Month: May 2024

The Milwaukee Bucks saw their season come to an end on Thursday night at the hands of the Indiana Pacers. An injured Giannis Antetokounmpo watched as a hobbled Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton attempted to force a Game 7 in Milwaukee, but ultimately, the Pacers were able to pick up a 120-98 win to move onto the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where they will play the New York Knicks.

In the waning moments of the game, Bucks guard Patrick Beverley was not happy with some at least one Indiana fan behind the Bucks’ bench, which led to him chucking a basketball at them twice. Beverley attempted to defend himself on Twitter, calling the clip without additional context “not fair at all” while conceding he has “to be better.” No matter what, Charles Barkley was not a fan of the interaction, and made it a point to call out Beverley on Inside the NBA.

“He gone,” Barkley said. “He gonna get suspended. He hit that lady in the head … It don’t matter who he was trying to hit, you can’t hit no lady, ever … I’ve done stupid stuff, and I got criticized. That’s just wrong, he’s gonna get suspended for that. And that’s gonna be a good one, too, because he didn’t do it once, he did it twice.”

Beverley, who turns 36 in July, is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

SZA is one of the defining R&B artists of our time. If you ask SZA, though, she wants to be more than that, and she thinks that it’s because she’s Black that some people put her in that R&B box.

In a new Dazed interview, SZA explains:

“The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black. It’s almost a little reductive because it doesn’t allow space to be anything else or try anything else. Justin Bieber is not considered an R&B artist; he is a pop artist who makes R&B, folk music, or whatever his heart desires. I simply just want to be allowed the same opportunity to make whatever I want without a label, [without it being] based on the color of my skin, or the crew that I run with, or the beats that I choose. I want ‘F2F’ to be seen as what it is. I want ‘Nobody Gets Me’ to be seen as what it is. I want ‘Kill Bill’ to be seen as what it is.

At the same time, it’s nothing to get bent out of shape about, because it’s just how people are processing you. As long as I don’t process myself that way. I don’t necessarily box myself into anything. I’m just trying to make music, trying to vibe out and enjoy the experience.”

She added, “Once we’re dead and gone, there will still be work to do in terms of how we’re seen in the world as Black women, and who we are allowed to be seen as — the multifacetedness and all our spectrums of expression. I think humanity will be constantly unfolding itself, and we will be showing each other who we are beyond the reductive labels our brains are regurgitating, from whatever we saw on the internet or learned in college or at home through socialization. We’ll get beyond that, and that’s just part of being human. I’m down to be human.”

Find the full interview here.

After years of playing one caped character, Chris Hemsworth signed on to play… another caped character. He’s not a huge fan of the clothing accessory, because he’s not a phantom haunting an opera, but can you blame him for wanting to play the bad guy in George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga?

“Yeah, it was a real departure, and it was nice…” Hemsworth told EW about taking on the role of Warlord Dementus. “I was about to say it was nice not to wear a cape, but… I did have a cape in this film. And it’s red — or it becomes red eventually, as well. The absurdity of that.” He added, “It’s not intentional to be a comparison of Thor, but I found a wonderful departure to it — to play the villain, transform, and inhabit a completely different physicality was a lot of fun. I loved it. And it was the real attraction.”

When co-star Anya Taylor-Joy brought the conversation back to capes by asking if they’re annoying to wear, Hemsworth quickly replied, “Hate ’em. So impractical.” Tying a teddy bear to your shirt, though? That’s fashion.

Here’s the official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga:

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters on May 24.

(Via EW)

In case you missed it (somehow), Kendrick Lamar and Drake are beefing right now. In March, Lamar went after Drake (and J. Cole) on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” Last month, Drake responded with “Push Ups,” and a few days ago, Lamar fired back with “Euphoria.”

It’s Drake’s turn, but Lamar decided to skip the line and go again: Today (May 3), he dropped another Drake diss, “6:16 In LA.”

On the track, Lamar implies that people in Drake’s camp aren’t loyal to him, with lines like, “Have you ever thought that OVO is working for me,” “Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it,” “If you was street smart, you woulda caught your entourage is only to hussle you,” “100 guy that you got on salary, and 20 of them want you as the casualty,” and “It’s time you look around and see who’s really around you.”

Notably, the song’s title follows the same format as Drake’s famous timestamp songs.

This comes shortly after Rick Ross advised Drake to not respond to “Euphoria,” saying, “He may not even heard this yet but look, white boy: I know we not friends, but let me give you this advice because you ain’t got nobody around you, you ain’t got no real n****s around you. Let me put it like that: ain’t no real n****s. Stop. Don’t respond. Don’t respond. You ain’t even peep when the intro came on with that Teddy Pendergrass, that was that Black vibe. Don’t do it. Don’t go write an 8-minute verse.”

Listen to “6:16 In LA” above.

The “nepo baby” conversation (about celebrities with famous parents/relatives) was really raging back in 2022, but it still pops up every now and then. One of the names that comes up in discussions of this topic is Willow Smith, whose parents are of course Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Willow admits the nepo baby thing has gotten to her previously and, in a way, fueled the career she has built for herself.

In a new interview with Allure, she explains:

“I truly believe that my spirit is a strong spirit and that, even if my parents weren’t who they were, I would still be a weirdo and a crazy thinker. I definitely think that a little bit of insecurity has driven me harder because people do think that the only reason I’m successful is because of my parents. That has driven me to work really hard to try to prove them wrong. But nowadays, I don’t need to prove sh*t to anybody.’”

Willow really has forged her own path. After childhood success with her 2010 single “Whip My Hair,” the singer went on to explore a variety of genres in subsequent works, from soul to psychedelia to pop-punk. Questlove is a big fan of her latest work.

Read the full cover story here.

Steven and Ian begin today’s episode by catching up with “Euphoria,” the diss track that Kendrick Lamar unleashed on Drake this week. Did Kendrick really confuse The Sixth Sense star Haley Joel Osment with Texas televangelist Joel Osteen? Looks like it! They also check in with the buzzy Sabrina Carpenter pop hit “Espresso,” which has signaled the annual (tiresome) conversation about the song of the summer.

Then they transition to a conversation about Local Natives, the LA band who recently lost one of their founding members. Steven and Ian recap the group’s career and comment on the enduring popularity of early 2010s indie stars. From there, they discuss three artists who Steven’s Fantasy Albums team — Jessica Pratt, Mdou Moctar, and Kamasi Washington — who put out new albums today.

In the mailbag, they give the yay-or-nay treatment to Amen Dunes, and also engage in more Lake Mendota/Hovvdy talk.

For Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the Swedish band Rain Recordings while Steven catches with the British group English Teacher.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 187 here 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.

Following an incredible debut album, Hypnos, in 2022, Ravyn Lenae is back, and better than ever. Tonight (May 3), the R&B hitmaker has announced her new album, Bird’s Eye, set for release this summer. Ahead of the album, Lena has shared two new songs — “Love Is Blind” and “Love Me Not.”

On “Love Is Blind,” Lenae reflects on a previous relationship. Though she feels some regret, she has taken away valuable lessons.

Meanwhile, “Love Me Not” features Lenae dreading the idea of depending on a lover. For this particular era, Lenae is stepping her artistry up a notch, as this particular song is accompanied by a video directed by Lenae herself. The video takes us through a day in Lenae’s life, as she can’t seem to get a guy off of her mind.

“Bird’s Eye signifies returning to a place of self-trust and unbending intuition while acknowledging the paths and turns I’ve taken to get here,” Lenae said in a statement. “Revisiting the most basic parts of my identity has allowed me to fully embrace them and be proud of where I’m going.”

You can listen to “Love Is Blind” and see the video for “Love Me Not” above, and see the Bird’s Eye album artwork below.

Bird’s Eye is out 8/9 via Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Channel Tres has the summer on lock. This week, the multitalented electronic musician announced his upcoming major label debut album, Head Rush. Tonight (May 3), he has shared the album’s lead single, “Berghain.”

The song features fellow South LA artist Barney Bones, and takes inspiration from Tres‘ travels. Over a zippy, hypnotic track, Tres and Bones imagine a utopia populated by the weirdos and misfits who make life worth living. In this magical world, the dance floor is the sanctuary and music is the heartbeat.

As a touring artist, Channel Tres has seen so many beautiful parts of the world. But Berghain holds a special place in his heart.

“It’s about the time I played Berghain and how the culture in that environment made me feel, I didn’t feel weird anymore,” said Tres in a statment. “Everyone’s the same, the goal for everyone in that place is to enjoy themselves and be free, and music played a pivotal role in that. It was the main thing for me and I wanted to document that experience I had there through music so that I always have that memory in my life. So I can feel that memory while I’m performing and relive that experience.”

You can listen to “Berghain” above.

Head Rush is out 6/14 via RCA. Find more information here.

Coco Jones is gearing up for an exciting new era. Last year, she gained a major breakthrough with her hit single, “ICU” from her mixtape, What I Didn’t Tell You. Now, her full-length debut album is on the way. Tonight (May 3), Jones has released her new single, “Here We Go (Uh Oh).”

On her new single, Jones can’t help but fall in love with the same person over and over again. Unfortunately, she knows this love isn’t good for her, and while she tries to move on with someone else, this proves to be easier said than done.

“I know when we said, ‘Goodbye,’ you ain’t mean no goodbye / Hеre we go, uh-oh / I know when you gеt to likin’ my pictures it’s time / Here we go, uh-oh / Over and over, and over we go / Older and older, and older, but so / Soon as I finally meet someone else that I like / Here we go, uh-oh,” sings Jones on the song’s chorus.

The song features a sample of Lenny Williams’ “Cause I Love You,” with Jones breathing into it new life, giving her own personal touch to a painfully relatable cycle.

“It’s the impossible mission to move on from this chapter,” said Jones of the song in a statement, “from this person, from this cycle.”

You can listen to “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” above.

At long last, Kevin Abstract and Lil Nas X have finally collaborated. Fans have been waiting for a song with the two of them for years, and this has finally come to fruition. Tonight (May 3), Abstract has shared his new single, “Tennessee,” which features Lil Nas X.

Abstract first teased “Tennessee” last month at Coachella, during which, he brought out Lil Nas X for an impromptu preview performance of the song. On the song, the two queer rappers each have their eyes on someone special. Abstract vyes for a man’s attention by putting in work on his fitness and his style.

“Never been somewhere like this / Never met someone like him / Getting my reps in in the gym / Skinny queen, I’m getting slim / I’m the God of my life like a sim / Walk around this b*tch with a limp,” raps Abstract in the song’s opening.

Meanwhile, Lil Nas X imagines upgrading a man’s life by introducing him to some new luxuries.

“Tryna put you on go / Tryna put you on your toes / Pretty fur mink coat / Boy, you f*ckin’ with a real one / I know I’m bad, I’ve been told / I know I’m pretty and rich,” Lil Nas X raps on his verse.

You can listen to “Tennessee” above.