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Almost of the best rap albums this month explored Black America’s moment of protest in some fashion. There were new drops from veteran acts Wale, Run The Jewels, Flatbush Zombies, Skyzoo. There were also releases from newer acts like IDK, City Girls, and Marlon Craft. Here are the 10 best rap albums of the month, in no particular order:

Run The Jewels — Run The Jewels 4

After years of waiting and what seems like hundreds of El-P Twitter updates, Run The Jewels 4 finally dropped this month. The duo has said that they set out to do a “bare minimum of what EPMD did for us,” which is admirable but also selling themselves short. The 11-track album shows the group in prime form as “menaces to sobriety,” with Killer Mike’s intense, caustic mic presence trampling El-P’s ingenious production.

El-P does some funky chopping on “JUST” with Pharell and Zack De La Rocha and “Out Of Sight” with 2 Chainz, but then appeases traditionalists on “Oh La La” with Greg Nice and DJ Premier. Run The Jewels made good on their desire to help distract fans from this moment of peril, but they also touched on the pain themselves on “Walking In The Snow,” where Mike reminds us to “never forget in the story of Jesus, the hero was killed by the state.”

Flatbush Zombies — Now, More Than Ever

With Vacation In Hell, Flatbush Zombies were one of the few recent acts to pull off a hefty tracklist that was enjoyable throughout. This time around, on their Now, More Than Ever EP, they succeeded with brevity. After teaming up with half of the city on Beast Coast’s Escape From New York, their six-track project features just one guest appearance from Sophie Faith, whose vocals underscore the poignancy of “When I’m Gone.” The versatile group explores different moods on the project, crafting an ode to lighting up on “Herb,” getting aspirational on “Iamlegend,” and proclaiming “my omens have only told me to focus on every quote / and expose every single soul with the motives of takin’ over this globe” on “Dirty Elevator Music.”

City Girls — City On Lock

These are urgent, reflective times. But there’s always space to embrace the whole of your humanity, get some self-care in, and belt “if you really in the kitchen, pay a b*tch tuition!” at the top of your lungs. June is ordinarily prime time for City Girls music, with nightly turn-ups and exotic trips throughout the summer. Covid-19 put a pinch in the nightlife and “flewed out” scene (for those with good sense), but the Miami duo still delivered a suite of bangers for the Hot Girls with City On Lock. They’re not reinventing the wheel on their latest project, and lines like “P*ssy Talk’s” “this p*ssy extort these n*****s” are as coarse as Too Short or Pimp C ever were, but that’s why they’re beloved. They’re brash and flashy and unapologetic — and they’re all of that over surging production that could tempt a church girl to shake something.

Wale — The Imperfect Storm

Wale’s The Imperfect Storm EP was a surprise six-pack. The project displays the DC rhymer in reflective mode. He augmented “Blue Yellow Green Pink White’s” bouncy beat not with braggadocio, but the bare admission that, “I ‘prolly traumatize every woman in my life.” The Eric Bellinger-featured “Empty Wishing Well” starts off with Wale asking, “Where do we go? We never been here before” and then surmising that, “Me versus her’s inevitable / She live in my house, I live in my head.” “June 5th“ is the project’s finest moment, with Wale exploring state-sanctioned violence over a soulful production, rhyming, “They beatin’ white people down just to show us what’s comin’ / Or to show us we nothin’.” When Wale gripes about being underappreciated, consider that he might be right.

IDK — IDK & Friends 2

PG County, Maryland’s IDK has steadily been making a name for himself, and he’s now at the point where he can cede the spotlight have a little fun with his peers. Enter, his latest project, which doubles as the soundtrack to Kevin Durant’s Basketball County: In The Water documentary. The DC area rap scene is having its own renaissance thanks to artists like Rico Nasty, Xanman, (who showed out on “Riley,”) and cult hero Big Flock, who appeared on “495’ alongside YungManny, Weensey, and Big Jam. IDK also linked up with likeminded visionaries such as Denzel Curry (“Bulletproof”) and ASAP Ferg (“Mazel Tov”) on the fun nine-track project.

Skyzoo — Milestone (A Story Dedicated To Fatherhood)

It seems like a rite of passage for MCs to dedicate a song to their mother, but notably fewer artists address their fathers. True to his artistic ethos, Skyzoo filled that breach with Milestone (A Story Dedicated To Fatherhood), which he dropped on Father’s Day weekend. The seven-track project shows him giving myriad glimpses of the father-son experience, from the joyous memories of “tryna be outside until outside’s done” as a youth, to his mature realization that he’s “knowing that If I can do for mine what was done for me then I can sleep comfortably” on project closer “Duly Noted.” Skyzoo has a knack for storytelling, and he was batting .1000 on Milestone.

Tsu Surf — MSKYM

New Jersey’s Tsu Surf is fighting the popular perception that “battle rappers can’t make songs,” as well as the mighty shadow of the New York rap scene, which has stifled the visibility of many Garden State artists. But with more projects like MSKYM, his latest offering, he’s poised to breakthrough. He’s one of the rap game’s most adept at expressing the traumatic toll of the streets — and life in general — through palpable couplets like, “Stopped past Mommy house, layin’ in my mother’s bed / She know when her baby trippin’, hold me, ain’t nothin’ said” from the Wyclef and Mary J-sampling “Quarantine Tales.” The 13-track project shows him equally reflective (“Nana Crib”), menacing (“Free My Opps”), and heartfelt (“5’7”) with an admirable versatility.

Kemba — The World Is Watching

Kemba’s latest EP, The World Is Watching, clocks in at an ominous 8:46 in honor of the late George Floyd. He further pays homage to Floyd’s legacy, and assails the system that took him, throughout the four-song EP. “6 Million Ways” shows Kemba culling through the entirety of our moment’s travails, chiding “the black celebrity singers and self-proclaimed leaders” who “be making sure they’re distinguished from these intolerable n****s.” He’s said that the trap-driven “The Get Back (Riot)” was crafted specifically to be a protest song, with a “they say hands up / we say fight back” chant. On project closer “Stand” he scribes the painful couplet, “I don’t even really wanna get to know you / statistics show one of us might go soon.”

Max B — Charly

Max B’s latest release is Charly, a five-song project where the cult favorite offers up an appetizer of his charismatic, melodic brand of music. For those unacquainted, Max B is one of the rap game’s most one-of-a-kind characters. Only he could find the creative space to pull off a raunchy, luxurious song like “Porno Music 2” while incarcerated. The rest of the project is summer-ready, as he effortlessly swags over the smooth “Promises,” and album standout “They Don’t Know,” where he aspires, “Camila Cabello she on the radar.”

Marlon Craft — Work From Home

Rising New York MC Marlon Craft is reflecting the times by titling his latest project Work From Home. The 9-track EP shows that the physical stagnation of quarantining hasn’t put a dent in his creativity — if anything he’s getting sharper lyrically. On it he proclaims, “Walk in the room like ye high sway all the tension / But none of my answers definite,” showing off slick wordplay but also expressing indecision. He shows off his considerable toolbox on his own for the bulk of the project on songs like “Consequences” and “Larry David.” The lone features on Work From Home are Ricky Motion on “Hope Full” and KOTA The Friend on fan-favorite “Mom’s Whiskey.”

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

There are effective ways of demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman who was shot eight times in her own home by police officers, and there’s what Lili Reinhart did. On Monday, the Riverdale star uploaded a photo where she’s posing topless to Instagram with the caption, “Now that my sideboob has gotten your attention, Breonna Taylor’s murderers have not been arrested. Demand justice.” The post was met with immediate backlash (“the only thing that post did is get a bunch of people to talk about lili reinhart’s boobs. it was a thirst trap with a BLM caption. what are the odds that someone looks at a pic of lili’s boobs and says yas lemme demand justice! they’re gonna talk about LILI. not breonna,” reads one tweet) and Reinhart has since deleted it.

The actress also released a statement where she apologized for her “tone deaf” caption.

“I’ve always tried to use my platform for good. And speak up about things that are important to me. I also can admit when I make a mistake and I made a mistake with my caption. It was never my intent to insult anyone and I’m truly sorry to those that were offended,” Reinhart wrote on Twitter. “I’ve tried very hard to be honest on my IGTV lives that I’m still learning and trying to be better. But I understand that my caption came off as tone deaf. I truly had good intentions and did not think it through that it could come off as insensitive.”

Here’s how to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, without making it about yourself.

(Via the Huffington Post)

At this point, the Griselda Records machine churning out product can go right up there with “death” and “taxes” as the only assured things in the era of COVID-19. The Buffalo, New York-based label produces new projects at an almost frightening rate, leaving fans to wonder when these guys do things like eating and/or sleeping. The latest addition to their ever-growing canon is Flygod Is An Awesome God II, the latest full-length release from Westside Gunn — who just released his last full-length, Pray For Paris, in April.

The upcoming project features production from Griselda in-house hit maker Daringer, Sadhugold, Conductor Williams, Chuck Inglish, JR Swiftz, Street Runner, and more, with guest vocals coming from Griselda’s other members Benny The Butcher, Armani Caesar, associate member and poet Keisha Plum, and frequent collaborator Boldy James, along with multiple appearances from Stove God Cooks and up-and-coming New Yorker Rome Streetz. Gunn appears to have pulled out all the stops on this one, which should be worth a listen, considering Griselda’s consistency.

Check out the album cover and tracklist for Flygod Is An Awesome God II below.

01. Praise God Intro feat. A.A. Rashid
02. Michael Irvin
03. Jose Canseco feat. Stove God Cooks
04. One More Hit feat. Stove God Cooks
05. Sadhu Interlude 1
06. Lil Cease feat. Armani Caesar
07. FCK the Police
08. Buffs vs. Wires feart. Benny The Butcher and Boldy James
09. Minister Maino Skit
10. Bubba Chuck feat. Stove God Cooks
11. Sadhu Interlude 2
12. Drive By Love feat. Keisha Plum
13. Rebirth feat. Keisha Plum
14. Steve Behr feat. Rome Streetz

Flygod Is An Awesome God II is due via Griselda Records / Shady Records 7/3.

Gucci Mane is gearing up to release his latest project, Icy Summer, at the end of the week, on July 3. Ahead of then, he has dropped the tracklist for the album, and it’s a big one.

The project isn’t exactly a traditional album, as Mane isn’t the lead artist on all 24 tracks. Still, he has the primary credit on the first 12 songs, which ought to be equivalent to an album-worth of material. Aside from Mane, the project features contributions from Future, Foogiano, Young Thug, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Young Nudy, Enchanting, K Shiday, Pooh Shiesty, Key Glock, Ola Runt, Moneybagg Yo, Big30, and Big Scarr.

This announcement comes after Mane aired out his grievances with his record label, calling them “polite racist.” Mane said he would be leaving Atlantic on July 3rd, which could mean Icy Summer is either his last project for the label, or his first after leaving it. Whatever the case may be, Mane also said last week that the release of his album would be accompanied by him announcing his “new situation.”

Check out the full So Icy Summer tracklist above.

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

A new comic-book adaptation is coming to Netflix, and it’s sort-of three shows in one. Each of these mini-shows are entertaining in their own right, though bringing them together isn’t entirely smooth sailing. On one hand, Warrior Nun is a superhero origin story where the hero in question is reluctant to rise to her appointed challenge. On another, it’s a coming-of-age tale of a young woman who’s been confined in a few contexts, not only by her own body but by religious figures. On still another, the show is an often-schlocky creation that arrives with certain expectations from the title itself.

I first felt inclined to embrace this show (or not) on the basis of the third aspect. It’d be easy to oversimplify things with a title like Warrior Nun, which is arriving in the middle of the summer (right before a holiday weekend), based upon how its title suggests escapist and not-too-complicated fare. It’s certainly not unreasonable (no matter what else the show offers) to desire the following elements from this show: (1) Plenty of warrior-ing with frequent action scenes and hefty amount of general badassery; (2) A gathering of nuns, doing kickass things to qualify them as, you know, Warrior. Nuns.

The title feels like an explicit promise, and if only things could be that clear-cut, and I could blame Satan for this show not having enough outright warrior-ing and nun-ning while rolling around in Catholic imagery. Yes, I initially did try to evaluate the show on the simple basis of whether it lived up to two words in the title and failed — because Warrior Nun has complexity tucked inside and is actually a pretty enjoyable show, even though the 10-episode season feels overpadded in this adaptation of the manga-style Warrior Nun Areala comic from Ben Dunn. I’ll still organize my thoughts that way below, since it doesn’t hurt to use digestible subheadings.

Warrior-Ing: This show’s got some strong supporting warrior-like characters ^^^ with names like Shotgun Mary (Toya Turner) and Sister Lilith (Lorena Andrea) pulling off much of the badass quotient. Like The Highlander, though, there can be only one Warrior Nun (at a time). That would be the series’ lead character, Ava (Alba Baptista), who’s 19 years old and suffers a mysterious death before waking up in a Spanish crypt with a mysterious halo embedded in her back and apparent superpowers. What appears to be a group of combat-trained nuns (including Shotgun Mary and Lilith) have been quarreling in proximity, and demonic clouds are hovering, and it sure looks like we’re going to get a nice, pulp-filled series with a healthy dose of self awareness as Ava sets out to enjoy her new life while vanquishing demons.

However, Ava’s got other priorities and would rather go dancing and running around on the beach. For the first time in her life, she’d also like a little romance.

Ava’s not exactly down for the life for which she’s been chosen, and it’s hard to blame her. She suffered a physically debilitating trauma, and I’m pretty sure that most of us would want to do what she’d like to do: live a little and travel and be young and funky. This phase of the show lasts for several episodes, so there’s definitely some inertia and unevenness at work once the full-on, butt-kicking vibe does take root. I think that if the show wasn’t so linearly organized and blended the coming-of-age story with the action scenes (the warrior-ing) that people will crave, things would have flowed better. Also, we get too much of Ava’s plentiful inner monologues, where she wonders what it’d be like to kiss the guy she’s talking to, and if she’s as nerdy as she feels.

Overall, I would say that, yes, there’s a sufficient amount of warrior-ing in this season, although its distribution is uneven.

Nun-ning: Some wiggle room can be allowed here because (probably) no one expected this series to be authentic to the Catholic experience. Sure, there’s a fair amount of nun-related clothing, although there’s not much adherence to the sacraments in sight. That’s likely for the best, given that the show already spends a fair amount of time diving into the whole coming-of-age stuff, and the show certainly doesn’t need to take more time to wade through the religious paces. So it’s perfectly alright that this show doesn’t dive too far into the nun-related business. There’s already plenty of angel-and-demon territory at the end of the show, and let’s get real: nuns have already been trope-d into oblivion in Hollywood. I don’t think anyone will get upset that it’s happening here, too.

And there are those ultra-nun superpowers to consider. They can be heavy-duty at times. Ava’s been implanted with a powerful weapon (that glowing halo) to help the order of badass nuns fight demons and settle the score between Heaven and Hell. Further, she’s obviously experiencing a miracle by being able to walk again after being confined to a bed for much of her life, but it’s quite easy (also due to her teenage experience) to understand why she doesn’t trust the church or wish to embrace its tenets. Ava never takes vows to become a Catholic nun, so although she eventually assumes the Warrior Nun title, she’s not really a nun at all. If I used that as a sticking point, then I’m being silly. Ava makes a suitable quasi-nun, and I’ll leave it at that.

Bringing It All Together: Alright, so there’s definitely enough of the “warrior” and “nun” aspects to justify the show’s title. I still maintain that this show would have felt less disjointed with a shaken-up timeline that flips back and forth between Ava’s exploration of life’s pleasures and getting on with the spiritual crusade at hand. That would have helped to ease some of the bloated, overpadded feel with all the travel-and-dance club scenes (along with more nuance than people are expecting) that overtakes the first half of the season. There’s a good show that sometimes gets lost inside of ten episodes, and really, six or eight episodes would have gotten the job done and set this show up for what I assume is a desired second season.

Warrior Nun is a fine show, though. It’s got plenty of schlocky thrills and wonderfully smartass dialogue to add a fun vibe to the whole production. The butt-kicking of demons does happen, and once the action really does kick in, it’s cool as hell to witness, so I do recommend the show, just be sure to arrive with a little patience.

Netflix’s ‘Warrior Nun’ streams on July 2.

Back in March, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson became the first U.S. celebrities to reveal their COVID-19 diagnoses. Both have since recovered after suffering relatively mild symptoms (although it still sounds like they were miserable), and Chet Haze insisted that his father was “not trippin’” while in recovery. Well, Hanks knows that he got lucky, and he’s here to tell everyone to take this pandemic seriously.

Hanks apparently got very heated on the subject (like Bill Burr while slamming Joe Rogan), and he won’t accept that people won’t take the very simple step of wearing a mask to protect others. Here’s what he said during a junket to promote Apple TV+’s Greyhound movie (which streams on July 10), according to People:

“Those things are so simple, so easy, if anybody cannot find it in themselves to practice those three very basic things — I just think shame on you… Don’t be a p—-, get on with it, do your part. It’s very basic. If you’re driving a car, you don’t go too fast, you use your turn signal and you avoid hitting pedestrians. My Lord, it’s common sense.”

Yep, Hanx is coming for the tantrum-throwing Karens and Brads out there, who have managed to anger one of the nicest guys on the planet. Hanks also detailed more about his “10 days of very uncomfortable symptoms,” although he’s very thankful that neither he nor Rita’s lungs filled up with fluid, and that their fevers didn’t spike to the point where they would have required emergency medical care. Hanks also stressed that the pair took great care to isolate during their illness and is still practicing strict social distancing. Yes, listen to Tom Hanks and wear a mask.

(Via People)

Hip-hop’s new favorite aunties are back with the video for their latest single. Blimes And Gab, who just released their debut album Talk About It last Friday, take a radical journey back in time to the 1980s for their synthwave-y “Shellys (It’s Chill)” video, inhabiting a world of neon, DeLoreans, side ponytails, and lots of spandex as they explain just what a “Shelly” really is.

As it turns out, it’s their tongue-in-cheek title for the type of girl who is “always drunk, walking out of the club with her shoes in her hand,” and engages in annoying, self-centered behavior like FaceTiming at “3am from the club, crying.” And just in case the group’s chat outside of a nightclub doesn’t hammer home the point, we see a few examples of exactly the type before the video gets really surreal, with Gifted Gab shooting lasers from her eyes and Blimes doing a Johnny Cage shadow kick on a man with a t-rex for a head. If you liked the ’80s-riffing short film Kung Fury, this one’s for you.

Despite the economic downturn brought on by the outbreak of the coronavirus, indie faves Blimes And Gab are having a breakout year. Their song “Feelin It” was featured in the recent season of HBO’s Insecure and appears on the soundtrack, substantially raising their profile and proving they could expand their range after their viral hit “Come Correct” endeared them to the backpacker set. With a versatile debut packed with songs like “Feelin It” and “Shellys” as well as more rap-centric fare, it turns out Blimes and Gab have a more universal appeal that should make them stars in no time at all.

Watch Blimes and Gab’s “Shellys (It’s Chill)” video above.

Talk About It is out now via B.A.G. Enterprises. Get it here.

Keeping track Of all The new albums coming out In A given month Is A big job, but we’re up for it: Below Is A comprehensive list Of The major releases you can look forward To In July. If you’re not trying To potentially miss out On anything, It might be A good idea To keep reading.

Friday, July 3

• A.A. Williams — Forever Blue (Bella Union)
• Boris — NO (self-released)
• Bruno Bavota — Apartment Loops Vol. 1 (Temporary Residence)
• Charlie Barnes — Last Night Glitter (InsideOut)
• Cuddle Magic — Bath (Northern Spy Records)
• Deema — Chew Your Food EP (Different Recordings)
• Deerhoof & Wanda Leo Smith — To Be Surrounded By Beautiful (Joyful Noise)
• Dream Wife — So When You Gonna… (Lucky Number)
• Forest Green — In Wave (No Sleep Records)
• Gucci Mane — Gucci Mane Presents: So Icy Summer (Atlantic Records)
• Henry Green — Half Light (Akira Records)
• Hidden Rivers — Plainsight Lakes EP (Darla Records)
• Honne — No Song Without You (Tatemae Recordings)
• The Irrepressibles — Superheroes (Of Naked Design)
• Jayda G — Both Of Us / Are U Down EP (Ninja Tune)
• Little Kid — Transfiguration Highway (Solitaire Recordings)
• Lucy And The Rats — Got Lucky (Stardumb/Dirty Water)
• Marchelle Bradanini — Only A Woman (Cosmic Thug)
• MC Yallah And Eomac — Mama Waliwamanyii EP (Phantom Limb)
• Nikitch & Kuna Maze — Débuts (Tru Thoughts)
• Not A Boys Name — The Internet Sucks EP (Universal Music Australia)
• Omar Rodríguez-Lopez — The Cloud Hill Tapes Vol. II (Clouds Hill Records)
• Paul Weller — On Sunset (Polydor Records)
• Pop Smoke — Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon (Victor Victor)
• Pure Bathing Culture — Carrido EP (Infinite Companion)
• Qasim Naqvi — Beta EP (Erased Tapes Records)
• Round Eye — Culture Shock Treatment (Paper + Plastick)
• Temples On Mars — Parallels V. 1 EP (self-released)
• Thiago Nassif — Mente (Gearbox Records)
• Tim Bowness — Late Night Laments (Inside Out Music)
• Twin Peaks — Side A EP (Grand Jury)
• Willie Nelson — First Rose Of Spring (Legacy Recordings)
• Wolfhounds — Electric Music (A Turntable Friend Records)

Friday, July 10

• Apollo Brown & Che’ Noir — As God Intended (Mello Music Group)
• Avant — Can We Fall In Love (Mo-B Entertainment)
• The Beths — Jump Rope Gazers (Carpark Records)
• Bob Nanna — Celebration States (New Granada Records)
• Bugeye — Ready Steady Bang (Reckless Yes)
• Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard — Non-Stop EP (Caroline International)
• DMA’s — The Glow (Infectious Music)
• Donna Missal — Lighter (Harvest Records)
• Eades — Microcosmic Things EP (Bam Bam Records)
• Fast Friends — HI T LO IQ (Dine Alone Records)
• Frank Ene — No Longer (Empty Cellar Records)
• Inter Arma — Garbers Days Revisited (Relapse Records)
• Jacob Cooper — Terrain (New Amsterdam)
• The Jayhawks — XOXO (SHAM)
• Joshua Ray Walker — Glad You Made It (State Fair Records)
• Julianna Barwick — Healing Is A Miracle (Ninja Tune)
• July Talk — Pray For It (BMG)
• Kacy Hill — Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again (self-released)
• Kalen & Aslyn — Back Of Our Minds (Normaltown Records)
• Kestrels — Dream Or Don’t Dream (Darla Records)
• Les Nuby — Clouded (Cornelius Chapel Records)
• Livingston — Lighthouse EP (Elektra Records)
• Llynks — Become The Root (Terrorbird)
• Local Nomad — Local Nomad EP (Level)
• Love Fame Tragedy — Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave (Good Soldier Records)
• Lou Canon — Automatic Body (Paper Bag Records)
• Man Cub — Impressions (Enhanced Recordings)
• Margo Price — That’s How Rumors Get Started (Loma Vista Recordings)
• Michael Grant & The Assassins — Always The Villain (Frontiers Records)
• Mike Shinoda — Dropped Frames, Vol. 1 (Kenji Kobayashi Productions)
• Mr Ben & The Bens — Life Drawing (Bella Union)
• Nikki Yanofsky — Black Sheep (e/One Music)
• NZCA Lines — Pure Luxury (Memphis Industries)
• Otta — Songbook EP (Bokkle)
• Pvris — Use Me (Warner Records)
• Ray Wylie Hubbard — Co-Starring (Big Machine Records)
• Rebel Yell — Fall From Grace (Rice Is Nice)
• Rhys Lewis — Things I Choose To Remember (Decca)
• Rufus Wainwright — Unfollow The Rules (BMG)
• Sam Prekop — Comma (Thrill Jockey)
• Savoy Brown — Ain’t Done Yet (Quarto Valley Records)
• Silver Scrolls — Music For Walks (Three Lobed Recordings)
• SOKO — Feel Feelings (Babycat Records)
• Spygenius — Man On The Sea (Big Stir Records)
• The Streets — None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive (Island Records)
• Summer Walker — Life On Earth EP (LVRN/Interscope)
• Will Wood — The Normal Album (Say-10 Records)

Friday, July 17

• The Aces — Under My Influence (Red Bull Records)
• Alessia Cara — This Summer: Live Off The Floor EP (Def Jam)
• Alice Ivy — Don’t Sleep (Dew Process)
• Anna Sofia — Self Aware Bitch EP (Republic Records)
• Blu & Exile — Miles (Fat Beats Records)
• Broadside — Into The Raging Sea (SharpTone Records)
• Bush — The Kingdom (BMG)
• The Chicks — Gaslighter (Columbia Records)
• David Ramirez — My Love Is A Hurricane (Sweetworld)
• Dehd — Flower Of Devotion (Fire Talk)
• Dope Walker — Save Save (Modern Radio)
• Ella Vos — Turbulence (HWYL Records)
• Evicshen — Hair Birth (American Dreams Records)
• Gang Of Four — Anti Hero EP (Gill Music Ltd)
• Greer — Lullaby For You EP (Epitaph Records)
• Jimmy Heath — Love Letter (Verve Records)
• Jordan Seigel — Beyond Images (Wonderbird Music)
• L.A. Salami — The Cause Of Doubt & A Reason To Have Faith (Sunday Best Recordings)
• Laraaji — Sun Piano (All Saints Records)
• The Lawrence Arms — Skeleton Coast (Epitaph Records)
• Lianne La Havas — Lianne La Havas (Nonesuch)
• Lonely Robot — Feelings Are Good (Insideout Records)
• Mike Dillon — Rosewood (Royal Potato Family)
• Nicolas Jaar — Telas (Other People)
• The Ninth Wave — Happy Days! EP (Distiller Records)
• Oliver Tree — Ugly Is Beautiful (Atlantic Records)
• Pink Sweats — The Prelude (Atlantic Records)
• The Pretenders — Hate For Sale (BMG)
• Samantha Crain — A Small Death (Real Kind Records)
• S.G. Goodman — Old Time Feeling (Verve Forecast Records)
• St. South — Get Well Soon (Nettwerk)
• Tatyana — Shadow On The Wall EP (Sinderlyn)
• The Texas Gentlemen — Floor It!!! (New West Records)
• Tony Seltzer And Adrian Lau — Avenues (self-released)
• Zoe Polanski — Violent Flowers (Youngbloods)
• Zombi — 2020 (Relapse Records)

Friday, July 24

• A Shoreline Dream — Seek To Hide (Latenight Weeknight Records)
• The Acacia Strain — Slow Decay (Rise Records)
• Acceptance — Wild EP (Tooth And Nail Records)
• André Bratten — Silvester (Smalltown Supersound)
• Bill Kirchen — The Proper Years (The Last Music Company)
• Cinder Well — No Summer (Free Dirt Records)
• Courtney Marie Andrews — Old Flowers (Fat Possum Records)
• Cub Sport — Like Nirvana (Cub Sport Records)
• The Danberrys — Shine (Singular Recordings)
• Dave Mason — Alone Together… Again (Geffen)
• Devendra Banhart — Vast Ovoid EP (Nonesuch)
• DOV — It Feels Right EP (Turntable Kitchen)
• Eliot Bronson — With Somebody (Saturn 5 Records)
• Gregory Uhlmann — Neighborhood Watch (Topshelf Records)
• The Gooms — Laugh (Squange Records)
• Jess Cornelius — Distance (Loantaka Records)
• Jessy Lanza — All The Time (Hyperdub)
• Judicator — Let There Be Nothing (Prosthetic Records)
• Kamaal Williams — Wu Hen (Black Focus)
• Liza Anne — Bad Vacation (Arts & Crafts)
• Lori McKenna — The Balladeer (C&N Records)
• The Lotts — We Are The Lotts EP (Whispering Pines)
• Luke Jenner — 1 (Manono Records)
• Mannequin Online — I Feel It EP (Nettwerk)
• Maverick Sabre — You Know How It Feels EP (FAMM)
• Nicolas Bougaïeff — The Upward Spiral (NovaMute)
• Quicksails — Blue Rise (Hausu Mountain Records)
• Samuel Proffitt — Shades EP (Nettwerk)
• Seasick Steve — Love & Peace (Contagious)
• Shirley Collins — Heart’s Ease (Domino Recording Company)
• Snowgoose — The Making Of You (Ba Da Bing!)
• Winter — Endless Space (Between You & I) (Bar None Ent.)

Friday, July 31

• Alain Johannes — Hum (Ipecac Recordings)
• Alanis Morissette — Such Pretty Forks In The Road (Epiphany Music)
• Beyonce — Black Is King (Parkwood Entertainment)
• Black Veil Brides — Re-Stitch These Wounds (StandBy Records)
• Charley Crockett — Welcome To Hard Times (Son Of Davy)
• Cool Sounds — Sleepers EP (Hotel Motel Records)
• The Coronas — True Love Waits (So Far So Good)
• Creeper — Sex, Death & The Infinite Void (Roadrunner Records)
• E^ST — I’m Doing It (Warner Music Australasia)
• Fontaines DC — A Hero’s Death (Partisan Records)
• Ganser — Just Look At That Sky (Felte)
• Geoff Tyson — Drinks With Infinity (self-released)
• Guerilla Ghost — We Get What We Deserve (Triple Eye Industries)
• Hockey Dad — Brain Candy (BMG)
• Jordana — Something To Say EP (Grand Jury Music)
• Land Of Talk — Indistinct Conversations (Saddle Creek)
• Le Ren — Morning & Melancholia EP (Secretly Canadian)
• Mac McAnally — Once In A Lifetime (Mailboat Records)
• Madeline Kenney — Sucker’s Lunch (Carpark Records)
• Margaret Chavez — Into An Atmosphere (We Know Better Records)
• Mike Shabb — Life Is Short (Make It Rain Records)
• The Prototypes — Ten Thousand Feet Rising (Get Hype)
• The Psychedelic Furs — Made Of Rain (Cooking Vinyl Limited)
• Rascal Flatts — How They Remember You EP (Big Machine Records)
• Steve Howe — Love Is (BMG)
• Thanya Iyer — Kind (Topshelf Records)
• Thelonious Monk — Palo Alto (Impulse! Records))
• Thundermother — Heat Wave (AFM Records GmbH)
• Victoria Monét — Jaguar (Empire)

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx Is An independent subsidiary Of Warner Music Group.

Injury Reserve rapper Jordan Groggs (also known as Stepa J. Groggs) has died at 32 years old. The group confirmed Groggs’ June 29 passing, sharing a photo of the late rapper and writing on Twitter, “REST IN POWER Jordan Alexander Groggs a loving father, life partner and friend. (6/1/1988-6/29/2020).”

The group went on to share a GoFundMe page for Groggs’ family. The page reads, “REST IN POWER Jordan Alexander Groggs a loving father, life partner, and friend. Groggs’s heart has touched everyone he has came across. He will live on through his family, supporters, and the communities he was apart of. Jordan Alexander Groggs is survived by Anna and their four children Joey, Jayden, Toph, and Ari. Please keep them in your thoughts. All funds will go towards family support and services. Thank you.” As of this post, the campaign has raised over $56,000 of its $75,000 goal.

Injury Reserve formed in 2013, with Groggs as a founding member alongside Ritchie With A T (real name Nathaniel Ritchie) and producer Parker Corey. The trio released their first mixtapes, Live From The Dentist Office and Floss, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The group’s self-titled debut studio album came out in May of 2019, and included guest appearances from artists like Rico Nasty, Aminé, Jpegmafia, DRAM, and Freddie Gibbs.

Since his passing, artists like Aminé and Kero Kero Bonito have offered kind words about the late rapper, so find some of those below.

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

If you’ve never seen Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s interview with HBO Real Sports, it’s one of the more chilling things you’ll ever watch. HBO’s David Scott, reporting on Kadyrov’s official promotion of MMA and support of many high profile fighters, asks the stocky Kadyrov, wearing some hybrid of hoodie and military fatigues and looking like “mob henchman” straight out of central casting, about the reported arrests and torture of gay Chechens in the Russian republic Kadyrov runs. To which Kadyrov laughs menacingly to his friends off camera (“laughs menacingly” is normally a cliché of bad fiction but in this case 100% apt) and says “Nonsense. We don’t have such people here.”

It’s impossible, in that moment, not to fear for the reporter’s safety. For much of the interview, Kadyrov looks as if he’s pondering hitting the button for the trap door that will drop Scott, who looks rightly terrified, into a pit full of snakes. And that was just a reporter. Now imagine that you’re a gay Chechen and your terrifying president just denied your very existence before the entire world.

That’s the reality of life for the people profiled in David France’s intense new documentary for HBO, Welcome To Chechnya. France, a veteran investigative reporter who had a hit with his first documentary, 2012’s How To Survive A Plague, this time around uses newfangled digital trickery to keep the identities of his subjects hidden — and hopefully safe from reprisal. It’s essentially the same deepfake technology people on sketchy message boards use to paste their favorite celebrities into porn, this time employed to protect the members of a gay underground railroad smuggling LGBTQ Chechens and Russians out of the country to some place safe. Where exactly, the film can’t say, or else it might cease being safe.

The digital faces give the entire thing an eerie, uncanny valley feel, where everything seems both real and not real. You see the emotions on the people’s faces, much better than if they’d been darkened or blurred, but only sort of, like an odd digital kabuki. It means we can’t ever get comfortable watching it, nor forget what these people are risking, or accept what we’re seeing at face value. In that way, our reality while we watch it mirrors theirs, having to try to determine what’s real through a haze of abstraction.

It’s a hell of a trick. The faces were real people, other activists who had “lent” their likenesses to the film (France says he wanted to keep it “in the language of activism”) — though I do wonder what it would’ve been like if he’d used, say, Tom Hanks or another famous person as the face of a gay Chechen fleeing for his life. Would people care more? Would it be too weird? France isn’t much interested in lightness or irony though, preferring to keep the focus of his story on stopping a genocide. Probably for the best.

What Welcome To Chechnya most drives home is the day-to-day reality of living under authoritarian rule, and especially the day-to-day reality of those who might happen to run afoul of authoritarian rule. Which of course queer people do in Chechnya simply by existing. Our simplistic conception of authoritarianism, I think, is a system with more rules, and harsher punishments for violating those rules. But in reality it’s the arbitrariness and caprice that’s as terrifying as the rigidity. Putin (who installed Kadyrov as president in 2007) set the LGBTQ community back decades with just one law, making it illegal to “promote homosexual behavior among minors.” This has had many ripple effects, effectively condoning all kinds of discrimination, not to mention outright violence.

Likewise, Putin could almost certainly stop Chechnya’s “gay purge” with one phone call, but authorities won’t acknowledge that such a policy even exists, let alone defend it. This policy of intimidation and terror (if not outright liquidation), like many things in an authoritarian system, lives entirely in an unacknowledged grey area. Are queer Russians and Chechens really in mortal danger even after they flee the country? What about their families still there? It’s impossible to distinguish legitimate fear from paranoia in an authoritarian system, that’s what makes it such a mindfuck. It’s another mechanism of control. Welcome To Chechnya, while kind of a nightmarish watch, conveys this feeling effectively.

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So, I guess the obvious question is, how long did the digital masking take and how expensive was it? Was it prohibitive in terms of making the doc?

DAVID FRANCE: Well, it was expensive, obviously, but all VFX work is expensive. We, in addition, had to develop the program and the software, so that added to some of the burden on us financially. But it’s not as expensive as a Hollywood face replacement approach. This was done not by hand but by artificial intelligence, in a deep machine learning environment. We were able to cut some corners by automating the process. And that’s, I think what the really remarkable aspect of this new filmmaker tool is. It makes this kind of VFX affordable for documentary filmmakers who are working on such limited budgets.

The disguises that you used, those were real people that lent their face for use in this?

Oh yeah. They were people that we approached and said, “There are people who are being hunted around the globe. Would you be willing to put your face on theirs so that you will be shielding them, and protecting them from revelation and potential death? But it might also mean bringing some risk to yourself.” So they agreed to do it, even though it was not without risk. It was really an interesting act of activism to be willing to do this, to go to this length to help save a life.

Did you ever think about using Kadyrov or Putin’s faces on there? Or maybe some of the people who are actually masterminding this stuff?

No, actually, because we wanted… Certainly, we were not trying to have fun with this approach, but to find a way to allow an audience to feel the journey of the people, which was a tragic journey. These are people who have survived unspeakable brutality and have been forced to, even as young people, to commit to the rest of their life, living in the shadows. Living in distant lands, never far enough away from the hot breath of Kadyrov and his people on their neck. So what we tried to accomplish was to find faces that were similar in age to the people who I had filmed, but really dissimilar in facial structure and racial background. There were a number of Mex people whose faces are used in this film, a number of African Americans. And other racially distinct activists whose faces bear no resemblance whatsoever to the Chechen faces that we covered.

Did you ever think about having actors, maybe people that would be recognizable to the audience?

No, we didn’t. The reason we didn’t go to famous actors is because I wanted to keep this in the language of activism. So the people who lent their faces were mostly people that we found on Instagram, or by going to demonstrations, that have been regular features. In front of the Russian embassy, and elsewhere, and New York, of people who are speaking up in defense of the Chechen victims. And in defense of LGBTQ refugees across the globe. It was an issue that we knew was close to their hearts. We weren’t telling anybody that we were working on this film, we were working in total secrecy. So we brought them into our confidence, knowing that they would understand why we are being so secretive, and understand the stakes of what we were asking them to do.

The shooting, how did it work? Were you actually in country for that, supervising all your camera people?

I was, but it’s a mistake to say all my camera people. We were just me and a camera operator who was also the producer on the Russian production, and that’s Askold Kurov. We had no professional sound equipment, we had no sound engineer. We had no professional video cameras, we were using a consumer camera. An out of the box Sony that we could just carry in a backpack, and if we were discovered carrying it, it wouldn’t be at all suspicious. We were just tourists taking holiday photographs and video, that was our cover story, and that was what allowed us to sneak in and out of the various portals for this underground network without detection.

Was that your only cover, just that you were tourists?

That was my principal cover story because in fact, I had a tourist visa and I was traveling in and out of Russia on a regular basis. Really getting to know the country and making sure that I gathered with me on each trip, evidence of my touristic interests. I would take the iconic photographs on my phone, I would buy tickets to museums and galleries, and whatnot. And make sure I had those stubs in my pocket so if asked, I would have some evidence that what I said I was doing, I was actually doing.

Is there a separate border to get from Russia to Chechnya? Do you need a separate visa, a separate story there?

No, there’s not a true border. It’s like crossing from New Jersey to Delaware, except that there’s really a towering cultural divide between the rest of Russia and Chechnya. And there is a virtual border there that is patrolled by Chechen security forces who set up periodic checkpoints. There’s no basis in law for them to do that, but they do it anyway and they are permitted to do it by Russian authorities. Coming into the Republic and leaving the Republic, you are likely to pass through a multitude of checkpoints and hopefully make it through on either side. We were stopped only once, coming out of the Republic. When our car was stopped and they discovered that there was an American in the car, which is very unusual in that closed area. So they detained me for a period of questioning, to ascertain what I was doing there and why I was there. They just really couldn’t wrap their heads around it. They were ultimately convinced that I was this carefree American tourist who was stumbling his way through the Caucasus and senselessly seeking my thrills. And bringing my new friends from Moscow along with me, whom I convinced with some pile of money to be my tour guides and translators — that was our story, and it was certainly conceivable. And we were able to talk our way out of that detention quite quickly. So, it was an effective ruse.

You didn’t have to bribe anyone or anything?

No. We were not prepared to bribe anybody. We were only prepared to talk about my undying interest in the North Caucasus, and Chechnya in particular.

You said it was very closed. What did it feel like to be there? How closed off did it feel?

It is a place where it’s hard to breathe and when you cross the mountains to get there, you feel the political and cultural squeezing that is exercised by the regime. You see it in the faces of people you pass, and there are not many people out walking. It’s not a place where people experience a life outdoors, the way you would expect almost anywhere else. Women are kept under very, very tight control, and you get a sense of that, a feeling for that in their absence. And you also feel the penetrating surveillance that goes on there. And on these missions, the activists are quick to enter and quick to leave. There is no lingering in the middle.

You had a [title] where it said the Trump administration hasn’t accepted any of these refugees from Chechnya. Is that a new policy? Was it different under Obama?

Well, Trump took office in January 2017, and this whole miserable horror broke into the news in April of 2017. So there was no moment of opportunity for the Obama administration to respond to the atrocities there. The Obama administration was indeed restrictive of immigration and was not an open borders, utopian practitioner of response to humanitarian concerns. But it was nothing like what happened when Trump came in. The very first thing he announced was that he was going to ban Muslims traveling into the country, and the Chechen people are Muslim by and large. So immediately, that was a problem. But also from day one, the Trump administration has declared putting the brakes on and reversing where possible, the advances of the LGBTQ community.

The Obama administration attached for the first time, in a very moving way, the LGBTQ rights to its portfolio of human rights, that it had been used as a measuring tool for foreign policy. That was the innovation of Secretary Clinton when she was running the State Department, and it really made a difference for queer life around the globe. That was reversed on day one of the Trump administration. And then within just a few months, there came this need to respond to what was happening [in Chechnya]. And there’s no willingness from Washington to do anything about it. In fact, Trump has never said anything about it. Here we have, the only time in the world since Hitler, that the LGBTQ community in a particular region is being identified in a government-sponsored and architected campaign, for detention, torture, and liquidation. Literally, this is like a return to Hitler’s Germany and Trump has not said anything about it. Only one member of his administration has spoken about it publicly, and she “expressed concern.” I mean, that was it. That was Nikki Haley at the UN. The story that we tell in Welcome to Chechnya is really a medieval story of torture and abuse of power. But it’s also a medieval story about the retrenchment and right-wing movement of the American government. To not just ignore, but to enable this kind of criminal campaign and genocide to go on unanswered.

You got to into it a little bit in the movie, but what was the origin story for this policy in Chechnya? There was a drug bust or something?

That’s exactly it. Yeah, there was a drug bust in Grozny, and this is a brutal regime even before the anti-queer campaign. They seized cell phones from people [they arrested] and were violently interrogating them. And they discovered on one of the men’s cell phones incontrovertible evidence that he was gay and in communication with other gay people. And this was, for them, the tip of an iceberg. They were able to force him through torture, to reveal the identities of the other people he knew, and brought them in and tortured them to do the same. That’s the foundation of this so-called blood cleansing campaign that Kadyrov has publicly endorsed and admitted to, and has taken no responsibility for.

So their idea is that being homosexual, they’re wrapped up in a gay organized crime ring or something?

No, no, no. Their idea is just — and it’s a deranged idea — the discovery of a gay man in their midst, who was maybe cultivating a community of people. It’s a place where you can’t live as a gay person. You can’t declare your love publicly for a member of your same gender. You can’t even theoretically argue in favor of the community without risking your life, that has always been true. But here was a guy who had a community of friends, a network. And that network became very apparent in his contacts on his phone. And that was a step beyond, a step too far for the Grozny government, for the Kadyrov government. It inspired in them this notion that there was a sizeable presence in the Chechen Republic of queer folks. And they were going to do what they could to eliminate them from life in Chechnya.

‘Welcome To Chechnya’ premieres Tuesday, June 30th on HBO. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.