Months after Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and new chairwoman Dany Garcia combined to take over the XFL, the company has entered “formal talks” with the Canadian Football League on a potential partnership as both leagues look toward a return to the field this year or next.
Both leagues had to cancel their 2020 seasons during the pandemic due to a lack of funding, with the CFL failing to secure bailout money from the Canadian government and the XFL declaring bankruptcy after mismanagement and allegations of fraud on the part of former owner Vince McMahon.
Per Kevin Seifert of ESPN, the XFL is currently making plans for a reintroduction in 2022, while the CFL already announced a 2022 calendar with preseason games set to begin in May. However, Canada remains on a more strict lockdown than the United States, making it unclear whether that will go on as planned or to what extent revenue will return if fans are not allowed into games as spectators.
The NFL has no real competitors worldwide, as no other professional American football league has gotten off the ground in a legitimate way since the NFL and AFL merged in the 1960s. A partnership between the XFL and CFL would be an interesting start, and the new Fan Controlled Football, which is based in fantasy sports and sports betting, already launched this year.
St. Petersburg, Florida trap crooner Rod Wave is rolling out his third album, SoulFly, and in preparation for the project’s March 26 release, he shares the reflective video for “Street Runner.” Sampling Canadian artist Ruth B’s song “Mixed Signals,” Wave lays out the travails of his life since fame found him as he jet sets around the US on tour, taking in the host of new experiences while missing the main lady in his life.
Rod Wave shared the tracklist and release date for SoulFly earlier this week after previously threatening to withhold the album over a money dispute with his label in early February. Whatever the issue was, it apparently got resolved a week later, leaving Rod a month to sort out the final tracklist and release date.
Wave received a burst of attention in 2019 when his single “Heart On Ice” became a TikTok favorite, climbing to No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. The resulting popularity prompted his inclusion in XXL‘s 2020 Freshman Class following the release of well-received albums Ghetto Gospel and Pray 4 Love, which peaked at No. 10 and No. 2 on the Billboard 200, respectively. Judging by the social media buzz around SoulFly, his third album can likely be expected to make a similar showing come March 26.
2002’s One By One has gone one to be one of Foo Fighters’ most classic albums. It turns out, though, that they didn’t get the producer they intended for it because Dave Grohl accidentally called “the wrong Nick.”
The band spoke about this with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Taylor Hawkins said, “Dave came to my house, we did a couple demos. We did one that was ‘Times Like These,’ and we were like, ‘Well that’s a great song.’ And then we said, ‘OK, well we have a week at Dave’s house in Virginia.’ Dave accidentally called the wrong Nick and Nick Raskulinecz showed up.”
An amazed Lowe interjected, “Wait, he wasn’t supposed to be the Nick?” Grohl responded, “I meant to call Nick Oliveri, who’s the bass player of Queens On The Stone Age, and my friend Nick Raskulinecz answered. I knew him from Sound City, he’s a great engineer, he had worked at that studio for years.”
Lowe then asked, “Are you thinking, ‘I’m going to style this out?’ Rather than admit I’m looking for a different Nick, did you just say, ‘Called the wrong Nick, do you want to come make a record with us’?” Through uproarious laughter, Hawkins answered, “That’s exactly what happened!”
That album was one of Raskulinecz’s first major producing projects and as Grohl and Hawkins noted, he has gone on to become an in-demand rock producer who has worked with artists like Rush, Deftones, The Hold Steady, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, and many others.
These days, it’s only on rare occasion that Jorja Smith drops new music. Following the success of her 2018 debut album Lost & Found, fans have been anxiously awaiting any word of new projects from the singer — and they finally got it on Wednesday. Smith returned to debut her song “Addicted,” the first solo single she’s released since the 2020 protest anthem “By Any Means.”
Directed by Savanah Leaf and Smith herself, the “Addicted” video sees the singer reflecting on her love life within the confines of her home. The grainy visual mirrors the slow-burning nature of the song, which sees Smith reeling from the aftermath of a toxic relationship. Smith sings her cathartic lyrics to her computer screen while moving through various rooms in her home. “The hardest thing / I’m too selfless to leave / You’re the only thing that I need / You should be addicted to me,” she croons.
While “Addicted” marks the first single Smith has released in 2021, the singer shared a handful of tracks in 2020. Along with her empowering song “By Any Means,” Smith took on a cover of the jazz classic “Rose Rouge” for a compilation record organized by legendary label Blue Note Records. Smith also teamed up with Popcaan to lend her vocals on the upbeat collaboration “Come Over.”
Conservative actor James Woods was crowned by Family Guyas a “political troll and maniac on Twitter,” and he seems to do everything possible to hold onto that title. Word on the metaphorical street is that Woods ditched Democratic party when Bill Clinton got impeached, although he’s remained a loyal MAGA throughout both Trump impeachments. So, it comes as no surprise that Woods is very upset about the biggest subject to get under right-wing skins this year (just ask Don Jr.), which would be the “cancellation” of characters, and cartoons seem to hit them especially hard.
Woods couldn’t sit back and let his unearthed Rudy Giuliani performance be his biggest pop culture moment this year, so he weighed in on his love of Pepe. The skunk has been excised from the most controversial movie of the year, Space Jam 2, after Dave Chappelle tried to warn us all about Pepe’s rape-culture-embodying manner two decades ago (“Good god, what kind of f*cking rapist is this guy? Take it easy, Pepe!’”), but Woods is here for the skunk fans. Here’s his seemingly sincere, black-and-white tribute (complete with an #RIPPepeLePew) to Pepe’s 1945-2021 pop-culture lifespan.
The “loverboy” spin is really something, right? It’s hard to have too many words in response to this because it’s so darn ridiculous to be upset about Warner Bros. retiring the skunk who refused to accept that “no means no” from a lady, but as one user aptly observed, “The only way we can fix America is by canceling one cartoon a week. They won’t have the energy to focus on anything else.”
Queen & Slim creator Lena Waithe is making the jump from film and TV into music, announcing the creation of a new label with Def Jam, Hillman Grad Records (named for Waithe’s production company, which itself is named for the fictional HBCU in A Different World). Waithe will be joined by Tebs Maqubela and Albert Cooke to “identify and develop underrepresented artists in hopes of priming them for long-term success,” according to a press release. Maquebela previously helped develop Brockhampton, while Cooke worked in Artist Development at Island Def Jam and Artist Relations at SoundCloud.
Waithe detailed the importance of storytelling in music in a statement, saying, “Music and storytelling have always gone hand in hand. And I think that’s because musicians are the storytellers we love the most. They can take complex emotions and simplify it in four minutes, the same artist can sing about the revolution and falling in love. Music is a part of us. It’s so often connected to our fondest and sometimes our darkest memories. Musicians tell our story. At Hillman Grad Productions we believe in identifying and amplifying new talent, and we want to continue to do that in the music industry. Jeff Harleston and his phenomenal team at Def Jam have given us their trust and their resources to help develop artists that not only have potential but staying power. We look forward to the journey ahead.” Interestingly enough, Waithe isn’t the only film talent getting into the music business.
In 2020, Atlantic Records partnered with television and film creator Issa Rae for Raedio, a new record label that has since been the launching pad for a number of successful emerging artists like Pink Sweats, Teamarr, and Yung Baby Tate, as well as the Insecure soundtrack. If this sort of thing really does become a trend, it’ll go a long way toward reversing a dire lack of Black and female executives in the recording industry, bringing new voices to the fore, which we’re all the way here for. Someone get Quinta Brunson on the phone.
We all miss Title Fight, there is no denying that. But on the latest Glitterer album, Ned Russin gives us a taste of what a new album from the legendary post-hardcore group might sound like in 2021. Though not as aggressive as his previous musical effort, Glitterer still takes inspiration from the same place, and Life Is Not A Lesson is full of fuzzed-out instrumentals and chugging guitars, but with enough melody to keep you coming back for more.
To celebrate the new album, Russin sat down to talk Shawshank Redemption, The Beatles, and his last show before lockdown in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Short and bass driven.
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?
As non-nostalgic music.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
My older brother Alex because he introduced me to hardcore and made me want me to play music.
Mortal Kombat is one of the most violent game franchises ever, so it’s never made much sense that the Mortal Kombat movies are both rated PG-13. 1995’s Mortal Kombat contains “non-stop martial arts action and some violence, while 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation also has “non-stop martial arts violence,” but nothing about the violence. “Some violence” and no violence is not enough violence when you’re making a movie based on this. The new Mortal Kombat movie will not make the same mistake.
The Motion Picture Association of America gave Mortal Kombat, the one coming to HBO Max, an R-rating for “strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references.” The rating isn’t a surprise, considering how bloody the age-restricted trailer is and that there were “drums of blood” around the set, but it’s nice to know that director Simon McQuoid wasn’t joking when he called the movie “unapologetically brutal”:
“Some fights are big, some are small, but my main goal was to make the fights mean something. I wanted the fights to look and feel like they didn’t just sort of pop out of the story and then come back in. I didn’t want anything generic. I didn’t want anything that you could see in any action movie. The stunt team on this were just amazing, and they designed some pretty f*cking incredible things.”
McQuoid also said that “we spent a lot of time talking about blood and what it looks like,” as one does. Mortal Kombat premieres on HBO Max on April 16.
Before releasing their debut album Jinx in 2019, indie psych group Crumb, who formed while attending Tufts University in Boston, gained a cult following with two playlist-frequenting EPs. Crumb, still unsigned, has managed to occupy a specific niche in indie music while being completely independent — no label, no manager, no booking agent, just Crumb. Now armed with millions of streams and a sizeable following, Crumb have begun teasing a new era of music.
The band returned Wednesday to share “Trophy,” the first new music released since their 2019 debut LP. The song continues to expand on the sound Crumb has laid out in their past projects. It opens with lulling synths before their drummer picks up the past with a swift, shuffling beat. Vocalist Lila Ramani offers her muffled musings, adding dimension to the song’s washed-out atmosphere. True to much of Crumb’s discography, the song breaks into an instrumental fever dream of distorted tones in the bridge before tightening up and moving onto the next verse.
“Trophy” debuted alongside an accompanying video, which was directed by frequent collaborator Haoyan of America with original animations by Truba Animation. The visual plays off the song’s distorted sound, taking viewers on a surreal journey from an eerie awards show to a dystopian racing track.
When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier hits Disney+ later this month, it promises to bring back the brutal close quarter combat, political intrigue, and all-around badass-ness that started in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As part of the series’ commitment to capturing the feel of the fan-favorite film, MMA fighter turned actor Georges St-Pierre has returned as Marvel villain Batroc the Leaper, who will no doubt give Anthony Mackie’s Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier one heck of a fight. The character famously went toe-to-toe with Chris Evans’ Captain America in The Winter Soldier film, and Batroc is presumably itching for a rematch with whoever’s wielding the shield when the show kicks off.
To promote his upcoming role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, St-Pierre sat down with Complex’s Load Management podcast where he shared his belief that the new series could easily rival WandaVision when it comes to sparking fan theories.
“It could be even bigger,” said about the online sleuthing that might occur once the show debuts “It’s huge. They put so much budget into this thing it’s incredible.”
Considering WandaVision continues to be an absolute juggernaut at producing fan theories, even after the series has ended, that’s a pretty tall order. However, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was supposed to be the first MCU show to premiere on Disney+, so who knows what surprises Marvel has packed inside of it.
You can watch St-Pierre share his excitement for returning to the MCU below:
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