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Every year people ask how old is too old for trick-or-treating. Maybe they’re looking for their own cut-off on who to give candy to or maybe they’re asking about their own kids. Halloween is just around the corner and my 14-year-old asked me to take him to get a costume for trick-or-treating, and I’m happy to do so. Mom groups are often encouraging people to give candy to the big kids too, and while I personally don’t believe 14 is too old, I do know some people do.

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My older son stopped trick-or-treating around 15 but he still walks with the family while we take the youngest out. If he decided that he wanted to dress up and go knock on doors, I wouldn’t stand in his way. It’s not because they need free candy, they don’t. In fact, one year I was too exhausted and pregnant to take them out so I bought several bags of candy and dumped them in the middle of the bed so they could divvy it up. Trick-or-treating gives them a chance to just be kids.

Trick-or-treating typically entails a pretty decent amount of exercise and a few hours of being unplugged and socializing with your family and others in the neighborhood. Teens are inundated with the news, social issues, popularity contests and, of course, the social media platforms they’re getting all this information from, so unplugging is a good thing.

We don’t have to use too much of our imagination to consider the trouble teens could be getting into on Halloween instead of dressing up like zombies and getting free candy. When I was a teenager, kids were sneaking into their parents’ alcohol stash, getting drunk and egging people’s houses. So when my nearly six-foot-tall teenager asks to come trick-or-treating with his 4-year-old brother, I will always eagerly say yes.

I’ll buy the plague doctor costume or the creepy mask and fingerless gloves for a few hours of childhood. It’s the one night a year they don’t have to worry about lockdown drills or what achievements they want to attain, unless that achievement is getting candy. I hope that when neighborhoods see teenagers dressed up holding out their bag or pillow case that they ask them about their costume and if they saw the haunted house down the street. At the very least, I hope they wish them a good night without scolding them for being too old.

A radio station, Lite 98.7 WLZW asked its audience, “What’s the age that kids should stop trick-or-treating?” The answers will comfort the hearts of parents that may have been concerned. Alyssa Flemming responded, “Whenever they want! I give huge handfuls to the teens that stop by, and I usually dump the last of the bucket into a teen’s bag when I’m done for the night. I’d rather they be out being kids, and trick or treating than drinking or smoking!”

Renee Werner Laws replied to the radio station’s question with, “I went out until I was 18. Now my youngest is 12 and I hate the thought of him wanting to ever stop. The world is awful, let the kids hold onto a piece of childhood as long as they can.”

It seems that the overwhelming majority of commenters are excited for teens to show up at their door dressed for Halloween, and my kid will be one of them. Let kids be kids as long as possible, they only get one childhood.

O.G. The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, recently spoke with us about Cobra Kai‘s fifth season and his memoir, Waxing Off. There was talk about “Eye of the Tiger” and that cursed, fortunately non-existent Rocky crossover stuff, and near the end of the discussion, I asked Ralph to elaborate on his book-bound praise for the franchise’s younger actors. In the memoir, Macchio compliments Jacob Bertrand (fan-favorite Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz) for his ability to portray many shades of an intense character.

For sure, Bertrand has taken Hawk from a bullied character to a dastardly villain to a redeemed hero of sorts. Hawk even had the “hawk” taken from him and then rose up to win the All Valley High Tournament on behalf of Miyagi-do, which he had physically trashed during an earlier season. Bertrand told us that his move from evil-to-good was “almost like I went from driving a sports car, and now it’s like, I’m in a Prius. It’s a really nice Prius, but it goes kinda slow.”

Well, Macchio has declared that Bertrand is also adept at changing modes in the blink of an eye, much like Mr. Migayi icon Pat Morita. As Macchio told Collider:

“Pat Morita had this as well, and Jacob is great at this, it’s the ability to come in and out of it in a snap of a finger. He’ll just be cracking jokes, prankster-ing, and cry, and then back. Pat Morita would do that, too. He’d do the great Miyagi drunk scene, tears in his eyes of losing his wife and child in the internment camps, and then we’d cut and he’d have a few fart jokes for me and make me laugh. And it would take me 10 minutes to get back into character. So I marvel at people that are able to do that.”

Oh, how I wish those fart jokes would materialize in unearthed footage. Pat Morita was incredibly funny in his stand-up sets and roles previous to The Karate Kid, and that’s something that Macchio and Marc Maron recently discussed on the WTF podcast. If you haven’t heard it already, you oughta give that episode a whirl.

(Via Collider & Marc Maron’s WTF podcast)

Corey Populus (aka Young Corey), founder and main creative force behind the brand Circulate, knows all about the grind. Before Circulate became a fixture of modern streetwear, linking up with the NFL and embarking on special collaborations nationwide through PacSun, it was a humble brand that grew out of Corey’s own passion for style. The artist put his time in — for over a decade, he solidified himself as a fixture of Los Angeles’ Fairfax Avenue, long before the spot was internationally known, working the registers and packing orders at places like Diamond Supply Co and spending his free time at The Hundreds. From there, Corey reached out to the friends he’d made along the way, like Diamond’s Nick Tershay, about how to start his brand, and taught himself how to make graphics on Photoshop via YouTube tutorials, eventually launching Circulate in 2018.

Then the pandemic hit. No single event in history has reshaped streetwear and the fashion industry as a whole quite like Covid-19. In the beginning months of the pandemic, the future of streetwear was up in the air as the entire industry had to rethink how to sell goods while retail spaces remained closed for the foreseeable future. For many brands, it was death, but for some, it opened up new paths that directly connected brands with their audiences, as community became a focal point of the industry. Circulate was one of the brands that benefitted from this new world, and in the past two years, Young Corey has been able to solidify the brand as a force to be reckoned with in streetwear.

The pandemic may not be over, but much of the world has returned to some form of normalcy. Through all of that, Young Corey still puts the importance of community at the center of everything. With Circulate’s continued success, he keeps his focus on finding ways to give back to the streetwear community as a whole, whether it’s passing on what he’s learned to a new crop of creators or continuing to platform other Black-owned brands.

We chopped it up with Young Corey to get his thoughts on what streetwear is doing right, what it can do better, and where he plans to take the brand into the future.

Over the past two years, COVID has had a huge impact on the fashion industry. Now we’re seeing a lot of direct-to-consumer sales tactics and similar to what’s going on with work-from-home business models — it doesn’t look like that’s going to change. I know Circulate’s first years were right before the start of the pandemic, what major things did the last two years reveal to you as the head of a brand?

To be completely transparent, for me, the pandemic offered a lot of opportunities for the brand to grow.

Through the pandemic, a lot of brands grew their DTC (direct-to-consumer) business because a lot of retailers closed down. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people, especially brands that rely on retailers to sell their gear and don’t have an online e-comm fan base, got hurt throughout the pandemic. But I think it helped people to notice the importance of direct-to-consumer.

I think especially too, in this day and age, most of the newer brands, they’re not on the old model of streetwear where everyone had to rely on a retailer to get your name out there and you had to have international retailers to get your name out overseas and things like that. I think most of the newer streetwear brands have built these massive cult followings through social media because we have access to that now. It has allowed us to essentially cut out the middle man of retail where a kid would have to go into a shop and find out about your brand through that shop, as opposed to now where kids can just follow your Instagram and they can stay in the loop about what you’re doing and what you’re dropping and become fans of the brand through that.

Circulate took off during the Black Lives Matter protests. How did those events help you find your voice and the identity of the brand?

I was already making a bunch of cultural graphics and things that tie back to being a black-owned brand before that all happened. But after George Floyd, I started to see how people were using their brand platform to spread awareness about what was going on. We were still such a young brand during that time, I think I was two years deep and I was still trying to get my footing and figure it out, and I felt like I was going to get some steam next. And the pandemic hit and when it first hit, it kind of just was like, “Oh, damn. Where do I go from here? How do I pivot from this?” Then those protests happened, but I want to say six months to a year prior, I had dropped a bunch of t-shirt graphics after I had visited the African American History Museum in Washington DC. I got super inspired by that and I dropped a bunch of designs. They didn’t really do well because we didn’t have the fan base to move a lot of units. Some of the graphics, I couldn’t give away for the life of me, you know what I mean? When the George Floyd protests happened I was just like, “Oh, damn. I have a few shirts that applied to what’s going on outside now.” And I posted one on my Twitter and I said something along the lines of, “Damn, this shirt, it’s perfect for what’s going on right now. I wish I had some more,” and someone replied and was like, “Why don’t you just make more?”

So I put up a pre-sale link for the shirt that I call “Power” and on the front, it has the Circulate logo and then the back, it has a picture of Angela Davis and a couple of other Black Panthers and it says, “All power to the people,” so it reads, “Circulate all power to the people.” I mentioned that I would donate the proceeds to a charity that was doing the work on the ground and it just kind of exploded from there. I think I sold over five or six hundred shirts and I was able to donate a large amount of money all these people started reaching out to me to do interviews and just spread awareness about my brand and what I was doing.

Out of nowhere, I started getting all these new fans of the brand and stuff that was sitting on the site forever started to move and I just gained a whole new fan base. Then I started to think about, What are the things that it takes to make a brand successful? One of them, in my heart, I feel is consistency. So I went back into a bunch of stuff that I already had dropped and I started re-dropping something every week that was new that related to what was going on, and started making new graphics when I ran out of older stuff to drop. I just grew the brand from there and it helped out a lot, man.

I also thought it was super important because now there are a lot of black-owned streetwear brands but it’s super important that people are supporting these brands because back in the day there weren’t as many to choose from. I think it’s really dope how there’s so much diversity in streetwear now.

Do you find that politics and social messaging are a key part of the brand now?

Not necessarily politics, I don’t want to box myself into being a brand that’s making only political graphics or only black graphics, or only music graphics. I want this brand to be something for everybody. Some of those things are essential to the brand, but it’s not going to be the end all, be all of the brand. I have this aspect of the brand called Re-circulate. It’s just a section of Circulate that’s all about sustainability and taking care of the planet and just how much waste some of these fast fashion brands bring to the clothing space. Then I have another piece of the brand where I do a bunch of musical stuff called Circulations.

Then there’s another piece of the brand that I do with PacSun, it’s called Circulate Market. And I use it as a platform to highlight different black-owned streetwear brands that I think are cool and just allow them to sell their stuff at PacSun. We do a pop-up shop and we kind of just come together and show the strength in numbers and we also do a charitable component of that. It’s a big give back for me, whether it be a charity or grabbing a younger brand that I think is cool and just giving them a big platform. Then there’s Circulate Arts, which is all the stuff that you see where I’m teaching about something. From the stuff I did with the NFL, teaching about guys like Kenny Washington and other black cultural figures and stories or lessons that I want to teach people about that the average person wouldn’t know about.

There are like three or four different parts of the brand because I don’t want to box myself in where someone can say, “Oh hey, that’s Corey’s brand. It’s just about black people.” Of course, I do stuff about black people to raise awareness and teach people about history, but I don’t want to just be that. I’m more than that. At the end of the day, I collect sneakers, I’m a skateboarder, I love streetwear and I love rap music and I game.

I don’t want to just be Corey the black guy. I do a lot of different stuff.

Outside of being a Black creator yourself, why is it so vital for streetwear to highlight black creators? I think streetwear should make sure that it properly platform black creators because that is the root of the style.

To be honest, man, I think there are two sides to it. A lot of inspiration comes from Black culture and streetwear. You look at hip-hop, and different tastemakers over history, nine times out of ten, a lot of them are black. The reason I created Circulate Market was that a lot of those Black streetwear lists that were coming out in support of the Black business movement, it was always the same people over and over again. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of those people that were on the list, they’re my friends and they kill it and crush it. But I just felt like that there are more brands out there that deserve recognition for being Black-owned businesses that are doing equally as good and putting in the work.

My idea behind Circulate Market was to recognize those brands and people, I brought the idea to PacSun and they loved it and we did the first one and it was successful and now it’s become cemented into the brand and it’s just something that I want to do throughout the lifespan of this brand. It’s just a good feeling at the end of the day. Not all of the brands that I choose are smaller brands, but when I do choose the smaller brands and give them a platform to sell at anywhere from 85 to 114 PacSuns across the US, that’s a pretty big deal for some of these guys.

Then on the flip side of that, when you’re selling to a big box retailer PacSun, it’s not just like, “Oh, let me print some t-shirts and send them to PacSun.” It’s a whole process from production and distribution. So I get an opportunity to teach someone that isn’t familiar with that process. I’m giving back to them. And then they’re also being put on such a big platform by being in all these stores, so that’s a great feeling for them. And there is a charitable aspect to it too.

For this last one that I did, I donated to a charity called Cleanup South Central and their goal was to help rebuild the computer lab at the founder’s old high school. Doing things like that, opening up doors for future creators to have a computer lab and maybe they have Adobe Suite downloaded on all those computers and they could become the next me. It’s a great feeling knowing that I had some tiny piece in pushing that agenda for them.

I think that speaks to your origins as well. That’s something that you could have benefited from in your earlier days.

Yeah. Honestly, the way that I think and the reason, the way that I am, is because I always wished there was someone out there like me when I was starting. I grew up in a generation where there were so many more gatekeepers. I think having access to things is a big deal because if you give someone access that could change the landscape of their life, how they think and how they grow. When I was younger and growing up, I wasn’t rich and my mom did a great job of making sure I had the things that I needed, the necessities. But I went to school in a different neighborhood than I lived in, in a nicer neighborhood and I have friends that are rich and they live by the beach and things like that.

Having access to that and going to their houses and seeing how they’re living and experiencing different things was huge, my friend had a computer and that was a big deal, I think that changed the way that I thought and that was just super vital to my life. Seeing nicer things and having access to more information and just a different way of living than I was. That’s kind of my mission with the brand. I see Circulate more as a design firm. When you think about design, design is used to fix things and that’s where I see myself with the brand, I know it’s a big thing now and everyone’s like, “Oh, community this and community that.” But I just do it because it’s second nature and I wish I had someone in my position helping me when I was growing up.

I just want to open certain kids’ eyes, that don’t have the same opportunities, from one side of town as the other side of town.

I want to give those kids access because if they can see what I’m doing and how the trajectory of my life has changed from when I was them, maybe they can get some type of hope or inspiration. You don’t have to go to college to be successful in 2022, you don’t have to be a basketball player or a rapper or whatever the typical stereotypes are. You can own your own brand and do whatever you want and not have a college degree and be successful.

It just takes the right tools or having the access to the right tools and information to achieve your goals.

How do you see streetwear evolving into the future? It seems like brands are less rigid about what streetwear actually is these days. There’s a lot of co-mingling with luxury brands for example. Is that a bad thing? Is it better that the umbrella of streetwear has become so wide?

I think it’s pretty cool, man. I know, in the beginning, streetwear was rebellious, it was supposed to be different from high-end fashion and all that stuff. But when you have people like Virgil Abloh who break that barrier and bridge the gap between the two, I think it’s great because, at the end of the day, high-end luxury has been borrowing from streetwear since the beginning of time, streetwear and skateboarding, so for them to give us recognition on a new platform, it’s a cool thing to see. I didn’t ever grow up a fashion kid, obviously, I know about the big players like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Prada and things like that, but I wasn’t familiar beyond bags and things like that.

I was a streetwear kid to the bone. I skateboarded and I wore Stussy, The Hundreds, and things like that. I think what Virgil did was super important by breaking down that barrier of entry. It helped me feel more comfortable attending things like Fashion Week and learning more about luxury brands. Now things like Fashion Week don’t have so much gatekeeping against the people that they’re getting inspired by. So you go to those shows and you see a bunch of people that, back in the day, wouldn’t even be invited to those shows.

Right, the gate’s open now.

Exactly.

I wanted to ask you about Virgil Abloh. His death was a major loss for streetwear and fashion as a whole. What are important lessons to take from him to help keep his spirit alive in the industry?

Man, Virgil, I want to say to me, was probably my biggest inspiration just because of the way I related to him. Someone that’s so multifaceted across different mediums, I have friends that are skateboarders, I have friends that are rappers, I have friends that are the best gamers or I have friends that are the best in fashion, and I know he was the same. He knew architects, he knew rappers, he knew fashion people. He also was just into a lot of the stuff that I was into. He loved skateboarding and sneakers. The way that he carried himself just as a human being, he was just the kindest guy ever and made time for anyone from fam to fan.

I think that’s super important, just to have that connection to people. One of the biggest lessons that I’ve seen from him is that he got things done by any means necessary. You’ve never seen him complaining about the gazillion things that he was working on. He just got them done and kept it moving. I think that’s just inspiring in itself. Seeing him reach such a high level at Louis Vuitton, coming from being a streetwear kid was so inspiring. That doesn’t happen all the time. The crazy part about it is, he kind of opened up the floodgates for more people like himself to take those positions.

I think he’s just one of the greatest to ever walk to earth. Just such a humble guy and I think that’s something that I carry with me, taking the time to talk and respond to everyone that hits me up. Connecting with people is important.

Community is obviously very vital to streetwear. Why is it so important to build good strong communities around brands?

It’s important to build a community around brands because at the end of the day, these are the people that support you and they want to feel a part of your family. Kids hit me up all the time and ask me what advice I have for them when they’re starting the brand. The number one thing that I always say to them is just get out there and move around and network because you’re building your community and you’re spreading the word of your brand. At the end of the day, the bigger your community, the more support you’re going to receive. I think the internet only goes so far with how many people you can reach and talk to. I think being in person and being present and connecting with people IRL is more important. Because if this whole internet thing blows up tomorrow, it’s like — are you certified in the streets?

You mentioned sustainability, obviously, sustainability is super important, especially in regard to the fashion industry because it is so incredibly wasteful. But, a lot of times it feels like sustainability has become a marketing ploy for some brands. What is possible and isn’t possible right now and what’s the direction you see things moving in?

Honestly, man, I think a huge part of sustainability is buying vintage. It kind of sucks because I’m sure a lot of the original people that were collecting vintage and stuff, they’re seeing obviously, the prices are out of this world. But buying vintage is helping do your part. I do think in the future a lot of people might turn to using sustainable blanks, whether it’s sustainable cotton or vintage blanks. I think that’s a step in the right direction.

But I don’t think streetwear is the problem because I think now in 2022, a lot of brands, they’re using the pre-sale model, they’re putting something up for an allotted amount of time and they’re pre-selling it to you, and then making it to order.

As opposed to a brand like Shein or Fashion Nova, they’re just pumping out gazillions of units so they get it at a lower price and can retail it at a lower price. When those things aren’t selling, they’re just going to dump them in giant landfills. I read an article mentioning about how Shein produces over 10,000 units every hour or something like that, that just sounds absurd. That’s just one style!

Think about all the people that don’t shop at Shein and they’re just wasting a gazillion units every day and dumping them in a landfill. I think that’s more so the problem, fast fashion, as opposed to streetwear. Granted, there are a lot of people nowadays who just start these brands and are producing clothes because they just think it’s a cool thing to do. But I don’t think we are a part of the major problem.

Just to close out, obviously Circulate has seen a lot of success over these last two years, allowing the brand to do a lot more, maybe even more than you initially envisioned. So I’m curious, what things do you want to do with Circulate heading into the future? What’s the frontier the brand hasn’t explored yet?

To be honest, for the last two years I’ve been trying to do my own sneaker. I really want to work with Nike or Jordan Brand and those things don’t happen overnight. I would say my biggest goal for the last year or two is just to get my own sneaker or sneaker deal. You can’t really do anything about it, it’s more of like they pick you. I think I just have to keep doing the work that I’m doing and hope for the best because I feel like I’m doing a good job and I’m sure someone’s watching.

That’s my biggest goal. Sneakers brought me into streetwear, so obviously doing my own shoe would be a huge deal and that’s my biggest goal. I’ve gotten to cross off a lot of things this year. But having the opportunity to work on my own shoe, even if it’s just a friends and family shoe with Nike or Jordan Brand would be a huge milestone for me and then I would honestly have to find some new goals.

I’m working hard towards it. I’m kind of not really stressing out too much about it anymore. If it happens, it happens. But yeah, that would be the biggest one for me.

In order to make up for losing nearly half of its key players, Saturday Night Live is pulling out all the stops in order to try to keep the train on the tracks. At the beginning of season 48, the sketch show unveiled a swanky new look along with its four new cast members. And look! A spiffy new font! Do people care about this stuff? Not really, but it’s what we are working with.

NBC has announced their next host, too, following Jack Harlow’s stint as host and musical guest this weekend. Amy Schumer will take the stage on November 5th, with musical guest Steve Lacy.

Schumer is no stranger to the 30 Rock stage: she has hosted twice before in 2015 and 2018, and even helped Kim Kardashian craft her opening monologue on that fateful night when she kissed Pete Davidson (gone, but not forgotten). Maybe now that Davidson is off of the show, Kardashian will make a quick cameo to help Schumer?

Steve Lacy will make his first appearance on the show after releasing Gemini Rights earlier this summer. Do you know who’s also a Gemini? Amy Schumer. There’s a free joke for the opening monologue for you! Lorne Michaels, take notes.

Schumer’s sketch show Inside Amy Schumer was just renewed for a sixth season on Paramount+ after over six years in Comedy Central hell. Schumer also helped write the classic sketch, “The Day You Were Born” which doubles as a birth control ad. While this is her first time hosting SNL in a few years, we all know how good she is at hosting other live shows. But we don’t have to talk about that right now or ever again.

When Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott started flying migrants to liberal hot zones like Martha’s Vineyard and Kamala Harris’ house, Marjorie Taylor Greene thought it was good clean fun. In fact, she told a campaign crowd exactly that on Thursday because why wouldn’t Republicans get a kick out of some light human trafficking, but for a bit?

“Now, I know it makes great headlines on Fox News and we laugh and it’s funny when we see bus loads get dropped off like in Martha’s Vineyard,” Greene told the crowd. “We’re, like, ha ha ha. You know? Or we see them dropped off in front of Kamala Harris’ house and we’re like, oh, the border czar, should she care now?”

However, things took a turn when the migrants started showing up in Georgia, where Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to stay elected. This isn’t what she signed up for when she laughed hysterically at treating human beings as comedy props. Via Raw Story:

“I know Gov. DeSantis wants to do something about it but I disagree with sending them all over the country because we ended up with them getting off the bus and in Chattanooga in Dade County!”

Greene argued that the migrant stunts were backfiring on Republicans.

“In little bitty Dade County, our sheriff is up there having to deal with illegal immigrants just deciding to get off [the bus] and deciding to live in Dade County!” the exasperated lawmaker ranted.

And, yet, despite all of that, Greene couldn’t help but see the humor in treating people like Amazon packages dropped at the wrong house. “It’s kind of funny if you think about it,” she said after her rant.

(Via Raw Story)

Diddy continues to fuel dating rumors with Yung Miami, tasking her as his video vixen for his “Diddy Freestyle” video.

While the pair has played around with the idea, there has been no official announcement about the status of their relationship. Still, it seems they have been enjoying each other’s company. In the video, Diddy and Yung Miami cruise through the streets of New York City in style, dripping with luxury as they sport custom fur jackets from none other than Daniel’s Leather.

“I tell ’em watch close, N***a jot notes / If you use my approach, you could dock votes, yeah / You could get exposed to all that, girl you know I’m hard to get a hold of, contact,” he raps. “Probably overseas with business owners and all that / Flights to Minnesota with dinner over a contract.”

Throughout the Mike Oberlies-directed video, Diddy shows off his expensive taste in cars, first riding around in a Maybach Landaulet, with Yung Miami playing passenger princess. Then later, Diddy is seen posing in front of a vintage Mercedes Benz coupe, complete with gull-wing doors.

Further in the freestyle visual, Christian and Justin Combs make cameos alongside their famous pop while “Harlem shaking” through the streets.

Check out the video for “Diddy Freestyle” above.

There’s a 23-year-old out of Charlotte, North Carolina bringing Black joy and vulnerability to rap and UPROXX Sessions. Meet MAVI, the rapper who first hit the circuit back in 2014 as part of the North Carolina music collective KILLSWITCH. His 2019 debut studio album Let The Sun Talk, propelled him into the mainstream, along with his working relationship with Earl Sweatshirt on the EP Feet of Clay. Fast forward two years, he’s taken over 2022 with the release of his 2nd studio album Laughing So Hard, It Hurts, which received rave reviews from critics.

Today, the rapper and Howard University student pulls up to the bathroom studio to perform his Jay Versace-produced single “Sorry.” The track flexes MAVI’s prolific lyricism and love for storytelling with lyrics like: “I’m sorry it had to be me / I’m sorry but you havе to be free / Push this shotgun in your back the last thing I want is to squeeze.” Decked out in a hoodie and cargo pants, MAVI keeps things casual, but the rapper’s approach to his Sessions performance is far from relaxed.

Watch MAVI perform “Sorry” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Halsey began their quest to the top of pop charts and platinum-certified status with the five-track debut EP Room 93 eight years ago today, on October 27, 2014. Yesterday, Halsey hinted on Instagram that something commemorative might be on the way, and fans were rewarded this afternoon.

“I found a few videos from the Room 93 era…,” Halsey wrote on Twitter with a compilation of snippets from their early career. “I hope you’re enjoying your stay, 8 years later.” The 39-second video includes footage of formative rehearsals, meet-and-greets, and performances. There’s also a tangible celebration of “the room that started it all,” as Halsey tweeted, in the form of limited-edition merch available here.

The Room 93 merchandise includes a $65 purple hoodie, two $40 T-shirts, and a customized notepad. The hoodie has “HOTEL STAFF” printed on the back alongside “‘WE ALWAYS HAVE ROOM FOR YOU!’” and “NEWLY DECORATED & REFURNISHED.” A free pink keychain will be added to orders exceeding $30.

After Room 93, Halsey became an undeniable force with 2015’s Badlands and 2017’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. The latter became their first No. 1 album. After dropping the radio-friendly Manic in early 2020, they leaned fully into alt-rock by teaming up with Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor for last year’s conceptual album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.

Letitia Wright‘s entire presence was a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman at the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hollywood premiere. The actress, who is heavily rumored to be the new Black Panther in the film (especially after the latest trailer), showed up wearing an outfit that was a touching homage to Boseman’s look at the 2018 Oscars.

You can see Wright’s ensemble below, complete with the Wakanda salute:

And here’s Boseman at the 2018 Oscars:

The looks are practically identical, and it’s both an excellent tribute and a neat little callback to Wright’s onscreen brother. As for the daunting task of making Wakanda Forever without Boseman, Wright still isn’t prepared for the emotional weight of the film finally being seen by the world.

“I’m bracing,” Wright told Variety on the red carpet. “I’ve seen some member’s of Chad’s team. When we lock eyes, we know how this feels. We have to take a step away. I see my aunt locking my eyes with me, she’s very proud. I have to take a step away… It’s emotional. We’re trying to hold it together.”

Fortunately, early reactions to Wakanda Forever have been overwhelmingly positive. Critics are blown away by the way the sequel delicately weaves paying tribute to Boseman and moving the world of Wakanda into a new era as it faces its greatest adversary yet: Tenoch Huerta’s Namor.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.

(Via Variety)

It’s impossible to pick the best performance on House of the Dragon. Heck, it’s hard even deciding who’s the “better” Alicent: Emily Carey or Olivia Cooke. But Emma D’Arcy, who plays Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, belongs in the top-five. At least. An Emmy nomination should be inevitable, and if/when that happens, D’Arcy would be recognized with the gender-neutral title of “Performer” on their nomination certificate and trophy.

D’Arcy, who uses they/them pronouns, told Entertainment Weekly that they have a “complicated relationship” with “having a public profile,” following the world-conquering success of House of the Dragon. But “I suppose being able to help the broad spectrum of gender identities sounds like a good reason to have one.” They added, “So I feel very lucky to just continue what for me is a very exciting plane of discussion — and nice to be able to do that both to an extent onscreen and separately offscreen.”

D’Arcy also discussed their viral cocktail order.

“I find that a perfect cocktail of surprising, bemusing, and intensely flattering. All of my body wants to give a flippant answer in terms of a great drink finally getting the recognition that it deserves. Very surreal and very lovely… I don’t have anything illuminating to say on it because it’s very hard to know how to react when you become a meme. Someone should write an essay on that, actually. I would definitely read it.”

House of the Dragon season two is expected to start filming in the first half of 2023. Hopefully they wrap in time for D’Arcy to celebrate National Prosecco Day (August 13) without having to act while hungover.

(Via EW)