Category: Worldwide

On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced that he would be “speaking at the SAVE AMERICA RALLY tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11 a.m. Eastern. Arrive early — doors open at 7 a.m. Eastern. BIG CROWDS!” The president has yet to show up as he’s spent most of the morning tweeting, but even if he’s a no-show, the event attendees are a real greatest hits of his cronies, including attorney Rudy Giulani, MAGA duo Diamond and Silk, and failson Donald Trump, Jr. (whose voice was shot by 10:30 a.m.).

Trump has heavily promoted the Wednesday portion of the event, touting it on Twitter as a “BIG Protest Rally” that “could be the biggest event in Washington, DC, history” — one aimed at pressuring members of Congress to stop the “steal” of the election from him… In other tweets, he echoed the rhetoric speakers at the rally used by calling antifa “a Terrorist Organization” and cited the size of the gatherings to put pressure on Republican senators who so far have not joined his effort to overthrow the election.

The real MVP of the rally, however, was the person in charge of the music.

Giulani took the stage to “Macho Man” (conservatives love the Village People, who knew?) before ranting about election fraud. “If we are wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we are right, a lot of them will go to jail!” he yelled to the dangerously “massive” crowd. “So let’s have trial by combat… I’m willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation on the fact that we’re going to find criminality there!”

The DJ also played “I Tried So Hard” by Linkin Park; multiple Elton John songs, including “Candle in the Wind” and “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” (a Trump favorite); and “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, because if there’s one song to get people fired up, it’s the one from the sinking ship movie. Either the DJ is trolling, or Trump & Co. lack self-awareness. It’s honestly hard to say which is more likely (it’s both).

The DJ’s work did not go unappreciated.

Thanks to Stephen Curry’s scoring brilliance this week, the Warriors are hovering around .500 once again, but executives around the NBA have been keeping an eye on Golden State early this season, particularly as it applies to the availability of Draymond Green.

A recent report from Sam Amick on his podcast on The Athletic NBA Show indicated that not only have the Portland Trail Blazers circled the water on Green in the past, but franchise cornerstone Damian Lillard has specifically lobbied for such a deal.

“If we were handicapping Draymond trade destinations if the Warriors decided to blow it up…that’s the one. Damian and his group have for the last couple years been campaigning for that,” Amick said.

After an extension during the 2019 offseason, Green is under contract through 2023-24, when he has a player option for $27.6 million. That means there’s no realistic reason to believe the Warriors would be looking to dump him anytime soon, even if he is perhaps the most likely of Golden State’s big three to move on.

That was confirmed by a separate recent report, this time from Chris Haynes on his Yahoo! Sports podcast, when Haynes speculated that Green might be put onto the trade market before long if the Warriors’ fortunes worsened. For now, the Warriors will likely sit tight and see how high Curry can take them, as him, Green, and Klay Thompson are all under long-term contracts.

It’s been over five years since Jazmine Sullivan released her last record, Reality Show, but the singer aims to start off the new year with a new album. Offering a final preview of her forthcoming project Heaux Tales, Sullivan tapped guitar virtuoso HER to lend her delicate vocals for the heartbreak anthem “Girl Like Me.”

HER picks at her watery acoustic guitar while Sullivan sings of feeling defeated after being left for another woman on the tender single. Her heartache translates to insecurity over her body and she considers making some changes to her appearance. Echoing Sullivan’s sentiments, HER sings about changing up her style to disconnect from her past relationship. “Yeah, you gon’ make me a gold digger / Maybe I should look like a stripper / Wearin’ Fashion Nova dresses / All these dudes be so pressed and impressed with it,” she sings.

While “Girl Like Me” may be the last single before the release of Sullivan’s Heaux Tales Friday, the singer had spent the closing months of 2020 teasing the project. Along with saying the LP is her “observation of today’s women standing in their power and owning who they are” in a press statement, Sullivan shared the tracks “Lost One” and “Pick Up Your Feelings” to build anticipation for the album’s release.

Listen to Jazmine Sullivan and HER’s “Girl Like Me” above.

Heaux Tales is out 1/8 via RCA. Pre-order it here.

When the members of Big Thief aren’t doing Big Thief things, they tend to stay busy with their own solo endeavors. Adrianne Lenker made two lovely albums in quarantine last year, Songs and Instrumentals. Meanwhile, bandmate Buck Meek has a new solo project of his own quickly on the way. He released a self-titled album in 2018, and its follow-up, Two Saviors, is coming out on January 15. He has offered a couple previews of it so far — “Pareidolia” and “Second Sight” — and he returns with another today, “Candle.”

The track is a mid-tempo alt-country tune on which his languid vocals sound contentedly at home. He also shared a simple video for the track, which shows the song being recorded at home. Meek co-wrote the track with Lenker (who also took the photo that became the Two Saviors album art).

Meek released a statement alongside the track, which closely echoes the song’s lyrics, saying, “I was making my escape, when the siren’s song caught me a mile up the road. My nose started bleeding by the second note, so I lit a candle to keep moving. I may have died and woke in heaven’s motel, with a telephone seashell at the bedside. It rang in waves and waves spoke, and waves heard through me.”

Watch the “Candle” video above.

Two Saviors is out 1/15 via Keeled Scales. Pre-order it here.

Capturing Rudy Giuliani on film sticking his hands down his pants while being interviewed by a young woman he just met is easily one of the biggest, most memorable moments of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. There’s a reason it was saved until the very end of the movie, and to this day, Sacha Baron Cohen and his team still can’t believe the scene actually happened. Director Jason Woliner recently revealed that Giuliani was given several opportunities to realize he was being played, but he never once caught on as he continued to try and seduce Borat’s daughter played by Maria Bakalova.

In a new interview with Variety, Cohen opens up about trying to ensnare at least one member of Trump’s inner circle (Donald Trump Jr. was a potential target at one point) before finding an opening with Giuliani, but the team ran into a potentially dangerous obstacle. Due to filming during the pandemic, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was following strict guidelines to protect the cast and crew including routine testing. Giuliani, however, refused to take a rapid test. Obviously, this presented an ethical nightmare for the production.

“There was this debate of what do we do?” Cohen told Variety. “Do we go ahead with this scene? What happens if he has coronavirus? We concluded that it was worth the risk.”

While Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is technically a comedy, the film is ultimately about exposing the “danger of Trump and Trumpism,” which have helped lead to the current pandemic conditions in America. So for Cohen, it was worth the risk to expose Giuliani, who as close to Trump’s inner circle as it gets, and the Borat star is very pleased with the final outcome. “I do feel happy that every time his name is mentioned as he tries to undermine the election, people are reminded that this is the guy with his hand down his underpants.”

(Via Variety)

The long-presumed number one overall pick in the 2021 Draft is officially headed to the National Football League. In what might go down as the least surprising news of the century, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence announced his decision to make the jump to the pros on Wednesday morning in a video posted to his Twitter account.

Lawrence, whose career as the signal caller for the Tigers included a national championship and three consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff, made the announcement one day after finishing the runner-up for the 2020 Heisman Trophy. In the video, Lawrence thanked the program and its fans, saying that he hopes his legacy has nothing to do with his accomplishments on the gridion.

The former No. 1 recruit in the nation, Lawrence took over as the Tigers’ starting quarterback as a true freshman and only lost two games in his career. He is viewed as the best quarterback prospect since former Stanford and Indianapolis Colts standout Andrew Luck, and it would be a shock if he is not selected at the top of the 2021 Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Draft prognosticators generally agree that he does not have a single glaring hole in his game — Lawrence has a strong, accurate arm, is very comfortable using his legs when necessary, can process the game at an elite level, and is viewed as a leader on and off the field.

For his career, Lawrence completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 10,098 yards with 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Lawrence also punched it in 18 times on the ground, averaging 4.1 yards per carry as a runner.

Ryan Hemsworth has been unstoppably prolific for the better part of the last decade. After moving away from traditional indie rock arrangements and more toward electronic-based production, Hemsworth’s latest project, Quarter-Life Crisis, is built upon collaborations with various artists who have come to prominence over the past couple of years, fine-tuning their craft and building their fanbase through scrappy shows in the DIY scene. The new self-titled EP features vocal songwriting contributions from Hop Along‘s Frances Quinlan, Hand Habits‘ Meg Duffy, Hovvdy‘s Charlie Martin, Yohuna, and Claud.

With each collaborator bringing their own unique approach to their tack, Quarter-Life Crisis shape shifts across six songs, leaving something for everyone. To celebrate the new release, Hemsworth sat down to talk Imogen Heap, Titanic, and a man who harvests very large carrots in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

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

Super chill vibes brother.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

“Wow this stuff sounds great on my iTelekinesis X Vibephones. You’re telling me this was made before the Great Loudness War of the 2030s? I’m impressed. Does he have a Discordian Fleet page I can follow? Oh, he resides in the woods with his alpacas now? Fair enough.”

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

Oakland.

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

God, aka Imogen Heap. Her sound palette is crunchy, glitchy, soft, harsh, soothing, it’s perfect.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Katsudon at Zuicho in Shibuya.

What album do you know every word to?

Merzbow – Pulse Demon.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Radiohead when I was like 16 lolz.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Sweatsuit with a cape. because duh!

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

The old guy who harvests very large carrots, I forget his @.

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

Is van another word for private jet? If so, “Camptown Races.”

What’s the last thing you Googled?

How to spell ‘telekinesis’.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Californication, on top of a plate of spaghetti. So you have some Jamming Tunes while you’re monching on your ‘sta.

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

The same hotel room they shot the “It G Ma” video in.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Two butterflies fanning each other, lower back, I don’t want to talk about it.

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

Is radio another word for Chill Vibes playlist? If so, Pitbull, Flo Rida, Jason Derulo and will.i.am.

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

Someone at a show in Seoul painted my cat with watercolour on a tote bag. I still use it for groceries.

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

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious sh*t.

What’s the last show you went to?

Maybe The Hives? hahahh it was tite.

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

Don’t have cable but I assume Titanic still plays four times a week so probably that.

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

You know what? I’d love for him to make me a meal for once. I cook for him every night of the week. I’m tired.

Quarter-Life Crisis is out now on Saddle Creek. Listen here.

Los Angeles’ ABC affiliate reports that Dr. Dre’s Brentwood home was the target of a “burglary ring” that attempted to break in. He’s currently hospitalized while recovering from a brain aneurysm, giving the thieves the opportunity to try to get in, although police told ABC nothing of value was taken. The would-be burglars tried to break in at around 10 pm — rookies — but were not able to get inside.

The police had been staking out the neighborhood after the thieves had been reported trying to break into other homes in the area, and a short chase ensued when police spotted the SUV they were using. Four people were arrested in Pacific Palisades and police found saws, crowbars, and other tools in a backpack in the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Dre posted a short message to his Instagram yesterday, thanking fans for their support and the staff at Cedars Sinai Medical Center for their care, declaring he’s “doing great” and expects to be “back home soon.”

Dre was rushed to the hospital Monday after surviving a brain aneurysm, and at the last update, doctors were running tests to discover the cause of the bleeding. He was reportedly in stable condition before putting up his own post.

It’s a tricky business to try and predict which artists are going to “blow up” in any given year. For one thing, as we learned in 2020, a lot can happen in a year. The whole music industry can shut down, just like that, leaving a lot of up-and-coming names lost in the lurch when it comes to commercial success and public recognition. A breakout is hard enough under normal circumstances, so when a pandemic threatens the livelihoods of an entire industry, making assumptions can feel a little like throwing darts at a wall of index cards. Even defining what a “breakout” means is a complicated question based on expectations and circumstances — and whether those are reasonable or not.

Even if you’re confident that someone’s buzz has reached the level that they can break through the mainstream’s radar ceiling, there are still the dark horses who come from seemingly nowhere to blow up “overnight,” the blind spots that keep critics like me from recognizing a rising star in the making before they go supernova, and the unexpected flameouts thanks to social media cancel culture, encounters with the law, or worse, the sudden demises of artists caught up in street life as they take steps to leave it behind.

So, it’s not a normal year and this isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive or surefire list. But the artists here are primed for their proverbial mango seasons. Maybe they have well-received mixtapes or EPs out that have put them in a position to overtake the competition. Perhaps a hot single has a grassroots movement of fans eager to see what they come out with next. Or they’ve been slowly building their buzz over the course of the last year, with a promised album prepared to push them over the top. These artists may not be guaranteed to become the next No. 1-selling hitmakers or ubiquitous corporate pitch people, but you may want to keep an eye out for them. Their fuses are lit and targets are set, now all that remains is to see whether they can live up to the hype and really bring the noise.

By the way, if you don’t see a name here you expected to, you may want to check out Uproxx’s upcoming 2021 Most Anticipated Albums list, where quite a few rising artists have placements thanks to their previously announced albums we expect to drop at some point this year.

Baby Keem

Kendrick Lamar’s cousin was a 2020 XXL Freshman but didn’t release much new music last year to capitalize on the added attention. That seems fine, though, because the buzz from his 2019 single “Orange Soda” and the fan fervor for a follow-up seem to be enough to warrant watching out for any moves the Vegas-based upstart makes this year.

Blxst

Hailing from Los Angeles and arriving with his solid No Love Lost EP, Blxst made a splash after solidifying his underground support with a strong feature run. After releasing the deluxe version of his debut, Blxst became a fan favorite whose melodic blend of West Coast cadences and soulful content made an impact that has fans everywhere anticipating a full-length.

BRS Kash

“Throat Baby” is being hailed as an underrated classic in the making that just needs a push, and with his partnership with Atlanta-based LVRN, it’s one he’s almost certain to receive. The indie is home to previous breakout stars like 6lack, Shelley (FKA DRAM), and Summer Walker, so they’re batting close to 1.000 so far. There’s no reason to think they won’t make a star of the raunchy crooner as well.

Coi Leray

Coi Leray may have been introduced to curious fans as the girlfriend of Trippie Redd or the daughter of Benzino, but her Now Or Never EP firmly established she’s got chops of her own and enough charisma to carry her own career unassisted. It doesn’t hurt that she’s an exuberant Instagram extrovert who accumulates views by the bunches with her bubbly dance videos and unique fashion sense.

J.I.

Thanks to his 2019 video “Need Me,” the self-declared “Prince Of N.Y.” may very well be the second alum of Lifetime‘s The Rap Game to find his way onto XXL‘s coveted Freshman cover (after season one winner Mulatto). He’s received cosigns from Drake and Lil Tjay, built up a respectable collection of mixtapes, including 2020’s Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1 and Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3, and has nailed the signature sing-rap style his city’s become known for. All that adds up to a potential star who racks up the YouTube views by the millions.

Hotboii

I’ll admit I slept on this Florida native and almost put fellow Floridian Jackboy here in his stead. But then he released Double O Baby at the end of 2020 and blew me away with his polished presentation and ability to rack up views in bunches. With a distinctive look — I know you see that hair — and an engaging style that justifies the attention, Hotboii looks like as much of a sure bet to blow up as it gets.

Kota The Friend

Although Brooklyn’s Kota The Friend is already two incredible albums into an auspicious career, his penchant for building out his albums’ rollouts with impressive features and polished presentation has the potential to make him one of the most commercially viable indie artists since Chance The Rapper. With his second volume of Lyrics To Go dropping this month and plans for a follow-up to 2020’s Everything, Kota may be one of those underground breakouts no one was expecting but few will be surprised by.

Lakeyah

Say what you want for Quality Control’s alleged treatment of its artists, the label’s track record speaks for itself. The latest acquisition, Milwaukee’s Lakeyah, looks like a shoo-in to continue that winning tradition, especially after her City Girls-featuring, Time’s Up single “Female Goat” drew attention to her sharpshooter flow, converting some of her labelmate’s fans into her own.

Lil Eazzyy

Chicago rapper Lil Eazzyy popped up from seemingly nowhere in November with the Underrated EP, earning a sizable buzz on Twitter and ensuring the eventual obsolescence of the EP’s title. His drill-influenced style combined the bouncy, chatter-box rhyme style of DaBaby or Chicago’s Midwestern cousins in Detroit with the moody, menacing beats favored by fellow Windy City native Polo G into something singular and captivating.

Mario Judah

The imposing Mario Judah is certainly a beguiling figure within hip-hop right now. He looks like a cross between the school bully and the weeb that bully regularly victimized while throwing trap, heavy metal aesthetics, and an impressive fearlessness into the blender. He’s also got a strong grasp on marketing himself — while he already has an innovative style of his own, he also used a witty campaign of trolling Playboi Carti to piggyback on the more popular rapper’s buzz, ensuring more exposure for himself. That’s turned into a real groundswell of support that may very well pay off big this year.

Toosii

The melodic rapper from Raleigh turned a flurry of projects in 2020 — Platinum Heart, Poetic Pain, and the 11th-hour release Dickpressed — into a truly deafening buzz in relatively short order. “Love Cycle” and “Sapiosexual” with Summer Walker have garnered a massive and vocal female audience, while a cosign from resurgent Chicago drill Renaissance man Lil Durk is sure to increase Toosii’s popularity.

Young Nudy

Young Nudy’s been bouncing around the industry for a few years but until recently was best known for his 2019 arrest alongside his cousin 21 Savage. However, after making a strong debut that year with the Pi’erre Bourne joint project Sli’merre and following up with 2020’s expressive Anyways, Nudy appears to be just one hit song away from making the leap to superstardom. His ability to crossover from doing tracks with Dreamville on Revenge Of The Dreamers III to featuring on Lil Uzi Vert’s Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World 2 doesn’t hurt either.

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

In 2014, Alice Glass left Crystal Castles, later crediting her departure to “almost a decade of abuse” from bandmate Ethan Kath. Around the time she shared that news, she also dropped her debut solo project, a self-titled EP that was released in August 2017. Since then, fans have been waiting for new material from Glass, and today, she has delivered. She is releasing her debut full-length album in 2021, and now she has shared a video for “Suffer And Swallow.”

The stop-motion video (animated by Lucas David) stars a doll version of Glass in a number of creepy and unsettling settings and situations, like having worms crawl into her eyes and sitting on a blood-soaked bed. At some points, the doll’s mouth moves in a more natural-looking way than the jerky stop-motion of the video, which adds a strong creepiness factor. Press materials note of the track, “The song is true to the singular vision that Glass has crafted over the course of her career, but finds her exploring the dichotomy of pain and beauty in a manner more stark than ever before.”

It’s not yet clear when her album will be released, as press materials say it’s “due later this year” and instruct fans to “stay tuned for more from Alice Glass soon.”

In the meantime, watch the “Suffer And Swallow” video above.