Year: 2022

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 — The pizza discourse is raging

My general position on food is that you should eat things you like to eat, within reason. I do not think you should eat, like, poison, or another human being, but as long as you are not actively harming yourself or others, God bless.

I felt this way a few years ago when there was a discourse raging about whether you should put ketchup on a hot dog (it’s your hot dog, do what you want, more spicy mustard for me, etc.), and I feel this way now on the subject of pineapple as a pizza topping. Is it my favorite thing in the world? Hmm. No. I’m good with a plain cheese slice, or maybe some sausage and green peppers if I’m feeling fancy. A barbecue chicken pizza is about as far as I’ll take it. But again, as long as you’re not showing up at my house for dinner with a single pineapple-covered pizza you expect us to share… I don’t know. Enjoy, buddy. Don’t let me rain on your pizza parade.

You know who does not share my “live and let live” policy when it comes to pineapple on pizza, though? All of television this week. Or at least two parts of television. Which is, I suppose, substantially less than “all” but still higher than zero, which is much closer to the average, I assume.

The first example happened on The Walking Dead. Context will help but is not entirely necessary, so we can hit some bullet points quick:

• Ezekiel was going in for surgery and about to slip under the anesthesia
• Carol said they could have any food he wanted when he came out
• She listed options like pizza and ice cream

Ezekiel said… this.

Which seems like a pretty passionate food take for a person who is about to have surgery in a world populated by murderous zombies, but hey, who am I to judge? I once woke up from surgery and — still deeply woozy from the sleepy drugs — told my father that I wanted him to murder one of the nurses. It’s fine. I’m fine now. He didn’t do it. I just mention this to point out that things can get weird when you have a lot of strange chemicals bouncing around your bloodstream. Ezekiel might even like pineapple on pizza. The show should update us on this at some point. It’s only fair.

But this brings us to the second example, which is devoid of any medication-related ambiguity. Denzel Washington swung by Desus & Mero for their season premiere. They had a terrific little chat, one that opened with about four solid minutes on public transportation in New York City. If you haven’t already, please take half an hour at some point this week and watch the extended version. It’s a really good time.

And, when you do watch it, when you start approaching the five-minute mark, you will see the discussion move toward pizza, and cost of various slices through time, and then you will see Denzel Washington — Hollywood legend and very intense dude — say “pineapple on pizza” two times in a row with enough disdain in his voice and on his face to blow the top off of a mountain.

A visual will help. This is the face Denzel makes the second time he says the phrase “pineapple on pizza.”

Two things are true here. The first is that if Denzel Washington ever made this face while discussing something I loved, I would probably dissolve on the spot and blow off into the breeze. The second is that I saved this image on my computer as “denzel pineapple,” which is maybe the greatest fake name I’ve ever encountered. I consider these things to be equally important. Denzel Pineapple. Let’s all file this one away for the next time we need to make a dinner reservation or start a new life on a tropical island to escape a sticky situation on the mainland. I mean, dibs, obviously, but you can use it too as long as you don’t abuse it.

Anyway, here’s why I bring all of this up. If any of you have a friend whose three favorite things in the entire world are The Walking Dead, Denzel Washington, and pizza with pineapple on it, and you’ve noticed they’ve been kind of in the dumps this week… well, here’s your answer. Maybe give them a call at some point. They’re going through a lot.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — Holey Moley is America’s finest television program

The fact of the matter is that Holey Moley is America’s finest television program. I say this a lot. People think I’m joking. I must once again stress that I am not. It is a perfect little summer series, just one solid hour every week of well-meaning bozos getting clobbered by impossible obstacles under the guise of a miniature golf competition. I love it very much. We should put episodes of it into a capsule and shoot the capsule into the cosmos on the off chance that an alien civilization will discover it. It will tell them more about the human race than an entire set of leather-bound encyclopedias.

But I digress. I mention this all now because Holey Moley is preparing to return in May for a fourth season. And when it does return in May for that fourth season, something incredible is going to happen.

THE MUPPETS

ON HOLEY MOLEY

I MUST KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS AT ONCE

Season 4 of “Holey Moley,” the mini-golf competition show executive produced by Steph Curry, will air at 8 p.m. ET. The series, which is produced by Unanimous Media and Eureka Productions, will feature characters from “The Muppets” as guest commentators this season, alongside established commentator duo Rob Riggle and Joe Tessitore.

I… I do not think you understand how exciting this is for me. Like, take how exciting you think it is for me, then triple that. I love the damn Muppets. I once wrote over 2000 words about The Great Muppet Caper over 30 years after its release. This is… perfect. It’s perfect. It’s two puzzle pieces clicking together. The sensibilities are almost exactly the same. They’re both charming, they both embrace chaos, and they both bring me more than a reasonable amount of joy. It’s good. That’s my point.

As far as what I’d like to see here, well, let’s hit the bullet points again:

• Statler and Waldorf up in a balcony mocking contestants as they flail through the air
• Miss Piggy flirting with Joe Tessitore in an attempt to make Rob Riggle jealous
• An entire episode hosted by Gonzo and Rizzo

I am serious about all of these but especially the last one. Picture Gonzo and Rizzo doing this.

I’m so happy I could cry. It’s always nice when television networks make programming decisions based on my own very specific and deranged set of interests. I hope they give the Wu-Tang Clan microphones next season.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — My shows… my beautiful shows

It brings me great pleasure to report that The Flight Attendant is returning for a second season. The Flight Attendant was so good in its first go-round. It had everything you could possibly want: Kaley Cuoco as a boozy stewardess who finds herself wrapped up in international intrigue, someone kicking a shoe at someone, Rosie Perez sometimes, etc. A winning formula. That’s the teaser for the new season up there. We are pretty excited about it, both because it’s nice when good shows come back and because, I mean, look at the description of the new season.

Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) is living her best sober life in Los Angeles while moonlighting as a CIA asset in her spare time. But when an overseas assignment leads her to inadvertently witness a murder, she becomes entangled in another international intrigue.

More descriptions of more shows should feature sentences like “she becomes entangled in another international intrigue.” All shows, really, now that I think about it. Cobra Kai could use a little spicing up.

Hey, speaking of good shows that are coming back soon…

Barry! Barry is coming back soon!

This is great news. Barry is such a good show. You probably have time to get a rewatch in before this starts, too, which is good, because you should take every chance you can get to appreciate NoHo Hank, easily a top ten character on television for me. I’ve missed him so much. I kind of cheered a little, out loud, when he showed up in this teaser. Look at my king thriving.

The good shows are coming back. So many of them. We’re going to need a spreadsheet or something to keep track of them. One of you is going to have to do it, though. I am not a nerd.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — Why would anyone want to go to space?

You’ve seen this, I’m sure, but I’m going to go ahead and blockquote it anyway just to give myself a place to launch from.

Pete Davidson, the ”Saturday Night Live” comedian, is joining the crew of Jeff Bezos’ next Blue Origin flight, set for March 23. This marks the fourth human flight launched by the private spaceflight company and its 20th overall.

Announced on Monday, Davidson’s fellow crew members will be Party America CEO Marty Allen; philanthropist and real estate mogul Marc Hagle and his wife, Sharon Hagle; University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen; and Dr. George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies.

Here’s what I want to know: Why? Why does anyone want to go to space? Astronauts, I get, kind of, for the exploration and science of it all. I can wrap my head around that. But why are these regular goofs going to space? It seems weird and bad to me. But maybe I’ve seen too many movies and shows where things go screwy in space. I suppose that’s a possibility. But still.

It’s kind of like my stance on cruises. I cannot understand why anyone would ever want to go on a cruise. I’ve made this point a million times but I’ll keep making it until people listen: A beachfront all-inclusive resort has everything a cruise has and has something approaching a zero percent chance of sinking. And you can drive away from it if you don’t like it. If you are on a boat, man, you are extremely on that boat, you know?

Going to space is even worse. It’s like a cruise where everything is cramped and there are no umbrella drinks. I don’t get it. I’ll never get it. I’ll just stay here on dry land. But good for them, I guess.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Kenan is so good at this

If you are reading this, there’s a pretty good chance Kenan Thompson has been a funny person on television for all or most of your life. That’s nuts to think about. The guy rolled from Nickelodeon straight into SNL and has been killing it the whole time. Look at him in this sketch. It would be a solid sketch without him, just based on the premise. But watch Kenan. Watch the faces he makes. Watch him sell the premise completely with one side-eye or smirk. He’s basically a genius at sketch comedy. He has all the moves. It’s wild to just watch him be this good at something so casually.

It sent me down a little rabbit hole earlier this week, one that resulted in me stumbling into this Vanity Fair appreciation from a few years ago. I really like this paragraph.

Even Thompson’s impressions tend more toward goofy homage than precise mimicry. From Al Sharpton to Steve Harvey to Jimmy McMillan—a.k.a. the “rent is too damn high!” guy—Thompson has proven himself able to pinpoint the wacky sensibility inside just about anyone. Or to invent that sensibility wholesale, if it’s not inherently there. As Thompson points out, “David Ortiz doesn’t necessarily talk about food like that all the time; it’s just a fun thing for that character to do, as opposed to always talking about baseball.” Thanks to him, though, it’s become difficult to think of “Big Papi” without immediately picturing Thompson’s glimmering smile as he rhapsodizes about “mofongo” or having a “biiiiig lunch.” Ortiz seems to get a kick out of the impression as well; how could he not?

I do not think we appreciate Kenan Thompson enough. Like, as a society. This is me attempting to remedy that. Kenan is the greatest.

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 Chad:

The Roys vs. The Gemstones.

These two uber rich families are so similar it’s uncanny; the rich patriarch father who built the empire, gave birth two two shitty sons and a shitty daughter so completely spoiled and completely oblivious to normal life. All the children vying for the dad’s empire by virtue of birthright. The oldest son has kids that he’s bad at raising.

I want a crossover where these two families get into some kind of blood feud. It would be perfect because they both operate in that same evangelical sphere of influence, so the media narrative would be epic. The X-factor is Connor Roy – he would switch sides and betray the Roy family, because the Gemstones are a church and are tax-exempt which would satisfy all of Connor’s political motives. They all exist in the same HBO metaverse so this is definitely a possibility.

This is a good email. I think it nails the Connor issue. Thank you, Chad.

Two additional notes:

• I would like to see Shiv, Tom, Judy, and BJ — two spoiled, overlooked daughters desperately seeking validation, and their two whole-milk-drinking-ass Midwestern husbands — all go on a cross-country road trip in a Winnebago together, and I would like BJ to drive it
• I would like to see Cousin Greg and Keef have a long conversation about literally anything

Baby Billy should show up on Succession next season with no explanation. Just, blammo, there he is in the Waystar offices. He could be Kendall’s new spiritual advisor. Or maybe he’s getting a show. Or maybe he’s just selling elixirs in the lobby. Whatever. We’ve all been through a lot these past few years. This would be a nice little treat.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To San Jose!

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a woman who stole a $4000 bottle of liquor after having dinner at Mount Hamilton Grandview Restaurant in San Jose.

BOTTLE HEIST

FANCY BOTTLE HEIST

ALEXA PLAY “SINNERMAN”

ALEXA VOLUME UP

In a security camera footage, the woman was seen walking towards an empty bar, grabbing a bottle of Louis XIII cognac, and walking away with a man on Tuesday night around 10:37 p.m.

Hmm. Upon review, this is not so much a fancy and elaborate heist as much as it is a crime of opportunity. That is… less fun.

Let’s just keep pretending. Go ahead and imagine lasers if you want. I would never take that away from you.

The couple was part of a party of 10 who had dinner prior to the theft, the restaurant manager told KTVU. The group paid $1,600 in cash for dinner.

I know that, technically, stealing is bad and you should not do it. I get that. Laws are in place for a reason and without them we’d just have anarchy in the streets, with people bopping each other with clubs outside the Wegmans and running off with each other’s groceries. Again, I get that.

But, like…

These people seem kind of fun, right?

I don’t know. I need to think about it some more. A lot to consider here.

“This was very well-choreographed. This was like a hit,” said the manager.

ALEXA PLAY “SINNERMAN”

YES, AGAIN

ALEXA VOLUME UP

Bob Odenkirk has spent over a decade living in the crime world as shady lawyer Saul Goodman (a.k.a. Jimmy McGill) in both Breaking Bad and its prequel series, Better Call Saul. However, the early part of his career saw him living in Chicago where he performed with the Second City improv group. He also endured a criminal encounter: being robbed at gunpoint.

During a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Odenkirk opened up about being held up by a guy with a zip gun while he was parked in a car with his girlfriend. “You know what a zip gun is?” Odenkirk asked Shepard. “It’s kind of a made-up gun. You build it but it’s not made of plastic. It looks like a f*cked up gun but it’s a real gun.”

As Odenkirk explained, he was wiped out from performing earlier in the night, and not only that, he hadn’t even changed into his real clothes, which were in the trunk with his wallet. Odenkirk did his best to keep the situation from going south and talked the mugger into letting him get his wallet. The actor knew he had at least $300 cash in it, which should’ve made his assailant happy. It did not, and that’s when Odenkirk did something stupidly brave from the exhaustion. Via NME:

“So I give him the money and he goes, ‘Get your girlfriend out of the car. I want her jewelery.’ And – I want to credit this not to my bravado or courage but to how tired I was – I go, ‘What the f*ck?’

“I go, ‘Look how much money you got, get the f*ck out of here. You should go!’ And he stands there right by the window of the car not sure what to do and I go, ‘Run! Go!’ And then he does. He leaves and we call the police.”

As Better Call Saul fans know, this isn’t Odenkirk’s only brush with death. The actor suffered a heart attack last year while filming the final season, and thanks to the quick reaction of the on-set medical crew and his co-stars, he survived that harrowing ordeal as well.

(Via Armchair Expert)

Leikeli47 has always played it mysterious and her new video, “LL Cool J,” offers no exceptions to her cryptic demeanor. In fact, the masked rapper doesn’t even appear in the greyscale video, opting to cede the spotlight to a variety of models decked out in glimmering ensembles reflecting the song’s theme: Ladies Love Cool Jewelry. Of course, she could very well be in the video and we’d be unlikely to know — that’s her whole deal, after all.

Lyrically, the song finds Leikeli pursuing a man before turning him into her latest accessory. “And to you silly hoes out here still tryna linger / You can’t find him, ’cause I got him wrapped around my finger,” she boasts. The effect is something like that of a gritty appreciation song, similar to MC Lyte’s 1993 hit single “Ruffneck.” It’s a departure from the sort of independent woman or gold digger anthems that have proliferated over the last couple of years, and it’s pretty refreshing, representing a more accessible sound from the usually dance-centric Leikeli47.

The new track is set to appear on LK47’s upcoming album, Shape Up, from which she previously shared the singles “BITM” and “Chitty Bang.” It’ll be her first new album since 2018’s Acrylic, and is due on April 15 via Hardcover and RCA.

Watch Leikeli47’s “LL Cool J” video above.

James Blake’s music is often relaxing, but now he’s taken that to a new level with his latest release, “Wind Down.” The song runs for an hour and Blake made it in partnership with Endel, which describes itself on its website, “Endel is democratizing wellness by making AI-powered mindfulness accessible to all. The company’s core technology Endel Pacific creates personalized, adaptive soundscapes to reduce stress, improve sleep, and boost productivity — all backed by neuroscience and the science of the circadian rhythm.”

That gives an indication of what the song sounds like, as over the course of 60 minutes, we get reverb-heavy Blake vocals, soothing piano sounds, blanketing synth textures, and other noises that might make your eyelids start to feel a little heavy.

Elsewhere, James Blake popped up earlier this year with “Pick Me Up,” a Labrinth collaboration and his contribution to the latest season of Euphoria. Towards the end of 2021, he also shared a new version of “Funeral,” this time featuring Slowthai, as well as a Jameela Jamil-directed video for “Famous Last Words.”

If you have an hour to spare, listen to “Wind Down” above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. After a few weeks of bank-breaking, jaw-dropping sneaker releases, we’ve finally come to a point where we can catch our collective breath. That isn’t to say this week doesn’t have its fair share of dope drops, it does, but there aren’t quite as many as the last two weeks, and that’s of some comfort right? To your wallet, that is.

This week’s big hits come primarily from Nike and Adidas, but we have some love to spread around to the smaller brands that are still killing it, namely New Balance and Reebok. Let’s dive in, and just as a reminder, next week brings the hyped-up re-release of the Yeezy 700 Wave Runners. SNX generally runs on a Wednesday, that sneaker drops on Tuesday, so we’re putting it on your radar early.

Let’s dive in!

New Balance Kawhi II

We’ve loving Kawhi Leonard’s latest collaboration with New Balance for the way it combines functionality with luxurious style. The Kawhi II features NB’s FuelCell midsole, a Fit Weave Lite mesh upper, and a full-length outsole shank for added stability and bounce.

The colorway is inspired by $100 bills and has been dubbed “New Money,” a reference to Kawhi’s entrepreneurial skills, not just his serious court game.

The Kawhi II is set to drop on March 19th for a retail price of $159.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

Nike Air More Uptempo ’96

The Uptempo is enjoying a comeback in 2022. Yes, it’s a ridiculous design, the bubble-graphic Air labeling is absurd, but we’re kind of living in an absurd era, so it strangely fits with the times.

This week’s Trading Cards colorway features b-ball card inspired-branding with an embroidered swoosh on the toe box, a leather upper, and an exposed full-length air cushion.

The Nike Air More Uptempo ’96 is set to drop on March 16th for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Eames Club C 85 Collection

An Eames for everyone! This week Reebok has linked up with legendary design group Eames Office for a new luxe take on Reebok’s greatest sneaker, the Club C. Each sneaker in the three-series collection slightly differs but each utilize the Club C 85 silhouette.

The Black pair features woven Eames branding over a premium leather upper with terry lining and a custom sock liner. The Brown pair features a soft Jacquard upper with dot patterns from the Eames archives, designed by Ray Eames himself in 1974. The final pair, a patchwork design, features a nubuck upper printed with a graphic of a Ray Eames painting from 1939.

The Eames Club C collection is set to drop on March 18th for a retail price of $120. Pick up a pair at the Reebok webstore.

Yeezy 700 V3 Safflower

Yeezy is bringing the Spring season to us a few weeks early with this Mono Safflower colorway of 700 V3 silhouette.

Featuring a gradient yellow stripe print over a prime knit upper with subtle streaks of blue and a translucent milky TPU cage, this V3 is one of the more subdued iterations of the design we’ve seen in recent memory. This month Yeezy brand seems to be going hard on the 700, perhaps we’d be more excited about this if the Wave Runner refresh wasn’t dropping next week.

The Yeezy 700 V3 Safflower is set to drop on March 18th for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app or the Yeezy Supply webstore.

Nike Air Jordan 1 Rebellionaire

It’s clear from the colorways we’re getting this week that the big sneaker brands are ready to embrace the spring season, which makes the Air Jordan 1 Rebellionaire stand in stark contrast.

The Air Jordan 1 is in a steely black and grey colorway with “They Can’t Stop You From Wearing Them” screen-printed graphics across the leather upper, a reference to a sneaker ad from ’85 advertising the legendary NBA banned BRED colorway. Rounding out the design is a perforated toe box and a classic rubber outsole. This colorway was definitely made for hardcore Jordan heads, so if you’re a collector this would be a solid win for the weekend.

The Air Jordan 1 High Rebellionaire raffle closes on March 18th with the sneakers retailing for $170. Enter the raffle at Sneaker Politics or Feature or hit up aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Nike Air Jordan 13 Del Sol

If you were loving the citrus-y Spring vibe of the Yeezy 700 Safflower but hate that futuristic V3 TPU cage that covers the sneaker, the Air Jordan 13 Del Sol manages to capture all the spring vibes of the former while delivering a classic basketball silhouette.

The Del Sole features a white quilted leather upper with citrus suede accents above a dark contrasting black outsole.

The Nike Air Jordan 13 Del Sol is set to drop on March 19th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like Flight Club.

Adidas Forum 84 HI AEC

Adidas has been going all-in on the brand’s Forum silhouette, and this week the b-ball sneaker is getting a vintage distressed iteration in spring-ready yellow and blue colorways.

The sneakers feature a premium leather upper over a classic ’84 shape with a padded tongue and a hook-and-loop ankle strap.

The Adidas Forum 84 HI AEC is set to drop on March 20th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app.

After more than 65,000 people donated, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have reached their goal of $30 million to help Ukrainians in need. But the fundraising effort isn’t over.

“We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the support,” the Black Swan actress, who was born in Ukraine, said in an Instagram video. “And while this is far from a solve of the problem, our collective effort will provide a softer landing for so many people as they forge ahead into their future of uncertainty.” Kutcher added, “Our work is not done. We’re going to do everything we can to ensure the outpouring of love that came from you all as a part of this campaign finds a maximum impact for those in need.”

The money will be “delivered to Flexport.org and Airbnb.org so they can act now,” Kutcher wrote on Instagram. Flexport is bringing relief supplies to those in need, while Airbnb is providing short-term housing for refugees fleeing Ukraine. He continued, “We will treat every dollar as if it were being donated from our pocket, with respect and honor for the work that went into earning it, the intent of love through which it was given, and the desire for it so be maximized for positive outcomes for others.”

You can donate to the cause here.

(Via People)

In January, Irish post-punk group Fontaines DC announced Skinty Fia, the follow-up to 2020’s A Hero’s Death that competed with Taylor Swift on the UK charts. They’ve been touring all over the place and building up anticipation by performing on The Tonight Show and releasing ominous music videos.

The band played Dublin last night, and covered The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.” It sounds lighter and more colorful than any of their actual songs, which are often dystopian and bleak like Joy Division’s.

Their latest single “I Love You” was a five-minute detached love ballad that focused more on self-loathing than romance: “And if there was sunshine, it was never on me / So close, the rain, so pronounced is the pain.” In the video, he walks through a candlelit church while reckoning with politics: “It’s standing in the center of our beloved home country as a multitude of things are brought to tragic ends in an apocalyptic state of affairs. That’s how it feels to me, and what I felt when I wrote it,” vocalist Grian Chatten said about that song. Their rendition of the classic Cure track about intense infatuation is far away from those heavy topics, and instead bounces with hope and sweetness.

Watch the performance of “Just Like Heaven” above.

After teasing his new album Melt My Eyez, See Your Future with a Spaghetti Western-themed trailer, the space Western-styled video for “Walkin,” and the samurai flick homage “Zatoichi,” Denzel Curry has finally revealed the album’s anticipated release date. Set for release March 25, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future will feature appearances from 454, 6lack, Bridget Perez, Jasiah, JID, Rico Nasty, Robert Glasper, Saul Williams, Slowthai, and T-Pain. The album’s production team includes Cardo, DJ Khalil, Dot Da Genius, Jpegmafia, Kal Banx, Karriem Riggins, Kenny Beats, and Thundercat.

In a press release announcing the album’s release date, Curry detailed the album’s production process and aesthetics. “I like traditional hip hop, I like drum and bass, I like trap, I like poetry, so a lot of that is going to be interwoven in this album including jazz and a lot of genres that I came up on as a kid and just being in my parents’ house,” he said. “This album is made up of everything that I couldn’t give you on TA13OO or Imperial because I was going through depression anger issues.”

To promote the album, Curry is set to launch a world tour beginning in Denver, Colorado on April 1 and ending the month in Glasgow, United Kingdom. After a month-long swing through Europe, he’ll return to the US just in time for Governor’s Ball in New York, then complete the second leg of his US tour, wrapping up July 1 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Melt My Eyez, See Your Future is due 3/25 on Loma Vista Recordings. You can pre-save it here.

Gang Of Youths was recently named one of the most Indiecast bands, but what other musicians fit nicely in with the Indiecast brand? Since the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was in the news this week thanks to Dolly Parton, Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen decide to induct four albums into the Indiecast Hall Of Fame.

Steven and Ian also discuss some of the biggest news in indie music this week, which this time had to do with a somewhat imaginary feud between Japanese Breakfast and Machine Gun Kelly. After MGK shared his upcoming album cover, many Japanese Breakfast fans pointed out its similarities to Jubilee‘s artwork. But that begs the questions: Does MGK even know what a persimmon is? And, more importantly, has he ever heard a Japanese Breakfast song?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian talks Oso Oso surprise-releasing their fourth studio album. Steven discusses his recent Uproxx interview with Destroyer’s Dan Bejar ahead of next week’s new album.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 81 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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.

Although Richmond, Virginia-based rapper Fly Anakin has been around for a while, my first introduction to him was on 2020’s FlySiifu, his collaborative album with Alabama genre-bender Pink Siifu. At the time, my impression was of a rapper enamored with the murky trappings of the backpack rap I had grown up on in high school, but since grown out of. The experimental, lo-fi sampling and abstract, stream-of-consciousness raps reminded me of longtime favorites like Madlib and MF DOOM; Anakin, who would have entered high school five years after I graduated, would likely have gravitated to this freewheeling sound as it first gained exposure beyond indie record shops and underground rap forums via Adult Swim bumpers.

That sound has become the staple of his aesthetic, a tradition he continues on the recently released Frank, his self-proclaimed debut album. The fact that he calls it this despite having seven years of commercial releases under his belt helps to highlight his status as a child of the inventive digital era of hip-hop, where nearly anything goes as long as it sounds cool and you can get away with it. For what it’s worth, this is an album that does sound cool and gets away with a lot. It’s packed with eerie, unearthly samples and laid-back, dismissive raps, an iconoclastic survey of the modern rap landscape that chooses to go left, swimming upstream of the more accessible 808-driven approach of Anakin’s peers.

In a profile for Bandcamp, Anakin explains his reasoning for calling Frank his debut, and for giving it his own government name, Frank Walton. “The album is me standing up to my shit and owning up to who I am instead of hiding behind a rap name,” he said. “I always thought my name was kinda stupid for who I am and I never really felt my name matched me — so this is me wearing my name and owning my name.” In doing so, though, he throws into clearer focus the fact that he’s always been this person and always held these philosophies. That is to say, he’s never much cared to live up to anyone else’s standards but his own.

Consider this couplet from the Evidence-produced “Sean Price,” named for the bellicose Brooklyn rapper who passed away in 2015 and shared Anakin’s disdain for fitting in. “The sacrifices set my price to the heights of the holy lights / At first, I did the shit to get mics, now it’s keeping on the lights.” The Richmond rapper at times comes across disillusioned by his experiences in the rap game, much like many of his heroes, but then, like those heroes, his love for the craft shines through in the polish with which he spits his laconic yet lithe, lathe-like verses. He’s versatile and not without a sense of humor; he just doesn’t have time for gimmicks and games.

Meanwhile, the production falls somewhere just left of the en vogue, sample-first, beats-never aesthetic, full of muted drums and soul interpolations awash in dreamy filters. It’s interesting to see what he does with the “beats to study to” playlist staple style; his voice cuts across these muddy soundscapes with confidence and charisma. So do his guests’ vocals, with features ranging from Anakin’s fellow Mutant Academy crew stalwarts Big Kahuna OG (on “Telepathic”) and Henny L.O. (on “Dontbeafraid”), as well as Richmond veteran and former Drake collaborator Nickelus F, who contributes an absolutely bonkers verse to “Ghost” that I still can’t decide if I hate or love.

Despite the album’s title and expressed theme, Anakin never deigns to indulge in autobiography or introspection on Frank, choosing to instead direct his energy toward impressively constructed blocks of text expressing his own unique take on standard hip-hop topics. It’d be cool to see him tackle some more personal subject matter in the future, but for now, it’s enough that he’s doing something different — not just for the sake of being different but because this is genuinely who he is. Enough rappers follow trends and far too many fall short trying to run counter to them just to prove a point. Fly Anakin finds the balance, making the sort of hip-hop music he loved growing up and updating it to create something refreshing and classic at the same time.

‘Frank’ is out now on Lex Records. You can stream it here.