Category: News

Most of us like to pretend we live in a world where kidnappings only happen in the movies, but a video of an attempted abduction and alleged sexual assault of a school girl in the U.K. reminds us that it can and does happen in real life. The woman who thwarted the attempt has been praised for noticing something amiss and having the courage to confront the would-be kidnapper. Though abductions by strangers is rare, attacks and assaults do happen, and it’s important that people know some ways to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

A Reddit thread discussing the U.K. incident contains helpful tips for doing just that. There are some standard self-defense preparations, such as carrying pepper spray or taking self-defense classes. But there are other less obvious things you can do to lessen the chances of abduction or attack.

One tip is to have a password for anyone who is sent to pick up your kids. Kids should know never to go with a stranger, but if there were ever a situation where someone they don’t know or don’t know well told them they needed to go with them because there was an emergency, kids need to be prepared for how to handle it.

“Create a password with your kids. Tell them that if someone comes to pick them up or tries to make them accompany them, this person must know the ‘password.’ If they don’t, don’t go with them. Change the password every time one has been used.

Example: growing up, we had a password: ‘Pinocchio.’ My siblings and I always got home from school about 40 minutes earlier than my parents did from work and so, we were home alone for this amount of time.

It was almost summer so for the 40 minutes, we played in the backyard of our house. Our neighbour, an elderly man who was always so nice to us and we had known for him years now, told my younger sister that my mom had called and asked if he could ‘feed us a snack’ as she was running late. He was trying to get her to come inside and help him grab some sandwiches. She asked him the password and he was confused. She kept persisting and he eventually said something along the lines of, ‘oh yeah, your mom told me it but I can’t remember. I’m so old!’ But my sister still refused.

Eventually he gave up and my mom came home on time. We told her what had happened and she marched over there basically asking him ‘wtf.’ He said my sister got mixed up, he was simply asking us if we wanted a snack—never admitting to saying she had apparently called him and leaving out the fact that he was trying no to get her inside.

About 6 months later, he was arrested for possession of child pornography, including old photos of his own kids when they were young and some shots of other neighbourhood kids that appeared to have been taken from a window.

We truly think this password system saved my sister from being another victim of his.”

It’s important to trust our intuition and teach our children to do the same. If something doesn’t feel right, there’s a chance something isn’t right, and we should honor that gut feeling. Teach kids to talk to a trusted adult if something feels off, and to leave situations in which they feel uncomfortable.

Along similar lines, having a code phrase for kids to use when they call or text you from a friend’s or relative’s house can help them get out of uncomfortable situations where they might not have the power to just leave. Another Reddit user shared a helpful tip for sleepovers:

“When your child is at a sleepover, give them a special phrase. One that they can say over the phone or through text that will alert you to come pick them up immediately, no questions asked. Ours is something silly like ‘How’s grandma’s dog?’ I’ll reply something along the lines of ‘not good. I’m on my way.’ Then I call the parent hosting the sleepover, let him/her know that there’s a situation with my family and I need my daughter to gather her things so I can pick her up. I usually wait to make the call until about ten minutes before I get there to avoid her awkwardly sitting around having to be grilled by the parents. My daughter has proof on her phone that she didn’t call to go home (even though she did) and she avoids having to explain she wants to leave. And she isn’t required to tell me why she wanted to come home. I will definitely ask her and offer comfort, but I don’t force her to talk about it until she is ready.”

Another parent said they did something similar.

“We used the password situation the other way too—it was a way for my daughter to call us from say a party, date or whatever that she wanted to leave but couldn’t say out loud. This has gotten easier with texting but there are still times it helps.

Our code word was muffin bc it was a word that could be easily used either way. She called us from a sleep over that she didn’t want to be at anymore and said she’d like muffins for breakfast. I immediately called the mom of the girl hosting and said we had a family emergency so I needed to pick her up. Worked like a charm. Turns out the girls 16 year old brother was being skeevy and offering the girls booze and weed, and asking “how far they had gone” … the girls were 11 and 12.”

One Reddit user shared a story of what a young relative did when she suspected a car was following her:

“My aunt’s daughter was just in her car driving to her mom’s house… a few days ago. She was getting off main roads and into developments and felt like this car was following her. She called her mom, who told her to start making weird turns and not come home. She did… the guy followed. Her mom called the cops and they were all there waiting when she pulled up. They couldn’t arrest the man, he claimed he was looking at the leaves changing.

He was just arrested for attempting to abduct another woman at knifepoint. Two good samaritans saved her and held him down.

Trust your gut.”

A couple of people added tips for physically fending off an attacker, even if you don’t have specific self-defense training:

“Another good tip is to have them actually physically practice what to do if someone snatches them…dead weight, back on the ground, kick like hell, scream stranger! Dr. Phil had a guy on who described the technique as chiwawa [sic] crazy—flip out and cause a scene. And actually physically practice to help them not freeze in the moment,” wrote one user.

“Also this!” added another. “My dad, now an ex-cop, made us practice about once a month. It’s seems a bit much but honestly, I became pretty confident in my skills and was even able to remember one of those moves years later when I was 23 and someone tried to snatch my purse in a mall parking lot!”

KidsHealth.org offers other child-specific tips for keeping your kids safe in public, and Brown University offers a helpful list of ways for anyone to protect themselves from potential danger.

Though we all hope we’ll never been faced with a situation like the one we saw in the U.K., it’s good to be prepared for anything and always better to be safe than sorry.

Bay Area rapper Saweetie sat at the Hot Ones table today and as she barely survived the Wings Of Death, she revealed her business advice for new artists, broke down Bay Area slang, and explained why she might just be a better athlete than her boyfriend Quavo.

After Hot Ones host Sean Evans noted that Saweetie’s grandfather once played for the San Francisco 49ers and asked which half of the couple “throws a tighter spiral,” Saweetie immediately responded, “Me,” explaining that she was nominated “Female Athlete Of The Year” at her high school and boasted “my name will forever be in the gym.” She elaborated that she competed in track, volleyball, and powderpuff football, saying, “Hey, I got an arm.” Quavo, of course, was his high school’s quarterback in 2009, leading his county in passing yards. However, the team only went 1-9 that season — which didn’t stop Quavo from posting his highlights on Twitter or hosting an annual Huncho Day neighborhood outreach celebrity game. He also regularly pops up in rapper pickup basketball footage, plays in the NBA’s All-Star Weekend celebrity game — earning MVP in 2018 — and even held a streetball tournament at the filming of his “How Bout That” video.

Maybe the couple will finally settle the score on an episode of Saweetie’s Icy Life YouTube show or in a music video for her upcoming album, Pretty Bitch Music. In the meantime, check out Quavo’s adorable story about how he slid in Saweetie’s DMs here and Saweetie’s new single “Back To The Streets” here.

Watch Saweetie’s full Hot Ones appearance above.

Donald Trump is getting desperate, and his desperation has manifested itself the way it often does: with an all-caps tweet.

As it currently stands, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads the race for the White House with 253 electoral votes (although some outlets have him at 264), compared to 213 for Donald Trump. Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and, depending on where you look, Arizona hasn’t been called yet, but it would be a surprise if Mr. Alive and Well beats Biden to 270. Let’s see how he’s taking it.

On Thursday morning, the president demanded that states immediately halt counting legally cast ballots for the presidential election. “STOP THE COUNT!” he tweeted, later adding, “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!” The Associated Press called it an “extraordinary statement by an incumbent president,” who has “no impact on the tallying of votes across the country. So far, the vote count across the country has been conducted efficiently and without evidence of any misconduct, despite Trump’s public complaints.” Trump essentially only wants to count the votes that will help him to a second term. Besides, if the count was stopped this second, Biden would win Arizona and Nevada and therefore, the presidency. Now, I’m no big-city political strategist, but that seems not ideal for Trump.

What is ideal, however, is Twitter’s reaction to his “STOP THE COUNT!” tweet.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony is just days away, with this year’s inductees including the likes of Nine Inch Nails, T. Rex, and the Doobie Brothers. While the event is scheduled to take place virtually, many musicians are still looking forward to the annual ceremony. In order to celebrate the occasion, Amazon Music recruited St. Vincent and a few others to take on covers of some of the inductees’ most popular songs.

Electing to pull from Nine Inch Nails’ catalog, St. Vincent gave an electrifying cover of the group’s track “Piggy” from their 1994 album The Downward Spiral. Explaining why she chose the song, St. Vincent said:

“[‘Piggy’] remains one of my favorite Nails songs to this day.… I am obsessed with the slinky tambourine that is just a little lazy in feel. And when I took this song apart to cover it, it took me a long time to really understand the immensity of the groove. It’s a dark, industrial reggae. Muscular, but never as distorted as you imagined it when you think of it in your head. […] They made a complicated thing seem easy and made big, bold sonic choices.”

St. Vincent wasn’t the only musician to join in on the cover series project. Real Estate took on the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes In,” The Kills shared a rendition of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer,” and Jehnny Beth elected to cover Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.”

Listen to St. Vincent’s “Piggy” cover above via Amazon Music and find the other ones mentioned below.

Busta Rhymes‘ new album, the ungainly titled Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God is a dynamic display of the 30-year veteran’s chameleonic versatility. However, it also shows that there is a tremendous gulf between blending in and adapting. Hip-hop and pop culture are in far different places than they were when he exploded onto the scene, roaring like a dungeon dragon.

Busta’s kept pace over the past three decades, morphing his flow and persona to craft hits and remain relevant. In each era of his career, he both stood out and fit comfortably astride the then-current wave. At the height of the Native Tongues’ supremacy, Busta and the Leaders Of The New School donned the uniform of New York’s baggy jeans rap scene. Then, when Busta himself went solo, he became an agent of chaos on The Coming…, a guise that served him well through the original Extinction Level Event, a sprawling concept album that portended doom and gloom in the coming years.

That eerie outlook was likely influenced by anxieties circulating around the turn of the millennium, as Hollywood churned out disaster film after disaster film and cable news warned of the looming Y2K computer shutdown sure to devastate systems globally. All across America, folks stocked up on bottled water and canned goods as they prepared for what seemed like it might be the end of the world.

Of course, the “end of the world” is a ragged concept, hashed together by film executives and sci-fi writers for maximum dramatic effect. In reality, the world trends toward decay, the systems and infrastructure we rely on to keep things moving simply degrading until they’re replaced by the next thing, which will immediately begin its own slow slide toward irrelevance. The real world looks much more like Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart than Deep Impact or Armageddon.

Rappers often experience the same disorienting transformation of the world around them as Achebe’s Okonkwo. The world they know is slowly erased and unable to find their footing, they self destruct in ways both spectacular and mundane. Sometimes they fail to change and sometimes they blow up on the younger generation’s lack of the values they grew up respecting but it’s practically inevitable that all sacred cows eventually become hamburger.

That Busta has thus far staved off the fate that befell more than a few of his peers — where are Charlie Brown and Dinco D these days? — it’s hard for me to miss the red flags amid the sturm and drang of E.L.E. 2‘s ominous pronouncements and lyrical pyrotechnics. Think of how many of Busta’s peers never managed to adjust their ears to process any type of hip-hop instrumentals other than the break-beat-sampling boom-bap of their teenage era. Busta himself stays up to date here but while the references are modern enough — “The Purge,” soulful loops that match guest rappers’ best sonic palettes like the Rick Ross-featuring “Master Fard Muhammad,” and a willingness to experiment with trap on “Blowing The Speakers” — there are missteps like the dated-sounding synth claps on “Where I Belong.”

When it comes to the raps, there’s no question that Busta remains one of the most gifted MCs to survive from his generation. Breath control and rhyme schemes are like eating, sleeping, and blinking to the seasoned vet, they come so easily to him they may as well be automatic. But no matter how elaborate the pattern or devastating the punchline, it never feels like he’s telling us anything we don’t already know either about him or the state of the world. When he tries to delve deeper into the apocalyptic prophecy, he tends to come up dry. There’s no insight, just a reflection of all the generalized anxieties we all feel with a global pandemic and ecological disaster hanging over us. I would have loved more of the Busta from his recent collaboration with Stevie Wonder, who sounded hopeful and motivated for change.

Even worse, he tucks in hints of the sort of out-of-touch finger-wagging many of his peers have fallen prey to in the past year. In a world where pop culture has accepted Tyler The Creator, Lil Nas X, and Brockhampton, his “demasculinization” line on “E.L.E 2: The Wrath Of God” sends up a flare to the wrong kinds of personalities. When Kanye, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, and more have made fools of themselves and highlighted how unengaged they are politically within a month of what could be the most important election in American history to date, I wanted someone, anyone that I grew up idolizing to give me anything other than more Q-style the conspiracy theorizing and hyper-religious alarmism of “Satanic.”

In a year which saw a bunch of rappers release follow-ups to fan-favorite albums illustrating growth and vulnerability, I would have been fine if Busta had skipped the doomsaying concept of the original and cut the tracklist down to include only the virtuosic flows of “Czar,” “Slow Flow,” and “Look Over Your Shoulder.” The supermarket tabloid political commentary overshadows Busta’s showmanship just enough that the extinction he stresses on the rest of the album may just be his own.

Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God is out now via The Conglomerate Entertainment, Inc. / EMPIRE. Get it here.

Considering the presidential election has already stretched into Thursday morning without a winner, we don’t know how MSNBC’s “Map Guy” Steve Kornacki is still alive let alone the finding time to make talk show appearances. And yet, on Wednesday night, the touchscreen guru tapped managed to video chat with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where he broke down what it’s like covering this unusual election and reminisced about the time he accidentally drew a giant penis on live TV.

After walking through what it’s like being on the MSNBC “Kornacki Cam,” which the election wizard constantly forgets is on until friends and family text him to remind him it’s live, Kornacki took a moment to “thank” Fallon for joking about a unfortunate drawing from the 2016 election. “I gotta tell you Jimmy, I got in trouble on your show because of that telestrator a few years ago because I was drawing on the map and you seemed to think it looked like a part of the reproductive anatomy.”

In Fallon’s defense, take a look at this thing. Even Kornacki’s co-host couldn’t keep it together at the time:

If you’re wondering why Kornacki was attempting to draw some sort of fish or whale, that was actually supposed be a map of the United States. Unfortunately, the end result was a tad more phallic than the MSBNC correspondent was going for. Given that he’s been awake for over 18-hour stretches, it’s amazing he hasn’t made the same mistake this year. But with the way this election is going, there’s always another day.

Let’s face it, we could all use a break from 2020. At the very least, we could use a breather from solely focusing on our continuing “Election Night” that may not resolve anytime soon. As vote-counting continues in battleground states, Joe Biden’s lead is widening while Donald Trump has been falsely claiming victory in states that he has not won as well as the entire nation. Luckily, TV can be a wonderful source of escapism, as well as a source of inspiration. To that end, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a breather on Twitter to not only declare that she wants a nap, but she plans to hop onto Twitch soon to chat with a certain set of fans.

AOC’s referencing her Star Trek: Voyager love, which isn’t exactly a secret (more on that in a moment), and Captain Janeway herself was paying attention to the conversation. Kate Mulgrew hit AOC with a reply about Tuvok and Neelix while congratulating AOC on winning reelection in NY’s 14th congressional district.

In response, AOC revealed that Janeway served as her youthful inspiration on “how leadership means being responsible for working through dilemmas w/ no clear answers.” She continued: “All the easy decisions are made before it gets to the top. Janeway leads w/ focus on her mission – to get her crew home.”

The respect between AOC and Mulgrew isn’t new. The latter endorsed AOC at a 2018 rally and bestowed her with a badge/communicator.

And AOC’s nerdery runs deep, as her mother, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, revealed in 2019 to Daily Mail that her daughter enjoyed watching Voyager with her late father, who saw some shades of Janeway in AOC. “In one scene, Captain Janeway (a character played by Kate Mulgrew) appears,” Blanca related. “[A]nd my husband, who could no longer talk, pointed at the captain then at Alexandria, and back and forth, to say to her he thought she’d be like Captain Janeway one day, someone in charge.”

For their new EP Sour Lemons, Local Natives took a more free-flowing approach to the songwriting process than they have on previous efforts. The result is four tracks that feel simultaneously refined and effortless, which is a perfect mindset for approaching Local Natives music. The highlight of EP comes in the form of “Lemon,” a duet with Sharon Van Etten that revels in the discomfort of being out of touch with time and the people you love.

To celebrate the new album, vocalist Kelcey Ayer sat down to talk 311, Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, and Legally Blonde in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Use ears. Biden 2020.

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?

Honestly this question triggers something I’ve struggled with in my career up until now, and that’s finding validation in what people think of our music, especially critics. Yes of course I want our band to be revered in the leagues of artists we’ve looked up to with such reverence, Radiohead, Bowie and the like… what artist doesn’t want that? (Also, if they say they don’t, that’s ADORABLE.) But that’s not up to me, and spending energy on how our music is perceived against those standards just doesn’t serve me anything but corrosive jealousy and unnecessary pain. It’s taken me a while to understand something so seemingly obvious but I think finally I may have: music is subjective. I’ve met people who think Radiohead is garbage, and yet these people still walk the earth without something horrible happening to them and they’re happy and everything is fine. Some people think Rascal Flatts is their Radiohead. WTF. All that matters is how something affects you, and no one can take that away. So my answer is that if anyone cares at all, if anyone is still moved in any way in 30 years from now, I’ll be a happy man.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform in?

I’ve had so many amazing experiences in so many cities that I truly hate this question. Every single city has had a rad coffee shop that helped me start my day, a crowd who paid for tickets and showed up and cared, and countless other discoveries I’ve treasured over the years. I’d rather just say my least favorite city to play in: Cambridge. We played Cambridge in 2013, and while the town and campus was beautiful, the audience was a total snooze-fest and it was awful. Finally we know why: Cambridge Analytica.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Thom Yorke. In my generation there is no one who even comes close to me in regards to their commitment to artistry over commercialism while making truly affecting and arresting music through Radiohead or his solo work. If there was a Venn diagram of everything I love about music, the feeling of euphoria, the commanding rhythms of a pulsing piano, the energy of really loud underwater beat, the “artists who don’t give a f*ck about art” attitude, on and on, the part that’s in the middle that they all have in common is him. What can I say, my ears have backs and he is their back-scratcher.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Once in 2013 while in Rome, our tour manager really wanted to see the Vatican, but we didn’t have a lot of time before the show for dinner, and if I didn’t get food ASAP I’d have to wait until after to eat (eating too close to the show runs the risk of throwing up on everyone, which obviously is, um, “not the vibe”). We did a radio interview so close to the Vatican that I felt bad to bail on him, so we made a compromise: I’d stop at some random place for food and I’d eat while he sped through an audio tour. We found a small deli where I grabbed a bag of buffalo mozzarella, a small baguette, and some prosciutto. We got there and he ran inside as I sat on the Vatican steps and started eating. I was in shock. Imagine the best bread and prosciutto you’ve ever had, and then there was the mozzarella. I can’t even describe how good this cheese was. Imagine eating an orgasm. That’s how good it was.

So this is my answer whenever I’m asked this and I love it for two reasons. One: because I’ll never be able to find that deli again, so it’s this memory I’ll always treasure knowing it’s one I can never experience again, so I feel no need to relive it. I can just enjoy it. And two: it made me truly appreciate single ingredients. Whereas before I’d have a zillion things in a meal, but after I realized that truly amazing meals can consist of just a few high-quality things.

What album do you know every word to?

The first album I ever knew inside and out was 311’s 311, also known as their Blue Album. They were my first love and I’ll always have a soft spot for them.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

In 2011 I saw Thom Yorke’s newly assembled Atoms For Peace band play at Coachella before they recorded their debut record. They played Yorke’s 2006 solo album Eraser as a band and to hear that album come to life with Flea losing his shit and everyone so in-sync, it was mind-blowing. Have I mentioned yet that I like Thom Yorke?

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Black shirt and black pants. I just think the more you can not think about your outfit the more you can focus on the show. Some people are empowered by really loud awesome clothes, which I envy, but I find the simpler the better, especially in a band where you’re supposed to come together as one.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Let’s just be honest, Phoebe Bridgers is the best thing on Twitter, that’s just a fact. And as far as Insta, I’ve found so much joy in discovering Jordan Firstman and all his “impressions” of things, I highly recommend spending some time with him.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Probably “Go Back” by Tony Allen feat. Damon Albarn. It just ticks off all the boxes for what we look for in our driving music: groove, energy, rad beats, a touch of darkness, and most importantly, Damon Albarn.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Can you activate active dry yeast with lactose-free milk? I was making Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls and thought maybe I f*cked it up using the wrong milk for that part. Yeast acting correctly is everything in baking, so it was a pretty high-stakes google. I learned nothing. Rolls came out great. It was all for nothing (giant smiley-face emoji).

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Portishead’s Third on vinyl. Also works great for sorting out who your real friends are.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

The night before our first ever show in NYC we were in Philly and needed a place to crash, and the cook at the venue said we could go to his place. We were on tour with two other bands and the guy said that he had room for everyone, so we were extremely grateful. The only catch was that he had to make one stop on his way home. We all proceeded to go with him to a bar where he drank for two hours, grabbed a to-go six-pack of PBR tallboys, and we finally headed to his place at 2am. He had a decent sized apartment, but with 15 of us, there basically wasn’t a spot on the floor without a grimy musician on it. As we got into our sleeping bags, he went to put something on the record player, then sits in a chair staring out the window as the record starts playing. It was a murder mystery. He stayed up until sunrise drinking every last one of those tallboys listening to this thing, only for his nurse girlfriend to come home at 6am from an all-night shift, see nothing but dirty 20-year-olds and freak the fuck out. Basically we got next to no sleep but still had an amazing show, it’s called being 20.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

I’m thinking of who I even like getting played on the radio still, and I’d probably say Drake. He consistently is on and it’s consistently the most interesting thing on top 40. My one and only moment of actually stopping everything I was doing and turning up the volume was the first time I heard “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, a true miracle of a song.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I actually just broke my favorite red Stax coffee mug I got in Memphis in 2014, and my wife went through multiple hoops to buy a new one for me. I’m not sure if that is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, but she definitely is the nicest person to me in my life.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Have WAY more sex.

What’s the last show you went to?

My wife and I saw Andy Shauf here in LA and he was great. He writes amazing songs and creates tangible stories you can live in. He was reserved and chill and they played the songs exactly how they are on record, and I love when you can rely on an artist like that.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Legally Blonde. That movie is fucking amazing, and if you don’t like it then you’re heartless.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

I’d make fresh guacamole to go with my famous tater-tot tacos with homemade corn tortillas. I’d also try and get him drunk so he could tell me if aliens exist or not. I mean, we both would get drunk. I wanna get drunk with Obama. God I miss Obama.

Sour Lemons is out now. Listen on Spotify and Apple Music.

Leon Bridges and Lucky Daye first teased their “All About You” collaboration a few weeks ago with a photo of the pair on a stage with instruments and a blazing LED screen behind them. Now, we know what the stage was for; their electrifying performance of the track for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Backed by their band and “playa’d down,” as Bridges put it in the tweet for the teaser, they deliver a spine-tingling rendition of their soulful duet. Be prepared to make a stank face all the way through, especially at the end.

In the absence of live touring, Bridges has been on something of a video tour with his new music this year, bringing his heartbroken ballad “Sweeter” to the Democratic National Convention and sharing his own virtual performance on YouTube. He also brought some lighthearted fun to locked-down fans alongside John Mayer with the tongue-in-cheek “Inside Friends” video during the quarantine earlier this year.

Meanwhile, rising star Lucky Daye has been raising his profile with a string of smooth features. First, he linked up with Compton rapper Buddy for the steamy “Faces,” then he appeared on Bryson Tiller’s Trapsoul reissue. He also appeared on Kehlani’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t and co-wrote on Zayn Malik’s comeback single “Better.”

Watch Leon Bridges and Lucky Daye perform “All About You” above.

Mortal Kombat 11, the latest title in the storied fighting game series, was first released last year. In less than two weeks, though, Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition, an enhanced version of the game containing all the DLC that has been released, will be coming out, on November 17 for current- and next-gen platforms. To help get the word out, the game makers enlisted Megan Thee Stallion to introduce the addition of fan-favorite character Mileena.

In a promo video, Meg is dressed up as the fighter, complete with the signature toothy mouth. Sharing the clip on Instagram, Meg wrote, “I just wanted to stop by real quick and let y’all know that thee b*tch is BACK. HotGirl Mileena is back in the game. Gameplay bout to drop real soon. #MKUltimate #ad @mortalkombat.” She later shared a photo of herself dressed normally except for the mouth.

The video is more than just a paycheck for Meg, as she’s a fan of the franchise and actually dressed up as Mileena for Halloween in 2019. Meg also isn’t the only musician to get involved with the game: In October 2019, 21 Savage released a new song he made for the game, “Immortal.”

Watch Meg’s new Mortal Kombat 11 promo above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.