The 10 best Will Ferrell movies? That was easy. The 10 best Rachel McAdams movies? Way tougher. There are so many gems in her filmography: Mean Girls, Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris, Doctor Strange, Game Night, etc. And yet despite starring in a Best Picture winner (Spotlight), the Canadian actress is still probably best known for her role in The Notebook. No list of the best tear-jerking films is complete without the 2004 romantic-drama, and its most famous scene, McAdams’ rain-soaked kiss with co-star Ryan Gosling, inspired Kobe Bryant to buy the dress for his wife, Vanessa.
While appearing on Access Hollywood, McAdams recalled the time the basketball legend, who tragically passed away earlier this year in a helicopter crash, approached her at the premiere of Sherlock Holmes. “I got to meet him. He said, ‘You know, I bought your dress.’ I didn’t know what he meant at first. I was like, ‘You bought my… what?’” It was her actual dress that she wore on-screen in The Notebook. “I was, like, blown away,” she continued. “I didn’t realize he was such a movie fan and such a romantic.”
Vanessa Bryant recalled that moment during her eulogy for her husband:
He just thought outside the box and was so thoughtful, even while working hard to be the best athlete. He gifted me the actual notebook and the blue dress Rachel McAdams wore in The Notebook movie. When I asked him why he chose the blue dress, he said it was because it’s a scene when Ally comes back to Noah. We had hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story. We loved each other with our whole beings — two perfectly imperfect people, making a beautiful family, and raising our sweet and amazing girls.
In addition to June being Pride Month, it’s also Black Music Month. What better opportunity for Lizzo — herself an icon of pride and Black music — to link up with Queer Eye‘s Fab Five for an exuberant, animated lyric video for her new single, “Soulmate”? The song is a bright celebration of self-love, with inflections of pop, soul, and Lizzo’s own brand of brash hip-hop, and the video matches that energy, with animated Lizzo hanging out with her collaborators, playing with Corgi puppies (shout-out to Antoni!) and pampering herself on “Self-Love Lane.”
The positive lyrics reinforce the message of the upbeat song, as Lizzo boasts about being her own soulmate, “She never tell me to exercise / We always get extra fries / And you know the sex is fire.” The video represents this by depicting two Lizzos, who share fries and get married by the Fab Five’s Bobby.
Even though Lizzo’s “soulmate” never tells her to exercise, she recently posted a video doing just that in response to critics’ fat shaming her. She also led fans in a self-care session on Instagram Live during quarantine, showing that she practices what she preaches.
Watch Lizzo’s animated lyric video for “Soulmate” above.
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Like her microwave-exploding co-star, Zoë Kravitz is stuck in London and waiting patiently for production to resume on The Batman. The pandemic threw a monkey-wrench into the highly-anticipated reboot from director Matt Reeves, which had barely gotten started before the whole world shut down. Naturally, Kravitz is excited to get back into the role of Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman), and she recently opened up about what it was like wearing the costume for the iconic character.
After talking to Variety‘s The Big Ticket podcast about her work as Rob in Hulu’s gender-swapping reboot of High Fidelity, which could land a few award nominations for Kravitz, the actress revealed what it was like suiting up as Catwoman for the first time on set and how the role carries a lot of expectation from not just fans, but her friends and family who can’t wait to see her portrayal of the classic hero-villain:
“It’s cool, man. It’s cool. I can’t say it wasn’t cool, but I’ve been really trying to not think too much about just what that character means to everybody else. Just because it can be distracting in the wrong way, especially when you’re trying to become someone else…. The script is phenomenal. The story’s really strong. I feel very clear on who Selena is and what she wants, and I’m trying to stay more focused on that.”
Kravitz also received words of encouragement from former Catwoman actresses Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, and Michelle Pfeiffer who personally hugged Kravitz not long after she got the part. “[They] sent really sweet, encouraging messages when that was announced. So I feel supported by my girls,” she told Variety.
Late-night talk shows are continuing to rely on their new virtual platform in light of the pandemic. Even across screens, Jimmy Fallon has brainstormed some fun games for his guests to participate in. On Thursday night, Fallon invited Demi Lovato to join him on The Tonight Show, and the singer was asked to perform renditions of popular songs with jumbled lyrics.
Lovato joined Fallon for the quasi-karaoke game, Google Translate Songs. The premise of the show is fairly self-explanatory: Fallon types popular song lyrics into Google Translate, puts them into another language, then translates them back into English. The result is a hilariously reimagined song with confusing lyrics.
Lovato was the first to play and was tasked with singing “Walking On Sunshine” translated into Russian, which became, “Now Mom’s In The Sun Now.” Lovato’s captivating voice allowed her to still give a beautiful rendition of the song, even though the lyrics made no sense. “I will congratulate you on grasping email / I cannot wait to write on you when you finally move,” she sings.
In other Lovato news, the singer appears in the Netflix film, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, alongside Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. In a recent interview, Ferrell gushed over Lovato’s talent. “And she was so sweet and lovely and she was actually shooting during her birthday,” Ferrell said about Lovato. “We kind of had this really special moment. She had just come out of her last rehab stint. I really wanted to work with her on this because I’m a fan. I go, ‘You’re so sweet I can’t believe you’re doing this, I just can’t believe.’ And she said, ‘Well I had to tell you, watching your movies really, kind of, helped me go through what I had to go through. It’s weird when you get hit in the chest with something like that and it’s so personal to her, it was one of the sweetest things ever.”
The odds are in favor of their being some manner of sports in 2020, and I’m not talking about marble racing or competitive Mouse Trap tournaments. Bats, balls, linament, the whole thing. But there’s a great big valley of uncertainty between now and the first pitch, first tip-off, or first hot dog swallow so it’s good to continue trying sportifying everything to stave off boredom. Challenge your WFH friends to see who gets the most unique stab at the “I don’t know how to do email sign-offs anymore” sign off or teach your little babies to joust. Whatever.
If those ideas aren’t working for you, though, then the people behind TBS’ Tournament Of Laughs (the second episode airs Sunday at 10 PM and the first is streaming here) may have a sales pitch for you: what if March Madness, but with comedians? 64 of them, to be exact, channeling all the weird energy of these unprecedented times into comedy clips that viewers can then vote on to help widdle down the competitors and ultimately help influence the ultimate victor. The prize? Bragging rights. Also the friends they made along the way. Regardless, it’s something to laugh at all piled into one place and the opportunity to feel the God-like thrill those American Idol fans have been smugly enjoying for years.
Tournament Of Laughs is hosted by SNL alum and actor Jason Sudeikis, who is managing to do a pretty great impression of a SportsCenter anchor while introducing the comics and clips. We spoke with Sudeikis about that, feeling like ET while filming, forgetting about committing violence on Baby Yoda, impersonating Joe Biden, and how press tours and SNL From Home can set the stage for a pretty great grift.
I feel obligated to ask anyone who I know is a huge sports fan about sports, and obviously, the vibe of the show definitely speaks to that as well. How have you been filling the time without basketball, without baseball?
I’m a soccer fan, as well, so for me, it’s been the little things that help you out. The Last Dance was very, very, helpful to give you something to look forward to every Sunday for five weeks. And then more recently, me and some pals that work on this show that we have coming up this August for Apple TV [Ted Lasso], we play a lot of FIFA. We’re making our own sports. Dealing with our own virtual soccer to scratch that itch.
I guess the FIFA counts as research?
Oh yeah, exactly. We’ve written off the whole thing.
Perfect. So with this show, it really seems to lean into the daydreams of anybody who grew up watching SportsCenter and March Madness. Was that a part of the show when you signed on or is that partly your influence?
No, that was all them. They had that all lined up. I believe the show was probably even pitched in the absence of March Madness. I came into it after the fact. But you hit the nail on the head as far as the theme. I’m basically getting to play as if I was Rich Eisen or Scott Van Pelt. Just hosting SportsCenter and being the guy showing you the highlights and talking you through some of the great plays, the great moves and making a few jokes here and there.
Did you have any say in the comics that were chosen to be a part of the show? Did you call in any favors? I’m curious how easy it was to get participation. Obviously a lot of people are making this kind of content but adding the competition factor is definitely unique.
The producers had everything all lined up. It was one of the questions that I had coming in because with COVID going on, it affects everyone. It affects so many gigs. I’ve never done standup, I came up in the improv and sketch world, but I have a lot of friends who do stand-up and all the gigs were canceled. So this is a good opportunity to get them paid for doing what we all… anybody that does what we do, we do it for free to a certain degree. Unfortunately, people that rent homes and apartments don’t feel the same way. [Laughs] And it’s understandable, no judgment on them. So when I asked, “Who do we have?” And then when the producers started listing the names I was like, “Holy smokes, this is great,” because it’s a lot of people that I’m friendly with but also fans of, and a half dozen or more people that I also didn’t know.
TBS
So I know in the initial press release they had called out the at-home sets, and that’s hard to believe. This was filmed in your home, is that right?
Mine is not. [The comics are] I go through this interesting process, not too dissimilar from like third act of ET. Like coming into the situation, I get my temperature taken, I’m in a room all by myself, I get changed, I take my tie and my plastic bag. I’m in a room with just me, a teleprompter and three cameras, two of which are locked down and one is remote controlled. The producers are in different parts of this house speaking to me through a walkie-talkie. It’s very different from anything I’ve ever done. But that’s where we are in this day and age with that process of just figuring it out as we go. It’s been very engaging.
For me, part of the problem is how quick the turnaround is going to be, especially after we get through this first round. We had 16 comics for the premiere and then 16 [this] week, and then we start getting into the week to week voting and elimination. That will be very similar to the process that I was used to at SNL where you kind of even forget people are watching the show, at least for me that is. By the time people are talking about the last one, you’re already on to the next one. I’m looking forward to that element, though, because I’m watching the pieces pretty much in real-time as well. At least I have over the last couple of weeks. There will probably be more of that. They’ll probably be coming in maybe as I’m talking about them. [Laughing] You don’t know. It’s part of the fun.
Popping back up on SNL From Home with the red tracksuit for “What’s Up With That,” did you have that already in storage or is that something they had to mail you?
No, man. The geniuses of that place figured out a way to bring that right to my home out here in L.A. That was all fresh. Eagle-eyed viewers would have noticed that it wasn’t an official Adidas tracksuit.
Ah! Okay.
It was like a velour kind of different thing. I’m not as good with the wigs as my gal Inga [Thrasher], who is my hair and wig lady from SNL, so that was just really a simple thing. It was all stuff that the producer and wardrobe there, sending packages the day of… they sent ring lights, they sent the tripods, I used my own phone. The same way that I feel like teaching at home has made all of us that have kids –especially younger children — appreciate the work and the patience of teachers, there’s nothing like trying to do a little 45-second sketch in your home to appreciate people behind the scenes at a place like SNL that make that seem so seamless. They did exactly what they do for me at the home version too. It was just me who took forever to be like, “Can you get this light to look right? Can I hang up a green screen?” Goodness, gracious. The crew is the glue.
Did you hold on to the suit now for next time or do you send it back?
Oh yeah! Oh no, no. I kept it all. I kept all the electronics too, I’m not sending any of that back. They know better. I don’t care if they put a return label on there or not. It’s mine now.
Yup, definitely.
I’ll say I sent it back. You can use that in the interview, “oh yeah that was a joke.” My kids are going to make the best home videos, better than the crap I made when I was a kid. Oh yeah. We’re in great shape now.
Honestly, you just keep doing these things… keep going on different shows. I feel bad I didn’t send you some electronic equipment. Were you expecting me to send like a ring light or a phone or something? A rig? I’m sorry.
You know what I need now? HDMI cords.
There you go. It’s cool, we’ll just set up like an Amazon wishlist for you and then we can get that taken care of, perfect.
[Laughs] Exactly. Perfect.
NBC
So the Biden thing, obviously that’s in a different state right now because he’s the nominee and you’ve obviously played him for a while on SNL, though I know Woody Harrelson stepped in. Have you put that down or is that something where you might return at some point in the future?
Oh gosh, that all comes down to… I don’t know. That’s a Lorne question. Ask him and tell me what he says.
With everything going on right now, I don’t want to assume a political ideology, but is there any worry when you play a character like that where you might say something that might stick and become a factor? Like obviously, it’s probably overstated to a certain extent, but Tina Fey’s famous Sarah Palin had an impact. Do you ever have that in mind or is that just not part of the process?
I don’t think you can have any part of that in your mind. I know I didn’t. I really enjoyed Studio 60 and Aaron Sorkin in general. I’m a big fan of his but we like to think like Sports Night, or even West Wing, or Newsroom, or Studio 60… I think he essentially looks for the best version of a place and yet from the inside when that show is on television… [Laughs] I think Al Franken said it best when he was talking about the heyday of SNL, when it was the number one thing to watch on television in the ’70s. When it was Chappelle Show, The Daily Show, Amy Schumer, all in one type of show. Franken was just like, “We’re really just trying to make each other laugh,” so at the end of the day, that’s really what it is. The cultural relevance of it and the significance of it is nothing… Lorne tries to be responsible with it. We’re not trying to take shots that weren’t fair or warranted, but as far as from a performing side, no I’ve never gotten in my head. I played George Bush towards the tail-end of his presidency or Mitt Romney when he ran against Obama or Biden now. If anything, you’re just trying to connect to the material.
Especially not doing that show now on a weekly basis year after year like I was when I initially started playing Joe Biden. My take on it is, whenever you get the call… and a lot of times, it depends on what’s possible. When Woody played him we were in London working on this Apple show, so it was impossible to get back. I’m never going to complain losing a gig to Woody Harrelson. May I be lucky enough to have that happen many times over the course of my career. You can’t think about… “Will this change the NASDAQ?” as I’m saying this silly joke, this four-line monologue. It’s mostly just about trying to keep the fake teeth in.
Disney
Did you feel the cultural significance when you punched Baby Yoda and did you face a bit of backlash with that?
Yeah, that was a whole thing. You know what? I kind of forgot about it. I can’t remember exactly how many weeks, months went by from when Adam Pally and I did that with Favreau and Taika Waititi. For me, the most significant thing was my little boy Otis, who, like any little kid from the last 50 years, loves Star Wars. And I remember he even got to see baby Yoda. And it didn’t hit me when that became such a huge thing when the first episode of Mandalorian premiered and everybody went hog wild about Yoda, baby Yoda, it didn’t even hit me then like, “Oh shit.”
Like a sense of dread. Like uh oh.
Nope. Forgot. Didn’t even… because it didn’t show who he was before and it was just this one-off neat thing where you get to dress up like a scout trooper, not a Stormtrooper just so you know. [Laughs] I think its a scout trooper, it’s not a Stormtrooper. Anyway so they premiered on a Friday or a Saturday, whatever it was, I know it was the weekend because Otis and I were playing video games and Olivia [Wilde, Sudeikis’ partner] came into the room and goes, “Hey, you’re trending on Twitter” and I’m not active on social media so in this day and age it’s kind of like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” And then immediately it’s like, “Wait, why?” I have no idea why. I already got a hard enough last name to spell. For it to be trending is bonkers, and then when she says, “apparently you punched Baby Yoda” and I was like, “Oh, that’s right!” I totally forgot that I literally hit… then I watched it and I was like, “I’ll be darned. How about that?” So that was the extent of it. It was very surreal and I started getting texts from friends going, “You bastard” and people saying like, “Did you really get to wear the suit or was that just your voice?” All those funny questions. And Liv is active on social media so I knew she was catching some guff on my behalf.
I’m wildly curious about Fletch. How real was that? Is it even still real, the possibility of you doing that? Because I thought it was was a fantastic fit.
There’s a version that almost went that I think would have been erroneous had it gone because it wasn’t ready. It was extremely real, drafts of the script and the studio, and I guess most importantly, money to back it financially. But yeah, it’s still going around out there. I’m not personally involved with it right now because I never personally have access to the money so I’m not exactly sure where it all stands now. I think the character of Irwin Fletcher has the opportunity to be a modern-day superhero, that’s my take on it. And I don’t mean that in the cape flying, throwing people through windows way. I just mean a person that is truly in search of truth and feels let down at every corner that he has to take matters into his own hands. I think it’s a compelling character that’s very, very, prescient and yet relevant at the same time. And it has been. Even from the early days as a character in a bunch of novels by Greg McDonald. I hope it sees the light of day with the right people behind it because I think it’s a cool idea.
Yeah, I actually agree and you never know. Look at how Ryan Reynolds swung back to Deadpool eventually. I honestly hope it does for you.
Yeah. You have all my blessings to start a Kickstarter or a GoFundMe.
All right, I will absolutely make that happen and at the very least, we’ll send you the money for the HDMI plugs.
That’s really what I was getting at. I appreciate you doing that. [Laughs]
‘Tournament Of Laughs’ airs Sunday at 10PM ET on TBS and you can vote for your favorite comics here.
DaBaby fights off a zombie invasion alongside Roddy Ricch in his action-packed “Rockstar” video. The latest single from DaBaby’s spring Blame It On Baby album, “Rockstar” flips the image of an archetypical rock star as a metaphorical reference to the rappers’ guns and drugs lifestyle. Reel Goats translates that imagery by literally loading them both down with full Call Of Duty-esque arsenals to battle the undead horde.
To be honest, it’s a little disappointing to find out that Roddy and DaBaby probably won’t make it through the zombie apocalypse — there are only like five head shots in the entire video. Come on, guys, you’ve seen Walking Dead, right? You have to aim for the noggin! The video is still pretty clever and there are even a few moments where it looks like our heroes might really meet their respective fates.
Of course, no self-respecting rapper or rockstar would ever let themselves get got — especially not in their own video. If LL Cool J can defeat those sharks and Busta Rhymes can beat up Michael Myers with martial arts moves, then it’s guaranteed DaBaby and Roddy Ricch will make it to the end of their own monster movie. With “Rockstar” hitting the top of the charts earlier this year and getting a “Black Lives Matter”-themed remix, DaBaby has certainly earned at least a little leeway when it comes to dodging the jaws of (film) death.
Watch the video for DaBaby’s “Rockstar” with Roddy Ricch above.
Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Ask any Texan, myself included, what they’re most proud of from their home state and you’re sure to get an emphatic answer. It might be the savory barbecue served up everywhere from fine dining restaurants to the roadside shacks, or the uncrowded, seemingly-endless national parks, or simply the beautiful, expansive, star-filled night sky. Or it might be the whiskey.
Young to the industry in relation to whiskeys distilled in Kentucky and Tennessee, the current wave of Texas distilling started in 2006 — when Garrison Brothers Distillery was granted a distiller’s permit for bourbon. That made it the first of its kind: the only legal bourbon distillery in Texas. Much progress has been made since then, with the Texas Whiskey Trail launching just last year, founded by 12 distilleries at the forefront of crafting Certified Texas Whiskey.
To speak generally, Texas whiskey, particularly bourbon, features nuances and notes that are distinctive to the region. Unlike whiskey-producing states to the east of Texas, with four easy-to-define seasons, Lone Star weather is generally dry and often hot. (It’s also variable — we like to say that you can experience four seasons in one week, in Texas. Sometimes all in one day.) The dry conditions combined with warm temperatures cause barrelled alcohol to expand. This helps the distillate reach deep into the pores of the wood, which is where many of the flavors are born and where the deep, dark hues originate. Of course, the climate varies based on where you are in the massive state. Houston (more humid) and Austin (drier) are just a few hours away from each other, but the unique weather in each city no doubt affects the taste of the whiskeys made there.
For years now, brands have loved slapping “Texas” on any product they market to denote large size or a certain rugged cool factor (yeah, we’re kind of a big deal). So the Texas Whiskey Association has specified the criteria that must be met for a whiskey to be a true Texas expression. These specifications can be summed up in one simple line: “Begin with grain from Texas or elsewhere, then complete every step of the whiskey-making process all within Texas.”
As an avid lover of both bourbon and my home state, I thought it was time run down a few Texas made bourbons that excite my palate. With Texas going right back on lockdown after a huge COVID spike, these bottles might be exactly what residents need to make it through a sweltering summer.
Founder Dan Garrison spent the early 2000s learning his craft from the crème de la crème of Kentucky’s distillers. Fast forward to 2010, Garrison Brothers introduced the first bourbon whiskey legally made in Texas. Every expression of the company’s bourbon is made from a sweet mash bill (as opposed to sour mash) and barrel-aged in the intense Texas climate. Every step, from cooking the mash to bottling, takes place on-site at the Garrison Brothers Distillery.
Tasting Notes:
This bourbon has long been one of my absolute favorites. This amber-colored expression has an oak, vanilla, and caramel palate with a welcoming, long finish. I associate whiskey with music, so this one has a Kacey Musgraves-style “Slow Burn” and its heavily oak-flavored profile arrives thanks to the scorching Texas heat.
The Balcones imprint gets an A+ in innovation. The team pairs classic techniques with experimentation and this pot still bourbon is a testament to their inimitable approach. Created from their signature roasted blue corn, the mash bill is also comprised of Texas wheat and rye, plus malted barley.
Tasting Notes:
I was drawn in by the subtle, sweet scent of honey and toasted oak. I was completely won over by the baking spices and spicy rye palate. The lingering finish is riddled with heat and sweet spices such as cinnamon.
Treaty Oak Ghost Hill Texas Bourbon
ABV: 47.5% Distillery: Treaty Oak Distilling, Dripping Springs, Texas Price:$50
The Whiskey:
The bourbon is made with local heirloom grains from Barton Springs Mill. This grain-to-glass goodness is mashed, fermented, distilled, barreled, aged two years, and bottled on-site at the Treaty Oak Distillery.
Tasting Notes:
The honey and caramel nose enraptured me, so it was definitely “love at first scent.” Full body, robust oak and spice flavors with medium heat. I added a few drops of water in the second sip that left me with a soft, vanilla finish.
Milam & Greene Triple Cask Bourbon
ABV: 47% Distillery: Ben Milam Whiskey Distillery, Blanco, Texas Price:$42
The Whiskey:
Milam & Greene is named for the collaboration between Texan entrepreneur Marsha Milam and whiskey expert and writer Heather Greene. The Milam & Greene Triple Cask is a batch of three straight bourbon whiskeys selected by Greene: a two-year-old premium Texas bourbon alongside three to four-year-old Tennessee whiskey, plus a ten to eleven-year-old Tennessee whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
This is the first bourbon I’ve tried with a floral aroma. It was a bit off-putting, but I’m glad I didn’t stop there. The creamy palate has hints of vanilla and honey, culminating with a spicy, lingering finish. I loved this as a slow sip neat, but I’m convinced it would make for an even better cocktail.
The bourbon is crafted with yellow dent Texas corn, Texas soft red winter wheat, 6-row distillers’ malt, and their own proprietary strain of yeast from Texas pecans, combined with pure Texas water. A pretty darn cool feature of the bourbon is the leather bottle caps unique to each bottle. A nice, cowboy-cool way to package the juice.
Tasting Notes:
There are so many good things going on with this bourbon. Pecan, banana, maple, and caramel aromas partnered with the light mouthfeel of vanilla, brown sugar, and spice all come together like a beautiful, melodic song. What it lacks in linger, it makes up for in a balanced finish of spice and subtle sweetness.
Using a variety of local and heirloom corns, Ironroot whiskeys are crafted with traditional French brandy techniques, particularly the process of elévage — whereby close attention is paid during the aging process. This ensures that the extreme Texas climate has a positive impact on the whiskey. The bourbon is crafted with four heirloom corns and rye.
Fun fact: This bourbon won this year’s “World’s Best Bourbon” at the World Whiskies Awards.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a trifecta of deliciousness — consisting of peppery spice, maple, and vanilla. Baking spices and brown sugar gives this bourbon a subtle sweet palate. Packed with heat and a nice linger with a hint of oak.
Still Austin Whiskey Co. Two-Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50% Distillery: Still Austin Whiskey Co., Austin, Texas Price:$40
The Whiskey:
I saved a newbie, but goodie, for last. This forthcoming bourbon has a mash bill consisting of 70 percent white corn, 25 percent rye, and 5 percent malted barley. Most bourbon is traditionally made with yellow corn, so the white corn is a unique touch. The bourbon is all distilled on a one-of-a-kind custom 42-foot column still designed by head distiller Mike Delevante and custom-built by Forsyths in Scotland.
Tasting Notes: Though this bourbon has only aged for two years, the palate tastes more mature. I’m hooked on the spice from the rye, alongside the hints of brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. The smooth, lasting lingering finish is bliss. Though I sipped this neat, it will definitely be used in a mint julep this summer.
A few weeks ago, the music industry participated in a “Blackout Tuesday” to reflect on ways to better serve the demographic that drives so much of the industry’s success. One of the resolutions that emerged was Republic Records’ announcement that the label would ban the use of the word “urban” for internal departments. That announcement was followed by a similar one from the The Grammys. The moves drew skeptical side-eyes from some observers, but were met with praise from many others.
Both reactions are understandable. The “urban” category had long been a point of contention within the industry, especially among Black members, due to its fraught history and indiscriminate use as a seeming replacement for “Black” music. In fact, the term was originally coined by radio programers to do just that. New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker coined the term “urban contemporary” in the 1970s as a euphemistic stand-in for what had been called “Black music” until then. The problem with either category to describe the phenomenon was summed up by Tyler The Creator after the 2020 Grammy Awards.
After winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album for his genre-defying 2019 album Igor, Tyler addressed the press, calling the award a backhanded compliment. “It sucks that we — and I mean guys who look like me — do anything genre-bending or anything, they also put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category,” he said. “I don’t like that ‘urban’ word. It’s just a politically-correct way to say the N-word to me. When I hear that, I’m like, ‘Why can’t we be in pop?’ Half of me feels like the rap nomination was a backhanded compliment. Like, ‘Oh my little cousin wants to play the game. Let’s give him the unplugged controller so he can shut up and feel good about it.’”
More recently, Billie Eilish — 12 years younger than Tyler — called out the double standard in her own interview in GQ, pointing out that “if I wasn’t white I would probably be in ‘rap’. Why? They just judge from what you look like and what they know.” She talked about how such categorizations rarely reflect the style of the music, instead seemingly focusing on performers’ looks. “Just because I am a white teenage female I am pop,” she lamented. “Where am I pop? What part of my music sounds like pop?”
From their comments and others over the years, we can see the issues with the “urban” designation and its shortcomings in describing the depth and breadth of the artists that have fallen under its umbrella. In years past, the urban music departments at labels have siloed artists in styles ranging from hip-hop to reggae to house, demonstrating how useless the term is at describing the music itself as much as the artists. Think about the diversity in styles of hip-hop alone, where Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar are hailed alongside Lil Uzi Vert and Travis Scott. Lil Nas X blew up with a country song. If just one genre that exists within the so-called urban silo can have so much disparity, what good does it do to house anything that can’t be easily defined under that one category?
Even R&B can range from the soulful acoustic style of John Legend to the gritty, hip-hop-influenced sound of Ty Dolla Sign. In November of 2019, Ari Lennox’s understandable distress at missing out on a Soul Train Award for Best Soul Artist sparked a debate about whether the winner, Lizzo, classifies as a soul artist. Many observers brushed off Lizzo as a pop star, but others pointed to the lineage of women who made the sort of brassy, gospel-inflected soul music that defined the genre earlier on its history, such as Aretha Franklin. They also rightfully pointed out how artists like Whitney Houston had been criticized the same way but later revered for their talents. Meanwhile, contemporary debates continue to rage every time The Weeknd releases an album — what style is his music? Doja Cat sings and raps with equal ease and aplomb. Is she R&B, hip-hop, pop? She clearly appeals to more than just Black audiences, so should she be marketed solely to them?
By defining all this diversity under one category, “urban,” the music industry effectively told the most influential artists that they would only ever be the color of their skin. Meanwhile, artists like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and others can effectively dip in and out of Black music styles at a whim while maintaining their elite, pop star status. The shortcomings of urban music departments at labels like Republic can be seen in examples like the botched rollout for Tinashe’s second album Joyride. Unable to determine how to market the singer, RCA Records tried multiple approaches that failed to gain traction simply because of the ingrained belief that “urban” artists can’t be “pop,” no matter how catchy their singles are.
And that’s where I and others remain skeptical about these institutions simply renaming their “urban” categories, because it wasn’t just the term that was racist and reductive, it was the policies behind it. It’s true that audiences determine the popularity of artists at the end of the day, but audiences must be marketed to. They must know about a song, artist, or album before they are able to “vote” with their dollars. It remains to be seen whether Black artists will be better marketed to Top 40 radio stations or simply shunted onto R&B-specific playlists on Spotify and Tidal.
We still don’t know what level of commitment labels will have to dedicating the same resources to “rappers” who sing and “singers” who rap that they do to blonde-haired, blue-eyed, “All-American” girl-next-door types — or whether it’ll be business as usual, leaving artists who don’t fit in one particular box to struggle within the constraints of stereotypes. The removal of the catchall “urban” is a step in the right direction. But there’s still a long road ahead.
The NBA is conducting rigorous COVID-19 testing before 22 teams descend upon Disney World to begin its bubble league in an attempt to wrap up the 2019-20 season. This testing, it has long been presumed, would identify cases of the virus before players head to Orlando and would let the league keep everyone who makes their way into the bubble safe.
The first round of testing occurred on June 23, the first day that the league mandated that this would occur in its pre-Orlando guidelines. Of 302 tests done to players, the NBA announced that it was able to find 16 positive cases. According to a release put out by the league, “Any player who tested positive will remain in self-isolation until he satisfies public health protocols for discontinuing isolation and has been cleared by a physician.”
There is no word on how many more rounds of testing will occur between now and the day that teams begin making their way to Florida — which is currently one of the COVID-19 hotspots in the United States — or if any coaches/additional team personnel were tested and identified as positive cases. There have, however, been a few players who have announced that they contracted the virus, like Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon and several members of the Sacramento Kings.
Testing and identifying positive cases before restarting a league is nothing new, as we saw this occur with soccer leagues in Europe before things kicked back off. For example, the English Premier League conducted numerous rounds of testing before it fired its campaign back up and as it has resumed. In a statement put out by the Prem earlier this week, thousands of tests have been conducted in that period of time, with 18 total positive cases being identified as a result.
Last week, Beyonce celebrated Juneteenth by releasing “Black Parade.” Proceeds from the track are going to her BEYGood Foundation’s Black Business Impact Fund, which offers financial assistance to Black-owned small businesses in need. Her move to support small businesses was her latest philanthropic act, for which the singer is now being recognized. Beyonce is slated to receive BET’s 2020 Humanitarian Award as recognition for the impact she’s had through her BEYGood Foundation.
Since founding BEYGood, Beyonce has supported many important initiatives. In 2019, she partnered with UNICEF to create BeyGood4Burundi, a multi-year clean water program that focuses on regions in East Africa.
Beyonce and the BEYGood Foundation were also quick to jump into action at the beginning of the pandemic. The foundation donated $6 million to coronavirus relief funds and the singer recently joined with her mother to launch the #IDIDMYPART initiative, which passed out 1,000 test kits, face masks, gloves, essential vitamins, and household supplies to citizens and urged Houston residents to get routinely tested for the virus. “The virus is wreaking havoc on the Black community so we need a movement to prioritize our health,” Knowles Lawson said about the program.
By being awarded the BET Humanitarian Award, Beyonce joins the ranks of other charitable musicians. Past recipients of the award include Chance The Rapper and the late Nipsey Hussle.
The BET Awards air 6/28 at 8 p.m. ET.
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