Month: August 2021

A San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting descended into nuttiness earlier this week when the topic of mask mandates came up. Groups with names like ReOpen San Diego, Let Them Breathe, and San Diego Rise Up loudly shared their thoughts on wearing masks and proof of vaccinations, including one speaker (a white dude with dreadlocks) who told the supervisors, “You are about to open a pit of hell. You do not get a vaccine passport put on us. You know as the population who’s in control… Once you get a power, you never relinquish it.” He then started mockingly chanting “Heil Fauci!”

The meeting left many people speechless, but not Stephen Colbert.

After playing a clip of another anti-vaxxer noting that “Saturn is in the same place it was during the American Revolution in 1776 and you are the red coats,” The Late Show host called it the “most insane thing I have ever seen or heard.” Later, Colbert’s attention turned to the “pit of hell” guy, who he dubbed Blob Marley. “OK, little advice,” he said. “I can see you’re passionate, I can see this is important to you, but I just want to remind you of the phrase, you catch more flies with honey than you do with crystal meth.”

You can watch the monologue above.

After a few days of rumors, Kanye West confirmed yesterday that he will be hosting a third Donda listening event, but this time, he’s heading to Soldier Field in his hometown of Chicago. After West shared the news on social media, somebody in his camp offered some more details about the event, revealing that there will be some differences from previous iterations.

West associate Ameer Sudan told Billboard yesterday that the new event is upping its production value, saying, “Expect a more detailed show on a whole other level.”

Furthermore, he said that Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia will also be creative director for the event, as he did for the Atlanta shows. Additionally, West videographer Nico Ballesteros will be filming the event, which will, like previous installments, be livestreamed on Apple Music.

It’s also worth pointing out, on a somewhat related note, this since making the announcement, West has removed all of the posts on his Instagram page.

As for when Donda will actually be released, that remains to be seen. The album was expected to be released after each listening event, but clearly, that hasn’t come to pass. This next event is on August 26, so at this point, one would assume the album currently has a planned August 27 release. Again, though, nothing is set in stone.

Whereas the first Eternals teaser was heavy on vibes and light on the plot, the latest (and final) trailer for Chloé Zhao’s superhero film has both. “Five years ago, Thanos erased half of the population of the universe. But the people of this planet brought everyone back with the snap of a finger,” Salma Hayek’s Ajak explains to Richard Madden’s Ikaris. “The sudden return of the population provided the necessary energy for the emergence to begin.” How long do they have to save the planet? “Seven days.”

That sets up the plot of the movie, as does Gemma Chan’s Sersi telling Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman that the Eternals came to Earth 7,000 years ago to protect humans from the no-good Deviants. As for why they didn’t help the Avengers in the fight against Thanos, let alone centuries of war, she explains, “We were instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts unless Deviants were involved.” Cut to Eson the Searcher. From there, we’re treated to a “putting the team together” montage, snippets of action-heavy set pieces, Robb Stark shooting lasers from his eyes, and an Ikea joke.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Marvel Studios’ Eternals welcomes an exciting new team of Super Heroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The epic story, spanning thousands of years, features a group of immortal heroes forced out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s oldest enemy, The Deviants.

Eternals, which stars Richard Madden as the all-powerful Ikaris, Gemma Chan as humankind-loving Sersi, Kumail Nanjiani as cosmic-powered Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as the super-fast Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as the intelligent inventor Phastos, Salma Hayek as the wise and spiritual leader Ajak, Lia McHugh as the eternally young, old-soul Sprite, Don Lee as the powerful Gilgamesh, Barry Keoghan as aloof loner Druig, and Angelina Jolie as the fierce warrior Thena, opens on November 5.

This year has been a fairly quiet one for Damian Lillard, aka Dame D.O.L.L.A., on the music side of things, but with the NBA season two months away from starting, the Oakland-born rapper and basketball player is also getting ready to share his next album. On Wednesday, Dame shared the tracklist for his fourth album, which is titled Different On Levels The Lord Allowed. The full-length effort, which arrives on August 20, comes equipped with 12 songs and features from Blxst, Lil Wayne, Mozzy, Q-Tip, Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Derrick Milano, Jane Handcock, Dreebo, and Tree Thomas.

In addition to announcing the album and unveiling its tracklist, Dame also revealed a video for “We The Ones” with Blxst and Tree Thomas would arrive on Friday. He previously released “Kobe” with Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano, “Goat Spirit” featuring Raphael Saadiq, and “Home Team” in 2020 as singles for the album. He previously revealed the cover art for the album, which depicts a drawing of his face in the clouds.

You can view the announcement from Dame above and the album’s full tracklist below.

1. “The Juice” Feat. Jane Handcock
2. “Overnight” Feat. Blxst
3. “Right One” Feat. Lil Wayne & Mozzy
4. “IYKYK” Feat. Jane Handcock
5. “For Me” Feat. Derrick Milano
6. “We The Ones” Feat. Blxst & Tree Thomas
7. “Him Duncan”
8. “Home Team” Feat. Dreebo
9. “Meditate” Feat. Q-Tip
10. “Mentality Interlude”
11. “Kobe” Feat. Snoop Dogg & Derrick Milano
12. “Goat Spirit” Feat. Raphael Saadiq

Different On Levels The Lord Allowed is out 8/20 via Front Page Music. Pre-order it here.

It’s been five years since Kevin Abstract dropped a solo album, namely 2016’s Arizona Baby. Following a string of efforts with his Brockhampton collective, it appears that the rapper is preparing another solo project. For now, Abstract has a new song,, “Sierra Nights,” which reunites him with longtime friend and collaborator Ryan Beatty. The track is an ode to the end of summer, and the video follows suit, showing the pair chilling — hanging out at gas stations, in living rooms, and on drives along the Pacific Coast Highway.

“Sierra Nights” is Abstract’s second single of the year following “Slugger,” which he released last month. That track featured contributions from Snot and Slowthai and arrived as a feel-good track, co-produced by Abstract, Al Hug, and Brockhampton’s Romil Hemnani. The new single also comes shortly after the rapper said he is releasing his next solo album
at some point this year.

Both of Abstract’s singles come not too long after Brockhampton released Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, an album Abstract said would be the group’s second-to-last project together. “We all love each other and we wanna continue making the best music we can,” he wrote on Twitter. “Everybody just getting a lil older and got a lot to say outside of group projects. We’ve dedicated the last ten years of our lives to making music together. This next project we’re just doing what’s rite.”

You can watch the video for “Sierra Nights” above.

It was just last summer that Flo Milli released her debut mixtape, Ho, Why Is You Here?, which propelled the Alabama native to the front lines of hip-hop’s newest class of rappers. She would later perform at the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards before landing a spot in the 2021 XXL Freshman class. Now she’s hard at work on her official debut album, which she gave some insight into during a profile with Clash Magazine.

“This project is different from Ho, Why Is You Here? because of the versatility of it,” she said. “I’ve been trying new things but you guys have got to stay tuned to see!” Aside from being one of rap’s most promising young acts, Flo Milli is also navigating through young adolescence. When asked about finding a balance between career and life, she shared some important advice about the way we use social media.

“My number one piece of advice would be to not compare yourself to others on social media. I know social media is a big thing in our generation and people of my age tend to do that, looking at whether the other person has more success than you do; I would say do not let that stop you. If anything, let that empower you to do better than your peers. A lot of people get discouraged and don’t pursue things because they aren’t good enough. As women we possess the ultimate superpower and create life! Everyone should always stick to their individuality and move at their own pace to the top.

You can read the full profile with Clash Magazine here.

The situation in Afghanistan continues to be febrile, with the Taliban taking over the capital city of Kabul, all but ensuring the nation is theirs. Harrowing images of people desperately trying to be evacuated abound. Who’s to blame? People are pointing fingers everywhere, even those whose hands are dirty. One of them is Donald J. Trump, who absolutely deserves part of the blame. (Then again, he’s also been praising the Taliban.) But he’s been trying to pass the buck anyway, albeit in his usual clumsy way.

On Tuesday, the former president fired off one of his cryptic and chaotically written press statements, revealing his latest take on the tragedy happening on the other side of the globe. It was a mere six words, plus two em dashes: “This could be—Afghanistan—another Dunkirk.”

Ignore, if you can, the sloppy syntax. Did he not realize he could do a second draft and replace “This” with “Afghanistan,” making it not only one word shorter but also clearer? There was a more pressing matter, though, and it was this: He seemed to imply that Afghanistan, where the situation looks dire, could turn into another Dunkirk, which is to say the World War II battle that turned into a mass rescue operation.

But…did he mean that the evacuation of Dunkirk, which saw hundreds of thousands of Allied troops rescued from the French port by all manner of crafts, was not a huge success? Because it was. There was even a very popular movie about it, from a very popular film director, released early into his presidency.

Of course, Trump could have meant this as a rallying cry — that nations and peoples could come together to help evacuate people from Afghanistan, just like in Dunkirk 81 years ago. But that’s not Trump’s style. Trump’s style is belligerence and ridicule and pumping himself up above all, even if it’s upon a hill of lies.

And so people online, as they so often do, dragged Trump for saying something that was either not so smart or so poorly worded that it made him look like an idiot.

https://twitter.com/AdamBassOfMass/status/1428121268688236551

Maybe his advisers are confused.

Trump wasn’t the only one in the party he’s called home for the last decade or so to confuse the Dunkirk evacuation with a failure, which, again, it was certainly not.

If it’s a history lesson Trump needs, then Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk currently streams on HBO Max.

At the end of 2019, Summer Walker released her debut album, Over It, which broke the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album by a female artist. It also gave the singer her highest-charting release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Now Walker is wrapping up work on her sophomore album, and though a title or release date have not yet been shared, she recently revealed some of the artists that will appear on it.

In a post to her Instagram Story, Walker revealed that SZA, Lil Durk, and Ari Lennox are among the acts that are involved. “Riding around listening to this album, can’t choose which is my favorite song… it’s between durk sza and ari ft,” the singer wrote in the post before adding, “they all so good.”

It would be the first time that Walker has collaborated with any of the aforementioned artists. But if her past work proves anything, it’s that she can create excellent chemistry with various artists. Over It featured excellent collaborations with Bryson Tiller, Usher, Jhene Aiko, 6lack, PartyNextDoor, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Drake.

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

In an interview with Malika Andrews on ESPN’s The Jump, veteran free agent point guard Isaiah Thomas said his ‘only goal’ is to be on an NBA roster. Earlier this week, Thomas — along with Mike James and Darren Collison — reportedly worked out for the Lakers.

“That’s the only goal…is to be in the NBA, to be on a roster,” Thomas told Andrews. “I know I got the talent to do it. I’m finally healthy. And I know that when it does come, I’m going to take full advantage of it and do it with a smile on my face.” Thomas was asked if he’s worked out with teams and, without naming teams, said they “went well” and that he’s “100 percent ready to go.”

Thomas was also asked about playing in different Pro-Am games this summer (including dropping 81 points at a recent game in Seattle), saying that it’s been a positive experience for him as he looks to find an NBA home.

“It’s been very cool just because I’m a student of the game,” Thomas said. “I love basketball so much. I love playing in Pro-Ams or at LA Fitness or the YMCA. I’m playing everywhere. This is the first summer I’ve been completely healthy and been allowed to play in those things. That’s all it is. I took a few years hiatus from the summer pro leagues and now I’m back, you know, trying to put on some good performances for the people who come to watch.”

The 31-year-old Thomas last played in the NBA on a 10-day contract with the Pelicans, appearing in three games and averaging 7.7 points and 1.7 assists per game.

Tony Hillery was living the high life, running a limousine company and wearing Prada suits, when the financial crisis of 2008 hit. He lost his business and lines of credit and felt like he was too old to start over.

He kept reading about underfunded schools with no art, gym, or music—a sharp contrast to the private schools his kids had attended. So one day, he decided to take the subway to Harlem to see what he could do.

“I couldn’t have been more arrogant,” Hillery told Humans of New York. “I walked through the doors of the first elementary school I could find, asked for the principal, and said: ‘I’m here to try to break the cycle of poverty.’ She assigned me to the lunchroom, and that’s where I started volunteering five days a week.”

Hillery talked to the kids at lunch and they gravitated toward him. They called him “Mr. Tony” and treated him like Santa Claus. Their goofiness reminded him of his own kids.

“So when I learned that almost half of them were living in homeless shelters, that shit drove me crazy,” he said. “It tore me up. I was looking for some way to help—anything.”

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He spotted an abandoned community garden across the street—the kids called it the ‘haunted garden’—and decided to clean it up. He got the paperwork processed through the Parks Department and spent six weeks hauling out all the junk. He had no idea what he was going to do with the space other than clean it up.

“Then one morning a little girl tugged on my shoulder. A tiny little thing with glasses so big,” he said. “Her name was Nevaeh. ‘Heaven’ spelled backwards. And she said: ‘Mr. Tony, why don’t we plant something?'”

Hillery didn’t know anything about gardening, but a Google search showed him that it was hard to mess up growing herbs. So he got a dump truck of organic soil, some clearance herbs at Home Depot, and invited Nevaeh’s kindergarten class to come and plant the first seedlings.

“There wasn’t much structure in the beginning,” he said. “A lot of times I’d just sit around with the kids and look at clouds. But over time the garden became a sort of outdoor science classroom. All of us were learning together. If something died, we’d just try a new spot. We learned about worms, and ladybugs, and praying mantises. Then we learned about food systems. I couldn’t help but notice the diets of these kids: all sugar and processed food. Some of them couldn’t name a single vegetable. But how could you blame them? There are 55 fast food restaurants in this community, but not a single supermarket.”

Hillery and the kids started growing vegetables, and a handful of kids got really involved and invested in the garden, including Nevaeh. She came to everything Hillery planned—camps, nature walks—and though she was quiet and reserved at first, she started taking ownership of the garden.

“Those became her plants, not mine,” he said. “Whenever volunteers came to help with composting– Nevaeh would take the lead. And if you were doing it wrong, she’d grab that rake right out of your hands.” That was 10 years ago. Since then, Hillery has expanded from one garden to 12 urban farms throughout Harlem and created an entire youth-oriented growing organization called Harlem Grown. Kids throughout the community help plant and tend the crops, learning science and agricultural lessons with hands-on experience. Since it started, Harlem Grown has given 6,000 pounds of organic produce to the community for free. Even Nevaeh’s mom has gotten involved, serving as the Agricultural Director of the farms.

But Hillery explained to Humans of New York that the point of Harlem Grown is not just to grow food, but to grow healthy children.

“When you sit in this garden on a summer day—you hear things. There are fourteen homeless shelters within a four-block radius. So when it’s hot outside, and the windows are open, you can hear the stress of poverty. Sometimes mothers will yell at these kids like they’re grown men. They’ll call them names. They’ll tell them: ‘you can’t,’ and ‘you won’t.’ And after awhile the kids start to believe it.

When they first come into this garden— they’re so freakin’ happy. Especially the really young ones. But at the end of the day, they’ll say: ‘I’m going home.’ And home means shelter. It’s an epidemic, man. 115,000 kids in this city are living in shelters. It’s a freakin’ epidemic. But it’s invisible. You’d never know these kids are homeless, because they’re so happy.

But something happens around 9, 10, 11. I see it all the time. Those eyes dim, man. It’s just life. There’s too much stress around here. And they grow up fast. They lose that light. I just want to slow it down, that’s all. I want them to have a safe place where they can just be them. That’s all any of us want, right? To slow it all down so we can find out who we are?”

Hillery said he arrogantly went to Harlem thinking he had the answers, that he was going to fix kids. But in the past ten years, he’s learned that they didn’t need to be fixed or to become like him—they needed to stay like their young and happy selves. He was 52 pounds heavier and depressed before Harlem Grown, living a life that was all about things and money. The kids have taught him he was doing it all wrong.

And Neveah? She’s sixteen now and an honor roll student.

“Recently she had a C in math,” Hillery told Humans of New York, “so I said: ‘Let’s find you a private tutor, I’ll pay for it.’ But she wouldn’t let me. She grabbed the rake out of my hand. She said: ‘No Mr. Tony, I got this myself.’ And she got a 93 on that final.

She was the tiniest little thing when I met her. With glasses so big. But even back then she had everything she needed. It just required a little protection. And a little time. She just needed some space to grow.”

Well done, Mr. Tony, tending to the hearts and minds of the children of Harlem and helping them bloom.

Hear more from Hillery about Harlem Grown here:

Harlem Grown

www.youtube.com