Category: Worldwide

Livestream concerts have been a big deal in recent months, but that’s not the only option when it comes to livestreamed music entertainment. Rappers and producers have been squaring off in Instagram battles, pitting their discographies against each other to see who has more and bigger hits. An upcoming battle is set for April 30 at 8 p.m. ET, and it features two hip-hop legends: Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Krayzie Bone.

This battle does not seem to be fueled by any animosity, as it is being billed as more of a celebration than an all-out brawl. Bone wrote while making the announcement on Instagram, “Celebrating over 50 combined years of hits. Limited edition Collab merch available. Share share share, don’t miss this celebration!”

Indeed, the two have had a lot of success between them. Three 6 Mafia have released a number of Platinum-selling hits and a handful of top-10 albums since the mid-’90s. Additionally, their Hustle & Flow track “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” made Three Six Mafia the first hip-hop group to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was also the second hip-hop song to win an Oscar, following Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

Meanwhile, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is commonly regarded as one of the top hip-hop groups of all time, thanks to their two No. 1 albums (and their pair of No. 2 albums). Their biggest single is “Tha Crossroads,” which won the group a Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group in 1997.

Jalen Green, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, became the first player to commit to the G League Select Team earlier this month, popularizing a potential pathway for highly-regarded high school players who are comfortable with skipping out on college basketball. Green will be joined by Isaiah Todd, a five-star who was committed to Michigan before opting to take this route.

Not everyone who has been offered the chance to go down this road has taken it — Greg Brown, a five-star center in the 2020 class, decided it was best to attend Texas. But on Tuesday afternoon, the Select Team got its latest player, much to the dismay of Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Daishen Nix is headed to the G League. Nix, a five-star point guard in the class of 2020 and the No. 15 recruit in America by 247Sports’ Composite rating, had previously signed his letter of intent to head to Westwood.

Charania reports that the deal Nix signed with the Southern California-based squad is expected to pay him handsomely, somewhere around $300,000.

It is still unclear exactly how the Select Team will function and what their potential schedule look like, but it’s already putting together quite the roster of talent. Nix stands 6’5, attended Trinity International Schools in Las Vegas, and was a McDonald’s All-American Game selection alongside Green and Todd.

While people across the country remain in quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus, musicians have been forced to get creative about releasing videos. To celebrate his recent track with Guapdad 4000, Rich Brian discovered a clever way to record a visual while also raising funds to donate to charity.

For his “Bali” video, Rich Brian decided to give some neighborly love to his friends by sending some gag gifts to their houses with a drone. The rapper attached a bag to the flying camera and filmed it arriving at his friends’ doorsteps. Over the course of the video, Rich Brian sends condoms to Cuco, celery and wine to YouTuber Cody Ko, hair products to his bald friend Noel Miller, Pokémon cards to Thundercat, and a $10 bill to Guapdad 4000 as a cheeky thank-you gift for featuring on the track.

Along with sending gifts to his musician friends, Rich Brian tapped them to donate cash to charitable funds. The combined donations from Guapdad 4000, Cuco, Thundercat, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, Lil Yachty, and others raised a large sum. The funds made it possible to donate 125 meals to the LA County Hospital, supplement lease late payments for a local food truck, and give funds, food, and face masks to the organization Asian Americans For Housing.

Watch Rich Brian and Guapdad 4000’s “Bali” video above.

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 very best of the indie releases from the past seven days. This week we got another taste of Notes On A Conditional Form by The 1975, the first solo single from Sigur Rós’s Jónsi in a decade, and another comeback single from Bright Eyes.

While we’re at it, if you want more music recommendations curated by Steven Hyden delivered directly to your inbox every week, sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter.

The 1975 — “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”

We’ve been talking about The 1975’s Notes On A Conditional Form for the better part of the last year. Somehow, the album is still nearly a month away, but the band has shared another sampling of the 22-track effort to tide us over. “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” is another song from the band that sounds completely different from the last, an 80’s-tinged number that even features a “Kenny G-style saxophone interlude,” according to Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. “If You’re Too Shy” once again shows us how good The 1975 are at writing songs.

Bright Eyes — “Forced Convalescence”

The return of Bright Eyes over the last few months has certainly been welcome, and although the band was forced to postpone their comeback tour, they are still pushing forward with the release of their new album. “Forced Convalescence” is the latest taste of the as-yet-untitled album, and reminds us why we fell in love with Bright Eyes in the first place. Structurally, the song “gradually works its way to an apex before cooling off and ending the song on another build-up,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx,

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit — “Dreamsicle”

Reunions, the latest effort from Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, is out in just a few weeks, but they aren’t slowing down with the release of new music. The latest offering is both triumphant and nostalgic, opening with intricate finger-picking on the guitar before diving into an almost Springsteen-esque narrative. “With his textured vocals, Isbell narrates the story of a boy coming-of-age and having a difficult time realizing he has to leave the town he grew up in,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

Jónsi — “Exhale”

Jónsi’s work with Sigur Rós has kept him occupied over the better part of the last decade, and his solo work has been dormant in the interim. Now, he has returned to his solo work with “Exhale,” a unique and experimental orchestral single. “Opening with soft, resounding piano, Jónsi’s reverberating vocals wax and wane until a vivid crescendo of synths and percussive elements arrives part-way through the track,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

James Blake — “You’re Too Precious”

A year removed from the release of Assume Form, James Blake hasn’t slowed down with the release of new material. However, “You’re Too Precious” is the first sampling of new music since releasing a deluxe version of the album and several video treatments. The track was originally teased during an Instagram Live stream earlier in April, where Blake also covered songs from Billie Eilish, Frank Ocean, Radiohead, and more, as part of a commitment to playing more piano.

Helado Negro — “I Fell In Love”

Helado Negro has been prolific since 2017, releasing an album every year as well as a handful of supplementary standalone singles. “I Fell In Love” falls into the latter category, and is a sign that Roberto Carlos Lange has no plans of slowing down in 2020. Sonically and thematically, “the song uses rhythm and sound as a medium to explore the euphoric and comforting feeling of first falling in love,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

City Mouth — Coping Machine

On their latest album, City Mouth sound like a cross between Motion City Soundtrack, The Format, and The 1975. The music sparkles like early 2000s pop punk, but with more depth and a virtuosity that is not often heard from bands of this scene, anchored by Jessica Burdeaux‘s impressive and ear-catching drumming.

Destroy Boys — “Honey I’m Home”

Carrying on the Riot Grrrl legacy, Destroy Boys have earned high-profile fans like Billie Joe Armstrong and Laura Jane Grace, all before graduating from high school. “Honey I’m Home” is the band’s first new music since their sophomore album Make Room earned them slots on tour with the likes of SWMRS and Mannequin Pussy, and very quickly shows why so many are quick to latch onto the band.

Skullcrusher — “Places/Plans”

Ahead of her self-titled debut EP for revered indie label Secretly Canadian, Helen Ballentine has shared “Places/Plans,” a track that fittingly examines solitude and isolation. Ballentine takes a deep dive into her own psyche “armed with an acoustic guitar and her soaring vocals,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. “I thought a lot about my self-worth during this period of uncertainty,” Ballentine said in a statement. “‘Places/Plans’ attempts to communicate the beauty and vulnerability of being alone and what it means to let someone else in to see that.”

Golf Alpha Bravo — “Stuck Being Me”

You might know Gab Winterfield from his work in Jagwar Ma. Now, the Australian songwriter is unveiling his debut solo album, prefaced by “Stuck Being Me,” a track about being comfortable with yourself. “At a time where we’re all spending a lot of time with no one but ourselves, ‘Stuck Being Me’ seems weirdly apt,” notes Winterfield in a statement. “I think that our greatest strengths can often be disguised as our most perceived flaws, and perhaps the lyrics reflect that.”

The World Is… — “In Circles” (Sunny Day Real Estate cover)

It’s always great when a modern emo band with a really long name covers a classic emo band with a slightly shorter, but still pretty long name. For this reason, this new cover of the classic Sunny Day Real Estate track by The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die certainly does not disappoint. TWIABP have managed to inject the SDRE track with some space, extending the track out to a nearly seven-minute epic.

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

WWE just set the lineup for this year’s Money In The Bank ladder matches, but after this week’s Raw, the company will have to make a change. Apollo Crews has been removed from the men’s match after suffering a knee injury during his match with Andrade.

After Crews challenged Andrade with a slap to the face, he and U.S. Champion began a match that Crews was unable to finish. Andrade focused on Crews’ knee during this match and in the clip of the finish above, it looks like the last straw for Crews is hitting an enziguri. He tries to push through and still pulls off some impressive athletic feats. However, he ultimately has to roll under the ropes for the referee to check on him and the match ends due to referee stoppage.

Crews had been featured more heavily on Raw since WrestleMania, with a nearly half-hour match against Aleister Black the night after WWE’s biggest show of the year and a win over MVP to qualify for MITB.

With Crews out of the ladder match, the men’s Money In The Bank lineup is now Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Otis vs. King Corbin vs. Aleister Black vs. Rey Mysterio, with a seventh competitor likely to be announced.

The country is slowly beginning to open up as several states’ social distancing measures begin to expire and, while we aren’t completely sure what our new version of public life is going to be like, we do kind of have a sense of what it’s going to look like. Get used to seeing people from the eyes up, because it’s looking like face masks are going to be a permanent part of your wardrobe for the foreseeable future, especially if you plan on boarding a flight with JetBlue.

NBC News reports that JetBlue announced Monday that beginning May 4th, all customers will be required to cover their mouths and noses for the duration of their travel. Including check-in, boarding, in-flight, and while deplaning. In a statement announcing the change, JetBlue’s president and chief operating officer Joanna Geraghty explained, “Wearing a face covering isn’t about protecting yourself it’s about protecting those around you.”

Though the thought of wearing a face mask during what is already an uncomfortable experience might sound like a drag, we’re with JetBlue on this one. Airlines, by their nature, make safe social distancing impossible — as seen in this video posted to Twitter of a recent American Airlines flight out of JFK. Serious precautions are clearly essential to public health.

“This is the new flying etiquette…” says Geraghty, “Onboard, cabin air is well circulated and cleaned through filters every few minutes but this is a shared space where we have to be considerate of others.”

After a breakout year, BTS has shelved their massive global tour due to the pandemic. The group recently delayed the South Korean leg of their Map Of The Soul tour along with several US shows. Now, BTS has announced they are postponing the remainder of their world tour.

In an official statement, Live Nation addressed the cancelation: “Unfortunately, due to the ongoing government advisories on mass gatherings, BTS Map Of The Soul Tour – Europe has been postponed. Our highest priority remains the safety of our artists and fans as well as the global community. We ask for your generous understanding that this decision has been made in consideration of the safety and health of everyone involved. We look forward to seeing you all in the future.”

BTS’ label Big Hit Entertainment echoed Live Nation’s message in a statement:

“Due to the nature of BTS concerts involving travel by thousands of international fans no matter where the performances are held, it is also difficult to resume the tour with the current strict restrictions on cross-border movement still in place. Moreover it is impossible at this time to predict when the first performance marking the start of the tour will be able to begin. Therefore we have made the difficult decision to suspend the previously-announced tour schedule and develop a new schedule. Big Hit Entertainment will completely reschedule the tour and provide a new tour schedule to our fans as soon as it becomes clear when the tour can begin.”

BTS’ decision arrives after a wildly successful year. The K-pop boyband’s recently-released record Map Of The Soul: 7 became their fourth No. 1 in less than two years. The group also became the first K-pop band to ever have a record be certified Platinum in the US.

Map Of The Soul: 7 is out now via Big Hit. Get it here.

It’s time to accept the fact that the face mask is here to stay. Long a streetwear staple in the fashion centers of Tokyo and Seoul, as well as dusty desert raves, face masks just might be as essential to your fit as a fly pair of kicks right now. Aside from the CDC’s recommendation for all Americans to wear cloth face-coverings in public life during the COVID-19 pandemic, some states have strict measures in place requiring the use of a face mask to enter the market or pick up food from an eatery. And while it’s clear that we aren’t going to be required to stay home forever, COVID-19 isn’t exactly going away once quarantine ends.

As such, wearing face masks in large public gatherings and retail spaces will probably be the norm going forward until a vaccine is commercially available, unlikely until at least February of 2021. If you’ve already been making a habit of rocking a face mask, you’ll probably aware that it’s hard to make them look good. Learning how to fashion a makeshift mask out of a bandana from a viral TikTok was all well and good that first week of quarantine, but now that the face mask is an essential part of our wardrobes it’s time to put some thought and effort into how you clothe your face.

We’re just going to say it — No, you’re not crazy for wanting your face mask to match your bomber jacket. Yes, it would be dope if your socks played off your mask. You could choose to look at the face mask as a hindrance to your look, or as another accessory to help pull your whole outfit together. It’s really up to you and whether you’re down to make some lemonade from these lemons we all got handed.

To help you stay looking as fresh as possible in the era of the face mask, we’ve collected a list of all the hottest labels making masks right now. If this whole scene isn’t for you, there are a million other ways to make a mask — just promise to wear one when out and about. We’re in this together.

Anti Social Social Club

Is there a more fitting brand for the age of social distancing than the Anti Social Social Club? The streetwear label’s take on the face mask keeps things simple with a logo print over your choice of white, black, or pink.

Some iterations swap out the bold italic font for a wavy version of the logo, and both are readily available on Grailed.

Artifact

Pre-COVID-19 Artifact specialized in hand-making premium bags, aprons, and other accessories with a sort of rustic and earthy charm. Now the brand is adapting to the times and adding face masks to their arsenal of hand made products. In your choice of seven earth-toned colorways, each face mask out of Artifact features an internal wire piece for a snug nose adjustment, a built-in pocket for a removable MERV-14 mesh filter, and face ties that allow you to adjust your fit for ultimate comfort.

To shop the 100% cotton twill masks, head to the Artifactbags webstore.

BAPE

BAPE has been in the fashionable face mask game for a while, and while they aren’t offering anything currently, there is a near-endless supply of BAPE face masks to be found across StockX and Grailed. From simple single cloth face masks to more heavy-duty reinforced masks that make you look straight out of Mortal Kombat, BAPE has all your camo or shark-faced patterned face mask needs completely covered. Conspicuously, we haven’t spotted a face mask that sports Baby Milo, which needs to be remedied immediately.

Hit up Grailed or StockX to pick up a BAPE face mask from the aftermarket.

Ball and Buck

Ball and Buck are bringing their outdoorsy aesthetic to the face mask game with their simple cotton camo masks. The brand will match each mask sale by donating a mask to a hospital in need. While Ball and Buck’s mask are not medical grade — none of the masks on this list are, nor do they necessarily need to be — the brand points out that they are suitable for all manner of activities, like sanding, sawing, or as a shield to prolong the usability of a medical-grade mask,

Hit up Ball and Buck’s online store to pick up a mask now.

Daniel Patrick

Featuring two elastic bands on each side, Daniel Patrick’s 100% polyester masks are water-resistant and come in fourteen different unique colorways and patterns that allow for a more personalized choice. The design features a slight slope near the nose for a sleek design that contours the face in a one-size-fits-most look.

Hit the Daniel Patrick webstore to shop the masks.

Equihua

Equihua is currently hand sewing face masks using Virgen de Guadalupe scarf fabric sourced in Merida, Yucatan, and delivering one of the most vibrant and fashionable masks out there. Featuring polyester on the outer fabric and cotton on the inner, each fest mask features an inner pocket that accommodates HEPA-style filters.

The masks are currently sold out — as each is being hand-sewn by a small team — so follow Equihua on Instagram to be alerted once the next batch is ready.

Eric Emanuel

Instead of selling masks, Eric Emanuel has been including free masks featuring his signature logo with all recent online purchases. Half of the original run of masks was donated to healthcare workers on the front lines and as recently as last week the brand has burned through their entire supply. So for now, you’ll have to wait on grabbing a mask, but that wait will be worth it as Eric Emanuel is currently hard at work on a new supply that features busier psychedelic designs.

Follow the Eric Emanuel Instagram account to stay updated on the next drop.

Los Angeles Apparel

Los Angeles Apparel — owned by former American Apparel head Dov Charney — was one of the first labels to heed New York Governor Cuomo’s call for the fashion industry to aid in the production of masks and now their adjustable 100% cotton masks are commercially available in three-mask packs. Each mask features an adjustable nose strip to contour your face and two-straps that allow you to adjust your fit as needed.

Los Angeles Apparel is offering 26 different patterns, allowing you more variety to match with your current wardrobe.

Head to Los Angeles Apparel to grab your three-pack cotton mask pack now.

Profound

Profound’s take on the face mask sports a simple flat rectangular silhouette and features elegant sepia-toned patterns that match the brand’s streetwear meets fine art aesthetic. Patterns include a floral painting, an earthy paisley carpet design, a simple sharpie doodle reading “We’ve made it this far, kid,” a retro-leaning checkerboard design, and other iterations on the paisley bandana pattern.

Profound will donate some proceeds of each mask purchase toward the International Rescue Committee’s COVID-19 fund for refugee families, as well as donate funds towards procuring N95 marks to help assist healthcare workers in New York and New Jersey.

Shop the looks at Profound’s webstore.

The Hundreds

Los Angeles-based The Hundreds is currently offering two different face mask patterns, one that adopts the liquor-store staple paisley bandana patterning and the other that reps The Hundreds iconic bomb logo. Both masks are a 50/50 cotton and polyester blend, one-size-fits-most, and are entirely constructed in Los Angeles.

At $19 flat, they’re one of the better bargains on this list and with 25% of the profits going to benefit the Street Vendor Emergency Fund, you’ll be doing a small amount of good while leveling up your mask game. That’s a win-win.

Hit The Hundreds webstore to shop masks.

Supreme

Are you surprised to find the streetwear juggernaut on this list? Supreme has dropped a variety of face masks throughout the years, from their sleek Arabic logo neoprene masks, to their bulkier large-logo mask. A luxury streetwear must-have for the hype beasts who aren’t letting COVID-19 stop them from endlessly flexing.

Hit up Grailed or StockX to shop Supreme face masks.

France’s top two soccer leagues will not see out the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign. Edouard Philippe, the nation’s prime minister, announced on Tuesday that gatherings of more than 5,000 people cannot take place until September at the earliest as the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Philippe announced that football, along with all other professional sports in the country, will not be played for the time being.

The news comes on the same day that the chairman of FIFA’s medical committee recommended Sept. 1 as the earliest day that soccer should return.

France is not the first European nation to see its top league’s seasons come to an abrupt end. Last week, the Eredivisie announced it would cancel the 2019-20 campaign altogether, meaning that no champion would be crowned and promotion/relegation would be put on hold.

It is unclear if that is a path that Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will go down — currently, Paris Saint-Germain holds a comfortable 12-point lead on second-place Marseille with a game in hand. The Parisians are the best team in the league, and barring the catastrophe to end all catastrophes, they would have came out on top. However, there is no guarantee that they will be crowned champions, while things like Champions/Europa League spots and promotion/relegation with Ligue 2 still need to be figured out. According to reports out of France, a call will occur on Tuesday evening.

On the Champions League, there is no word on how this impacts French teams participating should the tournament resume. PSG and Marseille are both still in the tournament, but ESPNFC reports that there is increasing skepticism that it will be able to resume, regardless.

The decision ends Ligue 1 and Ligue 2’s hopes of returning to training in May for a mid-June restart and puts further pressure on UEFA regarding the Champions League, with Paris Saint-Germain in the quarterfinals and Lyon leading Juventus in their round-of-16 tie. UEFA had planned to play the Champions League to a finish in August but this is becoming increasingly doubtful.

There has been rumblings of potentially resuming Champions League play in August, with the thought being that this would give domestic leagues the opportunity to finish out their campaigns before the focus could turn to European competition. But of course, predicting what will happen in the next day is remarkably difficult while dealing with an unprecedented virus, making the act of predicting what will happen weeks and months down the road next to impossible.

Narcos: Mexico‘s second season launched with attempted justice for fallen DEA Agent Kiki Camarena (portrayed by Michael Peña), and his story will continue with an Amazon Original called The Last Narc. The four-part docuseries promises to dig much deeper into Kiki’s maneuverings while he infiltrated the Guadalajara Cartel, and the project’s format should bring focused results for Kiki fans. That’s especially the case since Netflix’s dramatization also made space for the rise and downfall of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna) and the dogged adventures from composite DEA Agent Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy). In other words, Narcos: Mexico has been a fantastic ride so far, but The Last Narc looks like a more targeted answer to the overall Netflix phenom.

Amazon has already catered to the Narcos audience with the recent ZeroZeroZero (about the global reach of the cocaine trade), but this time, the effort is a more personal one. As the followers of Kiki’s tragic story know, his tenure with the fledgling DEA was cut short by his torture and execution. His wife, Mika, appeared as a well-rounded character (much more than the stereotypical “supportive wife”) on Narcos: Mexico, and she looks to play a significant part in this docuseries. That’s fitting, given that Mika Camarena continues to advocate for global recognition of her husband’s fate. Back when Narcos: Mexico first debuted, I wished for a Mika spinoff, and this might satisfy that urge.

From the official synopsis:

In the Amazon Original The Last Narc, former cartel insiders divulge the bone-chilling details behind the notorious murder and kidnapping of DEA Agent “Kiki” Camarena. Through never before seen interviews, this four-part docuseries will unravel the story of Camarena, the drug cartel he infiltrated, and the narc who risked everything to discover the truth.

Amazon Prime’s The Last Narc debuts on May 15.