Category: News

Before forming the Philadelphia outfit 2nd Grade with members of Remember Sports, Free Cake For Every Creature, and Friendship, Peter Gill was writing his own music at a feverish pace. While working a casual summer gig, the musician self-recorded a series a demos under the mixtape Wish You Were Here Tour. Now following the success of 2nd Grade’s Hit To Hit debut album, the band is re-recording their demos.

2nd Grade has announced their Wish You Were Here Tour (Revisited) project with an updated recording of the wistful track “Favorite Song.” Clocking in at just under two minutes, the “Favorite Song” rerecording ups the production quality and boasts skittering guitars and crashing symbols. In a statement about the reissue project, Gill said:

“It amazes me on just how many levels ‘Favorite Song’ works, for a sub-2 minute song that practically wrote itself. It’s a total celebration of listening to music, my absolute favorite thing to do in this world. It’s an attempt to tell both sides of a sad misunderstanding. It’s proof of the John Ashbery quote about how proper nouns are the most descriptive words in the English language. Not least of all, it’s a carefully crafted piece in the tradition of ‘April Come She Will’ that nonetheless rejects such a tidy narrative. The stories we tell ourselves through pop music often fail to square up with the facts of our predicaments, but sometimes they can make us feel a whole lot better.”

Listen to “Favorite Song” above.

Wish You Were Here Tour (Revisited) is out 6/25 via Double Double Whammy. Pre-order it here.

If you know anything about hip-hop at all, you’ll probably recognize the title of Joyner Lucas‘ new single “Zim Zimma” as the contorted, familiar catchphrase coined by Beenie Man on his 1998 hit “Who Am I” (repurposed from Missy Elliott’s 1997 debut single “The Rain [Supa Dupa Fly]“) in which Beenie wonders “Who’s got the keys to my Beema?” In Joyner’s case, it turns out to be none other than actor/rapper/fast-driving car enthusiast Mark Wahlberg. Like Lucas, Wahlberg hails from Massachusetts, so it’s no surprise that the two are acquainted.

Waving off Joyner’s initial concerns, Mark promises to teach him “how to drive this b*tch” before wrecking the car in a collision with a dirt pile. While Mark tries to downplay the damage, an exasperated Joyner leaves him to deal with the mess, strolling the streets of Beverly Hills to his “uncle George’s” house — who turns out to be comedian George Lopez. After some finagling, Joyner manages to borrow his Unc’s BMW — although he’s disappointed to discover it’s more “Beater” than “Beamer.” A final scene sees Joyner cruising in (or rather, on top of) a miniature version of the car for kids alongside yet another famous face: Diddy — aka “Love” — who mugs the camera as Lucas launches into a lightspeed display of multisyllabic lyricism.

“Zim Zimma” follows Lucas’ Lil Baby collaboration “Ramen & OJ” and similarly quirky, high-concept music video for “Will Smith.”

Watch Joyner Lucas’ “Zim Zimma” video above.

There’s a freshman crew of Republicans trying to make their mark on Capitol Hill by sparking insurrections and spreading insane conspiracy theories and throwing temper tantrums over metal detectors, but Representative Lauren Boebert is really trying to separate herself from the rest of the pack. In fact, she’s so confident in her ability to lead that she’s making some bold predictions when it comes to her future in Congress.

Boebert, who’s spent this year riling her fanbase, tweeting her support of the Jan. 6th mob, and voting against reauthorizing a national bone marrow donor registry, is now setting her sights higher. In an on-air interview with Newsmax host Benny Johnson, Boebert confidently stated her intention to one day become Speaker of the House — the third most powerful position in U.S. government. And look, we’re all for having goals, but it seems like the only thing that the representative from Colorado cares about is getting rid of the metal detectors on Capitol Hill, so she can tote her firearms into the people’s house.

After Johnson quizzed Boebert on her concealed-carry status like he was the Perez Hilton of a 2nd Amendment gossip blog, Boebert revealed she was open-carrying in her own office and served as her own security while on Capitol Hill.

“I am in my office so I don’t have to conceal anything in here,” she joked, earning a strangely enthusiastic “Yes!” from a giggling Johnson. “In the Congressional complex, I am my own security all throughout the complex until I get into Pelosi’s house — it’s certainly not the people’s house — right there in the House chambers where we have to go through the metal detectors.”

Boebert was referring to the newly installed equipment meant to keep representatives safe following the terrifying attacks on Jan. 6th, an insurrection that Boebert encouraged on social media. Those metal detectors have really triggered Boebert and a handful of other Republicans on Capitol Hill, which might be why the Congresswoman seems so focused on them, even as she later told Johnson of her plan to one day be House Speaker.

“Maybe one day when I’m Speaker of the House my first action will be to take those metal detectors and use them for target practice,” she said before Johnson broke out in a fit of maniacal laughter.

Of course, Twitter had plenty to say about Boebert’s 30-year plan for herself. Fellow Republican Matt Gaetz, who’s currently under investigation for sex trafficking crimes, threw his support behind Boebert:

But that glowing endorsement was offset by Boebert’s social media critics, who just wanted to help her define that thin line between ambition and delusion.

Keep dreaming, Boebert.

Chicken sandwiches are inarguably the biggest thing in fast food right now. And yet… Carl’s Jr/ Hardee’s — a chain that actually goes through all the effort of hand-breading their chicken tenders — has been slumming it for years with one of the worst chicken sandos in the game. For a place that makes something as great as the Western Bacon Cheeseburger and Waffle-style Fries, and, we’ll say it again, some damn good chicken tenders, it’s puzzling that Carl’s Jr. waited until this week in 2021 to reformulate their chicken sandwich into something that is actually edible.

Okay, rant over. Now the good news: Carl’s Jr went HAM and didn’t just drop one new chicken sandwich, but three:

• The Hand-Breaded Chicken Sandwich

• The Hand-breaded Chicken and Waffle Breakfast Sandwich

• The Hand-breaded Chicken Biscuit.

Unfortunately for west coasters, that chicken biscuit sandwich is exclusive to Hardee’s. But the new hand-breaded and waffle sandwich is being offered nationwide at all Carl’s Jr./Hardee locations. This week, we tried those latter two sandwiches and have some thoughts! We won’t spoil our verdict for you just yet — but the fact is that we’re probably going to have to revamp our Best Chicken Sandwiches ranking to give Carl’s Jr its proper spot.

Let’s get into the good and bad of these sandwiches!

Carl’s Jr Hand-Breaded Waffle Breakfast Sandwich

Price: $4.49

Chicken and waffles have a beautiful thing going. You’ve got the savory salt and crunch of hot, fried chicken mingling with the sweetness and soft texture of syrup-covered waffles. Together, they bathe the palate in sweet and salty goodness. It’s the food version of a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. On paper, it sounds weird, but in practice? It’s a party for the mouth.

As a big chicken and waffle head, I’m a little torn on this sandwich. On one hand, the flavor is there. Carl’s Jr knocked it out of the park with their new fried chicken breast filet, which tastes just like their excellent hand-breaded tenders. It’s crunchy with notes of garlic powder, white pepper, and a dash of onion with subtle hints of smokey paprika with a thick juicy filet of chicken inside that didn’t taste dry or overcooked.

But the waffle section of the sandwich leaves a little to be desired. What makes chicken and waffles so great is that you can control how much of the saltiness you let intermingle with the sweetness. Maybe you just want syrup touching the chicken skin, but not any of the meat — so you eat with the aim of achieving that effect. A sando takes away that level of control. The waffle “bun” (I’ll get to that in a second) and chicken are brushed with Maple Butter Glaze (which is definitely a corn syrup-based sauce, not actual maple syrup) and it’s just way too sweet and tends to overpower the chicken, giving the whole sandwich an overly sweet taste.

My other big gripe is with the waffle. It’s not really a waffle! Carl’s Jr calls it a “Belgian waffle bun,” but it doesn’t have the texture or crunch-to-softness ratio that you expect from a Belgian. Instead, it’s just kind of mushy — creating an unpleasant mouthfeel that gets worse the longer it gets soaked by the syrup. (The Hardee’s Hand-Breaded Chicken Biscuit is served sauce-less, so it sounds like an improvement over the waffle.)

This is almost delicious and certainly an exciting entry into the world of fast-food chicken sandwiches. But it needs some definite tweaking before it blows any minds or inspires the kind of passion the Popeyes sandwich did.

The Bottom Line

Ditch the sauce and you’ve got yourself a delicious chicken and waffle sandwich that’ll satiate your need for sweet-meets-savory. Even asking to go light on the sauce makes this more balanced. But if you have a joint that serves the real thing nearby, you’re better served to put your money there, even if it’s three times the price.

Carl’s Jr. Hand-Breaded Chicken Sandwich

This brings us to the Carl’s Jr. Hand-Breaded Chicken Sandwich. I wish… I had more to say about this sandwich but it’s pretty standard as far as chicken sandwiches go. The chicken here is the same, crispy and crunchy with a well-seasoned garlic powder and white pepper-heavy batter that reveals a thick juicy filet of white meat chicken inside served on a soft and spongey potato bun with four surprisingly crispy thick pickles and mayo on the top and bottom bun.

It’s basically a sandwich that stands on the stage at the chicken sandwich awards show to say “Carl’s Jr’s got something to say!”

Everything about this sandwich works. The pickles aren’t sad and soggy. A potato bun is always appreciated. The cried chicken is on point. The mayo… okay, the may take it or leave it — if you don’t like mayo it’s not going to severely impact this sandwich to order it sauceless (or with BBQ, do BBQ).

Carl’s Jr isn’t slumming it anymore with their chicken sandwich it easily blows McDonald’s new chicken sandwich line-up out of the water. Is it a top 5 chicken sandwich? No way. But definitely a top 10.

Optimistically speaking, this is proof that Carl’s Jr knows how to make a good chicken sandwich and we’re excited to see how they spin-off this recipe into more exciting territory. Adding bacon and cheese or mixing up a spicy version would certainly inspire a bit more hype than the stock chicken sandwich will, but if you’re a big Carl’s Jr/ Hardee’s fan you can finally rest easy knowing that a great chicken sandwich is to be had on the menu, and it isn’t shaped like a giant fried star!

The Bottom Line

A solid attempt at a standard fried chicken sandwich. It won’t inspire long lines and a black market like Popeyes’ sandwich, but it’s a welcome and delicious addition to the Carl’s Jr menu.

The new hand-breaded chicken sandwiches are available now at Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s locations nationwide.

The New York Times reports that actor Charles Grodin, who probably appeared in a movie you love (The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, The Great Muppet Caper, Beethoven), died from bone marrow cancer on Tuesday. He was 86 years old.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Grodin made his film debut in Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was an uncredited part, but before long, he was a classic “that guy!” actor, someone who maybe wasn’t the leading man, but you were always happy to see him. Outside of the four films listed above, Grodin also appeared in Rosemary’s Baby, Heaven Can Wait, Ishtar, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and Clifford, a demented comedy that you should absolutely watch.

Grodin was also a late-night fixture, “making 36 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and 17 on Late Night With David Letterman,” according to the Times. He also had his own late-night show. Here he is being effortlessly charismatic.

(Via the New York Times)

The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks square off in the most evenly matched series of the first round in the Eastern Conference. Having a level playing field isn’t strange for a series pitting a No. 4 seed against a No. 5 seed with an identical record, but this is also an intriguing stylistic clash between a defense-first entity in the Knicks and an offense-driven team in the Hawks.

Before the matchup transpires, ink will be spilled on all sides, illuminating what was a storybook season from the Knicks in vastly overachieving their expectations. On the other side, the Hawks rose to prominence after a shaky 14-20 start, with Nate McMillan turning things around immediately upon arrival. There are some specific factors that could swing the outcome, though, and we’ll explore a small handful before things tip off this weekend at Madison Square Garden.

Matchup to Watch

Julius Randle really enjoyed seeing the Hawks on the other side of the floor during the regular season. Randle averaged more points (37.3 per game) against Atlanta than he did against any other team, and he also tossed in 12.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in three victories. Part of that was hot shooting, with Randle converting 58 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three-point range, but part of it was that Atlanta’s defense simply had no answers.

Granted, the Hawks were banged up without their full roster for the vast majority of the season, and Atlanta will be healthier in Game 1 of this series than they have been at any point under Nate McMillan. Still, the Hawks don’t have a perfect defender to deter Randle and, considering Randle is the linchpin to any success New York is likely to have offensively, that could be a challenge.

De’Andre Hunter is rounding into form after a long-term knee injury, and the 6’8 forward could provide some resistance against Randle. From there, the Hawks used John Collins extensively against Randle in the regular season, and that is a more traditional 4-vs-4 matchup. Atlanta might even go to All-Defense contender Clint Capela as a Randle stopper, with other options like Solomon Hill lurking on the bench.

Regardless, Randle absolutely has to have a big series for the Knicks to win and the Hawks undoubtedly know it. McMillan and his staff have to be thinking about this matchup, and they spent Sunday’s blowout victory over the Rockets seemingly tinkering with defensive alignments in preparation.

Series X-Factor

What is Trae Young’s playoff debut going to look like? That is a question many are asking and one that has been in the water since Young’s star turn during his second season. First, Atlanta really needs Young to be good. The Hawks were +5.2 points per 100 possessions with Young on the floor and -3.4 points per 100 with him on the bench this season, and he is unquestionably the centerpiece of their above-average offensive attack.

With that out of the way, Young did a lot of his damage at the free throw line this season, with middling perimeter shooting numbers down the stretch. Will he get the same officiating treatment or will he fall into some of the traps seen by James Harden when the free throw numbers dry up a touch? What about the defensive side of the floor where he is a glaring target for the Knicks?

In some ways, this is a good series to get Young’s feet wet at the highest levels. The Knicks aren’t overwhelmingly good on offense and, though they will undoubtedly pick on him, the matchups could be manageable. Offensively, Young isn’t going to face a full-fledged “stopper” on the perimeter, and the Knicks might deploy drop coverages that could be friendly to his approach.

The Hawks will have trouble posting efficient offensive numbers without some explosions from Young, and his performance could decide this series.

One Stat To Know

The Knicks finished the regular season with a 55.9 percent true shooting mark. While that isn’t a disastrous number, it ranked just 23rd in the NBA during this offensively charged season, and New York was just 22nd in offense in scoring 110.2 points per 100 possessions. Much has been made of New York’s 3-0 season series sweep over Atlanta, and one statistic jumps off the page from those three games.

New York posted an obscene 63.7 percent true shooting mark against Atlanta, with 52/48/81 shooting splits.

Obviously, it would be aggressive (and likely silly) to assume the Knicks can replicate that kind of shooting display over the course of a seven-game series. For one thing, the Hawks will be fielding their best lineups and with Atlanta’s health rounding into form, there will be fewer weaknesses. From there, offense is simply harder to come by in the postseason, and the Knicks have to prove that they can score effectively enough on the inevitable night in which they aren’t just shooting the lights out against the Hawks.

Brockhampton fans took a blow this past March when the group’s founder and de facto frontman, Kevin Abstract, announced that their next two albums would be their last as a group. Since then, they’ve released the first of the pair, the expansive Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, leaving them with one final project to put out as a group before they go their separate ways.

However, before that, Kevin addressed the impending shakeup on Twitter, perhaps hoping to impart a sense of closure to longtime fans and reassure them that the group wasn’t breaking up for the usual dramatic reasons music fans are used to hearing. “We all love each other and we wanna continue making the best music we can,” he wrote. “Everybody just getting a lil older and got a lot to say outside of group projects. We’ve dedicated the last ten years of our lives to making music together. This next project we’re just doing what’s rite.”

He did share some good news for Brockham fans sorry to see the group go, though. While their next album will be the final album completed as a group, Abstract did tease that the long-awaited Technical Difficulties project that appeared to be scrapped last year might still see a release sometime down the road — it just may take a while due to sample clearances. “Still wanna try to get technical difficulties out at some point,” he admitted. “Just hella samples to clear, so i wouldn’t even be surprised if that came after the last album. But we really want that out.”

The group hasn’t yet announced when the final album will come along or what it’ll be called, but there’s a Europe tour planned for 2022, so it’ll presumably be out by then, and then the future beckons.

Check out the tour dates for 2022 below.

Mdou Moctar, Niger-based artist who sings in Tamasheq, is a big deal in his country’s rock scene. He has also captured the attention of fans from well beyond his home and has established hype for his next project, the album Victime Afrique. The latest taste of the record is “Taliat,” a guitar-driven psychedelic rocker.

Moctar explained the meaning behind the song, saying, “’Taliat’ means woman. In our community, women are queens, they have a lot of power, that why I use the term taliat to talk about them. A woman in the Tuareg community has to be protected, but she also has to be treated as equal.”

Moctar also spoke about his relationship with the younger musicians in his country, saying, “I know what it’s like to have been in that position, to not have the support of your family, or the money for guitars or strings: it’s really hard. I have a lot of support from the younger generation, because I help them out a lot. When I get back from tour, I give them gear that I bought while I was away so they can go out and form their own bands.”

Watch the video for “Taliat” above. Below, find the Afrique Victime art and tracklist, as well as Mdou Moctar’s upcoming tour dates.

1. “Chismiten”
2. “Taliat”
3. “Ya Habibti”
4. “Tala Tannam”
5. “Untitled”
6. “Asdikte Akal”
7. “Layla”
8. “Afrique Victime”
9. “Bismilahi Atagah”

09/03 — Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
09/05 — Durham, NC ­@ Motorco Music Hall
09/07 — Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
09/08 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
09/10 — Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/11 — Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts
09/12 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
09/14 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Café & Music Hall
09/15 — Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
09/17 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09/18 — Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
09/20 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
09/21 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
09/22 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
09/23 — Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Festival
09/24 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
09/25 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
09/26 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
09/28 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
09/29 — Oakland, CA @ Starline
10/01 — Pioneertown, CA @ Desert Daze Pre-Party
10/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

Afrique Victime is out 5/21 via Matador. Pre-order it here.

It’s been a while since The View had an all-out shouting match between Meghan McCain and Joy Behar, but the two brought the fireworks on Tuesday morning thanks to Matt Gaetz. During a panel discussion on the Republican Party’s failure to remove Gaetz from his congressional committees, Behar took the GOP to task for calling itself the “family values party” while sitting idly by as Gaetz continues to be implicated in an alleged scandal involving illegal sex with a minor and using his campaign funds to solicit escorts.

Following Behar’s remark, McCain, who has been a vocal critic of Gaetz over the years, agreed that the situation is bad, but she voiced her remarks in the most bored, disaffected tone she could muster. Via Mediaite:

It’s super disgusting. He should go to jail. It’s super embarrassing. I have nothing else to add. It’s gross. He’s a deeply unserious person. He should be removed from his committees… Matt Gaetz is a pervert who should go to jail. The end.

While being visibly annoyed with having to discuss the Republican Party’s failure to handle the Gaetz situation, McCain tried to pivot by saying that there are Democrats who should also be removed from committees for the “some of the things they’ve said about Israel.” However, Behar wasn’t done talking about Gaetz, and things got heated when she directly asked McCain what the GOP should call itself these days when it won’t do anything about Gaetz, but it had no problem ousting Liz Cheney. You can see the tense exchange at the 6:25 mark:

After becoming increasingly perturbed with Behar’s questioning, McCain rattled off all of the friends and family members she have on Capitol Hill who are “embarrassed” by Gaetz, but that wasn’t enough for Behar. She wanted to know why he hasn’t been removed from his committees, to which McCain replied that he hasn’t been arrested yet, and that’s when Behar got her.

“They didn’t have any problem taking Liz Cheney off of committees,” Behar responded, which caused McCain to melt down and start yelling over the other co-hosts until Whoopi Goldberg got so fed up that she threw to commercial.

(Via The View on Twitter)

The NBA has been very coy with the playoff schedule to this point, as the league and its TV partners have seemingly wanted to wait until we know the outcomes of this week’s play-in series to finalize a first round schedule. This has led to some frustration from fans, media, and even teams, who up until Tuesday weren’t even certain what day they would be playing their first game.

On Tuesday morning, the NBA offered something of a compromise, announcing which four series would start on Saturday and which four series would start on Sunday, but still not announcing game times or networks as they are likely awaiting the results of, at least, Wednesday’s Lakers-Warriors play-in game before setting times for this weekend and then moving forward. It’s no surprise that the TV networks will want to lock in any series involving the Lakers (and, really, the Warriors) into primetime slots, and that seems to be a major part of the delay — as does giving Boston a more prime positioning than any of the other three East squads in the play-in should the Celtics make it in.

While we wait for tip times and a full schedule to be announced, here is how the league has split up the series across Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY, MAY 22

East 7-Seed AT Brooklyn
Miami AT Milwaukee
Dallas AT L.A. Clippers
Portland AT Denver

SUNDAY, MAY 23

East 8-Seed AT Philadelphia
Atlanta AT New York
West 7-Seed AT Phoenix
West 8-Seed AT Utah

At least the 12 teams that know they’re in the playoffs can begin planning their week’s practice schedules to ramp up to their games, with the obvious caveat for teams awaiting opponents that they won’t be able to fully prepare until the play-in games are done. It should also be noted that this doesn’t necessarily represent the order in which the games will be played that day, as there’s still some shuffling that could be done once games are set.