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If you were unable to attend the 2023 edition of Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, and for some reason also missed the Amazon Music live stream of Tyler The Creator’s epic set, have no fear. The full set is now available to watch on YouTube, from its claw crane opening to watching T charge around onstage firing a handheld flamethrower with a maniacal gleam in his eye. Clocking it at around an hour and three minutes long, the set encompasses tracks from across his catalog, from “Yonkers” to “Wusyaname,” including his “Lumberjack” call out to fans for booing Drake at the last Flog Gnaw festival.

One of the set’s other highlights is Tyler telling his fans that he won’t be playing any new music. “Y’all wanted new music?” he teased. “Aw aw, and I wanted a father, but you don’t get everything. So, I’m gonna go through my catalog instead, and you pieces of sh*t are gonna sing along.” Later in the set, though, he addressed one of the elephants in the room, saying, “COVID f*cked us!” and thanking fans for returning to Camp Flog Gnaw despite the time away. Although it isn’t captured in the video above, it seems like no one had more fun at Flog Gnaw than Tyler himself, as he joined Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar onstage and jumped around in the photo pit at Clipse’s set, proving himself as much a fan as anyone else.

You can watch Tyler The Creator’s full set above.

Taylor Swift had Swifties in Argentina shook this past weekend. During the Latin leg of her Eras Tour, Swift gave a Midnights fan favorite a slight update. During a performance of “Karma,” a song whose lyrics contain “Karma is the guy on the screen / coming straight home to me,” Swift changed a single word, which made all the difference.

Swift sang “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs / Coming straight home to me,” which was met with cheers from the audience. The lyric change comes as a nod to her beau, Travis Kelce, who is the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. A clip that was later uploaded to social media sees Kelce hearing the change in real-time, and appearing equally as surprised.

On his New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother Jason, Kelce admitted that he didn’t know this would transpire.

“I might have had a little bit of a clue,” Kelce said, “but definitely when I heard it come out of her mouth, it still shocked me… I was like, ‘Oh, she really just said that.’”

This particular moment was well-received among the Swifties and Kelce himself, as was evidenced by the passionate kiss the two shared after the concert.

Tuesday night’s In-Season Tournament action saw the intensity get ratcheted up a few notches as a few games saw some scuffles with T’s handed out, with the biggest coming in the first two minutes of Wolves-Warriors when Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got latched onto each other and refused to let go in a jersey tug-of-war.

That led to Rudy Gobert trying to pull Thompson off of McDaniels and then Draymond Green jumped in to throw Gobert in a chokehold, which he refused to let go of for some time. Luckily for the NBA, the chain of guys grabbing opponents from behind to drag them away ended with Draymond, who was ejected, alongside Thompson and McDaniels. After the game, Gobert called it “clown behavior” and said he wasn’t surprised, noting Green has a propensity to get tossed in games where Steph Curry isn’t playing.

Others weren’t as thrilled that Draymond was able to throw Rudy in a sleeper without having something happen to him, with former Wolves point guard Patrick Beverley laying out how he was disappointed in Karl-Anthony Towns, saying “I taught you better than that” and believing KAT should’ve thrown Draymond in a chokehold himself.

KAT is the perfect lightning rod for this exact kind of thing, as he’s never really shaken the “soft” label, but I can’t really blame him for not trying to earn his own ejection and suspension for escalating things. For one, that’s just not him, and beyond that, it would’ve been real bad for the Wolves if he got himself tossed from that game. I’m not surprised this is PatBev’s takeaway, but that’s also his role on a team. The star shouldn’t be the one risking suspensions and ejections, because they’re critical to the team’s ability to win. Neither KAT or Ant should be tasked with the goon role as well, and beyond that, it’s an NBA fight. It’s almost all performative, there weren’t actual fists flying, and we all know how the league adjudicates these things, handing down bigger punishments for those that escalate them further.

Yes, Draymond had Rudy locked in pretty good to that sleeper and he’ll unquestionably get a suspension for it, but you can let that go and go get the win, as they did. Beyond that, I doubt Rudy’s opinion on Towns has changed at all after this because KAT wouldn’t be the one you’d expect to jump in and throw hands for any reason in the first place.

2021 was a great year for music. This particular year reintroduced us to Billie Eilish, as she released her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever. This particular album turned the promising newcomer into a budding great — someone who will be remembered in the years to come. 2021 also introduced Olivia Rodrigo, a child actor turned singer, to a new audience, as her hit singles “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U” dominated the pop charts.

Having become very familiar with the ways of the music industry, Eilish felt a sense of urgency to protect her younger counterpart.

Is Billie Eilish’s ‘Goldwing’ about Olivia Rodrigo?

In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Eilish revealed that a Happier Than Ever deep cut was partially inspired by Rodrigo.

“Nobody has had anybody else’s life, you know? But I do feel a protectiveness over Olivia,” said Eilish. “I have a song called ‘Goldwing’ from my last album that’s kind of about her. I’ve never said that to anyone. It’s not only about her. I was just thinking about her when I was writing it. She was coming up, and she was younger than me, and nobody had ever been younger than me.”

On the song, Eilish sings:

They’re gonna tell you what you want to hear
Then they’re gonna disappear
Gonna claim you like a souvenir
Just to sell you in a year

This portion of the song may reflect the harsh realities of entering the spotlight at a young age. But thankfully, we know these young ladies are looking out for each other.

House of the Dragon had no problem overcoming the fiery train wreck that was the final few Game of Thrones episodes. Thankfully, the new series, a prequel, picks up George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood book and keeps the more crowd-pleasing part of “fire” intact. There’s a reason why walls of whole NYC buildings showed clearly visible battles from street level as people celebrated a new event series that focused upon Dragons and those with the Blood of the Dragon running through their veins.

In Season 1, the audience got to know King (of Bad Decisions) Viserys (RIP) with Paddy Considine delivering upon all of the mistake-making monarch’s physical ailments with excruciating detail. Princess Rhaenyra (Millie Alcock) eventually became Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), and Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) cycled through a few wives and generally acted like an unrepentant rogue before marrying Rhaenyra and not quite giving up that vibe. The season ended with Team Black and Team Green divided, seemingly for good, after Aemond unintentionally killed Luc, which has made this battle for the Iron Throne even more personal than it already was, years after Rhaenyra was disgusted by her father and Alicent’s decision to marry.

After HotD became a ratings home run, HBO rapidly announced that a second season would be in the works. Less than two years later, that season is done filming and is now taking the post-production laps before premiere. Let’s talk about what information has funneled out so far.

Plot

The Dance of the Dragons received a too-poetic label in the book, as GRRM acknowledged within the text. I guess that’s the Westeros sense of humor for you, but soon enough, we’re going to see the Targaryen house pretty much take each other out as much as possible through aerial battle, although the show is currently planned for four seasons, so not everyone shall slide down the walls of Dragonstone into oblivion.

We will meet even more dragons, and tellingly, Daemon’s late-first-season strategy moves include changing out the jilted Caraxes for the older Vermithor. His former rider? King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, who brought stability to the realm, and a huge part of that was the threat of Vermithor. Let’s just say that his new dragon is more imposing, even if poor Caraxes tried to deliver well during Stepstones battle. Also, it seems like a positive sign for Team Black that Vermithor did not try to eat Daemon when he began singing.

Presumably, Aemond still has the biggest dragon, Vhagar, even though he clearly cannot control her. And Team Green appears to have the public’s support in King’s Landing, given that Aegon II received quite the round of roaring applause. This, somehow, was enough to motivate Aegon into actually wanting to rule, but Team Black appears to have the military advantage as of now. Not only does Daemon have Vermithor, but there’s also Vermax (with Jacaerys riding), Syrax (with Rhaenyra riding), and Meleys (with Rhaenys riding). Seasmoke is still unclaimed, too, and hanging in Driftmark. And speaking of which, the Targaryens have the not only the skies covered but also the seas, given House Valaryon’s allied status.

The fighting will serve as the key plot point, and expect much more maneuvering on both sides. Perhaps Alicent will even whip those feet out.

Cast

Returning cast members include Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen), Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen), Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen), Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon Targaryen), Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen), Steve Toussaint (Corlys “Sea Snake” Valaryon), Fabien Frankel (Ser Criston Cole the terrible), Sonoya Mizuno (Mysaria/that White Worm), and Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower). Sadly, there shall be no more King Viserys unless the show decides to show Paddy Considine doing ghost form.

Release Date

Mercifully, the TV gods were allowed to continue production during the writers’ and actors’ strikes since scripts were already locked, and the production films in Europe. So, no delays from the original release plan have occurred, and HBO has confirmed that this show will return in early Summer 2024. That’s not too shabby for an epic production, and heck, it’s a lot faster than the back half of Game of Thrones.

Trailer

HBO is keeping the suspense in hand as far as footage goes. So far, there are zero legit teasers or trailers (although there are fakes/fan versions out there) for Season 2, but we are keeping our eyes peeled, and not in an Aemond way. There will be more developments coming!

HBO’s first ‘House of the Dragon’ season can currently be streamed on Max.

Rod Wave is currently on tour promoting his new album Nostalgia, but some concertgoers will look back at their night with anything but. Over the weekend’s tour stop in Washington, DC, parking lots around Capital One Arena were hit by a wave of car break-ins, resulting in a spate of tweets from attendees about their damaged vehicles. However, initial reports may have inflated the numbers somewhat; while there was an unusually high number of break-ins, it was nowhere near the reported figure of 200. (Yet another reminder to never take SayCheeseTV at face value.)

According to Newsone, a police spokesperson confirmed that “around 10” cars were broken into, with local reporters noting that in at least two cases, guns were stolen from the vehicles in question.

DC police have reported a surge in car-related crimes recently that even almost impacted President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden. A Secret Service agent said he fired at a would-be robber who tried to break into her car.

Meanwhile, Nostalgia turned out to be the Florida rapper’s fourth No. 1 album, hanging onto the top spot for two weeks despite negative reception from critics and abuse allegations that curtailed his promotional cycle. If “cancel culture” can’t stop him, these break-ins will probably only be a minor setback too.

Bleachers has returned with “Alma Mater,” the latest single from their newly-announced self-titled fourth album, which is set to arrive next March. The calming track was premiered on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show. It finds lead singer Jack Antonoff reflecting on everything from love as he declares “she’s my alma mater” to his youthful memories.

“Some dreams are meant to die,” he declares. “Kill your idols in the street outside in daylight / Cuz if we walk, we’ll get high tonight / Shoulder to the wheel tonight / Joke about blowing town tonight, until we drive past my alma mater.”

Oh, and it features guest vocals from Lana Del Rey that add to the chill, nighttime drive vibes. “I’ll make it darker,” she adds, providing the final line of the track.

As a whole, the song shows a duality to the group, shifting the energy from the carefree jam session that was the band’s previously released “Modern Girl” single.

Additionally, the band will be performing in the UK, shortly after the album’s release next year. Fans who pre-order the album will be able to access a presale on Wednesday, November 22 at 10 a.m. GMT. General sale opens Friday, November 24 at the same time. More information can be found here.

Check out Bleachers’ new song “Alma Mater” above. Continue scrolling to view the Bleachers cover art and tracklist, as well as their UK tour dates.

Bleachers tracklist

1. “I Am Right On Time”
2. “Modern Girl”
3. “Jesus Is Dead”
4. “Me Before You”
5. “Alma Mater”
6. “Tiny Moves”
7. “Isimo”
8. “Woke Up Today”
9. “Self Respect”
10. “Hey Joe”
11. “Call Me After Midnight”
12. “We’re Gonna Know Each Other Forever”
13. “Ordinary Heaven”
14. “The Waiter”
15. “I Am In Your Hands” (Bonus Track)
16. “Margo” (Bonus Track)
17. “Alma Mater (From The Day It Was Written)” (Bonus Track)
18. “Drug Free America” (Bonus Track)

Bleachers 2024 Tour Dates

03/19/2024 — London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
03/22/2024 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
03/23/2024 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
03/25/2024 — Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Galvanizers

Bleachers is out 3/8/24 via Dirty Hit. Find more information here.

https://uproxx.com/music/common-molested-let-love-have-the-last-word/It’s safe to say that hip-hop is in its memoir era. Many of the genre’s most prominent figures are starting to enter the age range where they can look back with not just nostalgia, but wisdom to share. Although hip-hop is such an autobiographical musical form, it turns out that many of these figures, from Common to Fat Joe to Jeezy to Lil Kim and more, have a lot more stories to tell than the ones they’ve already shared in their music and interviews over the past 20-30 years.

That goes double for Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, the frontman of The Roots, and bar for bar the best rapper of all time. Though he’s been a fixture of the music business for 30-plus years at this point, the truth is, we don’t really know much about him. He’s rap’s foremost wordsmith and storyteller, but so little of his output at this point has been about himself, that as he points out over an expansive and illuminating Zoom call, even longtime fans feel he’s a bit of a mystery.

He sheds light on that mystery with his new book, The Upcycled Self: A Memoir On The Art of Becoming Who We Are, out now via Penguin Random House. Starting with a traumatic, world-changing fire he caused when he was just six years old, and encompassing his childhood in South Philly, from rock fights with friends to surprising anecdotes of dabbling with petty crime to meeting and mind-melding with Amir “Questlove” Thompson, the book unveils new facets of the titanic rap icon, humanizing him in the process.

It’s a beautiful and worthwhile read, and in a wide-ranging conversation discussing the book, he reveals the intentionality behind that sentiment, praises his co-author, Jasmine Martin, and gets as nerdy about Ken Burns as I get about The Roots.

First of all, congratulations on your Grammy nomination. I actually really quickly looked up, I believe this is the first time you’ve been nominated as yourself for the music, not executive producing. How does that feel? You’re three decades into your career, and it’s your first Grammy nomination as Black Thought the rapper, not a member of The Roots, or executive producer of the Hamilton soundtrack?

It’s dope, man. It’s a huge honor. I’m real excited. And just a pleasant surprise, man. You don’t go into these things expecting anything, right? That’s not what I do it for. It’s not for the accolades. It’s not for someone to say, “Oh, yo, that’s dope.” And it’s not for an award. I make music for someone to say, “Hey, this helped me get through a thing, or address a thing. This made me better. I’ve been made better, after experiencing this art.” Everything else is cake, man. If somebody says, “Oh, yo, I want to give you a trophy too,” that’s dope.

It’s funny that you should mention that you wanted it to be something that helped because we’re talking about the book, and we’re talking about The Upcycled Self. This book did two things. One, it recontextualized some of your art for me. But two, it also … I had never thought of Black Thought in terms of baby Black Thought. Like young, childlike Black Thought. And the descriptions you give of yourself and Amir, I realized mirrored me in a lot more ways. Now, you’ve recontextualized me for me. And also, it was meaningful because, in a roundabout way, you’re the reason I even have this job.

I’m sending you an invoice.

So for example, in your Funk Flex freestyle, the line, “Things we lost in the fire.” Double entendre. But in the book, you talk about burning your family home down playing with matches. But now I know, oh, that’s incredible. What other lines, or what other moments do you think this will be able to put into a new perspective or a new life for long-term fans who’ve been on it since Illadelph Halflife, or Do You Want More?!!!??!, or Things Fall Apart?

I think every moment. Because that’s sort of the intention. They say to be intentional about what it is that you’re doing. And in this endeavor, the intention was to grant access in that way. It’s not to abandon a new fan or a newcomer or someone who just has stumbled upon The Roots or arrived upon Black Thought. They’re welcome too, and this is for them too.

But I would meet folks who say, “Yo, I’ve been rocking with you for 30 years at this point, and I still feel like I don’t know you. How is it that I know so many of your lyrics, you know what I mean? I can quote music, I can quote your whole body of work, but there’s a disconnect in that I don’t still know who the man behind the music is. I’m not as familiar as I should be, or would be in any other dynamic with the artist.”

And I mean, after the 10th, 11th, 20th time, you hear that, you start to think, okay, maybe there’s something in there. That it’s something that I can address. It became an opportunity for me to essentially humanize myself. There are people who are such huge fans of The Roots, and of my writing, who rocked with us for such a long time.

What we do as MCs has always been about building ourselves up — sometimes to a fault. So it’s always been about bigging up ourselves, and bigging up our block, and bigging up our community. And after a point, after all of the build, you have this figure, this legend, this brand, whatever, can reach proportions where it’s larger than life. And I don’t know that that is always the best thing. I think it’s more effective and beneficial to us all to show the other nuance, to show the other side of the coin. For every Dr. King, every Malcolm X, every larger-than-life figure — they’re still people. They’re still these persons, and we’re all flawed. And I think that’s the real work.

Two chapters stood out for me: the Cassie chapter and the Luqmann chapter. How did you decide to use your family members’ third-party perspectives to come back around and give you more context on them? Because I feel like that context on them does kind of help to inform your story as well.

That tool is part of the brilliance of my co-author, Jasmine Martin. It’s so seamless, and so it comes from a really real place. This is a woman who’s never met my mother, obviously. She has had the opportunity maybe once to interact with my Uncle Luqmann. I think she may have interviewed him for something else some years ago.

But yeah, I think that was the brilliance of what she was able to bring into this process is that perspective and those glimpses. In those asides, that’s where I was moved to the most emotion. That’s when I tear up, because it’s a chance to, especially in my mother’s case, it’s a chance to hear from what feels like firsthand her take on where I am in life.

I wonder how you have the time to do all that you do. Because when I started listing the things that I know you for and that I’ve been like, oh, watching you do this, and then now you’re doing TV, now you’re doing this, I watched Brooklyn Babylon 87 times when I was 15. What’s the next thing for you? How do you keep fulfilling that creative drive?

For me at this point, it has to present a challenge. I’m most engaged when I’m rising to a challenge and having to do any job that I can’t do on autopilot. It’s something that is beyond another notch in the belt. It’s a spiritual sort of thing that happens through achievement, through the realization of a goal. Especially when it’s something that feels impossible or completely unachievable.

That’s where I live right now, and those are the projects that are most exciting for me to take on. Those are the projects that I feel benefit both me and the beholder, receiver, listener, and viewer the most. So what happens next in this journey I think is “onward and upward.” I don’t think anything is ever going to change. I’m not going to, now at 50 plus, I’m not going to start telling a different story. It’s that I think I’m just becoming wiser, more experienced, more skilled, and more efficient in telling the same story and focusing on the parts of my story that people are going to resonate with the most.

I always ask this question in all my interviews because I have to ask a lot of the same questions, biographical questions, things like that. What is something that you’ve always wanted to talk about? If you had the chance to ask yourself the question, what would you want to talk about the most? And what would you want to say?

People always ask me, how much do you read? Where do you get the … what fuels the proverbial creative fire? I mean, how are you able to cover such an expansive amount of content in such a short period of time? Where does the motivation for these bursts come from? And though I obviously read a lot, I’m an advocate for reading, a literacy advocate… people always think the inspiration comes from something more scholastic.

But honestly, it’s not that I watch a lot of TV, but I’m a big documentary buff. I’m a huge fan of the Ken Burns of the world. Anything that he touches, directs, or produces, I’m rocking with that. Right now, I’m in the middle of The American Buffalo, which I didn’t even know that joint was out. My daughter, who’s a high school senior, came home like, “We watched a super boring documentary today in school, but I knew it was something that you would be into.” I said, “What was it?” And she said, “Something about the buffalo.” And I was like, “Oh, wow. I thought it was this other Ken Burns doc called The West,” which there’s a segment that concentrates on the buffalo. I didn’t know he did a whole joint, a three-part thing that was just on the American Buffalo. So then I had to dig that joint up.

Do you still keep a written-down shitlist in an encyclopedia of all the people who get on your nerves?

Not in an encyclopedia. It’s in my phone, though. I got lots of stuff. All I got to do is go to my notes and type in “irk” and it all comes up.

One of last year’s standout rap albums was JID’s The Forever Story. Fueled by singles like “Surround Sound,” “Dance Now,” and “Kody Blu 31,” the album was a critical and fan favorite and commercial success for the Atlanta rapper, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 — his best-performing album to date.

This year, though, The Forever Story is receiving renewed attention, thanks in large part to the “Surround Sound Challenge” on TikTok set to the song. So, just what is the Surround Sound Challenge?

Its alternate name, the Ceiling Challenge, offers a hint: Users have been taping their phones to the ceilings of their homes, classrooms, offices, and even retail establishments in order to get a top-down view as they dance to the beat of JID’s hyperactive single. The team at Dreamville shared some of their favorite examples on the label’s TikTok account:

Meanwhile, the label’s president, Ib, noted the song’s recent streaming resurgence as a result of its TikTok popularity, joking on Twitter (never X), “Crazy. Great music never dies it just needs a little tik tok.”

He ain’t wrong. TikTok has increasingly become the launching pad for older or overlooked singles, juicing the stats for tracks like Flyana Boss‘ “You Wish” and Tyla’s “Water,” taking them from relative unknowns to charting major label artists.

After releasing a joint statement on the death of Matthew Perry, the cast of Friends have been releasing their own individual tributes this week. Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, and Jennifer Aniston started things off with touching posts about their late friend, and now, David Schwimmer is remembering the beloved co-star.

“Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” Schwimmer wrote on Instagram. “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.”

After paying tribute to Perry’s generous heart, which helped “create a family out of six strangers,” Schwimmer shared a photo from his favorite Ross and Chandler moment. “Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time,” he wrote of the duo decked out in full ’80s regalia from their character’s college days. They were definitely going for a Miami Vice look, which was much better than Chandler’s Flock of Seagulls phase.

Schwimmer then shared his humorous thoughts on Perry in the afterlife.

“I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around— ‘Could there BE any more clouds?” he wrote.

You can see Schwimmer’s tribute below:

(Via David Schwimmer on Instagram)