Stephanie Grisham‘s just-released tell all book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House, has been making headlines for weeks now thanks to its explosive (and juicy) details about the inner-workings of Donald Trump’s administration, particularly during its final disastrous days. However, there’s one person who’s not impressed with Grisham’s attempt to cash-in on her time as a faithful Trump soldier: CNN political commentator Ana Navarro.
While discussing Grisham’s book on Tuesday, Navarro didn’t pull any punches as she unloaded on Grisham and questioned why anyone should believe a word she says. Via Raw Story:
“I really can’t stand it,” Navarro said. “I find all of these, you know, late-developing-conscience people who served in the Trump campaign or the Trump administration repulsive. And look, I know we like the tea she is spilling. I know we like the gossip she is spilling. And it’s not often I agree with Trump supporters, but she’s got no credibility.”
Navarro took particular exception with Grisham not leaving the administration until January 6. Granted, that’s the day all hell broke loose as MAGA supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, but as Navarro points out, Grisham had front row seats to the escalation.
“He had been promoting the big lie for two months by then and it took till January 6th to resign?” Navarro asked. “I frankly see no redeeming quality in this woman or any of the Trump accomplices who want to clear their name.”
The CNN commentator then vowed to never buy “one of these books,” which is a good call because, honestly, the excerpts are everywhere. Did you see the one about Trump’s penis?
Atlanta crunk rap group Crime Mob may be best known for their 2004 hit “Knuck If You Buck,” but in 2006, the five-person band also released “Rock Yo Hips,” which actually charted higher, coming in No. 30 on the Hot 100 (“Knuck” peaked at No. 76). While “Knuck If You Buck” received new life thanks to the 2016 viral hit “Juju On That Beat,” which sampled Crime Mob’s debut single, “Rock Yo Hips” never quite achieved the same level of cultural ubiquity and longevity.
Which is why it’s the perfect video to show our panel of 20-something rising rappers on React Like You Know, including BRS Kash, Hook, Snow Tha Product, Toosii, Yella Beezy, and more. The video pays homage to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), featuring fraternities like Alpha Phi Alpha and Omega Psi Phi, as well as marching bands performing as Crime Mob rappers Diamond and Princess demonstrate the pre-TikTok dance step that goes with the song. Naturally, all this is pretty mind-blowing for our panel, who can’t help reminiscing about the song’s impact when they were still in — gulp — grade school. Meanwhile, Diamond’s verse prompts a debate on the best flavors of bubblegum and the video itself encourages some healthy praise of HBCUs and some fond recollections of the tall tee era.
Watch our panel of guest rappers react to Crime Mob’s “Rock Yo Hips” video above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Baseball fans who live in and around Arizona have February 26, 2022 circled on their calendars, as it will mark the start of Cactus League spring training games that precede the MLB season. There’s a reason for music fans to get excited, too: For the past few years, Innings Festival has been hosted to coincide with the Cactus League, and now the lineup for the 2022 festival, the fourth annual edition, has been unveiled.
The fest is set to take place in Tempe, Arizona at Beach Park and Arts Park on February 26 and 27. Foo Fighters are headlining the first day, which will also feature St. Vincent, Billy Strings, Caamp, Dashboard Confessional, White Reaper, The Dip, Del Water Gap, Girlhouse, Almost Monday, and the “All-Star Baseball Jam” hosted by Jake Peavy. Then, Tame Impala will take the lead on Tuesday, which will also see performances from My Morning Jacket, Black Pumas, Fitz And The Tantrums, Matt & Kim, Nothing But Thieves, Jade Bird, Low Cut Connie, Briscoe, and Sydney Sprague.
Aside from music, there will also be appearances from baseball favorites like Ryan Dempster, Roger Clemens, Kenny Lofton, Eric Gagne, Kenny Lofton, Jim Abbott, Keith Foulke, and others.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, so learn more about the festival here.
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
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Hovvdy – True Love
Hovvdy’s fourth studio album simultaneously sounds like their past work and a fresh look to the band’s future. Recorded with esteemed indie producer Andrew Sarlo, True Love is a more polished affair than we’ve heard from the Austin duo, but with the same beautiful melodies and exciting song structures that we’ve come to know and love. “True Love is the perfect album to throw on a fall drive with the windows down, hearing the leaves crunch under your car tires,” I wrote in a recent interview with the band. “It’s the soundtrack for a walk around the neighborhood when you find yourself in awe of our planet’s natural ability to create beauty, for now at least. You get the idea.”
Strand Of Oaks – In Heaven
After a string of increasingly impressive singles, the new album from Tim Showalter’s Strand Of Oaks is finally here. Showalter said that he set out to create a record that was “a momentary space for reflection, joy, catharsis, and whatever else someone might be looking for in their life,” and the resulting effort is what “might very well be his best work since 2014’s classic Heal,” according to Steven Hyden in a recent Indie Mixtape newsletter
Illuminati Hotties – Let Me Do One More
Where a lot of modern indie rock’s relatability is centered around topics of anxiety, depression, romantic failure, existential doom, Sarah Tudzin’s Illuminati Hotties manage to elevate her songwriting by tackling the same topics with “plenty of absurdist humor and bubblegum pop hooks,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.
Couplet – LP1
Tanner Jones’ first new music since the dissolution of his band You Blew It! was born out of years spent leading a life outside of music. The ability to take a step back from the constant grind and financial uncertainty of a career in music allowed Jones to approach LP1, a new project under the name Couplet, with a refreshing sense of ease. The resulting effort is more experimental and genuinely relaxed than anything Jones has written to date, put to tape with the help of Into It. Over It’s Evan Weiss and Sincere Engineer’s Adam Beck.
After fans pointed out that Bo Burnham’s sardonic track “That Funny Feeling” felt like a Phoebe Bridgers tune, Bridgers took the hint and regularly covered the song throughout her summer headlining tour. Now, she’s released an official studio version of the cover, recorded in LA with Tony Berg, Ethan Gruska, Christian Lee Hutson, Harrison Whitford, Rob Moose, Sebastian Steinberg, Marshall Vore, Nate Walcott, and Maria Taylor. All proceeds from the cover on Bandcamp will go toward Texas Abortion Funds.
Courtney Barnett – “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To”
With her new album Things Take Time, Take Time due in just a few days, Courtney Barnett has shared its final single. “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To” is a classic Barnett track in its thoughtful, stream of consciousness delivery as she tries to pull herself out of a dark place by listing things that should keep her going.
Bedouine – “It Wasn’t Me”
Unfortunately, this is not a Shaggy cover. Fortunately, Bedouine (aka Azniv Korkejian) has a knack for crafting such beautiful songs that you’ll be quick to forget about Shaggy. Korkejian originally wrote “It Wasn’t Me” nearly 15 years ago, during her earliest stages of demoing music in her bedroom, and the song serves as a time capsule for the person and artist that she was at that time.
Wet – “Far Cry”
With their new album, Letter Blue, just a few weeks away, NYC electro-pop trio Wet have shared “Far Cry,” a new song produced by Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bear. The new track is another promising taste of what’s to come from the album, described by Rachel Brodsky for Uproxx as “a grooving R&B-inspired song, with a mid-tempo beat, flowing guitar melody, and electronic accents.”
Ian Sweet – “F*ckthat”
Ian Sweet can’t seem to stop making new music. Just a few months after releasing the stellar LP Show Me How You Disappear, Jillian Medford has returned with “F*ckthat,” a defiant new track that Rachel Brodsky describes for Uproxx as “an ultra-catchy pop banger, complete with shimmery synths, echoing drum machines, and Medford’s breathy vocals.”
Mom Jeans – “What’s Up”
California punk outfit Mom Jeans have been making waves in the pop-punk/emo scene since their 2016 album Best Buds. Now, the band is prepping a new quasi-conceptual record called Sweet Tooth. The album is prefaced by “What’s Up,” a shimmering and self-deprecating pop-punk track that is very easy to fall in love with.
Scruffpuppie – “Paint”
Earlier this summer, Scruffpuppie was announced as the latest signee to Phoebe Bridgers’ label imprint, Saddest Factory. Now, JJ Shurbet has shared their second single for the label, “Paint,” which is a piano-based ballad that showcases Shurbet’s vocal and songwriting talents as they describe their relationship with drugs and how they controlled other relationships in their life.
Angel Du$t – “Truck Songs”
With the new album Yak: A Collection Of Truck Songs due out later this month, hardcore-turned-folk-punk outfit Angel Du$t have shared the album’s quasi-title track, “Truck Songs.” The new track oscillates between the band’s two personas, with twangy and bright guitars driving the track alongside glimpses of a more thrashing sound. About halfway through the track, the latter sound takes over the track for a distorted guitar solo. It’s a really cool look at the full spectrum of what this band is capable of.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While Keanu Reeves is no stranger to bringing iconic comic book characters to life, this year marks the first time the actor created one himself and, with all the success he’s seeing, it’s safe to say the multi-talented man is a natural. Back in March, Reeves, writer Matt Kindt, and illustrator Ron Garney released BRZRKR, a gruesome comic book series about a man doomed to a life a violence. Two week after the first issue hit shelves and sold a whopping impressive 615,000 copies, Netflix announced they were partnering with Reeves and Boom! Studios to create not one, but two adaptations of the instant-hit series.
According to reports, Netflix is currently working on both a live-action film and anime series based on BRZRKR. While neither Netflix nor Reeves have said much about the projects since they were announced (well, other than Reeves naturally expressing interest an playing main character “B”), a recent interview with Reeves published over at Collider shed some more light on what the studio is doing with the property, as well as revealed The Batman co-writer Mattson Tomlin (Project Power, Little Fish) has been attached to the film.
“We’re working with Netflix who have been very cool,” Reeves explained. “They’re going to let us do an R-rated story which is cool. My ambition or hope is not to do a filmed version of the comic book so that they’ll have things in common, definitely the main character and his kind of rule set, but that we can take it to other places as well. We’re talking to a couple of different animation companies and trying to figure that out. And, again, for me I’m hoping to be inspired and influenced…there are some rules to the story, but I also want other creators to do their version of it. So I’m hoping to do a different version of a metaverse where in the sense having different storytellers with one set of rules but go other places with it. We’re working on trying to set up a company with the animation and we’ve hired a writer for the film Mattson Tomlin. He’s been cool and just starting to put things together. That’s where we’re at.”
For those wondering what BRZRKR is about, the mature comic book saga follows an immortal warrior, simply referred to as “B,” who ultimately is doomed to live a life of bloodshed. Across his 80,000 years on Earth, the demi-god finds himself more and more drawn to committing violent acts at the cost of his sanity, until an opportunity to do the U.S. government’s dirty work in exchange for the truth about his condition arises. After years of senseless killing, the offer to fight for a purpose is just what “B” needs — as well as the information on how to end his grim and gory existence. The first issue of the 12-issue series was released earlier this year on March 3. The first volume, which collects issues #1-4, is available as of today.
Sora from Kingdom Hearts has finally joined the Super Smash Bros. series. He is the final member of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, and what a finale he is. Not only is he representing the incredibly popular Kingdom Hearts series, but he feels like a perfect addition to the Nintendo crossover fighting game. That sentiment was generally agreed upon by gamers, as the response to Sora joining the series has been overwhelmingly positive.
While there were, inevitably, some folks who wished the final spot went to someone else, Nintendo wrapped up its list of DLC characters with a huge hit, one that had a streamer saying this is proof of a higher power.
— Cameron “Halloween Town” Hawkins (@CamFinalMix) October 5, 2021
Putting Sora in Smash Bros. also marks the end of one of the most impressive crossover games we’ve ever seen. The roster for Ultimate will end at 86 characters spanning decades of games, with a number of series represented.
This is it, the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster banner!
Speaking of crossovers, that’s another point in Sora’s favor. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover series between Disney and Final Fantasy, meaning Disney can now say it has a character in Super Smash Bros., while Final Fantasy has had representation in the series ever since Cloud joined.
Sora was the best possible pick for the final DLC slot because he was the only candidate who is canonically friends with Remy from Ratatouille (2007). In this essay I will pic.twitter.com/srZVKkLmzH
Of course, the popularity of Kingdom Hearts rivals even Smash Bros. at times, so combining the two led to some pretty spectacular reactions from fans of both series.
been wanting Sora in Smash since before I understood licensing so this is awesome pic.twitter.com/5RQGm5nLli
At the end of the day, Sora’s a great addition to the roster and it was really exciting to see him join it the way he did. Everyone seems happy Nintendo making this a simple and clean addition to the Smash Bros. universe. Now, we begin the countdown for news on the next game in the series.
After debuting last month, Squid Game has rocketed to the top of Netflix charts all over the globe. The dystopian drama is putting up record numbers for the streaming company, and it’s on track to be Netflix’s biggest show ever (as well as fully dominate Halloween this year). Turns out making people compete in children’s games to the death is the key to a guaranteed genre hit. However, Squid Game almost never saw the light of day, and a new report reveals that the show’s creator spent over a decade trying to convince network execs to take a chance on the dark drama.
While living with his mother and grandmother, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk developed the idea over a decade ago, and the show’s treatise on class warfare took on a personal meaning as Hwang was forced to sell his laptop while writing the now international juggernaut. Unfortunately, Hwang couldn’t get anyone on board with the series because it was deemed too unrealistic, but that all changed when Netflix stepped in and basically agreed that, yup, actually the world is messed up enough that Squid Game makes total sense. Via The Wall Street Journal:
Back then, potential investors and actors bristled at the brutal killings and implausibility of individuals competing to the death for money. But two years ago, Netflix thought the class struggles outlined in “Squid Game” spoke to reality.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global economy, it exacerbated the disparity between the rich and the poor, said the 50-year-old Mr. Hwang. Even vaccine rollouts vary greatly based on whether a country is wealthy or not, he said.
“The world has changed,” Mr. Hwang said. “All of these points made the story very realistic for people compared to a decade ago.”
And there you have it. The world got dark and depressing enough that a game show where contestants risk getting shot in the face for a million dollars doesn’t sound crazy at all. It’s the feel-good story of the year.
The Weeknd recently wrapped up his After Hours era, and since then, he’s been looking forward. There’s been talk of a new album, and now the Weeknd says it’s “complete.”
The Weeknd — who has been referring to his upcoming album as the “dawn,” although it’s unclear if that is the actual title of the project — said on the October 4 episode of his Apple Music show Memento Mori:
“Some exciting features coming out in the fall before the album drops. We’ll slowly be unraveling that info in the next couple months. Some dawn updates: Album is complete. Only thing missing is a couple characters that are key to the narrative. Some people that are near and dear to me, some people that inspired my life as a child, and some that inspire me now. More to come in the following months.”
The Weeknd’s upcoming music was described in greater detail in an August profile in GQ. It reads, “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck. The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-f*cking-life party records. Not anachronistic disco stuff. (Not ‘cosplay,’ as Abel put it.) That sort of retro thing is having a moment right now in pop music, but these records are new. Sweaty. Hard. Drenched-suit, grinding-on-the-girl/boy-of-your-dreams party records.”
As a child actor and recent hit maker who was briefly the subject of a media-fueled scandal over a teen love triangle, Olivia Rodrigo knows all too well what it’s like to exist in the public eye as a teenager. That’s why she’s expressed her support of the #FreeBritney movement, an online social media campaign to release the pop singer from her 13-year-long conservatorship.
Rodrigo applauded all the developments in Spears’ legal battles in a recent interview with Teen Vogue, which took place just before Spears’ father was removed as her co-conservator. “I’m so excited to see her making leeway in her case,” Rodrigo said. “I think it’s a step in the right direction. I’m so happy that Britney’s case is getting so much attention, and I just hope that she gets all the justice she deserves and lives the best life she possibly can.”
The singer continued to note the pressures place on young women in the spotlight. “It’s one example of this culture that so often tears down women in the spotlight for sport,” she said. “As a society we definitely have to reexamine the way we treat women in the entertainment industry, and not just for ourselves — it’s unhealthy for young girls to be looking at all that stuff in the media. It paints a bad picture.”
It’s not the first time Rodrigo has showed her support of Spears. In the recent video alongside her track “Brutal,” Rodrigo poses the question: “Who am I if not exploited?” She asks this while sporting the same Roberto Cavalli dress that Spears wore to the 2003 American Music Awards, an ice blue Tinkerbell-inspired look adorned with sequins.
Read Rodrigo’s full interview with Teen Voguehere.
After leaking documents to the Wall Street Journal, alleging that Facebook is actively choosing profits over the best interest of its users, and giving an interview to CBS’ 60 Minutes that detailed how the company is hiding its shortcomings from investors, Haugen appeared before the Senate subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security to expand on her view of how Facebook (and Instagram) is harming young children.
After WSJ reported on the negative side effects that Instagram and Facebook have on young people’s mental health, the Senate decided to launch an investigation into the company’s practices when it comes to protecting its youngest users. Haugen was brought on as a product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team after she witnessed someone close to her become radicalized while spending a lot of time on Facebook. But during her time there, as Haugen told the subcommittee, she saw Facebook’s products “harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.”
“The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer,” she continued. “But won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people.”
Haugen also addressed the company’s blackout on Monday in her opening statement:
“I don’t know why it went down,” she said. “I know that for more than five hours Facebook wasn’t used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies.”
She testified before the subcommittee that Facebook needs more regulation if we hope to see its culture change.
“As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one,” she said. “We have financial bankruptcy because we value people’s lives more than we value money. Facebook is stuck in a feedback loop they can not get out of. Hiding this information because they feel trapped. They need to admit they did something wrong and they need to help solve these problems. That’s what moral bankruptcy is.”
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Innings Festival 2022 features 
Tickets on sale TOMORROW! 
(@CamFinalMix) 
