Category: Worldwide

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Summer has officially arrived, and the past four weeks have brought a bounty of new hip-hop to soundtrack your warm weather activities. From hard-hitting gutter anthems, to genre-bending party starters, here are the best hip-hop albums of June 2024.

Channel Tres — Head Rush

Channel Tres’ first album for RCA Records is a cool collection of Compton house and techno that doesn’t just invite you to shake off your inhibitions — it demands it. While it might be a bit heady and left-of-center for rap traditionalists, it’s just the latest breadcrumb in a long trail of projects combining rap and dance music sensibilities going all the way back to Jungle Brothers‘ “I’ll House You” and Queen Latifah’s “Come Into My House.” It’s a fine addition to that canon while also challenging the conventions of hip-hop and traditional Black masculinity. “Gold Daytonas” is my favorite, but the most digestible tracks are “Cactus Water” and “Need U 2 Know.”

Lupe Fiasco — Samurai

Lupe Fiasco returns with an unabashedly nerdy album — does he make any other kind — with a head-scratching concept supported by head-nodding production and some genuinely thought-provoking beats. The concept is classic Lupe overthinking, extrapolating on a vignette from an Amy Winehouse documentary to build out an entire hypothetical on the title track (“What would it be like if [Winehouse] was a battle rapper?”), and indulging in Lupe’s own love for anime and Japanese culture to unpack his own ambitions and contradictions. It’s one of his more autobiographical projects, but as always, it works on multiple levels, giving it all the replay value of a classic anime like Cowboy Bebop.

Megan Thee Stallion — Megan

Mining Meg’s tribulations of the past few years, Megan is impressive for its unflinching reflection of her personal pain and growth, as well as for returning the Houston Hottie to her roots. While her past projects got caught up in chasing pop appeal, here, she mostly sticks to the Texas trap that got her on the map, tapping Southern stalwarts like UGK and Big KRIT for lyrical support. Subjects on the album range from self-love — in more ways than one (contrast “Down Stairs DJ” with “Worthy”) — to Meg’s geeky interests (“Mamushi” dabbles in J-Rap, while “Otaku Hot Girl” samples one of her favorite anime). The high points are still the defiant challenges to her biggest detractors on “Hiss” and “Cobra.”

NxWorries — Why, Lawd?

If great things are worth waiting for, then Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge’s second project as a group is well worth the wait. Where their first masterpiece was something of a pimping handbook, its follow-up finds .Paak soul-searching through the process of divorce. He’s back on the streets and finding that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Described by some fans as a West Coast jazz rap version of Marvin Gaye’s infamous divorce album Here, My Dear (although, we’ve technically already had one of those — with the same name, no less — from Terrace Martin), Why Lawd? finds our guys lamenting not just the loss of love, but also just how hard it is out here to find a new one. Knxwledge outdoes himself, providing production that comes across as contemporarily cool in addition to being potentially timeless.

The summer music festivals of my youth were once a barren wasteland. Especially when it came to the food. For anyone that liked eating during a mass gathering of sweaty humans, you were given only the basics: a hot dog (roller or water boil), burger (in the foil bag, steaming through), chicken fingers, fries and if you were lucky there was a wild card item or two from Aramark or whatever corporate food vendor typically monopolized the concessions with their blandly passable offerings.

Fast forward to 2024, and festivals like Gov Ball now have 30+ food vendors, including NYC local brand names, food trucks, and even scratch kitchen pop-ups. The amount of vendors and amazing culinary choices — as well as gimmicky but appealing options — can give you whiplash while you try to decide how you want to spend your money.

Here at Uproxx, we’re pleased to do some of the dirty work, at your service. So we’re sharing the five best foods we tried at Gov Ball 2024.

Gotham Burger Social Club – Cheeseburger

Price: $15

A hyped up NY burger with “Social Club” in the name at Gov Ball, does it get any more IYKYK (*eyeroll*)? Does NYC need its own “Social Club” devoted to the sometimes pedestrian, sometimes high-falutin’, even gold foiled hamburger? Apparently, the only answer here is in the affirmative.

GBSC serves up a tasty perfectly crafted festival burger, with precise proportions of all of the non-traditional ingredients. Jalapenos provide the zip you’d hope for, the special sauce has just the right ratio of zest/creaminess, the pickles crunch gives the textural contrast without overpowering sweetness. Normally, the onions would be opted out on, but everything is sans substitutions at Gov Ball, and thankfully these onions are thin and flavorful enough to give some pungency without grossing out folks that may traditionally not order.

GSCB you won the burger battle at Gov Ball based on the rich thicker juicier flavorful patty, alone.

Fan Fan Doughnuts – Raspberry Lemongrass Doughnut

Price: $4

The best sweet treat at Gov Ball? The folks at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream may be able to claim that title, but if you waited 15-30 minutes in the sun for a milkshake or scoop of icecream, you already took an L in my mind. Easier was the line at Fan Fan, where several doughnuts were sampled, with the raspberry variety coming out squeaky clean on top.

The bright pink icing on top with slices of fresh raspberry is a scrummy (shoutout to Aunt Sister) setup, even in the humidity of June heat. The fresh doughy nut held subtle spikes of lemongrass flavor that cut the sweetness of the raspberry elements for well-balanced bites, making the overall experience not too weighty despite being a doughnut.

Lobster Rolls & More – Lobster Roll

Price: $27

Can you trust a lobster roll at a live event? Can you trust one outside the borders of Maine, period?

The lobster roll from Lobster Rolls & More at Gov Ball was pure goodness. The basic and fresh potato roll (though not enhanced by any time on a flat top, regrettably) was packed with enough lobster claw and tail meat to feel like you almost got your money’s worth (at $27, that ain’t easy), slathered in rich butter sauce that hadn’t congealed yet in the heat.

John’s Juice – Pineapple Slush

Price: $13 (+ $2 refills)

When a place specializes in juices, specifically being served inside the fruit they are juiced from, there is a certain appeal to carrying around said fruit filled with icy cold refreshing just-squeezed juice on a hot summer day (is it a festival flex?). John’s Juice makes their juices to order, and fills the hollowed out pineapples with thin shards of ice and small chunks of fruit, along with the fresh juice.

The result was the perfect respite on a 90 degree Festival day, as well as a great palette cleanser if you had something savory to eat first. They’re big enough to share with a friend you’re comfortable enough to share a drink with, and portable enough to carry around until you’re sick of it or ready to try out your moves with both arms free. And refills are only $2!

No Good Burger – Burger

Price: $15

Though not hitting the heights or dynamically nuanced flavor spectrum of the GSCB, No Good Burger is more of a riff on the Shake Shack/Smashburger variety. Simply appointed and made to order with pickles and special sauce, the No Good burger is a thinner and drier variety. The pickles and sauce eat a little sweeter than the competition, but you can add your own condiments to balance out the sweetness, if that’s not your thing. As is, the bun sort of mellows out the sweet note, leaving you with a burger that’s easily portable and simply satisfying.

Though No Good Burger lost the Gov Ball bitter burger battle, it was still one of the finest items sampled during the Festival and a solid pick if other food waits are beyond your threshold (mine is admittedly 15 minutes or path of least resistance).

This past Saturday, The Roots brought the best parts of their annual festival, Roots Picnic, to the Hollywood Bowl for a special concert, Love Of My Life. Named after a song from the Philadelphia band’s 1999 fourth studio album Things Fall Apart (which was itself inspired by Common’s metaphorical 1994 storytelling track “I Used to Love H.E.R.”), the concert was dedicated to celebrating the group’s 30-year love affair with this thing called hip-hop. To that end, they recruited a slew of guests from the genre’s Golden Era to join them onstage to perform some of their greatest hits.

Arrested Development, Black Sheep, Common, Digable Planets, The Pharcyde, and Queen Latifah were all billed as performers, but throughout the evening, surprise guests ranging from Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am to an all-star roster of pioneer women in rap, including The Lady Of Rage, MC Lyte, Monie Love, and Yo-Yo, all joined The Roots on the legendary stage. And, as befits any live performance played the Philadelphian ensemble (the most recent of which I have to compare it to was their New Year’s Eve show at the Wiltern in LA just seven months ago), those hits were reinterpreted, remixed, and transformed by the addition of the live band.

When the crew launched Roots Picnic back in 2008, I felt so left out, living on the West Coast. While endless sunshine and pretty people never really gets stale, it did feel a bit like I was missing out on all the best bits of culture taking place in the northeast. As social media became more commonplace, allowed more footage from the festival to enter the public consciousness, that feeling was only intensified. For someone who counts The Roots among his most formative acts, watching Black Thought freestyle for 15 minutes on a phone screen was as exciting as it was disheartening that I couldn’t see it live.

On Saturday, I did. It was glorious. I’ve seen LeBron James play basketball in person in a high school gym in the hood (another of those perks of growing up in LA). I got the same, transformative feeling watching Tariq Trotter, a master of his craft in the same respect, do things very few other earthly powers have ever been able to come close to reproducing. When Common came out to perform “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” to see nearly 17,500 other people rap EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. was akin to a spiritual experience.

The biggest pops, though, were reserved for Queen Latifah and the cadre of hip-hop sistren who joined her for a mini-set that proved that women have always run hip-hop — and always should. Not expecting Lyte, Rage, or Yo-Yo to put in appearances, I was genuinely surprised by the surprise guest appearances. And I was awed. These women, all well into their 50s, hit every bar. The mics were ON. I get why younger artists often look like deer in the headlights at these festivals, but I’m going to recommend that you festival organizers start sending out media packages for study with the booking contracts. This is what it’s supposed to look like.

The night ended, somewhat fascinatingly, with a singalong of Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours.” It was a high point, but there were so many singalong moments that could have been the finale: Thought and Com running through the title track of the evening. Arrested Development crooning “People Everyday,” Will sitting in with Pharcyde for a rendition of “Passin’ Me By,” or the Jungle Brothers popping out to perform the Native Tongues posse cut “Buddy” with more than a few of the original artists in attendance.

The best part of the show was the best part of the Roots Picnic as an event. Getting to see all these pillars of hip-hop together, not just on the same stage performing their own sets, but as a group, playing off each other, enjoying each other’s company and vibing together. That’s the one-of-a-kind experience that makes Roots Picnic one of the premiere festivals throughout the year. Even getting to sample it at an iconic venue like Hollywood Bowl? You can’t beat that with a bat.

This is not news: America does pretty badly when it goes up against other countries academically.

This is true even if we take it one state at a time—no single state, no matter how wealthy or small, matches the top scoring countries. And yet, the U.S. spends more per student than many other countries in the world.

In the image at the top, each state is mapped to a country that had similar scores on the Program for International Student Assessment, an international test of mathematical reasoning given to 15-year-olds. The top 15 countries are in purple. No, there isn’t any purple on this map.

Reporter Amanda Ripley wanted to figure out why U.S. education outcomes are so mediocre.

She started asking random people what they thought and she followed up on their ideas. The same theories came up over and over: People blamed poverty and diversity for the difference between U.S. students and students everywhere else. But when Ripley dug into the numbers, she discovered that, while those are factors, they don’t fully explain the difference.

No adult could give her a satisfactory answer, so she went to the experts: kids.

Kids spend more time in school than anyone. They’ve got strong opinions about school. They have opinions on what is working.

She talked to the only students who could have firsthand knowledge of the differences between schools in top-performing countries and those in the U.S.: American kids who were exchange students in those countries.

She surveyed hundreds of exchange students and found three major points that they all agreed on.

The students all said that in their host countries:

1. School is harder. There’s less homework but the material is more rigorous. People take education more seriously, from selecting the content to selecting the teachers.
2. Sports are just a hobby. In the U.S., sports are a huge distraction from the business of school, but that’s not the case in other countries.
3. Kids believe there’s something in it for them. The students in other countries deeply believe that what they are doing in school affects how interesting their lives were going to be. Even if they don’t like a class, they see their education as a stepping stone to their future.

To hear more from these amazing kids (and a great story about how an education reporter managed to take an international standardized test), check out the video from PopTech below:

This article originally appeared on 05.22.15

Six years ago, a high school student named Christopher Justice eloquently explained the multiple problems with flying the Confederate flag. A video clip of Justice’s truth bomb has made the viral rounds a few times since then, and here it is once again getting the attention it deserves.

Justice doesn’t just explain why the flag is seen as a symbol of racism. He also explains the history of when the flag originated and why flying a Confederate flag makes no sense for people who claim to be loyal Americans.

This high school student, Christopher Justice, does a great job at explaining the Confederate flag and its problems.pic.twitter.com/CcOXHCB8GQ

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But that clip, as great as it is, is a small part of the whole story. Knowing how the discussion came about and seeing the full debate in context is even more impressive.

In 2015, a student at Shawnee Mission East High School outside of Kansas City came up with the idea to have student journalists document students engaging in open discussions about various topics. In support of this idea, history teacher David Muhammad helped arrange a debate about the use of the Confederate flag in American society in his classroom.

According to the Shawnee Mission Post, Muhammad had prepared a basic outline and some basic guiding questions for the discussion, but mainly let the students debate freely. And the result was one of the most interesting debates about the Confederate flag you’ll ever see—one that both reflects the perspectives in American society at large and serves as an example of how to hold a respectful conversation on a controversial topic.

The full discussion is definitely worth a watch. Justice had quite a few Confederacy defenders to contend with, and he skillfully responded to each point with facts and logic. Other students also chimed in, and the discussion is wildly familiar to anyone who has engaged in debate on this topic. For his part, Mr. Muhammad did an excellent job of guiding the students through the debate.

“I had Chris in class, so I knew he was super intelligent and that he read a lot,” Muhammad told the Shawnee Mission Post in 2018. “But that really came out of left-field. He was never out there very much socially, so I didn’t expect for him to want to speak in front of a crowd like that.”

(In case you’re wondering, according to LinkedIn, Christopher Justice is now studying political science at Wichita State University after switching his major from sports management. David Muhammad is now Dean of Students at Pembroke Middle School and also serves as a Diversity Consultant.)

Thanks, SM East, for documenting and sharing such a great discussion.

This article originally appeared on 08.05.21

A quick-thinking 10-year-old boy escaped a woman trying to lure him by pretending that a local store clerk was his mother. ABC 6 reports that Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, November 11, when a strange woman started following him.

The woman “started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was,” Sam Green, the boy’s father, told ABC6. The boy didn’t know the woman but she insisted that she knew his family.

She tried to lure him into going with her by promising she’d buy him “anything he wanted” at Wawa, a local convenience store that sells shakes, sandwiches and other treats.

“She was like, ‘I’m going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where’s your family at?'” Sammy told CBS.

“She said she probably knew me and was going to Wawa and that he was supposed to go with her and he could get anything he wanted,” Sam Green said.

In an attempt to flee the suspicious woman, Sammy walked into Dani Bee Funky, an unconventional gift shop, where he went straight to 17-year-old Hannah who was working the register. “He was like, ‘Pretend like you’re my mom,'” Hannah told CBS, “and I was just like, ‘all right go to the back.’ He didn’t want to leave my side.”

Security footage shows that Hannah then calmly walked up to the store’s front door and locked it, preventing the woman from coming inside. After she was locked out, the woman walked away. “I was still shaking when I was in here,” Sammy said.

The security camera footage is hard for Sammy’s dad to watch. “When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it,” said Green.

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The shop’s owner has nothing but praise for Hannah’s calm way of handling the dangerous situation. “I am very proud of her. Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly,” Small said.

This story is a great reminder for parents to talk to their kids about what to do if they are approached by a suspicious person. The first thing they should know is that it’s OK to say “No!” as loudly as possible to a suspicious person. They should then scream, “Help! This is not my mom or my dad!” to alert the adults around them and then run. If they are grabbed by the person they should bite, punch and kick as hard as they can until they can get free.

Sammy’s dad is proud that his son remembered what he told him to do when confronted by a suspicious stranger. “Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it,” he reminded parents. “Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills.”

For the time being, Sammy is going to have a family friend walk him to and from school. The Pottstown Police have spoken with the woman and she is now getting help for mental health issues.

This article originally appeared on 11.17.22

We’ve covered a lot of fake cases of “Simpsons predicted it” over the years, mostly recent with Diddy’s “current situation” and the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. But this one takes the cake (mmm… cake) for the weirdest — and possibly worst! — example yet.

In the season four episode “New Kid on the Block,” written by Conan O’Brien and directed by Wes Archer, Bart falls for his new neighbor, Laura (voiced by Sara Gilbert). While they’re sitting outside her house, Laura informs Bart that she’s going to tell him his fortune. She grabs his hand and tells him that he’ll be rich and own a mansion, a tennis court, and, as she spits in his palm, “there’s the swimming pool.” A love-struck Bart vows to never wash his hand again, gum and band-aids be damned.

According to The Daily Mail, some Simpsons fans are claiming this scene predicted the “Hawk Tuah Girl” (real name Hailey Welch), who went viral for her NSFW advice on how to drive a man crazy in bed and is now selling merchandise and singing with Zach Bryan. “Did the Simpsons predict Hawk Tuah? Season 4, Episode 8, ‘New Kid on the Block.’ Bart falls in love after she spits on that thang… or Bart’s hand anyway,” one user wrote on Twitter, while another added, “I can’t believe the Simpsons predicted the Hawk Tuah Girl.”

Here’s the thing: they both involve spit, but that’s where the similarities end. “That thang” is not involved with the Simpsons scene, thank god (you have to watch the movie for that). Just once, I would like to see The Simpsons go viral for an accurate prediction… well, maybe not.

There’s a good chance that, if you clicked on this post, you gobbled up the third season of The Bear already when it dropped last week. This means that you almost certainly enjoyed the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and the wealth of cameos. Perhaps you even began ‘shipping Luca and Sydney, but it’s also worth noting that the show gave us a definitive answer regarding a character who we’ve only seen in nightmarish bits and pieces until now.

That would be Joel McHale’s “NYC Chef,” as he was credited along with the character’s actual name: Chef David Fields.

Behold how awful he was to Carmy in the first season while telling him (under fever-dream-esque lighting during flashbacks) that he was “bullsh*t” and “talentless.” He also tossed in a “you should be dead” for bad measure:

Fields did appear very briefly in the second season finale, too, when he was shown for a split second at The Bear’s “friends and family” night despite being neither friend nor fam. In the first two seasons, we also didn’t see him interact with anybody other than Carmy, so it was only natural that Fields would be the subject of fan theories that he wasn’t real. Redditors, especially, wondered if Fields (who they at times referred to as “Chef Winger” as a riff on McHale’s Community character) was imaginary or perhaps an “insecurity avatar” or a manifestation of “Carmen’s inner demons holding him back.” Other Redditors wondered if Fields was real but perhaps Carmy’s memory of him was altered or whether where was an actual reason why Fields was a total jerk.

Well, Season 3’s finale episode confirmed that Fields exists (outside of Carmy’s mind) because when Carmy gestured towards him at Ever’s farewell dinner, Luca and Sydney glanced over at McHale’s character and acknowledged that he existed. With that question resolved, the audience can rest assured that Carmy was truly following Fields out of the party to confront him over how “you gave me ulcers and panic attacks and nightmares.” Fields, however, remained convinced that he “gave you confidence, leadership, and ability” and helped Carmy be “an excellent chef.”

The episode also actually pulled a Mad Men moment with an “I think about you too much” followed by an “I don’t think about you.” That was strange, yes, but also, McHale did reveal the inspiration for his character (as noted by Collider in a visit with Seth Meyers) to be real-life Chef Thomas Keller. McHale added, “I don’t think he is as awful as I was, but he does whisper at his employees.”

Interestingly enough, Keller also appears in The Bear‘s third season finale, “Forever,” as himself and a seemingly helpful mentor who helped Carmy learn how to handle a “family dinner” chicken. That episode, like the rest of The Bear, can be streamed on Hulu.

Logic has long been a huge anime guy, and now he’s teamed up with one of the industry’s biggest US-based titans — anime-focused streaming service Crunchyroll — and one of his favorite shows, Cowboy Bebop. As for what they’re doing: It’s a new streetwear collection partnership inspired by the classic show.

The following 11 Crunchyroll exclusives are included in the collection: See You Space Cowboy T-shirt, Sympathy for the Devil T-shirt, Logic and Radical Ed Smiley T-shirt, The Crew T-shirt, Logic and the Crew-neck Sweatshirt, Logic and the Crew Sweatshirt, Cowboy Bebop 1998 Hoodie, Varsity Jacket, Beanie, Corduroy Hat, Skate Deck, and Poster. The collection is available to pre-order now on the Crunchroll online store.

Logic offered a statement, saying, “Anime was there for me when I was growing up in a drug and violence-ridden childhood and household. I discovered anime through Cowboy Bebop, and would later go on to befriend the voice of Spike Spiegel, Steve Blum, and collaborate with him on various albums, which is a dream come true. Without Cowboy Bebop, there is no Logic. I just hope that collabing with Cowboy Bebop and Crunchyroll will allow me to introduce a lot more of my fans who might not be hip to Cowboy Bebop, and vice versa, and hope that a bunch of people out there who love Cowboy Bebop will realize I’m making fun anime nerd albums.”

Usher won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday, but his speech was so heavily edited that viewers watching at home weren’t able to make out what the “Confessions Part II” singer was saying. BET has since apologized for what a spokesperson called an “audio malfunction.”

“Celebrating global icon Usher on our stage with a star-studded tribute and having him accept his award with a heartfelt speech was an honor,” the spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Due to an audio malfunction during the live telecast, portions of his speech were inadvertently muted. We extend our sincere apologies to Usher as we couldn’t be more grateful for his participation in culture’s biggest night. Fans can catch his full uninterrupted speech across BET platforms and tonight’s encore on BET.”

As for the contents of his roughly 13-minute speech, Usher talked a lot about forgiveness.

“We’ve got to be willing to forgive. We’ve got to be willing to be open,” he said. “I’m telling you, you’re standing before a man who had to forgive a man who never showed up ever. And look what I made with it. Look what I was able to ‘usher’ in. But that’s what’s real. That’s what makes us human. That’s what makes us women and men.” Let’s see if he forgives BET.

You can watch the full (uncensored) speech below.