Last week’s 10 things that made us smile post included a disproportionate number of dogs, and this week’s post includes an unusual amount of music. Not sure how these things happen exactly, but I’m gonna go ahead and blame The Algorithm.
I love music. How could anyone not love music? Humans have made music since time immemorial, in every culture around the world. Few things unite people like music can, without having to speak one another’s languages, without having to say a word. We hear a well-performed piece of music and we are transformed, like magic.
In this week’s list, we have music being played and enjoyed by young and old as a reminder of the wonderful things humans can create. We need that reminder in the face of destruction that we are builders of beauty when we choose to be.
We also have sweet reminders of the bonds between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren. And we have “spicy purritos,” just because it made me smile.
Hope this week’s list of 10 things makes you smile as well.
1. This graduating dad and his proud daughter taking his picture are a whole mood.
It’s graduation time from now till mid-June, with all the relief and pride and sense of accomplishment that goes along with it. Congrats grads—but especially this grad dad.
2. Awesome marimba band plays Vivaldi’s “Spring” from “The Four Seasons.”
Nothing like a bit of Vivaldi played by The Goede Hoop Marimba Band to bring joy to any day #WednesdayMotivationpic.twitter.com/lTeNOF5XDZ
We shared a different awesome marimba band video recently, and this one has similar energy. So much joy. So much fun. Such great music.
3. The vets call the mad kitties “spicy purritos.” SPICY. PURRITOS.
My friend Liz is a vet tech, and they call the cats they have to wrap up so they donu2019t claw the vet u201cspicy purritosu201d nI thought everyone needed to know
— Chelsea M. Cameron (@Chelsea M. Cameron) 1652495611
Yes, everyone did need to know this.
4. Mama sloth reuniting with her baby sloth is a big ol’ awwww moment.
baby sloth reunites with its mompic.twitter.com/T1qnkxPFla
The 80’s was the best decade #80s #80skid #oldschool #genx #parents #funny #family #foryou #fyp
I know I’m dating myself here, but this video is 100% my childhood. The cassette tape struggle was so real, and I think I still have scars on my shins from those dang bike pedals.
There’s also a Part 2, worth watching purely for the reminder that we really used to have ashtrays everywhere.
8. Five-year-old piano prodigy rocking the Mozart on the ivories is reverse aging goals.
On the other end of the age spectrum, holy moly. This is Alberto Cartuccia Cingolani, a 5-year-old piano prodigy from Italy, playing Mozart.
His parents are both professional musicians and his mother says he started playing when the pandemic shut everything down. Now here he is winning international music competitions. She tells Italian media that he does take plenty of time for school and play and television, so don’t worry that the kid is being forced to practice for hours. Kid just has some serious musical chops.
9. She plays piano for her 93-year-old grandpa who has Alzheimer’s and he loves it.
Speaking of piano and aging, this is so sweet. Alzheimer’s is rough, but that thumbs up is so sincere.
10. This joyful “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” cover, just because it’s so fun.
This one is certainly worth unearthing for the sheer happiness of it all. One of the best songs ever made, truly, and one we all love to sing along with friends. The simple truth of that line, “Life goes on, brah.” Reason #472 to thank the Beatles.
Hope that got your toes tapping and brought a little pep to your step as you head through the weekend. Come back again next week for another roundup of joy!
In February, Australian band Gang Of Youths released their highly anticipated new album Angel In Realtime, the follow-up to 2017’s Go Farther In Lightness, and excited every indie rock-loving millennial in doing so. They promoted the LP with introspective, vulnerable singles like “Spirit Boy” and tons of late-night television performances.
Today, they’re back with a new EP Immolation Tape, exciting every indie rock-loving millennial even further with their own rendition of Wilco‘s “A Shot In The Arm,” about which they said: “Just wanted to chuck it out there for a laugh.” In the EP, the group strips down songs to their bare bones, making them more intimate and visceral. The lyrical content has always been heavy, with “The Man Himself” watching singer Dave Le’aupepe grapple with the loss of his father, who tragically passed away in 2018 from cancer, as he tries to imagine what his future looks like without him by his side.
Check out the tracklist and artwork for Immolation Tape below. Listen to “A Shot In The Arm” above.
Gang Of Youths
1. “In The Wake Of Your Leave”
2. “Forbearance”
3. “Spirit Boy”
4. “A Shot In The Arm”
Immolation Tape is out now via Warner Records.
Gang Of Youths is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
A new Netflix special has some of today’s best comedians paying tribute to the all-time greats in standup. Recorded during the Netflix Is a Joke festival, “The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up” has Dave Chappelle (who had an eventful festival), Pete Davidson, Jon Stewart, John Mulaney, Chelsea Handler, and Jeff Ross showing their appreciation for George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, and Robin Williams.
In a clip released online (watch it above), Mulaney explains what made Williams so special, and why he’s misunderstood. “People like to theorize that comedy all comes from a place of pain and sadness. And people like to talk about comedians as if we do what we do because of some inner darkness,” he said. Mulaney thinks this is “especially thrown around” when discussing the late standup, but “with all due respect, f*ck off with that sh*t. Have a little respect for a brilliant artist who was just more talented than you.”
Mulaney called making people laugh “incredibly fun” and added that “being a comedian is not a psychiatric condition.” There are “very f*cked up” comedians, but that’s true of every profession. “There are depressed people who don’t even have the decency to be great comedians,” he joked. “Why don’t you pick on them for a change?”
“The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up” is available now on Netflix. You can also watch clips like this of Robin William on YouTube, maybe with your headphones in if you’re somewhere that people might look at you funny if they hear loud cussing coming from your phone or laptop.
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
ITEM NUMBER ONE — More shows should just plop cute little dogs into the action
Are you guys watching Better Call Saul? I hope so. It’s such a good show and it’s screaming toward the series finale that will smash it into the beginning of Breaking Bad and it’s all fun and exciting and sometimes they’ll just toss out callbacks to characters named Spooge for no reason other than to delight fans who pay attention or are good at googling. All in all, a treat to watch on a week-to-week basis.
It is also, increasingly so as we get to this timeline mashing, stressful. Lord in heaven, is it ever stressful. Nothing ends well for any of the characters we know from Breaking Bad, so their dooms and/or struggles are becoming real. And it’s even worse with the characters whose fates we don’t know, your Kim Wexlers and Lalo Salamancas, who have burst onto the scene and made us care about them — sometimes when we know they’re evil — and who we know are not around come Breaking Bad. It’s a problem.
Thankfully, Better Call Saul appears to have stumbled across a good way to cut this tension a bit in recent weeks. It’s a diabolical strategy, really. Just when everyone is on the edge of their seat with concern for various lawyers and/or violent cartel figures, blammo, time for a cute little doggy.
AMC
The adorable little guy in this scene is named Little Bear. He belongs to a sweet German lady whose husband was the mastermind of the superlab Gus Fring would eventually build. I love him very much. I was also, like most of the viewing audience, deeply concerned that he would bark at an inopportune time and meet his demise at the hands of Lalo Salamanca, which would have caused me more internal turmoil than I would like to admit. Like, could I put “puppy murdering” past Lalo, a charming sociopath whom we have seen murder something like a half dozen people? No. Would it have altered the calculus of my appreciation of Lalo? Probably. Am I glad I did not have to confront this in any substantial way? I think you know I am.
So, great. One cute little doggy plopped into the action, unharmed and happy and all of it. Awesome. Love it. More shows should plop little dogs into the action for little-to-no reason. Give Logan Roy a corgi next season on Succession. Give Paul Giamatti a chihuahua on Billions. I am not joking about any of this. The people need and deserve it.
And Better Call Saul is delivering. A lot. In this week’s episode, one week after we met Little Bear, Saul and Kim checked in with the crooked veterinarian who we’ll see many times later for various crooked reasons. At the beginning of the scene, he was treating real patients. Specifically, this patient, a little guy named Fernando who had a persistent tummy ache.
AMC
There is good news and bad news in all of this. The good news is that the show has found yet another way to slice through the tension of all the lingering doom, in addition to its various hijinks and shenanigans that sometimes involve spray tans and fake mustaches. The bad news is that I am now very concerned about Fernando’s digestive issues and would appreciate it if the show followed up with him at some point just so I know he’s okay.
It’s a reasonable request.
ITEM NUMBER TWO — I need to know more about this
Getty Image
Tom Cruise is running around Cannes for the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. This is exciting for a bunch of reasons, some of which are related to Top Gun: Maverickapparently being super good and me getting very excited that I will be able to see it soon, others of which are related to the thing where a bunch of wild stuff usually happens when Tom Cruise is promoting a new movie. That picture up there — one of my favorite pictures ever, for reasons I can’t fully explain — is from when he was promoting a Mission: Impossible movie. It’s one of his tamer moments. He might fly into a premiere with a jetpack someday. He might be 83 years old when it happens. Tom is a lot.
Which brings us to the first of two notes from Cannes. This comes from the terrific Rachel Handler at Vulture, who, while lamenting that he was mostly boring during his press conference, added this.
To give Cruise some credit, there were two, possibly three interesting moments during the chat. One was when Cruise referred to his ex-wife Nicole Kidman as “Nic” (!) while telling a story about how he and Stanley Kubrick and Kidman worked together to find the tone of Eyes Wide Shut. Another was when he admitted to being so obsessed by the theatrical experience that he goes out incognito to see every movie that comes out in theaters: “I put on my cap and I sit in the audience.” At one point, he claimed to “remember every take” he has ever done. “I remember everything,” he reiterated, terrifyingly. Later, when the interviewer asked Cruise about his dangerous stunt work — “Why do you do it?” — Cruise replied, “Nobody asks Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance?’”
“I remember everything.”
This is somehow both deeply fascinating to me and something I do not doubt, even a little, not for a second. I bet Tom Cruise could tell you what he had for lunch on any day in the last 20 years. I bet he could recite entire paragraphs from books he read in high school. I bet he could describe own birth, in broad strokes at least.
The second thing is less about Tom Cruise being an enthusiastic maniac than it is about the audience at Cannes being, well, also enthusiastic maniacs. From a report from Variety about the premiere.
The festival crowd joyously interacted with the film during the screening, cheering and gasping at stunts. An overwhelming response came when Val Kilmer, who starred as Cruise nemesis Iceman in the original film, appeared in a scene with Cruise. The screening ended with a five-minute standing ovation from the crowd.
The first time I read that I kind of glossed over “a five-minute standing ovation.” But then I stopped and thought about it and… five minutes is so long to be just standing and clapping. For anything, but especially for a movie. Start clapping right now and see how long it takes for it to feel weird. If you get to 45 seconds I’d be shocked. Five minutes! That’s so long. Set a timer and see how long that is. This is the behavior of people who are unwell. Clapping for five straight minutes. It’s madness.
My working theory is that everyone was bored after one minute but they were all waiting for someone else to start wrapping it up. One big game of chicken. I bet Tom Cruise could give something a five-minute standing ovation. Anything, up to and including the chef at a hibachi restaurant. You could see that. Be honest.
ITEM NUMBER THREE — Good for you, Margot Robbie
warner bros.
Hey, let’s check in with Margot Robbie, one of the most talented and interesting people in Hollyw-… aaaaaaand, yup, she’s going to star in some sort of Ocean’s Eleven prequel thingy.
Robbie will star and produce a new Ocean’s movie that will be helmed by Jay Roach, who directed the actress to a best supporting actress Oscar nomination with 2019’s drama, Bombshell.
Details on the script by Carrie Solomon are being kept in the vault but it is known to be an original Ocean’s Eleven that is set in Europe in the 1960s.
I’ll just say it: This is cool. Just the idea of Margot Robbie cruising around Europe in an old convertible with her scarf blowing in the wind while she and her crew — which, let’s say, for fun, includes like Walton Goggins and Edi Patterson — on their way to rob a casino in Monte Carlo. Just that sentence. That’s already one of my six or eight favorite movies ever. This is good. I like it. It would also be okay if someone made an original heist movie with all of those things, but hey, reboot the Ocean’s franchise every 15 years for all I care. I’m not a complicated man.
In additional Margot Robbie news (a fun phrase to type), Kyle Buchanan from The New York Times has some piping hot gossip about the upcoming Barbie movie that is being directed by Greta Gerwig and will star Margot Robbie as… uh, Barbie. Obviously. Anyway, look.
And, by the same token, Margot Robbie is not the film’s only Barbie. Issa Rae and Hari Nef play different Barbies…
Details about the plot are being kept secret, but this news opens up even more questions. Questions like, what’s going on here? And what does this mean about other cast members, like Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, and Rhea Perlman? Will the entire cast be made of alternate versions of Barbie and Ken? Will this be a multiverse deal, only more Everything Everywhere All at Once and less Doctor Strange 2?
We find ourselves in yet another Two Things True At Once situation, as we do almost every week at this point. The true things here are:
Too many things are multiverses now and it all gets confusing if you miss a tiny piece somewhere and find yourself sitting in a theater one day like… “But why are there so many Spider-men in this?”
This movie sounds awesome
The lesson here is that Greta Gerwig can do what she wants. And so can Margot Robbie. And maybe the two of them should make a heist movie. Starring Margot Robbie as Barbie. Let Barbie rob a casino. I am not crazy.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR — Let me host Celebrity Jeopardy
ABC
Well, guess what: Celebrity Jeopardy is coming back. Again. Soon. Which is fine. People get really excited about it because it gives them a good excuse to post quotes from the old SNL Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. Which is also fine. I get excited about it because I have a good excuse to post that screencap of Andy Richter sending CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer straight to hell via trivia contest. We all have our things.
ABC has ordered new “Jeopardy!” primetime spinoff series “Celebrity Jeopardy!” The show is set to premiere as part of the Disney-owned broadcaster’s fall slate, airing alongside “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” on Sundays.
Notably included in the announcement for “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” which came alongside ABC’s reveal of its fall 2022-2023 schedule on Tuesday, was this line: “A host will be announced at a later date.”
I do not know how basketball players can concentrate on the game when famous people have courtside seats. Imagine you are spotted up in the corner for a three and you catch a glimpse of, like, Beyoncé out of the corner of your eye. Just sitting there about eight feet away. Looking exactly like Beyoncé. It’s a miracle more people don’t get distracted and get hit in the face with the ball sometimes.
I bring this up now for three reasons:
Guy Fieri sat courtside for the Warriors playoff game this week
I could not concentrate on even just watching the game on televising because he was just sitting there — again, looking exactly like Guy Fieri — at the top of the screen while everyone on the court was playing basketball like any of it was normal
It would be really funny if a dude did get hit in the face with the ball one time and they asked him about it after the game and he was like “Yeah, I looked over and saw Guy Fieri in the front row and I kind of blinked out for a second”
I think that’s all I have on this one.
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If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this up.
From Kelly:
Brian
BRIAN
I need to be sure you’ve seen this. I thought you might have been the one to make it at first. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something on the internet scream BRIAN quite like this. I’m so happy for you.
This is what Kelly sent me.
The final dance in Dirty Dancing, but they’re dancing to The Muppet Show theme tune. pic.twitter.com/ldfjmm5JoQ
Yup, I love it. A perfect piece of internet content. I’m impressed at how well it all matches up. And a little mad I didn’t think to make it first. But mostly impressed. And a little mad. There are a lot of things happening here.
The main thing I want you to know is that I had people send this tweet to me five different ways in one six-hour period this week: email (thank you, Kelly), tweet, DM, text, and Slack message. This was really kind of delightful. It cracks me up that I’ve curated my stupid brand in such a way that a bunch of people saw it and were like “I gotta send this sucker to Brian.” The internet is weird and bad sometimes but other times it can be pretty cool. This is one of those times. I’m so proud of all of us.
A crash in Dallas left a highway scattered with raw eggs after the driver of an 18-wheeler struck a bridge Monday morning.
Wow, I guess the cleanup crews really had to scramble to clean this up.
I assume this job was pretty hard and not just some sort of boring and over-easy task for everyone.
I hope they had en-oeuf people to handle it all.
I’m sorry. I’ll stop now.
(I’m not sorry.)
(I might not stop.)
The big rig was hauling nearly 30,000 pounds of eggs on Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas, according to Metro Video, when the driver struck the overpass. The force of the crash split the trailer’s roof open and jostled the eggs out of their containers, sending hundreds spilling to the concrete below as the truck careened to a stop. The driver was uninjured in the collision.
I know this is serious and there is damaged property and a traffic nightmare and real human inconvenience in all of this but…
… like…
… I would pay something like $30 for a ticket to sit on the overpass and watch this truck get ripped open like a tuna can and send 30,000 pounds of eggs flying through the air. I know this can be construed as a personality flaw. I know it’s childish. But I feel okay about it.
Workers with the Texas Department of Transportation’s Dallas division also assessed the bridge for any damage. As the sun came up, workers were using heavy equipment — including a front-loader and flatbed trailer — to clean up the dozens of boxes and other material strewn across the lanes.
WFAA reporter Susanne Brunner, tweeting from the scene, said the eggs appeared to be Eggland’s Best brand, which the company estimates was valued at $90,000 worth of eggs.
Honestly, big shoutout to Susanne here. Imagine getting this call and being like, “Sorry honey, you’ll have to grab dinner on your own tonight, there’s a massive egg spill on the highway and I need to be on the scene.” That’s kind of cool. Some of her colleagues are out there reporting on house fires and murders. She’s tweeting from the scene of an egg fiasco. This is journalism to me. Good for Susanne. Good for all of us. I’m glad we could find the sunny-side in all of this.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the new Andy Samberg and John Mulaney movie, made its debut on Disney+ today. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Post Malone got involved with the project by recording the movie’s theme song. Now that the film is out, so too is Malone’s theme. The tune is an approximation of Malone’s melodic pop-rap sound with hints of a rock influence here and there. Malone’s song isn’t actually an original, but rather a cover of The Jets’ theme song for the 1989 Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers animated series.
Beyond Rescue Rangers, Malone has plenty of experience with lending his musical talents to the big screen. The most prominent example of that is his and Swae Lee’s 2018 single “Sunflower,” the No. 1 single appeared on Malone’s album Hollywood’s Bleeding after first gracing the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse soundtrack. Meanwhile, last year saw Posty cover Hootie And The Blowfish’s 1995 hit “Only Wanna Be With You” as part of Pokémon‘s 25th anniversary celebration. Hootie’s Darius Rucker admired the cover, as he tweeted, “The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome. My bro @PostMalone bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!!”
Listen to Malone’s “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers Theme” above. Also check out the original Rescue Rangers theme song from 1989 below.
Alex Jones might be facing crippling bankruptcy from the lawsuit filed against him by the Sandy Hook families, but if you think that’s going to stop him from pushing wild conspiracy theories, think again. On a recent episode of InfoWars, Jones accused an unnamed and nebulous cohort of “globalists” of shrinking men’s penises through a chemical in the “liners of soft drink cans.” Just go ahead and sit with that for a minute, and yes, it’s fair to wonder if Jones is trying to tell us something here.
In the bizarre rant, Jones claims that penises are a “third the size they were in the 1960s,” which raises all questions of where Jones got that number and the research involved. He also warned that in the future, dongs won’t even exist, and it’s nothing to joke about. This is serious business.
Alex Jones says the globalists are putting a chemical in the liners of soft drink cans that is causing men’s penises to shrink: “That’s why genitals, I don’t care if you’re black or white, are a third of the size they were of a 1960s male .. and the sperm counts are down 96%” pic.twitter.com/4E9mAjeAce
That’s why genitals — I don’t care if you’re Black or white — are a third the size they were in the 1960s. So the media makes jokes about that a few months ago, and I gave you an examples of. So, you know, if your daddy’s Johnson was a foot long, yours is six inches long. And if yours was six inches, your son’s will be three inches, and on from there they won’t even have a penis! We can make jokes about that all day long, but this isn’t a game. And you can say ‘OK, well who cares?’ Well, we’re sterilized, and the sperm counts are down 96%.
It should be noted that there’s a potential method to Jones’ madness. The frothing podcast host has been ranting recently that his viewers aren’t buying enough InfoWars products while his media empire is on the brink of collapse. And just what “amazing” products does InfoWars sell? Health products that make your body a super immune fortress, of course. Why worry about a vast, shadowy conspiracy to shrink your penis vis-à-vis cans of Sprite, when you can just sprinkle Jones’ miracle powder in your coffee and go about your day, hanging low and strong. That’s the ticket!
If there’s only one word to describe Cardi B, “outspoken” might be it. Whether it is the unbridled confidence she brings to her music or her social media interactions, the Bronx artist is never afraid to say what is on her mind. Where some public figures use that characteristic to disrupt, the “Bodak Yellow” artist opts to contribute her thoughts to everything from the WWE to the political climate of the country and world. So, the Grammy winner sat down with David Letterman in the newly released fourth season of his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction to discuss her responsibility to speak on political matters and keep it separate from her music.
“I don’t really put a lot of political things in my music, but I used the f*ck out of my platform,” she tells the talk show legend. “And I have used my platform even when I was a dancer. Because you might think that people are not looking, but they are.”
Cardi B has made it a point to meet with both Senator Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden in the last few years, which Letterman admired due to how it can impact her fans.
“I mean, I’m a hood chick, and I’m from the Bronx. A lot of people relate to me and follow me because they want to see how I’m dressed, they want to see my lifestyle. I feel like I have a responsibility to also share to them like, ‘Hey, while you here and you’re checking my outfit and checking my music, check out what’s going on over here in this part of the world.’”
Letterman’s fourth season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction also features Billie Eilish, Kevin Durant, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ryan Reynolds, and Will Smith (whose appearance was filmed pre-slap).
Check out a clip of Cardi B’s episode above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Babyface Ray, Toosii, Stunna 4 Vegas, and more.
I’m back and I’m better. We made it through Kendrick Lamar week, and though the conversations stemming from that album are far from done, here’s some new hip-hop music for you to tap into in case “Father Time” is dragging you down too much.
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending May 20, 2022.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
Babyface Ray — Face (Deluxe)
Babyface Ray
Babyface Ray’s January release of Face was well-received, and the Detroit rapper is back with eight new tracks. Veeze, Lucki, Lil Yachty, and DJ Esco add their flavor to an already loaded album that should carry Babyface’s momentum strongly through the rest of 2022.
Hit-Boy x Dreezy — Hitgirl
Dreezy
Dreezy sets the singing aside for a full project produced by the man whose phone definitely won’t stop ringing for beats, Hit-Boy. This will mark Hit’s first time doing a collaborative project with a woman, and together they’ve got something special in store with appearances from Future, Jeremih, Coi Leray, and Ink. Something tells me that the “Jackson 5” record may be the talk of the album.
Stunna 4 Vegas — Raw Rae’s Son
Stunna 4 Vegas
Stunna 4 Vegas hadn’t released a project since 2020’s Welcome To 4 Vegas, but the three singles released this year (“Suspect,” “The One,” and “Pay Me To Speak” made it clear the North Carolina rapper was gearing up to make a splash. His latest album Rae Rae’s Son features Icewear Vezzo, Spinabenz, and YRB Tezz, but Stunna is here to command the show on his own for the most part.
Lil Gnar — Die Bout It
Lil Gnar
Lil Gnar assembled an all-star slate of talent for Die Bout it. The late Lil Keed, Yak Gotti, Trippie Redd, Chief Keef, Lil Uzi Vert, and more rappers join the young rap-rock talent hailing from Atlanta.
Bigbabygucci — Sour & Syrup
Bigbabygucci
Though the title may seem self-explanatory, Bigbabyguccci opting for a completely solo outing on Soda & Syrup may be an indicator he’s got more to talk about than what many would assume. This is his ninth studio album and second release of 2022, so the substances he partakes in clearly aren’t stopping his work ethic.
Singles/Videos
Maxo Kream — “Jigga Dame”
Maxo Kream loves a good simile. On “Jigga Dame” he references meetings he has with Hov in addition to how he breaks bread with his homies like Jay-Z and Dame Dash once did. Aside from the lyrical gymnastics, he spends the video flexing his money, showing show footage, and having a blast with previous collaborator Tyler, The Creator.
Fredo Bang — “Dead Man”
Fredo Bang skates over the menacing production of “Dead Man” with ease, parading around Chicago and doing his best Rev Run impression only instead of scrolling a Blackberry in his bathtub, he’s using a money phone. It’s Chicago to the fullest, with violent bars and a cameo appearance from Lil Durk.
Toosii — “Secrets”
Toosii approaches “Secrets” with a very earnest nature, reflecting on heartbreak and how he doesn’t want his current partner to leave but is too prideful to admit it. The visual shows the young rapper having the time of his life performing at shows, further emphasizing the dualistic nature of having everything he could ever want but still being affected by matters of the heart.
Kamaiyah ft. Da Boii — “F.W.I”
West Coaster Kamaiyah brings the lucid, upbeat vibe we love from that side of the country in the new “F.W.I” video. Da Boii matches the energy, saying him going broke is a bad dream. Looking at the cars and jewelry adorning the video, going broke more so seems unlikely than like a bad dream.
Lupe Fiasco ft. Nayirah — “Autoboto”
Lupe Fiasco shows he can rap over everything, taking on the fast tempo of “Autoboto” and doubling up his flow. The ease in which he spits certainly strengthens his assertion in the chorus that “This is sport.”
Deante Hitchcock — “Callin” and “All My Children”
Deante Hitchcock dropped off a two-pack in new songs “Callin” and “All My Children.” The former samples Jodeci’s “Come & Talk To Me” plus a surprise feature from Westside Boogie where both rappers discuss the ups and downs of their relationships. The latter is a solo effort by Hitchcock, where it sounds like he’s rapping for his life while asserting his place in the game: the father of many. “Y’all just not as good, I mean I’m new to fatherhood but that sh*t been apparent.” is one of the many examples of fun wordplay he employs.
Your Old Droog — “Go To Sleep”
Your Old Droog has a simple, relatable message here: sometimes the best option is sleeping. Life demands a lot from the man, from chasing women to paper chasing. With all of that hard work, rest is a much larger priority and this is a refreshing take from what rap typically advocates for. Apologies to the “No Sleep, Just Grind” demographic out there.
Funkmaster Flex ft. Bobby Shmurda — “Hitta”
After hearing “Hitta,” it makes me wish Bobby Shmurda freestyled over the “Hard In The Paint” beat sooner. There’s clear chemistry between his aggressive rap style and the energy of the classic record’s production. No New York City venue would be safe if Bobby performed this. Perhaps my wish not happening is for the best. There’s still time.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
As one of the biggest yet most elusive rappers of our time, Kendrick Lamar dominates pop culture whenever he releases new music. But did his latest album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers live up to the hype? On this week’s Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen share their thoughts on the undeniably fascinating album and wonder if the rapper’s name alone will secure him a spot on Album Of The Year lists.
In terms of music news this week, Indiecast discusses the other much-anticipated album this week: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House. Steven and Ian also talk about the Billboard Music Awards‘ attempt to “uncancel the canceled” musicians and a contentious article that examined Taylor Hawkins’ final days.
In the Recommendation Corner, Ian gives a shout-out to Gospel, a hardcore NYC band who just dropped their first album in 17 years. Meanwhile, Steven recommends listeners to check out the South Korean indie rockers Say Sue Me, whose new album The Last Thing Left sounds like a mix of Mazzy Star and Pavement.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 89 below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
“I kept noticing that whenever anything happened in the news, his name would start trending and you would go on Twitter and he would have the perfect routine to comment on something that had happened in the news,” said director Judd Apatow when we spoke recently about his new two-part documentary on the life of George Carlin,George Carlin’s American Dream, which premieres on HBO and HBO Max May 20.
What’s most remarkable about Carlin may not be his unheard-of staying power 14 years after his death, though, it may be how he continued to innovate and reinvent himself over a 50+ year career to get to the point where his words and memory would carry so much weight with so many people; something Apatow explores thoroughly here while exploring the drive, complexity, and artistry of the man as well as the impact on and influence of his family life. A remarkable, oft-ignored side that pushes this documentary from mere comedy nerd nirvana to something greater.
Apatow is quick to praise Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, for her determination to help him tell a story about her family that is clear and unsparing, never tawdry but also never candy-coated. To keep things more in the Carlin vernacular, it’s no bullshit.
We spoke with Apatow about telling this story without bias or in service to choices that might make this all feel saccharine. We also discussed Carlin’s career, a point when he was mocked as outdated, his determination to keep getting better, and the heart behind his late-career hard edge. The way that some of the clips were cut together, I don’t think I’ve pumped my fist as much to a documentary since like The Last Dance. It was just really exciting to see. It was just really great work.
[Laughs] Thank you.
Is it easier to do something like this where you don’t have a personal connection like you did with Garry Shandling?
I think the key to making these documentaries is that there are people who are willing to be completely honest about the true story of what happened. I think a lot of times there are people who want to protect the subject of a documentary, and in ways that people don’t understand a lot of it is watered down. People avoid certain moments in performers’ lives, where maybe their behavior was questionable or maybe there’s something that the family is embarrassed about. I was very lucky that Kelly Carlin [George Carlin’s daughter] was adamant that we told the truth.
When making the Garry documentary, is that something you found yourself subconsciously doing? Protecting certain things or pulling back in certain ways that you would not have in something like this when you don’t have that much personal connection or understanding?
It’s not so much that you’re trying to protect someone, it’s that you’re worried about emphasizing something too much. So with Garry, he had several lawsuits, some where he was being sued and some where he was suing people. And you can change what the audience thinks about a conflict based on removing an image or one thing that somebody said. It’s so easy to take a side. I think in the old documentaries, whether you like it or not, whether you want to or not, you do by the choices you make. And we just spent untold hours trying to figure out how to present things in the most truthful way. It’s very difficult. It’s like if you were making a documentary about JFK, are you going to say he was the best president ever? Are you going to show what went wrong? And there are thousands of choices that affect that.
Carlin’s politics were pretty clear, but he did seem like someone who was angry at everyone equally, or maybe not equally. But angry at politicians on both sides of the fence. Whereas now there definitely seems to be more of a slant. Is that where his power comes from, that level of anger at both sides?
Well, he definitely distrusted power. But he also said he liked individuals, he didn’t like groups. You know, he said, “When people form groups pretty soon they’re wearing hats.” He had a lot of criticism for both sides of the political spectrum, but he made it very clear that he thought that Democrats were concerned about people and Republicans were concerned about stuff. And he certainly had a lot of progressive points of view. At the same time, he really distrusted the government because he felt like it had been co-opted by big business. And that there were a lot of people running things whose interests were not the same as the citizens of the country.
It’s just shocking watching the documentary and coming across the “America The Beautiful” song that he sang in 1972 or 1973 and realizing how much it all still applies. Shouting into a bullhorn and people just not hearing — was that part of what led to some of his frustration?
Well, I think he was somebody that had more hope in the late sixties and the early seventies that good things would happen as a result of protests and people speaking up and paying attention. And then later in his life, he realized that even though people had been given the opportunity to treat each other better and treat the earth better, they didn’t.
Then his comedy came from a different, much darker stance, which is, “You people have ruined the world, so I’m just going to observe it and laugh as it goes down in flames.” And I always felt that the reason why he did that was, as a way of slapping you in the face to say, “Wake up.” He got so dark that your reaction would either be, “I agree,” or “No, I don’t agree. I want to do something about it.” You know, it is an older man’s way of saying, “Hey, it’s your turn.”
Was that your view of it when it was happening?
It was, it was. I always thought there was a big heart behind it. And he decided to take a very strong comedic stance, but I never for a second thought that he would ever want one person to suffer in any way. It was a way to exaggerate everything, to get people to look at how awful certain things were and hopefully to make a choice to treat each other better.
Going into this and going through all these materials, diaries, journals, and things — what was the biggest revelation for you?
Well, what I connected to emotionally was that he met his wife, Brenda, when he was working at a comedy club, and she was an employee there. They got married a few months later, and he was completely broke. We found a letter where they were writing her parents because they had $7 in the bank. And a lot of this story is about this relationship. And also about a woman in the sixties and seventies who had a husband who left town to work and [she] was left alone and didn’t see the possibility of pursuing her own dreams for a long time. And they both fell into terrible addiction. And how they climbed out of it and stayed together until her death. Kelly Carlin was so honest about what it was like to grow up in that type of house that was going through so many struggles.
I wasn’t aware of how much he was kind of dragged at one point in the eighties. Was that something that you were aware of at the time, that he had kind of fallen out of vogue and become uncool?
I don’t think I realized in that period that anyone considered him uncool. When I would see SCTV rake someone over the coals, I always thought, “That’s the point of SCTV.” They made fun of everyone. So it didn’t seem especially specific or cruel. But when you are the subject of it and people are looking at what you’re doing and finding what’s funny about it, it’s certainly painful.
I think it’s more like a musician who put out five great albums and then people are wondering why six is weaker. It’s very hard to keep up that quality. And he had been at it for a long time at that point, 15 years or so. And he was addicted to cocaine, and it’s hard to continue to do your best work in that mode. And the culture moves on, and suddenly Steve Martin arrives and Andy Kaufman and Richard Pryor is peeking. And you realize, “I’m not at the top of this form.” But what’s amazing about George Carlin is he takes a breath and says, “Okay, I have to get better.” And he did that a few times in his life. He didn’t look at it like, “Oh no, the world was passing me by.” He said, “I need to do the work.”
The ability to not just dominate, but then to drop and then rise back up. To use the Jordan reference again, Jordan not being able to dominate in the paint, becoming somebody with more of an outside shot. Ali finding ways to fight as he got older.
It’s like, Bob Dylan putting out Time Out Of Mind.
Yeah. Adaptability is, to me, the defining aspect of greatness. Would you agree?
Yes, because he never looked at it like some people do, which is, “I guess that was my time. And now I’ll coast.” You know, he saw Sam Kinison and thought, “I’m not going to eat this guy’s dust.” That’s what he said. And he spent the rest of his life trying to out-Kinison Kinison. And it’s really remarkable, the energy and the focus he put into improving and going deeper. That’s very rare. It reminds me of Sydney Lumet directing Until The Devil Knows You’re Dead when he was 80. And it was so edgy and incredible. It’s such an inspiration for me, people who just keep looking for ways to get better.
Are you looking to do more documentaries down the road?
I’m going to do more. I like documentaries, I find them a lot less stressful. Because when you write jokes, you just never know if they’re going to work. So in a way you’re just scared all the time. You know, if you make a TV show or movie, you don’t know how people react. But with a documentary, you’re in a constant exploration of everything somebody left behind. And you’re trying to find a way to put it together, to tell the story of their life. And you feel a responsibility to do it well, but it’s not that terror of a joke bombing.
Is that responsibility solely the idea of getting it right? Or is it also the idea of, “This is a signal into the future, this is something that helps to preserve this person so I want to get it right?”
Yes. I feel like, when these types of movies exist, they are the path in for people to discover an artist. You know, one of my favorite ones was the two-part Martin Scorsese/Bob Dylan documentary. He also did an incredible one about George Harrison. I think that in the future, when people have been drowned under millions more hours of content, they will discover who they want to learn about through documentaries. So someone will watch the Bob Dylan documentary, maybe even before they go deep into listening to all of his music. And I think to have your life and career organized in that way, creates a possibility that someone will watch The Larry Sanders Show or watch the George Carlin specials, because they have some sense of the environment they were made in.
I don’t want to fracture your worldview, but that seems like a hell of a lot more pressure than just if a joke is funny.
[Laughs] Well, it’s less pressure because George made all those specials. He left behind all these interviews. He left behind 23 hours of conversations that he made in order to write his autobiography. All the brilliance is there. It’s just me finding a way to present it logically and in a way where it reaches you and moves you. But the raw materials are great.
Judd Apatow’s two-part ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’ documentary releases on May 20 on HBO Max and on consecutive nights on HBO with Part one on May 20 and Part two May 21
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(@RonFilipkowski) 
