Month: October 2021

Riding off of the success of Cobra Kai, which started out as a YouTube hit before making the jump to Netflix, the series creators are now setting their sights on a real-life tale of an unclaimed lottery ticket. While not as fast-paced as the world of high school karate fights, the new comedy series from Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald will focus on a Washington Post article from earlier in the year that brought to light the mystery that practically tore a small town apart. Via Deadline:

The article, published in mid-July, chronicles the aftermath of a Powerball ticket sold in the small town of Lonacoming, MD (population 1,200), winning $731 million. Maryland is one of seven states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous, and the lucky Lonacoming group, who call themselves “Power Pack,” took advantage of that when they eventually claimed their reward four months after hitting the jackpot. The news turns this small town upside down as the residents work to uncover the mystery of who won the ticket. Nine months later, the mystery has not been solved.

In the meantime, the Cobra Kai creative team still has their hands full with the Netflix series. Season 4 is slated to start streaming on December 31, 2021, and the show was already picked up for Season 5 back in August. Obviously, Netflix knows Cobra Kai is a sure thing if they’re locking down future seasons without even seeing the latest viewership numbers.

You might say it’s their… winning lottery ticket. Eh? Get it? Like the other thing!

(Via Deadline)

Miami Heat center Udonis Haslem is roughly a week into his 20th NBA season. At 41 years of age, he’s the league’s oldest active player. With those two decades of experience come an array of tales, so he recently spoke with GQ’s Tyler R. Tynes to share some of those stories.

The entire piece is worth reading, both because of Haslem’s candid nature and Tynes’ gifted interview skills, but one segment might stand out: brawls Haslem deems the best and worst of his NBA tenure.
“Worst fight? Me and Gary Payton got into it at practice once. I don’t know what we were talking about, but sh*t went left,” Haslem said. “We started arguing and Gary went and got a broomstick! Pat [Riley] kicked us outta practice. We had a game that night and me and Gary didn’t speak the whole game. He was finna hit me wit’ a broomstick!”

The best fight, in his view, was one he tried to prevent during Shaquille O’Neale’s time with the Heat that involved Haslem learning first-hand that Shaq is one of the biggest and strongest humans to ever live.

“Best fight? Probably the one when Shaq and Pat got into it. It wasn’t even a fight, they were just going at it. The fight was me trying to hold Shaq back and he threw me like a sack of potato chips,” Haslem said. “I’m trying to save Pat’s old ass and Shaq grabbed me and swung me. He threw me down like that and I was just trying to stop him. Imagine if he really wanted a piece of me? I would’ve had to tase him!”

There has long been a level of intensity that comes with playing for the Heat — Haslem discusses the famed “Heat Culture” on multiple times, and yes, it is as demanding as it sounds. That can, invariably, lead to tensions running high. Hopefully they’ve learned form this, though, and they now put broomsticks away when things boil over just in case.

Geraldo Rivera and Greg Gutfeld have a real love-hate relationship. In that they love to hate on each other, then make up, rinse, and repeat. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot the two agree on, and their disagreements regularly turn into full-blown freak-outs, with Gutfeld mugging for the camera and Rivera, somehow, often seeming like the voice of reason on Fox News’ The Five. But on Tuesday, as Mediaite reports, the two got into an argument that quickly escalated to pretty epic proportions—even for them.

The topic? It started with the gubernatorial race in Virginia, and comments made by Democratic frontrunner Terry McAuliffe about how he doesn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” or have a say when it comes to each school’s policies to protect trans and non-binary students from being discriminated against. The bigger issue that’s playing into this at the moment, however, is a walkout staged by students in Loudon County, Virginia following the rape of two young girls by the same student—a boy wearing a skirt (yes, that part is important to this argument)—and how the story has been largely buried by the press. Which is something that’s been bothering Gutfeld, who explained:

“This is the thing that has been driving me nuts for like a week, alright? How the news decides when to turn the spigot of news on or off. A young girl is raped by a boy. Forget even the part about the skirt, right? This is after the boy had assaulted somebody else. Adults knew about this. When you think about how horrible this is, it should be a national story, because it’s bloody insane. This kid raped somebody in the school, then raped another person, wearing a skirt. But it’s not a story… Now we know that it’s true. The rapist has pled guilty. And no one would have known about this if it wasn’t for the dad of the victim being arrested and humiliated and called a ‘domestic terrorist’ by the school board.”

The victim’s father was arrested after showing up to a school board meeting and demanding to know why his daughter’s attacker was not being prosecuted. But Gutfeld’s conclusion is that this is a story about “a young girl being raped in her school by a guy who might’ve been using a skirt as a ruse. That is a huge, huge story! So it had to be covered up for the sake of the election, or because there was some sympathy toward the suspect, and some antipathy toward the victim. That’s a possibility. But if you vote for Terry McAuliffe, you’re voting for the same corrupt system that condoned a rape because the suspect may have worn a skirt? Who knows. But if you vote for Terry McAuliffe, you’re voting for rape!”

(Got that?)

While Gutfeld was careful to preface his comments by saying to “forget about the skirt part,” it was something he mentioned several times, which didn’t sit so well with Geraldo, who said that he agreed with McAuliffe’s statements that teaching kids about diversity is as important as teaching them math—which got him a few eye rolls from his co-hosts. And while Rivera (thankfully) concurred that the sexual assault was “horrifying,” he then went on to say that “we’re living in a brand-new world” and “a guy wearing a skirt is not the definition of all these kids struggling with their gender identity.”

An apoplectic Gutfeld claimed that, “You get more angry over people who don’t get the frickin’ vaccine than you are over a rapist!” Which Rivera called “bullcrap,” then called Gutfeld out for starting his argument off by saying to “‘forget about the skirt,’ then you mentioned the skirt 10 more times.”

If just reading this sounds juvenile, watching it—which you can do, if you dare, at Mediaite—is even more migraine-inducing.

(Via Mediaite)

Few emerging bands have come out of the pandemic’s concert lockdown thriving quite like Chicago indie pop quarter Beach Bunny. Sure, they had a viral TikTok hit in 2019 with “Prom Queen,” but that was before their debut Mom + Pop Records LP, Honeymoon, dropped in late February of 2020. They played Kimmel, they played Fallon, they did a track with Tegan & Sara, and now they’re back in action with 32 straight sold out tour dates throughout North America starting next week. That many sellouts at venues like The Fillmore in San Francisco, Webster Hall in New York City, and 9:30 Club in DC is an impressive feat to say the least.

Ahead of the tour, the band just dropped the new single, “Oxygen,” and it sees singer Lili Trifilio’s sticky vocals, flying above a pop-punk melody. “Life looks better when it’s with you,” she sings as she bridges into the yet another sing-a-long hook for a band who just can’t seem to stop to keep producing them. In a statement, Trifilio commented on what the song means to her:

“’Oxygen’ is a song about the perils of navigating romantic feelings, the joy that comes with allowing love to happen, and the act of letting go of the anxiety and our inner voices that make us feel undeserving of love. I wanted it to have a playful vibe with anthemic choruses and a big, blissed out ending.”

While Beach Bunny’s North American tour dates are all sold out, there’s still tickets left for some Europe dates. Check out the tour schedule below and listen to “Oxygen” above.

11/01/2021 — Detroit, MI @ The Majestic Theatre +
11/02/2021 — Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre +
11/03/2021 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre +
11/08/2021 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club +
11/09/2021 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club +
11/10/2021 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall +
11/11/2021 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer +
11/12/2021 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club +
11/13/2021 — Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry +
11/15/2021 — Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall +
11/16/2021 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse +
11/17/2021 — Orlando, FL @ The Abbey +
11/19/2021 — Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge +
11/20/2021 — Newport, KY @ The Southgate House Revival +
11/21/2021 — Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom +
11/27/2021 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee +
11/28/2021 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue +
11/30/2021 — Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre +
12/01/2021 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot +
12/03/2021 — Portland, OR @ Wonderland Ballroom +
12/04/2021 — Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret +
12/05/2021 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos +
12/07/2021 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore +
12/08/2021 — Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory +
12/09/2021 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre +
12/10/2021 — San Diego, CA @ Quartyard +
12/11/2021 — Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom +
12/13/2021 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall/2021 — Downstairs +
12/14/2021 — Austin, TX @ Mohawk +
12/15/2021 — Dallas, TX @ Trees +
12/17/2021 — Saint Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall +
12/18/2021 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre +
02/11/2022 — Glasgow, Scotland @ Saint Luke’s *
02/12/2022 — Dublin, Republic of Ireland @ The Workmans Club *
02/14/2022 — Manchester, England @ Gorilla *
02/15/2022 — London, England @ Electric Ballroom *
02/16/2022 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Kavka VZW *
02/17/2022 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso Noord *
02/18/2022 — Paris, France @ Le Pop Up! *
02/20/2022 — Berlin, Germany @ Cassiopeia *
02/21/2022 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset *
02/22/2022 — Stockholm, Sweden @ Bar Brooklyn *
02/24/2022 — Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret *
02/26/2022 — Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow/2021 — Club *
06/02-04/2022 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
06/05-08/2022 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera a la Ciutat

* with Field Medic
+ with Miloe

When Dejounte Murray was 5 years old, his uncles, whom he considers his big brothers, began inviting him to play games of 21. At the time, everyone else 15 or 16 years old, a way to secure possessions and scoring chances against teenagers roughly half a decade older.

As he viewed the situation, three options were presented. He could force an errant shot. He could swipe the ball from their clutches. He could snag a rebound. And so, for the last 20 years, Murray has forged a basketball ethos closely tied to those tenets.

Soon after Murray was born, his uncles ensured a basketball was always nearby. On a late October afternoon in San Antonio, nothing has changed for the 25-year-old guard. As he discusses an array of topics, ranging from fashion to fatherhood to his on-court development, a small basketball stamped with the Spurs logo swirls between his palms.

“They put a ball in my hand,” Murray says, “so it stuck with me to this day.”

While his uncles were the torchbearers behind this movement, San Antonio is the latest to maintain their efforts. Last season, he shared primary ball-handling responsibilities alongside DeMar DeRozan and averaged career-highs in points (23.8) and assists (8.2) per 100 possessions.

With DeRozan now a member of the Chicago Bulls, Murray will seemingly be tasked with even more duties. Through four games, per 100 possessions, he is averaging the most shots (24.6) and assists of his career (12.1). In an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday, he recorded the fifth triple-double of his career.

“When you work hard … opportunity is gonna come,” Murray says. “When it comes to you, you got to just be ready for it. … I don’t ever limit myself.”

Expanding his offensive repertoire has been the most discernible area of growth for Murray through four NBA seasons. But those familial pickup trials as a younger forged a defensive identity that shines through his game. In his second year, he earned an All-Defensive Second Team nod. He routinely assumes the stingiest of perimeter covers and transports his sprawling limbs across the floor in the name of havoc.

Those sprawling limbs cross the T’s and dot the I’s of his defensive signature. He pick-pockets unsuspecting ball-handlers, beams into space to blockade passing angles and detonates dribble hand-offs like few contemporaries around the league. All of it is bred from dexterity fostered from birth — with a dash of well-intentioned selfishness.

“Just being greedy on defense and having that passion about my (assignment) not going by me,” Murray says of his defensive exploits.

Nobody wants to be torched off the dribble. Passion is not solely what distinguishes Murray defensively. Not everyone touts the tools, mindset and wherewithal to prevent such developments, though.

This is where the work he softspokenly, yet pridefully, references peers through. The countless hours spent in the gym, asking questions and watching game film convey to him that he belongs when he steps on the court.

Yet the mindset to separate all that occurs off the floor and the tasks at hand once he clocks in was harbored long before his NBA dream crystallized. Murrays says “his people” consider him to be 35 years old mentally. He says he was mature by the time he was 12 or 13 years old because he was “forced to do a lot of stuff that adults do.”

Years later, his 4-year-old daughter, Riley, is the one facilitating much of his personal growth and providing perspective within a career path that can easily consume its participants.

“My daughter is the one that keeps me grounded. You have nieces, cousins and little brothers and sisters, however you want to put it. They’re your responsibility, but not the responsibility, like them being your own,” says Murray, whose Instagram is plastered with photos of Riley. “So, having my daughter helped me a lot — to this day, still helps me — to keep my stuff together, just for basketball and staying engaged, never getting comfortable, never settling for less.”

More than a decade of balancing basketball with momentous life responsibilities have molded him for nightly battles against NBA superstars and rigorous training sessions. He’s learned to separate off-court problems from on-court problems. When he steps into the gym, the former, at least temporarily, do not interfere with the imminent goals. This is how he masters the mental part of hoops, while also realizing NBA success demands such an approach.

“We’re all human but (when) you’re going to play Russell Westbrook or Damian Lillard or Stephen Curry, they don’t have a clue what’s going on,” Murray says. “But if they did, they wouldn’t give a shit when it’s time to get on the hardwood.”

Murray’s early prosperity in the league has produced off-court opportunities that deviate away from the gravity of being a father and other necessities he associates with adulthood. As one of New Balance’s figurehead NBAers, he is “the face” of the company’s 327 Heat Up sneaker collection, which debuts Wednesday exclusively at Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Footaction and Eastbay.

The fifth-year guard says he’s not “like a lot of these guys, where they dress up like crazy,” though notes as he ages, he expects he’ll lean into exuberance more often. For now, he’s content with his various “flavors of sweatsuits” that he complements with a rotation of kicks.

Murray isn’t one to usually rock black or white sneakers. The eye-popping colorways of the Heat Up collection appeal to him and align with his vision for fashion, which he hopes also resonates with others when they spot these shoes in stores.

“When you have all them flavors, you can mix it with anything,” says Murray, who is simply excited for the general public to see the collection. “I can wear orange and wear the shoes or I can wear burgundy, you know?

“Everybody likes a hot shoe. … they stand out.”

He declines to identify a singular, premier colorway among the Heat Up line, refusing to play favorites. Whatever draws the preference of his eye and style, he will don. Yet he also confidently declares “even if they don’t look too good, I still can pull it off.”

Similar to those games of 21 many years ago, Murray will always find a way to make it work.

Dune is kind of a lot if you’re not someone who is already familiar with Dune or likes space things, in general. I say this without judgment. It’s fine and maybe even good. But it is just, like, a lot, objectively, starting with the space drugs that let you see the future and power your spaceships and moving to the thing where there are massive space worms that live underground in the desert and can swallow spaceships whole. Again, a lot. And even more so if you’re not someone with a brain wired toward science fiction. But, thankfully, between and around and during all of that, there is also a dude named Duncan Idaho who is played by Jason Momoa and wrecks people with swords even though the movie takes place way in the future. That was helpful to me.

Or take Aquaman. Aquaman is a movie I’ve seen straight through twice and parts of many times, and also a movie I remember exactly two things about: One, at one point, for reasons that are never exactly clear and do not need to be, an octopus plays the drums; two, Jason Momoa looks cool as hell standing under a waterfall with a trident in his hand. I do not care very much about Aquaman, in general. I do not think I would have watched more than five minutes of any Aquaman movie if Aquaman had been played by, like, Jeremy Renner. But if I’m clicking around tonight and see Jason Momoa holding that trident, I mean… I might stick around. Again. At least until I see the octopus play the drums. Look at this guy.

What is the takeaway here? There are probably two, as far as I can tell. The first is that I am kind of an idiot, especially when it comes to space and/or science things. I know that. I can admit that. But it brings us to the second thing: if you are making a movie, any movie, really, but definitely one with a complicated backstory or history, you should just put Jason Momoa in the movie. Maybe give him a knife or a sword or, if you can make it work with your story, a trident. The movie will probably be better for it.

This is one of those things I feel like we all already knew on some deeper level below our consciousness, but it was driven home for me by this tweet.

It’s true, from beginning to end. He plays rad dudes exclusively, and every movie can use another rad dude. There’s no one else out there doing this exact thing he’s doing, either. He’s carved out this cool little Rad Dude niche for himself, right on the line between Very Intense and Very Chill. It’s fascinating to me. Jason Momoa is kind of like a cross between “What if Keanu Reeves was freakin’ jacked?” and “What if The Rock took edibles?” and it all ends up working somehow. I am so happy for him, but I am also happy for the rest of us, too.

But let’s look at some examples. Let’s look at some of our bigger movie franchises and try to see if Jason Momoa would fit into them, just to see if this theory tracks.

The Fast & Furious Franchise — I think the biggest surprise here is that Jason Momoa has not already appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise. I would tell you to close your eyes and picture it but you can do this one with your peepers open wide. I’m picturing him in a dark office behind a large wooden desk, his fingers pressed together into a little tent, explaining to Dominic Toretto that he had to hold the world’s entire NoS supply hostage for Reasons related to How Things Really Are, followed by an extended scene where they have a sword fight in a hurricane, followed much later — possibly in the next film — by them grilling burgers together at a barbecue and referring to each other as “brother.”

The John Wick Franchise — Jason Momoa as a legendary assassin who works for the High Table and is sent to kill John Wick once and for all, but they realize they are Not So Different After All and decide to team up and in the final scene both of them heave tridents like javelins directly into the hearts of two evil High Table members both played by, oh, let’s say Tilda Swinton. I would sacrifice three months off the end of my life to see this movie.

The Paddington Franchise — Here’s what I’ve got so far: Paddington is in trouble, again, but this time it’s because he’s accidentally crossed an ancient organization that is sending squadrons of goons after him and his only hope is one renegade named like Tex Montecarlo (Jason Momoa) who goes everywhere with two swords crisscrossed across his back and kind of a lot of eye makeup on, which is a detail I add mostly so I can remind you that Key & Peele once referred to Momoa’s character on Game of Thrones, warlord Khal Drogo, as “Big Dave Navarro.”

The Magic Mike Franchise — Jason Momoa and Joe Manganiello doing a choreographed performance while wearing fur and holding real axes for some reason, all set to “Warrior” by Pat Benatar, and done at a secret meeting of crooked female billionaires — led by… let’s just go with Tilda Swinton again — that Channing Tatum is stealing jewels from while those two distract the women with hip thrusts, because let’s just go ahead and make these heist movies now.

(There’s an added bonus here to putting Jason Momoa in the movies, beyond just having Jason Momoa do cool Momoa things on the screen. Any time Jason Momoa is in a movie, it gives you — okay, me — another excuse to remind people that he’s married to Lisa Bonet, who used to be married to Lenny Kravitz, whose mom was Roxie Roker from The Jeffersons, whose cousin is television meteorologist Al Roker, which means Lenny Kravitz and Al Roker are actually second cousins. This might be my favorite fact ever. I like having excuses to bring it up. A reasonable argument can be made that it is the main reason I wrote this article.)

Do you see? Do you see what I mean? All of those movies would be incredible. I could have kept going, too, easily. In fact, I will. Jason Momoa in Mission: Impossible as a fellow spy who frees Tom Cruise from a jungle prison by whipping most of a tree at someone. Jason Momoa in Jurassic Park fighting a triceratops with his bare hands. Jason Momoa in a Harry Potter movie as a cool teacher at Hogwarts named Professor Smirkus Biceps who rides a flying motorcycle around town. Every one of these characters is basically the same person and they would instantly become my favorite character in each franchise. I repeat: Just put Jason Momoa in the movie.

It doesn’t even need to be a franchise. It could be a one-off based loosely on current events (Jason Momoa playing a former Green Beret turned first-term senator who must defend Congress against an insurrection), or a 90s-style submarine movie (Jason Momoa carrying around torpedoes all casually, one in each hand like they’re Thermoses), or even an indie romance movie (Jason Momoa playing a bad boy with a heart of gold who seduces a widowed English professor and shows her that there’s still excitement and fun left in the world and she’s played by, you guessed it, Tilda Swinton). Listen to me: Put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Do not think too hard about this.

It’s so simple.

Write the movie.

Put a character in the movie who is a rad dude who has a knife or a sword or a trident or a motorcycle.

Call Jason Momoa.

Ask him to be in the movie.

And then put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Ted Cruz redeemed himself for about half a second a month ago (while making an “evil” joke about the Zodiac Killer), but it was too good to last. The Texas lawmaker and Cancun superfan went back to the same ways that recently prompted one of the nicest guys in the world, Patton Oswalt, to publicly call him out, and that’s precisely what Ted does to people. So, it shouldn’t be a real surprise that Cruz stood up for one’s right to give Nazi salutes during school board meetings, although still, whoa, this guy is an elected U.S. official.

The topic arose as Ted and his GOP colleagues, during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, attempted to argue that reports of school-board meeting implosions are greatly exaggerated. The subject’s clearly a heated one to even bring up in the Senate, just like it is in real life, and Attorney General Merrick Garland was on hand to defend his memo, which suggested that federal resources might be warranted to address the issue. After all, one need only witness the montage videos — many of which include Matt Baker, a dreadlocked California right-winger, shouting at the San Diego Board of Supervisors about Nazis and how “your children and your children’s children will be subjugated” — to know that MAGAs are really losing it over masks and vaccines. Well, Ted is here to defend people doing Nazi salutes at these meetings. Yep, he truly did this.

“During this hearing, I counted 20 incidents cited. Of the 20, 15 on their face are non-violent,” Ted began. “They involve things like insults, they involve a Nazi salute. That’s one of the examples. My God! A parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because he thought that the policies were oppressive.”

Cruz was really going in on Garland during this meeting, and he turned to him and asked, “General Garland, is doing a Nazi salute at an elected official, is that protected by the First Amendment?”

Garland responded, “Yes, it is.” It’s worth noting that Ted also tried to box Garland in by trying to rope him into a completely unrelated ethical question on critical race theory.

The point here is this: Ted’s an unhinged man on a MAGA mission, Nazi salutes are plain awful, and people are disgusted with Ted standing up for the gesture. After all, his selective defense of “free speech” evaporated when Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem.

And one chose to keep it simple.

As the investigation into the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust continues, authorities have confirmed earlier reports that the gun fired by Alec Baldwin did contain a live bullet. In a press conference on Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza revealed the ballistic findings concluded that a lead projectile was fired from the gun and was recovered from the shoulder of director Joel Souza, who was wounded by the same bullet that killed Hutchins.

Mendoza also chastised filmmakers for the lack of safety protocols on the Rust set, which have also been frequently reported since the shooting took place. Via Reuters:

Asked about the use of real weapons on a movie set, the sheriff said, “I think the industry has had a record recently of being safe. I think there was some complacency on this set. And I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico.”

As for possible charges, Deadline reports that the sheriff’s office is not ruling out anyone “at this point.” However, they say, it is still too early in the investigation to comment on that aspect of the story.

“The investigation will continue and if the Sheriff’s Office determines during our investigation that a crime has occurred and probable cause exists, an arrest or arrests will be made and charges will be filed,” Mendoza said.

While Mendoza’s comments sound ominous, legal experts believe Baldwin is the least likely to be charged despite being the one to fire the gun. Armorer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez and Assistant Director David Halls are in a more precarious situation as they were both responsible for firearm safety on set. However, Mendoza said in his comments on Wednesday that Reed-Gutierrez and Halls have been fully cooperating with the investigation, as has Baldwin.

(Via Reuters, Deadline)

UPROXX Sessions is back with another new performance from an up-and-coming underground star. Chxpo, a Cleveland, Ohio native with ties to the wider SoundCloud thrash-rap movement of 2016 (think SpaceGhostpurpp, Wifisfuneral, Ski Mask The Slump God, and Matt Ox), drops in with an aggressive performance of his new song “All My Opps Dead” from his April 2021 album, Xyber Punk 009.

The punk influences in his music are obvious and his aesthetic leans heavily into the anime-inspired looks that also adorn his peers, so Chxpo may throw off some rap purists. With song titles like “Howls Moving Castle” and “Red Ribbon Army” all over his latest project, though, fans who grew up watching Toonami and Adult Swim will likely find plenty to love. On “All My Opps Dead,” Chxpo employs a scream-rap style reminiscent of Tekashi 69, which should endear him to fans of high-energy, menacing mosh pit rap.

Watch Chxpo perform “All My Opps Dead” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

We’re just about a couple weeks removed from the release of Finneas’ debut solo album, Optimist, an album that has so far produced a pair of singles: “What They’ll Say About Us” and “A Concert Six Months From Now.” He performed on The Late Late Show yesterday, but instead of one of those singles, he chose to highlight album cut “Love Is Pain.”

He kept the performance understated, as it was just him singing the reflective song as he played it on piano. The stage design was similarly minimal but striking, as light dramatically emanated from holes in his piano.

Finneas previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of his new album, “When I listen to it back now, I was writing a very interpersonal introspective album, and I think that’s what a year of sitting at home and thinking will do to you. […] When I listen to this album of mine I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this is how I was feeling and this is how I’ve felt my whole life about certain things,’ and for that reason I’m very proud of this record and I feel very comfortable with it. I think sometimes when stuff is finished and sits on a shelf for a while, you look up at it and you’re like, ‘I don’t know how well that’s aging.’ I think this album is honest enough that it doesn’t really matter how it ages because it’s how I feel.”

Watch Finneas perform “Love Is Pain” above.