sort of raucous, estrogen-powered energy as Flo Milli did earlier this year, the Atlanta rapper introduces her next phase.

Videos

Chief Keef & Mike Will Made-It — “Status”

One part horror movie score, one part classic drill revenge fantasy, “Status” reunites the two collaborators seven years after Keef’s debut album.

Lil Tjay — “Move On”

Mellow guitars and heavy 808s backdrop Lil Tjay’s wistful anti-love letter.

Saweetie feat. Jhene Aiko — “Back To The Streets”

The long-awaited video references everything from the beauty shop to Steven Spielberg.

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

Most of us are our own worst critics. We bully ourselves when we fall short of perfection, carry around past regrets, and refuse to let ourselves off the hook for any transgressions.

Unless this cycle is stopped, it can lead to persistent self-inflicted suffering. Studies show that those who have a hard time forgiving themselves are more likely to experience heart attacks, high blood pressure, depression, and addiction.

Fred Luskin, PhD, director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, told Prevention there are four things that are hardest for people to forgive themselves for:

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• You fail at some major life task such as making your marriage work.
• Your actions have hurt someone else.
• You’ve hurt yourself by the way you’ve led your life: drinking or doing something else that’s self-destructive.
• You didn’t do something you thought you should, such as intervene in a family dispute or put money away so your kid can go to college.

Some of us take those bad feelings and wrap them around ourselves like a blanket of pain, instead of taking responsibility and making things right.

“Forgiveness is a tool with which we face what we’ve done in the past, acknowledge our mistakes, and move on. It does not mean that you condone or excuse what happened. It does not mean that you forget,” says Luskin.

“There’s a season for our suffering and regret. We have to have that. But the season ends; the world moves on. And we need to move on with it,” Luskin adds.

Luskin has a process that can help people go from feeling wounded to grateful.

via Pixabay

1. Understand the offense and your feelings

Take another look at the four things that are hardest to forgive ourselves for and see where your behavior falls on the list. “Categorizing the offense begins the forgiveness process,” he says. “It allows you to break down what you did, look at it, get a little distance, and begin healing.”

Once you are able to articulate the offense and the damage it caused others, share it with a few trusted friends. Confiding in others can be a positive reminder that we all make mistakes. It also prevents you from slipping into denial.

You should also reconsider if what you did was really that bad in the first place. Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations for our own behavior which can lead to feelings of guilt when, in reality, our behavior was appropriate given the circumstances.

2. How do you want to feel?

How do you want to feel after you’ve found forgiveness? Luskin says you should want to get rid of the “shame, release the blame, and feel calm and whole at your center.”

3. Hit stop on your thoughts and emotions

Realize that the feelings you are carrying around are what’s making you feel terrible, not what you did all those days, months, or years ago. When you start ruminating on the event that brings you guilt, pause and refocus your attention on something positive.

A great way to do that is to focus on a good deed you may have done recently or how you’ve changed since the event took place.

Luskin also recommends trying PERT (Positive Emotion Refocusing Technique). Close your eyes, draw in a long breath, then slowly exhale as you relax your belly. Take a deep breath two more times and on the third one, create a mental image of a beautiful place in nature.

Breathe deeply as your mind explores the beauty around you, whether it’s a beach, mountain top, or the calming waters of a stream. Allow the positive feelings you create to center around your heart.

For more on what science says about benefits click here.

via Pixabay

4. Apologize and make amends

Being forgiven by someone else can help us forgive ourselves. Making a sincere apology to someone affected by your actions can go a long way towards helping you heal yourself.

Next, you can try to right the wrong by making amends to the person you hurt. “Do good rather than feel bad,” Luskin says.

5. Reframe your behavior

Instead of thinking about the event and casting yourself as the bad guy, look at the entirety of the situation and recast yourself as the hero. When you tell yourself the story of what happened, be sure to consider how you’ve overcome a failure and turned it into something good. Focus on what you’ve learned from going through the ordeal and give yourself credit for how you’ve changed.

6. Replace guilt with gratitude

Finally, replace your negative feelings of guilt with positive feelings of gratitude. Look around and appreciate all that you have, whether it’s the breath in your lungs, the shoes on your feet, or the people you love in your life.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude can extinguish any lingering feelings of guilt and shame and put you back on the path of loving yourself again.

“Run the dishwasher twice” might sound like strange mental health advice, but a viral post is proving that it’s actually quite helpful.

Danielle Wunker, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor, shared a story on her Facebook page that is resonating with people who struggle with mental health issues. It originally came from an answer from Katie Scott on Quora to the question “Has a therapist ever told you something completely unexpected?”

It reads:

“When I was at one of my lowest (mental) points in life, I couldn’t get out of bed some days. I had no energy or motivation and was barely getting by.

I had therapy once per week, and on this particular week I didn’t have much to ‘bring’ to the session. He asked how my week was and I really had nothing to say.

‘What are you struggling with?’ he asked.

I gestured around me and said ‘I dunno man. Life.’

Not satisfied with my answer, he said ‘No, what exactly are you worried about right now? What feels overwhelming? When you go home after this session, what issue will be staring at you?’

I knew the answer, but it was so ridiculous that I didn’t want to say it.
I wanted to have something more substantial.
Something more profound.

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But I didn’t.

So I told him, ‘Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know, but the more I look at them the more I CAN’T do them because I’ll have to scrub them before I put them in the dishwasher, because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand and scrub the dishes.’

I felt like an idiot even saying it.

What kind of grown ass woman is undone by a stack of dishes? There are people out there with *actual* problems, and I’m whining to my therapist about dishes?

But he nodded in understanding and then said:

‘Run the dishwasher twice.’

I began to tell him that you’re not supposed to, but he stopped me.

‘Why the hell aren’t you supposed to? If you don’t want to scrub the dishes and your dishwasher sucks, run it twice. Run it three times, who cares?! Rules do not exist.’

It blew my mind in a way that I don’t think I can properly express.

That day, I went home and tossed my smelly dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher and ran it three times.

I felt like I had conquered a dragon.

The next day, I took a shower lying down.

A few days later. I folded my laundry and put them wherever the fuck they fit.

There were no longer arbitrary rules I had to follow, and it gave me the freedom to make accomplishments again.

Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse off my dishes and put them in the dishwasher properly. I shower standing up. I sort my laundry.

But at a time when living was a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned an incredibly important lesson:

There are no rules.

Run the dishwasher twice.”

Anyone who has been in a mental or emotional place where even just the most basic, mundane tasks seem overwhelming understands the wisdom in this lesson. Dishes might seem like such a minor detail of life, but those kinds of minor details can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back mentally. If you’ve never stared at a basket of laundry that would take three minutes to fold and thought, “Nope, can’t do it. Not now. Maybe not ever…” then you may not need this lesson, but there are millions of people who appreciate the express permission to let go of the rules in our heads about how things have to be done.

Adjusting expectations and arbitrary ideas about how something works is incredibly freeing and can provide a seemingly temporary fix for a seemingly insurmountable problem. Oddly enough, though, that temporary fix can be the necessary bridge that gets someone from unable-to-cope-with-daily-life-things to functioning on a somewhat normal level.

Mental health is such a tricky thing to manage, and many of the tools for managing it run counter to what we might expect. That’s what therapists are for—to help us step outside the box of our own brains, adjust our thoughts and behaviors to create greater possibilities for ourselves, and give us permission to reject the negative voices in our head try to keep us locked in unhelpful or unhealthy patterns.

Even when that unhelpful pattern is as simple as letting the dishes pile up instead of running the dishwasher twice.

The race to get new consoles was one accomplished by Microsoft and Sony, at least in getting their next-gen video game systems to market in the first place. Actually buying Microsoft’s Xbox Series S or X, or Sony’s pair of PlayStation 5 devices, however, is proving to be a much more challenging feat in the first week of the next-gen console war.

Initial preorders for devices saw some early fan frustrations, but launch day sales and subsequent drops from other retailers have seen frustrations grow from players unable to see Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or Spider-Man: Miles Morales in crisp next-gen detail.

If the frustrations of OUT OF STOCK warnings and empty avenues to ray tracing seems like you’re suddenly battling thousands of others on Nike’s SNKRS app, well, that’s because in a way you are.

According to some analysts who spoke to CNN, the scarcity of next-gen Xboxes and PS5 may be about more than just high demand for the consoles. Some think current console scarcity is a combination of a few things, including more demand than may have been expected and a decision not to “overproduce” costly consoles ahead of an uncertain holiday season.

Profit margins on the new PS5 and Xbox Series X are probably “thin or even outright in the red,” according to IDC’s research director of gaming Lewis Ward, so it made sense to set production limits. Sony and Microsoft likely considered production levels that wouldn’t put huge stress on the manufacturers and the supply chain and that could help them limit any revenue losses, he said.

Sony isn’t making much money on the PS5 and didn’t want to overproduce the console heading into a recession, said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush analyst. This theory lines up with an April report from Bloomberg that said Sony was planning to limit output of the PS5 in its first year. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

In other words, for one reason or another Sony and Microsoft may not have made as many consoles in time for launch. And those reasons may not be as nefarious as they may seem. Manufacturing anything in a pandemic has proven difficult, especially when it’s moving across continents to reach consumers. There have been countless markets impacted by supply shortages, manufacturing shutdowns and logistical issues that have limited the quantities of countless appliances and other devices in 2020.

All that said, while the debut of each console was delayed for multiple reasons, both Microsoft and Sony insisted they would not have any hardware delays in getting consoles to market. That’s something Microsoft reiterated to CNN in a statement.

Microsoft told CNN Business that its new Xbox hardware production wasn’t affected by the pandemic and that it “set out to produce as many new consoles as it could.” The company added that the consoles, including a cheaper Series S, launched in 40 countries and it “will sell every new Xbox” it is able to produce this year.

“We’re building new Xbox consoles as fast as we can to meet demand,” Microsoft said.

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (Netflix film) — Everyone loves Dolly (who helped fund a promising COVID vaccine), so at least there’s one thing that you won’t be arguing about with your relatives (over Zoom) this holiday season. Featuring an album full of original Dolly music, this film (which co-stars Christine Baranski) revolves around how the coldest of hearts can melt in the face of family, love, and the enduring Christmas spirit of a small town.

Small Axe (Amazon film collection) — Five Steve McQueen-directed movies will drop each Friday over the course of five weeks. The stories, set in London’s West Indian community, will explore the endurance of the human spirit despite setbacks from discrimination and rampant racism, all set from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

Run (Hulu film) — Starring Sarah Paulson and directed by Aneesh Chaganty, this suspense film might be the perfect distraction. Paulson plays an obsessive mother who controls her daughter in total isolation, and her daughter’s now only beginning to grasp the secretive (and unnatural, possibly sinister) reasons for this behavior.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 11 (Disney+ series) — This week, Baby Yoda eats macaroons, and things get dark. For kicks, we ranked Cobb Vanth actor Timothy Olyphant in his lawman roles, including his turn as the galaxy’s coolest marshal.

The Pack (Amazon series) — This reality competition show, hosted by Lindsey Vonn, hopes to celebrate the unbreakable bonds between dogs and humans. In the process, 12 dog-human teams will complete challenges on the race for a $500,000 price in addition to $250,000 for charity.

The Right Stuff: Episode 8 (NatGeo series on Disney+) – It’s series finale time. An underwhelmed Shepard’s sorting out his space voyage while turning toward family gratitude because he’s somehow still married. Meanwhile, Gordo and Trudy aren’t faring so well, and JFK throws down the gauntlet with NASA.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

How To With John Wilson (Friday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — This week, Wilson dives into the murky waters of how to split the check, with all the fairness and drama that comes along with the practice. Wilson also spoke with us about capturing the intimacy and absurdity of life in New York.

2020 American Music Awards (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — This pandemic-set awards ceremony includes performances from Megan Thee Stallion, Machine Gun Kelly, Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez, BTS, Jennifer Lopez and Maluma, Shawn Mendes, and Justin Bieber.

Belushi (Sunday, Showtime 8:00 p.m.) — This documentary explores the life of the late legendary comedian John Belushi by digging into his most iconic characters both of the movie and SNL front, interspersed with home movies and words from friends and family.

The Undoing (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — Hugh Grant’s fascinating turn as a possibly shady dude (and it’s about time) returns with Jonathan Fraser’s case taking a turn at trial while Grace and Henry discuss a secret.

Fear The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — Somehow, this atypically good season has already reached its midpoint with Alicia and Charlie looking for Dakota at the behest of Strand.

Murder On Middle Beach (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — First-time director Madison Hamburg (who we spoke with) reveals his nearly decade-long journey to investigate who murdered his mother, Barbara, in a still-unsolved case out of Connecticut. The four-part series takes many twists and turns, including an exploration of the “Gifting Tables” Ponzi scheme, as well as interviews with friends, family members, and the law enforcement figures who let the case go cold. It’s a heck of a watch that will keep you guessing.

Fargo (Sunday, FX 10:00 p.m.) — The Chris Rock-led season finale sees Loy joining an uneasy alliance while Oraetta’s spoked, Josto is settling a score, Ethelrida gets risky, and Odis gets peaceful.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — The newest spinoff in this universe has the teens revisiting the group’s past following a horrific discovery.

Moonbase 8 (Sunday, Showtime 11:00 p.m. EST and streaming) — Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker, and John C. Reilly are here to make space funny as astronauts working toward a lunar mission. This week, Cap and Skip have very different quarantine experiences, which leaves Rook and a few female team member alone with each other.

Voices of Fire (Netflix Film) — Pharrell Williams’ hometown community gets the spotlight as his uncle joins forces with Bishop Ezekiel Williams and other gospel leaders to build an inspiring choir. Together, they strike out in search of undiscovered talent to amass a collective voice with a greater, and more diverse meaning.

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Netflix film) — Once again, Vanessa Hudgens is dealing with a switcheroo as Duchess Margaret. She’s unexpectedly inherited the Montenaro throne while having relationship troubles, so it’s time for the lookalike(s) to help sort things out. Clearly, people love these movies, so one might as well roll with it.

Alien Xmas (Netflix Film) — Only Christmas can save the world from kleptomaniac aliens, who are attempting to steal Earth’s gravity. Also, a cute alien named X is involved, hopefully on the good side.

Enes Kanter is on his way back to the Portland Trail Blazers. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Boston Celtics, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Blazers have agreed to terms on a three-team trade involving a collection of picks — both in the future and retroactive to Wednesday night’s Draft — and players.

The two veteran players involved in the deal are Kanter, who Boston will send to Portland, and Mario Hezonja, who is headed to Memphis from the pacific northwest. Boston will also net a future pick from the Grizzlies, and in a move that was previously announced, TCU sharpshooter Desmond Bane will take his talents to Memphis.

As Wojnarowski pointed out, Kanter previously had a cup of coffee with Portland during the 2018-19 season, joining the franchise following a buyout from the New York Knicks and adding some frontcourt production.

Kanter should provide some frontcourt reinforcements following Hassan Whiteside hitting unrestricted free agency this summer and while Zach Collins rehabs offseason ankle surgery. Hezonja and Bane give the Grizzlies a pair of wings, and while the former has struggled to consistently provide a scoring punch during his time in the league, the latter brings a sweet jumper — he hit 43.3 percent of his triples in college. It is unclear what pick Boston is getting back in the trade, but this is the latest in what has been a hectic day for them, as Gordon Hayward opted to not pick up the final year of his player option and is an unrestricted free agent.

Connor Dougan knows games need something big when Madden NFL 21 drops for next generation consoles. Dougan, the creative director at EA Sports, has been working on this specific version of the game for about two years — “a souped up PC” made it all happen, he tells me — and on Dec. 4, things will come to fruition when the game drops for PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X.

“One of our goals was, okay, so we’ve got next-gen for gen five coming up internally,” Dougan told Uproxx Edge over Zoom earlier this week. “And it was like, what are we going to do to reset our players expectation and really push the next console transition like it started on a strong note and change the way that the game is played and perceived? And we thought, how better to do that? I mean, we obviously did a bunch of investigation just on Next Gen Stats, but our first instinct was, okay, how do we get motion right? Player movement right?

“And then through our partnership with Next Gen Stats, we did some investigations and some initial prototyping, and then it just snowballed — captured thousands of animations, wide receiver routes, all players were driven by Next Gen Stats, movement parameters, and here we are now,” he continues.

As Dougan mentioned, Madden NFL 21 was powered in part by a partnership with Next Gen Stats, which informed the way that players move on the field in a way that is more similar to how they move in real life. Animations in the change are new — sidelines are more full, stadiums and sounds are more realistic — and changes like a new playcalling screen are coming in, but Dougan and his team were determined to make the debut version of Madden on next-gen consoles feel realistic above all else.

Dougan spoke to Uproxx Edge about the game, how Next Gen Stats played a crucial role in things, and much more.

What are some aspects of this particular version of Madden that was just not possible on current generation consoles?

Let’s start from a gameplay perspective, and then if I miss some other aspects, go ahead and just jump in. So in order to do next-gen player movement, first of all, we had to import thousands of Next Gen Stats like NFL player pass into the game, create a new padding model. And in order to do that, like a movement model, the costs on the CPU side of things is more expensive. So it makes it very difficult to import it back or to do that in gen four.

And then even more importantly, or one of the things that hold us back from doing this on gen four — or enables us to do it on gen five — is the amount of animations that we needed to make it look realistic and feel realistic and follow those NFL players’ paths at various speeds, directions of cutting. We just needed more content, more animation content variety and there’s no way we would’ve gotten the memory to do that on gen four.

And then when you talk about sidelines, having 80 players on both sidelines, crowd enhancements, better player lighting, more body types, muscle jiggle, all of those items were at near the end of the gen four console transitions and were tapped out. So in terms of performance on the GPU and CPU and in terms of overall memory, it enabled us to do a lot and we certainly couldn’t have done that on gen four.

Before we get into this game specifically, I want to ask about the reception of previous versions of Madden. I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial when I say that there have been gamers who believe there were aspects of the past games that they didn’t always enjoy. How did that feedback inform whatever you strive to accomplish in this game?

I think when we talked about Madden and what we wanted to do, moving to the next generation of consoles, is we wanted to — and this is from our core players — we wanted to build the most authentic representation of NFL football. And that sounds like very, I don’t know, press-y, but that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to create a true NFL simulations and really driven from what our players want, from a core game play perspective. That’s where my skillset and expertise is in. And how better to do that than using real NFL player movement data to power the experience?

And then at the same time, part of it is when I play gen four Madden — and I play it all the time and I have fun — it’s just the pacing of it is very quick, very fast, and not necessarily true to life. And when you start to play gen five, the pacing of the game is much more realistic, but at the same time, it still feels good, it looks good, and it’s almost better for a gamer like me anyway, where I can see the plays develop, watch the routes or see a hole, hit a hole, or line up to make a one-on-one tackle, because a lot of the times, the pacing of gen four Madden is so fast that it’s almost so responsive, it’s unresponsive, if that makes any sense. You know what I mean?

No, absolutely. And off of that, everything with the game is presented through the concept of “Next Level” in just all forms and fashions of it. But at the end of the day, gameplay is the big one. It can be a beautiful game, all that stuff could be great. But if the game doesn’t play great, you know as well as I do that’s what people…

It doesn’t matter, right?

Right, exactly. It seems like you guys put a ton of emphasis on that and particularly player movement. Is that fair?

Yep, 100 percent. Player movement, then some of the corresponding systems that we also wanted to improve that are just, I mean, they’re kind of related, but they’re not related. So if we talk about tackling, we wanted to make tackling easier to control, look better, get you in a position where if you’re in the open field as a defender and you have to make a one-on-one tackle, you don’t just 90 percent or 80 percent of the time, at least for me, run by or let the CPU control it.

Exactly.

You want to create a game where you can put yourself in a position and didn’t feel like you were potentially putting yourself at risk for making a play on the ball. So there’s that system. And then in creating a whole new movement system, we had to almost retune and/or fix up a lot of the different core systems in terms of, okay, players move slower, our animation system is completely, not slower, but more authentic. Our animation system is now different on gen four. So our ball prediction or where the pass is going to be, pass leading, defensive player pursuit. The timing for blockers and pass rush. There’s all the timing for a quarterback, making his reads. All of that stuff had to get adjusted because of the next-gen player movement.

So what role did Next Gen Stats play in building out this entire game and how will gamers get to experience that on both sides of the ball?

So when we looked at Next Gen Stats, we started, we were like, “Okay, we have this partnership with Next Gen Stats. Then they track all of their player movement, we want our player movement to be realistic.” We took a route and then we showed all the green lines, which are representative of all the speed positional data movement facing. That was our initial look at, okay, what does real human NFL movement look like? Then we had to say, “Okay, well, if we take our animation system, our paths and our movement model was nothing like that on gen four.”

So we take a human, a very fast athletic human, going at full speed, running … I don’t know, let’s say like a deep crossing route. So how do we emulate that? How do we make it look one-to-one like that real NFL player? And so that’s how we started down the animation motion side of things to make our players look realistic. And then once we got our receivers going, we started looking at ball carriers, quarterbacks, DBs, linebackers, and then linemen, and took a new approach on how to make our players move like human beings.

I’m glad you mentioned route running because it seemed like that was the entry point into everything. So just going off of that, can you give gamers an idea of what to expect on how route running in particular will feel a little bit different and then how that ended up informing running the ball, blocking, playing defense, quarterback, all that.

So when we started on gen four Madden, on all versions of Madden, it’s like, can a receiver run from point A to point B to point C? Whatever the route was, right? It’s like, go here, go here, go here, go here. And that’s all we had.

But now we have, okay, what does Davante Adams look like on this deep post route and analyzing all the data. It looks nothing like our CPU generated paths. So we had to say, okay, because it’s like it’s very nuanced in terms of how they accelerate off the line and then how they prep for their cut move and then make their cut. They decelerate slightly before they make their breaks. And that was the piece where it’s like, “Well, couldn’t we just tie a bunch of routes to Davante Adams and using his real world routes?”

And then we figured out ultimately how to do that. And then you have this one smooth path, but then we had to get a bunch of animations, capture a bunch of animations in motion capture to make sure that it looked like an NFL receiver running around, right?

Yeah.

Because we didn’t have that variety of speeds coming off the line, different turns at different angles. So that was how route running started. And then we basically took the same approach for, let’s say, running back. We started looking at a bunch of different data for different players. Running inside, running outside, how quickly they hit the hole when they cut back. How quickly did they do it? What does their path look like when they do it? And then we modeled those paths and then again, went to go capture thousands of animations to support it and make it come into life.

And it’s interesting because at the same time, you don’t want that to be something you put all your time and energy in, because if you do, playing defense in the game becomes impossible. How were you able to find the balance between, we want the routes to feel more lifelike, we want being able to run the ball feel more life like, all that stuff, without sacrificing the ability to do much of anything on defense?

So we had to basically take that same concept. And I think one of the more challenging things throughout development is we always started with offense, for whatever reason, because you have to get an offense, and then you get a defense to play against the offense. We started with the offense, got that looking good and then, shortly thereafter, we started working on defense, and it’s very reactionary and it’s actually more of a challenging problem because they have to be so much more reactive to whatever route, whatever the ball carrier is doing.

So we wanted to make them look smooth in terms of their backpedals, their strays, how they attack the ball, how they break on ball, but we also wanted it to feel good. So it was a combination of making it look cool from a human defensive player movement, linebacker, DB standpoint. But then we started working on pursuit and how a play a pursuits the ball and then we had to figure out tackling, tackling was the big piece that was missing.

So, I got to get this player into position to make a tackle. And that’s where we built this new tech that helps us predict, start a tackle before it’s even in contact and then if things change, things change and we break it, we don’t even launch the tackle. But if all things stay the same and two players are meeting in this path, we can ensure that we can start a tackle on a defender without ever pulling the ball carry in so it doesn’t feel suction-y. And then it also makes it more consistent for a defensive player to make a tackle or get in position to make a tackle.

Just generally, what’s your favorite thing about this version of Madden? Because it seems like it’s been this gigantic labor of love that you’re seeing come to fruition — it could be something that we’ve talked about already, something we haven’t talked about, whatever.

I mean, for me personally, it’s really difficult having worked on, and I’m obviously biased. So take it with a grain of salt. Having worked on gen five, mostly. Going back to gen four is really tough because it’s just not as smooth, for lack of a better term. You don’t feel like you have as much control. It’s a little bit, for lack of a better term, twitchy. So I think overall the control and the pace of the game is what I love most about it and what I think players are going to like most about it as well.

While the rest of the nation is struggling to get rising COVID numbers under control and complete ballot recounts (so our commander-in-chief doesn’t destroy our fragile democracy), the Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have more pressing problems to address: flags.

News broke Friday that the state’s GOP-run Senate had snuck in a provision while passing their annual fiscal bill that directly targeted outspoken Democratic Lt. Governor John Fetterman. Fetterman’s been enjoying the spotlight lately with his pretty savage takedowns of President Trump, who hoped to seed distrust in the state’s voting process in order to win the 2020 presidential election. Fetterman refused to go along with that narrative, blasting the president and his Republican colleagues on national news, but that public rebellion seems to be the last straw in an ongoing feud between Republican members in Harrisburg and the progressive Lt. Governor.

Fetterman, a celebrated advocate for equal rights and noted supporter of marijuana legalization, ticked plenty of right-wing politicians off when he started flying Pride and weed flags from his balcony, which overlooks the city and is quoted as being a “prime piece of real estate.” Apparently, Republicans complaind about Fetterman’s decor to the press before tucking a law into a key spending bill that prohibits any flags save the American flag, the state flag, and flags honoring missing soldiers, from flying on Capitol Hill.

Fetterman clapped back on social media, seemingly suggesting he wouldn’t be removing his homage to equal rights and legalized marijuana anytime soon.

This looks to be just another grab for power by Pennsylvania’s Republican legislature. After all, Fetterman got on the GOP’s bad side long before his Trump-dragging marathon. The Lt. Governor, who presides over state Senate meetings, was blasted by Republicans for not sanctioning a Democratic lawmaker who launched a protest against a vote to strip welfare assistance from families in need. (How awful of him, right?) Still, Twitter had some fun mocking the GOP’s commitment to holding ridiculous grudges.

Keep giving Fetterman airtime, you guys. It only helps the dream of an AOC/Fetterman 2024 presidential ticket seem more likely.

The newest Amazon Prime Video series, The Wilds, debuts on December 11, but ahead of then, Empress Of has shared a new song she wrote for the show, “Broken.”

Empress Of sings on the driving dark pop track, “I feel broken in a thousand little secrets / I’m all the creases in my smile / I can’t lose my scent / Forget me stumbling / I’m only a little bit of hurt / I’m a little more than worse.” She shared the trailer, which features a snippet of the song, two days ago and wrote, “This is the first time I’ve worked with a TV show to write and produce an original piece of music. I got to watch the series before hand and I’M OBSESSED.”

The song features on the show’s soundtrack alongside a score from composer Cliff Martinez. He says of the soundtrack, “The Wilds is a story about the odyssey of adolescence for ten young women. Not a subject I have a lot of familiarity with and it clearly perched me on the edge of my musical comfort zone. Nonetheless, I put on my teenage girl hat and embraced the challenge. For this score, I put aside my usual preoccupation with sparse instrumentation and stark undulating textures in favor of more traditional musical food groups such as…uh…harmony and melody! The resulting score to The Wilds is probably one of my most uniquely ‘musical’ efforts.”

Meanwhile, press materials describe the show, “Part survival drama, part dystopic slumber party, The Wilds follows a group of teen girls from different backgrounds who must fight for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. The castaways both clash and bond as they learn more about each other, the secrets they keep, and the traumas they’ve all endured. There’s just one twist to this thrilling drama… these girls did not end up on this island by accident. ”

Listen to “The Wilds” above and revisit our interview with Empress Of here.

HBO has officially pressed “Play” on a live-action adaptation of the hit video game The Last of Us. News of its development was announced back in the spring, but HBO finally came through with a series order for the adaptation from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog game developer Neil Druckmann. The Last of Us focuses on survivors Joel and Ellie as they navigate a post-apocalyptic America that’s been ravaged by a zombie pandemic.

“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” HBO Executive Vice President Francesca Orsi said in a statement. “With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of ‘The Last of Us’ games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We’re delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story.”

While talks have centered solely on adapting the first game, its 2020 sequel The Last of Us: Part II was a critical and commercial hit, which should prove fertile ground for future seasons of the HBO zombie series.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Based on the critically acclaimed video game “The Last of Us,” developed by Naughty Dog exclusively for the PlayStation® platforms, the story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

The Last of Us will also be available to stream on HBO Max.