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.

Patrick Carney doesn’t want to come across like an asshole today. One half of The Black Keys for the past 20+ years, he has just landed in Los Angeles from his home in Nashville ahead of the band’s show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood to celebrate the release of their latest album, Dropout Boogie. With a 500-person capacity, The Troubadour gig represents a massive underplay for The Black Keys, who could easily fill an arena for this purpose. And while Carney and his creative partner Dan Auerbach appreciate the untouched ’60s and ’70s classicism of The Troub, it’s not without its challenges.

“It’s actually a headache when we do this sh*t because we’ve been a band for so long, we’ve got so many friends in these cities that I just have to be an asshole to all my friends and tell them they can’t come,” Carney says on a call.

Fortunately for people who can’t make it through the door, the band has a full US tour scheduled this summer in support of Dropout Boogie. The band’s 11th album, it arrives exactly 20 years after the Akron, Ohio duo’s basement-recorded debut, The Big Come Up. The pair have become one of the most recognizable rock bands through the years, staying famously insular, save for the presence of producer Danger Mouse on four of their albums. But for Dropout Boogie, things were different. Carney and Auerbach welcomed new faces into the fold of Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville, and the result is an album that embraces the band’s longtime blues influences like never before. We caught up with Carney to talk about it all.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

So the Dropout Boogie release is within a day of the 20 year anniversary of your first album, The Big Come Up, and this album really reminds me of that first one, more so than any other Black Keys release.

I agree with that, yeah.

Were you thinking about that a lot when you worked on these songs? Did that play into it at all?

Not really, because I’ve never really had too many 20th anniversaries of anything. Even in my high school class, we were so cynical that we canceled our 20th reunion because no one wanted to go. But just thinking, while we’re making it like, “Oh yeah, we started this band like 20 years ago…” One thing that I was sure of going into making the record, was that I wanted the drums to sound a little bit more f*cked up. Closer to some sonic stuff that we were doing on Brothers. And I guess if you listen to the first record, it just sounds really bizarre, in a cool way. But the last song [“Didn’t I Love You”] on the new record definitely feels like something that would’ve come out of the basement.

Totally.

I guess it’s like a poetic statement putting that song last, because it finishes a 20-year cycle which kind of demonstrates the overall aesthetic or even the point of the band. We edited some stuff off of the front of that, and a little bit of stuff at the end, but really what you hear is us just kind of tumbling in and out of a song. And that’s the take, it’s the first take.

There’s definitely a rawness about these songs that I hadn’t heard on a Black Keys record for a while. Is it from that first take approach that you guys did with a lot of songs on this album?

Well, we’ve always been the first take type of band. But after Brothers, we went in the studio with Danger Mouse to make what became El Camino. He had this idea that we should make some stuff that was faster, because my typical operating frequency for rhythm is like Wu-Tang Clan speed, 95 BPM or something. It’s like a no-go zone for rock and roll because it’s really good for a big riff, but it’s hard for other types of stuff. And I never really understood that, but Brian (Danger Mouse) was like, “Yeah, we should go a little faster.” So when we started making El Camino, it was the first time I realized that, “Okay, I gotta play drums.” And I gotta keep the beat straight. It can’t swing as hard.

And one of the bad aspects of that, was it got way in my head for close to a decade of like, “Okay, I should really worry about playing in time to this click, or to this beat, or what I think it should be?” When previous to that, up through Brothers it was just like, “I should just let things sway however I play it. You know? So on this record I really got back to that mentality of just letting it swing. And not worrying so much about keeping the tempo where it needs to be, if it’s going to be there it’s going to flow. Because of that — at least for me — it feels like it has a little bit more of a laid-back kind of loose groove to it.

Yeah, yeah. I definitely hear that in a lot of songs. Like on “How Long,” that one really has a laid-back, loose feel to it.

That’s another first take, that song.

In the last few years, you guys have really embraced the blues. And that’s always been present in your music, but it’s just so evident now. I think about how Delta Kream was a straight homage to Mississippi Hill Country Blues musicians like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside that have inspired you from the beginning. Can you talk a little bit about just fully embracing the blues in these last two albums?

When we first started the band, we were almost a North Mississippi Hill Country blues tribute act. We were just really into the Kimbrough and R.L. stuff, and we bonded so heavily over that. Then when we were making that first record, we started trying to figure out how to write songs and we kind of got swept up in that kind of garage rock revivalists press thing that was happening in 2002-2003. The first time we opened up an alt-weekly and read someone described us as like “Blues Hammer 2.0” or something. We were 23-year-old kids. And we were like, “F*ck that. We cannot tell people we’re a blues band.” And we kind of ran away from that as fast as we could. Definitely did not embrace it. We didn’t want to get the stigma of that. And I still don’t think we’re a blues band, I think we’re a rock and roll band and we moved into the territory.

But we just got more comfortable embracing the things that we like, and not shying away from talking about them and shining the light on these musicians who inspired us so much. It outweighs getting called “blues hammer.” We can take it now, but I think it was a confusing time around 2002 where The White Stripes were being called a blues band. We just ran away from it and eventually ended up coming out as this arena band. Then before this, Dan and I took some time off. We hung out once or twice during 2016 and 17. We spent very little time around each other for those two years.

Was that by design? Because you guys were both producing projects for other people.

We just f*cked off and did our own thing. We were busy. I was starting a family, I had just gotten remarried. And then when it came time to make another Keys record, I left the ball in Dan’s court: “Whenever you’re ready let me know.” And he hit me up in 2018, and I guess really the last couple years has been us figuring out how to have a healthy relationship again; one that’s enjoyable. We both started associating each other’s presence with us grinding really hard. Like 2010 through 2014, we did three tours that were all over a hundred dates. So I think we figured it out. And I think the crowning kind of moment of our relationship, figuring it out, was the making of Delta Kream. It was an accidental undertaking where Dan was making a record for Easy Eye with this artist named Robert Finley and it was like, “Oh yeah, this is how it should f*cking feel. This is what it should feel like for us.”

And then in 2021 we both were kind of chomping at the bit to get back to work and once we got in the studio to make this record things just really started clicking. By the time we finished it in November, we felt the opposite of that usual creatively drained feeling. We’ve been continuing to work the whole time since we finished. So we’re deep into another record already.

You brought in other people to help you in the process for the first time in the process of Dropout Boogie. How was that different? Did that kind of help bridge this gap that you guys had?

Yeah, I mean in the past when we worked with Danger Mouse, the band would essentially become a three-piece for those times that he was there. And it was a true democracy where if one person didn’t like something we would move on. For better or worse. And I think part of the situation with Dan when we made Let’s Rock, was us figuring out not just how to get along or just what it felt like to be around each other, but also like, “What’s it like to be creative without Danger Mouse there?” So making Let’s Rock was at times sort of tense.

By the time we made this record, I felt comfortable enough to know that if I added something while Dan was taking his kid to soccer or vice versa, if one of us didn’t like it, we would just say something. It wasn’t a big deal. It sounds like a little thing, but when you’re in a band for 20 years, it could be a big thing. I’ve heard that Metallica can’t even be critical to each other about their parts anymore. They have a hard time even critiquing each other. But for Dan and I, we learned really productive ways to talk to each other about what we’re working on. And I think Dan’s Easy Eye work and doing all of those records he’s made, it’s got him more in the zone of co-writing with different people. He’s figured out ways to spark something when he’s not feeling 100% sure where to come at it.

So how did bringing in songwriters in Angelo Petraglia and Greg Cartwright help?

With “Wild Child,” we had the music, the whole song was just basically done but not the vocals, and Dan was like, “I’m not really sure what we should do?” So when we brought in Greg, it was like “Boom. Oh my God, we should have been doing this for the last 20 years!” It was f*cking insane. It was just so natural. And I’m watching Dan get so inspired and watching him… feel less like the burden of work is just sitting there. And of a record where the music is done, but the vocals aren’t. Now it becomes an actually exciting thing because we could just pick and choose who we want to come into the studio to take a listen and see if they have anything, any perspective. And it’s funny because it’s what we both do when we’re both producing records outside of the Keys, but we never applied that to our band. So it’s the first time that we’re actually, in a way, producing our own band, fully.

The guitar on “Good Love” super stood out to me. And then lo and behold, that was the Billy Gibbons track. What was it like having freakin’ ZZ Top playing guitar on your track?

Well, it’s crazy because definitely during the pandemic, especially when sports weren’t happening, I just went down the rabbit hole of watching real nerdy guitar stuff. One of the videos I remember watching was someone talking about Billy Gibbons. How he gets his guitar sound and how he uses these special strings, very light strings, etc… So here we are in the studio, months later after I watched that video, and Dan gets a text from, I think Rick Rubin, saying, “Hey, Billy’s in town. You guys should hang.” So we invite Billy over and we ask if he wants to jam. He picks up this guitar. It’s a Gibson Trini Lopez, a Dave Grohl guitar. Like the exact opposite type of guitar that he normally plays. He wanted to play this particular guitar because it used to belong to Mississippi Fred McDowell.

He plugged it in and instantly, it sounded exactly like ZZ Top. It was different amps, a different guitar, just the only common factor was Billy’s hands and Billy’s brain. It’s why being a singer is such a cool thing, because you’re instantly recognizable. Your voice is instantly distinct. But being a musician, being able to get your own singular voice out of an instrument is so rare. And when it happens, when you can hear someone play an instrument like, “Oh sh*t! That’s so and so playing guitar, or playing drums. That’s the goal. And to see Billy do it and realizing he was doing some very simplistic sh*t, and it was so him. He can just play with two notes, and it would sound amazing.

If there’s a through-line in the songs that you guys write, it’s this dive bar yarn. Always making sense of what went wrong in a relationship and how to move on. Brothers was amazing in that sense and now I hear songs on this album like “How Long” and “It Ain’t Over” that are very much in the same spirit. What is it that draws The Black Keys to this?

I think it’s just our experience. It’s what happens when you’re a co-dependent musician. You’re going to end up taking a while to learn your lesson. It takes a while to figure out what you want. I’ve been married three times, I got that true rock star Wikipedia page developing there. But in reality, it just took me a long time to figure it out. My first wife was one of those stories. That’s what Brothers was all written basically based around my breakup with someone I was with for 10 years.

It’s about when you realize that you can’t be with someone after you thought that was who you were going to spend the rest of your life with. And then you realize that there’s this whole other world. Then you rush into your next thing because you’re just trying to prove to yourself that you’re not a piece of sh*t. And then of course, that’s always a bad idea too. I guess that’s why they say that third time’s the charm. But relationships and marriages are never easy. At least the good ones. I think if you find yourself in a challenging relationship, a lot of times it’s because you’re dealing with people who are vocal about what they want, and not being complacent. So you’re going to have endless material there.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that I just got married on Saturday.

Oh, dude. Congratulations! Think about the record Johnny Depp should have been writing rather than sitting there. He had the record ready to go.

Oh, man. If they only had a studio set up in that courtroom, huh?

Jesus Christ.

Dropout Boogie is out now via Nonesuch Records. Hear it here.

The Black Keys are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Fans of the Gorillaz have much to be excited about as the group announced its upcoming North American tour beginning on September 11 in Vancouver. There are 21 set dates spanning across the United States and Canada, finishing up on October 23 in Miami. Earthgang and Jungle will join them on select dates (from September 11 to October 19 for Earthgang, then on October 21 and 23 for Jungle).

This announcement comes in the midst of Gorillaz’s world tour throughout Europe and South America, generating much excitement as this is its first stateside tour since 2018. Gorillaz last release came in 2020 with Song Machine: Season One, Strange Timez (Deluxe). The band is recognized by the Guinness Book Of World Records as the planet’s Most Successful Virtual Act.

Check out the full list of Gorillaz’s tour dates below:

09/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
09/12 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
09/14 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
09/17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Life is Beautiful Festival
09/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
09/21 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
09/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
09/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
09/28 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
09/30 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center
10/01 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
10/03 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/05 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
10/06 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
10/08 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
10/11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
10/17 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
10/19 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheater
10/21 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
10/23 – Miami, FL @ FTX Arena

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

Phil Spencer, the head of the Xbox division within Microsoft, is used to seeing a game delay or two at this point. While Microsoft has been buying up as many studios as it can, it unfortunately hasn’t been putting out quite as many games as they’d like. Obviously game development takes a long time and by giving their development studios the time to work on these projects without crunch they’re getting some major hits such as Psychonauts 2 and the revival of Halo. It feels like Microsoft is taking the standpoint of letting their studios take as long as they need to make a game as long as it’s polished and meets quality standards.

While this is a great methodology for developers and studios because it can help prevent crunch settings and result in better games, it does have the adverse effect of creating a lot of delays. Psychonauts 2 had an extremely lengthy development cycle, Halo Infinite was delayed over a year, and now Bethesda’s Starfield is being delayed alongside Redfall. Fans were really not happy about these delays, especially Starfield since that was first announce back in 2018, and fans of the Xbox are growing frustrated with its games constantly being delayed. Enough people showed frustration about it that Spencer chose to make a statement about Xbox’s most recent major delay, on Twitter.

While nobody wants to see bad games on the Xbox, they would like to see a more consistent release schedule for its games. Xbox owners are in a really good place with the huge library of games currently available on Game Pass, but a lot of the games on that service right now are third-party developed, which means both PS5 owners and PC owners can also get those games. If someone bought an Xbox Series X at launch, they don’t really have a whole lot of games to justify that purchase at the moment. So seeing games like Starfield get delayed that was supposed to be a major part of the gaming calendar is really frustrating for someone who owns an Xbox. It makes sense why there’s been enough frustration that Spencer would have to respond to it.

2021 was kind to Masked Wolf, as the Australian rapper saw his 2019 single “Astronaut In The Ocean” experience newfound popularity and shoot up the charts around the world, including in the US where it was a top-10 song.

Like many artists before him, traveling and performing was a major part of the rapper’s come-up. So now, Masked Wolf looks back and reflects on some of those experiences for “Stories From The Road,” a video series presented by Songkick and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

He spends part of the video explaining why supporting an EDM DJ in a small Sydney, Australia club was an ideal first live performance, saying, “I was crapping myself; I was so scared, I was anxious. And these people just danced to anything. I was doing ‘Vibin” and [they] had never heard it before and they were just enjoying life. And I was just like, ‘Man, I hope my performances, all of them, are like this.’ People were just vibing to any song and just enjoying their night.”

He also talks about his dream tour destinations and the moments that make him think he’s “made it,” so check out the video above.

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

One of the wildest details to come out of the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is the Aquaman actress allegedly leaving “human fecal matter” on Depp’s side of the bed. “It was so outside, it was so bizarre, and so grotesque that I could only laugh,” the Pirates of the Caribbean star said. Depp’s long-time “executive chauffeur and security guard” called it “a horrible practical joke gone wrong,” but Heard stands by her assertion that it wasn’t human poop in the bed; it belonged to one of their dogs.

“What if any issues did Boo have with bathroom problems, if you will?” Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, asked her client on Monday (haven’t poor Pistol and Boo suffered enough?). She replied, “She had eaten Johnny’s weed when she was a puppy and had bowel control issues for her entire life, among some other issues, we regularly had to take her to the vet. She had some control issues.” When asked if the poop was a prank, Heard answered, “Absolutely not. First of all, I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know what grown women does. I was also not in a pranking mood, my life was falling apart.”

Heard testified Depp abused her the night before.

“I had just been attacked on my 30th birthday by my violent husband with whom I was desperately in love and knew I needed to leave. It was not really a jovial time and I don’t think that’s funny, period. That’s disgusting,” the actress added.

“Huge narcissist” Depp is suing Heard for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in a 2018 op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post describing herself as a victim of domestic and sexual abuse. The trial continues later on Monday.

(Via Yahoo! Entertainment)

Let’s cut to the chase. If you haven’t seen Paul McCartney live before, go see him. Please. Heck, even if you have seen him before, go see him again. If you need someone to give you a reason why, think of it as going to see the Grand Canyon or Michelangelo’s David in Florence. No matter what you think the experience will be, actually being there in their presence, with all five senses taking in the moment, is precisely the thing that makes being alive worth it. Paul McCartney is Yosemite or Banff or the Eifel Tower. He’s music’s greatest national park, its remaining 7th Wonder Of The World.

Macca will turn 80 years old in about a month. But you wouldn’t know it in Los Angeles on Friday night. Performing in front of a packed SoFi Stadium that just hosted the Super Bowl, he made his way through 36 songs over the course of 2.5 hours of music. He didn’t take many breaks, occasionally slowing things down to tell a story about one of his old friends John or George, or thanking director Peter Jackson for cutting some Get Back footage for the tour. As someone with parents near his age, or as someone with a President also near his age, seeing what McCartney can still do on stage is miraculous. For someone with as much timeless music in his catalog, no one ever expected he’d also become timeless as a performer.

But while I can go over the many highlights of the show, from the pyro spectacle that accompanied “Live And Let Die” (the heat warmed up the stadium’s floor section so much, I was legitimately worried about the former Beatle) to his memories of the civil rights movement inspiring “Blackbird,” there were few moments that didn’t feel special. And particularly following a strong couple of years for McCartney-led musical endeavors (aside from the Disney+ Get Back film taking over social media for a week last year, there was his recent McCartney III solo album, reissues of RAM and Wild Life, and a collection of his lyrics, appropriately titled THE LYRICS: 1956 to the Present), the evening’s presumed nostalgia still felt as relevant as possible, as one of the world’s best living songwriters is still finding ways to connect to fans and keep his work in the cultural conversation.

On this night, though, I often found myself looking around, away from the stage. The joy that permeated the massive stadium (which, though I have been for a few football games, I have to acknowledge SoFi is also a pretty great sounding and comfortable location for a big show, instantly placing itself as the area’s best option for the size) was unmistakable and contagious. I saw a pair of grandparents walking in their young child of maybe six years old, with the kid gleefully excited and quizzing their elders about the times they had seen Macca previously. Another kid next to us knew the lyrics to Beatles songs better than I did. A security guard for the show was next to me in line for merch, buying up t-shirts for his family, clearly not treating this like another day at the office. The influencers were out taking selfies with Paul performing in the background, while another person in a wheelchair couldn’t help but swerve his device through the aisles to the music, swept up in the songs and dancing the best way he knew how.

There is a bit of melancholy involved with the concert, too. And maybe that’s what really highlights the beauty and joy of McCartney in 2022. From his wife Linda to his producer George Martin to his old bandmates John and George, Paul McCartney has lived to see many of his closest friends and loved ones pass on. And while he gave many of them their shine and paused for audience applause, he also seems to know that the best thing he can do for their legacy is continuing on, playing these songs for tens of thousands, living a life that honors all those that have lived closely with him.

The Grand Canyon is 6 million years old. The sculpture of David has been standing for more than 500 years. And McCartney is nearing 80, with some of his songs having been heard for more than 50 years. These things are all eternal, as much as anything is; as long as there are people to witness them, they will still exist. But we, the audience, have a finite time. If the last few years of the pandemic have taught us anything, it’s how fleeting this time can be, and how much we take it for granted. So don’t waste YOUR time. Go experience these things while you can. Especially Paul.

Amazon already previewed The Boys‘ introduction of ripped (but exhausted) Jensen Ackles in a Season 3 teaser trailer. Naturally, we saw many other new developments, including Billy Butcher gaining Supe powers and Homelander (still completely screwed-up) sourcing his milk fetish in a dubious new way. The show also gave a glimpse of the musical episode on the way, but don’t expect anything wholesome from this show, and this new Season 3 trailer is here to reinforce that vibe, at least for the coming season.

Naturally, the way that the head-exploding show teased this trailer’s arrival is on point.

Yep, this show won’t calm down anytime soon. After all, this season will deliver the “Herogasm” episode, and Chace Crawford has already admitted that he wondered whether he’d work again after what The Deep does in this third installment. And the trailer begins with Homelander (as expected) obviously not being in a good place after the last season finale’s events, which left him yanking his own chain from atop a skyscraper, with god only knows what effects after that stuff headed to Earth’s surface. He’s never been sane (or safe), but somehow, he’s even more off his rocker than usual while launching into a media redemption tour. It’s hard to imagine him being even more of a loose cannon than he already was while leaving an entire plane of people to die, but Homelander seems keen to one-up himself.

His number could be up, too, what with Queen Maeve finally having enough from him and helping Butcher gain those Supe powers. As promised, this trailer also raises questions about Ackles’ Soldier Boy and Payback:

Long story short, Soldier Boy’s arrival could help introduce another group of Compound V-powered Supes called Payback. They’re led by Soldier Boy (who’s a riff on Captain America), and in the comics, Stormfront factored huge into the group. However, viewers will recall that Stormfront was reduced to a blabbering as a burned-up mess (due to Homelander’s kiddo really letting her have it) in the Season 2 finale and was assumed to be out of commission forever. Will that assumption stick in the TV show? No clue there, but in the comics, Payback directly antagonizes The Boys, and Butcher’s ready for them. Not only that, but Payback members are all failed previous candidates to join the Seven, so if they factor heavily into the season, expect the umbrages to be real.

The Boys are back (that’s obligatory phrasing) on June 3.

The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Kendrick Lamar, Lil Baby, Post Malone, and more.

For all longtime readers, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Armon Sadler and I’ll be taking this column over. I’m extremely excited to bring you all the best new hip-hop every week, and hopefully, I can put you on to some good stuff.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending May 13, 2022.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Kendrick Lamar’s long-awaited return comes in the form of an 18-song double-disc, though slightly shorter than the double discs we have experienced in the past. His TDE farewell, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers boasts features from Blxst, Summer Walker, Sampha, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, and more. Lamar opens up about therapy, father issues, having relations with the other sex, and much more in his latest offering.

Blac Youngsta — 4Life

The Memphis rapper returns with his third studio album, loaded with car-rattling production, humorous yet cocky bars, and energetic features as per usual. 21 Savage especially shows out on “Nobody” and 42 Dugg on “Threat.”

Leikeli47 — Shape Up

Leikeli47 brings big energy and bars galore to her third studio album, with the sole feature of Miss J Alexander. Shape Up is led by “Chitty Bang, ” “BITM,” and “LL Cool J” but “Secret Service” may be the standout out of everything present.

Quelle Chris — Deathfame

Quelle Chris brings his soulful rapping and love for lo-fi production back outside across Deathface‘s 14 tracks. Pink Siifu, Navy Blue, and more join the lyrical exhibition as well.

Lil Eazzyy — Too Eazzyy

Chicago spitter Lil Eazzyy came through with a 10-piece this week. He is as menacing as ever, adding NLE Choppa and Shoebox Baby to the mix just to ensure they aren’t taken lightly either.

Cantrell — Beware II: The Clowns Perform EP

Cantrell provides a buffet of records in the new EP Beware II: The Clowns Perform. Popular journalist Rob Markman, Vada Veli, and Retro Landy add their own flavors to Cantrell’s second iteration of the Beware series.

Singles/Videos

Lil Baby — “Dark Mode”

Lil Baby said he already got his Rookie of the Year award and now he’s ready for his MVP in the new black and white video “Dark Mode.” What makes the bars hit even harder is who stars in the visual powered by Beats By Dre: Memphis Grizzlies sensation Ja Morant, a fellow Rookie of The Year recipient. The two take turns grilling the camera and practicing their jump shots as the “We Paid” artist delivers his usual impassioned,

Reason — “Churchill Downs Freestyle”

TDE’s Reason popped out this week with his take on Jack Harlow’s “Churchill Downs” featuring Drake, a standout record from his sophomore album Come Home The Kids Miss You. Reason spoke on how he’s drinking water and partying less, losing brothers, fighting trauma from his father, and he doesn’t engage with Geminis anymore. Though he’s isolating 1/12 of his fanbase with such a statement, surely his core is happy to hear from the artist and anticipating more music.

Kota The Friend — “Up”

Kota The Friend sounds determined as ever, proclaiming he’s going up over an illustrious church organ and simple drums. His flow molds itself easily to the mid-tempo anthem bursting with confidence.

Dreezy ft. Coi Leray — “Balance My Lows”

Dreezy and Coi Leray trade melodic flows reflecting on the ups and downs of life in “Balance My Lows.” Through it all, they keep winning and have much to celebrate in this fun record.

Rick Hyde ft. Rome Streetz — “Poza”

Rick Hyde and Rome Streetz bar up over The Alchemist’s signature production on “Poza.” It’s too easy for two seasoned pros like them, especially when given such an alley-oop of a beat.

King Combs ft. Dreamdoll — “Gas You Up”

King Combs’ affinity for flipping classics continues, as he taps Dreamdoll for “Gas You Up.” The upbeat bop samples Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss,” maintaining the same tempo to recapture that 2007 feeling and simply add a modern spin. Combs and Doll list all of the great qualities of the objects of their affection, saying it’s only right they gave them such praise. Depending on marketing, this could do something in the summer.

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

Geeks are back, have you heard? They didn’t really go anywhere but…Netflix announced that Geeks are back, so Geeks are Back! For its second annual Geeked Week, Netflix will be giving first looks and behind-the-scenes teasers for some of their highly-anticipated projects in the works. It seems like the term “geek” is pretty loose here. Here is the official description:

Netflix’s Geeked Week is back on June 6-10 with its five-day live virtual fan fest. The event will celebrate Netflix’s genre slate with exclusive news, sneak peeks, talent panels and more from our genre films, series, and games. Join us for Geeked Week everyday June 6th – 10th

Some of the projects include Resident Evil, Umbrella Academy, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Of course, there is an entire day dedicated to Netflix’s favorite child, Stranger Things, which drops its fourth season next week.

There will also be a first look at the highly-anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman starring Tom Sturridge as Dream and Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. There were also some quick glimpses at Shadow and Bone, Sweet Tooth, Gray Man, First Kill, and plenty of others. Perhaps The Geeks will be the ones to save Netflix, since they have been having some trouble keeping their dedicated fans happy as of late.

Check out the trailer above. Geeked Week takes place virtually from June 6th-10th.

It’s a great time for emo. My Chemical Romance, who infamously broke up in 2013, just released “The Foundations Of Decay,” their first song in years, and now 90s icons Sunny Day Real Estate have announced their long-awaited reunion tour. Rumors of this circulated earlier this year, plus the band was on the lineup for Riot Fest and Furnace Fest; this tour, though, goes over the whole country and features fellow cult-followed emo group The Appleseed Cast.

The tour begins in Lawrence, Kansas in September and ends in Seattle, Washington at the Moore Theatre. The band lineup retains the same vocalist, guitarist, and drummer, but not the original bassist. Check out the full dates below.

09/13 — Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
09/14 — Omaha, NE @ The Admiral
09/17 — Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest*
09/18 — Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
09/20 — Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
09/22 — Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
09/23 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
09/24 — Birmingham, AL @ Furnace Fest
09/26 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
09/27 — Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cleveland
09/29 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
09/30 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
10/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
10/03 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
12/03 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
12/04 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
12/06 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
12/07 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
12/08 — Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory
12/10 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
12/11 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory SD
12/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
12/14 — San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
12/16 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
12/18 — Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre
* no the Appleseed Cast

Find ticket information here.