Month: January 2023

Denzel Curry has earned a break. The self-proclaimed “best rapper alive” dropped his album Melt My Eyez, See Your Future in March, followed by an extended edition in September. He supported the release with a headlining US tour and an NPR Tiny Desk Concert performance. Additionally, he opened for a portion of Kid Cudi’s To The Moon World Tour.

Instead of using January to catch his breath, Curry featured on Armani White’s “Goated” single. He’s keeping his foot on the gas today, January 25, by releasing “Tally” alongside Midwxst. Curry also announced two May shows at New York City’s Blue Note Jazz Club.

Fittingly, the beginning of the video for “Tally” has a very jazzy feel. Curry is from Florida, and Midwxst has roots in Indiana, but we find them in old-timey California .

“It was 1944 in Bel-Air, California. The bars closed five hours ago, but the smell of whiskey was still in the air,” a narrator says while black-and-white shots of Bel-Air flick across the screen. “Midwxst, Denzel Curry, and the rest of the crew own the town without any opposition or conflict. Little did they know that danger was wearing a new dress and was awaiting their arrival.”

A cloaked Midwxst makes his way up an elaborate staircase holding a gun. He encounters a gorgeous woman in a room and immediately drops his gun to talk with her. She appears to successfully be seducing him, but he never loses the upperhand.

“I met this girl down in Tally,” he raps in the chorus. “She said she flew in from Cali ;Not LA, though, she live in the Valley /Got a twin and I think her name Sally / Not my type, so I curved her real proudly.”

Curry is similarly skeptical, lighting her cigarette at a dinner table. She watches him as he delivers a hard verse that nimbly manages to reference people and things that normally wouldn’t figure to go together, like Kobe Bryant, Jeffrey Dahmer, Speaker Knockerz, The Notorious BIG, and Davy Jones’ locker.

By the end, Midwxst and the woman are cruising down the street. All seems to be well until she draws the gun on him.

Any Curry fan shouldn’t be surprised by his participation in such a cinematic video. He announced Melt My Eyez with a Spaghetti Western-themed trailer, visited a post-apocalyptic desert in his “Walkin’” video, recreated the original 1995 Madden for “The Game,” flexed his status as a cinephile for “Zatoichi,” and “traversing over a Cyberpunk-like cityscape in an X-Wing Starfighter vehicle” for his “X-Wing” video.

Watch the “Tally” video above, and watch the behind-the-scenes cut below.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, one of the original batch of Adult Swim shows, had a good run: 11 seasons over some 14 years. Still, it hurt when it went off the air, depriving late night stoners of their usual fix of Frylock, Master Shake, Meatwad, and — arguably best of all — Carl Brutananadilewski. (The news even inspired Patti Smith to write a song for the finale.) Over the last year things have changed. Last spring Adult Swim’s YouTube Channel started running the spinoff shorts show Aquadonk Side Pieces. Late last year they got a second surreal movie film. Now they’re full-on returning to the air.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Adult Swim has greenlit Season 12 of the landmark show. The gang’s all back: original creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro, plus main voice cast members Willis, Dana Snyder, and Carey Means.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force was a spinoff of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the ’90s show that paved the way for Adult Swim’s original lineup, which also included Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (and eventually the likes of Rick and Morty). ATHF ran for 139 deranged episodes — the longest in Adult Swim history until Robot Chicken, which bowed in 2005 and is still going. In 2007 the show got its own even more out-there movie.

Until Season 12 gets going, ATHF fans can rent or purchase their second movie, Plantasm, which hits HBO Max on March 12. Maybe they can even get Glenn Danzig to return.

(Via EW)

Sir Paul McCartney isn’t living in the past. He’s 80 years old and he’s set to appear on Dolly Parton’s Rock Star covers album, and he’s not far removed from touring the US and headlining Glastonbury Festival. But he does seem to enjoy revisiting the past, from recreating The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover to recalling the late Queen Elizabeth II knighting him.

Add 1964: Eyes Of The Storm to McCartney’s list of welcomed reminders of the past. McCartney announced the photo archive today, January 25. It will be published as a book on June 13 and exhibited at London’s National Portrait Gallery from June 28 to October 1.

Per a press release, the 275-photograph collection was shot by McCartney between “the end of 1963 and beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania erupted in the UK and, after the band’s first visit to the USA, they became the most famous people on the planet.” McCartney re-discovered “an extraordinary trove of nearly 1,000 photographs taken … on a 35mm camera” in his personal archive in 2020.

The collection captures moments in Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, DC, and Miami and includes “many never-before-seen portraits of John [Lennon], George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr].”

“Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time,” McCartney said in a statement. “This was exactly my experience in seeing these photos, all taken over an intense three-month period of travel, culminating in February 1964. It was a wonderful sensation to be plunged right back. Here was my own record of our first huge trip, a photographic journal of The Beatles in six cities, beginning in Liverpool and London, followed by Paris (where John and I had been ordinary hitchhikers three years before), and then what we regarded as the big time, our first visit as a group to America.”

The $75 336-page book will publish through Liveright/W. W. Norton in the US and Allen Lane/Penguin Press in the UK.

Learn more about 1964: Eyes Of The Storm from McCartney’s and National Portrait Gallery’s Instagram posts below.

For months, Donald Trump has been calling one of his former employees racist things. That person is Elaine Chao, and she wasn’t only the former president’s secretary of transportation, who quit the day after the Jan. 6 riot. She’s also married to Mitch McConnell, one of his many, many sworn enemies (though one definitely in the upper rung). Chao has refused to comment specifically on it, as racist taunts don’t deserve added attention. But Trump’s been dropping racist taunts so long she finally feels she has to say something.

Since October, Trump has taken to calling his former employee “Coco Chow.” Sometimes he insinuates she’s taking orders from China. (This is to say nothing of him still calling COVID the “China flu.”) Last month, Chao sort of addressed Trump’s continued racism, telling a CNN reporter that it’s “helpful if the media does not repeat” his bigoted slurs. But in a statement to Politico, Chao decided to elaborate.

“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation,” Chao said. “He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”

In the meantime, Meta is working on unbanning the racist ex-president from both Facebook and Instagram after some two years. Trump is planning on holding his first rally in ages this weekend, but his team has had a bear of a time finding significant GOP players to attend it. Being openly racist probably isn’t helping, much less on top of all his other problems.

(Via Politico)

Fall Out Boy and Weezer might as well merge to form one super-band at this point. Last week, the former dropped the video for “Love From The Other Side,” the lead single from their forthcoming album So Much (For) Stardust, which features a fake book titled The Weezer Of Oz. Long before that, the two iconic bands executed the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day and appeared together on Family Feud.

Today, January 25, Fall Out Boy released their video for “Heartbreak Feels So Good.” And of course, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo is a central character. The nearly five-minute video immediately sets the tone with a straight-forward message: “Fall Out Boy decided to film a prank for their new music video.” We find out the prank, which was (allegedly) Cuomo’s idea, is to attempt to kidnap Cuomo. Why? Unclear.

As Fall Out Boy is riding in a van en route to Cuomo, who is unassumingly sipping a smoothie on a sidewalk, Pete Wentz calls Cuomo. “I am not really sure about this,” Cuomo admits. Wentz reassures him, “Dude, you wrote ‘Africa.’ You’re going to be great.” And Cuomo admits, “Yeah, that’s true.”

Once Fall Out Boy roll up on Cuomo, a slew of people crowd around them. Cuomo pulls down Patrick Stump’s ski mask and exclaims, “Oh my God, it’s Fall Out Boy! And they’re trying to kidnap Rivers Cuomo!” The crowd then starts chasing Fall Out Boy, and Cuomo is left standing alone. “F*ck those guys,” he murmurs.

The rest of the video finds Fall Out Boy getting themselves into all sorts of trouble, including an alley fight and a standoff on the roof. Ultimately, they arrive to Los Angeles’ Banc Of California Stadium only to learn their show isn’t until the following weekend.

“Heartbreak Feels So Good” arrives just days after co-founding member and guitarist Joe Trohman announced he was “stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell” because his “mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years.”

“It pains me to make this decision, especially when we are releasing a new album that fills me with great pride (the sin I’m most proud of). So, the question remains: Will I return to the fold? Absolutely, one-hundred percent,” Trohman wrote on Instagram. “In the meantime, I must recover which means putting myself and my mental health first. Thank you to everyone, including my bandmates and family, for understanding and respecting this difficult, but necessary, decision.”

Watch the “Heartbreak Feels So Good” video above, and check out Trohman’s Instagram post below.

So Much (For) Stardust is out 3/24 via Fueled By Ramen/DCD2. Pre-order it here.

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

One of the great things about going to a mid-major school is you can get terrific seats to basketball games, particularly weeknight tips against non-marquee opponents.

However, the food offerings at the arena are usually lacking, so you usually have to choose between eating something tasty and watching the game. On Wednesday night, one fan at Duquesne decided they didn’t want to have to make that choice, and fired up Uber Eats to get themselves some McDonald’s delivered to the game. The result was a delivery guy wandering onto the court during play to make a courtside delivery, resulting in a brief stoppage, some serious confusion, and hilarity from the broadcast team.

This is genuinely one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen happen during a basketball game, as this guy is just trying to do his job and get this McDonald’s to the person who ordered it, but strolls through the court while a play is happening — there’s players like 3 feet from him! It’s absolutely incredible and I have a number of questions about how this even happens.

For one, how does the delivery guy get into the building? Do you not need tickets at Duquesne?

Secondly, is there any security at this arena? How is he just strolling onto the floor? Is a bag of McDonald’s as good as a credential at Duquesne? How was this man not stopped by anyone?

Thirdly, does the delivery guy notice where he is and/or that the game is happening as he strolls across the court? Is this the most dedicated Uber Eats driver in history? Get this man a raise.

Finally, and this is just a general query I have, why do people get McDonald’s delivered? There are few things that have a shorter shelf-life than McDonald’s french fries in going from “elite” to “borderline inedible.” Why tempt the fates by getting them delivered to you, where you’re going to pay more for food that’s arriving lukewarm? I don’t think I’ll ever understand that one.

For anyone wondering, yes, the guy that ordered the food got his McDonald’s eventually, as the delivery guy wandered the arena in search of them.

I hope he tipped well.

Depending on your age, you either know John McEnroe as a tennis icon or the narrator of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever. His range extends to music, including a 2015 performance of Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings.”

Eurosport Tennis recently featured McEnroe on its “My Playlist” series. While strumming an acoustic guitar, he answered a slew of music-related questions. He was first asked to identify the perfect celebratory song after a victory, and he cited his first Wimbledon title as the reason for choosing “I Fought The Law” by The Clash.

McEnroe’s guilty pleasure song is “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M., but which band does he want to record with?

“I’d love to play [and] record with the Foo Fighters,” McEnroe said. “My friend — God rest his soul — Taylor Hawkins, the drummer, is no longer with us. So, if I ever had a chance to dedicate something to him, that would be incredible.”

After saying that, McEnroe inserted Hawkins’ name into a rendition of Foo Fighters’ smash “Everlong.”

While R.E.M. are never getting back together, Foo Fighters posted an optimistic update on New Year’s Eve about the band’s future following Hawkins’ sudden death in March:

Because Foo Fighters plan on remaining active, McEnroe at least has an outside chance to record a tribute song for Hawkins.

Watch McEnroe’s full segment with Eurosport Tennis above.

There are low bars and then there’s George Santos doing what he did during his first-ever House speech. The GOP representative quickly became the biggest bête-noire of the House’s freshman class, and for good reason: He misled voters about his background by telling one whopper after another. But credit where credit’s due, we guess: He managed to not lie for a whopping minute and 15 seconds. Baby steps!

As per Mediaite, Santos took to the House lectern on Wednesday for the first time. What did he talk about? Something important: Iranian protesters, whom he called “brave.” He then proceeded to accurately quote a speech Ronald Reagan delivered in 1967. Hey, this guy once defended himself from accusations of lying by dropping a fake Winston Churchill quote.

But there’s more! The bit about how there’s a sizable population of Iranians in his district? True! He also noted that fellow Republican New York representative Claudia Tenney introduced a resolution supporting the Iranian protesters. That — even coming from the mouth of the guy who falsely claimed his mom died in 9/11 — was also correct.

Look, you gotta report the good with the bad, and when a serial fabulist accused of stealing GoFundMe donations intended for a dying dog does something right, it’s worth giving props. Then again, you wouldn’t need to compliment a political figure for telling the truth if that political figure didn’t have a storied history of telling lies.

(Via Mediaite)

He’s Marc Maron, and he’s here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff. The trailer for the stand-up legend’s new special, From Bleak To Dark, is a crushing delight that doesn’t need to come with free anti-depressants because Maron’s uniquely vulnerable perspective on the human condition gives us the space to laugh through the worst of times. Plus, there’s good news: everything is going to get even worse.

The HBO comedy special is set for February 11th, a date which cannot get here fast enough. All good doctors know that Maron’s comedy is the best medicine for a sardonic era.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Legendary comedian and podcaster Marc Maron stars in his first-ever HBO comedy special filmed in front of a live audience at New York City’s Town Hall. Over the course of a hilarious and deeply personal hour, Maron explores such universal topics as getting older, antisemitism and faith, and the superiority of having cats over children – especially during the pandemic. The comedian also opens up about the loss of his partner in 2020 and reestablishing his complicated relationship with his father. Funny and fearless, Marc Maron: From Bleak To Dark showcases the comedian’s expertly layered cynicism as he deftly weaves humor and pathos into his signature style of storytelling.”

If it seemed impossible for Maron to get any more personal than he already is, this special appears to make it happen. Let’s call go laughing into the darkness, together, shall we?

On Wednesday, Xbox held a showcase called Developer Direct where the devs of five games releasing in 2023 were able to talk directly to viewers about their games through a pre-recorded event — think Nintendo Direct but fewer trailers and more talking. The result was a fairly interesting showcase where we got to hear from the creators themselves what they felt about the games they were working on.

Of course, while hearing from the devs was a nice part of the show, what everyone was really viewing for was to find out what Xbox had planned for everyone in 2023. While all but one of the games on the list weren’t really a surprise we can still say the event left us anticipating a big year for Xbox in 2023. Especially because we know they have even bigger titles on the way that haven’t been shown off yet.

Minecraft Legends – April 18

The event led off with Minecraft Legends, an RTS Minecraft game which sounds kind of weird until you start hearing them talk about it, then it becomes clear that no franchise needed an RTS more than Minecraft. Think about it. What is the point of RTS games? Resource gathering, base building, and destroying opposing forces by being better at resource gathering and base building. The only non-Minecraft thing in there was the Player vs. Player element of it and that is basically what Minecraft Legends is adding. It should be out in April and I am way more excited about this now than I was before the showcase.

Forza Motorsport – 2023

Probably the big disappointment of the day was Forza Motorsport. There wasn’t anything wrong with the game itself! It looks great, sounds great, and is probably going to be yet another fantastic entry into the Forza Motorsport franchise. The disappointment is it was the only game shown off that didn’t get an official release date, and it might even be delayed past the expected spring release it was initially announced for. It’s Forza Motorsport so we know it’s going to be a great game, but it was the odd game out among a series of release dates to be excited about.

Hi-Fi Rush – January 25 (Today)

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! Usually when a brand new game gets announced the best you can hope for is a release date that same year. Instead, Hi-Fi Rush was announced and shown off to an increasingly excited public before we were blindsided by the announcement that it was ready to go and would be released shortly after the end of the presentation. So if you go to the Microsoft Store or GamePass right now the game is available to purchase or download. Now that’s how you make an entrance.

Elder Scrolls Online – June 20

It’s kind of hard to believe this is the same franchise that, upon release, was quickly ignored by plenty as they moved on to better games. Give the developers over at ZeniMax Online Studios credit, they have stayed firm and created an MMO that many fans have continued coming back to over the years. For fans of the series, a major expansion was announced during the presentation and it featured a new class and story for fans to jump into. For those of us who have never played before, maybe this will be the catalyst we need to jump into the series this June.

Redfall – May 2

Redfall, the vampire FPS game from Arkane Studios has been a point of intrigue ever since it was first announced. Its struggled to capture the interest of fans though through most of its trailers, and maybe the devs noticed that because the game was delayed alongside Starfield back in May. Turns out, this May will be the time for redemption when the game hopefully releases. There’s a lot of potential with the multiplayer aspects of the game, and maybe the gameplay we saw today will be what pushes people to finally get excited about it as a AAA title.