Month: October 2022

Nick Cave shared a new video of a recorded performance featuring his song “Earthlings.” The live version served as both part of Cave’s Ghosteen album sessions from 2018, along with being filmed (and directed) by Blonde‘s Andrew Dominik for Cave’s film with Warren Ellis — This Much I Know To Be True. Despite this, the “Earthlings” live performance wasn’t included in the final take and remained in the archives (until today).

“‘Earthlings’ is the missing link that binds ‘Ghosteen’ together,” Cave told NME. “A lovely song that just got away. Yet another entry into the mighty and mysterious work ‘The Secret Life Of Children’.”

Cave and Ellis first wrote the song together during the Ghosteen album sessions. According to Louder Sound, “Earthlings” was originally called “Krishna” — before it appeared and was changed for 2021’s B-Sides & Rarities Part II.

In addition to the new video, Cave also listed a picture disc vinyl of “Earthlings” on his store. “The Earthlings picture disc is a collectors’ piece capturing the ghostly little song that never quite made it,” the website reads. It features a found photo as the vinyl disc art, referencing Cave’s secretive “The Secret Life Of Children” project.

Watch Cave perform “Earthlings” above.

Hip-hop history is full of storied record labels that contributed to the wide and varied tapestry of the art form. And while most fans can easily call to mind names like Bad Boy, Def Jam, Murder Inc., Roc-A-Fella, and Ruff Ryders, a name that often gets overlooked in the discussion of the most impactful labels in hip-hop is Steve Rifkind and Rich Isaacson’s Loud Records, the recording home of groundbreaking acts like Big Pun, Dead Prez, Mobb Deep, Three 6 Mafia, Twista, Wu-Tang Clan, Xzibit, and more.

The label got its due last night at the 2022 BET Hip-Hop Awards though. Many of the acts listed above represented as the show paid tribute to Loud’s impressive legacy. Dead Prez kicked things off with a performance of their signature 2000 hit “Hip Hop,” then Havoc came out to perform Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm” joined by Joey Badass and Lil Kim. M.O.P. performed “Ante Up” with Remy Ma, who appears on the song’s remix, then Remy stuck around with fellow Terror Squadder Fat Joe for a rendition of Big Pun’s “Not A Player” and the thunderous “Lean Back.” David Banner showed up “Like A Pimp,” Project Pat put on for the “Chickenhead,” and Three 6 Mafia played “Stay Fly.” Then RZA, Raekwon, Method Man, and Inspectah Deck popped out for a medley of Wu-Tang hits including “Method Man” and “C.R.E.A.M.”

In addition to the Loud tribute, the 2022 BET Hip-Hop Awards also saw Clipse reunite to perform “Grindin’” and the debut television performance of GloRilla, who is having one hell of a year.

You can watch the full performance above.

Last night (October 4) at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, Memphis rapper GloRilla won the award for Best Breakthrough Artist. This year, Glo had a string of hits, including the female-empowering “FNF (Let’s Go)” and the Cardi B-assisted “Tomorrow 2.” She performed both of those songs last night at the awards show.

She was presented the coveted honor by Tyrese and was joined by her Collective Music Group labelhead Yo Gotti as she accepted her award.

“I don’t want to cry my makeup off,” GloRilla said during her acceptance speech. “Yall, I’m crying. I want to thank God. I want to thank my team, my mama, Yo Gotti, the biggest CEO. Y’all I don’t know what to say! Let’s go!”

“FNF (Let’s Go)” became a viral hit this past summer, and while Glo has been working on breaking through in the realm of rap, she didn’t anticipate becoming a superstar so quickly.

“I ain’t envision it happening this fast,” she said in a recent interview with BET, “but every year since I started rapping, I would say, ‘Aight, this is the year it’s gone pop off.’ When I be on Facebook and I see all my old posts, I’m always saying something, like, to that effect. I knew it would happen; I just didn’t know when.”

To end a big year, GloRilla will drop her hotly-anticipated major-label debut album, Anyways, Life’s Great… next month.

Anyways, Life’s Great… is out 11/11 via Interscope and CMG. Pre-save it here.

The eyes of the basketball watching world were on Las Vegas on Tuesday night for the first of two games between the G League Ignite team and French squad Metropolitans 92. More specifically, the game pit the presumed top-2 picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, American guard Scoot Henderson and French big man Victor Wembanyama, against one another.

The Ignite won the game, 122-115, with both youngsters putting on shows. Henderson did his best work in the first half en route to 28 points on 11-for-21 shooting with nine assists, five rebounds, two steals, and only two turnovers. Wembanyama, meanwhile imposed himself on the game in the second half, as he had 37 points on 11-for-20 shooting while connecting on seven of his 11 attempts from three, with five blocks and four rebounds pitched in.

After the game, Wembanyama made it a point to praise Henderson after the first of two games they’ll play against one another.

“He’s tough to guard, just what I expected,” Wembanyama said. “I think the biggest part of his game is his aggressiveness — every time the ball is in his hands, it’s even something you feel on the court, he’s so dangerous. He can slash, he can shoot the ball. It was a surprise in a good way. He’s a great player.”

This is not the last time the two will play, as Metropolitans 92 and the Ignite are scheduled to take the floor again on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.

On his latest album, All 4 Nothing, Lauv taps into the sounds he grew up with in Philadelphia. Having been in the music game since he was 14, he has seen the musical landscape through many changes — from MySpace sharing to Spotify playlisting. As he’s grown as both an artist in his own right, as well as a producer and songwriter behind the scenes, Lauv, 28, says therapy has been a driving force in his creative process. Through therapy, he was able to reach his inner child, and recall the days of MySpace-era pop-punk for All 4 Nothing, which dropped this past August.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Lauv would share music on MySpace under the name Somersault Sunday. He would perform shows in his friend’s basement and throw EP release parties, and as he began to gain a following online, he would open for other indie pop-punk artists when they’d come to Philly to perform.

We catch up with Lauv on an August morning, the day before he is set to kick off his All 4 Nothing tour. His calming aura radiates across the computer screen, as he seems to be in a good headspace. He has a therapy session after our interview, for which he is an outspoken advocate.

”I feel like therapy has just helped me keep tabs of my progress as a person,” Lauv says, “like, what I’m working on, how I can deal with my OCD and anxiety, and how I can deal with depressive periods when I go through those. It also keeps me accountable, which is nice.”

Though Lauv lives in LA now, Philly will always be home to him. During his All 4 Nothing tour, he played The Met during the Philadelphia stop of his tour, which holds 3,500, more than 15 times the amount of people at The Barbary, where he played some his earliest shows.

In the early 2010s, Lauv would perform at The Barbary, hailed as the place to dance in Philly’s Fishtown district, alongside other big MySpace pop-punk acts, including Sparks The Rescue and The Morning Of. The Barbary, which is currently closed for improvements according to a post on their Instagram page, served as a venue for live bands, but also a nightclub for DJs to spin and ravers to dance. Lauv and his friends often volunteered to sell tickets for the shows, which would lead them to ask to open for touring acts when they’d perform in Philly.

Another important venue for Lauv was the rustic Trocadero Theatre, where he performed among the likes of indie-pop and rock groups I Call Fives and New County. The Theatre closed in 2019 after 100 years of operation, but venues like these small ones helped him figure out the kind of artist he wanted to be.

“Those pop-punk shows taught me the type of energy I love,” Lauv recalls. “It was through looking up to a lot of those bands, and a lot of those MySpace artists, that I cut my teeth to write songs that were in those vibes.”

Having put out music since he was a teenager, Lauv admits he faced a lot of rejection in his early days as an independent artist. Though he would continue to put out music, he took a step back and shifted his focus to writing, producing, and engineering. But he couldn’t fight the urge to get in front of a microphone and tap into feelings he had pushed back.

He began releasing music as Lauv in 2015, shifting from a pop-punk sound to one more inspired by bedroom pop and R&B.

“When Lauv naturally started happening, I think the biggest struggles for me were not overthinking and not worrying about what everyone thinks about me,” he says, “because I definitely think I’ve worried a lot about that.”

In the five years since the release of his sweet, puppy-love anthem “I Like Me Better,” Lauv’s music has become a little less poppy, and now recalls the days of rock-infused electronic sounds, popularized in the mid-to-late aughts. Though many of us may cringe looking back into our old iPods, Lauv manages to recreate the sounds of this era without making them sound dated.

For All 4 Nothing, he learned to write songs in a more immediate manner.

“It kind of started as a joke,” he says. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna learn how to freestyle rap.’ And I’m not good at that. I learned to write songs that were just very off the cuff, and that really helped me kind of find like topics and also just parts of myself that I hadn’t really tapped into before.”

As he is beginning tour, Lauv says the creation of this album has helped him get into a better headspace. He feels that now, he can fully experience the cities he’s in.

Though many of the places he used to play in are no longer in operation, Lauv always looks forward to reconnecting with old friends when he goes to Philly.

“All the spots I would go to as a kid, I feel like I don’t even know of anymore,” Lauv says. “I feel like every time I go, my friend takes me to his favorite spots. And I forget the names of a lot of them.”

One of the spots he’s visited in recent times includes Middle Child, a traditional deli in Fishtown, serving a variety of bagels, sandwiches, and biscuits. But of course, any time he’s in town, Lauv will always make time to eat at Wawa, a convenience store he describes as “7-Eleven on steroids.”

“They have a touchscreen deli,” Lauv says, “And I always order a chicken parm sandwich.”

To date, Lauv has received platinum certifications for his breakthrough single “I Like Me Better,” as well as his Troye Sivan-assisted “I’m So Tired.” He has also pulled in 4.35 million subscribers on YouTube, a nearly exponential amount compared to the 33,000 followers on his old MySpace page.

Having a team by his side definitely makes things easier for Lauv. Though he looks forward to playing for larger crowds these days, he admits he sometimes misses coming up as an artist in Philly, and the “DIY-ness of it all.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing at all,” Lauv says. “I look back and I kind of laugh. I’m like, ‘Damn, that was so uncomfortable.’ But I think the cute parts were getting kids from school to come see a show, or hosting our own release shows, or programming our own lights. My sister driving us on tour, that was also pretty cool. It was very DIY.”

Lauv has come a long way since his homegrown days. Today, he is more centered, more self-aware, and more in touch with his emotions. While his sound, aesthetic, and even his stage name have changed since Lauv began putting out music, he still feels proud to be from Philly — a city that has evolved in real-time with him.

“It’s obviously a historical city, but it’s also very much on the come-up,” he says. “It’s one of those cities that when I go back to, I feel it has a little bit of New York vibes, but like, is definitely way chiller. By far.”

Brendan Gleeson is a distinguished actor best known for In Bruges, The Guard, and Braveheart, as well as the Harry Potter films and Paddington 2, the greatest movie of all-time. But maybe he should be known for his sick skateboard moves.

Gleeson is hosting SNL this weekend (with musical guest Willow), which is an inspired choice for the sketch show. And an unlikely one. The 67-year-old isn’t as flashy as Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller, who hosted the season premiere, or next week’s host, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, but do they know how skateboard? I mean, maybe, but not with as much as gusto as “Mad-Eye” Moody, who slaps the cue cards out of stage hands and says “up yours, copper” to a security officer. All SNL promos should be this good.

The great Demi Adejuyigbe put it best:

Gleeson is there to promote The Banshees of Inisherin, the new film from director Martin McDonagh that also stars Colin Farrell. “Like In Bruges, The Banshees of Inisherin is a dark movie that is often downright hilarious. And The Banshees of Inisherin somehow manages to be darker than In Bruges,” Mike Ryan wrote in his glowing review. It opens on October 21. Bring your skateboard on opening night.

With a decade separating him from his final performance as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, Christian Bale surprised both Marvel and DC Comics fans by jumping back into the superhero world with Thor: Love and Thunder. Unlike his more serious approach to the Dark Knight, Love and Thunder was a notably different type of production for Bale, and it was definitely not the place for him to do the deep character transformations that he’s been known for throughout his career.

In a new cover interview for GQ, Bale opened up about his Marvel experience, and he made it clear that unlike Jared Leto in Morbius, it would’ve been ridiculous to bust out the method acting for his Gorr the God Butcher performance.

“That would’ve been a pitiful attempt to do that,” Bale said. “As I’m trying to get help getting the fangs in and out and explaining I’ve broken a nail, or I’m tripping over the tunic.”

Bale also opened up about working in front of green screens for the MCU production, and it doesn’t sound like it was his cup of tea:

That’s the first time I’ve done that. I mean, the definition of it is monotony. You’ve got good people. You’ve got other actors who are far more experienced at it than me. Can you differentiate one day from the next? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do. I couldn’t even differentiate one stage from the next. They kept saying, “You’re on Stage Three.” Well, it’s like, “Which one is that?” “The blue one.” They’re like, “Yeah. But you’re on Stage Seven.” “Which one is that?” “The blue one.” I was like, “Uh, where?”

Despite the “monotony” of his Marvel experience, Bale has signaled that he’s willing to jump into another visual effects heavy production. He recently told The Hollywood Reporter that it’d be a “delight” to be in a Star Wars movie, and he’s ready if his old friend Kathleen Kennedy ever calls him up. “I’ve still got the figures from when I was little.”

(Via GQ)

Kanye West is making some serious headlines following his recent Yeezy show at Paris Fashion Week. Both the models and West himself posed in shirts bearing the slogan “white lives matter” — which has drawn criticism from both celebrities and those in the fashion industry who attended.

Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson was one. She attended (and eventually, walked out of) West’s Yeezy show and expressed her thoughts on his usage of the phrase. “It didn’t land and it was deeply offensive, violent, and dangerous,” she posted. West noticed and pushed back with a number of posts targeting her on social media, including critiquing her personal fashion choices.

In a now-deleted comment on West’s post, model Gigi Hadid stood by Karefa-Johnson. “You wish u had a percentage of her intellect,” she said. “You have no idea haha…. If there’s actually a point to any of your sh*t. She might be the only person that could save u. As if the ‘honor’ of being invited to your show should keep someone from giving their opinion? Lol. You’re a bully and a joke.” Vogue Magazine also posted a statement defending Karefa-Johnson against West’s actions.

West has since fired back at Hadid about her comments on Instagram. “I wonder what Gigi and Venus’s perspectives were when I didn’t know where my child was on her birthday,” he wrote.

Other celebrities, including Jaden Smith, Vogue’s Edward Enninful, and even Kendall Jenner have denounced West’s decision — whether through explicit statements or subtle social media likes. A complete list is available here.

On the heels of her sophomore album, Age/Sex/Location, Ari Lennox has dropped to video for the instant fan-favorite track, “POF.”

The song’s title refers to the age-old adage, “there’s plenty of fish in the sea,” as well as the dating service Plenty Of Fish. In the video, Lennox is seen laying in bed, reading and responding to messages from men with whom she matches on an app. She decides to give some of these men a chance, however, she quickly realizes she should’ve stayed home.

On one of her dates, she joins a man at a luxury restaurant. Said man later takes food from Lennox’s plate. On another date, she goes mini-golfing with a man (played by Smino!) who takes the game a bit too seriously. On a third date, she goes to Netflix and chill at a man’s place, only for his mom to interrupt them, offering cookies.

“What’s that they say, back in the day? / It’s plenty of fish in the sea / Will somebody explain / what’s with these lame fish that be swimming to me?” Lennox sings on the song’s chorus.

Toward the end of the video, fans will notice an easter egg referring to another one of Lennox’s videos.

Check out the video for “POF” above.

Kanye West has responded to being called a bully by Gigi Hadid on Instagram, explaining why he invited Candace Owens to his YZY show in Paris, but skirting the criticism of both his behavior and the controversial “White Lives Matter” shirts centered in the show. Hadid called out the mercurial musician after he put up several posts on Instagram making fun of Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson for criticizing the shirts, calling him “a bully and a joke,” and prompting him to share a new post (after deleting the previous ones) insisting that “GAB IS MY SISTER.”

Later, Kanye took a different tack, posting an all-caps text statement in which he made a sympathy play while simultaneously deflecting accountability for his own behavior. “I wonder what Gigi and Venus’s perspectives were when I didn’t know where my child was on her birthday,” he wrote. “So why did everyone feel so free to attack me about my t-shirt but Candace Owens was the only public figure to say that it was wrong for the Kardashians to keep me from seeing my daughter?” He also accused his critics of “tearing a Black man down for actually having a different political opinion.”

There’s really nothing new to take away from this. We already addressed the pointless provocation of the shirts and how easily his attention-seeking behavior can be co-opted by reactionary movements to spread vile, hateful ideologies behind the mask of validity he gives them, intentionally or not. It’s barely worth pointing out that you can’t sell the whole “proud Black man” thing at the same time as a “White Lives Matter” shirt, knowing that the slogan was intentionally created to undermine and deride another that was created in defense of a people who are told time and time again that they don’t. And believe me, he knows it.

It’d be cool if something someone says could get through to him but as long as all it takes is “dinner at Ferdie” to get him off the hook, he’ll keep doing this stuff — which is a damn shame.