Category: Viral

Tiger King is no longer in the Netflix top 10 (it’ll have to settle for being the defining piece of culture from the quarantine-era, which is an extremely cool thing to think about), but it’s still resonating with people. Last week, Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin joined Cameo, where for the low (?) price of $200, the inspiration for the song “Killer Carole” will wish your niece Rachel a happy bar mitzvah, or whatever. And she’s making bank.

TMZ reports that “she’s gotten over 600 Cameo requests so far,” good for nearly $120,000 (minus whatever Cameo takes out) in only a week. Baskin could be making Gottfried-level money, but “she’s turned down lots of requests from people who want her to talk about her missing and presumed dead husband.” She told TMZ, “I decline their requests to say things that would make fun of my husband’s disappearance because that was such a tragic time in my life, and in that of those who loved him.”

Joe Exotic’s nemesis from the hit Netflix docuseries, Tiger King, tells us she doesn’t think the people making those requests are doing it to be mean spirited, but regardless of how long it’s been, talking about her missing husband’s a sore subject.

Maybe ask one of the other Caroles/Carols/Carolines on Cameo what they think about Baskin and Joe Exotic and Jack “Don” Lewis. “Influencer” Caroline Calloway is a steal at only $100, although she might take your money, then not make a video.

(Via TMZ)

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

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got Bandcamp exclusives from Pup, Cloud Nothings, and Boygenius, the return of Sufjan Stevens, and another new track from the forthcoming Fontaines DC album. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

Cloud Nothings — The Black Hole Understands

Cloud Nothings’ new album was written and recorded entirely virtually. “About a month into quarantine, Dylan Baldi and Jayson Gerycz started sending files back and forth, with guitars, bass, and vocals for the new songs being tracked in Philly while drums and mixing happened in Cleveland,” the band wrote on Bandcamp, where The Black Hole Understands is available exclusively. Perhaps due to the recording constraints, the new album finds the band harkening back to the lo-fi sounds of their earlier efforts, leaving behind the heavier grunge influence that has been present on their recent projects.

Pup — Live At The Electric Ballroom

I have to say, when I heard the roar of a crowd as an orchestral instrumental version of a Pup song played over the PA, I got chills. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see Pup live yet, Live At The Electric Ballroom should do a pretty good job of showing you what you’ve missed out on. The album was recorded during a pair of shows at the historic London venue on November 20 and 21 last year. Spanning the band’s entire career, the new live album had the same lifespan as the show it captured: available for one day only, and it encapsulates the band’s raw magic with an attitude that pops off the speakers and makes you nostalgic for mass gatherings.

Boygenius — Boygenius Demos EP

Also available for one day only on Bandcamp, Boygenius’ new demos collection show the raw talent of its members. The three tracks are voice memos of “Bite The Hand,” “Me & My Dog,” and “Stay Down” that Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus recorded together the day before hitting the studio to track the eponymous debut EP. While the demos won’t satisfy fans’ need for new music, “given that the three artists are all involved in their own successful other endeavors,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx, “it’s not clear when or if the trio will reconvene for more music.”

Father John Misty — Anthem +3 EP

It’s been two years since Father John Misty released his latest solo album God’s Favorite Customer, but it doesn’t look like Josh Tillman is ready to be sharing more solo music just yet. Instead, the new EP Anthem +3 features covers of songs by Leonard Cohen, Link Wray, and Cat Stevens. The new EP marks the second charity effort released in recent months.

Sufjan Stevens — “America”

It’s been nearly five years since Sufjan Stevens released the lovely Carrie And Lowell. On the first preview of his new album, the twelve-minute epic “America,” Stevens is less reflective and a bit more aggressive with his tactics, finding him lamenting on his lost faith in his country. “Musically, the track hearkens back to Stevens’ The Age Of Adz-style experimentation, with ambient passages and larger moments twisting and turning into each other,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.

Sad13 — “Ghost (Of A Good Time)”

Best known for her work in Speedy Ortiz, Sadie Dupuis has also spent the last several years working on her solo career under the name Sad13. “Ghost (Of A Good Time)” is the first taste of her sophomore solo effort Haunted Painting, which finds Dupuis lamenting the realities of getting older. Specifically, the song was “inspired by a recent Bushwick basement show with a 1 a.m. start-time she would have tolerated a decade ago,” according to press materials.

Fontaines DC — “Televised Mind”

With just a month before Fontaines DC release their sophomore album A Hero’s Death, the band has shared another preview to build anticipation for the effort. With driving heavy instrumentation “Televised Mind” is about the echo chamber that is created by mass and social media, withering away at the ability to learn. “Personality gets stripped away by surrounding approval,” vocalist Grian Chatten said in a statement. “People’s opinions get reinforced by constant agreement, and we’re robbed of our ability to feel wrong. We’re never really given the education of our own fallibility.”

Del Paxton — “September”

With a series of singles slated for release over the next few months, Buffalo’s Del Paxton are back with another track chock full of bold hooks and vocal harmonies. It’s reminiscent of ’90s emo, but with a modern flare. “September” is a song about camping in the Adirondacks, encouraging listeners to always live in the moment and take in the beauty of the world around them.

Gus Dapperton — “Post Humorous”

After taking time off from music to focus on his mental health, Gus Dapperton is back to serve up a sophomore LP, Orca. “Post Humorous” is the lead single from Orca “features Dapperton’s signature buoyant instrumentals juxtaposed against poignant lyrics which reflect on dealing with death in early childhood,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. The track is a promising look at what’s to come from Dapperton on his second album.

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

After the NBA went on hiatus, the Chicago Bulls began to clean house and completely restructure their front office, ousting longtime fixtures John Paxson and Gar Forman. They first chose Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas to head up the front office as their new VP of basketball operations, and he hired Marc Eversley to be his new general manager.

In Denver, that meant they needed to address their sudden GM vacancy and have done so internally, with the announcement on Tuesday that Calvin Booth had been elevated to GM from assistant GM, as was widely anticipated.

“Calvin is one of the brightest basketball minds in our league,” said president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. “We are very fortunate to have him as part of our organization and are extremely excited for his new role.”

Booth has been in Denver as an assistant GM since 2017 after four years in Minnesota in the Timberwolves front office. Booth has been a fast-rising name in NBA circles as someone who was expected to become a future general manager, so it comes as little surprise that Denver would want to promote him internally to keep him in their building and also maintain their organizational continuity given their on-court success over recent years.

To help offset some of the negative effects the pandemic has had on American businesses, the federal government introduced the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a loan program to help keep employees on payrolls. Yesterday, the Small Business Administration shared a list of businesses that took out loans between $150,000 and $10 million through the program, and it turns out indie record labels received millions of dollars.

As Pitchfork notes, J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, ATO Records, Dim Mak, Rostrum, and Cleopatra each received at least $150,000. Meanwhile, Sub Pop Records, Third Man Records, and Knitting Factory Records each got $350,000 or more, and Stones Throw Records received somewhere between $1 million and $2 million. Kanye West’s Yeezy also received between $2 million and $5 million, which helped save 106 jobs.

Also receiving PPP loans were music-related entities like concert venues, the Grammy Museum Foundation, music publishers, vinyl pressing plants, and record stores. Overall, the “Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation” sector received a hair under $8 billion across 118,332 loans, which accounts for 1.53 percent of the money loaned out so far (as of June 30).

This help comes at a time when the music industry could really use it. Concerts and festivals have been shut down left and right, and many concert venues believe they won’t survive the pandemic.

This week in the best new pop music, artists offered up sunny tunes just in time for this summer’s first heatwave. Ellie Goulding teamed up with Lauv for a simmering single, Disclosure tapped two rappers for a raucous tune, and Christine And The Queens shared a soaring ballad.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Ellie Goulding — “Slow Grenade” Feat. Lauv

Any project where Ellie Goulding teams up with breakout musician Lauv is sure to make Uproxx’s best new pop list. Arriving on her upcoming double record Brightest Blue, “Slow Grenade” sees the two singers reflecting on a slowly imploding relationship over a buoyant beat.

Disclosure — “My High” Feat. Aminé and Slowthai

After ushering in a new era with a handful of upbeat tracks, Disclosure shares “My High” as the second single off their forthcoming album Energy. Speaking about the track in a statement, Disclosure gushed about their collaborators: “We always wanted to work with rappers, we just didn’t know any and we had no means of contacting them… there aren’t a lot of rappers in Reigate. Writing ‘My High’ with Aminé was a lot a fun, he’s hilarious and may as well be a comedian.”

Christine And The Queens — “Eyes Of A Child”

Written to be included in the Amazon Prime series Hanna, Christine And The Queens pivots from her signature synths for the somber ballad “Eyes Of A Child.” Over a resonating piano, Christine’s soaring vocals are at the forefront of the single as she croons a moving tale.

Gus Dapperton — “Post Humorous”

Gus Dapperton’s “Post Humorous” arrived as the lead single off his upcoming sophomore record Orca. The track features Dapperton’s signature jaunty instrumentals juxtaposed against poignant lyrics which narrates mourning an unexpected death in early childhood. “I’m a huge advocate for putting myself in vulnerable positions in my music,” Dappertain said but admits that confronting these feelings “was a chance to be open that I was afraid of. It was cathartic to put these emotions into music.”

Rina Sawayama — “Dance In The Dark”

As part of Spotify’s Single Series that celebrated Pride month, Rina Sawayama gave a moving cover of a track from Lady Gaga’s 2009 sophomore album The Fame Monster. Sawayama transformed Gaga’s overlooked number “Dance In The Dark” from a pulsating track to an electro-pop ballad. Using her emotive vocals to color the song, Sawayama crooned a rendition of “Dance In The Dark” over wailing guitars and metallic synths.

Honne — “La La La That’s How It Goes”

London duo Honne shared their 14-track mixtape No Song Without You this week. Along with it came the carefree track “La La La That’s How It Goes.” Over a breezy melody, Honne sing of relying on loved ones for support.

Amy Allen — “Queen Of Silver Linings”

After years of co-writing popular songs for major pop stars like Harry Styles and Selena Gomez, Amy Allen makes her major-label debut with the soulful single “Queen Of Silver Linings.” About the emotive ballad, Allen said: “We thought of two characters — the Queen of Silver Linings, who holds onto love at all costs and wants to fix things, even if it’s not in her best interests to do so — and the King of Good Intentions, who means well but continues to let her down. As a Queen of Silver Linings myself, I realized that the message isn’t one of hopelessness. I believe there’s quite a power in having the guts to shamelessly fight for something you wholeheartedly believe in.”

Ingrid Andress — “Waste Of Lime”

Following her strong debut effort Lady Like earlier this year, Ingrid Address returns with the playful single “Waste Of Lime.” Inspired by the Beach Boys’ track “Kokomo,” Andress delivers tongue-in-cheek lyrics which is the singer’s way of aiming a subtle middle finger at an unreliable partner.

Maisie Peters — “Sad Girl Summer”

UK singer/songwriter Maisie Peters had a breakout 2019 when she was featured on the Birds Of Prey soundtrack after only releasing her second EP. Now the singer is ready to continue her success into 2020 with “Sad Girl Summer,” an irresistibly catchy number. About the single, Peters said: “I wrote ‘Sad Girl Summer’ at the beginning of summer 2019, which ironically went on to be one of the best summers of my life! The song is all about letting go of things and people that aren’t worth your precious time and energy, and celebrating the people in your life that are.”

Baker Grace — “Up All Night”

Following an EP and a handful of singles, 19-year-old musician Baker Grace returns with the lush track “Up All Night.” Produced by Cautious Clay, the single is a reflection on preemptive judgment. “Everybody has a story and I think it’s important to take the time to understand each other and become more compassionate, so we can learn, grow, and heal together,” Grace said about the track.

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

Wonder Woman‘s formative days as an Amazon warrior on the mythical island of Themyscira was a huge hit when the first movie hit theaters in 2017, so fans should be thrilled to learn that director Patty Jenkins is diving even deeper into the history of the badass women fighters in Wonder Woman 1984.

In a new interview, Jenkins revealed that that one of the flashback scenes will involve a young Diana competing in the Amazon Olympics, which has been a long-time staple of the Wonder Woman comics. The competition will revisit the ancient kingdom, which was last seen in the beginning moments of Justice League, and give audiences a deeper sense of how Diana became such a fierce warrior. Via Empire:

“Here are these people who are incredibly powerful and capable, but different in how they approach things. If you’ve ben training for hundreds of years because of an impending invasion, you’re going to be constantly working on all these skill sets. So, to me, every year, they would have these Olympics to see who’s doing the best on horses or swimming the fastest, and seeing new tricks people have figured out.”

Of course, highlighting the Amazons makes sense not only narratively, but also for Jenkins’ future plans for the Wonder Woman franchise. Back in April, she revealed that she’ll be shepherding a spinoff movie focused solely on the Amazon women of Themyscira that has already been “pitched and sold.” However, Jenkins hopes to avoid the director’s chair for the spinoff and take more of a “producer-level” approach, which presumably, will give her time to approach Wonder Woman 3 with a fresh palette.

(Via Empire)

After Hugh Hefner died in 2017, his iconic Playboy publication decided to honor him as the first man to ever appear on the cover of the magazine without a woman. Fast-forward to 2020 and the quarterly magazine decided to transition to a digital-only publication in light of the pandemic. With the new platform, Playboy decided to make some other changes as well. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny graced the magazine’s most recent cover, making him the second man ever to appear solo on the front of Playboy.

Bad Bunny’s digital Playboy cover was shot pre-pandemic and arrives shortly after his record-breaking album YLQMDLG. The effort is the highest-charting Spanish-language album of all time, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Along with making history on the Playboy cover, Bad Bunny discussed his album, reggaeton style of music, and growing up in Puerto Rico in an interview with the publication. “There’s nothing worse than being somewhere and feeling like you don’t belong,” said Bad Bunny. “I’ve been trying to make sure everybody feels part of the culture of reggaeton. I want to make sure they feel that they have someone there, that friend that can stand up for them.”

The singer continued that staying true to his roots is important to him: “I have always done what I feel is right. I was born in Puerto Rico, and I still live in Puerto Rico. I am living my dream thanks to Puerto Rico, and more than a responsibility, it’s a connection that makes me do things naturally — get it? If something happens and we need to help, I do it because they are my people, famous or not — it’s a matter of the heart.”

Check out Bad Bunny’s digital Playboy cover below.

Last year, Netflix dropped a new series from the Chef’s Table crew called Street Food: Asia. The series was a departure from the halcyon haunts of the culinary elite and, instead, focused on the food of the streets. The same arresting aesthetic was in place. But with Street Food, everything felt accessible to the common food lover (if you were willing to travel, that is). In the end, it was an easy watch that, at the time, you could actually experience yourself if you had the travel bug.

Watching the trailer for the second installment of Street Food — this time focused on Latin America — feels entirely different. With Americans pretty much banned from travel to most of the world, this truly feels like escapism most of us won’t get to experience for awhile, making this show feel like our only access point to enjoy these experiences at the moment. And wow does this trailer stoke our wanderlust for travel and our hunger for great, accessible food on the streets of South America.

Still, one cannot watch this outside of the context of our current situation. Will the vendors be out on the streets at all at the end of the pandemic? What will the street food experience look like? Hell, even referring to a part of the Americas as just “Latin America” now clangs more loudly of Euro-Colonial erasure of Indigenous and Afro Americans than it did a month ago.

In short, we weren’t expecting a trailer that focuses on delicious street food to bring out so many fraught emotions. But here we are.

This season of Street Food: Latin America will allot episodes to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. The episodes look like they’ll bridge European and Asian colonial cuisines, African food cultures, and the Indigenous foodways still present in some South American societies. It looks and sounds like a glorious mix of languages, cultures, foods, and locales — and we can’t wait to dig in.

‘Street Food: Latin America‘ premieres its full season on July 21st, 2020 on Netflix.

There are few things more reliable in this world than getting factual, straightforward information from Magic Johnson’s Twitter account. When the Hall of Famer tweets, there is a little added brightness brought to the timeline. His Twitter account has become almost a parody of itself, most often sending congratulations to other great athletes while listing out, very specifically, what they have accomplished, or simply noting some news and facts about it.

However, as we learned recently during an appearance by Johnson on Rob Lowe’s podcast “Literally!,” Johnson is not the person writing his tweets.

“No, I have somebody write them out. I tell them what I want to say and they write them,” Johnson told Lowe after the Hollywood star was puzzled by the fascination with Johnson’s Twitter account (h/t Silver Screen and Roll).

It is heartbreaking news for NBA Twitter, as there was something really enjoyable about imagining Magic Johnson typing out these extremely matter of fact tweets. Still, this begs a few further questions about Johnson’s Twitter.

1. Who is writing Magic Johnson’s tweets?
2. Is that a full-time job or just part of an overall assistant deal?
3. Are these tweets sent verbatim from what Johnson says, or is this mystery tweeter simply given a prompt and told to “make it sound like me?”
4. Does he have standards for what tweets should look like and a strict “no editorializing” policy?
5. How can one procure the Magic Johnson Twitter Style Guide?
6. Is he properly paying his social media manager for crafting one of the all-time Twitter brands?

I’m most intrigued by the third question, because there’s still a chance this is how Magic Johnson would tweet if he wanted to actually operate the phone but is too rich to need to do so. If he’s just dictating these tweets verbatim than this might be even better than him pecking away at a phone keyboard. I can see him reclining in a chaise lounge in his office, dictating exactly how he wants to congratulate Patrick Mahomes on a record-breaking contract, with the specific details of how much he could make.

The latest episode of People’s Party With Talib Kweli welcomes Detroit poet Jessica Care Moore to reflect on her career as a poet and playwright. That career includes performances on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam, appearances on albums from Kweli, Jeezy, and Nas, establishing her own publishing company, Moore Black Press, and friendships with Detroit hip-hop legends like J Dilla, Eminem, and Proof, whom she encountered at the city’s famed venue, The Hip Hop Shop.

Asked about how she became a “go-to poet for hip-hop artists,” Moore details the importance of The Hip Hop Shop to Detroit’s underground rap scene. “I used to run the Hip Hop Shop with Maurice Malone,” she elaborates. “I used to open and close the shop. It was the gathering place for rappers and poets and dancers and culture right on 7 Mile [Road]… Em would come through, Proof hosted the open mic… it was a retail clothing store with a DJ booth and a microphone on the floor. We spent all day there.” Moore details learning business management and credits Malone with popularizing streetwear and hip-hop styles early on.

She also credited J Dilla with being one of the first to think that the idea of putting beats behind her spoken word was a great idea and recalled watching Proof battle Busta Rhymes — a battle she says Proof won handily. “Busta may not admit to this moment,” she chuckles. Kweli affirms, “Proof’s impact was national and it was global.” Moore also takes moment later in the episode to promote her new book, We Want Our Bodies Back, which Refinery29 listed as one of their “Books By Black Women We Can’t Wait To Read in 2020.”

Watch the clip of Moore reminiscing about The Hip Hop Shop below and watch the full episode up top.

People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.