Category: News

What makes video game music iconic? It could be simply a list of the best video game songs ever made and leave it at that, but that’s not only subjective, it doesn’t really fit the exact feeling of what “iconic” video game music actually is. Iconic music is something that everyone knows. Even people that aren’t deep in the gaming space can hear a few notes and immediately start humming along. You see it in medleys and in many cases, it’s the music that is used to define a franchise.

Everyone has a different list when it comes to the best music or the best soundtrack, but iconic is iconic and you know it when you hear it. These are the most iconic songs in video games.

Final Fantasy: Prologue

One could fill half of this list with nothing but songs from the Final Fantasy franchise if they chose, but few themes have quite the same feeling as the Prologue theme from Final Fantasy 1. This theme started a tradition that has existed in all but a small handful of mainline Final Fantasy titles and that is, at some point, you will hear this original theme played. It may be remixed, but you are going to hear it.

Alongside that theme comes an overwhelming feeling of adventure and triumph. Any fan of Final Fantasy hears this theme and they are immediately filled with the sense that they can overcome anything. It’s time to grab a weapon and head off because the world needs to be saved, and you’re going to be the one to do it.

Super Mario Bros. World 1-1

World 1-1’s theme has become such an iconic piece of music for Mario that it has become synonymous with Mario himself. When you hear that jingle start to play there’s a sense of joy and nostalgia that fills your heart; it’s time to go on another fun adventure to rescue the princess from Bowser. There are endless remixes, musical renditions, and homages to Mario and they all use this theme to represent him. Mario is the most iconic figure in video games and unsurprisingly his music has that same level of fame.

Tetris Theme

Tetris is arguably the greatest piece of media ever created. Despite the simplicity of the game, it has been re-created, ported, and played on every device ever made. From flip phones to virtual reality, you can find a way to play Tetris.

With Tetris being available everywhere you would be remiss to not mention the perfect little jingle that has accompanied it along the way. It’s simple, short, memorable, and extremely hummable. Listen to this theme once and it will be impossible to not hum along for the rest of the day. In this simplicity comes endless remix potential. The main theme of Tetris has been possibly remixed more than any other theme in video games and the results are almost always great.

Halo’s Main Theme

When Xbox Live was at its peak during the Xbox 360 era there was probably one song you were hearing more than any other. The main theme of Halo. As everyone poured endless hours into online matchmaking or hosted LAN parties with their friends, the soft choir-like tones of Halo‘s main theme were playing. It was perfect background music as you waited to find a new match or for your friends to get online so you could play through Halo 3‘s campaign on co-op for the 100th time.

Escape From The City

Imagine for a second being a Sonic fan towards the end of the ’90s. The Dreamcast you bought is on the verge of death and your favorite blue hedgehog is quickly approaching homelessness. You know the Dreamcast needs a big hit and you’re hoping that Sonic Adventure 2 is going to be the game to save the console. You pop in the disc, play the opening level, and play “City Escape” for the first time. Just for a moment, you think that all is well and Sega is going to take the crown back from Nintendo and Sony.

Unfortunately for those fans that didn’t happen, but the music that accompanied that moment was “Escape From The City” a song that just perfectly captured the attitude of Sonic. This iconic piece of music would set the tone of what kind of music we’d hear in Sonic for years to come.

At Doom’s Gate

Doom was a revolutionary first-person shooter thanks to not only its innovative gameplay but extreme violence that at the time had not been seen before. You mowed through waves of demons and at one point battled your way through Hell itself with each level growing more demonic. Of course, a hardcore game like this needed a hardcore soundtrack to accompany it. “At Doom’s Gate” became the iconic piece of music from Doom that everyone thinks of when they think of the franchise.

Hyrule Field

There’s just something about Zelda and overworld themes. Take your pick of one and you’re going to find an incredible song to accompany you on your journey, but few had quite the impact that Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time did. Maybe it’s the generation that grew up with it, but this became the theme that every other Zelda overworld theme was held to afterward. When the revolutionary Breath of the Wild came out, on Wii U/Switch, one of the largest complaints about the game was that it lacked an iconic theme like Hyrule Field. This is the gold standard that every Zelda game is going to be held to and that’s what makes it so iconic.

Throughout much of her music, Noname takes on topics like racial justice and what it means to be a revolutionary. But along with making music, Noname actually practices what she preaches. She recently turned down the opportunity to write a song for HBO’s Judas And The Black Messiah film because she didn’t think it emphasized Fred Hampton’s revolutionary theories enough. Now, Noname is taking aim at the problem of idolizing celebrities in American culture.

Following the murder of George Floyd last summer, many people looked to celebrities and musicians to lead the fight for racial justice. But Noname disagrees with relying on celebrities to make structural and societal change. Why? Noname argues that celebrities fundamentally don’t have the interests of the working class in their minds. Sharing her thought to her Instagram Stories, Noname wrote:

“Every celebrity, entertainer, athlete, and public figure should be looked at as an enemy to the revolutionary potential of the people. Folks who hold these public positions rarely have class solidarity with working class people. They are always going to be ideologically and materially invested in U.S. capitalism because it keeps them rich. If you are inspired by the sh*t some of us say, cool. But don’t even think radical change is in our hands. Revolution comes from organized people. Join a radical organization. Preferably one that empowers all members to be leaders instead of orgs that highlight a few people as ‘leader.’ F*ck a celebrity.”

Continuing to explain her thought process, Noname said: “It is not totally impossible for a person with fame to align themselves with working class oppressed people (I like to believe I am walking in that tradition). But it is important to remember that those are a few individuals that exist in the petite bourgeoisie class. The masses of rich people in that class reproduce a liberal status quo. We might see them promote a democratic party of fascists but that’s about it.”

Read Noname’s opinion the the intersection of celebrity and revolution above.

With her recent No. 1 album Positions and her Netflix documentary Excuse Me, I Love You, Ariana Grande fans have been well-fed lately. On top of that, Grande returned last week to share a video to her “34+35 (Remix)” track with Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat, which saw the three musicians having a lavish and relaxing day together. It turns out fans can expect even more music coming from the pop star very soon.

Grande had previously teased her Positions (Deluxe) album by sharing a tracklist with four of the song titles scratched out. But now, Grande has returned to make an exciting announcement. Her deluxe album is arriving this week, and she’s finally shared the titles to the previously-undisclosed songs.

Posting the official tracklist to social media, Grande asked fans: “which of the new additions are u claiming?” The news confirms that, along with her Megan and Doja Cat collaboration, the tracks titled “Someone Like U (Interlude),” “Test Drive,” “Worst Behavior,” and “Main Thing” will appear as bonus songs on the LP.

While the prospect of getting to hear four new Grande songs is exciting to some fans, others are disappointed that their collaboration speculations didn’t pan out. Many thought Grande was going to have a song with SZA on the deluxe release, a rumor that the singer promptly shut down. “Lol I wish but nah,” SZA said.

Positions (Deluxe) is out 2/19 via Republic. Pre-order it here

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

One of the very few positives of the move to virtual concerts from live ones is that NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series has been able to enjoy guests that might have ordinarily passed on an appearance or simply been too busy to carve out time for a DC trip to visit the titular Tiny Desk at NPR’s physical offices.

One such artist is Rick Ross, the Carol City, Florida rapper who just got his own Rap Snacks flavor and has a big enough hits catalog to make up three or four Tiny Desk Concerts. In his Tiny Desk debut, Ross notably performs with a live band for just the second time in his career (a real travesty, considering how lush his production has always been) and makes the most of it, performing a mini-medley of some of his greatest hits, including “Aston Martin Music,” “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast),” and “I’m Not A Star.” He’s joined by Elijah Blake, who sings the hooks normally handled by Ne-Yo and Chrisette Michele.

Rick Ross was recently the subject of a viral backlash after a clip from an old Vh1 show resurfaced, exposing him to accusations of colorism. In typical Ross fashion, he let the buzz pass him by, instead opting to share a classic Jay-Z story with DJ Khaled.

Watch Rick Ross’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert above.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got the impressive debut album from Claud, another new track from Greta Van Fleet, and the first official Ryley Walker solo music in several years. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Claud – Super Monster

After a string of inventive self-released EPs, 21-year-old Claud’s debut album makes good on the promise of their early work. With the opportunity to mix the record at the legendary Electric Lady Studios, Claud was able to take the DIY aesthetic of home recording and blow it out to make Super Monster sound good in rooms big and small. “Across the album’s thirteen tracks, Claud builds a unique indie-pop listening experience that doesn’t sound quite like anything else,” I wrote in a recent interview.

Anika Pyle – Wild River

Best known for her work in pop punk outfits Chumped (so good) and Katie Ellen (also so good), Anika Pyle has taken downtime from touring to work on a good deal of solo music over the last several years. Wild River is her first proper solo album, an effort that was born out of sudden loss and the ensuing period of enveloping grief. Comprised of an array of different musical arrangements and some spoken word interludes, the album features some of Pyle’s most personal and reflective songwriting to date.

Steady Holiday – Take The Corners Gently

Steady Holiday wanted to use her third studio album, Take The Corners Gently, to embrace uncertainty and come to terms with a period of uncertainty in her life. Despite the heavy themes, the album is breezy and seemingly carefree, a celebration of the effort one took to make the best of a difficult situation. “The experience was an opportunity to examine how deeply I pay attention to the people and world around me,” she said in a statement. “To notice where I put my energy, and what I might be missing. It’s an album about embracing uncertainty, relinquishing what can’t be controlled, appreciating moments as they happen.”

Angel Du$t – Never Ending Games (Remix EP)

Hardcore-turned-folk-punk outfit Angel Du$t released their Lil House EP last year, and now the project’s standout track “Never Ending Game” has received the remix treatment from the likes of Panda Bear and Lunice. Each producer’s take on the track gives it a completely new life, with Panda Bear essentially recreating the song from scratch and Lunice utilizing some of the song’s original pieces to create something new.

Toledo – Jockeys Of Love EP

As spring soon begins to set in on the East Coast, Toledo’s new EP Jockeys Of Love is a perfect soundtrack to breathing in the fresh blooms and newly warm air (through a mask). The effort is a perfect blend of light and dark, with heavy themes in the lyrics presented through reverb-soaked instrumentals and dreamy vocals. Despite its darkness, Jockeys Of Love is buoyed by an overarching sense of hope that is palpable across its six tracks.

Youth Novel – Youth Novel

Ann Arbor, Michigan screamo outfit Youth Novel has been dormant since 2017, when the group unraveled during the early production of their debut full-length album. But the pandemic gave guitarist Maya Chun and bassist Jon Riley the time and space they needed to revisit the material and complete what they started, with new vocalist Nathan Whittle. Their self-titled album is dark, chaotic, and provides a good adrenaline rush during this time of stagnancy. I just hope that they band isn’t still mad at me for losing $1 while trying to be helpful at one of their shows.

Greta Van Fleet – “Heat Above”

With their first album post-Grammys win set for release in April, rock revivalists Greta Van Fleet have shared another preview of The Battle At Garden’s Gate. It’s what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx a “triumphant track,” one that utilizes an organ and big acoustic guitars to spread the love.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy + Matt Sweeney – “Hall Of Death”

For the first time in 16 years, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney have teamed up for a new full-length album. “Hall Of Death” picks up right where the duo’s previous effort left off, a modern psychedelic track that incorporates rolling drums and modulated keyboards. But right when the track seems to feel meandering, it snaps back into focus with a laser-sharp chorus.

Alex Lahey & Gordi – “Dino’s”

With recent acclaimed albums under their belts, Alex Lahey and fellow Australian songwriter Gordi have teamed up for a new collaborative track. “Dino’s” pays tribute to the Nashville dive bar of the same name that they both frequent when passing through the city. Breezy and oganic, “Dino’s” a track about the feeling of time standing still while you are spending time with someone you truly love.

Tigers Jaw – “New Detroit”

The latest preview of Tigers Jaw’s forthcoming album I Won’t Care How You Remember Me finds Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins sharing lead vocal duties. Where many recent Tigers Jaw tracks have dialed in on the band’s power-pop sensibilities, “New Detroit” dials back the distortion to instead focusing on melodies and infectious guitar lines. In a statement, Walsh said that the song is about balancing a new relationship with the responsibilities of international touring, and “feeling mentally split between the two places, unable to be in the moment even though it was this amazing experience in a new place.”

Ryley Walker – “Rang Dizzy”

It’s been a few years since Ryley Walker released his last “proper” solo album, though he has certainly kept busy since then with a string of collaborative and cover releases. Now, he’s back with Little Common Twist, a brand new album of original material, set for release in April. Preceding the album is “Rang Dizzy,” which Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “a free-flowing tune that incorporates some jazz influence into the mix.”

Citizen – “Blue Sunday”

Citizen’s long-awaited fourth studio album was delayed significantly by the pandemic, but now is finally slated to drop in March. “Blue Sunday” is the latest preview of the LP, and truly doesn’t sound like anything the midwestern punk outfit have released to date. Drawing more inspiration from acts like The Cure than Jimmy Eat World, “Blue Sunday” shows the band’s versatility and songwriter Mat Kerekes’ chameleonic musical prowess.

Dan Campbell – “When I Face Into The Wind”

While Dan Campbell bases lyrics for The Wonder Years on his own personal journals, and lyrics for his Aaron West project on a storyboard and research, his first official solo work instead takes inspiration from real people outside his circle of friends. “When I Face Into The Wind” is more reserved than most of Campbell’s work in the past, utilizing strings and brass to accentuate the story of finding love.

Cool Ghouls – “The Way I Made You Cry”

San Francisco’s Cool Ghouls are celebrating a decade of existence by releasing their fourth studio album, At George’s Zoo. The quartet channels the sounds of the bands that made San Francisco a destination in the ’60s and ’70s, with swelling guitars and horn flourishes. The world is very different than when the quartet first got together, but “The Way I Made You Cry” shows their strengths as a group and knack for evocative songwriting.

Hand Habits – “I Believe In You” (Neil Young Cover)

With the Dirt EP just around the corner, Meg Duffy’s Hand Habits have revealed a cover of Neil Young’s “I Believe In You,” which originally appeared as the closing track on 1970’s After The Gold Rush. Featuring additional vocals from SASAMI, Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), Ellen Kempner (Palehound), and John Andrews, the cover is a good example of the lasting impact of Young’s music and style.

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

“There was once, when we were in Australia…” How many great stories start that way? It’s the “one time, at band camp” for musicians. This particular yarn comes from Foo Fighter’s frontman, Dave Grohl — rock god and pulled pork pitmaster — about the origin of his obsession with pairing KFC Original Recipe chicken and champagne.

The tale comes from the latest episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, featuring Grohl. The whole interview is a delight; Dave Grohl is sunshine in human form, after all. But the first ten minutes shine the brightest, as the megastar waxes poetic on the magical combo of fried chicken and champagne.

The gist of the story is this, O’Brien and the Foo Fighters have the same tour manager, Gus Brandt. While commiserating comically about that fact, Grohl launched into a tale about how Brandt hooked The Foo Fighters up with KFC Original Recipe buckets of fried chicken while they were touring in Oz.

Grohl launched into the story like a true raconteur, “So I’m picking up pieces of chicken and I’m eating like a raccoon in a dumpster.” Hey, we’ve all been there. But with food that salty, you need something to wash it down.

“I look and to my left was a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice,” Grohl continues. “So I pop the champagne and start drinkin’ it. Then I take a bite of chicken. And then I have some champagne and then I take a bite. And I look at everyone and I’m like, ‘YOU GUYS! YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS! THIS IS AMAZING!’”

Grohl relates his discovery of pairing fried chicken with champagne like a scientist unlocking cold fusion. The whole crew loved it so much that Grohl says they “started doing it every night.” In fact, Champagne soon became such a passion point for the gang that Grohl and Foo Fighters keyboardist, Rami Jaffee, once rode bikes from Paris to Champagne for a tour and tasting at a champagne Maison. While there, they asked the somm if he knew that champagne paired so well with fried chicken.

It’s truly a delightful story. O’Brien, being the consummate interviewer, did ask which champagne Grohl preferred with his pairing. “I mean, we usually go with Veuve,” Grohl said.

As a food and drinks writer and a huge Grohl fan, I clearly needed to try this pairing ASAP. So I headed out to the drive-thru KFC to get a bucket of Orignal Recipe, then grabbed a chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut from the grocery store. The smell of the fried chicken filled my car and activated sense memories from the last time I had KFC, in Jakarta. By the time I got home, the smells had really set in and I was ready to tuck in.

I plated up the bucket and popped the cork on the champers. I started with a drum. It was exactly like I remembered. Savory, crunchy-yet-soft, and full of those signature eleven spices and herbs. I took a sip of Veuve from the coupe and… Yeah, it worked.

The dry and sweet nature of the bubbly along with the actual bubbles was the perfect bright counterpoint to the savory, greasy, and spiced nature of the fried chicken. It was like the bubbles were cutting through the fattier aspects of the chicken somehow making them lighter. The oiliness of fast food was tamped down considerably.

I sipped champagne. I ate more chicken. I sipped more champagne. Before I knew it, I was half a bottle deep on the champers and three pieces into a bucket. The pairing even made the slightly dry breast piece more palatable, with the sweet edge of the Veuve dominating the flavor this time (like those rare games when Pippen would be the star and Jordan would be #2).

The best combo with the Champagne was definitely the thigh. The fried skin led to a real bite of dark meat that practically demanded to be cut by the effervescent, dry, and slightly sweet Veuve. We don’t all get to be rock stars in this life, but there are times when we can live like one. This is one of those — shared by one of the preeminent rockers of the past 50 years, who also happens to really know food — and it’s both deeply enjoyable and way cheaper than shredding a hotel room.

In the days since she was fired from The Mandalorian by Lucasfilm for her “abhorrent and unacceptable” social media posts, Gina Carano has teamed up with far-right gasbag Ben Shapiro on a new movie and spoken with former-New York Times editor Bari Weiss for her Substack. Weiss, who wrote in her resignation letter from the Times that “Twitter is not on the masthead of the New York Times, but Twitter has become its ultimate editor” (Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, Jr. approved this message), asked Carano about the anti-Semitic meme that led to her exit. Carano, of course, said that she was in “utter shock and confusion when certain people said it was antisemitic. Then, as I went to take it down, I noticed that the image was not the same as the one people were referencing. I was honestly confused: should I take it down, or leave it up? I still don’t know the answer to that question, because taking it down only makes the mob attack you more.”

The MMA fighter-turned-actress also discussed when she learned she was canned:

“Earlier on last year before The Mandalorian came out, they wanted me to use their exact wording for an apology over pronoun usage. I declined and offered a statement in my own words. I made clear I wanted nothing to do with mocking the transgender community, and was just drawing attention to the abuse of the mob in forcing people to put pronouns in their bio… That was heart-breaking, but I didn’t want to take away from the hard work of everyone who worked on the project, so I said ok. That was the last time I was contacted about any type of public statement or apology from Lucasfilm. I found out through social media, like everyone else, that I had been fired.”

Lucasfilm, which had been “looking for a reason” to get rid of Carano for months, reportedly planned to announce a Cara Dunne spin-off in December. But those plans were scrapped following tweets in which she, among other Bad Posts, shared an anti-mask meme and changed her preferred pronouns to “boop/bop/beep” in a transphobic joke. What a piece of dank farrik.

(Via IndieWire)

Ten years ago, on the Watch The Throne album cut “Murder To Excellence,” Jay-Z name-checked Illinois Black Panther chapter chairman Fred Hampton, rapping, “I arrived on the day that Fred Hampton died.” The line is a reference to the coincidence of December 4, 1969 — both Jay-Z’s birthday and the day the FBI conspired to have Hampton murdered at home during a raid in which federal agents fired over 99 shots to the Panthers’ one.

Shortly after the song’s release in 2011, Fred Hampton Jr. objected to Jay-Z’s rhyme, saying, “Fred Hampton didn’t die. He was assassinated. Saying Fred Hampton died is like the school teacher telling students that Christopher Columbus discovered America.” He’s also noted calling Jay “Slave Z” and questioning the motivation for the lyrical salute, as Jay-Z’s Black capitalism is as far away from the Black Panthers’ democratic socialism as it’s possible to be.

Ten years later, Jay-Z appears on the soundtrack of the film Judas And The Black Messiah, a newly released crime thriller about the assassination plot against Fred Hampton Sr. In the lyrics to “What It Feels Like,” Jay’s first collaboration with Nipsey Hussle, the Brooklyn rapper finally addresses Hampton Jr.’s comments, revisiting his “Murder To Excellence” bar with an amendment: “I arrived on the day Fred Hampton got mur– hold up — assassinated, just to clarify it further.” If the new line is meant as a mea culpa, it’s a poor one.

The awkward moment is a microcosm of the problem with the Judas And The Black Messiah soundtrack project: As a compilation, it’s sonically engaging and thematically cohesive, for the most part, but it sounds like it should be the soundtrack to some other film. With scant exceptions, none of these rappers should be on a project “inspired” by this film’s story.

If anything, the gold-plated tales many of them spin set them firmly on the side of the Judas, William “Wild Bill” O’Neal, the FBI informant portrayed by LaKeith Stanfield, who spends the entirety of the movie being hoodwinked, bamboozled, manipulated, and ultimately threatened into betraying the unifying leader of the Panthers and the burgeoning Rainbow Coalition.

Throughout the film, the only one who gets portrayed driving a fancy car, eating lavish dinners, smoking Cuban cigars — at the height of political tensions with the island nation, no less — and counting his stacks is O’Neal, often in the company of his FBI handler Roy Mitchell. When Nas paints the image of a mafioso-style meal at an upscale restaurant in his Hit-Boy collaboration “E.P.M.D.,” it does not call to mind a reflection of the austere Panther Party ethos of free lunches and clinics for downtrodden ghetto neighborhoods. It sounds like the fat cats Hampton railed against when said the famous quote:

“We don’t think you fight fire with fire best; we think you fight fire with water best. We’re going to fight racism not with racism, but we’re going to fight with solidarity. We say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism. We’ve stood up and said we’re not going to fight reactionary pigs and reactionary state’s attorneys like this and reactionary state’s attorneys like Hanrahan with any other reactions on our part. We’re going to fight their reactions with all of us people getting together and having an international proletarian revolution.”

This is perhaps why Chicago MC Noname, originally billed to participate on the soundtrack, bowed out. “I was supposed to be on the song with saba and smi but after seeing the movie I decided to pass,” she explained in a tweet after expressing her hope that the movie would inspire viewers to learn more about Fred Hampton’s politics and legacy. She’s been one of the few Black celebrities who has seemed to be more concerned with the mechanics of a rights movement than its aesthetics, often taking fire for calling out her fellows for their disingenuous presentation of “Black excellence” as an advance for the race as a whole.

This issue has been writ large over the past several years of political awakening with the advent of social media. The root problem, the racism and white supremacy of our political systems and their violent means for keeping control, hasn’t changed much since the days of Jim Crow and “separate but equal.” Sure, the Constitution was amended so that it’s no longer technically “legal” to voice discriminatory policies out loud or in writing, but they’re being exercised just the same, albeit more quietly and furtively, with a glance over a shoulder to make sure no one’s camera phone is filming.

But instead of embracing the methods of resistance practiced by our ancestors like Hampton, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and yes, even Martin Luther King Jr., Black celebrities today have adopted Black capitalism as a means of gesturing toward the idea of resistance without taking the risks involved. As Judas And The Black Messiah makes crystal clear, the penalty for being too outspoken is so often death — planned, public, and as violent as it can possibly be delivered.

Hip-hop, as a community and as a culture, has always adopted the aesthetics of those revolutionary days. Malcolm X T-shirts were a fixture on HBCU campuses in the 1980s, dashikis and kufis came into fashion in the 1990s, and the 2000s and 2010s have loved to call back to the stylish Black Panther Party aesthetic. But those revolutionary figures weren’t revolutionary because of their brands and their looks; it was their actions, thoughts, and words that both lauded them as heroes for Black Americans and painted targets on their backs.

Co-opting their likenesses to lend an air of revolutionary thought to repackaged, tired ideas about Black excellence and capitalistic success serves absolutely no one but the celebrities whose wealth only increases and the few recipients of their charity. As these artists celebrate their personal successes or those of their teams, I can’t help but juxtapose these pronouncements of personal wealth against the very real suffering of the people on the streets they say they represent. People are starving, homeless, and battling the detrimental effects of a failed pandemic response wreaking havoc on our social systems, our neighborhoods’ infrastructures, and our already precarious standing in the healthcare system.

So to hear ASAP Rocky lamenting his “Rich N**** Problems” as I recall Hampton’s own words condemning Black millionaires for espousing an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” philosophy just sits wrong in my spirit. Ironically, the arguments are made creatively and deftly on these songs — Dom Kennedy sounds revitalized on “Respect My Mind,” “Broad Day” by Hit-Boy is especially effective, and even the wildcards like Nardo Wick and Pooh Shiesty sound lucid by their expected standards, even as their contributions stick out amid the more soulful productions on the majority of the soundtrack.

But putting all these songs on an album bearing the “inspired by” tag when the inspiration behind the film once threatened to “catch that n**** by his collarneck and beat him to death with a Black Panther paper” sparks a truly dizzying sense of cognitive dissonance. Especially knowing Fred’s policies regarding the treatment of female comrades, hearing Dom sneer “I like when they do it with no teeth” stings. The Black Panther Party chairman’s beliefs were so at odds with the casual misogyny and ostentatious materialism of modern hip-hop that it’s hard to believe he’d want his name stamped on such a project, even if it sounds great and features an intro from his son.

Maybe this all reads as thinking about it too hard, thinking too deeply about it, or just plain old haterism. But I like the album. Although it meanders a lot in its middle portion, it does an admirable job of trying to tie together multiple disparate viewpoints on its subjects — the gangsters, the revolutionaries, the lovers, the intellectuals, and the dreamers — much like the multifaceted coalition of creeds and colors Fred Hampton himself once succeeded in creating.

But it feels like the true revolutionary spirit of Hampton gets lost amid chest-beating, posturing, and meaningless flexing, all delivered with a thin veneer of his fiery rhetoric in an effort to hide the fact that this “movement” is going nowhere at all. It’s an electrifying, titillating experiment in self-aggrandizement and while that’s a staple of hip-hop too, it’s a disappointment and a shame that it had to disrespect a legacy that we should be learning from, not exploiting.

Judas And The Black Messiah is out now via RCA. Get it here. The film is now streaming on HBO Max.

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

Nintendo fans may be spending some time with Bowser’s Fury these days, but soon we should know a whole lot more about what they’ll play later this year. Nintendo announced a Direct event for Wednesday where the company is expected to lay out its games roadmap for most of 2021.

Nintendo promised about 50 minutes of information about a slew of new games, including about the company’s Smash Bros. series. Beyond that, Nintendo was pretty mum about what to expect. But fans immediately started speculating wildly about what could be coming, including plenty of people hoping for news about a sequel to Breath Of The Wild from the Legend of Zelda series.

Fans were extremely excited that Directs were back, if only because it gives them something to look forward to in the middle of a pandemic.

A lot of the reaction was simply in how long it’s been since Nintendo did one of its standard Direct events. The company had teased some indie games in events and did other presentations — a model that was replicated in some ways by other companies in the E3-less pandemic world — but the first real Direct is the clearest picture fans have gotten about what’s on the Nintendo release calendar in more than a year and a half.

You can actually watch Nintendo’s Direct event in the video above on Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST.

Stopping by New York’s The Breakfast Club radio show, genre-bending Atlanta duo Earthgang reflected on their past year and teased the upcoming followup to their 2019 debut album, Mirrorland. In 2020, not only did they continue to promote Mirrorland with a string of trippy animated music videos, but they also participated in the collective Spillage Village album Spilligion alongside group members 6lack, Benji., Hollywood JB, JID, Jurdan Bryant, and Mereba. Now, they’re back at work on their next album, the title of which they also revealed while speculating about whether their Dreamville boss J. Cole will drop his own album before theirs.

They also explained the album’s title, Ghetto Gods, with Olu elaborating, “This whole conversation has been about respect for people making it out the hood.” Meanwhile, Wowgr8 echoes that sentiment: “The balance of being a God and being ghetto, it’s cool,” he expounds. They also explained that their “quarantine track” with Wale, “Options,” was made without ever being in the same room as their collaborator. Finally, Charlamagne asks the duo about the rumor that their album is dropping the same day as Cole’s.

While they play coy, they do admit they started that rumor themselves to “get the people hype,” and that they don’t actually know when he’s dropping his album.

Watch the full interview above.