Month: September 2024

A lot is going right for Charlie Puth these days. He got a laudatory co-sign from Taylor Swift earlier this year. He teamed up with Stray Kids for a song in May and dropped a solo track, “Hero,” not long after. Most importantly, he revealed a few days ago that he’s married now.

The good news just keeps coming in: It was announced today (September 24) that Puth has landed his own Roku Original comedy series, titled The Charlie Puth Show. The six-episode series will stream on The Roku Channell starting October 4.

An official synopsis for the show reads:

“The Charlie Puth Show follows Charlie as he attempts to scale the zeitgeist by going beyond pop stardom to become a multi-hyphenate talent after being told it’s no longer enough to just be a musician.

Featuring artists, comedians and icons from every area of the pop matrix, the famous faces that populate the show help Charlie to navigate his heightened reality where his career neurosis and musical perfectionism often gets in the way of his peace and sanity, ultimately parodying the very zeitgeist that Charlie’s trying to conquer.”

This is conveyed in the new trailer, which also reveals appearances from Will Ferrell, Courteney Cox, John Legend, Wiz Khalifa, and “Weird” Al Yankovic.

Check out the trailer above.

Horror maestros Mike Flanagan and Stephen King go together like, well, you know. The spooky streaming TV king has already adeptly adapted multiple King titles, including the hard-to-handle Gerald’s Game and The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep. Heck, Flanagan even managed to crank out the life-affirming Life Of Chuck movie during recent Hollywood turmoil, and now, he appears to be circling back to The Dark Tower.

That’s an evergreen dream, as Constant Readers know. There has also been no shortage of attempts (including an ill-conceived movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey) to properly adapt The Dark Tower book series. Further, Flanagan has recently jumped ship from Netflix to Amazon, which went through a previous failed pilot experiment with the IP, and Flanagan has noted that Jeff Bezos’ streaming service likely harbors some “institutional PTSD” but remain “very aware” of his King dreams. Recent positive indications have come down the highway, too, so let’s mull over what we can expect from another meeting of their spooky minds

Plot

After what we saw Flanagan recently do ^^^ with Edgar Allan Poe and Fall of the House of Usher, it’s tempting to wonder how he will deviate from a by-the-books adaptation on The Dark Tower, although we know that no matter what he does, Flanagan will remain intensely faithful to the spirit of King’s work. As such, a new series will give the post-apocalyptic gunslinger his proper due while he attempts to protect a tower (which is tied to multiple realities) from the antagonistic Man In Black (Walter Padick/Randall Flagg, who Constant Readers also know from The Stand).

Is there an official synopsis or publicly available road map on breaking down the eight novels by season? Not yet. However, Flanagan revealed that the series would probably require a five-season commitment plus a few movies. He already has “a pilot script I’m thrilled with and a very detailed outline for the first season and a broader outline for the subsequent seasons.”

Should we hit the latest “will this happen?” updates, too? Sure.

Flanagan insists that this series was meant to be, and King is incredibly eager for the same, which should count for plenty after the author seemingly resurrected the WBD Salem’s Lot movie with a single tweet. And King has been tweeting cryptically over the summer while writing, “Mid-world is still there. The tower still stands.” King also “smirk”-ingly admitted (to Dread Central at the Life of Chuck premiere) that The Dark Tower is what he wants to see adapted next out of his works. What of his Twitter goading? “I’m trying to rev myself up.” King then raved about Flanagan’s ability to “respect the material in a way that keeps him from getting too cute with it. And he’s great at what he does; he’s a real craftsman.”

How does Flanagan currently feel on progress? He told Hollywood Reporter, “That thing’s launching an oil tanker. But we’re working on. It was stalled first by me moving from Netflix to Amazon and stalled again by the strikes. It’s progressing, and we’re further along than we’ve ever been on it.” Ideally, he means even further than when, in 2022, Flanagan previewed his opening-shot intent with those fatefully iconic words: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” And this year at Emerald City Comic Con, Flanagan described a scene that he cannot wait to adapt:

“Very late in the story, there’s a scene that takes place in a forest where a character is being buried. And there’s a eulogy being given that made me cry the first time that I read it… [it] just kills me, and I can’t wait for that.”

Sure, this saga has seemingly taken forever to be jump started, but the same goes for King’s ordeal in writing the entire saga. He was even interrupted by a collision with a car while cycling, which led to extended physical recovery, and if King could finish those books, then a deserving TV series can be made.

It sounds like the “go ahead” from Amazon is all that Flanagan to fully throw himself into the project.

Cast

Flanagan frequently draws from the same nourishing well of usual suspects for his projects, and we can expect him to keep that practice alive here. So, we would likely see some of the following actors: Carla Gugino, Annabeth Gish, Rahul Kohli, Mark Hamill, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Pedretti, Katie Parker, Samantha Sloyan, and/or Kate Siegel. Then again, sometimes Flanagan shakes things up and brings in a show-stopper like Hamish Linklater (of Midnight Mass), who would make a fine Man in Black. Then there’s the casting of gunslinger Roland Deschain, which could be a head scratcher.

Previously, Flanagan fave favorite Henry Thomas declared that he would “love to have a part” in this series. Everybody who could be involved wants this project to happen, so it’s time to get that ball rolling.

Release Date

One more hang-up does exist: Flanagan’s new take on The Exorcist will arrive in March 2026. But if The Dark Tower series is officially greenlit soon (and that would involve Amazon overcoming their previous IP trauma with the title while trusting that Flanagan will not make a mess in his built-in playground there), then it shouldn’t take too long to have a pilot come together. Sure, this project would eventually seek to adapt eight novels, but that won’t happen in a first season, and Flanagan proved himself a master at turning around successive Netflix series at a (mostly) one-year interval. Also 2026? Please.

Trailer

This doesn’t simply feel like a trailer for the Elba-McConaghey movie. It feels like an outline of everything that went wrong.

T.I. and Tiny Harris have prevailed in their copyright infringement lawsuit against toy company MGA over its O.M.G. doll line. They won $71 million after a jury decided the toys did, in fact, infringe on the concept of the pop group OMG Girlz, which was created by Tiny and featured her daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins.

According to Law360 (via Billboard), the couple was awarded $17.9 million in actual damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages after one day of deliberation following the three-week trial.

The couple first sued the company in 2021, alleging “cultural appropriation and outright theft of the intellectual property” in the design of the O.M.G. dolls, which recreated the look of a group of “young multicultural women.” While MGA argued that few would remember the “short-lived” pop group, the Harris’ case presented side-by-side images of their OMG Girlz, comparing dolls to each of the group’s four members: Pullins, Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez, and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack.

This latest trial was the third in the saga; the first, in January 2023, ended in mistrial after inadmissible evidence was presented in court, while the second was overturned on appeal after finding MGA not liable for copyright infringement. MGA can still appeal this latest decision.

The win was the second legal victory for the couple in as many months, after a judge dismissed the sexual assault case against them in August — the second such case to be dismissed.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week, we got new music from Indigo De Souza, Father John Misty, Jamie xx, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Haley Heynderickx – “Foxglove”

On “Foxglove,” Haley Heynderickx unearths a new side of her music. 2018’s I Need to Start a Garden saw the Portland, Oregon artist steep her songs in a contemplative hush. Listening to it felt like lying down in a moss bed, its strong aromas blanketing you in a nature-induced bliss. While “Foxglove,” off her forthcoming second album, Seed of a Seed, draws from lush, verdant scenery, it’s more rambunctious than it lets on. Shuffling ahead at a train groove, Heynderickx employs bluesy acoustic guitar and lockstep upright bass to guide her along. Nature is more than still calm; it’s also wild. “Tell me, what is your dream? / Tell me, truly, is it the city life,” she asks in the opening couplet, all but answering that second question for you. “Foxglove” reckons with the potency of natural beauty. It’s a reminder that, sometimes, the best balm for life’s ailments is to, well, touch grass.

Fievel Is Glauque – “Love Weapon”

The latest single from Fievel Is Glauque actually predates Fievel Is Glauque as a band. Its genesis dates back to 2011 when bandleader Zach Phillips wrote it for his old group, Blanche Blanche Blanche. Here, it has gained new life as a Fievel song with Má Clement’s airy vocals and a ripper of a closing saxophone solo.

Drug Church – “Slide 2 Me”

Prude, the latest album from hardcore greats Drug Church, is almost here, ready to see the world on Oct. 4. Before then, however, the group has shared one final preview in the form of “Slide 2 Me.” It’s quintessential Drug Church: rowdy, catchy, gritty, and delivered with frontman Patrick Kindlon’s unmistakable bark.

Indigo De Souza – Wholesome Evil Fantasy

Fresh off the release of last year’s album All Of This Will End, Indigo De Souza’s surprise-released EP is full of surprises. Wholesome Evil Fantasy, the EP in question, filters the Asheville musician’s jangly, heart-on-sleeve artistry through a zealous zaniness that contains her most danceable, colorful, and poppiest music yet. The end result is closer to Charli XCX than Wednesday. Opening track “Wholesome” is rife with AutoTune and synth-pop production, and “Evil” and “Fantasy” lean on blown-out, hyper-compressed drums that see De Souza embrace a playful guilelessness despite the bleak lyrics. If anything, Wholesome Evil Fantasy sounds fittingly wholesome.

The Armed – “NEW! Christianity”

The Armed have described Everlasting Gaze, an EP hidden in the vinyl edition of last year’s Perfect Saviors, as a cleansing. It’s an appropriate statement for a project centered on crystallizing the Detroit collective’s trilogy of records into a more succinct package. “NEW! Christianity,” originally written as the lead single for Perfect Saviors (and now the lead single of its companion EP), reflects on false idolatry. “A life so painless / Without flaw,” the chorus ends. On their latest single, the Armed aren’t seeking your praise so much as setting themselves up for a new beginning.

Father John Misty – “Screamland”

Josh Tillman is back with a meandering, sprawling ballad, the type he arguably mastered on 2017’s opus Pure Comedy. With “Screamland,” however, one of the singles from the forthcoming Mahashmashana, matters take a shocking turn. Whereas the typical Tillman ballad seldom strays from a piano-and-string foundation, “Screamland” comes armed with bit-crushed, distorted synths and high decibel levels never before reached on a FJM joint. It’s a captivating new angle on a well-established indie artist.

Hey, ily! – “(Dis)connected”

Being terminally online comes with advantages and setbacks. The main setback? You’re terminally online. The main advantage? You make music that sounds as variegated and colorful as Hey, ily!. Caleb Cordes, the Billings, Montana musician whose amalgamation of digicore, emo, and gaming OSTs has placed his five-piece project Hey, ily! within a distinctly online DIY scene, has leveled up his group’s sound like an astute JRPG player. Hey, I Loathe You!, the band’s second album, revitalizes the lo-fi sugar rush and electrogoth of their 2021 EP Internet Breath with a glossy sheen. “I’m so connected that I’m disconnected,” Cordes sings on the chorus of lead single “(Dis)connected,” speaking to the paradoxical isolation of the world wide web. On their latest song, Hey ily! manage to connect their influences in a thrilling, deliriously fun package.

Jamie xx – In Waves

Nearly a decade after his debut solo album, Jamie xx has finally returned with its follow-up. In Waves takes the xx member’s house-inflected beats and dials up the bass and limns it with a shiny polish. Compared to the more outré stylings on its predecessor, Jamie xx’s latest sounds exquisite, fit for a lavish club where you and a room full of strangers while away the nocturnal hours.

Origami Angel – “Sixth Cents (Get It?)”

D.C. emo duo Origami Angel have always been known for their pun-heavy song titles. They parenthetically acknowledge the running gag themselves on “Sixth Cents (Get It?),” another preview of the forthcoming Feeling Not Found. That playful spirit takes shape in the music itself, too. Ryland Heagy’s sticky-sweet vocal melodies and Pat Doherty’s kinetic, double-bass drumming all but ensure that you get more than just a bit. You get Origami Angel.

Blackstarkids – Saturn Dayz

Kansas City trio Blackstarkids recently shared the news of their imminent hiatus. It’s uncertain how long the break will last, but they’ve given us one more album to tide us over. Given that it’s possibly their last, Saturn Dayz encapsulates the core Blackstarkids sound into a dozen infectious tunes. From the ironically upbeat “Killjoy” to the deep grooves undergirding “Modern Happiness,” this album reminds us why Blackstarkids will be sorely missed.

The wait for LG7 just got a lot easier.

Lady Gaga is releasing a companion album to Joker: Folie À Deux called Harlequin, a nod to the character she plays in the Joker sequel, Harley “Lee” Quinn. The album, which contains 13 songs (many of which are covers), comes out this Friday, September 27, a week ahead of the movie.

For Joker: Folie À Deux, Gaga taught herself to be a worse singer. “People know me by my stage name, Lady Gaga, right? That’s me as that performer, but that is not what this movie is; I’m playing a character,” she told Empire. “So I worked a lot on the way that I sang to come from Lee, and to not come from me as a performer. How do you take music and have it just be an extension of the dialogue, as opposed to breaking into song for no conceivable reason? It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before.”

Find the Harlequin cover art and tracklist below.

Lady Gaga’s Harlequin Album Cover Artwork

Lady Gaga’s Harlequin Tracklist

1. “Good Morning”
2. “Get Happy”
3. “Oh, When The Saints”
4. “World On A String”
5. “If My Friends Could See Me Now”
6. “That’s Entertainment”
7. “Smile”
8. “The Joker”
9. “Folie À Deux”
10. “Gonna Build A Mountain”
11. “Close To You”
12. “Happy Mistake”
13. “That’s Life”

Harlequin is out 9/27 via Little Monsters/Interscope. Find more information here.

Bad Bunny and Lizzy McAlpine each tugged at heartstrings with their latest releases, but in wildly different ways. Nessa Barrett and Kelsea Ballerini continued teasing their respective forthcoming albums, while Alec Benjamin and Keshi treated fans to bonus tracks.

Check that out and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.

Bad Bunny — “Una Velita”

Omnipresent phenomenon Bad Bunny will never outgrow Puerto Rico. “Una Velita” features a choir and a slow tempo, underscored by guitar, and appears to shine a light on the lasting impact of Hurricane Maria, which made landfall September 2017. As noted by Pitchfork, Bad Bunny’s lyrical references to palm trees may be a nod toward Puerto Rico’s New Progressive Party ahead of the country’s gubernatorial vote on November 5.

Nessa Barrett — “Dirty Little Secret”

“I’m done playing nice,” Nessa Barrett softly sings as the opening line of “Dirty Little Secret.” The song’s title is self-explanatory. Barrett hushed vocals reflect her simple request: “I don’t have to be the one / We don’t have to be in love / Let’s keep it discrete, sneaking out the back door.” The provocative single and accompanying Aerin Moreno-directed video follows “Passenger Princess.” While “Passenger Princess” explores desperately wanting to hold onto someone, “Dirty Little Secret” explores lustful detachment. Both set the stage for Aftercare, Barrett’s forthcoming sophomore full-length album.

Lizzy McAlpine — “Pushing It Down And Praying”

Lizzy McAlpine released Older (And Wiser), the deluxe version of her April 2024 album Older, and “Pushing It Down And Praying” leads the charge. The painstaking ballad leaves nothing to the imagination. McAlpine is stuck between two people, but she’s more conflicted over how she feels about the whole ordeal. McAlpine co-directed the equally beautiful video with sweetiepie, including a dance sequence with Role Model.

Nelly Furtado Feat. Charlotte Day Wilson — “All Comes Back”

Nelly Furtado’s 7, her newly released album and first LP since 2017, came from a pool of “400-500 pieces of music,” and I’m glad “All Comes Back” made the cut. “All Comes Back” features Charlotte Day Wilson, and while their voices sound lovely together, the piano-laced ballad comes straight from Furtado’s heart. “I was going through major, like, life change — a major breakup,” Furtado told NPR’s Scott Simon. “And it’s so poignant sometimes when the heart is tender, and you’re figuring yourself out.”

Kelsea Ballerini — “Two Things”

Kelsea Ballerini will release Patterns on October 25. With “Two Things,” Ballerini is slowly immersing fans into the album’s all-consuming world. The country-pop singer described the acoustic, emotional song as “the story of learning to break the pattern of fighting with and learning to fight for.” Patterns will follow Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, Ballerini’s Grammy-nominated EP chronicling her divorce. Based on “Two Things” alone, it doesn’t feel hyperbolic to believe Ballerini could win Best Country Album next time around.

Jamie xx Feat. Romy & Oliver Sim — “Waited All Night”

Jamie xx finally released In Waves, his long-awaited solo LP. “Waited All Night” is a lovely touch because it features his The xx bandmates, Romy and Oliver Sim. “It’s wonderful to have the gang back together, working in new ways, working out new lives,” Jamie xx said in a statement, as per Pitchfork. “I wouldn’t be here without them.” It helps that “Waited All Night” is objectively an infectious, rhythmic banger.

Ava Max — “Spot A Fake”

“I’ve been waiting so long to share this record with you,” Ava Max wrote on Instagram. Now that “Spot A Fake” is out, Max is done holding her tongue. The uptempo dance-pop single is an anthem of betrayal. Max compares someone breaking girl code to “a demon blowin’ a kiss” and “a spring rose, but she’s covered in thorns.” Grant Boutin, known for producing for Tate McRae, and Pink Slip co-produced “Spot A Fake,” and Max co-wrote the song with Boutin, LØLØ, and Salem Ilese to write the song.

Alec Benjamin — “The Plan”

All is going according to plan for Alec Benjamin, so it checks out that his “The Plan” chorus finds the multi-platinum-certified singer-songwriter melodically admitting, “And the plan didn’t work, but it all worked out / And what I wanted thеn isn’t what I’ve got now / But if I did it again, wouldn’t change it anyhow.” Benjamin is currently staging his headlining 12 Notes Tour and sweetened the pot by releasing 12 Notes (Deluxe) [16 Notes].

Keshi — “Kiss Me Right”

Keshi released Requiem, his sophomore LP, on September 13, and he didn’t make fans wait more than a week for Requiem (Bonus Edition). “Kiss Me Right” is indeed a bonus, reinforcing Keshi’s continued evolution as a versatile artist. Don’t listen to this dynamic track if you’re on the fence about whether to indulge in a potentially reckless romantic situation because Keshi will convince you to go for it within the first 15 seconds — “Feels so good when you miss me, I / need one night just to get me by / Take it all back if you kiss me right” — which is the utmost compliment.

grantperez & Benny Sings — “Fuzzy Feeling”

Gen Z is in good hands with grantperez. The Filipino-Australian artist has global appeal, which is on display with “Fuzzy Feeling.” The upbeat, melodic song captures the hallucinogenic effect of having a crush. The Babak Khoshnoud-directed video finds grantperez whimsically daydreaming while wearing a racing helmet, and the lyrics find him wearing his heart on his sleeve.

For the past four years, Portugal’s Afro Nation festival has been the biggest Afrobeats festival in the world, and that tradition will continue in 2025. Festival organizers The Malachite Group have announced the dates for the fifth anniversary edition of Afro Nation in Portimão with headliners Burna Boy and Tems. Afro Nation Portugal 2025 will take place from July 9-11, 2025 on Praia Da Rocha Beach, returning to its home for the past four years. The presale for tickets begins on October 2, with the general sale starting on October 3. You can find more information here.

Burna Boy has been a fixture of Afro Nation since its inception in 2019, headlining the fest in 2022 and 2023, and helping to launch extensions of the festival in Miami and Detroit in 2023. While he’s taken a year off to complete his own tour, letting Rema, Asake, and J Hus take the reins for this year’s fest, his return will undoubtedly make a splash.

Meanwhile, Tems will make her Afro Nation debut with her headlining set next year after releasing her debut album, Born In The Wild, this past June to rave reviews and a respectable Billboard showing, peaking at No. 56 on the albums chart and at No. 2 on the World Albums chart.

Jensen Ackles previously told UPROXX that he was game to “show some tush” ahead of Soldier Boy debuting in The Boys‘ third season. Unfortunately for those viewers who enjoyed his view performance, Soldier Boy went on ice for the fourth season (leaving us only with a Blondie cover for the memories), but wait. The bad-daddy Supe did surface in a fourth-season finale scene that showed an emotional Homelander learning that his bio dad (who hates him) was still alive. Can we expect emotions and fists and laser eyes to fly again between these two in the fifth season?

Oh, it is happening. Despite Ackles being a co-lead of the future Vought Rising prequel series, there will be plenty of Soldier Boy in The Boys‘ final season. Sure, the show will make time for showcasing Ashley’s new powers and handling the A-Train situation, too, but those are no obstacles. Showrunner Eric Kripke is a pro at overstuffing this show to the optimal degree, and he assured Games Radar that the Soldier Boy/Homelander relationship will figure prominently into the fifth season:

“You know, what we realized was we really hadn’t explored the father-son relationship much between Homelander and Soldier Boy. There’s a lot of material there, how soldier boy feels about Homelander, how Homelander feels about his dad, and so we really wanted to dig into that relationship.”

And you know that Soldier Boy will make Homelander go through more hell. He’ll likely one-up the “just a cheap f*cking knockoff” remark with taunting about Homelander’s former lover, Stormfront, because those two surely have some sort of history together. Whether it’s strictly platonic or more will not matter if Homelander gets himself worked up with jealousy over mere proximity between Soldier Boy and Homie’s former sky-high lady.

Previously, Ackles signaled his willingness (to Entertainment Weekly) to do anything with his Supernatural chief: “I told Krip, ‘Look, man, put me in anytime. You tell me when to come running, I’ll come running.’” And Kripke was thrilled to publicly make that call (via Deadline) at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con: “We can announce that Soldier Boy will be a regular in Season 5. The motherf*cker’s back.”

The Boys will return in 2026, but Gen V will fill the gap in 2025.

Sabrina Carpenter just launched her Short N’ Sweet Tour in Columbus, Ohio last night (September 23), and a few things stood out. First, the setlist was terrific. Second, Carpenter has a pre-taped and-of-show goodbye video that is gold. Third, something was different about “Nonsense.”

Is Sabrina Carpenter Doing “Nonsense” Outros On The Short N’ Sweet Tour?

Fans know that traditionally, when Carpenter performs her song “Nonsense,” she usually switches up the lyrics of the song’s outro, usually to reflect the location or occasion of the performance. Well, in Columbus, she didn’t do that. Instead, right before the outro started, the video screen behind her (intentionally) glitched out, Carpenter was lowered into the stage as her microphone was muted, and behind her, an on-screen message read, “We apologize for the interruption of our program due to technical difficulties.” There’s a video of that here.

This has been interpreted by some as Carpenter’s way of retiring the “Nonsense” outro from her live shows, which has prompted mixed reactions online.

Some online commenters aren’t sure about the apparent decision, with one user writing, “Cutting the best part of the show? That’s like taking the punchline out of a joke. Fans live for those outros, and now it’s just ‘Nonsense’ without the spice. Let’s hope this isn’t a permanent change, because that’s what makes her shows unforgettable!”

However, many users are understanding of the “Nonsense” tradition potentially coming to an end. One user wrote, “she’s growing as an artist no need for her to cling onto the same trick and she has new songs to perform now,” another added, “that’s so smart to “end” that era like this,” and another chimed in, “i know she was so TIRED.”

(Coincidentally, this is all happening shortly after “Nonsense” eclipsed 1 billion streams on Spotify.)

Important to note is that as of this post, Carpenter hasn’t confirmed the theories, and it remains to be seen if Carpenter will give “Nonsense” the same treatment at upcoming performances.

Hip-hop has always had a uniform, in one way or another. Versions of rap’s various aesthetics have been locked into popular consciousness far long than the trends themselves were embraced by the genre’s fans in real life.

Picture a rapper in your mind. Perhaps you imagined a 1980s b-boy, replete with a Kangol bucket hat and Adidas tracksuit. Maybe your envisioned rap star has on baggy jeans, sagging just below his waistline, paired with an undershirt and Timberland boots. Or perhaps they’re more modern, decked out in contemporary couture, with colorful braids and facial piercings.

The point is, there’s always been a particular “look” — until someone comes along and disrupts the status quo. This generation’s disruptor is Tyler The Creator, who defied rap’s sartorial conventions — and everything else about contemporary hip-hop culture — from the moment he and Odd Future thrashed their way into the spotlight, right up until now, with his GOLF clothing line redefining hip-hop’s look for a much preppier set of rebels.

GOLF — also affectionately known as “Golf Wang,” a spoonerism of “Wolf Gang,” part of one of Odd Future’s provocative mottos — distinguishes itself from the usual streetwear mainstays with its concentration on clean basics and classic staples, often in pastels or laid-back patterns that suggest throwback casuals without getting stuck in outmoded mindsets about style. The looks take inspiration from the way Tyler dresses himself, and are often even directly designed by the multitalented rapper and producer.

The resulting styles stand out against the backdrop of the perceived studied shagginess of hip-hop fashion, no matter which era you compare it to. Rather than oversized hoodies, GOLF adherents don button-up cardigans with classic prints of hunting dogs that look like the wearer is draped in a painting straight from the wall of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The popularity of GOLF has manifested itself — and propagated itself, like a perpetual motion engine — in further collaborations with the legacy brands it was influenced by, like Lacoste and Levi Strauss & Co., as well as streetwear mainstays such as Converse, Vans, and Japanese sandal brand SUICOKE. Such is the demand for Tyler’s distinctive eye for established silhouettes with fanciful details that GOLF was spun off in 2016, offering higher-end products; in 2021, it was spun off into its own standalone luxury brand.

The brand also updates genre staples, cleverly calling back to the Golden Era while updating long-respected mainstays with a youthful edge. For instance, there’s perhaps no one who defines hip-hop more thoroughly than the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, and a signature of the Staten Island product’s style has always been Clarks Wallabees. GOLF has collaborated with the 200-year-old shoemaker for a whimsical take on its classic moccasin, with dainty pastels and embossed heart patterns.

This is a reflection of their creator — pun intended — who has long drawn from the history and core tenets of hip-hop, while imbuing it with his own irreverent sense of humor and whimsy. Take, for instance, the presentation of his most recent album, Call Me If You Get Lost. While it’s presented as a hardcore project in the vein of DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz mixtapes, it also draws musically from the breezy style of 1960s big band jazz that is perhaps best recognized by modern audiences as the soundtrack of 007 spoof series Austin Powers.

Tyler often cites BET fixtures such as Rap City and 106 & Park as major inspirations, but also freely admits to lampooning their version of hip-hop, if not outright rejecting the archetypes presented on BET during his childhood. And why wouldn’t he? If you know you’re no 50 Cent, Fat Joe, or Jay-Z, you have two options: Either try to be them, or become something different.

Growing up in LA County as Tyler did, the options would have been even more constrained. After all, the closest thing to a mainstay on mainstream radio and television from the West Coast in the early 2000s was The Game, who loudly espoused his gang ties — something that’s almost as dangerous to imitate in LA as it is to embrace. So Tyler, who found solace in skate culture and the burgeoning fashion scene in the Fairfax district, decided to do things his own way.

Now, to go to one of Tyler’s concerts or his fan-favorite musical festival, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, is to go to a GOLF fashion convention, with thousands of young rap fans adorned in floral prints and pastels, where the usual rap show uniform might have consisted of throwback basketball jerseys or fresh-pressed Dickies work pants and plaid button-up shirts. GOLF’s designs bring a pop of prep, but down to earth, like The Creator himself, who often eschews the trappings of rapper wealth — big, glittering chains and ostentatious, name-brand styling — in favor of the sort of comfy clothes he might have been seen in riding his bike down Fairfax.

That ingenuity and dogged individuality eventually paid off for him, both in the musical success of Odd Future and in the prevailing popularity of his GOLF brand — which, fittingly, centers around the flagship store on Fairfax Ave, the center of the strip where he began his defiant journey of self-definition. That there are so many fans of GOLF worldwide is a testament to how truly relatable that story has been.