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Last December, the hip hop world suffered a massive loss with the death of Drakeo The Ruler, real name Darrell Caldwell, who was stabbed in the neck at Los Angeles’ Once Upon A Time Festival. Since then, his family filed a $20 million lawsuit against Live Nation, which was then raised to $60 million.

The lawsuit also names promotional partners Bobby Dee Presents and C3 Presents, as well as Banc of California Stadium owners Los Angeles Football Club. It cites the disaster at Astroworld the week before and accuses the promoters of negligence, claiming they did not place “the safety and wellbeing of its guests and its invited artists ahead of profits.”

On Tuesday, files were made public that show Live Nation arguing for negligence on the part of Caldwell’s brother Devante, as well as members of the brothers’ Stinc Team rap collective. In the demurrer obtained by Rolling Stone, Live Nation argue that they were not accountable for the “violent mob,” consisting of about 50 to 100 people with knives, that ambushed the rapper before he was supposed to take the stage. They also argued that no one “asked for additional security” or told promoters that Caldwell “faced threats and constant hostility from gang members.” Meanwhile, promoters argued that legally they were not required to prevent “third-party criminal conduct” since there were no “prior similar incidents.”

When they revived the Halloween franchise with a direct sequel to the original, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride vowed they’d only do three more. And their journey is about to come to an end. This October (of course) brings Halloween Ends, which pits Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode against her psychotic brother once more. And from the look of the first trailer, it’s gonna be knock-down, drag-out.

The threequel (that’s also a fourquel) begins as the 1978 John Carpenter original did, with a POV shot prowling up and inside a suburban house. It’s Michael Myers, of course (or so it’s implied), but this time there’s someone waiting for him: Laurie. And she has a gun.

So beings a series of fights between the two — nasty, bare-knuckle, full-bodied tussles, including one that finds Michael almost successfully shoving his sister’s hand inside the kitchen sink garbage disposal. It’s more action than Laurie saw in the previous entry, Halloween Kills, where she was still recovering from the brutal events of the 2018 film semi-confusingly also called Halloween.

Is this really the end for Laurie and Michael? Or maybe just one of them? Curtis herself formally bid farewell to the character she’s been playing for over 40 years, the one that took her from daughter of Hollywood royalty (and Columbo bit part actress) to star and eventually icon. She even got a tattoo, so this must be it for Laurie, at the very least. Then again, it’s not the first time she’s said goodbye to the character.

You can watch the trailer in the video above. Halloween Ends hits theaters on October 14.

Soccer Mommy just put out one of the most enticing albums of the year with the dark, sprawling Sometimes, Forever, which is submerged in a haunting, OPN-produced atmosphere and littered with lines about Sylvia Plath and love. Today, she’s back with a cover of “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. for Deezer’s InVersions 90s project.

“There are so many bands and artists from the ’90s that inspire me personally,” Sophie Allison said. “I think there was a lot of good songwriting but also the production had so much range and so much creativity. I wanted to do a version on my own that was a little more solemn and dark. I wanted to keep the chords and arrangement pretty much the same to the original but just add my own voice.”

The “Shotgun” singer recently revealed that she doesn’t use any social media. “I’m not on it,” she told Rolling Stone in an interview about her new album. “Any of it. I’ll log on Instagram every once in a while to check my messages and respond to friends. That’s it. It’s honestly great. I just replaced it with solitaire and word games.”

Listen to her cover of “Losing My Religion” below.

It’s been almost a month since the right-leaning Supreme Court went on a tear. Among their many radical rulings including overturning Roe v. Wade, and its disastrous impact can already be felt. The GOP has remained steadfast in support of the deeply unpopular decision, even when a 10-year-old girl who’s been raped was denied an abortion. The move is even impacting industries one might not have expected to have a problem (but should have).

As per The Daily Beast, the rollback of women’s reproductive rights has sent shock waves across the porn industry. And it’s not hard to imagine why: While female performers or those that can become pregnant have always had to worry about contracting STIs on the job, they knew that if their birth control didn’t work, be it a pill or simply a condom, they had legal options to terminate any unwanted pregnancies.

Now they’re not so sure. Some have turned exclusively to girl-on-girl scenes. “For the time being, I have stopped working with other male models. I would love to continue to work with models if they can prove that they’ve had a vasectomy,” adult film actor Stephanie Eild told The Daily Beast.

The same thought occurred to Arietta Adams, who also stopped doing another form of pornography: what are called “creampies,” or when a man finishes inside their female screen partner, leaving visible residue. It’s proof that the performers did not use a condom, and it’s one of the most popular genres amongst today’s porn patron. At Pornhub, such videos are consistently in the site’s Top 10 searches.

“I want to be secure in that if I happen to get pregnant on set, I will be able to terminate the pregnancy,” Adams said. “I do not want a porn baby.”

While much of the porn industry resides in California, not all of it does. Many adult actors work in states where abortion was quickly outlawed, and because most of them have “independent contractor relationships” with their clients, they receive no protections from their employers should they need to procure abortions.

One porn actor put it even more bluntly than most in her profession. “My whole job revolves around sex, and now it’s being attacked because the government is only viewing it as a reproductive act, not an act of pleasure [or entertainment],” said Skye Blue “I don’t want to be tied to anyone I have sex with for the rest of my life just because one of their little swimmers made it to the egg.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Recently NBA YoungBoy — also known as YoungBoy Never Broke Again or Kentrell Gaulden — was on trial for a federal gun possession charge in Los Angeles. The rapper was arrested when a FN FNX .45 caliber pistol was found on the floor of a Mercedes Maybach that he was driving in March of 2021. On July 15, he was found not guilty of said federal gun charges.

According to AllHipHop, the “Late To Da Party” performer is now seeking to end his house arrest. The publication obtained documents from Gaulden’s legal team that call for a modification of his bail order from October 2021.

“Since the Court authorized the defendant’s release, two key events have transpired causing a material change in circumstances,” his attorneys stated. “First, this Court has suppressed critical aspects of the Government’s case casting doubt as to whether the weight of the admissible evidence favors the Government.”

They added, “Second, [NBA YoungBoy] was acquitted in a parallel prosecution concerning the firearm found inside of his car when he was arrested on the underlying warrant in this case. As such, we believe that a modification of bail is in order and that the current release conditions are more onerous than necessary to assure his appearance or protect the commencing from danger.”

It’s been almost a year, but The View still hasn’t found their next Meaghan McCain. It’s not without lack of trying. They’ve been so desperate that they’ve even brought on ex-Trump staffers, albeit ones who’ve publicly condemned him. One downside to that, though, is that that’s enraged potential guests.

One of them was Wanda Sykes. According to The Daily Beast, the comic, performer, and co-host on maybe the most shocking Oscars telecast in history was scheduled to appear on the show on Friday. Then she caught wind that the guest host that day would be Alyssa Farah, who served various roles in the Trump administration, including the White House director of strategic communications. So Sykes peaced out.

“She didn’t want to be part of helping a Trumper launder her reputation,” a View insider told a Beast reporter.

Farah — who condemned the Jan. 6 riot and blamed it on her former boss — has been on The View multiple times, and has annoyed the show’s more liberal-leaning regulars when she’s let loose some of her more conservative beliefs. Ditto Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s quietest and most apologetic White House press secretary. Farah has been seen as the frontrunner to replace McCain, but if Sykes is bailing because she’s on it, that means others will, too.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The 2022 MLB All-Star Game arrived on Tuesday evening at Dodger Stadium, with baseball’s best and brightest taking part in Los Angeles. Two of the more prominent players in the event squared off in the top of the first inning when Angels superstar and reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani stroked a single off Dodgers starting pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw on the first pitch.

That was fun enough, in large part because Ohtani said before the at-bat he planned to swing at the first pitch. But seconds later, Kershaw was able to get him back when the hometown ace casually picked Ohtani off first base in memorable fashion.

This play has it all, from Kershaw taking it all in with some laughter to Ohtani seemingly being in disbelief at what transpired. The FOX broadcast also put forth a reminder that this was a bit of an odd play in that observers will not see too many pickoff throws during an All-Star Game, but Kershaw extracted mild revenge for Ohtani jumping on the first pitch.

This is the kind of thing that can be great for the All-Star Game which, ultimately, has very little in the way of stakes. Ohtani is perhaps the game’s brightest force, putting on a display as a pitcher in 2022 after a 2021 breakout as a hitter, and Kershaw opening the night on the mound in his home park is also tremendous. If nothing else, baseball fans will be hoping for this kind of entertainment throughout the course of nine innings.

This year Ethan Hawke was inducted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit by way of a TV show. He’s the baddie in Moon Knight, opposite Oscar Isaac’s DID-suffering hero, and he’s said he had a great time working for the biggest comic book motion picture creator in town. That freaky first episode opening? His idea, and he was shocked that they okayed it. But that won’t stop him from defending the great auteurs who’ve come for his newish bosses.

In a new interview with IndieWire, Hawke waddled into perhaps the most volatile conversation in the Marvel-verse — namely that legendary filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola are simply not fans. It’s hard to believe it’s been 2 ½ years since the former called today’s comic book movies “not cinema.” And while fans like Kevin Smith are still angry about it, Hawke tried to thread the needle between defending his idols and not, you know, getting fired.

“If people like Scorsese and Coppola don’t come out to tell their truth about how there are more important things than making money, who’s going to?” Hawke declared. He said there “needs to be somebody in the community saying, ‘Hey, everybody, this is not Fanny and Alexander. If you keep reviewing these movies that are basically made for 14-year-olds like they’re Fanny and Alexander or Winter Light, then who the hell’s going to get to make Winter Light?” he said, referring to two of Bergman’s most cherished works.

“I appreciate the elder statesmen of the community reminding people not to set the bar too low,” he concluded, adding, “I know it makes some people think they’re stuck up, but they’re not stuck up.”

Hawks was frank about Kevin Feige and company, too. “That group of people is extremely actor-friendly — they might not be director-friendly, and that could be what Scorsese and Coppola are talking about,” Hawke said. (It’s true, some directors they’ve courted — including the brilliant Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel — balked when they discovered they wouldn’t actually be directing their own action scenes.)

So there! It’s a bold take, especially coming from one of the many, many actors on the Marvel payroll. May it at least cut down on people wielding pitchforks at the makers of Goodfellas and The Godfather.

(Via IndieWire)

Field Medic‘s new album, announced today and coming in October, is named Grow Your Hair Long If You’re Wanting To See Something You Can Change. This might be the most Fiona Apple-esque album title we will get this year. Like the “Criminal” singer, Field Medic’s music lacks filter in the best way, and this quality is retained on the LP’s lead single “I Had A Dream That You Died.”

“I had a dream that you died / Somehow made it about me,” the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Kevin Patrick Sullivan, confesses on the chorus to a perky beat. Often compared to folky friends Hovvdy or Alex G, Sullivan uses a lo-fi sonic palette to his advantage, creating a sense of intimacy with the listener. The clever lines add to the song’s disarming nature: “I feel like a lava lamp / The way that I’ve been totally f*cked by time.”

About working on the record, Sullivan said, ”Music is definitely a vessel for some form of healing. Sometimes the best way to get out of your own head is to just get to work. Making this album helped me find my happiness again.”

Watch the video for “I Had A Dream That You Died” above and check out the LP artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Always Emptiness”
2. “Weekends”
3. “I Had A Dream That You Died”
4. “Noonday Sun”
5. “I Think About You All The Time”
6. “House Arrest”
7. “Stained Glass”
8. “Miracle/Marigold”
9. “Had My Fun/Back To The Start”

Grow Your Hair Long If You’re Wanting To See Something You Can Change arrives 10/14 via Run For Cover Records. Pre-order it here.

The Pharcyde can easily stake a claim to two of the greatest golden age era hip-hop albums in Bizarre Ride II and the J-Dilla produced Labcanbincalifornia. But the West Coast underground rap foursome is also remembered for the in-fighting that prevented them from becoming one of the truly great rap legacy acts. A tumultuous split, followed by piecemeal tours, and arguably half-hearted reunion appearances have stained The Pharcyde’s longevity. But it seems as though now in 2022, Fatlip, Slimkd3, Imani, and Bootie Brown are ready to turn over a new leaf together.

The four members of The Pharcyde are set to appear on two tracks off of Fatlip’s upcoming album, Torpor. According to AllHiphop, a press release says that, “One of the group’s songs is ‘My Bad,’ which shows the members apologizing to each other for their years of fighting.” Well this seems juicy. The album, which comes out on July 29th exclusively on CD (because what could be more 90s hip-hop than that?) before getting its widespread digital release on August 16th, will also feature appearances from legacy rappers Krayzie Bone and RBX.

“This record was a long time coming,” Fatlip added. “Get ready for a beast to come outta hibernation.”

Torpor is due out everywhere on 08/19 via Labcabin Records. Pre-order it here.