Month: June 2022

Yes, Drake has a new album out called Honestly, Nevermind. Yes, it’s a dance music album. And finally, yes, this is not what people were expecting when the Toronto rapper announced yesterday that a new album was coming at midnight. Folks expecting a hip-hop album have been sharing their thoughts, saying that it sounds like mall music, cracking jokes and dropping memes on Twitter en masse. It’s kinda gotten out of hand, as the names of mall stores like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara have been trending today.

But Drake cares not for you plebes. Last night, at what looks like a release party for Honestly, Nevermind, Drake addressed the haters in an Instagram video. “It’s all good if you don’t get it yet. It’s all good,” Drake said, as “Calling My Name” played in the club. “That’s what we do. We wait for you to catch up. We’re in here, though. We’re caught up already. On to the next. My goodness.”

Damn, son. This is the Drake ethos conveyed straight from the horse’s mouth. He has always been the alpha influencer, discovering what’s about to pop off before it does, dropping videos and album covers that he expects to turn into memes, and then watching it go. As for what’s next, on his new Table For One SiriusXM show, Drake already teased both a new poetry book and the next Scary Hours pack.

In an effort to reach Americans, the January 6 committee has been uploading clips from its ongoing hearings to YouTube. There’s just one small problem. A recent video was pulled for triggering YouTube’s policy against election disinformation, which is obviously going to be in the mix. The January 6 attacks were the result of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, so naturally, the topic is going to come up.

However, YouTube is actually defending the removal of the Jan. 6 committee video. In a statement to The New York Times, the company said election disinformation will be removed if “sufficient context” isn’t provided, regardless of the user:

“Our election integrity policy prohibits content advancing false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, if it does not provide sufficient context,” YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said in a statement. “We enforce our policies equally for everyone, and have removed the video uploaded by the Jan. 6 committee channel.”

That’s an odd stance for YouTube to take considering the context is an official government hearing on how election fraud claims sparked the January 6 insurrection. As for the disinformation that violated YouTube’s policy, it was a clip of Trump’s infamous “big massive dumps” interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo where the former president claimed suspicious data “glitches” were giving his votes to Joe Biden.

“They’re not glitches. They’re theft. They’re fraud. Absolute fraud,” Trump ranted to Bartiromo. “This election was over, and then they did dumps. They call them dumps. Big, massive dumps. In Michigan, in Pennsylvania, and all over.”

As of this writing, YouTube has yet to reverse its decision on removing the Jan. 6 committee’s video.

(Via The New York Times)

There are many, many anxiety-inducing scenes from Breaking Bad, like all of the various run-ins with the law and that one fatal ATM incident. But according to director Rian Johnson, there is one particular shot that makes him very upset. And it’s not even in the show!

Before directing Chris Evans and Co. in Knives Out, Johnson directed three episodes of the AMC drama series from 2010-2013. Apparently, Johnson is unhappy with the way Netflix displays the series on its site. The director took to Twitter to show his dissatisfaction with a single frame that is used to promote the series.

The shot features Walter looking stressed (as always) while on the phone (the second cell phone!) with two traffic cones in the background. As it turns out, those cones were not a part of the shot and were just there to block off the set, most likely for safety from potential traffic. Johnson does not like this, and wants to make it your problem, too!

He tweeted, “This key frame always drives me nuts – those traffic cones were out of our shot, they were just there for safety. And now they’ll drive you nuts too. You’re welcome!”

He is right. After all, who moves a cone like that? Considering how often Netlfix’s switches up their thumbnails, this one will likely be returned from the rotation now that Johnson pointed it out.

Why have a picnic in the park when you can have a full-blown festival in the park? That’s exactly what Welsh DJ Jamie Jones and LA-based production company Future Primitive did when they created Paradise in the Park.

Paradise began as a summer residency at Ibiza’s legendary DC-10 in 2012 but has since turned into a globally renowned event series. Its most recent extravaganza went down last weekend (June 11) in Downtown LA’s Pershing Square. Jamie Jones, along with other renowned electronic music producers, performed alongside a backdrop of the iconic DTLA skyline. The lineup also included Dubfire b2b Art Department, Carlita, DJ Holographic, and Airrica.

If you’re in need of something to get you excited for the weekend ahead, the photos below should do the trick. Scroll through the vibrant scenes of Paradise in the Park to inspire your weekend plans.

ALSO READ:

• Let These Trippy Photos From Lightning In A Bottle Get You Hyped For Your Next Festival
• Austin Millz Shares His Festival Camping Guide — Just In Time For Lightning In A Bottle
• These Photos From BeachLife Festival Will Fuel Your California Daydreams
• Let These Photos From The Framework After Party At Coachella Inspire You For The Weekend
• Zach Hood’s Guide To Gulf Shores, Alabama — Just In Time For Hangout Music Festival

There are many traditional staples of fatherhood—love, support, protection, security, providing an example—but there is, of course, that other not-so-warm-and-fuzzy feeling that dads can provoke in their kids at any given moment … sheer, utter embarrassment.

Usually in a father’s humiliation tool belt is the infamous dad joke. These corny puns have been around since 2003, and let’s face it, they’ll never leave. Of course, no dad needs one to make your eyes roll. They can do that most of the time simply by being themselves.

For his well-known #Hashtags segment, Jimmy Fallon asked his “Tonight Show” audience to share “funny, weird, or embarrassing” stories about their dads. Fallon, a father himself, is no stranger to the cringeworthy power of a dad joke. In a 2020 interview with TODAY, Fallon admitted, “I’m starting to get the eye rolls now where Daddy’s not the funniest person in the world.”

Don’t worry Fallon! Clearly you’re not alone, because people replied with some truly hilarious comments. Dads might be silly, but we’ll gladly put up with it for the love they give us.

Enjoy 20 of the very best #DadStories:

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As usual, Fallon went first:

1.

“Instead of buying a smoker my dad just grills in the garage with the door closed.” – @jimmyfallon

2.

“At my aunt’s wedding reception, my dad ran out from the bathroom when he heard You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees play, and proceeded to do John Travolta’s routine from Saturday Night Fever.” – @MJ_Rose88

3.

“My Dad will call me sometimes when he wants me to bring him food. He refers to me as ‘GrubDash.'” – @FalPalAMF828

4.

“My dad likes to play a very morbid game called ‘guess who died’, which consists of him gossiping about someone I probably haven’t seen in 20+ years and can’t remember at all, who died recently. Bonus points for guessing the cause of death.” – @jon_jonz

5.

“My dad used to drink his morning coffee with his dentures in his hand while reading the newspaper. When we asked him why, he said his teeth also wanted to read the newspaper.” – @FallonHolic_

6.

“When my dad took my sister to her first Jr. HS dance, she asked to be dropped off a block before the school. My dad proceeded to take her all the way up to the main entrance, got out of the car and loudly announced her arrival!” – @77BroncosFan

7.

“Asked my dad if he knew who Taylor Swift was…he said, I don’t care who he is!” – @JessyKrupa

8.

“My dad whistles really loud. He sticks his head out the window and whistles back to birds. But when the lady next door heard him, she called 911. The cops told her, ‘Lady, he didn’t whistle at you. He only flirts with birds.'” – @tostianascripts

9.

“When my dad would leave a message on my answering machine, he would end the message saying, ‘This is dad signing off.'” – @RealRobFindor

10.

“We were on vacation and the gift shops selling fudge called plain fudge ‘chocolate no nuts.’ A guy walked up to my dad with some samples and offered him some saying ‘chocolate no nuts?’ And my dad said ‘what did you just call me?'” – @lauraceciliaOT

11.

“My Dad laid a new floor in my brother’s house. It was all finished so we couldn’t understand why he was taking up the boards again. Turns out he had seen a spider run underneath and was worried it would be trapped.” – @Sohnzie

12.

“Whenever my dad would try to talk us into trying something new to eat he’d state, ‘It’s so good it’ll put hair on your chest.’ He had 3 daughters.” – @Bookelew

13.

“My mom once bought a 6 ft Santa statue at a yard sale without telling dad. When he got home and parked, we heard banging, crashing and swearing. We went to look and the Santa was laying face down on the curb. Dad thought someone was trying to jump him.” – @dknessfalls

14.

“My dad couldn’t decide if he wanted to be called ‘grandpa’ or ‘papa’ so he just told all of us to call him ‘Coach.’ He’s not a coach.” – @iPopEditor

15.

“My father went to the McDonalds drive thru and asked for a whopper. When they said ‘they didn’t have whoppers’, He just drove off without placing an order.” – @Marisa_Rosie22

16.

“One day we went out to eat at Pizza Hut and sat in front of an empty table with some pizza left on it. My dad, being the penny pincher he is, grabbed some and started eating it. A few minutes later the couple comes back from the bathroom asking ‘where’s our pizza?'” – @Alex_Erickson3

17.

“My dad let a bee land on his hand and watched it closely as it stung him because he ‘wanted to see the process up close.'” – @TrippyPsycholo1

18.

“My dad once tried to tell a lady she had a Big Bug on her, but accidentally told her she had a Really Big Butt. She was not amused.” – @Sallyjo25

19.

“My dad thinks it’s funny to introduce my mom as his ‘first wife’….my parents have been married for 58 years and are in their late 80’s.” – @annMcD87

20.

“My dad entered Canada by swimming across the Niagara from the US under the cover of night.” – @albertduic

Maile Trist adopted a dog named Jazzy four years ago in San Diego, California. When they first met at the shelter, Trist couldn’t resist petting her even though it violated the shelter’s “no touching” rule.

“I came across my gorgeous girl, I stuck my hand in the cage, and she automatically walked right up to me, tail wagging, and put her head in my hand,” said Trist to The Dodo. “I started crying because I had found my dog!”

After two years, Trist got a new full-time job 1,400 miles away in Salina, Kansas. Fearing that the move and new job would leave her no time for Jazzy, she left her to stay with friends until she got her bearings.

But when she reached out to her friends to get her dog back, they didn’t respond to her calls and shut down their social media profiles. Six months later, Trist’s fiance got in touch with them and they told him the dog had died. Trist was devastated and feared that leaving Jazzy with her so-called friends led to her death.

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Imagine her surprise when Trist recently received an email from the Cowley County Humane Society in Kansas, about three hours away from her home, saying her dog had been dropped off at the shelter after being found at a rock quarry.

“We scanned and found a chip but the chip was registered in California,” the shelter wrote on its Facebook page. “We were doubtful we could find the owner. We still attempted contact to find out the owner had moved to Salina two years ago.”

Trist took a chance and drove to the shelter. When she arrived, her dreams came true. Jazzy came running out and the two were reunited.

“I was crying and I was shaking because I was just so overjoyed that for one, she was still alive and for two, I could bring her finally home,” Trist told Local 12 Cincinnati. Since the two have been reunited, Jazzy has been nothing but tail wags and kisses. “She’s been so, so happy ever since and she will not leave my side or let me go anywhere without her,” Trist told The Dodo. “And I feel the same way!”

Jazzy is 11 years old and the two hope to spend the rest of her time together. “She’s still the same old lady she was before, and I’m so glad she stayed loving through these last two years,” she told The Dodo. “She will live out the rest of her years very spoiled and in her right-full home with me!” she wrote on Facebook.

Unfortunately, nobody knows why Trist’s friends ghosted her and then said that the dog had died, or how the dog got lost and wound up in a rock quarry. The good news is that everyone is back together and Jazzy is happy and healthy.

The Cowley County Humane Society used the heartwarming story as a reminder for people to microchip their dogs. “Microchips work to get your babies back home! Sometimes even years later!” the shelter posted on Facebook.

Trist agrees.

“Microchipping is worth every penny!” she responded to the post.

Sbtrkt has been one of the most influential producers of the past decade. What the project, helmed by Aaron Jerome, started with his 2011 debut laid the groundwork for modern day vocal collaborations between eclectic singers and MC’s, with electronically-minded beat-makers. The Little Dragon-featured “Wildfire” might just be the most significant dubstep-inflected collaboration of all time, and the now illustrious career of Sampha, began as the primary singer on both the debut and on 2014’s stellar follow-up, Wonder Where We Land.

But if there’s one thing Sbtrkt has also always been marked by, it’s in building mystique. Both Jerome and Sampha wore masks the entire time when they performed on stage, and to this day, Jerome has still not show his face in public. The mask motif and then the polymorphous cat from Wonder Where We Land (which was recorded on a sparsely accessible island)... are part of the signature Sbtrkt aesthetic. Jerome himself is highly elusive, and we’ve gotten no new music from the project since a Chance The Rapper remix four years ago. But now, a new chapter is building.

“Bodmin Moor” is the latest cut from Sbtrkt and it feels destined to be a part of a greater new universe. The song has two movements as it shifts from tension-building drums to a cymbal-heavy downtempo jazz break. The accompanying music video (directed by The Rest) hints at a multi-part story. Two hired hands search for a missing painting of a mythical panther (a visual theme for the next album, perhaps?) only to uncover that a secret society might be behind its theft. It ends with an ominous cliffhanger and the music soundtracks the mood masterfully. More is surely on the way…

Watch the video for “Bodmin Moor” above.

Drake is a master of throwing curveballs. The now-35-year-old rapper has been juking fans’ expectations since he arrived on the scene as an aspiring artist back when he was still just a cast member on a cable teen soap opera. Heck, his very existence as THEE superstar rapper of the past decade defiantly flouts rap conventions. You probably already know the spiel at this point and have probably long since chosen your position on whether this is a boon or blasphemy.

With his new surprise album Honestly, Nevermind, Drake may have thrown the biggest curve of his career yet. Fans have never expected hardbody rhymes from The Boy, but they could at least rely on receiving a collection of sad boy anthems and passive-aggressive caption raps with each new Drake project. Instead, many were utterly flabbergasted to press play on a compilation of dance tracks inspired by late fashion designer and DJ, Virgil Abloh, showcasing a global palette of mainly South African-originated house styles like gqom (the “gq” is pronounced as a click in isiZulu, one of the nation’s 14 official languages) and amapiano.

As for me, I was delighted. For the past three years, I have been predicting a wave of Black artists making a pilgrimage to dance music, including such pioneers as Channel Tres, Duckwrth, and even Vince Staples (Big Fish Theory was right there). That Drake – who has always cottoned on to international subcultures as both an extension of his eclectic tastes and savvy stylistic evolution – is the one to lead the charge is deliciously fitting. Just look at the mainstream relevance of UK drill music and its New York-based offshoots in the wake of Drake’s 2019 collaboration with Headie One. Before that, it was Nigerian Afropop, UK grime, and way, way back, you may recall, the house-inflected title track from his sophomore album, Take Care.

Not only does Drake’s embrace of house music on his latest represent a full-circle moment for him but it is also one for the genre itself. Over the course of the last several years, there has been a cornucopia of articles on the internet recounting the origins of house and techno music in Black subcultures in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York in the 1970s and ‘80s. They’ve highlighted how Black artists and DJs were pushed out of the genres that they created, supplanted with watered-down, whitewashed imitations thanks to an influx of international interest – particularly from Europe, where dance music continues to flourish in a mainstream context compared to the US where it’s still considered niche or passé (classifications of Honestly, Nevermind as mall music abound on Twitter as I write this).

But also over the past few years, due partially to the keen interest in reclaiming Black American history that spawned from the uprisings of the past decade, Black artists have shown a greater inclination to break out of the limiting categorizations of so-called “urban” genres. Even more than that, Black artists have taken aim at reclaiming OUR genres – country, rock, pop, punk – and declaring that we do, in fact, belong in the spaces that we had hands – in some cases, the greatest hands – in creating. As Channel Tres told me back in 2019:

“I think a lot of people right now are artists that fit into a category of what you think how they should be. But if you push the conventions, it frees up other kids that are coming after us seeing certain images. It’s hard a lot of times for Black kids to find an image, because we get told what we should be. I just know if I let somebody put me in a box, someone else might not get the freedom to be who they’re supposed to be.”

Likewise, Duckwrth echoed the sentiment of Black belonging in the dance subculture just a year later:

“I think that the reason why house is so big in the white demographic is because it’s very much straightforward. It’s two, three, four, one, two, three, four, and with Black folks, put a little swing in that thing. I feel the original creators of it like Mr. Fingers had a bit more of a soulful flair to it, and then as time went on different people started grabbing it, and then it may have become more simple… I think you can hear the Blackness in the original house.”

This is why Virgil Abloh was so important to the movement to bring the culture and the genre back to their respective centers. He’d DJ at festivals and play house music by Black artists such as Black Coffee, who executive-produced Honestly, Nevermind, opening the door for modern audiences to see and understand our role within the dance genre. And this is why it is so important that it’s Drake, the biggest artist within the one Black genre that has successfully defended itself from a complete takeover of cultural appropriation, who is taking this stride back into the space that Black artists created and were forced to vacate. He’s taking a screwdriver to the door’s hinges, and removing it entirely, ensuring unfettered access to our history.

It’s freeing. It’s giving Black people permission again to take up space – both culturally and literally. It’s telling people to move their bodies. For decades after hip-hop’s creation, movement itself was stifled – especially for men. Just look at Terror Squad’s “Lean Back”; we were all so pre-occupied with being “hard,” with being “gangsta,” we couldn’t move our bodies – the most natural response to music in the world – because we were afraid to look “soft” to be vulnerable, to be corny, to be square. Drake has already absorbed all the disapproval connected to those labels for his entire career. He has already been the butt of the joke. He has nothing left to lose. And because of that, he can be the example that shows that it’s okay not to settle for the small, stifled caricature society has assigned to us as Black men. We can be more.

The best part is, he’ll be far from the only one this summer. Because he’s Drake, the trendsetter, the movement starter, there will be others. And if no one else is willing to take up the cause, Beyonce has already hinted that her upcoming album, Renaissance, will also be heavy on dance and country, another style that Black folks helped to originate before being given the boot. She’s reclaiming that, too, in her own way. Black art won’t be reduced to just one of two musical styles it’s “okay” for us to like. And at first, that may confuse some in the audience, those who have learned to accept society’s limitations and expectations. That’s okay. They have “Jimmy Cooks,” the most traditional rap song on Honestly, Nevermind. Until they’re ready. Until they too, free themselves, loosen up, and learn to reclaim what was always theirs from the start.

Watching a Pillow Baron’s empire crumble is quite a thing.

MyPillow guy Mike Lindell is still ranting and raving, and he’s so incredibly angry that Walmart will no longer sell his products. That’s gotta be a massive blow when the raving conspiracy theorist already dumped at least $30 million of that pillow money into false claims of voter fraud, all in a misguided attempt to put Trump back in the White House. Already, Lindell complained that Walmart executives are ignoring his calls (can you blame them? yikes), and now, he’s taken to Right Side Broadcasting Network because they’ll still listen to him.

They’ll even put him “on the air,” so to speak. And in that spirit, Lindell is circling the drain with a brand new set of concocted (read: false) claims. According to Lindell, Walmart can’t quit MyPillow that easily, so they’re still selling fake MyPillow products, and this is all happening with the help of China, and it’s apparently all to bring a man down and kill freedom. Yes, this makes no sense, but it’s worth beholding:

“Walmart is still selling MyPillow, even though it’s not me. And they’re trying to disguise it, so the public doesn’t go crazy on Walmart, but you know, they’re lying, everybody! Walmart is lying to you and to everybody else. And the Wall Street Journal called me about an hour ago. He asked me two things. He says, ‘Do you think this is because you’ve been fighting, all the things you’ve been’ — I’m sure he’ll say ‘conspiracy,’ right? — ‘for getting rid of the voting machines and everything?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And they have huge ties to China. Walmart has 10,000 vendors right out of China. They don’t want American-made stuff on their shelf. They want China!”

Here’s a video clip, courtesy of federal lawyer Ron Filipkowski on Twitter:

Just a few more things: (1) You can’t take the “conspiracy” out of a conspiracy theory by making fun of the word “conspiracy”; (2) Mike Lindell’s energy is unparalleled. He must get one hell of a recharge from his fancy pillows at night.

For the fourth time in the last eight seasons, Draymond Green is an NBA champion. Green and the Golden State Warriors picked up a 103-90 win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, giving them a 4-2 series victory in the NBA Finals and their first ring since beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.

One question that popped up early on in the Finals was the role Green’s podcast was playing in the entire thing. Whether viewed as a reason for his struggles early on or a way for the Celtics to gain insight into what Golden State was doing, a whole lot of attention was paid to a podcast.

Well, Green podcasted after the game, and as was oftentimes the case, he spent a whole lot of time talking about one of his favorite subjects: the “New Media.” This included praise for guys like JJ Redick and CJ McCollum who use their platforms to inform folks about the game.

And then, Green turned his attention to ESPN personality and former Celtic Kendrick Perkins, with whom he’s been going back-and-forth for a few months.

“You got fools like Kendrick Perkins, dressing like a clown, come up here in a jail suit,” Green said. “And then you leave the game early tonight. Stand on your word, brother. You gotta stand on that, ‘cause one thing’s for certain: I’mma stand on mine. Four-time champ, I’m out.”