Category: News

Young Thug is about to make the jump from music to film and, in typical Young Thug fashion, he’s diving in with both feet, making sure to have his hands in as many aspects of the production as possible. Not only is he executive producing and starring in the film, titled Throw It Back and described in a press release as a musical dramedy, but he is also overseeing its soundtrack.

Throw It Back will co-star Shahadi Wright Joseph, the young actress who Zora (and her Tethered counterpart Umbrae) in Jordan Peele’s 2019 horror-thriller Us, giving the film some added punch in the star power department. Per the press release, the film will be directed by Shadae Lamar Smith, whose credits include three Black Eyed Peas music videos (“Mami,” “New Wave,” and “Yes Or No”) and several shorts, as well as the feature The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards, which featured James Franco and Kristen Wiig.

Produced by Tiffany Haddish’s She Ready Productions (Haddish will play a supporting role in the film), the film’s logline is provided in the press release and can be seen below.

Throw It Back follows Wytrell, a high school senior who has never stood out from the crowd. After a controversial superstar Miami rapper decides to feature the renowned dance team from her high school in his latest music video, it throws the school into chaos, and Wytrell battles for a spot on the squad and her final chance to be in the spotlight. The film is a dance-filled musical dramedy set to a soundtrack of southern hip hop and HBCU collegiate band rhythms.

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

Austin’s South By Southwest festival was one of the first major events to cancel in 2020 due to COVID, and the city is now gearing up for the return of live music over a year since venues first shuttered. SXSW may not be returning until 2022, but the city’s Levitation Festival is setting its sights on a mid-fall event with shows by Japanese Breakfast, Black Midi, Thundercat, and many more.

The festival kicks off over this year’s Halloween weekend, from October 27 to 31. The four-day event will take place in multiple venues across the city’s downtown Red River Cultural District and East Side, including Stubb’s, Mohawk, Empire, Hotel Vegas, Cheer Up Charlies, Central Presbyterian Church, and more.

Along with Japanese Breakfast, Thundercat, and Black Midi, some of the other artists invited to take the stage include Andy Shauf, Yves Tumor, Cloud Nothings, Chicano Batman, Crumb, Fuzz, Boy Harsher, Drab Majesty, Post Animal, Octopus Project, The Well, Nation Of Language, No Joy, The Vacant Lots, Public Practice, Pearl Earl, Being Dead, The Black Angels, Tinariwen, Connan Mockasin, A Place To Bury Strangers, La Luz, George Clanton, LA Witch, Ringo Deathstarr, The Paranoyds, Ami Dang, Negative Gemini, Magdalena Bay, Blushing, Kikagaku Moyo, Shannon & The Clams, Shabazz Palaces, Frankie And The Witch Fingers, Arooj Aftab, Levitation Room, Holy Wave, Acid Dad, Uniform, Portrayal Of Guilt, Sweeping Promises, Sun June, Ganser, The Hives, and Sasami.

In a statement about the event, organizers said:

“We’re excited to see live music coming back, and looking forward to seeing everyone in Austin for another epic weekend of music and art in Austin, Texas. As shows and events come back to our beloved venues and art spaces, safety procedures will continue to evolve and we will work with our venues and health officials to offer clear guidelines for attendees. It’s gonna be Halloween weekend, so masks are encouraged regardless :).”

Tickets to Levitation Festival 2021 are on sale now. Get them here.

In a predictable move on Tuesday morning’s The View, Meghan McCain joined the chorus of conservatives who have been freaking out after Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry turned away from the American flag during the National Anthem over the weekend. In a dramatic rant that centered on McCain’s father’s time in a POW camp in Vietnam, The View co-host tried to thread an odd needle by saying she’s now fine with Colin Kaepernick kneeling during NFL games and understands that situation, but Berry’s actions are a bridge too far because she did it on an “international stage.”

It was only at an Olympic trial event in Eugene, Oregon, but go off, Meghan.

After sharing a story that her father reportedly told her every year at Christmas about clandestinely pledging allegiance to a makeshift flag while in a prison camp, McCain began complaining that her love for the flag “isn’t allowed anymore” and that Berry’s actions are “selfish” because she should be representing all Americans. More specifically, Americans like Meghan McCain who will literally “die” for the flag.

“I will die on this hill!” McCain yelled as her rant became more heated. “That it is not appropriate or patriotic to go to a foreign country where you’re supposed to be representing America and act like its just about you. It’s not about you! It’s about all of us.”

McCain also warned that Vladimir Putin will now use Berry’s protest to weaken America’s national security, somehow.

(Via Mediaite)

It’s now been well over a year since Dua Lipa released her sophomore album Future Nostalgia, which featured hits like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating.” The singer had been looking forward to performing her music to live European audiences this fall, but since the pandemic is still spreading in the UK, Lipa has opted to postpone the trek until 2022. Now that she has a lot of unexpected time on her hands, the singer is thinking about pivoting her focus to something other than music.

Lipa recently spoke about her plans with the UK tabloid The Sun, saying she’s interested in “exploring” some acting roles:

“I would really like to. It is something I’m definitely up for exploring and figuring it out, maybe with a small role first. I’ve become a bit more confident in myself. I’ve done a little bit here and there, so I feel I’ve discovered the side of acting within music videos. I am quite intrigued and excited about the prospect of doing something else at some point.”

The singer’s interest in acting arrives just a day after she announced that her UK and European Future Nostalgia tour has been put on hold until 2022. “I’m utterly heartbroken that we’re not able to proceed with my UK and European tour this September and October,” she wrote in a statement.

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

David Chase’s long-awaited Sopranos prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, is set to hit theaters and HBO Max on October 1, and so, as will happen, there is now a trailer. Yes, that is James Gandolfini’s son, Michael, playing Young Tony. The rest of the cast is loaded, too, with everyone from Leslie Odom Jr. to Jon Bernthal to Corey Stoll to Billy Magnussen to Ray Liotta to Vera Farmiga, as well as Alessandro Nivola as Richard “Dickie” Moltisan-… HOLD ON DID THAT SAY RAY LIOTTA?! I forgot he was going to be in this. Wow. Okay, now we have ourselves a mob movie. This is all very official.

Here’s the official description:

Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities—and whose influence over his impressionable nephew will help make the teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.

And here’s Michael Gandolfini as Young Tony.:

And here’s freaking Ray Liotta.

Perfect, all around. No notes. Although I would love to see like a teenage Pauly Walnuts with the exact same hair as the adult one. Or maybe Tony Sirico reprising his role but just pretending to be a 17-year-old boy, without any makeup or CGI to age him down. So, maybe I do have notes. Bad ones, but still.

Anyway, watch it all the way to the end, just to see if you, like me, get a little emotional when that music kicks in. The boys are, finally, kind of, back in town.

The Many Saints of Newark premieres in theaters and debuts on HBO Max on October 1, and will remain on the streaming service for 31 days.

Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin has some bad news for fans of the iconic comedy: Larry David is way too old to keep making much more of the series. In what sounded like something the TV version of Larry might say, Garlin admitted that he doesn’t think the show’s creator, who’ll turn 74 years old on Friday, has got enough gas left in his tank to keep the show going for much longer. Prettay, prettay, harsh.

As Mediaite notes, Garlin chatted about the future of the long-running HBO series with comedian Tim Dillon for his podcast, The Tim Dillon Show, on Sunday. Garlin, sounding as if he’s learned a few tips from David’s “social assassin” character, doesn’t seem very confident that there’s much more Curb coming people’s way. “We could maybe do one more [season], maybe,” Garlin said. “You know, Larry is in his 70s. Don’t get me wrong, he’s in good shape.” But Garlin, who does double-duty working on both Curb and The Goldbergs, says that the schedule for him—at age “fifty-f*cking-nine”—is “exhausting.”

“It rips me apart. And the equivalent happens to Larry, cause he’s in every scene, working every day, having to be there at 6:30 in the morning. I don’t know if physically he can do more than, let’s say another season. I think he could do another, I don’t know if he has two in him.”

It’s worth noting that when asked about the future of the show in 2011, Garlin put the chances of seeing more seasons at “51 percent.” That was three seasons ago.

(Via Mediaite)

Since their formation in the 1980s, Metallica has inspired artists from all different kinds of genres. The band’s wildly successful self-titled album is about to turn 30 and to celebrate, Metallica asked some contemporary musicians to take on covers of their music for the benefit album The Metallica Blacklist. So far, Miley Cyrus teamed up with Watt, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, and Chad Smith for a rendition of “Nothing Else Matters.” Now, St. Vincent and Jason Isbell try their hand at very different versions of Metallica’s track “Sad But True.”

For her cover, St. Vincent performed with grumbling guitars, crashing snares, and a throaty lyrical delivery reminiscent of a Nine Inch Nails song. But for Jason Isbell’s version, the musician took the song in a very different direction. Rather than emulating a ’90s alt-rock sound, Isbell transformed the track into a jangly country ballad.

About his cover, Isbell wrote: “Pretty proud of how this turned out. I hoped the song would work as a Hill Country stomper, and I do believe it did. So much fun.”

Along with St. Vincent and Jason Isbell, some of the other musicians who appear on 53-track The Metallica Blacklist include Mac DeMarco, Rina Sawayama, Weezer, Pup, Corey Taylor, Cage The Elephant, J Balvin, Moses Sumney, The Neptunes, Portugal The Man, Phoebe Bridgers, My Morning Jacket, Darius Rucker, Chris Stapleton, Idles, and Kamasi Washington. Along with sharing music, each of the artists have been invited to choose a different charity that a portion of the proceeds from the LP will be donated to.

Listen to St. Vincent and Jason Isbell’s “Sad But True” Metallica covers above.

The Metallica Blacklist is out 9/10 via Blackened Recordings. Pre-order it here.

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

Every couple of months, I will look up to see how long it has been since the last episode of Barry opened on HBO, and I’m surprised every single time. As of today, it’s been 770 days since Barry last graced our television screens. That’s 25 months and one week. Has any other show been delayed by the pandemic as long as Barry?

No, not Succession, which has only been off the air for 631 days and is currently shooting its third season. Not The Witcher, either, which hasn’t streamed a new season in 556 days, but is also scheduled to air its next season later this year. Better Call Saul has only been 434 days, and it’s currently shooting and scheduled to return in the first quarter of 2021. Westworld? That’s a trick question! It aired its third season in 2020, but some people don’t remember it (it was the season with Aaron Paul in it).

For comparison’s sake, there have been four full seasons of The Masked Singer since Barry last aired, and host Nick Cannon will have had four kids during that time. A Dexter revival was developed and shot and will air before Barry returns to HBO. Quibi launched and then failed during the interim between seasons.

I mention all of this because Anthony Carrigan, best known for playing No Ho Hank on Barry, appeared on Marc Maron’s podcast this week. He’s a fascinating guy and went long with Maron about his alopecia (the autoimmune disease which caused his hair to fall out) and talked about meeting his wife, a Serbian chess master who learned to play chess while bunkered down for months during the Croatian War.

Mostly, however, I listened because I wanted to hear if there were any updates on Barry. Bill Hader had previously mentioned that he wrote both season three and four during the lockdown, and that production on season three had advanced to the table-read stage of development before production was shuttered by COVID-19. Carrigan confirmed as much, but he also said that they’re getting ready to start shooting season three, yet he gave no specifics.

I’m not exactly sure what that means, either, since it seems like Barry has been on the verge of shooting for months, if not longer. Is this like the Rick Grimes movie, which has been just about to start production for years? There’s still no official date on when production will resume on Barry, after all. What is the hold up? The rest of Los Angeles resumed production months ago, and even the shows that were skittish about restarting too soon are releasing new episodes now. Why Barry has waited so long, especially since the scripts have already been written, is an absolute mystery. Even if it starts production this summer and airs early next year, it will mean nearly three years between seasons.

Then again, it’s been 1,145 days since the last new episode of FX’s Atlanta, but the Donald Glover show took a planned hiatus before its forced hiatus, and even Atlanta is currently shooting both its third and fourth seasons now. Both shows, of course, are obviously worth waiting for, although the three-year hiatus between seasons may diminish the impact of Barry’s season two cliffhanger, mostly in that much of the audience will have forgotten it.

Then again, there’s never a better time than now for a Barry rewatch. It currently streams on HBO Max.

NLE Choppa is being sued by Outkast-affiliated rapper Kilo Ali for copyright infringement in a suit filed in California Central District Court last week (June 24), according to Music Business Worldwide, which obtained the court documents.

Ali, an Atlanta-based rapper who released a string of relatively successful albums throughout the ’90s and worked closely with members of the Dungeon Family crew, including Goodie Mob’s Cee-Lo Green and Outkast’s Big Boi, as well as George Clinton of Parliament and Lil Jon, says Choppa’s 2020 single “Make Em Say,” which features Latto (FKA Mulatto), illegally samples Ali’s own 1997 “Love In Ya Mouth,” using the same “flow and pitch” in the post-chorus.

“Love In Ya Mouth,” which features Big Boi, featured on Kilo Ali’s 1997 Interscope debut Organized Bass, and in the documents filed in the suit, Ali says his music has “proven inspirational to much of the rap music emerging from the South, particularly Atlanta.” Meanwhile, Choppa and Latto’s song appears on Choppa’s Warner Music debut Top Shotta. The lawsuit argues Choppa’s song features “a distinctive sample of Kilo Ali’s melodic vocal chorus from the sound recording embodying the Original Work.” Ali wants “all gains, profits, and advantages derived by Defendants as a result of their unfair trade practices and unfair competition” by way of restitution and has included Warner Records Senior Vice President of A&R Norva Denton and Warner Music Group in the lawsuit.

You can check out both tracks above. [Source]

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

Giannis Antetokounmpo is two wins away from appearing in his first ever NBA Finals, and it’s possible that he’ll look to make the final push to get through the Eastern Conference Finals in a new look.

On Tuesday, hours before Antetokounmpo takes the floor for Game 4 in Atlanta, Nike unveiled the Zoom Freak 3, the third in his line of signature sneakers with the brand. Gone is the oversized Swoosh that dominated the visual of the first (facing backwards) and second sneaker, with the addition of a forefoot strap and a new cushioning system designed to withstand the stopping and leaping force of Giannis’ downhill game.

It’s a different look than the first two Zoom Freaks but is a familiar silhouette for fans of other Nike signatures. The forefoot strap is reminiscent of the one on the Kyrie 6 (or, going further back, the KD 7), and it keeps with the lowcut design that Giannis has always preferred, dating back to when he used to wear Kobes.

As for the performance aspect of the shoe, the biggest change is having two Zoom Air units supporting the ball of the foot (one shown clearly in the midfoot with the exposed Air in the midsole) in an effort to provide additional cushioning for a player who pushes downhill as much as Giannis, with aggressive stops, starts, and trying to explode to the hoop. The strap is meant to help secure the forefoot in place for additional stability to balance the cushioning in that area.

The first two colorways of the Zoom Freak 3 (black/purple and orange) will release in August in North America (July 1 globally).