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Last week, Bartees Strange released the explosive Farm To Table, his first album since signing to 4AD. The Washington D.C. rocker put together a hard-hitting collection of incredibly honest music that doesn’t just look at his own vulnerabilities, but also speaks to the greater Black experience in America. There’s not too many artists who can claim that within indie and punk music and it renders Strange undoubtedly unique and important.

Now he’s just announced his first every US headlining tour that will begin later this year. Pom Pom Squad is the direct support for Strange and this easily belongs on your list of must-see tours this year. Check out the complete list of tour dates below. General on-sale begins Friday, June 24th at 10am local time, while Spotify and venue pre-sales start Wednesday, June 22 at 10am local time. All over at Barteesstrange.com.

11/03 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird
11/04 — Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
11/05 — Columbus, OH @ The Basement
11/07 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
11/08 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall [In The Round] *
11/09 — Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch *
11/14 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
11/28 — Houston, TX @ White Oak *
11/29 — Austin, TX @ Parish *
11/30 — Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co *
12/05 — San Diego, CA @ Music Box *
12/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *
12/07 — San Francisco, CA @ Independent *
12/09 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
12/10 — Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret *
12/11 — Portland, OR @ Doug Fir *
12/13 — Salt Lake City UT, @ Urban Lounge *
12/14 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
12/16 — Oklahoma City OK, @ Beer City Music Hall *
12/18 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
12/19 — Nashville, TN @ Basement East *
* w/ Pom Pom Squad
# w/ Pom Pom Squad, Spring Silver, No They Hate Change

Farm To Table is out now via 4AD. Listen to it here.

This year’s XXL Freshman lineup boasts several promising acts, including Kali, Babyface Ray, Doechii, Saucy Santana, and Nardo Wick. At 20, Wick is the youngest rapper on this year’s Freshman list.

Wick’s rise in the rap business has been rather meteoric. He released his breakout single in 2020, as a fresh high school graduate without any sort of music to his credit. The following year, he released “Who Want Smoke??” which got him a deal at RCA. A remix of “Who Want Smoke??” featuring 21 Savage, Lil Durk, and G Herbo peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In his minute-long freestyle, Wick raps about the past two years in the rap game and his rapid rise. While he’s accomplished several astonishing feats in a short amount of time, he still feels that he is just getting started.

“I ain’t rush this, I waited / I blew up they hated / Play with me, your life I take it, I need a hat that say, ‘Rated,’ ’cause I’m underrated / I was in debt with attention, I had to pay it / I love my Amiri jeans, they keep me saturated / And I love my 7.62s, they keep me well-protected.”

Check out Nardo Wick’s XXL Freshman freestyle above.

The wait for the second edition of Pharrell’s Something In The Water Festival took a bit longer following its debut in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the coronavirus pandemic put consecutive delays on the showcase, making 2022 the year that it would hopefully make its grand return. The excitement behind SITW was absolutely warranted. Its inaugural showcase was a lively two-day presentation (the first day was nixed because of weather) that brought forth the best talent that the music industry and Pharrell’s hometown of Virginia Beach and the state as a whole had to offer. Jay-Z, SZA, Pharrell, Travis Scott, ASAP Ferg, Missy Elliott, Jhene Aiko, Rosalia, Anderson .Paak, Usher, Busta Rhynes, Leikeli47, DRAM, and Pusha T were just some of the artists I was fortunate enough to see back in 2019.

When the second SITW festival was announced earlier this year, it was clear that some changes were in order. Its venue changed from the coastal beauty of Virginia Beach to the city life of Washington D.C. This was due to Pharrell’s frustrations with how his hometown handled the murder of his cousin, Donovan Lynch, who was killed by a police officer who did not have their body camera turned on. Seeing that this year’s Something In The Water would take place within six blocks in Washington D.C., it was clear that the atmosphere would be different this time – and it certainly was.

With the Virginia Beach edition of Something In The Water, it was clear that Pharrell was inviting us into his home. You could sit on whatever furniture you liked and you were free to grab whatever you wanted from the cabinets. We were welcomed and treated to the best hospitality that the 757 could offer. While D.C. is still a part of the DMV area, this year’s edition of Something In The Water didn’t have that same feeling. This isn’t a knock on the hospitality that D.C. offered as the city also welcomed festivalgoers (and the entire festival itself) with open arms. The showcase just felt like it was crammed into the country’s capital, and to a certain extent, it quite literally was.

Logistically, there were some flaws throughout the weekend. The Sun stage, the festival’s main stage, and the Earth stage were placed too close to each other, making it hard to clearly hear a respective stage depending on where you stood. In total, the three performance stages as well as stands for food, drinks, merch, and more were in close proximity to each other. Long lines for these stands spilled into walking traffic, causing heavy congestion during peak hours. Day two of SITW is where this congestion was felt the most as it caused problems for many on Saturday evening. It began during Snoh Aalegra and Lil Uzi Vert’s sets, and it only worsened as Pharrell took the stage for his star-studded performance. Multiple fans required medical attention, seemingly more so than any other point during the weekend, and reports of overcrowding arrived as some fans revealed they were not allowed to re-enter festival grounds despite having a valid wristband. Seemingly enough, things appeared to be much calmer on day 3 by the main stage (from my point of view at least) as Denzel Curry, Teyana Taylor (and Junie), Pusha T, 21 Savage, and Tyler The Creator concluded the event.

There’s no doubt that this year’s Something In The Water festival was less spacious than the first iteration which brought in 35,000 people. With that in mind, one would think that the attendance count would be around that number, but, during his near-two-hour set on Saturday, Pharrell boldly proclaimed that 50,000 people made their way to Washington D.C.’s downtown area for the showcase. In a post-Astrowold festival world, there are still some similarities and some noticeable differences in how artists handle these big performances. They’re much more willing to pause their sets to allow fans to receive medical attention as we saw during performances from Denzel Curry (who asked that everyone in the crowd be given water), Teyana Taylor, Pharrell, and others. However, the mosh-pitting that often causes some to be put in situations that result in needing medical attention is still alive and well, as we’ve seen through many festivals in the last seven months. With that seeming like something that will remain a festival staple going forward, it’s absolutely essential to prioritize fans’ safety in as many ways as possible.

Despite these negatives, there were plenty of highs from the 2022 SITW festival thanks to some strong performances from artists on the bill. Lil Baby was flashy and charismatic as ever as he ran through hits, B-side records, and new tracks from his discography. Usher reminded the world why he’s one of the best R&B has ever produced with a lengthy set that was more than impressive despite some of his fan-favorite songs not getting stage time. Chloe X Halle showed off their vocals for a great set that was unfortunately shortened due to flight issues they had beforehand. Lil Uzi Vert delivered an out-of-this-world experience with an equally otherworldly hairdo. Pusha T showed off his self-placed crown as hip-hop’s best during an extremely confident set. Teyana Taylor brilliantly dance and sang her way through her set while her daughter Junie joined the stage and proved that she is very much her mother’s daughter. Tyler The Creator closed day three of the festival with a lengthy appearance that reminded the world why he is one of today’s best artists, no matter the genre.

Last but not least, Pharrell’s own performance was a memorable aspect of the weekend. It was highlighted by a Clipse reunion as Pusha T and his brother Malice had not performed in over a decade. Their brief time on stage presented classics like “Grindin” and “Mr. Me Too.” Justin Timberlake also brought out his classics – and some interesting dance moves – while T.I. delivered a set of his own that featured an appearance from his son Domani. N.O.R.E. even checked in too, and through it all, Pharrell made time to perform classics from his artist and production discography.

Pharrell’s Something In The Water was created to highlight Black talent from his home state of Virginia as well as the surrounding DMV area. It’s a grand showcase to display the uniqueness of our culture and that “something” that is in our water. By all means, Pharrell accomplished that, even outside of music, through vendors, activations, off-site events, and more. He even gave back to the community and cleared the student debt of five young adults at an NAACP panel. Maybe D.C. will now be the festival’s permanent home or maybe it will return to that coastal beauty of Virginia where fans can experience the Something In The Water that over 35,000 people fell in love with back in 2019. The thing is, with the D.C. edition, the latter is possible to achieve. However, there is a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done in order to restore that beauty. Once that happens, Something In The Water will return to being one of the great festivals that the music world has to offer.

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

Released in April, Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry marked the first time the Viriginia Beach rapper claimed a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. With appearance from Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pharrell, Lil Uzi Vert, Kid Cudi, and others, the album is yet another masterful display of King Push’s supreme lyricism. He holds nothing back, takes a well-deserved parade around the sun, and many rap critics agree that it’s one of the best hip-hop albums of 2022 so far. And who’s a more decorated rap critic than superstar quarterback Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Wait…hold up, what?! That’s right folks, the seven-time Super Bowl champion says that It’s Almost Dry is not just his favorite rap album of the year, it’s the “Album of the year,” period.

Brady, who is about to launch his new “Brady brand” of athleisure wear this week, posted a short ad spot on his Twitter running through a closed off street set to Pusha T’s “Dreamin Of The Past.” As he speeds up the city street, the track plays and Brady talks about his shirt and shorts, saying “this stuff’s pretty light… then again it helps me be the fastest quarterback in the game.” Which is clearly a joke, because one of the things Brady isn’t known for is his legs. He commented on the tweet saying, “You guys know I have 1,124 career rushing yards right? No accident. Brady brand RUN is available Thursday.” Well the clip caught the attention of Push, who quote retweeted it saying, “Wow, Tom Brady really listening to the rap album of the year!!! #ItsAlmostDry #DreamingOfThePast !! Check him out…”

Gotta love Push’s unapologetic gloat. But Brady took the bait and to the rapper who name-checked him in the song (“Walk it down like Brady, gets better with time,”) he tweeted back saying, “Album of the year!”

No word yet on whether Brady will be launching a rap blog following the release of his clothing line but you can check out his unabashed cosign above.

Rob Gronkowski is going to once again hang up his cleats, as the future Hall of Fame tight end announced on his social media channels on Tuesday that he was retiring from the NFL for the second time.

Gronkowski previously retired after the 2018 NFL season, sitting out 2019 until he got the call from Tom Brady to join him in Tampa Bay, an offer he couldn’t refuse. With the Bucs, Gronk won another Super Bowl title and added 100 catches, 1,425 yards, and 13 touchdowns to his already legendary stat line for his career. The 33-year-old walks away, at least for now, with 621 catches for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns, which are the 12th most TD receptions of any player in NFL history.

Unsurprisingly, the reaction to Gronkowski’s latest retirement was met with similar skepticism to his previous announcement that he was done for good, as even his agent Drew Rosenhaus noted that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Gronk returns to the Bucs at some point this season if Brady puts out the call.

Given the injuries he’s dealt with over his career, it’s hard to fault Gronk for not wanting to go through another full season and we’ll have to wait and see if he’s retired for good or if he’ll parachute in late in the year to help Brady and the Bucs chase another ring. He’s not one to suddenly fall out of football shape, but his days of playing full seasons certainly seem to be done. If this is it for Gronk on the football field, the next stop will be Canton, Ohio.

When HBO’s Winning Time series about the Los Angeles Lakers came out, just about every person associated with the team disavowed it, criticizing it for turning people into caricatures and exaggerating stories for entertainment value — which is part of the allure of the show, since it’s not meant to be a documentary.

There was also the fact that many of the subjects of that show had their own documentaries in the works, with Magic Johnson having an Apple TV+ series coming out and Jeanie Buss putting together a 10-part series with Hulu. The Hulu doc, titled Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers, is set to release this summer (a firm date is still TBD) and on Tuesday they dropped the first extended teaser trailer, showing off the variety of subjects interviewed, from those that played and coached for the Lakers like LeBron, Shaq, Kareem, Pat Riley, Jerry West, and Phil Jackson, to the entire Buss family, with Mark Cuban teasing the Buss family drama as “real life Succession.”

Given the production is overseen by Jeanie Buss, it’ll be interesting to see how much they dive into the battle among the Buss children after Dr. Jerry Buss’ death for control of the Lakers. That would probably be one of the most interesting and potentially revealing things this doc could provide as it’s not something that has been publicly discussed much by the Buss family, but also it seems fair to wonder how polished they’ll make it look for the documentary. It’ll be interesting to see what the appetite for the latest marathon sports documentary is from fans, but ultimately that’s up to how good the stories are in it and how much new information they provide.

Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, much of the focus has rested upon Russia’s difficulty (which is much greater than they expected) in taking full hold of the country. And that’s for good reason, considering that the fed-up wives of Vladimir Putin’s presumably missing troops are demanding answers on their whereabouts, which tells the world a lot about how disastrously this is unfolding and how much resistance the Ukraine people continue to put up. Meanwhile, we’re also hearing about the Putin continuing to be so vain that he’s apparently trying to “embalm himself” with Botox, all while the Ukrainian people suffer.

To date, at least 4 million Ukrainians have become refugees since the start of the war (with at least 7 million more displaced while remaining within Ukraine). Throughout, President Zelensky has stood firm with his people (and after refusing a ticket out of the country), and on World Refugee Day, UNHCR ambassador Ben Stiller toured destroyed areas of Irpin (in Kyiv). He also met with Zelensky, who the Severance producer referred to as “my hero” in this Bloomberg Quicktakes video clip.

Zelensky’s official government website revealed how Stiller spoke with occupation survivors, and here’s part of his conversation with Stiller:

Stiller was accompanied by UNHCR representative in Ukraine Karolina Lindholm Billing, who accompanied the Hollywood actor as he walked through ruined residential areas of Irpin, where they talked to people who survived the occupation.

“It’s one thing to see this destruction on TV or on social networks. Another thing is to see it all with your own eyes. That’s a lot more shocking,” Stiller told Zelensky. “What you saw in Irpin is definitely dreadful. But it is even worse to just imagine what is happening in the settlements that are still under temporary occupation in the east,” Zelensky said in response.

Before his arrival in Ukraine, Stiller also visited with the country’s refugees in Poland, and CBS News notes that Angelina Jolie recently visited the Ukrainian visit of Lviv to speak with displace children who survived a Russian attack on a train station. Zelensky has issued gratitude to both, and looking forward, this conflict has passed 100 days with no signs of ending anytime soon.

(Via The Office Of The President Of Ukraine & CBS News)

Through two seasons of I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin have seen a number of impressive guests bring their scripts to life with absurd flair. That includes Robinson himself upping the ante on any number of scenes that have him screaming like a lunatic at one point or another. But as it turns out, all that yelling and absurdity is almost entirely coming from the script.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the ITYSL creators shared that they don’t often let their actors go off-script and improvise. Unless they’re one of the men responsible for Mr. Show. Bob Odenkirk, who appeared in a sketch called “Diner Wink” in Season 2, is one of the few characters that’s been allowed to improvise.

The sketch, which you can watch above, is fairly standard I Think You Should Leave fare at this point: a small and convenient lie gets taken way too far by someone who continues to double down on the concept until it skews so far from reality there’s no coming back.

In this case, it’s Odenkirk as a lonely diner patron.

There’s almost no improvisation, so every actor commits to the absurdity and off-kilter dialogue they’re provided. One exception was the sketch comedy legend from “Mr. Show,” which was a major influence on Robinson and Kanin. In his sketch, Odenkirk plays a lonely guy in a diner booth next to a father (Robinson) and his daughter who gets recruited by Robinson to help sell an innocent dad lie about why they can’t get ice cream. Naturally, the weird lonely guy takes the lie too far.

“Bob did improvise a bunch at the end of that sketch,” Robinson says. “It was all really funny, and I feel like it elevated the sketch off of what was on the page a lot.”

So it turns out “I don’t live in a hotel” was probably an improv line, which is pretty great because it’s one that stuck with people the most from the sketch. The rest of the Times piece is certainly worth reading, as Robinson doesn’t give many interviews in the first place. Hearing a bit more about the way he and Kanin write will only make you more excited about Season 3.

[LA Times]

Although his time in the spotlight was relatively short, XXXTentacion developed an enthusiastic fanbase whose attachment to the controversial late rapper has remained intense, even four years after his death. It’s so intense, in fact, that several of them apparently staged an unplanned meetup at his gravesite for the fourth anniversary of his death as “dozens” of fans gathered at the mausoleum in South Florida on Saturday, many of them reportedly traveling across the country to do so, according to X’s mom Cleopatra Bernard via TMZ.

Some of the fans drove to Florida from Los Angeles and Virginia, arriving as early as 9 AM, and many stayed until 4 PM, when Bernard went to open the mausoleum. She believes several hundred fans visited, playing the rapper’s music and showing off their love for him via merch and replicas of his tattoos. According to TMZ, XXXTentacion’s closest friends and family held a candlelight vigil attended by a pair of fans who’d driven cross country.

Despite his death, fans have received a wealth of new content featuring the controversial figure this year. A documentary, Look At Me: XXXTentacion was released to Hulu last month, accompanied by a new album that featured the Kanye West collaboration “True Love.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly four months ago, more than 13 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland. Some cities, such as Mariupol, have been completely destroyed—”reduced to a wasteland littered with bodies,” according to an explainer in Reuters—and may be uninhabitable for the foreseeable future.

Many families fled early in the war, when the danger became clear. But not everyone understood why they were leaving.

Children are befuddled by war, as they should be. It is nonsensical, illogical and unbelievable to think that you must leave your home and move to a country far away because a grown-up who is supposed to be a leader is trying to blow up your house. People with intellectual disabilities may also not understand a sudden uprooting, especially when the reason is something even fully abled adults struggle to make sense of.

When Liana Rohozhyn’s home in Mariupol was destroyed earlier in the war, she and her family were forced to flee. Her son Misha, a nonverbal 19-year-old with Down syndrome, was understandably distressed about having to leave Ukraine. To comfort him through the long journey across Europe to safety, Liana told Misha they were going on a trip to find the champion wrestler, John Cena.

It was a fictional story made up by a desperate mother in a dire situation. As a parent, you do what you have to do to keep your children safe. Little did Liana know that John Cena would not only see her family’s story, but go out of his way to provide a measure of comfort during a tragic and disorienting time.

Cena just happened to be in Europe when he read about the story of how Liana had motivated Misha with the hope of meeting him. Being only an hour’s flight away, Cena’s immediate response was, “We’re going.”

The WWE star met the family near Amsterdam and spent a “special” afternoon “building blocks and eating cake.”

He shared kind words about Misha and his mother.

“Misha’s ability to embrace persistence, that’s extraordinary,” he said, adding that Misha and Liana are “two great examples of how persistence can lead to joy, even through the toughest of times.”

After spending the day with the family and gifting Misha a load of WWE gear, Cena told the young man, “This was a wonderful adventure in which I got to meet a wonderful new friend. Thank you for giving me strength.”

Liana told him he had “a big heart.”

Watch:

The sweet story has touched the hearts of people the world over, with people sharing praise for Cena and for Misha’s mother.

“There are several things I find remarkable about this interaction,” wrote commenter Emily Clauson on YouTube. “How this man talks to Misha softly, with respect and love. He is not putting on a performance. He isn’t acting ‘compassionate’ for the cameras. He is connecting with a human being. They were just two guys hanging out enjoying their day. He spoke to him as an equal. I find that so admirable.”

“I’m from Ukraine and it brought me to tears!” wrote another commenter. “We Ukrainians really appreciate this support from all over the world, we need it so much at these dark times! as they say, in dark times you can see light people. Thanks for standing we Ukraine, would never expect to hear about so many people with big hearts. ❤️🇺🇦”

“I love how much he embraces Misha’s mom,” wrote another. “A lot of news reports on this story just seem to forget about how strong she is. This man is amazing!”

“Misha’s mom is an amazing woman. She kept her son going to get out. I wish them well and thank you John Cena for responding,” wrote another.

This is not Cena’s first trip to make someone’s dreams come true. According to SB Nation, he has granted more than 650 wishes through Make-A-Wish since 2004, the most on record.

Cena himself shared that Misha and Liana define his motto, “Never Give Up,” and thanked the Wall Street Journal and World Wrestling Entertainment for pulling it all together.

u201cWhat a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. Misha and his mother, Liana define #NeverGiveUp. nnThank you to the @WSJ and @WWE who helped make this special visit possible.u201d

— John Cena (@John Cena)
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Thank you, John Cena, for showing us what the best of humanity can look like.