Month: August 2021

Hip-hop drama lightning rod Iggy Azalea is staging a comeback, and she’s already been turning heads with accusations of “blackfishing” in her video for “I Am The Strip Club.” Today, she shared the album artwork for her new project, The End Of An Era, and the visual pays homage to the 1983 film Scarface, where Al Pacino infamously portrays mobster Tony Montana. “Standard edition cover art to my album: The End Of An Era Releasing Aug 13 Can anyone connect the reference? I’ve been a bit tony obsessed since my first tour… ,” Iggy wrote in the caption.

This isn’t the first time the Australian rapper has made reference to Tony, either. On her 2018 hit “Kream,” which in itself was a reference to Wu Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” and samples their original track, she paraphrases a quote from Tony on the intro: “First you get the money, then you get the power, respect, hoes come last.” Of course, Mr. Montana himself isn’t quite as vulgar and says “women” but we’ll chalk that up to Iggy’s artistic license. And as fans point out, she’s even worn dresses with Tony’s face on them in the past:

If this is just the standard edition, then keep your eyes peeled for the deluxe. The album drops August 13.

When it comes to skateboarding, there is perhaps no one more well-known (and universally adored) than Tony Hawk, which makes the fact that there hasn’t been an official documentary about his life yet all the more shocking. However, the Duplass brothers (Mark and Jay: The Puffy Chair, Safety Not Guaranteed, The Skeleton Twins) are teaming up with Hawk and filmmaker-photographer Sam Jones (“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” “Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued”) to remedy the situation. Variety has announced a full-length feature documentary following Hawk’s life and legacy is currently in the works. While we don’t know much about the currently untitled documentary, we do know a fall festival launch is anticipated ahead of its release in late 2022.

According to the Variety report, producer Mark Duplass says the team has been “quietly working on this one for a few years,” and all the footage for the upcoming film has already been shot and is currently in edits. He also added he is “floored with the unmitigated access Tony has allowed [them] to his life and his fascinating relationship to the sport,” which Hawk then supported, telling Variety he “wanted to give them as much footage and interview as possible.” All this to say this documentary is shaping up to be a very intimate look at Hawk’s life and legacy within the skateboarding community — and will provide folks a very different look into Hawk’s life than the documentary filmed about his video game franchise, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, “Pretending I’m Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story.”

The untitled Tony Hawk documentary is currently in edits over at Duplass Brothers Productions, and is expected to release sometime next year.

Welp, the two skateboarding events added to the Olympics this year have wrapped up for the women’s teams, and the results are historic in more ways than one.

Japan’s Kokona Hiraki, age 12, just won the silver medal in women’s park skateboarding, making her Japan’s youngest Olympic medalist ever. Great Britain’s Sky Brown, who was 12 when she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and is now 13, won the bronze, making her Great Britain’s youngest medalist ever. And those two medal wins mean that two-thirds of the six medalists in the two women’s skateboarding events are age 13 or younger. (The gold and silver medalists in women’s street skateboarding, Japan’s Momiji Nishiya and Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, are also 13.)

That’s mind-blowing.

Young skaters from Japan and Britain soared to victory in the women’s park competition, with hometown heroes Sakura… https://t.co/vANj8mJlat

— Reuters (@Reuters)
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The youngest person to win an Olympic medal in #TeamGB history 🇬🇧

An unbelievable achievement from the extraordina… https://t.co/qp0LVC6uiX

— Team GB (@TeamGB)
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By the way, the other two medalists are ages 16 and 19. Nothing but teens and tweens at the top.

One of the reasons for adding skateboarding to the Olympics was to draw in younger viewers and inject the games with a jolt of youthful spirit. Mission accomplished, if these skateboarding medals are any indication.

13 and 12. These kids are several years away from being able to drive a car, and yet they are already Olympic champions on four wheels. Amazing.

Skateboarding is a unique sport in that it’s performed on a wheeled device that is in no way attached to a person’s body. And despite the laid-back, chill vibe of the athletes who compete in the sport, perfecting the tricks and skills it takes to compete at this level takes an enormous amount of practice.

It can also be dangerous. Sky Brown took a bad spill at age 11, suffering a skull fracture and broken arm that threatened her Olympic dreams when the games were originally scheduled for 2020. By then, she’d already been a professional skateboarder for two years, after becoming the world’s youngest pro skater at age 9.

A pro at age 9. Kids these days, I tell you.

Despite the pressures at this level of competition, it’s clear in the Olympic footage that these kids are doing what they love and having a great time doing it. The camaraderie and outward shows of support among the skateboarding athletes are palpable, which is both a testament to their character and to the culture of skateboarding itself.

🥇 Japan’s Momiji Nishiya
🥈 Brazil’s Rayssa Leal

Both medalists in women’s street skateboarding. Both 13 years o… https://t.co/oDq8ckAzL2

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic)
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With such young stars already crushing the field, it seems that the competition in this sport will only get better. These kids and other rising competitors will undoubtedly be even more exciting to watch in Paris 2024. Already looking forward to it.

The current phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has made for a lot of uncomfortable social situations. It’s forced people to have hard, potentially relationship-damaging conversations about vaccinations with their friends, family, and coworkers.

Although breakthrough infections are extremely rare, an unvaccinated person is much more likely to spread the virus than someone who is vaccinated.

That means that a lot of vaccinated people are distancing themselves from the unvaccinated to protect their health. There is also a moral component to the issue. Some people don’t want to work or socialize with people who they believe haven’t taken responsibility for themselves and others by getting vaccinated.

It’s a real letdown to realize that someone close to you isn’t interested in getting a shot to protect the health of those around them.

There are a lot of vaccinated people who are angry at the unvaccinated for continuing to spread the deadly virus. And rightfully so, the unvaccinated have created a situation where people continue to die from a virus that is largely preventable.

The difficulty and frustration of the present moment is felt by just about everyone, including A-list celebrities. Actor Jennifer Aniston recently told InStyle magazine that she’s had to distance herself from people in her social and professional circles because they refused to get the jab.

“There’s still a large group of people who are anti-vaxxers or just don’t listen to the facts. It’s a real shame. I’ve just lost a few people in my weekly routine who have refused or did not disclose [whether or not they had been vaccinated], and it was unfortunate,” she explained.

Aniston believes people should take responsibility for themselves and others by being open about their vaccination status.

“I feel it’s your moral and professional obligation to inform, since we’re not all podded up and being tested every single day. It’s tricky because everyone is entitled to their own opinion — but a lot of opinions don’t feel based in anything except fear or propaganda,” she added.

Aniston is rightfully concerned about the damage that unvaccinated people can cause to her personal life. COVID-19 could spread rapidly on a busy set, putting the health of many people in danger.

The threat of an outbreak is always in the air but she’s comfortable knowing that the set of her Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show” has a great medical team on staff.

“I was able to walk into it pretty centered, knowing we had an incredible epidemiology team,” she said.

Even though the past year and a half has been stressful for Aniston, she found some peace during the lockdown. Taking time off from her busy professional life allowed her to come to some important realizations.

“My level of anxiety has gone down by eliminating the unnecessary sort of fat in life that I had thought was necessary,” she said. “Also realizing that you can’t please everybody.”

It’s been a few months since UK band Black Midi ventured away from their post-punk sound and into prog rock territory on their second studio album Cavalcade. The band is now just about a month away from embarking on their cross-country US tour in support of their album and to celebrate, Black Midi share the song brooding “Cruising” on streaming services. It originally only appeared on the Japanese CD release of Cavalcade.

“Cruising” takes a slower pace than much of Black Midi’s jazz-inspired Cavalcade album. Vocalist Geordie Greep’s lyrical delivery simmers underneath discordant instrumentals, reminiscent of a country crooner. It’s subdued by layers of urgent guitar chords and languid brass instruments which eventually break down into a cacophony of sound at the bridge, staying true to Black Midi’s previous releases.

The song was made during one of their free-flowing experimental recording sessions for their Cavalcade album with the help of audio engineer John Spud Murphy. About their experience working with Murphy, Greep previously praised the engineer for helping the band expand their sound. “It worked really well with John. We wanted a natural, open sound combined with fourth wall breaks – for lack of a better expression,” he said.

Listen to “Cruising” above.

Cavalcade is out now via Rough Trade. Get it here.

When Olivia Rodrigo became a global music superstar with Sour, her success wasn’t enjoyed in the traditional pop star way. Thanks to the pandemic, there were no tours, no meet-and-greets, and no other public goings-on of the sort. She has had some fan interactions, though, including one that caught her off guard.

In a new GQ interview, when asked about her first brush with celebrity once the world started to open back up, Rodrigo responded,

“Someone came up to me the other day and was like, ‘Sorry if this is weird, but I had sex to the entirety of your album.’ And I was like, ‘What the f*ck? That’s crazy.’ That was the weirdest experience I’ve ever had. I was flattered, of course. […] I appreciate that she was bold enough to come up to me and tell me that, too. I was like, ‘You want to have sex to the breakup songs?’ It’s just really cool to go out and have people be like, ‘I really like your music — that got me through a hard time in my life.’ People would come up to me and be like, ‘Oh, I love the character they put on the show,’ and that’s so awesome. But it’s a totally different experience when someone’s like, ‘Oh, it’s a vulnerable piece of your heart.’”

Check out the full feature here.

Someone, please check if pigs are actually flying because Fox News host Sean Hannity begged his viewers to “be a little bit more respectful” when it comes to the mental health struggles of athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka.

That’s right, the man who spent much of 2020 suggesting President Joe Biden might be suffering from cognitive impairment has told people it’s really not fair to drag Biles and Osaka because “none of us know what someone might be going through.” Ah, irony. You strike again. Now, to be clear, Hannity’s correct in his defense of our Olympic athletes. Mental health is something we all need to take more seriously, and few of us will ever understand the pressure of performing on a world stage like both Biles and Osaka have done countless times. During his segment, Hannity doubled down on that sentiment:

“All of us need to take a deep breath, relax, reset, move forward,” he said. “These young women have both sacrificed years and years, over a decade of their life to become some of the greatest athletes in their respective sports. To be honest, and this may surprise you, I’m kind of shocked people have actually been so mean and cruel in many cases. Passing judgment of both these incredible female athletes. They are under tremendous pressure. And I’m sorry, but some people seem pretty heartless in their comments.”

Shockingly compassionate words, we know. But, before you start questioning whether Hannity has had his body invaded by aliens, he returned to his usual form by dedicating the beginning of his segment to bashing Olympian Gwen Berry, who called attention to racial injustice with a demonstration during the playing of the national anthem during the Olympic trials. Berry failed to medal at the Tokyo Games, and Hannity, predictably, was delighted.

For the last several years, 21 Savage has been hosting a back to school drive, aptly titled Issa Back 2 School Drive, for the children of Georgia. This year’s event took place in Decatur earlier this week as the return to school looms large for some students with fall approaching. As this is the sixth installment of the event, it’s certainly not the first time the rapper has used his wealth and fame to give back to the community, and his emphasis on education has held strong, too. Last year he allocated $100,000 to scholarships for a virtual financial literacy fund.

As far as the event this week, it was held i n conjunction with the rapper’s Leading By Example Foundation,and Complex reports the drive reached over 1,500 students and families. It was co-sponsored by brands like Chime — who also teamed up with Savage for his scholarship initiative — Amazon Music, Reebok, and Juma.org. Other local partners included Momma Flystyle, Dekalb County, and Cosmopolitan Night Club.

Aside from school supplies, kids were also able to pick up shoes, play in a bouncy castle, and pose for photos with their friends. Check out a clip of the rapper speaking to the kids at the drive above.

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Tomi Lahren. The Fox News personality has continued to complain about “the Libs” and make easily debunked claims to her 1.6 million followers, naturally, but her recent output hasn’t been on the level of WTF as flight attendants are “Nazis of the air.” That’s the Tomi we know and… “love” is strong, so let’s leave it at “know.” On the Olympics, Lahren recently tweeted, “These crybaby Olympic athletes wouldn’t know oppression if it bit them straight in their whiny behinds,” along with a plug for her appearance on Fox and Friends. She also referred to people as “sheep” without a hint of irony. Lahren is playing the greatest hits, but every so often, she’ll have a whopper of a tweet. In the past 15 hours, there have been two of them.

“Now there’s a variant to the variant?! Wow sounds like a great way to keep fear, control and mail-in voter fraud going forever huh…” Lahren tweeted on Tuesday night, followed by this doozy of a hot take on Wednesday morning: “If you’re willing to go through another economy crushing lock down for ‘health and safety’ but won’t consider a healthy diet and exercise, you’re not serious about your health.”

To recap, Tomi Lahren thinks the Delta variant is part of a Democrat conspiracy theory to keep Republicans out of office through absentee balloting; she also continued to ignore mask mandates in favor of shaming people who want a Big Mac at the end of a long day (it’s worth noting that states with the “highest obesity rates” tend to vote Republican). “Or, you could encourage people to wear a mask and get vaccinated. That would also prevent another lock down,” one Twitter user replied to her tweet, while another pointed out the “healthy” diet of a certain former-president who nearly died from COVID.

Maybe she should go back to posting about sheep…

When Omar Apollo first started music, he was working odd jobs and had to borrow money from a friend to upload his song “Ugotme” on Spotify. The track blew up, earned a spot on several playlists, and effectively launched Apollo’s music career. After dropping his debut LP Apolonio in 2020, Apollo is ready to start a new era. Now taking his Spotify success full-circle, Apollo teamed up with the streaming platform to deliver two songs for their Spotify Singles series.

For his first track, Apollo opted to rework his most recent single “Go Away.” The original version of the song is a swooning ballad about a long distance crush. But for his Spotify Singles version, Apollo leans on Auto-Tune to transform the track into a lo-fi jam. Along with a new version of “Go Away,” Apollo took on an atmospheric cover of The Mamas & The Papas’ iconic song “California Dreamin’.”

About his decision to cover the 1965 track, Apollo said: “I chose that song because I heard it in Chungking Express by Wong Kar-Wai. They played it so many times in the movie that I became obsessed with it. I definitely felt like it was a time machine being at East West [Studios] — it’s cool to know the history behind the song when recording my version.”

Listen to Apollo’s stripped-down “Go Away” and cover of “California Dreamin’” below.

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