Month: December 2020

In January 2019, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative concluded that two years earlier, the music industry saw a six-year low for female creatives. The contributions of women remain underrepresented in virtually every corner of the field — from singers and songwriters to A&R professionals and marketing mavens. Because of these findings, She Is The Music is a necessary network for women in music to facilitate meaningful change in order to diminish the “boys club” industry mentality, which is why we wanted to showcase them in this debut episode of our new The Show Up series.

Founded by Alicia Keys in 2018, She Is The Music is a non-profit organization aiming to amplify underrepresented individuals in the music industry through networking, resources, and impactful initiatives. In the above video, Michelle Arkuski, executive director of the organization, says that the “overarching” goal of the organization is to “[harness] inclusivity, opportunity and visibility to increase the number of women working in music.”

She Is The Music fosters connections between its members and music industry giants in order to provide support and advice. Like-minded individuals can link up through the organization’s global online database of 7,000 she/her-identifying music industry members. She Is The Music also features programs unifying its members, like their all-female songwriting camp, their partnership with Step Up empowering female high school students, and their newly-implemented virtual mentorship program, Connect TogetHER, whose members launched their own music team after the program ended to help an alumna release her debut album.

Through instilling confidence in established and prospective industry personnel, She Is The Music provides a look into how limitless the field could be for women. “When people put gender into a title, it knocks you down a few steps,” She Is The Music’s songwriting committee co-chair and L.A. chapter head Hannah Babitt notes. “We need all genders involved to push a change and shift the numbers.”

Check out the video above to learn more about the group.

If we’re going by her Twitter feed, we’d say Ivanka Trump’s feeling a bit nostalgic. The White House senior adviser has, up until now, supported her father’s push to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 Presidential election, but a string of recent tweets looking back on Trump’s major “accomplishments” while in office may signal that she knows he’s on the way out and deserves a tribute.

Along with posts commemorating the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and some Winter Solstice trivia, Ivanka tweeted and RT’d moments from her timeline celebrating some of the biggest milestones in Trump’s presidency, but it’s her Mount Rushmore “thirst tweet” that’s getting the most attention. Trump’s been a bit obsessed with getting his face on the national monument — he posted the same photo Ivanka used in her tweets today back in August — and it seems his daughter is now campaigning for her dad to be immortalized in stone next to some of our greatest presidents (despite his disastrous handling of a global pandemic and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died on his watch).

Naturally, Twitter had other ideas for where Trump’s face might end up once his reign is over.

All jokes aside, there are much bigger things to worry about than the ability of the narcissistic first family to disassociate themselves from reality while people are actually suffering right now. But hey, we’ve got to find the humor somewhere, right?

Pete Davidson was busy during this weekend’s SNL. He sported bleached hair to play Santa’s number-one fan in a parody of Eminem’s “Stan” music video, and also appeared during Weekend Update to rip into the “babies” who are protesting the COVID lockdown measures in his home borough of Staten Island. He focused on one bar, in particular, which declared itself an “autonomous zone” to flaunt mask-wearing measures.

“The bar, shockingly, is in a neighborhood with the second-highest COVID infections in all of New York, so the rule is that they’re only supposed to let people eat or drink outside,” Davidson said about Mac’s Public House. “And the owner said, no one wants to do that because they’ll go out of business. But the argument that people in Staten Island don’t want to drink outside can be disproven by going to literally any Little League game.” It’s a solid joke, but John Tobacco (JOHNNY TOBACCO) was not amused.

A Staten Island activist named Mr. Tobacco tore the SNL star a new one Monday during a news conference over the watering hole called Mac’s Public House — which has been in the news a lot lately for defying COVID closures. Welp, Mr. Tobacco says Pete’s words are a betrayal, considering people in town know him and his fam. He got very personal and even referenced Pete’s father … a firefighter who died on 9/11 in the Twin Towers.

“The ignorance level is so high now that you have mega-millionaires on the national spotlight, like the folks on Saturday Night Live,” Mr. Tobacco said during a press conference on Monday. “And instead of making fun of their friends and the local business owners who are broke and crushed and bankrupt, instead of coming down here as fellow Staten Islanders and standing up for them and bringing a positive light to this thing, what they want to do is go on national TV and humiliate the little man when he’s down. To me, that is quite disgusting.” He then mockingly called Pete “the King of Staten Island.”

Only in New York, baby. You can watch the clip here. Or the full thing below.

(Via TMZ)

Like basically every festival did this year, Montreal fest Osheaga pushed back its 2020 event to 2021, so the 15th anniversary festival is now set to take place between July 31 and August 1 of next year. The full lineup hasn’t been unveiled yet, but the headliners have been announced: Foo Fighters (who were originally set to headline in 2020), Cardi B, and Post Malone.

In a statement announcing the news, festival organizers assured fans that they will be following COVID-19 safety guidelines, writing, “We are aware that we are heading into uncertain times, and we have been working relentlessly behind the scenes to create the ideal circumstances for Osheaga to move ahead without a hitch. Of course, we will follow all COVID-19 guidelines (as they evolve) and continue to update the status should anything change, but we need to plan for the future, because there IS a light at the end of the tunnel! Osheaga is all about spreading joy and fun in a secure environment for everyone to celebrate along with live performances by Foo Fighters, Cardi B, Post Malone, and more!”

The statement continued, “The Osheaga family would like to extend a huge thank you to fans, numerous sponsors and public partners for their continuous support. One thing is certain, when we can all gather and celebrate together again, it is going to be unforgettable! We cannot wait to see you at Osheaga Music and Arts Festival 2021!”

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

Flatbush Zombies have had a stellar few years and have begun work on a project with James Blake, but it looks like the trio’s individual members are looking to broaden their personal horizons as well. The first to branch off is the group’s primary producer, Erick “Arc” Elliott, aka Erick The Architect, as he announces his debut solo project, Future Proof. A five-song EP, Future Proof is due January 22, 2021, and features British rapper Loyle Carner and electronic duo FARR on the lead single, “Let It Go.”

FARR’s Linden Jay is the producer on the project, which will also contain features from Col3trane, Sophie Faith, and Pip Millett. FARR vocalist Roméo contributes the chorus to “Let It Go,” while Carner and Erick trade heartfelt verses over the downtempo beat.

Earlier this year, Flatbush Zombies released their own new EP, Now, More Than Ever, with a well-rounded rollout including the group’s Tiny Desk Concerts debut. They also dropped off the music video for “Afterlife,” one of the songs they co-produced with James Blake.

Loyle Carner, meanwhile, recently released his Madlib-produced single “Yesterday,” kicking off the rollout for the followup to his standout 2019 album, Not Waving, But Drowning.

Future Proof is due January 22.

Following his well-received performance as an older, battle-weary yet still badass Boba Fett on The Mandalorian, Temuera Morrison sat down with The New York Times to talk about how he got a chance to give Star Wars fans version of the character that they’ve been hoping to see for over 40 years.

Morrison’s time with the franchise goes all the way back to 2002’s Attack of the Clones, in which he played Boba’s father, the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who was cloned for the Republic’s clone army. (Boba himself is a clone of Jango, but he ages like a normal human.) While Morrison’s voice has been dubbed into The Empire Strikes Back, officially making him the voice of Boba Fett, he’s never played the character on-screen until The Mandalorian, which was an experience that he couldn’t believe was happening. As for how the heck Boba Fett is still alive after being unceremoniously knocked into the Sarlacc Pit during Return of the Jedi, not even Morrison knows.

“There’s quite a bit of loose ends, and I’m not one of those guys that knows too much about the actual history,” Morrison told the Times. “The fans of ‘Star Wars,’ they have better knowledge of, What’s happened? How can he still be alive? I thought he was stuck in this place? I can find out more on the internet.”

Of course, what happened to Boba Fett between Return of the Jedi and The Mandalorian seems like the perfect material for the recently announced Boba Fett miniseries, which Morrison hopes to be a part of. Although, for now, he’d settle for a chance to connect with the franchise’s biggest star: Baby Yoda.

“I never got to work with him very closely or with the people who move him around,” Morrison said. “I was using him in a not-so-good way, as bait. But hopefully I’ll get to meet him and we can have a little bonding session.”

(Via The New York Times)

It’s pretty wild how after watching every star from Doja Cat to Lil Nas X get dragged for old, offensive, edgelord tweets, stars still don’t delete everything from before they blow up. Even having a fellow group member get censured by fans wasn’t enough to convince JT, recently released from prison and resurgent thanks to the new City Girls album, to delete her old tweets — and now she’s paying the price.

The more lyrical half of the Miami duo deleted her Twitter account after fans resurfaced some of her reckless and offensive tweets from 2015 and before which found her making jokes about everything from R. Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse of teens to Osama Bin Laden. Naturally, there’s a little bigotry sprinkled in, because it wouldn’t be a Twitter controversy if someone wasn’t being a little racist or homophobic. With her account deleted, the original tweets are, of course, gone but they live on in screenshots captured before she reached her limit and hit a hard reset.

For her part, JT seemed unrepentant on Instagram, addressing the controversy in a Story post reading, “Nah all jokes aside stop searching them tweets cause I don’t feel like slapping a bitch back into the same year I was talking about them in!” She also posted a screenshot of what appears to be a new account — one with an apt handle: @fuckyallbitches11.

Still, though, as the commentary continues, this might be a good time for any and all aspiring entertainers to download a Tweet deleting app and get to work. Also, be a better person — it’s not that hard.

Back in 2019, comedians and authors Desus Nice and The Kid Mero were asked to name which guest is at the top of their Desus & Mero wish list. Michelle Obama, Nice responded, “whatever she wants, it’d be a special five-hour episode. We would do everything. I’d be doing her hair, we’d be baking pies, do a hand game, playing double dutch. Just drinking Chardonnay.” The former-First Lady hasn’t appeared on the Showtime series yet, but the Bodega Boys landed a solid fallback guest: Barack Obama.

Obama will appear in a “special half-hour interview episode” of Desus & Mero this Sunday, December 13, as part of the press tour for his new book, A Promised Land. In the preview above, he jokes about not wearing his Timberlands and burns the hosts for their basketball skills in a game against Cory Booker (“Here’s the good news, looks like y’all could play for the Knicks”). The show’s Twitter account previewed the interview by tweeting, “The Bodega Boys just ran into somebody… y’all know him?” (it wasn’t frequent target Jeremy Renner), followed by, “Says he was the 44th President of the United States or something? Idk.” Obama also has a new nickname: Barry the Gawd.

Desus & Mero airs Sunday at 11:05 p.m. EST on Showtime.

The NBA season tips off on December 22 with the league’s marquee Christmas Day slate coming on just the fourth day of the season. The league announced the first half of its schedule on Friday and as such teams know exactly when they’ll be on national TV for the first half of the season.

That may be more important information than usual, as teams begin to plan out how they will take care of their star players, particularly for those teams who played deep into the NBA Bubble in Orlando. With the two month turnaround from the end of the Finals to the start of the season, there has been the expectation, particularly for a team like the Lakers, that they will be plenty cautious with older stars such as LeBron James and resting will be even more prevalent early in this season as guys try to round back into shape.

The league also seems keenly aware of this fact and issued an update to its resting policy adopted in 2017, per Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, that will increase the fine for resting healthy players during a national TV game and on the road — although the latter seems far less important in a season that will start with very few teams having fans in arenas.

This season has been hurried along to start before Christmas almost entirely for the financial windfall that comes from playing those Christmas Day games, which are highly lucrative for the NBA as they are very important for ESPN. That revenue is important to the league and the players, so it’s understandable, as always, that the league would want its best players to be available for national TV games. The issue in this season is with the swift turnaround and shortened camp, which has players at least somewhat concerned about the potential for a similar rash of injuries like the NFL saw early in its season after players went through a brief camp without preseason games and straight into full speed action. The NBA will have a few preseason games, but a shortened camp and quick turnaround for some teams has the attention of everyone.

The impact of this updated policy will likely be minimal, as most players who rest regularly do so with legitimate health reasons behind the decision — for example, Kawhi Leonard is not beholden to the NBA’s policy because he is deemed to be constantly managing a chronic quad injury. This season, you’ll see the likes of Kevin Durant fall into the same category, as he returns from an Achilles injury, and while the Lakers stars played most games last year they were constant presences on the injury report for this reason. That further transparency on minor injuries seems to be the biggest impact of the new policy, as sore and tight muscles now get reported to provide rightful cover for someone sitting out.

Someone will undoubtedly get fined this year as the league makes an example out of any brazen attempts to rest healthy players, but at this point this is old hat and teams know exactly how to work within these guidelines. The only time it becomes tricky is if a team has a back-to-back where both games are nationally televised, but those are few and far between and if a team believes resting on a back-to-back will help them win a championship later, they’ll still happily fork over $100,000 to stick to their plan.

The long-awaited third installment of Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon trilogy got an update today — the rapper shared a full tracklist and artwork for his project and announced the album will be released this Friday, a relatively short time after the initial announcement.

Over eighteen tracks broken up into four acts, artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Skepta, Pop Smoke and Trippie Red will appear to help Cudi tell his story. He tweeted out the artwork and also posted it on Instagram, crediting artist Sam Spratt with creating the image:

Earlier this year Cudi shared the trailer for the album, and has clearly been hard at work to get the project completed after a decade gap between this third album and the second installment, Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager released back in 2010. Cudi has often been lauded within hip-hop for bringing mental health struggles to the forefront in his own music, although it’s unclear if the new album will include a similar focus. In the years since Man On The Moon II he’s released albums like Indicud in 2013, Satellite Flight: The Journey To Mother Moon in 2014, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven in 2015, and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ in 2016.

Of course, he also worked on Kids See Ghosts in 2018, a joint release with Kanye West, although Kanye isn’t credited on the latest entry in the trilogy.