Of the many TV shows based on podcasts (seriously, there’s a lot!), Homecoming might be the best. True, there’s only been one season, but it was a really good season, and it’s coming back later this year with a new lead actress: Janelle Monáe. “There’s no replacing Queen Julia,” the actress-musician told Entertainment Weekly, referring to season one star Julia Roberts, but Monáe has an electric presence herself. And she’ll be joined by familiar faces from last season, including Hong Chau (excellent in Watchmen) and Stephan James, as well as fellow newcomers Chris Cooper and Joan Cusack
As for what season two is about: Jackie (Monáe) “wakes in a rowboat adrift a lake, with no memory of how she got there — or even who she is. Her ensuing search for identity will lead her into the heart of the Geist Group, the unconventional wellness company behind the Homecoming Initiative,” according to the official plot synopsis.
“It’s doing something that is unique in the television space,” Monáe said about Homecoming. “When I read these episodes, I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is still going to have a very special quality and take everyone in an unexpected place.’ It’s even more elevated this season — and even more suspenseful.” Homecoming season one was already super suspenseful, so I’m both excited for new episodes, and dreading them.
Burgeoning Indiana songwriter Omar Apollo returns after a prolific 2019 with his first song of the new year. Apollo’s “Imagine U” arrives as an alluring, melodic anthem about modern heartbreak.
Produced by frequent collaborator Kenny Beats, Apollo’s “Imagine U” is a slow-burning effort. Wonky synths and a grumbling guitars provide an ardent backdrop for Apollo’s lovelorn vocals. “I miss you feelin’ on my waist, you never told me I was rushin’ / But my mind’s changin’ every day, I’m glad that you could even trust me,” Apollo sings.
In a statement, Apollo described his songwriting process for the track:
“I’m all about the feeling when it comes to music. The lyrics and melody came to me so naturally and I feel like free thinking is what’s missing in a lot of music nowadays. There’s a guitar part I played that’s pitched up as soon as the song starts that I love and when I first made the song that part was all I had. I was obsessed with it — I kept playing it on loop cause it felt so good to me. I was listening to a lot of daft punk at the time so I was really inspired by those themes.”
Listen to “Imagine U” above.
Omar Apollo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The NFL Draft is just over two weeks away, and with live sports elsewhere on hiatus, there is an even greater spotlight on this year’s crop of prospects. The 2020 Draft will look very different, as it will happen virtually, with teams drafting from home and there being few pro days and individual workouts so teams are reliant more on game film and what information they got on players from the Combine than ever before.
As always, the quarterback class garners the biggest headlines, as it includes the presumptive top overall pick as well as a few other potential top 10 picks in the mix. In this space we will begin our positional big board series with the signal callers, looking at various tiers of quarterbacks, from those that may start immediately to mid-to-late round picks to wild cards that have the highest potential variance.
We start with the top tier, that we believe features two former SEC quarterbacks that have separated themselves from the pack.
Tier 1
Joe Burrow: Burrow has the full toolkit, as draft folks like to say. He’s hyper accurate, smart with the football, and has the arm strength to push the ball downfield when the time calls for it. He has ample mobility and simply doesn’t make backbreaking mistakes. Even in his first season at LSU in 2018, he was fairly efficient and didn’t turn the ball over. Then he got in an offense tailored for him by Joe Brady and company and took off to a new level. The lesson there is, he’s got all the tools and you need to mold what you do to amplify those things rather than try to force him to do whatever you prefer as a coaching staff.
Tua Tagovailoa: The areas of concern with Tua Tagovailoa are: 1. He’s had a handful of injuries, with the most recent one being a dislocated hip, 2. He was surrounded by blue-chip athletes at the other 10 offensive positions at Alabama, which will not be the case relative to the competition in the NFL. I would, however, implore folks to ignore both of those, because Tagovailoa is a marvel. While undersized, he boasts a strong arm with elite accuracy, processes the game remarkably well, makes good decisions, has the mobility to extend plays if need be, and is an all-time gamer. He very well might have been our QB1 if he stayed healthy, regardless of Burrow’s Heisman-winning campaign. A stat: Burrow set the NCAA record for passer efficiency (202) last season. He topped a record set by Tagovailoa (199.4). However, before he got hurt, Tagovailoa was on pace to obliterate his own record with a passer rating of 206.9. Don’t overthink this, teams that need a signal caller. Just take him.
Tier 2
Jordan Love: It is easy to see Love and compare him to Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen. Both are Mountain West products with strong arms, all the natural talent in the world, and the ability to improvise. The difference: Unlike Allen, who never really put it all together in college, Love was outstanding as a redshirt sophomore, completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns, and six picks. He took a step back in his redshirt junior campaign — his head coach left, while the offense returned one other starter — but still completed a hair under 62 percent of his passes for 3,402 yards with 20 scores and 17 interceptions. He could use a year of being coached up, and a situation like the Chargers, who have Tyrod Taylor and can be patient with him, might be perfect. There’s no guarantee Love pans out — he could go in the first 10 picks, he could be in for a tumble towards the end of round one — but if he does, he has the potential to be special.
Justin Herbert: The Oregon signal-caller has always looked the part, but his production is maddeningly inconsistent, particularly against top competition. He has games where he looks like a guy worthy of top-pick hype (see his back-to-back last season against USC and Arizona), but then follows that with a performance like he had against Arizona State. His footwork can get lazy and he oscillates between being terrified of taking risks and then overcompensating with overconfidence in his arm strength that will get him in trouble. He has the tools to be a starter in the NFL (including running ability that he showed off during the Rose Bowl) and he wowed folks during the Senior Bowl, but color me skeptical that he’ll ever shake free of some of his bad habits. That’s not to say he’s not worth a first round pick, but I’d feel much better about him going in the 20s (to Jacksonville or New England) than in the top 10.
Tier 3
Jalen Hurts: Will he be an All-Pro signal caller? Probably not, but we would not bet against this dude being something in the league. Hurts has the toughness, poise, and competitive spirit that front offices love, and while he is not a finished product, he’s shown the signs of being a really good modern quarterback. He’s safe with the football (sometimes to a fault), more than comfortable with his legs, and showed that he can impact games with his arm while at Oklahoma, completing a tick under 70 percent of his throws for 3,851 yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. A patient team will help him continue to grow as a passer, but even if that does not happen, he’ll raise the level of any QB room he’s in. For a team with a quarterback need at the end of round one or the top of round two, Hurts is the guy.
Jake Fromm: What an interesting evaluation Fromm is. He can’t run, isn’t a particularly great athlete, and doesn’t have a strong arm at all. He will also rarely make the wrong decision before or during plays, will memorize the team’s entire playbook within 10 minutes of getting it, played in a very conservative, run-heavy offense in college (thereby limiting what we know about him as a player), and approaches quarterbacking like an ultra-savvy point guard who just knows how and where to put the ball for his guys. Going sometime on Day 2 sounds about right, and at the bare minimum, he has a long career ahead of him as a backup/perfectly respectable spot starter.
Jacob Eason: The lack of in-person workouts might hurt Eason more than any other QB. He has some absolute horror shows on tape (Stanford, Cal, Colorado, and Utah were all disasters), and he needed to get some team to fall in love with his size and arm talent in an in-person workout to vault up draft boards. As is, I’d be surprised if Eason goes higher than the third round and could slip to Day 3 if folks have too many questions from his tape that he can’t answer in a workout.
Tier 4
Anthony Gordon: Like every Washington State quarterback, teams will need to coach the air raid out of him. In one year as the starter in Pullman, Gordon put up admirable numbers — 71.6 percent completions, 5,579 yards, 48 touchdowns, 16 picks — thanks to his quick release, solid arm, and ability to see the entire field. He has to learn how to play quarterback instead of playing quarterback for Mike Leach, but we like him as a solid Day 3 project.
Tyler Huntley: A theme you’ll see is a fondness for Utah guys on our various positional big boards, and Huntley is no exception. He was ubltra-efficient (73.1 completion percentage on 10.3 yard per attempt), had a strong 19-4 TD to INT ratio, and while he doesn’t do a lot that jumps off the screen, he’s just a very solid quarterback and decision-maker. I can see him having a lengthy career as a backup who has success in spot starts if he’s got a quality team around him.
James Morgan: Much like the FIU team as a whole, James Morgan took a step back in 2019. He came into the season as someone worth keeping an eye on, but stumbled both in raw production and efficiency as the Panthers never were able to get off the ground. A look at his 2018 season shows the potential that might get him selected on Day 3, as he’s got prototypical size, quality arm strength, and takes care of the football.
Jake Luton: He’s 6’7, so expect to hear about how tall he is any time he is mentioned on a football broadcast for however long his career lasts, but I’m intrigued by Luton mostly due to his success last year in lifting Oregon State out of the basement of the Pac-12. He was efficient, didn’t turn the ball over, and when he was on, he made some throws that popped off the screen. There’s a lot of the same questions that come with any quarterback of his size (mobility, efficiency in the throwing motion, etc.) but his 2019 campaign was impressive for a program where it’s tough to be impressive, and he’s worth a Day 3 flier from someone.
Wild Cards
Khalil Tate: Do you remember when Tate was your favorite college football player? We are, admittedly, suckers for good college players, something that will stick out in our draft boards. Does Tate stick at QB? Does he get moved to running back or wide receiver as a way to show off his dynamic athleticism, showing off his arm on gadget plays for a creative coach? Who knows! Who cares! We just wanna see Tate play football somewhere.
Cole McDonald: Let’s talk about the premiere chaos quarterback of the 2020 NFL Draft. McDonald burst onto the scene in 2018 as he led Hawai’i to wins over Colorado State and Navy to open the season, but the wheels came off late in the campaign. In 2019, it was more of the same as he Jekyll & Hyde’d his way through the season (often varying wildly in success from drive to drive of the same game). He thrived at times in the Run N’ Shoot, putting up video game numbers, but his confidence in his arm pushing the ball down the field led to some of the worst interceptions you’ll ever see. I have no idea what McDonald is at the next level or if he can help a team, but I do know I want to watch any time he’s on the football field, for better or worse.
Shea Patterson: Here is the guy who interests us the most among late-round fliers or UDFAs. Patterson is short, has small hands, and doesn’t have an arm that will knock your socks off. His accuracy fell off between his junior (64.6 percent) and senior (56.2 percent) campaigns, but in terms of yards per attempt (8 both years), touchdowns (22 and 23, respectively), and interceptions (7, 8), he was the same QB. What has been a constant for Patterson: new offensive coordinators. In four college campaigns, he had four separate OCs, five if you count the co-offensive coordinators Ole Miss had during his true freshman year. Maybe he doesn’t pan out, but he can anticipate throws well and move a bit. Get him in a system and let him learn and he may be worth a gamble.
Bryce Perkins: Sadly, I doubt Perkins stays at quarterback, but he was an awful lot of fun at Virginia. He is a bulldozer when he takes off and runs, which is likely why he’ll end up at some H-back/receiver/tight end spot in the NFL, but he was a more than solid quarterback in his senior season. Perkins showed some real progression as a passer, as he threw the ball a lot more and maintained pretty strong efficiency. He has the ability to extend plays and breakdown a defense, and is a comfortable and solid passer in the short game. The mechanics aren’t the best in the world, but given the strides he took last year I would like to see him get some more development time at the QB spot, despite knowing that likely won’t be afforded to him.
In Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Lady Bird, and even Booksmart, Beanie Feldstein has had to share the spotlight with others. But she’s finally getting the lead role she deserves. Based on Caitlin Moran’s novel of the same name, How to Build a Girl is a coming-of-age teen comedy that stars Feldstein as Johana Morrigan, a teen girl stuck in a working-class neighborhood in England who decides to reinvent herself. “Johanna Morrigan is dead,” she says in the trailer above. “This is the legendary Dolly Wilde,” a music journalist who crosses “over to the dark side.” In other words, she becomes a jerk.
Welcome to being a writer! Here’s the official plot synopsis.
Johana Morrigan is a bright, quirky, 16-year-old who uses her colorful imagination to regularly escape her humdrum life in Wolverhampton and live out her creative fantasies. Desperate to break free from the overcrowded flat she shares with her four brothers and eccentric parents, she submits an earnestly penned and off-beat music review to a group of self-important indie rock critics at a weekly magazine. Despite being brushed off initially, Johana clamors to the top of the ’90s rock music scene by reinventing herself as Dolly Wilde – a venerable, impossible-to-please music critic with an insatiable lust for fame, fortune, and men. It isn’t long before the rapid pace at which Johana’s life is changing becomes overwhelming and she runs face-first into a devastatingly real, existential crisis: Is this the type of girl she wants to become? Or does she need to start over and build again?
How to Build a Girl, which also stars Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Chris O’Dowd, and Emma Thompson, hits VOD on May 8.
Dreamville singer Ari Lennox continues to roll out videos from her soulful solo cuts from Revenge Of The Dreamers III, getting pampered with her friends in the sensual video for “Bussit.” Tajana B. Williams directs the colorful video, which depicts a girls’ day at the spa, with Ari’s crew wearing eye-popping, fuzzy furs in complementary bright shades of pink and purple. As Ari sings the lustful lyrics, she and friends show off an array of flirty dance moves, from slow-moving body rolls to full-on twerking.
While “Bussit” was Ari’s standout from the “director’s cut” deluxe edition of Revenge Of The Dreamers III, the singer also recently followed up her own debut album, Shea Butter Baby, with a remix EP of its own featuring Durand Bernarr, Smino, and Doja Cat on remakes of three of the original album’s highlight tracks. Lennox also recently appeared on Inglewood rapper D Smoke’s album, Black Habits and on K Camp’s tongue-in-cheek “Black Men Don’t Cheat” single with 6lack and Tink.
The director’s cut of Revenge also partnered Ari with Buddy, Smino, Mez, and Guapdad 4000 on “Passcode” as well as “Revenge” with Lute, Omen, Earthgang, Childish Major, and Reason. It’s out now on Dreamville/Interscope. Get it here.
LOS ANGELES – There’s a general unease at the Shrine Auditorium. The Call of Duty League event hosted by Optic Gaming LA and the Guerillas is lacking the juice of some prior weeks. It’s understandable, as the far-reaching effects of a world transformed aren’t yet set into motion and won’t be for another few days. For now, people are a bit guarded and a bit reserved, that is until Michael B. Jordan walks into the event space. It’s a universal language of hushes, neck craning, and pointing that almost every celebrity is used to by now. Except in the gaming world, Jordan isn’t just another celebrity. He’s part team owner (an investor in Andbox, which runs the CDL’s NY Subliners team, along with Overwatch’s Excelsior), an avid gamer himself, and a role model for those who love gaming, love anime, or love comics.
Jordan is equally at home courtside during Lakers games as he is at events like this, flashing a smile before he gets down to business in a 2v2 event where he and teammate Miles easily dispatch King Bach and former Rams running back Todd Gurley. But even he notices the strangeness of the moment, giving appropriate distance between himself and others while limiting daps and handshakes. This will be the last live CDL event for an unspecified amount of time, as live sports in general fade into the background of the new reality. What gaming and eSports does have is a platform to go mainstream, and with NASCAR’s iRacing events, the NBA’s 2K tournaments, and fans flocking to Warzone, Fortnite, Animal Crossings, and other trusted games, Jordan’s belief that gaming is for everyone has its watershed moment.
CDL returns April 10 in an online series, with Dallas hosting as it normally would have during the live event rotation. And it will be up to the league to make the contests engaging from a viewer perspective, continuing to bring in special guests, managing tech issues like lag, latency, and disconnections, and using production to enhance the experience.
It’s very well possible Jordan will be involved in some way, as New York hosts on July 10-12. The multi-talented actor, businessman, and gamer made time for UPROXX Gaming as he explained why he’s looking to usher in the next generation of gamers, what it’s like to have LeBron James as a trusted resource, and how hard it is seeing the Knicks continue to struggle.
Martin Rickman: So the story always is every musician wants to be an athlete, every athlete wants to be a musician. Now it seems like everybody wants to be a gamer. You’ve been early on this. I mean, this is like part of your DNA, right?
Michael B. Jordan: Yeah, man. I’ve been gaming since I was a kid, so this is like, to finally see us get our just do and the respect that we deserve to be taken seriously. As far as, once people start out, they find a way to make money off of it, now all of a sudden it becomes mainstream but it’s cool. I think the biggest opportunity I see for this one, for me that makes me most excited, is the fact just to rebrand it. Noting that like gamers have gotten a bad rep for a long time of just being like, “Oh, it’s not a real this or it’s not a real that.” Or like, “Get off that game. What are you doing?” There’s perception of gamers and I feel like we have a great opportunity to kind of reshape that and help usher the next generation of gamers, and guilt-free.
I was talking to Vince Staples about this a few weeks ago and he basically said what’s so big for it is the kids who don’t necessarily have that confidence growing up, it’s tough. Now you’ve got this ability to, in an oversharing culture anyways, kind of connect with people on a level. And then they see you guys not just as role models on a screen, but then, “Oh, they’re doing the same thing I’m doing. So I can become that.”
Exactly. I think that’s finding ways to close the gap between the fans and the people at home and people that look up to us for whatever reason and give them positive examples and encouragement that what you’re doing is cool and you should keep it up. Don’t let anybody discourage you. If this is what makes you happy and you’re good at it, keep working at it.
You’ve done some voiceover work in games, whether it’s 2K or Gears of War. How was that experience compared to some of the other stuff you’ve done, whether it is VO or onscreen stuff? Because, it’s harder than people think.
It is. It’s definitely a different muscle when you doing some of the motion capture stuff and being able to read the lines. Acting is one thing, but when it’s just the voice and you’re in these rooms and being able to project and voice act, it’s a lot of fun. And like I said, it’s a lot of hard work, so I respect voice actors and everything they do.
All the projects that you’re working on, I know you’re trying to build up, not just onscreen stuff, but all of the stuff behind the scenes. How have guys like LeBron helped influence you when it comes to something like that with an empire he’s built? Because, I know how often you’re at Staples.
Yeah, no big time. And I think honestly, LeBron — and you know Maverick [Carter] and Rich [Paul] and Randy [Mims] and everybody that he has and PR and everybody that’s around his circles — like I’ve definitely looked at it, that as an example of what entrepreneurship would look like. And yeah, so his camp has definitely been like a North Star for some of the ambition that we’ve had and some of the things and companies that I’m developing now and just trying to find our niche, our lane. And know that we have the abilities and the tools to do what we need to do. In order to be very successful and make an impact and disrupt. So it’s cool.
The power is not just saying yes to projects, and then you get to a point where you have that control over saying, no you don’t want to disappoint anybody but you only got so many hours in a day. How do you juggle deciding what you want to do next?
I think it is a balance and finding out how to go between the things that you really want to do versus the things that you feel you have to do. And then the things that you know that you have time for later. I think it is about finding that balance. But you know, there’s certain people that are wired, like a work horse and that’s kind of me. I really don’t stop. So I think I’m just going to keep going until I have to sit down, so that’s kind of where I’m at with it. And then yes, I think self care and self love is really important also. So being able to meditate, relax, and take time in yourself. You have to decompress before you just get thrown into the next thing. So just try to find time to sit still is important.
And it’s funny like gaming didn’t use to be treated as something that was that way. But you can think when you meditate like you’re allowing your brain to breathe. That was always a barrier or me. I thought I had to clear my head. I was like, I’ll never be good at it because I can’t stop moving.
That’s actually cool. It’s actually a great stress reliever. Maybe just to go ahead and be quiet, go to play on the game and just get it out and then be able to get back to whatever you got to do.
With regards to the Knicks, I know you grow up following that closely. Everything that’s been going on with them, especially the last week, with Spike Lee and everything. How do you approach a team like that? What would you do if you were in charge?
As a Knicks fan, it’s really tough, because Spike Lee is one of the reasons why I became a Knick fan. I think growing up, seeing him at the Garden all the time, I got a chance to see somebody that looked like me sitting courtside, every game rooting these guys on. It was really a part of why I became a Knick fan, obviously with the players and stuff like that. So to see where they are now, it’s been tough. It’s been really tough and hopefully they get it together, but it’s really hard for me, the way they treat certain people, you know what I’m saying? It’s really hard for me to go back. Yeah, the [Charles] Oakley situation was really tough too.
And obviously this is not being able to have a full understanding of everything that goes on. But I’ve been through that entrance a million times. I’ve been to the Garden for different venues outside of Knick games and so I understand how it goes. So I think there’s definitely something there that we won’t be able to see until later. But yeah, it’s really disappointing that the Knicks haven’t, as an ownership, as a team, as a franchise, really stepped up and embraced the people and embrace the fans in a way who, made the Knicks who they are.
It’s insane seeing you on Friday courtside at the Lakers wearing a Naruto shirt. You wouldn’t grow up thinking you could do that.
Exactly. And that’s why I did it. [Laughs] Just to make sure that people saw it, I think it was important.
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