Category: News

For someone who’s been one of the most prolific artists in rap music over the course of his 17-year career, Gucci Mane has been oddly quiet lately, containing his musical appearances mostly to a handful of singles and features on other artists’ projects. In recent months, he dropped “Rumors” with Lil Durk, “Blood All On It” with Young Dolph and Key Glock, “Serial Killers,” and “Mrs. Davis,” but one song a month — while an impressive output for anyone else — is a slow year for Guwop.

Fortunately, that may soon change with the announcement of So Icy Gang: The ReUp, which is due to drop on June 17. A deluxe edition of Gucci’s 2020 1017 Global Music compilation So Icy Gang, Vol. 1, the new album adds 13 new tracks to the original 19, which included contributions from 1017 signees BiC Fizzle, Big Scarr, BigWalkDog, Hotboy Wes, Enchanting, Pooh Shiesty, and Foogiano. The additional tracks include the ones named above, while the picks from Foogiano and Pooh Shiesty are welcome surprises considering their current situations (both men are locked up for separate crimes and facing serious prison sentences). The ReUp will be 1017’s fourth compilation release in just three years; in 2021, the label released both So Icy Boyz and a Christmas album titled So Icy Christmas. Now that’s consistency.

You can pre-save So Icy Gang: The ReUp here and stream it on 6/17 via Atlantic Records.

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

Not many artists can say they earned a major career success as a teen, but Bridie Monds-Watson isn’t most artists. The Irish songwriter, who adopts the moniker Soak, found overwhelming success with their 2015 debut album and became the youngest person ever nominated for a Mercury Prize. But with the massive accomplishment also came the immense pressures associated with it.

After crossing over into art-pop territory with their 2019 sophomore album Grim Town, Monds-Watson returns to their jaunty indie rock roots with their newest release, If I Never Know You Like This Again. Infusing contemplations on identity and isolation over cascading chords, Monds-Watson delivers a collection of dazzling and confessional songs. To celebrate the release of If I Never Know You Like This Again, Monds-Watson sat down with Uproxx to talk about enthusiastically rowdy crowds, Phoebe Bridgers, and listening to their gut in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Honest, self-depreciative, tears, funny?

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I like it to be remembered as intentional. That nothing I did was done without purpose.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
You can always rely on a enthusiastically rowdy crowd in Dublin.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
Recently, Jeff Tweedy.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
This is literally an impossible question. A few years ago on a press tour I had a day off in Nashville and stood in line for hours alone to get one of those Nashville hot chicken sandwiches (that’s what they’re called right?). The pickle to lettuce ratio was perfect.

What album do you know every word to?
Tegan and Sara’s The Con.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?
I saw Bon Iver at Montreux Jazz festival a few years back and Julien Baker opened. The standing area at the venue was built on a slope so I could see super well. I wish all venues were build that way. The show was just *chef’s kiss.*

What is the best outfit for performing and why?
The baggier the better. Minimum effort, maximum result.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
Phoebe Bridgers wins on all platforms.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
If Tommy and James are in the van it’s likely to be anything by The Replacements.

What’s the last thing you Googled?
Why do all Americans have such good teeth?

What album makes for the perfect gift?
A good classic like I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning by Bright Eyes or High Violet by The National.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
An abandoned cottage at the furthest southwest coast of Ireland. Or my car.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
My first tattoo is of Max from Where The Wild Things Are. I used to have my parents read me that book every night as a bedtime story and eventually started asking them to call me Max also.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Any artist that’s telling the truth. You can tell instantly when someone means what they’re saying in music.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Recently an older lady who I’d never met before came up to me outside a bar to tell me she’d been watching me all night, that I had a kind face and that I had lit up the whole bar with my laughing. That was nice. Also my friends got me an air-fryer for my most recent birthday.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Be authentic and let your gut guide you. Only take advice from people you respect, especially don’t just take people’s advice because they’re older than you.

What’s the last show you went to?
I was supporting Lucy Dacus on tour recently and watched her set on the last night from an opera box. It was legit.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
Not a movie but if The Office is on then the channel isn’t changing.

What’s one of your hidden talents?
When I was younger I thought I was a genius because sometimes I could predict the next line of pop songs that I’d never heard before. Now I know that’s not super unique and don’t think it’s so special anymore.

If I Never Know You Like This Again is out now via Rough Trade. Get it here.

Spending time outside and enjoying nature is something we all can appreciate. Whether you’re an avid adventurer or leisurely wanderer, visiting nearby parks, beaches, and other outdoor public spaces adds freshness to our everyday lives. While getting outside is an ingrained component of many of our weekly routines, this privilege isn’t accessible to everyone, especially those in underserved metropolitan areas and urban communities.

Many people within those communities don’t have easy access to parks in their own local area, with the larger state parks and national parks being even harder to get to. While this may seem daunting, there are organizations and resources taking action to shift the narrative.

Outdoor recreation brand REI has teamed up with Trust for Public Land — a non-profit organization that creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come — to spark a conversation about park equity problems and the importance of communities having access to public parks.

If you’re ready to learn more about how REI and Trust for the Public Land are helping community members unlock the full potential of the outdoors, watch the video above. Environmental activists Kiana Kazemi and Brendan Shane, the Climate Director of Trust for the Public Land, discuss how you can be a part of the progress and support movements like this.

Taylor Swift has a lot of fans. That’s obvious enough without needing to prove it, but as evidence of that, note that all of her albums, save for her self-titled debut, have topped the charts in various countries around the world. As is the case with anybody who has reached that level of popularity, though, there are people out there who absolutely cannot stand Swift.

As for Robert De Niro, he falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

In a new Variety interview, De Niro and fellow Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal talked about this year’s event, which will feature Swift’s “All Too Well” short film. De Niro declared (perhaps jokingly, based on the laugh and what he said next), “I have all of her albums [laughs].” He then continued, “I’m not not a fan. I probably hear her music and like it on the radio. My young daughter puts a station on, and it drives me crazy when they chat. When they have music, it’s OK. […] We have a deal that when the chatter goes on, we go to chill [music]. That’s the compromise. I go to spa [music] when I’m alone.”

Rosenthal also noted of Swift, “We’re always looking to show artists’ work to show what else they do — the interdisciplinary work. It’s always interesting to watch what artists do when they’re not doing what we think that they should continually do.”

Check out the full interview here.

For the past couple of years, the phrase “pop-punk revival” has been uttered and typed so many times that any meaning it could’ve ever possibly held has completely faded. We have Blink-182 drummer and powerhouse producer Travis Barker to thank for this exhaustion after he took on a slew of clients and offered them all the same sound with slightly different packaging. This ranges from longtime artists like Willow and Avril Lavigne to literal random dudes such as Iann Dior and Jdxn, but the most important (read: blameable) figure was none other than Machine Gun Kelly.

“I always wondered why people think this is so new for me,” MGK, real name Colson Baker, said in an interview, promoting the 2020 album Tickets To My Downfall, “when I spent half a decade on Warped Tour stages and covering songs by all different types of bands.” But it was obviously a different direction for his recorded music and he knew it would be a big deal, which is why he did it. Revamping a genre that hasn’t been mainstream since the early 2000s was a way to stay in the cultural conversation. Plus, he already had floppy hair, piercings, and a history of misogyny, so it was an easy switch (and it will also be an easy switch back, bye-bye MGK).

The term “pop-punk revival” understandably bred as much resentment as it did excitement, maybe even more. Fans of smaller pop-punk bands like The Story So Far, State Champs, Boston Manor, and newer, not-Travis-Barker-related acts such as Meet Me At The Altar and The Linda Lindas, just to name a few, were all wondering: What do you mean pop-punk is being revived? It never died in the first place. Slowly, the phrase “pop-punk revival” revealed itself to be nothing more than a marketing slogan. It succeeded as a result of nostalgia culture, and it was a route through which artists on major labels could rise. And it worked — it usually does. Emo Nite was successful from its inception, as is the new, mind-boggling When We Were Young Fest.

In a recent Rolling Stone article that reads more like an advertisement than an essay, Rob Sheffield writes about this whole resurgence: “It’s beautifully bizarre, since pop-punk was never about aiming for cultural significance.” But, it’s not “beautifully bizarre” that this time around pop-punk has achieved cultural significance; it was meticulously planned out by labels and teams. Maybe Sheffield thinks that the fact that this is all a marketing scheme doesn’t matter, and maybe that’s true — MGK inspiring young people to pick up electric guitars is an undeniably positive thing. But it’s disingenuous to act as if this all happened organically; it’s wrong to even call it a “revival” when it was incredibly forced. This commercialization of pop-punk is just another example of the uselessness of genres; they are tools used to manipulate audiences. This happens all of the time in the music industry, but perhaps this time it’s particularly dismal because this is all so blatantly antithetical to the DIY and anti-capitalist values that punk is historically rooted in. It feels cruelly ironic, and it takes the spotlight away from smaller bands who are doing much more interesting things.

And there are so many smaller bands doing much more interesting things! Something that is not being discussed right now, and will not be discussed by most of the media because it’s not as commercially successful, is the emo moment we’re having with the recent reunions of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Elliott, Algernon Cadwallader, and Pity Sex. The return of these beloved, cult-followed acts promises much more than nostalgia culture could ever give. It promises movement forward instead of backward, and it means the strengthening of tight-knit communities.

When I saw Machine Gun Kelly at SummerStage last year, the crowd stood in place, singing along and sometimes bopping their heads. Mostly I noticed nearly every person in the crowd holding their phone in the air, desperate to film for their Snapchat or Instagram story because appearing to be at an MGK show on social media was more important than actually being at one. Algernon Cadwallader, speaking to Spin about their comeback, recently said about playing shows: “Pedals were always an issue, getting kicked and unplugged and microphones bashed into my face because people were singing along. It was like a war out there. I think we were just like whatever, if that’s what y’all wanna do, that’s cool. It’s not gonna sound as good but I don’t think that’s the point.” The underground scenes often have more vibrance and fervency, where the point of being there is to experience absolute self-expression. It’s about fans connecting with themselves and everyone around them.

This is not a revival of any sort, since emo has been doing well as of late with bands such as Retirement Party, Joyce Manor, Ratboys, Prince Daddy And The Hyena, Worst Party Ever, and more. But this series of comebacks — which notably follow that of iconic early-2000s group My Chemical Romance — marks an exciting time for fans of the genre, especially oldheads who were into these bands when they were active. The ardor here is driven purely by love for the songs and the scene; these reunion shows will be packed rooms of vehement music appreciators, and that is as punk as it gets.

Much of the discussion in the aftermath of Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals has revolved around Draymond Green and whether or not he should have gotten ejected for a second technical foul. While the play in question was being reviewed, ESPN’s Steve Javie more or less said that Green was going to get away with a situation where a technical could be assessed because of how a decision that gigantic would impact the game.

Those comments and the general decision have come under criticism, which included Grant Williams expressing his desire that the standard Green got held to is applied to every player. There’s also been some big picture conversation comparing this era of the NBA to that of the 1980s and 1990s, because it is a thing that happened in the league and people, for some reason, cannot stop going back to this well at every opportunity.

Anyway, on Wednesday’s episode of Get Up!, Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg spoke at length about “the softening of the game,” with the pair talking about how low the bar is for officials to assess technical fouls. The whole conversation bothered Redick — particularly the fact that we’re on day three of discussing the Green this — who especially did not like Greenberg bringing up how “the softening of the game, a lot of it comes from the constant complaining to the officials, the constant whining, the constant selling of calls.”

“This nostalgia that you have for the ’80s and ’90s, like, great era of basketball, it’s awesome,” Redick said. “But it’s at the [expense] of our generation of players, and it has been for the last 15 years, and it’s annoying.”

Smith called it “an absolutely joke,” while Greenberg said “those guys didn’t complain on literally every single play when they did or didn’t get a call.” Redick wasn’t buying this, and continued to excoriate them for how they venerate the past.

“The standard that you guys have set, this nostalgia standard that you guys have set for players in the ’80s and ’90s, and then comparing us to it all the time, like we are a substandard to that, it gets annoying,” Redick said. “And a lot of your arguments, like complaining to the officials, that’s the same thing that players did back then. And if you wanna watch Finals games that are 75-72, by all means, have your nostalgic era, please.”

A rideshare driver, who has not only become a Jeopardy! champion but also a Philadelphia hero, has ended his reign on the trivia show. Ryan Long managed to rack up $299,400 in winnings over 16-consecutive victories. It’s even more impressive once you learn that he actually forgot his glasses for a handful of episodes.

Long lost out to Eric Ahasic on Monday’s episode, bringing his winning stream to an end. The Philly native will return to the stage this fall alongside the iconic fan-favorite (and hopefully future host) Amy Schneider for the Season 38 Tournament of Champions. Despite the loss, Long posted an inspirational message to his fans and supporters, but mostly to his mom. In a series of tweets, Long said:

So many feelings…I’m going to try and keep this short, but I’ll probably fail. I want to thank everybody who watched and supported me. I want to thank all my fellow contestants who were, to a person, exemplary human beings. I want to thank my momma and everybody who put me in the position to do this. I owe them everything.

Sometimes it seems like society put you in a box, and you are classified as a certain thing with a certain destiny, even though you may feel differently inside. For the longest time, I didn’t believe that a person could really break out of that box. But I feel like this thing that just happened is proof that you can. Trust yourself, hold on to your dreams, you know who you really are. Take your shot, and don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do this or that, or you should be doing things a certain way. As my grandmom would’ve said, never let ANYBODY steal your shine. Much love to everybody. See you in the fall.

Despite the loss, Long has received a ton of support for his time on the trivia show and intends to spend his winnings on his son and family. The best part is that he will no longer have to drive all day in Philadelphia, which is the hardest job of all.

(Via TVLine)

As members of the California-based supergroup Mount Westmore, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg have been working closely together with E-40 and Too Short on their new album, Bad MFs, which is out now via Gala Music. However, it appears they liked working together so much that they’re expanding their endeavors. With Cube’s summer basketball league, Big3, returning for its fifth season, Snoop is joining the fun as part-owner of team Bivouac, which Cube revealed to TMZ Sports. In addition, they’re offering fans the chance to buy in, too.

They’ll do so with a custom cryptocurrency called FEAT — Forever Experience Action Token — dropping on Friday, June 10. “It’s better than an NFT,” he said in the interview. “I think people who can see the future of sports wanna be closer to the action. I don’t think any other league can offer something like what we’re doing… In a lot of ways, we’re in the perfect spot.”

Of Snoop’s involvement, he said, “Snoop is always at the cutting edge. He always wanna be first. When we said we was gonna start selling teams, he hit me right away saying, ‘I need to be a part of that.’”

That’s certainly characteristic of the Doggfather, who also said he wanted to make Death Row Records “the first label in the metaverse” after acquiring it earlier this year. Meanwhile, we’ll see if he can make Bivouac, which boasts a roster including Corey Brewer, Gerald Green, and Will Bynum coached by Gary Payton, a contender this season, which starts June 18 in Chicago.

Ever the dedicated professional, Adam Sandler stopped by Good Morning America this week to promote his new Netflix movie Hustle. However, the actor was noticeably sporting a black eye and nasty gash on his face. Was it the result of his infamous love of pick-up basketball games or maybe taking a punch for his latest film? Nope. Sandler revealed the whole embarrassing story, and as he readily admits about his injury, “There is nothing cool about this thing.”

Turns out, the black eye was the result of over-tucked sheets and an ill-placed phone as Sandler laughingly explained the “bed accident” to GMA hosts George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan.

Via People:

“I was in bed, in the middle of the night and, you know how they tuck in your sheets at the bottom, some people? Somebody tucked in the sheets too much and I had my phone in the middle of the bed. I kicked my feet up to untuck it, the phone went flying, hit me in the head.”

“I refused to acknowledge it,” he continued. “I felt blood. I said, ‘There’s something going on but I gotta sleep.’”

According to Sandler, the black eye made him look like a badass while walking around New York until he sheepishly admits what really happened.

“It looks so cool,” Sandler said. “And I’m on the streets of New York, I see people going, ‘Oh, okay. He likes to fight, that guy.’ I’m like, ‘It was a bed accident.’”

Hustle is available on Netflix now.

(Via People)

Conservative Barbie Tomi Lahren is at it again, and by “it” that means spreading baseless voter fraud conspiracies to rile up her right-wing base.

Her latest target was the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, who she called out in a series of tweets claiming she’d received a mail-in ballot to vote in California’s upcoming midterms despite not living in the state. Lahren, who’s also had a grand time spreading misinformation about the 2020 Presidential Election for the last two years, used the postal error to spark fear and outrage in her followers who likely already subscribe to her belief that our current democratic process is corrupt.

“Just received my California voting code and mail-in ballot information,” Lahren tweeted. “Only problem is I haven’t lived in California in over 2 years and have been registered in Tennessee for over 2 years but it’s all good, fraud is a myth.”

Lahren is currently in-between jobs, making the move from Fox Nation over to Outkick, a conservative sports website. The site’s founder, Clay Travis, replied to Lahren’s tweet, adding fuel to the fire by suggesting the mail-in ballot was part of a larger scheme by the state to keep taxing the “gotcha” commentator.

And because her initial claim was finally getting some attention, Lahren kept on fanning the flames, employing some of her favorite catchphrases including “dirty democrats” and “illegal immigrants” to drive home the idea that our elections aren’t safe.

Unfortunately for Lahren, none of her fearmongering was based in fact, something the LA County Registrar’s Office was more than happy to point out when it responded to her tweets. Not only did the account shut down any notion that Lahren could vote in future California elections, but but it also dragged her performative outrage in the classiest way possible.

Only time will tell which Twitter tirade Lahren goes on next.

(Via RawStory)