Month: October 2021

Peep the Washington Wizards’ rotation from their opening night, 98-83 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Look who saw the floor. There are a whole lot of guards: Bradley Beal, Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Holiday, Raul Neto, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. There are also a whole lot of big men: Kyle Kumza, Daniel Gafford, Davis Bertans, Montrezl Harrell, and Deni Avdija.

Squint and you can call Caldwell-Pope, Kuzma, and Avdija wings, sure. But the boundaries of that general classification are being stretched. This team is quite oddly constructed, with two excellent creators in Beal and Dinwiddie, and an assortment of play-finishers, both beyond the arc and at the rim, alongside them.

While the importance of “wings” to high-level basketball has probably been overstated in recent seasons, a balanced roster is still prudent. How Washington chisels together minutes on the wings remains a looming question mark for the year. Perhaps the 15th overall pick from July’s Draft, Corey Kispert, fights his way into the rotation. Maybe, Caldwell-Pope can truly assume those duties on a nightly basis. Is Avdija primed for a sophomore leap that sees him ready to handle more perimeter responsibilities defensively? Strength, ironically enough, is not a strength for this club.

Three-guard lineups appear to be expanding in popularity as of late. The Wizards frequented them last year and look as though they’ll do so again this season. But poor wing depth buried them in their first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. They had no avenue to upsize their lineups and compete against the Sixers’ jumbo trio of Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Ben Simmons.

Any team that marries offensive juice with brawn will pose issues for Washington’s current rotation. Alleviating this hole in their approach could help differentiate them between a squad struggling to tread water on the heels of the play-in and a squad whose offensive firepower has it vying for one of a top-eight seed. The latter outcome is assuredly on the higher end, but seems plausible with a little bit of good fortune because there is clearly talent across the roster.

Beal, for all his defensive gaffes, is a borderline All-NBA guard. In his last healthy year, Dinwiddie was just on the outskirts of All-Star contention. Gafford looks poised to expand his second-half breakout into a full year of exceptional rim-running and viable defense. Caldwell-Pope is a good 3-and-D role player, and spearheads a cast of useful role players.

Projecting them to be good enough to rise above the play-in is far-fetched, but hosting a play-in game is not unreasonable in the rosiest of circumstances. That, however, can skew closer to reality if legitimate wing depth emerges and incorporates more stylistic diversity into the Wizards’ day-to-day possibilities.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — They did it

Only Murders in the Building was a blast. This shouldn’t have been a surprise. The show stars Steve Martin and Martin Short and Selena Gomez. It opened with a dead body and a mystery. Guest stars like Nathan Lane and Tina Fey and Jane Lynch popped up here and there, and some of them had names like “Sazz Pataki.” There was a gentle skewering of true crime podcasts that featured a show-within-a-show podcast, all of which resulted in a kind of fourth-wall-shattering series of winks at the audience. Again, none of us should have been surprised by the quality at play here. Steve Martin rarely misses. The guy has been hitting dingers for decades now. But I guess it’s still worth noting.

The bigger thing in all of it — and again, shouldn’t have been a surprise, but still — is that they nailed the ending. I’m going to dance around the specific hows and whys for now, just because some of you probably didn’t watch it yet and deserve this experience. (It’s 10 half-hour episodes. You can rip through it this weekend. We’ll come back to this.) All you need to know is that it ended with a satisfying resolution that tied up the murder without losing an ounce of the comedy and still managed to set things up pretty nicely for a second season. Also, for reasons that are not important for our discussion here but very important to the events of the show, Steve Martin’s character went mostly limp and ended up doing, well, this.

I do not think I can put into words how funny this was. It wasn’t just this bit I GIFed, either. This all went on for a while. Steve Martin is a 76-year-old man and is still out here putting on a master class in physical comedy for the price of a Hulu subscription. This wasn’t even his funniest bit from the whole endeavor. The funniest bit centered around a big dramatic speech he kind of delivered at the end. It was incredible. Maybe the hardest I’ve laughed at anything that happened on television this year, give or take a live news blooper or two. This is high praise from me. It’s a good show. Please watch it. You can watch your bleak and depressing murder shows later. Make room for the fun murder show. You deserve it.

You know what else I liked about it? The thing I mentioned earlier about it being 10 30-minute episodes. That was nice. As was the thing where the episodes came out one at a time every Tuesday. There can be something satisfying about a binge, about sitting down and crushing a show from beginning to end in one afternoon or sleepless night, but there’s also something nice about carving out 30 minutes a week and then just, like, putting the show away until the next week. Let the action sit and stew for a bit. Read some blogs about it all. And so on.

There’s a chance this is just a remnant of my brain being wired to consume television this way. Maybe it’s just comforting to me to have one episode every week instead of having an entire season dropped in my lap, just because that’s how I consumed it for the first few decades of my life. But I think it’s also because I like the community aspect of watching a show this way, with everyone at the same point in the narrative for a few days. There are cool conversations that bubble up that way. People who are behind can get caught up. It’s not the isolating experience binge-watching can be, and a big part of why I dig Ted Lasso and Succession so much. I like talking about television at least as much as I like watching it. It’s one of the reasons I’m doing this job while my law degree collects dust in a closet. “One of” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

But I’m getting off-track here. The point I’m making is that Only Murders in the Building was a ton of fun. It might end up being one of my three or four favorite shows this year, depending what happens in the last two-ish months. A lot of that is the obvious stuff, the Steve Martin and Martin Short and potty-mouthed Selena Gomez of it all. But a lot of it was the last 30 minutes. It’s not an easy trick to pull off, providing a solid resolution without sacrificing the tone while also kicking open the door to a potential new story. I guess the lesson here is to let people who know what they’re doing make cool stuff and stay out of their way about it.

I mean, that and “let Steve Martin do elevator things if he wants because it will probably be pretty funny.” So… two lessons, really.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — We are now one step closer to the Jennifer Coolidge extended universe

The White Lotus was a lot of fun, to the degree that any show about a bunch of rich people having a miserable Hawaiian vacation can be fun, which, as it turns out, as I said, is a lot. HBO picked up the show for another season and creator Mike White said his ideal situation involves some — not all — of the cast returning for another go-round at another luxurious hotel in another scenic location where another collection of presumably wealthy guests will watch their relaxing getaways go to crap.

This, to be clear, is lovely, and kind of what Knives Out is doing by plopping Daniel Craig’s character in new situations to investigate new murders committed by one or more new goofballs. And it brings me great pleasure to report — er, re-report — that the first and possibly only uniting link between the first and second seasons will be Jennifer Coolidge’s character. This is good news. Because Jennifer Coolidge rules. From TV Line:

In a recent interview with TVLine, White shared his desire to potentially bring back a few Season 1 favorites. “I don’t think you can credibly have [all the Season 1 guests] on the same vacation again,” he explained. “But maybe it could be a Marvel Universe type thing, where some of them would come back. We only made one-year deals with the actors, so we’d have to find out who is even available.”

This is cool. I hope the show runs for 10 seasons and every season opens with Jennifer Coolidge checking into a new five-star hotel. Hell, use CGI or camera tricks or an elaborate system of mirrors to give us two Jennifer Coolidges and have her play her own twin, too. Cross the third season over with the third Knives Out and let her and Daniel Craig’s character solve a murder. And then get married? Hmm. Maybe. I’ll need to think about the last part a little more. We have some time.

I’m serious about the twin thing, though. That’s a good idea. Listen to me, please.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — The good shows are coming back

Okay, good news: Mythic Quest has been renewed for a third and fourth season. That’s what Rob McElhenney and Anthony Hopkins and Jason Sudeikis are saying in the video up there, which you should watch because it’s about as good as anyone can do with an announcement like this. Mythic Quest is so good. It is so, so good, funny and sweet and sometimes sad, kind of like a version of Ted Lasso that’s about video games. And, like Ted Lasso, it’s on Apple TV, which you probably have. You should check it out if you haven’t. We’ve talked about this.

Want more good news? Of course, you do. And I have some: Barry is coming back, too. Barry is also good. The first two seasons played with a fascinating silly/dark balance and introduced the world to NoHo Hank, who remains one of my, oh, let’s say 10-15 favorite characters on all of television. Collider interviewed Bill Hader this week and he talked about the upcoming third season in a way that made me very excited.

I don’t know if I could tease really anything because so much stuff happens. We had some people come in and shoot stuff who’ve been in the other seasons and yesterday actually they came in and they have this kind of cameo part this season. And I showed them a still from the first episode and they were shocked and they went, whoa, what? I was like, yeah. So that was a fun reaction so I’m interested to see what people think about it.

Yes, I am also interested to see what people think about it. People like, for example, me. I want to see what I think about it. Soon. Today, if possible. And Hader also revealed that they’ve written the entire fourth season, so now I want to see that, too. I stand by what I said about it all being good news, but it is a little evil as well, with the waiting. Evil and good. Kind of like NoHo Hank.

Hey, do you want even more good news? Because I have some. Ready? Atlanta is coming back soon, too. Brian Tyree Henry, Paper Boi himself, revealed that the third season is all shot and ready to be edited. But, because Brian Tyree Henry is awesome, he revealed it in a cool way. On the red carpet of Eternals. By saying this, via Slashfilm:

“We’re done. We finally got that season in the can, everyone please stop yelling. It is coming, I had to be a superhero first, okay?”

You know what? Fine. I guess I can’t get upset if this is the reason. It’s a terrific excuse to keep in your pocket to try out sometime. It probably won’t work for you, I guess, but, like, worth a shot, you know?

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — The important thing to remember here is that they did not have to do this

Mel Gibson was cast in a lead role in the new John Wick prequel series that is coming to Starz next year. This is another one of those Two Things Can Be True situations. Here, I’ll explain:

• I have no doubt that he will be good in whatever the role ends up being, because Mel Gibson is and has been an on-camera charisma bomb for almost 40 years now
• It kind of stinks

It stinks for a few reasons, too, but it mostly stinks because it would have been so incredibly easy to just… not do it. They could have cast anyone. Walton Goggins. Bob Odenkirk. Russell Crowe. Kelsey Grammer. There are so many options. Almost a limitless number, in that the category we’re looking at here is “anyone but Mel Gibson.” It didn’t even need to be someone that mega-famous. The John Wick of it all can carry it. I mean, look at this sucker.

The Continental will explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins, which increasingly has become the centerpiece of the John Wick universe. This will be accomplished through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the New York’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the iconic hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals. No word yet on who’ll play Winston Scott (the hotel owner is played in the films by Ian McShane). Gibson will play a character named Cormac.

Buddy, we can easily make this go without bringing Mel Gibson and all of his baggage into it. Everyone would have been fine, too. The show would have been fine. I would have been fine. Mel Gibson and his $400 million net worth would have been fine. But now… blech. We had a cool idea for a series that I was all excited about and now… blech. And no one had to do any of it. Just an unforced error. That’s why it’s such a bummer. Once again, and you can quote me on this, blech. Please fix it.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Look at Guillermo!

A brief note about last week’s episode of What We Do in the Shadows, in part because I didn’t mention it last week and in part because big stuff happened this week that I don’t want to spoil yet: LOOK AT GUILLERMO.

I suppose I should supply a tiny bit of context for those of you who don’t watch the show:

• Guillermo is a human who works for a legendary warrior vampire named Nandor the Relentless
• We found out recently that he is actually descended from the Van Helsing line of vampire slayers
• Nandor had been sucked into a fitness-based cult that bases its teachings on the song “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies

You should know all of this. You should be watching the show. If you did watch the show, you would’ve already seen Guillermo spray holy water on a slew of fitness vampires, without looking at the GIF up there. You would have also seen him do this…

… and this…

… and, incredibly, this.

Guillermo went full-“John Wick at the Russian disco” on a bunch of aerobics-obsessed vampires. It was awesome. He used a hula hoop to kill one, which is somehow still only the second coolest hula-hoop-related piece of business from this year of television, sliding in just behind Coach Beard dancing with one in a neon disco located under a church in an episode of Ted Lasso.

To recap:

• What We Do in the Shadows — good
• Coach Beard — good
• Hula hoops — surprisingly versatile

I’m glad we had this talk.

ITEM NUMBER SIX — Mustache chat

GQ interviewed Steve Harvey about his transformation into a style king. That’s great. Good for him. Go on his Instagram and Twitter if you want to see all of that. I have other things I want to talk about. Specifically, I want to talk about his mustache. I want to talk about something he said about his mustache. I want to talk about… well, this.

Steve, something you’re so well-known for is the mustache. I wonder, does that affect how you think about these outfits? It seems to me like it’s part of the look.

Harvey: He has to work around the mustache.

Karamoh: There’s no way, I can’t not work around it.

Harvey: You come in here talking about, “We going to take the mustache off,” you will lose your job. You cannot take the mustache off, so everything got to work around the mustache, man.

I took the mustache off when I was in college, when I was pledging. When I took it off, I discovered something: the distance from the top of my top lip to the tip of my nose is about four feet. It looks like a fucking sheet of plywood if I take my mustache off. So that can’t happen, partner.

Imagine you get a job as Steve Harvey’s stylist and you tell all your family and friends and you show up on your first day with a plan of going big and shaking things up and you say “First of all, I’m thinking we lose the mustache” and Steve Harvey straight-up fires you on the spot and you have to go back and explain all of that to all the people you bragged to about getting the gig in the first place. Brutal.

But…

Now imagine you’re at a bar and there’s an old guy sitting next to you — just a mess, rumpled clothes, scraggly beard — and the bartender flips the muted television over to a rerun of Family Feud and the old guy suddenly becomes very animated and starts shouting “THAT SON OF A BITCH RUINED MY LIFE” and you get him calmed down and eventually he explains to you that he was a rising star in the fashion industry until Steve Harvey fired him and had him blackballed for suggesting a clean-shaven look. Hilarious.

Life is all about perspective.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Tony:

Be honest, how happy were you on a scale of 1-10 when you watched the trailer for RPattz Is Batman and heard them drop a “we’re not so different”? Because I was at about a 9 and I didn’t even care about that line until you started tweeting about it constantly. Now I hear it everywhere.

Follow-up question: What actor or actress would you most like to hear do a “not so different”? I feel like you’re going to say Giamatti but I’ll hang up and listen.

What a great email. To answer your first question: a full 10, for a few different reasons. First of all, because it genuinely tickles me whenever I hear that line. It’s one of those phrases I’ve heard thousands of times in movies and television shows and have never once heard a real person say in a normal conversation. Second, because my mentions on Twitter started lighting up like a Christmas tree as soon as it happened, which says pretty much exactly what I want it to say about my stupid brand. And third, because it allowed me to make this screencap.

Ahh, whoops. That appears to be Katherine Heigl doing a “not so different” on the USA drama Suits. I have a lot of these screencaps. Here’s the correct one.

To answer your second question… yes. Absolutely Giamatti. In any fair and decent universe, he would have already done it a dozen times on Billions alone. Fix this one, too. Please. For me.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Colombia!

A group of rampant hippopotamuses, introduced by the late Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar to his private zoo, are being sterilized by the country’s wildlife services, after mounting concern that the 80-strong herd presented a potential environmental disaster as an invasive species.

I do not know if I’ve ever read a sentence that has more going on in it than this one. We get a “rampant hippopotamuses” before the first comma and things somehow get even wilder from there. Students around the country should diagram it in English classes. I am barely joking. I can’t think of many better ways to engage bored rascal teens than by casually dropping in a one-sentence story about a country sterilizing a drug kingpin’s collection of wild hippos in the name of environmental protection.

Something to consider, at least.

The decision to neutralize the herd’s breeding potential comes after a study earlier this year concluded that the animals had become a hazard. The hippos, which were originally introduced to Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles estate, are one of the most enduring legacies of the notorious cocaine trafficker, who was killed by police in 1993.

I’ve known about the cocaine hippos for a long time but, I swear, there is no limit to the number of words I will read about them. Someone needs to write a full-length book titled Cocaine Hippos. Dibs on not it.

Enrique Zerda Ordóñez, a biologist at Colombia’s National University, told CNN earlier this year that chemical castration was the only way forward but acknowledged that sterilizing a hippo is no easy task.

“Sterilizing a hippo is no easy task.”

I…

I mean…

I don’t think anyone assumed otherwise, right?

The Biological Conservation study cited research on the negative effect of hippo faeces on oxygen levels in bodies of water, which can affect fish and ultimately humans. The journal also raised concerns about the transmission of diseases from hippos to humans.

To recap: The Colombian government is sterilizing Pablo Escobar’s collection of horny-horny hippos because they are concerned that the hippos will transmit diseases to humans through the fish that live in the water that the hippos poop in.

I must have this book. Preferably by next summer. Need something to read on the beach.

Last night marked the end of Coldplay’s week-long residency on The Late Late Show, and their time on the show yielded some highlights. For the first three days of the week, they focused on their collaborative tracks from Music Of The Spheres: “Let Somebody Go,” “My Universe,” and “Human Heart.”

For their final performance of the week (The Late Late Show doesn’t air new episodes on Fridays), they went with a feature-free cut, the single “Higher Power.” Visually, they kept things relatively straightforward, as it was just the band on stage with some colorful concert lighting.

The band previously said of the song, “I think people needed to have something uplifting. We wanted to put out this optimism and positivity into everything on this album. The famous story which is going around about this song is how Chris kind of was tapping out the drum pattern on a bathroom sink, and he recorded it on his phone and then went and wrote the song on top of it.”

Watch Coldplay perform “Higher Power” above.

Music Of The Spheres is out now via Parlophone. Get it here.

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

After nearly four long years, Majid Jordan has returned with their third album Wildest Dreams. In normal circumstances, it’s longer than fans would’ve liked to wait in between projects, but if the last 20 months have taught us anything, we’re not at all dealing with normal circumstances. A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic brought the world to a standstill for the better part of a year. With that being said, it still leaves the following question unanswered: Where has Majid Jordan been these past few years?

“I think we almost played like 100 shows in a year in 2018 right after The Space Between came out. We were constantly on the road, living out of suitcases for about a year,” Jordan Ullman, the producer half of Majid Jordan tells me during a Zoom call. “It was a tense time of constantly thinking that we had to keep this music going. It’s like you released a project and people are like, ‘That’s cool, but like what’s next?’” He adds, “I think we’ve always tried to slow that process down and I think releasing this album and just being more in the moment of like engaging with people is the whole idea of where we want to take it next.”

The answer is Wildest Dreams, which arrives this week with eleven songs and guest appearances from Drake, Swae Lee, and Diddy. For Majid Jordan, there’s nothing but gratitude for the fans who, despite their thinning patience, stuck around with them over the past few years. “We wouldn’t be here without you,” Majid says earnestly. “We won’t let you down. You are not forgotten.” Jordan echos the same message and adds “there’s a lot more” on the way that their supporters will be able to enjoy in the coming months.

A key figure in helping Majid Jordan live out this dream is Drake and his OVO Sound label, which signed the duo back in 2013 and brought them to the national spotlight through tracks with the rapper like “Hold On We’re Going Home” and “My Love.” Contrary to social media theories that the Drake and Noah “40” Shebib-led imprint restricts their artists, Majid Jordan says exactly the opposite happens at OVO headquarters. “There’s no one who can say like, you can’t go and make music today,” Majid points out. “There’s no one who can tell us that. We can do everything on our own.” He adds, “The thing is, when you’re dealing, on a global scale, with a team that’s like that, it’s gonna just take a little bit longer than having 100-150 people behind you pushing everything all at the same time.”

The duo released two singles in both 2018 and 2019 before seemingly fading into the background. It was a well-needed and intentional break to slow down their creative process, as Jordan mentioned. Majid Al Maskati, the voice behind Majid Jordan, noted that last year’s pandemic further postponed their return as they were unsure of the health risks behind reuniting to create music. It’s here that Jordan shares how else the pandemic altered their plans. “We were very close to putting out an album, I would say we were wrapping it up end of 2019, early 2020,” he says. “We had a whole body of work under a whole different name, it was kind of like a fragment of an album.”

It’s a roadblock that many artists faced throughout 2020: share their art without being able to present it the way they’d like or hold off for an unknown amount of time. For Majid Jordan, the decision was easy. As their music is so attached to a live experience that amplifies and provides a completely new experience to the music fans heard in the comfort of their own home. It makes sense the duo placed a lot of focus on live performances and touring. Sonically, Majid Jordan is extremely diverse. The duo thrives in a pop world that keeps a foot in the R&B lane, allowing their work to be stretched and pulled into several sonic directions. Evidence of this lives on their 2014 EP A Place Like This and their two albums, Majid Jordan and The Space Between. Majid Jordan has grown in more ways than one and displays that growth on Wildest Dreams.

“There’s definitely an experimentation outside of the sound we’re usually known for [on this album], which I think is great for us,” Majid notes. “I think it’s being proactive in that sense of not being afraid to put the first foot forward into unfamiliar territory and just feeling it out, not even in private, but under the watchful eye of an entire world.” This is evident on tracks like “Forget About The Party,” a stripped-down, guitar-driven ballad that calls for “divine intervention” to redirect a lover from a party to their arms instead. It’s a song that Jordan believes is “at the center of who we are as musicians.” He adds, “I think it makes people remind themselves of a time in their lives. Anytime I listen to that, it really makes me go into a world of myself and memories.”

For Majid, the song that fits that category is “Sweet,” the album’s closer, pointing to a string of lyrics from it to explain why. “Be about me and I’ll be about you / Sing a song from your heart for me,” he sings on the track. “Leave a space in your heart for me / We’re not so different, but we’re moving differently / I feel it every time you leave / I never knew that love could be so sweet.” In short, “It’s that eye-opening feeling where it’s like we aren’t really different,” Majid says. “We’re just doing things differently to get to the same place the same end goal, that same dream we have for ourselves.”

Majid Jordan is unique as the duo is comprised of a singer and a producer, although there are similar acts including DVSN and They. It allows for Majid Jordan to create with just each other rather than relying on the availability and interest of another party. It’s a quality that the duo admitted may have contributed to their longevity. “When you start working on a project it can go many different ways, but I think we as two people are coming together in a way that the stuff we’re able to accomplish musically man?” Jordan says. “I couldn’t even dream of really doing it you know 10 years ago so I think in that way it’s getting easier.” However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t call on other artists when the occasion calls for it.

“We have a collaboration with Diddy, he’s featured on a song called ‘Sway,’” Majid notes. “He FaceTimed us like, ‘Yo wassup, I just wanted you to see the reaction to the song in real-time,’ and he’s dancing on FaceTime with his family. They’re all enjoying the song.” Another too-good-to-be-true moment came on “Dancing On A Dream,” the album’s opener which features Swae Lee. After multiple failed attempts to get the Rae Sremmurd rapper on the song, Majid Jordan submitted the album without the feature and returned to their everyday lives with Majid deciding to fly back to Bahrain, his birthplace, to spend time with family.

Days into his trip, he noticed an Instagram Story post from Swae Lee of him notifying his followers that he was on his way to Dubai, a city just an hour flight away from where he was staying in Bahrain. The singer knew he had to chase down the rapper to secure his vocals for “Dancing on A Dream.” “I have this duffel bag with just a mic, my laptop in it, whatever and I’m like I’m going to go find Swae Lee,” he says with a laugh. “I get there and I’m staying at a place that’s four minutes from his hotel. I find a way to reach out to them and he’s like, ‘Yo come through.’ I play him the music and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna destroy this.’ We basically party for three days, and on the third day, I get them to lay down a verse.”

From the young college students with a dream to the well-established duo that signed to Drake, made music with Diddy, and chased down Swae Lee in a foreign country, you can say that Majid and Jordan are living out their wildest dreams. However, what’s next? For Jordan, it’s opening doors for a marginalized community in the music industry. “I definitely want to make a concrete actual studio in Toronto, and I want this studio to be run by women,” he reveals, adding that his younger sister aspires to be a producer just like him. “Two percent of women are producers. It’s something that as soon you really put it into reality and understand that, it’s pretty ridiculous that it’s still like that.”

Majid also has noble aspirations that will hopefully make careers in the fine arts world more attainable and realistic for people in his home country of Bahrain. “A dream for me is to be able to give people where I’m from access to just arts programs — music, visual arts, drama, anything — and bring them over to this side,” he reveals. “Also, take people who are experts and connections that we’ve made, artists that we know, [and] bring them over to that side to give people that exposure and that connection.”

The duo’s unlikely success due to their unique beginnings contributes to their desire to help those who have the odds against them. It also serves as another point of inspiration behind Wildest Dreams. “When I left home, I left there with the dream of building a sustainable career — creating myself from nothing in another place,” Majid says. “So that dream, we’re still in the process, we’re on the cusp of it and now we’re putting out this album, we’re still kind of feeling it out. The struggle is knowing that it’s not a guarantee, and yet, pursuing it and persevering through the most difficult times.” Jordan emulates a similar thought from a broader point of view. “‘Dream’ in the initial can be such a blissful, built identity that isn’t in reach,” he says. “It’s just this idea, like [a] utopia. Then there’s also the reality of what do you dream of from other human beings and from yourself? I think the duality of that is found on [the album].”

Wildest Dreams is out now via OVO Sound/Warner Records. Get it here.

Majid Jordan is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons had a potential breakthrough in the disgruntled guard’s return to the organization on Friday morning. Simmons reportedly showed up to practice, said everyone (including himself) has to accept responsibility for how things have gone in Philly, and expressed that while he wants to play, he’s not mentally ready to do that.

Whether or not Simmons plays for the Sixers, of course, is a different story — he has been steadfast in saying he has no intention of ever taking the floor for the franchise again — but after months of things being messy between the two sides, this is the exceedingly rare step in a positive direction. And while it may take some time for Simmons to get to a place where he thinks he can perform to the standard he thinks is necessary, one of his teammates is willing to wait.

Tobias Harris took to Twitter after the reports of Simmons’ meeting came out and made clear that the locker room is going to embrace Simmons with open arms whenever he’s ready to play.

That sentiment was shared by another Sixer, Tyrese Maxey.

Philly will play its first home game of the regular season on Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets. Simmons is not expected to play, although it remains to be seen if he will be in attendance.

What a difference pissing off the vice president with a couple of positive COVID tests can make! On the morning of Friday, September 24th, chaos erupted on the set of The View when co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin received positive COVID test results—live, on air—and were immediately ejected from the studio. It didn’t help that this all happened just ahead of welcoming Vice President Kamala Harris, who was waiting backstage, to the show. And rumors soon began swirling that the VP’s team was none too happy with the ladies of The View for putting Harris in harm’s way. Ultimately, the blame for the gaffe had to be put on someone, and Daily Beast is reporting that that someone is Wendy Livingston, the show’s health and safety manager.

According to the site: “Prior to the televised meltdown, which featured hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin being abruptly yanked off-air minutes before a live interview with the vice president, Livingston oversaw The View’s regular testing of all personnel as well as its adherence to coronavirus protocols. But the registered nurse has since stopped performing her medical duties with the show, two people with knowledge of the matter said, though she remains a network employee.”

An ABC spokesperson was quick to weigh in and assure the Daily Beast that Livingston was not being used as a scapegoat, assuring the site that: “Wendy has not been fired. She remains a part of the health & safety team supporting testing and vaccine verification.”

Just, maybe, far from the set of The View. Where, back in May, the ladies actually paid tribute to Livingston—whom they called a “health care hero” and their “own Florence Nightingale.”

History was admittedly never my best subject, but I don’t remember the world thanking Florence Nightingale for her service by throwing her under a bus.

(Via Daily Beast)

Even today, nearly a year later, hearing the words “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” is enough to elicit hilarious laughter from even the most typically staid human being.

In the midst of all the chaos and calls for recounts following the 2020 presidential election, the sheer idiocy that led to Rudy Giuliani attempting to look like a serious man working for a serious client while holding a press conference next to a shop full of dildos with forever live in the memories of those who witnessed, as well as in LEGO form. And now, according to The Hill, Four Seasons Total Documentary—a documentary special detailing how the political f*ck-up of the century happened—will premiere on MSNBC exactly one year to the day this infamous moment went down.

You might be wondering: How the hell can someone make a whole film about this major embarrassment? Well, the film was directed by Christopher Stoudt, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who just happened to know Four Seasons Total Landscaping’s sales director. “As it developed, it felt like this Holy Grail of a moment to be so close to, and I feel as though I won the lottery in terms of my access to it,” Stoudt said, according to The Hill.

“At face value, you could perceive it as being a challenge to bring it to the screen,” Stoudt continued. But his goal was to answer the question on everyone’s mind: How could such a massive blunder happen to the President of the United States, and wasn’t there any way to fix it? The director says he wanted to get “to the root of why it happened from the perspective of people that were there. So the goal was always to lean into the perspectives of the actual people that were experiencing it.”

The film, which is only 30 minutes long, will also delve into how the company itself was able to benefit from the epic snafu. That, to Stoudt, makes it a true “underdog story [about] a group of people in ridiculous circumstances, and who are fighting for their survival to try to get out of it.”

If that’s not enough to sell you, Stoudt also promises that “It’s the best film ever made about a landscaping company.” Sold!

Four Seasons Total Documentary is set to air on MSNBC on November 7, 2021 at 10 p.m.

(Via The Hill)

With the artist formerly known as Kanye West running around in spooky masks weeks before Halloween and pulling other attention-grabbing stunts like renting a room at the stadium in which he held the listening events for his latest album, it’s getting harder and harder to understand where the once-relatable artist is coming from. However, if anyone were to have a shot at coming close, it would be one of the two artists who most recently worked with West to secure a No. 1 hit record.

In a new interview with British GQ, Jack Harlow — who worked with Kanye West and Lil Nas X on the hit single “Industry Baby” — takes a stab at explaining Ye’s oddball behavior of late. “I think he sees himself as Mozart or Beethoven,” he guesses. “I think he’s worried, not about what it looks like now but what it will look like in 100 years. Take what happened with the Taylor Swift situation: at the time it was all pitchforks, but now people treat that as iconic. I am always fascinated to see what he does next. This Donda roll-out, people are going to remember that for years.”

People may remember the rollout, but the music itself received a lukewarm reception from both critics and fans. You can read Uproxx’s review here. Elsewhere in Jack’s interview, he addresses his often fraught relationship with race as a white hip-hop artist. “I think what has worked for me is that my music has never been about the fact that I am white,” he hypothesizes. “I don’t try to lean into the, ‘Hey, I’m the white boy.’ I try not to make it a novelty. I rap from the heart, rather than trying to do a white version of the art form.”

You can read the full interview here.

While bourbon barrel-aged stouts seem to get all the press these days, nearly every other beer style is also getting the barrel-aged treatment. Wine, port, sherry, and rye whiskey barrelled-beers have all been making appearances on store shelves, with one-off specialty barrels in the mix too. There’s a wonderland of barrel-aged suds out there to explore.

Skip Schwartz, innovation, and wood cellar lead at WeldWerks Brewing Co. in Greeley, Colorado, is a big fan of barrel-aged beers.

“I love a good barrel-aged stout,” he says, “making it super hard for me to pick just one. I would start with Equilibrium’s barrel-aged program, then Side Project’s, Trillium, Weathered Souls, and so on.”

Schwartz notes that he could easily rattle off ten more breweries all with aging programs he respects. It’s enough to make your head spin. Luckily, he’s not the only brewing pro who’s excited about this style. 13 craft beer experts were willing to share their picks with us. Below, we’ve compiled the best of the best barrel-aged brews according to the people who actually make beer.

If any of these sound tasty, click on those prices to try one or two!

North Coast Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin

Jensen Atwood, director of brewing operations at Pure Brewing Project in San Diego

ABV: 11.3%

Average Price: $24 for a 500ml bottle

Why This Beer?

One of the barrel-aged beers I look forward to drinking when the weather gets colder would be BA Old Rasputin from North Coast. Just a straight-up no-frills, no adjunct imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. The bitterness from the base stout subsides a little bit, leading into a nice sweetness from the barrel-aging that melds perfectly.

With flavors of roast, vanilla, chocolate, and bourbon it makes for a great drinking beer when the weather starts to get a little colder.

Tributary Mott The Lesser

Patrick Chavanelle, research and development brewer at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine

ABV: 10.5%

Average Price: Limited Release

Why This Beer?

Mott the Lesser, brewed by the legendary Tod Mott at Tributary Brewing Company, is the first beer that comes to mind when I’m in the mood for something barrel-aged. One could rightfully argue that it was the most coveted beer in existence back when Tod brewed it at the Portsmouth Brewery — when the beer was originally called Kate the Great. I have very fond memories of waiting in line in anticipation of tasting this beautifully crafted beverage.

Nowadays, the beer has even more complexity, as each year’s release is a blend of vintages all aged in various spirit and wine barrels. The beer is a sensory overload of complexity that gets better with every sip.

Fremont Rusty Nail

Cameron Fisher, head brewer of CraftHaus Brewery in Henderson, Nevada

ABV: 12.3%

Average Price: $30 for a 22-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

The Rusty Nail from Fremont Brewing is my pick. It has the complexity of barrel aging an imperial stout with the added spices of cinnamon and licorice that hits all the right notes that one looks for in the fall.

Avery Tweak

Todd Bellmyer, head brewer at Wynkoop Brewing in Denver

ABV: 14.7%

Average Price: $15 for a 12-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

Always breaking style barriers with their barrel-aging program, Avery Brewing Co’s Tweak Bourbon Barrel-Aged Coffee Stout is a bottle that I buy almost every time I see it. Coming in at almost 15 percent ABV, the rich, viscous stout base pairs perfectly with the intense coffee addition to making a unique and high-powered coffee stout. It’s hard for me to find a better way to warm up when it’s cold than a strong coffee stout that matured in bourbon barrels.

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Eric Warner, brewmaster at Karbach Brewing in Houston

ABV: 12.9%

Average Price: $14 for a 12-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

I know I’m probably not the only one, but it’s always fun to see the different variants of Bourbon County Stout that Goose Island puts out each year. This year, I’m looking forward to trying their Double Barrel Toasted Barrel Stout.

I’ve always been a fan of Elijah Craig, so this one should be an excellent sipper full of rich, chocolatey notes along with a smooth Bourbon finish. It will be a nightcap for sure.

Brooklyn Black Ops

Todd DiMatteo, owner and brewer Good Word Brewing in Duluth, Georgia

ABV: 12.4%

Average Price: $25 for a 750ml bottle

Why This Beer?

Garrett Oliver is a master brewer. I, like many, respect that moniker. Also, I don’t use it often. As a brewer and innovator, he’s inspired countless brewers for decades, and I am no exception. His beers and his wealth of knowledge can be found in several books and online.

Brooklyn Black Ops is the quintessential barrel-aged stout, and while I’ve only been lucky enough to have it on a few occasions it’s absolutely brilliant. This 12.4 percent corked stout is thoughtfully aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels and was once as rare as a Dodo Egg. This is the beer from barrels that all other barreled beers should be measured against, find it if you can.

Crooked Stave Nightmare on Brett

Molly Lamb, host of Brewvana’s Brews Less Traveled Beer Club and Podcast

ABV: 9.666%

Average Price: $18 for a 750ml bottle

Why This Beer?

The one barrel-aged beer I look forward to drinking when the weather gets cold is not your typical one! I love Nightmare on Brett by Crooked Stave in Denver, Colorado. Typically, we think of sours when the weather is warm, but this one is fantastic with the rich dark fruit aromas and the underlying cocoa notes. It mixes with an acidic tart berry finish that I find quite warming. It’s more complex than most sours. You get layers of flavor with this barrel-aged beer.

It’s definitely deeper and more full-bodied than most sour beers. I also find that it pairs well with heavier wintertime foods like steak and potatoes.

Side Project Derivation

Brandon Capps, owner and head brewer of New Image Brewing in Arvada, Colorado

ABV: 15%

Average Price: Limited Release

Why This Beer?

Whatever Derivation variant Side Project is releasing is what I most look forward to. I think Cory King is tops in this business when it comes to barrel-aged stouts. The skillful blending of beers and thoughtful approach to matching base beers with spirits barrels really shines in the final product. Their 15th variant of Derivation is about to come out and it blends brandy and bourbon barrel-aged stouts that were aged for one to two and a half years before being infused with Papua New Guinea Vanilla.

Fremont Barrel Aged Dark Star

Dave Bergen, co-founder, director of brewing and marketing at Joyride Brewing Company in Edgewater, Colorado

ABV: 12.7%

Average Price: $26 for a 22-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

I love the barrel program at Seattle’s Fremont, especially their Dark Star. Call me a traditionalist, but the straight-up bourbon barrel-aged version is the best (BBADS), allowing the flavor of the barrel to shine and mix with the roast and chocolate from the stout. I

t’s sweet and smooth and makes me wonder at their wizardry with every sip.

Firestone Walker Parabola

Chris Takeuchi, research and development brewer at Ballast Point’s Little Italy brewpub in San Diego

ABV: 14%

Average Price: $10 for a 12-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

I don’t generally delve into barrel-aged beers too often, but I’ve always enjoyed Firestone Walker’s Parabola. It has a really nice bourbon barrel character — dark fruit, vanilla, chocolate — that doesn’t overshadow the base beer.

Allagash Coolship Pêche

Colby Cox, co-founder of Roadhouse Brewing Co in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

ABV: 6.8%

Average Price: $16 for a 375ml bottle

Why This Beer?

Anything from the Allagash Coolship series. The unique flavors that come from years in oak and the addition of fresh fruit throughout that process deliver a bewitching sophistication, perfect for a change in the seasons.

If I had to pick one it would be the tart, crisp, complex Allagash Coolship Pêche.

Petrus Aged Pale Ale

David “Zambo” Szamborski, brewmaster at Paperback Brewing in Glendale, California

ABV: 7.3%

Average Price: $5 for a 12-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

If I visit a place with barrel-aged beer, I have to try it. I love the complex flavors that this process adds to just about any style. While most people might expect a craft beer lover to go straight to a BBA — bourbon barrel ale — recommendation in the winter, I have a personal favorite in a pale ale called Petrus.

This beer is oak-aged for two years in foeders with wild yeast that brings out amazing complexity in fruit and spice notes including pineapple, tart strawberries, cider, and even the polarizing aroma of horse blanket. I like this year-round but have a tendency to drink these more complex beers in the winter months as part of my holiday budget.

Firestone Walker Amburana Parabola

Colin Jordan, quality manager at Urban South Brewery in New Orleans

ABV: 14.6%

Average Price: $10 for a 12-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

Firestone Walker’s Amburana Parabola has to take it for me. It has the nicest balance of a rich and roast imperial stout with tones of exotic spice and vanilla. They are all so rich and flavorful but go down so smooth. Visiting their barrel facility is like walking into an oak-scented dreamland.

---

As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Over the past year, the pandemic utterly upended any number of artists’ plans, forcing many to push back their projects, change them, or abandon them altogether. The latter almost happened to North Carolinian Dreamville artist Lute, who was in the midst of his rollout for his new album Gold Mouf when quarantines and lockdowns forced the shutdown of most of the music industry.

For Lute, it was also the beginning of a months-long depression that had him questioning his place in the game. Sure, he’s signed to Dreamville, the label project founded by fellow North Carolinian J. Cole and modern equivalent to one of the Big Three rap labels back in the day — you know, Roc-A-Fella, Murder Inc., Ruff Ryders — alongside Top Dawg Entertainment and Quality Control. Dreamville is where emerging superstars like Bas, JID, and Ari Lennox have honed their craft over the past several years.

It’s also where Lute released his own debut album, West1996, back in 2017. But in today’s modern rap landscape, four years is a long time for a new artist to have to wait for a follow-up — even with a standout performance on the Revenge Of The Dreamers III compilation alongside label head J. Cole and another then-burgeoning NC standout, DaBaby. In the meantime, many of his labelmates have released projects and generated buzz for themselves, threatening to turn him into an afterthought of the roster, lost in the wash.

Fortunately, for Lute, Gold Mouf is more than worth it and proves equal to any project from his compatriots, including last year’s Spilligion, which featured Dreamville standouts JID and Earthgang. A vulnerable, confessional, relatable jaunt through the past four years, the project is not just a paean to his personal growth, it’s a beautifully produced, well-sequenced call for us all to check in on our mental health. Songs like “Birdsong” with JID and Chicago rapper Saba unearth lyrical gems from the muck of the past year, while “Changes” featuring BJ The Chicago Kid diagrams survival through myriad struggles.

The secret sauce is sequencing from yet another North Carolina native: Phonte Coleman of Little Brother and Foreign Exchange, who stepped in and offered to help sequence the album and make it the heartstring-pulling affair that it became in preparation of its delayed release. On a Zoom call with Lute, the rapper details the origins of his Gold Mouf< character; discusses the importance of self-care; and reveals his most wild remembrance of the legendary Revenge sessions.

So I guess, what’s been going on with you in those four years? Because you started out in one place, and now you’re in a different place. How have things changed since West1996?

I mean, honestly, it’s just life. Life changed, and life had been the… Just dealing with shit and anxiety and depression, and just everyday life stuff, bro. But at some point, I had to realize that in order for me to move forward with my life, in order for me to move forward with myself just as a man and as a human being, I got to get control of the things that keep me from blocking my blessings, like my anxiety and depression and stuff.

So just trying to figure out what’s the next step. Once I figured out what it was that I was going through and what I was dealing with, it’s like, “What’s the next step to kind of conquer those things?” And I went through all the steps, to be real with you, every last, even the bad steps. So just living and learning, man. That’s all. That’s all this album is really about is living and learning and holding yourself accountable.

Yes, sir. No, I certainly do hear that all over the album, especially on the joint with BJ and the joint with JID and Saba. Those were very beautiful songs. I want to talk about where this Gold Mouf character comes from because I don’t think that I’ve really been able to find a lot about the origin of it, why this was your-

Well, for me, I’ll put it to you like this. How can I explain it? Have you ever seen Nutty Professor?

Yes, sir.

So Gold Mouf is, to me, what Buddy Love is to Professor Klump. I deal with anxiety and depression and shit like that. So for me, Gold Mouf is like my highest level of confidence. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a mask, but another persona of myself that’s like top tier. And then on Instagram, I’ll be messing around sometimes. I call myself “Big Ugly.” So Big Ugly is like my low self-esteem type sh*t, and Gold Mouf is like me at my highest. So when I feel like my best, I feel like I take on the role of Gold Mouf, kind of like how Clark goes in the booth, and he turns into Superman.

Absolutely. One of the things that, I guess, struck me was this album had a very interesting release, right? Because you started the rollout in March last year (with “Getting Every Dollar“), and I was gearing up. I was like, “Yo.” I was talking to the people like, “Yo, let me get on the phone with Lute.” And then just, nothing happened, because everything shut down.

And that was also the beginning of me going through my depression, so that kind of slowed everything down. The pandemic hit, then I went through my depression. So everything really slowed down for me. And I realized that I was so used to moving that by the time the pandemic hit and it slowed everything down, all my traumas and everything that I was running from, or everything that I didn’t heal from, caught up to me.

It was easy to go through something and be like, “Well, I ain’t got to worry about it right now, because I got to go on tour.” Or, “I ain’t got to worry about that, because I got this show.” Or, “I ain’t going to worry about that, because I got to be at the studio.” But when all that shit shut down and you ain’t got nothing to do, now, you got to figure all that out. And then I lost my cousin during the pandemic, not to COVID though, due to gun violence. And I lost a childhood friend of mine. I almost lost my dad as well.

So a couple of other things happened that kind of set me down in a little spiral, and I just had to pick myself back up. I had to find a way to get back in the game. But for a minute, I was kind of tapped out. I didn’t think I was even going to finish the project. I thought that was just about to be the end for me. “I think I’m done. I think I did what I could. I did the best I could. And now, I think I’m just going to gracefully bow out.” But I felt like that was like me being defeated talking, and I kind of had to get that out of my head and just get my ass back up. I had to get back up. I had to get back in the game.

Well, I’m glad you’re still here, man. I’m glad you stood up because it was worth the wait. One of my parts of the early rollout was when you were doing the “Gold Mouf Chronicles” videos, which I thought were hilarious and very on point with the Wish Sandwich and the Lute Ross ones. What was the origin of this funny thing? In the process of doing it, did it reveal anything about your creative process to you?

I’m a very introverted person. But when you get to know me, I can be a super funny guy. I’m easy to talk to when I’m comfortable and I’m around people that I’m comfortable being around. So the “Gold Mouf Chronicles” was a way just to show my personality outside of my anxiety and me being or seeming very introverted. We felt like that was a good way to showcase my personality.

As far as the actual album is concerned, I know that as a North Carolina native, it meant a lot to you that it was executive produced and sequenced by members of Little Brother.

Oh no, for sure. Well, see Pooh is my manager.

I didn’t know that.

Yeah. Pooh’s my manager, and it was just a blessing for them to put a verse on. Because I chopped it up with Phonte a few times but when it came to album time, it was a blessing that they were able to put a verse on there for me. And the fact that Phonte wanted to sequence it, … If Phonte asks to sequence some shit, hell yeah. I’m not going to say no to that.

It definitely passed the car test.

You know, when Phonte passed it to Pooh, and Pooh gave it to me to listen to, to see what I liked or didn’t like about it, man, I almost shed a tear, because I worked on most of the project out here in LA. But I finished the rest of the half of it back home in Carolina. So when I was out here in LA, we were working in a studio almost every day. I had no idea what I had. I was just going into the studio, venting about the sh*t that I was going through and what I was dealing with. But when Phonte sequenced it, I had no idea. I didn’t even realize that I was building a story the whole time.

And the way he sequenced it, it’s like, “Man, this sh*t is beautiful as hell.” Because the way it’s sequenced is the way my life went. It’s like, I started off very optimistic about shit. Then you go through life, and you start dealing with shit. And then towards the end and coming out of my depression and shit, I realized that I love who I am. I love the person that I am. I love what I’m doing, and I love the direction that I’m going.

People don’t really realize how important sequencing is to how good albums are.

But that’s why I was very, very appreciative that Phonte wanted to sequence the album, because me, I’m the type of person when I drop bodies of work or projects, they tell a story, and that’s on purpose. I don’t want to have an album where you go through, and you’re just shuffling through this sh*t. I want you to listen to it from top to bottom. And sometimes, granted, you just still do, but at least you get the storyline. I want you to feel some sh*t after you listen to my album. I want you to experience something. I want you to have an experience. That’s why I love Kendrick’s albums, because they gave you a little story, and it just makes you experience sh*t.

What’s crazy to me is you have Cozz, you have Saba, you have JID, you have Boogie. On Dreamville you rapped alongside J. Cole and DaBaby. You’re surrounded by massive, massive lyricists. Do you find yourself challenging yourself to push harder when you are around these guys?

I don’t feel pressured at all. Only because I write from experience and being myself. I’m not an artist that writes every day or goes to the studio every day. And I sharpen my pen, but I sharpen my pen by living and experiencing and being present in my life. My inspiration comes from my day-to-day life. I was telling somebody the other day, even when I’m having a bad day, that sh*t sucks, but at the same time, when I really look at it, it’s going to make for a good song later.

I feel like at the end of the day, the only person I’m trying to be better than is myself. I’m trying to grow, I’m trying to learn and figure out all my quirks and stuff like that. So, as far as pressure… It’s definitely a friendly competition.

I think I’ve actually asked everybody, whoever was at the Dreamville Sessions if they have one good story to tell about the Dreamville sessions.

So much sh*t happened in that span. It’s not a blur, but everything is all jumbled in one. But I will say that the most shocking thing that I’ve seen… coming around the corner, looking over, and Chris Bosh is in the corner making beats and they were f*cking fire. The beats were hard.

So, I like to ask everybody, what’s the ideal outcome of your album rollout because I know everybody’s got different expectations and everybody has different gauges for success.

Just everybody being more self-aware about their mental health and taking more self-care and taking more time for themselves to grow and learn and hold themselves accountable so that we can progress and we can move forward. That’s literally all I wanted out of this album.

I was actually nervous to put this album out because I felt so vulnerable and exposed. But I realized when I was making these songs if I could be more vulnerable and more transparent or myself, then if that could help somebody else and also help me, then everything else out of it is just a blessing. That’s my goal, is just to help people be more aware of mental health.

I’ve made mistakes and I’ve held myself accountable on those things too. I’ve done things the wrong way and I also done things the right way. So, just holding myself accountable and just trying to move forward and grow. That’s really the whole synopsis of everything, man, just trying to f*cking grow and progress.

Gold Mouf is out now via Dreamville and Interscope Records. Get it here.