This Friday, Dreamville-signed Atlanta rapper JID will release his third studio album, The Forever Story, four years after the release of his last solo album, DiCaprio 2, and five after his debut, The Never Story. In the meantime, we’ve seen JID’s star rise with his participation in releases from Dreamville such as the 2019 group compilation Revenge Of The Dreamers III and the Gangsta Grillz mixtape D-Day earlier this year, and the 2020 Spillage Village group album Spilligion. Now, The Forever Story is on the way to solidifying his ascent, cementing him as a superstar.
In the lead-up to the album, JID has released two main singles, “Surround Sound” featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate and “Dance Now” with Kenny Mason. However, he also released an unofficial single, “2007,” which was left off the album due to sample clearance issues. When he shared the song, he revealed that it was originally the outro and is key to understanding the album’s narrative and themes. Later, he revealed the album’s tracklist — at first, with only the producer credits, then again with all the features included. The album’s guest artists are 21 Savage, Baby Tate, Ari Lennox, Earthgang, Eryn Allen Kane, Johnta Austin, Kenny Mason, Lil Durk Lil Wayne, Mustafa The Poet, Ravyn Lenae, and Yasiin Bey.
The Forever Story is out on 8/26 on Dreamville/Interscope. You can get it here and see the full tracklist below.
1. “Galaxy”
2. “Raydar”
3. “Dance Now” Feat. Kenny Mason
4. “Crack Sandwich”
5. “Can’t Punk Me” Feat. Earthgang
6. “Surround Sound” Feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate
7. “Kody Blu 31”
8. “Bruddanem” Feat. Lil Durk & Mustafa The Poet
9. “Sistanem”
10. “Can’t Make You Change” Feat. Ari Lennox
11. “Stars” Feat. Yasiin Bey
12. “Just In Time” Feat. Lil Wayne & Kenny Mason
13. “Money”
14. “Better Days” Feat. Johnta Austin
15. “Lauder Too” Feat. Ravyn Lenae & Eryn Allen Kane
On Starz’s strip club-set drama series P-Valley, Lil Murda is an aspiring rapper who is both a member of a street gang, Hurt Village Hustlas, and a closeted gay man in a relationship with Uncle Clifford, the non-binary owner of The Pynk strip club around which much of the action revolves. Both the relationship and Lil Murda himself have been praised by fans of the show for their portrayal of a respectful, non-toxic relationship and the nuances of navigating the street rap scene as a non-straight man.
Fans have also been loving Lil Murda’s music (and the music of P-Valley overall), such as the song “Seven Pounds Of Pressure,” which have been straight-up bangers that could easily exist outside of the show as trunk-knocking favorites down South. And while Murda actor J. Alphonse Nicholson’s energetic performance can be given much of the credit, the secret sauce that brings out the flavor comes from Atlanta rap upstart Deante’ Hitchcock, who penned Lil Murda’s rhymes behind the scenes alongside longtime collaborators Brandon Philips-Tayler and David Fuller.
Hitchcock, who made his major label debut in the spring of 2020 with the impressive Better after collaborating with J. Cole’s Dreamville, is a talent on the rise. He made an even greater impression throughout the pandemic months with a string of fiery freestyles over such fan-favorite instruments as Drake’s “What’s Next,” Outkast’s “Roses,” and SpotemGottem’s “Beat Box.” He kept up his momentum earlier this year with an EP, Every Day’s The 14th, released on Valentine’s Day weekend.
Uproxx caught up with Deante’ on Zoom to talk about the process of writing for shows like P-Valley and Insecure (as well as the upcoming Netflix sci-fi comedy, They Cloned Tyrone), his future projects, and why he’s trying to be the capybara of the rap world.
First of all, how did you get involved with the making of this show?
That really came from my partner, Nikki Marshall with Warner/Chappell.
Last year we was working at this little writers’ camp for Insecure. We put some stuff together for that and before that we was working on a movie coming out this year with Jamie Foxx called They Cloned Tyrone and that’s around the time where we met shawty. She just been keeping us plugged in with little opportunities.
Do they give you a description of the character you’re going to be writing for? How does that work?
Yeah. They kind of tell you where the song is going to be, the emotion they want invoked from the song, the scene that they are going to put together for it. So, you got little tidbits to kind of build around. It’s like, “All right, we want this for this, and this how this is going to go.” So yeah, we knew how the scene was going to go. We just hadn’t seen it.
How do you get into the voice of the character?
It ain’t too crazy for real. It wasn’t just me. It was me, my partner Dave [Fuller], and my other partner B [Brandon Philips-Tayler]. My partner B produced it, me and Dave wrote on it, and then actually there was another guy that we don’t know that actually threw in some lyrics too [FM New Money / Antown Moore]. But shout out to all of them, cause they also put in to help with the record.
But for me, it’s not too hard for real. I like to write from a lot of different perspectives when I’m just doing my own writing. So I might write a song about what my little brother going through, what my girl going through, or my partner, or this, that, and the third. So different voices ain’t really too hard for me. Especially since they gave us the situation that bro was going through. They gave us all of the emotion, the story where he was in life, all that.
The reaction to the music of P-Valley has been incredible. Have you noticed that it has brought a larger audience to Deante’ Hitchcock music as well?
I ain’t even going to cap, for the most part, I don’t be paying attention to the numbers too much. When we look at Spotify and stuff like that, my manager do it all the time. He might update me throughout the year like, “Hey, this where we at, this what’s going on.” But me, myself, I don’t really be checking too much. So, I can’t say that I’ve noticed just this crazy change since I guess the finale song came out, but when shawty, Katori [Walker], the creator of the show, was tweeting about it, a lot of people have been talking about it. Like, “Oh, wow, that makes sense. That’s why it was fire.” It’s cool to see it finally out.
Yes, sir. Walk me through these camps, man. When somebody reaches out to you and says, “We want you to write for this show.” What’s the next step? How does it work? Break it down for me.
Literally, you wake up, go to camp, write, crank out music all day, go home, go to sleep, wake up, go back. So a lot of people might experience burnout from something like that dog, ‘cause it’s just like a regular job. It feels like work. But it’s fun because of the energy. Especially if you got a group of people, a good amount of people in that mug who actually love creating, who actually do their thing and fire at it. That joint feel fun, it doesn’t even feel like work. Just bouncing room to room, putting little stuff down. That’s how the energy was. It’s almost electric.
Where do you want to go with your next project?
I think I got hit in that mug, for real. If you look at the legends, the Drakes, the Jay-Z’s, the Waynes, all of them guys, the thing that separates them – because all of them are technically inclined, they’re skilled at what they do, all of them can rap their ass off, get crazy with it – but they also have songs that the world can sing. And I mean, being a rapper, a lot of people will hit me up and be like, “Bro, you be rapping your ass off.” I’m very appreciative of that. Because that’s the skillset I’ve honed for years. But bro, I want hits.
I know you do a lot of interviews and I know a lot of the questions that you get are repetitive, at times. Do you ever feel like there’s one thing that you want to talk about that nobody’s ever asked you about?
Capybaras. Bro. That’s my favorite animal of all time. Have you ever seen them interact with other creatures?
They’re the friendliest animal on the planet. Listen, I watched a video of a capybara riding on the top of a alligator. Legit. I haven’t seen a capybara get into a fight with any other animal. There’s no video proof of it at all. They done sat in a field of kittens. They done rolled with alligators, chilling with monkeys, all of that. Bro, they’re the most social animal of all time. I love them little things.
I guess you’d call them the Deante’ Hitchcocks of the animal world.
I don’t know, bro. I’m aspiring to be like them. I don’t even know if I’m there yet, bro. I’m trying.
Sylvester Stallone has spoken: his 25-year marriage is not ending because of a dog.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Stallone’s marriage to Jennifer Flavin is ending. People reports that last week, Flavin filed a “for dissolution of marriage and other relief” from the 76-year-old Rocky actor. Stallone and Flavin, 54, got married in 1997, but their relationship started in 1988. They have three children together.
After reports of the divorce surfaced, the always reliable TMZ reported that the marriage was over because of Stallone’s dog, a Rottweiler named Dwight. TMZ claimed that sources close to the couple said that Flavin did not want the dog, but the always outspoken Stallone wouldn’t budge on the matter, adding that they “had an extremely heated argument that brought up other issues.”
But Stallone quickly put the rumor to rest. Speaking straight to the source of the rumor, Stallone said, “We did not end the relationship on such a trivial argument. We just went in different directions,” he said. “I have the highest respect for Jennifer. I will always love her. She’s an amazing woman. She’s the nicest human being I’ve ever met.” Stallone told the outlet that given their two residences in California and Florida and his work schedule, Flavin thought getting a new dog would be a complicated addition to their lives.
Stallone also shut down rumors that he covered a tattoo of Flavin’s face with Dwight’s because of the end of their marriage, telling TMZ that he’s had the tattoo for 14 years and wanted to give it a fresh update. Okay, Sly! Did you ask the Property Brothers to do it?
Bupkis is a half-hour comedy loosely based on Davidson’s real life, and it was picked up to series by Peacock in April. Variety reports that Pesci will play Davidson’s grandfather, while Falco will play Davidson’s mother. Davidson is co-writing the series with his friend and collaborator Dave Sirus as well as Judah Miller. Davidson will pay an exaggerated fictional version of himself, a la Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I suppose we’ll have to watch in order to find out if Davidson will adapt his relationships with very famous women on the show as well.
“Pete Davidson is one of the most sought-after comedians today with his smart, one-of-a-kind humor and honest point of view,” Susan Rovner, the Chairman of Entertainment Content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming told Deadline when the series was picked up this spring. “Bupkis will showcase Pete’s funny, surprising and unfiltered brand of comedy audiences have come to love as we continue to bolster our Peacock comedy slate. We can’t wait to dive in with Lorne Michaels, Broadway Video and our partners at Universal Television.”
Bupkis is Pesci’s second regular television show in his career, following a role on the short-lived NBC sitcom Half-Nelson in 1985. Pesci was retired for several years and returned to cinema and the gangster-verse in Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film The Irishman. So, it turns out that the two guys who can get Pesci to act again are Scorsese and Davidson. What a time to be alive!
To do that, I grabbed eight new Irish whiskeys from my private reserves and tasted them blind. The whole thrust of the tasting was to find the best taste of whiskey with the most nuance and depth — true winners. For the most part, we’re talking about affordable bottles for this blind tasting. The bottles generally range from $30 to $100 with a couple of high-end bottles thrown in to see how they place among the more affordable stuff (you really never know if a great mid-range bottle pops above the ridiculously priced one). Still, this is about taste and not price.
Soft and ripe pear mixed with fresh honey leads the way on the nose with supporting notes of orchard fruit and lightly spiced malts. The palate has a light sense of chocolate malts with a creamy vibe next to hints of plum pudding with winter spices lurking in the background. The end is a little watery with a bit more of that dark spice and a hint of raisin.
This is pretty fine overall. It’s nicely nuanced but a little watery overall.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of bran muffin and molasses with hints of old wicker and new leather next to wintry spice and maybe some fig. The taste leans into a malted vanilla shake with wintry spices mix with a hint of nutshells. The end holds onto the nuttiness and adds in a vanilla-chocolate ice cream vibe with a touch of waffle cone.
This is nice overall. It feels a little sweet for an Irish whiskey but it works nonetheless.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This has a malty nose with a ginger and honey cookie vibe with a ton of raisin, apple, pear, and maybe even a hint of orange. The palate has a svelte buttercream feel that leads to a malted milkshake, a hint of cinnamon, and plenty of dates and figs. The end amps up the spice towards a woody feel with apple skins and pear cores leading to a hint of rum-raisin and honey.
This is pretty nice overall. It’s kind of “classic Irish” with all that fruit and honey.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Applewood leads to apple candies made with plenty of honey next to a hint of dried flowers, dry firewood, and a whisper of dry straw. The palate amps up the apple to a spiced apple fritter with plenty of cinnamon, clove, and ginger next to a layer of creamy vanilla and more of that dry straw. The end is full of honey and spice but kind of fades out into water pretty fast.
This is great until the end. It’s just a little too washed out and fades out almost instantly.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Winter spice and old holiday decorations lead the way on the nose with a dry woodiness and a hint of old candle wax, white pepper, and maybe some vanilla cream. The palate amps up that vanilla with a malted vibe as winter spices — clove, anise, cinnamon, orange rind — make an appearance and lead to a whisper of floral honey. The end fades pretty quickly, leaving you with sweet vanilla cream and woody spice and a hint of dry straw.
This is, again, perfectly nice. The finish is a little short-lived.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of almost sweet cedar next to marzipan and old leather with a hint of sour cherry and tart apple skins round out the nose. The palate starts with a foundational layer of vanilla sauce and builds layers of woody cinnamon, soft nutmeg, and sharp cloves toward dried figs and prunes with a brandy-soaked oak vibe and some stewed cherries. The end is nice and buttery toffee with another note of vanilla before the woody spices lead to apple tobacco stuffed in an old cedar box on the slow finish.
This is delightful.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Butterscotch and barley cakes lead the way on the nose with a hint of persimmon and orange rinds next to green grass, wildflowers, pear stems, and soft red cherries. The palate stews those cherries and counters them with sour currants before a sense of nougat-filled brioche comes into play with marzipan, grape must, and white pepper adding deeper layers. The end has this whisper of an old cooking pan that’s been seasoned for decades, red peppercorns, more marzipan, and a soft fresh floral honey with a hint of those stewed cherries in vanilla cream.
This is lush and delicious.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This opens slightly tannic but more sweet than bitter with salted buttery toffee, apple cores, rum-raisin, black tea, marzipan, and maybe even some apple fritters with a dollop of Nutella tying it all together on the nose. The palate has a caramel apple vibe that leads to a vanilla cake filled with poppy seeds and notes of floral honey, apple chips, brandy-soaked dates and prunes, and apple wood. The end has a spiced fruit nut cake vibe with an old leather glove note before waxy cacao and dry menthol kick in and slowly fade toward old pine resin with some warmth.
This is another winner.
Part 2: The Ranking
Zach Johnston
8. The Irishman Single Malt Irish Whiskey — Taste 1
This whiskey is made from Irish barley that’s mashed and then tripled distilled. The juice is then filled in ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks for a long maturation (no age is given). Those barrels and then blended and the whiskey is proofed down for bottling.
Bottom Line:
This was okay all things considered. It’d be better if it wasn’t 80-proof as that proofing water takes over the palate. Still, this is perfectly suitable for mixing highballs or cocktails.
This new release from Bushmills celebrates the sixth and final season of Peaky Blinders. The juice in the bottle is a classic Irish whiskey blend of ex-bourbon casks (aged three to five years) bottled without chill-filtration, hence its higher proof.
Bottom Line:
This was pretty good too. Overall, it really feels like a mixing whiskey that’s only a sipper when nothing else is around and you have plenty of ice.
The whiskey from former Irish Distillers Master Distiller Brian Nation marries American whiskey with Irish whiskey on the American prairies of Minnesota. The juice in the bottle is a combination of American bourbon with Irish grain whiskey and Irish pot still whiskey — all over four years old. The idea is to create the ultimate Irish-American whiskey-drinking experience.
Bottom Line:
Ah, that explains the sweetness on the palate. This was, again, fine. There was nothing that really jumped out at me. It simply felt like a solid cocktail whiskey to build upon.
The latest batch from J.J. Corey leans into the oldest barrels in their inventory. The juice is made from a 60/40 malt and grain whiskey split. The barrels range in age from seven to well over 25 years old — they’re all sourced. Those barrels are masterfully blended and then released in small, limited edition batches of only a few thousand bottles.
Bottom Line:
This is where things start to pick up in this tasting. This was far more complex than the previous three pours. Still, it was a little thin and one note in the end. That said, this will work as a sipper on the rocks or a great cocktail base.
Teeling is known for sourcing a lot of its whiskey. This is made entirely in-house at their Dublin facility in the Liberties. The juice is a classic triple distilled single pot still Irish whiskey made with 50 percent malted barley and 50 percent unmalted barley. The whiskey is then aged in ex-bourbon, new oak, and ex-sherry barrels before blending and proofing.
Bottom Line:
This was a solid sipper but needed a rock or two. I can also see this being a great cocktail base to build a subtle concoction on. Overall, it just wasn’t quite as nuanced and deep as the next three though.
3. Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey Kentucky Oak Edition — Taste 6
This is classic Redbreast tripled distiller single pot still whiskey (made with a mash of malted and unmalted barley). The juice settles for several years in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s vatted and then re-filled into brand new air-dried American oak barrels from the Taylor Farm in Kentucky. After four months, the whiskey is blended and barely proofed before bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty goddamn good whiskey. It’s very Redbreast with deep dark fruits and sweetness but has a clear sense of new American oak with big vanilla vibes. Overall, it’s not my favorite Redbreast ever, but it’s a damn good and unique one.
Try it over a rock to get the full experience or mix it into your next Manhattan.
2. Four Walls Irish Whiskey “The Better Brown” Single Barrel Aged 15 Years Cask Strength — Taste 8
This whiskey is bottled from one ex-bourbon barrel of 15-year-old Irish whiskey. The single malt whiskey was chosen to celebrate the 15 years Sunny has been on the air. After a few select single barrels were chosen, the juice was bottled at cask strength and yielded only 755 bottles.
Bottom Line:
This was a hell of a nice pour. The palate was very Northern Irish — apple and honey — with a serious depth to it. Overall, this feels like a great pour of whiskey with a single rock for a long sit on the back porch.
1. Waterford Irish Single Malt Whisky Biodynamic Luna 1.1 — Taste 7
This whiskey is made from 100 percent organic and sustainable farms in Ireland. The barley comes from three small farms that utilize “biodynamic” farming practices which take organic to the next level by integrating agriculture with animals and humans to create as natural a product as possible. The juice made from that barley is loaded into 500 barrels and left to rest for years before blending and bottling with a touch of proofing water.
Bottom Line:
This was the most interesting pour by far but also so well-balanced and nuanced. This is an easy sipper that takes you on a journey. Add a little water to really let it bloom in the glass. Otherwise, just enjoy the ride.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Well, the most expensive bottle didn’t win the day. That’s some food for thought. Moreover, the most interesting bottle did win because there was real depth and balance that felt good on the palate and was kind of new and fresh.
That all said, the top five were all quality pours with the top three really standing out. Any of those three bottles would be a great addition to your bar cart. But given the price tag of the Four Walls pour, you’ll be forgiven for focusing on the Redbreast and Waterford first. They’re both great but completely different. So look at those tasting notes and choose the one that speaks to you. Sláinte!
Using Matt’s ham radio, under the station name M0LMK, Isabella was able to place a call to another amateur radio station … one that just so happened to be onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Talk about a long-distance call.
Matt posted a short audio clip of their sweet exchange on Twitter, where Isabella nails sounding out call signs before introducing herself.
“November, Alpha, One, Sierra, Sierra. Mike, Zero, Lima, Mike, Kilo … My name’s Isabella, I’m 8 years old,” the precocious young girl says confidently to Lindgren.
The astronaut, clearly charmed, answers back “Isabella, it’s so great to chat with you, thank you for getting on the radio and saying hello,” before signing off.
Matt later thanked Commander Lindgren, saying that “you have changed her world.”
April 23, 2016. A 2 year old sat on my knee and watched the students of Wellesley House school chat with @astro_timpeake, an event I helped organise. Today she got her chance. Thank you so much @astro_kjell, you have changed her world. #iss#NASA#ARISShttps://t.co/ImfevefePV
He revealed that when Isabella was just 2 years old, she watched students speak with world-renowned astronaut Tim Peake. Since then she had wanted to have her own conversation with a space explorer.
“Today, she got her chance,” Matt wrote.
Lindgren replied saying that he’s had a “lot of fun” talking with other ham radios worldwide, but that his interaction with Isabella “may be my favorite contact so far.”
I’ve had a lot of fun using the #ARISS amateur radio station #NA1SS on the @Space_Station to talk with ham radio operators all over the world. I’ve even (unofficially) worked stations on all continents! But this may be my favorite contact so far. Thanks Isabella and @m0lmk! https://t.co/Z2pWUbEZZr
In an interview with NPR, Matt described how reaching Lindgren had been a result of meticulous timing with a dash of luck.
“First off, you need an astronaut that is in their own time choosing to use that equipment to talk to us operators down here on Earth. As well as that, you need to have the space station within a visual line of sight,” he explained.
Luckily, the planets aligned accordingly.
In the same interview, Isabella shared that her dream is to become a communications specialist at the Mission Control Center, mostly so she can “say stuff like – hello, is everything still floating around? And are you enjoying your food?” Clearly, she’s a natural and well on her way.
The ISS seems to be regularly making random contacts with hams all over the world, so if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of reaching out to space yourself, now’s your chance. Matt hopes that NASA schedules special times for the ISS to have similar conversations with other children, “since it brings so much joy and inspiration.”
There are so many amazing hobbies out there, but amateur radio takes the possibilities, as another beloved space traveler would say, ”to infinity and beyond.”
Dora Chhith’s daughter Sadaya Paige was born with septo-optic dysplasia, a disease that causes the optic nerve and pituitary gland to be underdeveloped. Sadly, Sadaya was born completely blind in both eyes. She wears nonprescription glasses for protection.
Chhith told Good Morning America she realized something was different about her child shortly after her birth. “I was cradling her and I was just admiring her, you know, as a new mom, and I noticed that I’ve only been able to see the white part of Sadaya’s eyes,” she said.
Twenty-four hours after alerting people at the hospital, she learned that Sadaya had septo-optic dysplasia. However, Chhith refuses to let her daughter’s disability hold her back in life, even though it causes considerable challenges.
“I always called her super magical. I often tell her she sparkles,” Chhith told Good Morning America. “I admire her so much because she never lets her impairment stop her from doing what she enjoys to do every day.”
To help her daughter make it through all of life’s challenges, Chhith taught her a very simple chant at a very young age: “I’m smart, I’m beautiful, I’m confident, I’m independent. And I can do anything I put my mind to.”
“I’ve instilled it into her since she was about 8 months onward,” she told Good Morning America. “And if at any time Sadaya has a meltdown, I always tell her to take a breather and to chant that.”
According to science, Chhith’s affirmation should be a major help to her daughter. Affirmations are an effective way to shift one’s focus from their perceived inadequacies to their strengths.
Heathline says creating a mental image of yourself doing something actually activates “many of the same brain areas that actually experiencing these situations would.”
By making the affirmation a regular part of Sadaya’s day, they become more effective. When we regularly repeat positive affirmations, our brain begins to take them as fact. The same works for negative self-talk, so we all have to be careful how we think about ourselves.
The key is to have positive affirmations that we either believe or accept as possible.
“Where I see most people having difficulty with positive affirmations is when they are trying to make a positive self-statement about something that they really don’t believe is true,” cognitive psychologist Jennice Vilhauer Ph.D. writes in Psychology Today. “This is because the brain generally resists large leaps in thought.”
Chhith’s affirmations are a great way to teach her daughter to overcome the many challenges that come with being blind. They are also a great example for parents who have children with or without disabilities. We all have our unique challenges and affirmations are a wonderful tool to help us persevere.
“I feel like there shouldn’t be any stereotypes of a person being blind. They’re able to do anything and everything a person with sight can do,” she told Good Morning America. “Even though it may be difficult—this is how she falls, this is how she gets back up.”
When Cuphead was first teased back in 2013, it was something that most people had never seen before. A video game made in the art style of classic cartoons, with the music to match, was a completely novel idea. So novel in fact that most people would have never even thought to attempt to make a game like that because of the sheer amount of work it would require. That was a lesson Studio MDHR had to learn the hard way because it did not meet its goal of a 2014 release.
With some assistance from Microsoft and Xbox, as one of their first ever IPs under the ID@Xbox Program, Cuphead was finally released in 2017. That novel idea turned out to be a perfect one, because what has happened to Cuphead really is a one-of-a-kind story. Not only has the IP earned accolades from critics, and fans but it has exploded with merchandise, a TV show featuring Wayne Brady, and an extremely successful DLC.
UPROXX got the opportunity to speak with executive producer and inking artist Maja Moldenhauer, alongside art director of Cuphead and Studio MDHR founder Jared Moldenhauer, about Cuphead’s rise to fame, some of the game’s inspirations, and what’s next for everyone’s favorite new video game icon.
How are you doing? You had the studio closed for a little bit after the DLC release. Must be nice to finally get a moment and take a breath.
Maja: Yeah, it really is. I think we took a different approach with DLC from the initial game. It wasn’t as much of crunch and stuff leading up to the launch of it, because we were a little bit more generous in terms of timing and time frame and when it was going to launch, because we didn’t want to go into crunch mode. But no matter how much you try to mitigate that, there’s always going to be some kind of last-ditch push to the finish line. So, it’s nice to be able to take that breath. And, I’ve said it previously, I sound like a broken record here, but we’re so proud of the core game, of how DLC turned out, and so it makes this last two weeks even more relaxing.
Did you ever see Cuphead becoming what it is today?
Chad: Initially, we had a dream scope but we kind of paired it back down to Mega Man style selection screen with eight bosses. And that’s all it was going to be. So if you think of that super small scope to where the game and the brand and the recognition is today, it numbs my mind. I think all of us, everybody on the team is still like, this doesn’t quite make sense.
Maja: Yeah, you can connect the dots going backward and stuff like that. And, it’s hard work. There’s passion, there are the mechanisms for success that I think every single person this company has. You’re only as good as your team is, and the team is fantastic and phenomenal. And so you can be confident that it was going to turn out to be something pretty, pretty good that we’re very proud of. But like Chad said, not even close, not even. Nothing, like what is today.
Chad: I think we still pinch ourselves. You know, the whole team. It’s surreal.
What’s really interesting about Cuphead is how it has had constant positive momentum. From when it came out, to Game of the Year considerations, to the TV show, and now the DLC, it’s always seemed to be moving forward and accomplishing something new.
Maja: I wish it was all premeditated and part of a big larger forecast but it wasn’t it was just hard work and passion. And passion is like a really big thing because if there was ever a day that we were grinding in here, it wouldn’t have happened. We all really, really love what we do. We love the art style, we believe in bringing back some of the tangible ways that we did this like pencil and paper, and that art form. It’s a dying art form and bringing that back to a younger generation that may not have ever seen a cartoon made this way. So yeah, that’s a really rewarding thing.
Chad: There’s probably a lot of being in the right place at the right time that also helped a lot, but I think the one thing that we always stick true to is that we make a game that we all have a deep love for, and I hope that shows in the games we make that it’s part of us.
What were some of the inspirations that eventually became Cuphead?
Chad: So the main one is just growing up with and watching those super early cartoons, especially the Fleischer and Disney stuff. That had been around for a long time in the back of our minds, and then when we kind of finally got around to wanting to make a game, it just came up as a ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could make a game that looked like a cartoon?’ and again that was it was more of a laugh to be like, hey what if maybe one day somebody can do this? And then we started playing around with it, and that spring that kind of was like the jumping board to start the spark of ‘what if everything is hand done?’ you know, from the visuals and the paintings and the inking, and even the music initially. It was supposed to just be really high quality midi tunes, but as we created this whole kind of through line of making everything that old style, it just started falling in place.
Maja: I feel like every time we had a shortcut we identified there was a spark missing. If we went and tried to digitally ink it, it just wouldn’t look the same, and then we would be like, okay, let’s do it by hand, and then with that it would come back to life. And so that’s kind of, I guess the Genesis of how we did it. But for inspiration-wise, it was those cartoons and then married with all of these retro games that you probably remember from your childhood, it’s the same thing for us.
Where does Cuphead go from here?
Chad: So we launched DLC. We kind of finally take a breather and now we can kind of really think about that because the first game launched, and we started thinking about where’s Cuphead going to go and we decided let’s push it into a DLC. It was a much easier answer. So this time around, we kind of have to think up what’s the next game we’re going to work on, what are the next projects going to be, and find out how that’s all going to work.
Maja: We do know what it’s going to be. We have made the mistake before of announcing it too early. We’re excited to announce things once they really take form. We’re just taking the time right now to really appreciate what that looks like, and try to give a more accurate estimate this time when we can do it. We’re not going anywhere. We love making games. Thanks to the, you know, fan response and things like that, we are enabled to be able to continue doing this for a long time and we’re really excited to bring more ideas to the forefront. But you’re going to have to wait and see what those are.
That’s how the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would prefer it, at least.
When asked about The Slap while speaking with the press this week, newly-appointed Academy CEO Bill Kramer said, “We want to move forward, to have an Oscars that celebrates cinema.” What does that entail? “We want to return to a show that has reverence for film and 95 years of the Oscars,” he explained. “It’s a moment to really reflect on our membership, all craft areas, our changing industry, [and] our fans… There are ways to do that, that are entertaining and authentic, and that are tied to our mission to honor excellence in moviemaking. I don’t think that’s mutually exclusive.”
Here’s another way to “honor excellence in moviemaking”: turn the Oscars into the mid-2000s MTV Movie Awards. Replace Best Director with Best Action Sequence; swap Best Screenplay for Best Kiss; and get rid of Best Picture… actually, Best Picture can stay, as long as Jackass Forever wins. There, I fixed the Oscars. That wasn’t hard, now was it?
Jon Hamm is returning to his lovable but dorky comedic roles, only this time he might be a murderer. Hamm is starring in the murder mystery Confess, Fletch based on Gregory McDonald’s character from his Fletch novels.
The movie follows Fletch, a former investigative reporter who has been laying low in Europe, though he quickly finds himself in the center of a murder investigation, though he plays it totally cool!
Despite being an ’80s character, Fletch has been updated for a modern audience, which means he will riff on social media and also find a dead body at an Airbnb. You know, millennial things. “Fletch comes to Boston to track down a bunch of stolen paintings, and the first day he’s there, he discovers a dead body in the Airbnb he’s staying in,” Director Greg Mottola explains. “The police think he’s the murderer, so he has to simultaneously find the stolen art and clear his name.”
The movie also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Lorenza Izzo, and Kyle MacLachlan. There is also a mini Mad Men reunion, as John Slattery plays Fletch’s friend and newspaper editor, with whom he has a love-hate relationship.
Fletch was previously portrayed by Chevy Chase in a 1985 adaptation of the popular book series, though you won’t see Chase and Hamm trying to outwit each other on screen. Mottola said that he wanted this to be a “new thing,” instead of a remake. “We reference the original, we pay homage to it, but we tried to really balance it halfway between a detective mystery and a comedy, possibly more than the original.” If anything, audiences will be awestruck by Hamm’s unshaven face they won’t even notice if the movie is good or not!
Confess, Fletch will be released in theaters and on-demand on September 16. Check out the trailer above.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
