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It has been almost two years since Compton rapper Roddy Ricch made his impressive debut with Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial. Released through Atlantic in 2019, the album spawned the runaway hit “The Box,” making Roddy a household name at just 20 years old. Since then, though, it’s been relatively quiet on the “new music” front, as he made rare appearances as a featured rapper in 2020 — most notably on DaBaby’s No. 1 hit “Rockstar” — but this year, he’s shown signs that his follow-up album is on the way, releasing the Mustard-produced single “Late At Night” in June with a “Thriller”-inspired music video.

Last night, he gave the first major indication of what’s to come, posting a cryptic photo to his Instagram Story that appeared to reveal the title of the upcoming project. A screenshot of what looks like a streaming upload reads “RR LIVE LIFE FA$T,” which some have interpreted as the album’s title: Live Life Fast.

In addition to promoting this mysterious new project, Roddy has busied himself making guest appearances throughout the year. So far, he’s appeared on 42 Dugg’s “4 Da Gang,” DJ Khaled’s “Body In Motion” with Lil Baby and Bryson Tiller, “Stunnaman” with Birdman and Lil Wayne, and on Kanye West’s “Pure Souls” from Donda.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Is there anything more badass than walking out of a restaurant when you’re asked to show a photo ID with your COVID vaccination card? Not if you’re Fox News host Bill Hemmer.

On Monday, as Mediaite notes, Hemmer and his “America’s Newsroom” co-host Dana Perino were discussing the various mandates being put in place by New York City restaurants in order to protect restaurant workers and diners from COVID. But this being Fox News, it was only a matter of time before the “news” became personal—and braggadocious, with Hemmer sharing this spellbinding tale:

“I popped into a restaurant three weeks ago. I said, ‘I don’t have my vaccination card but I do have an app,’ so I downloaded that and I showed it to them. And they said, ‘Sir, can we see something with your name on it?’ I said, ‘Here’s my Amex, here’s my Visa.’ And they said, ‘Sir, can we see a card with your picture on it?’”

While Perino wanted to know if he showed them his Fox News badge—which, besides a license or any other piece of photo ID any regular human carries around with them—would have been the logical thing to do in response, Hemmer, rule-breaker that he is, showed the restaurant worker a thing or two… by walking out.

“I turned around and walked out!” Hemmer explained. “‘You guys can have it. Good luck.’ The joint was empty.”

It’s not quite clear why Hemmer would take the trouble to download an app to prove his vaccination status, then reach into his pocket and show more than one credit card—but then become indignant when asked to show something with his picture on it. But he somehow thought it was an interesting enough yarn to share it with viewers.

Greta Thunberg’s got nothing on Bill Hemmer.

(Via Mediaite)

The late summer sun beat down on those lined to enter Pitchfork Music Festival 2021 for the first time in over two years, creating a sense of anticipation not only to enter the gates, but to find a spot to take shelter from the unusually warm September afternoon. As soon as the doors opened, any thoughts of discomfort were instantly curbed by the excitement of the return of the veteran indie festival.

During the three-day event, thousands of music lovers were reminded of the collective euphoria of what the pandemic made us sorely miss; the cathartic, joyous, and albeit at times frustratingly claustrophobic experience of witnessing your favorite band perform to a crowd of equally-dedicated fans. And with more band tees than designer outfits seen at the event coupled with headliners Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, and Erykah Badu, music is still at the forefront of the Chicago festival.

Pitchfork Music Festival’s 15th iteration took place over the weekend of September 10-12. While the canceled 2020 event was slated to be their anniversary celebration, this year was still made special. The annual Chicago festival takes place in West Loop’s Union Park and has always made music their top priority. This year was no different, with the festival being one of the only in the country to achieve 50/50 gender equality in their lineup. For a band, playing at Pitchfork also acts as a caliber for “making it” in indie music, a sentiment early afternoon bands would often remark on stage. Bartees Strange was one of the first to perform on Saturday. Drawing an impressively-sized crowd for an early spot, Strange announced it had always been a dream of his to play the festival, a feeling echoed by Chicago’s Divino Niño, who noted they have aspired to take the stage at Pitchfork for over a decade.

The weekend was jam-packed with amazing performances from Faye Webster to Caroline Polachek. But Danny Brown’s Sunday set perfectly encapsulated the experience of returning to a large-scale festival after being confined in our homes for a year. He was, as we all were, a little rusty. Brown no doubt put on a wildly fun show, but because he hadn’t performed in a while, there were times he would stop his set after forgetting his lyrics. He joked that while his fans may have sat around in quarantine listening to his songs, if he had done the same we should “call a therapist.” Despite the hiccups, the rapper constantly reminded the crowd how overjoyed he was to be there, proving that enduring discomfort was well-worth the experience.

And endure discomfort we did. After being around no more than a handful of people at a time for over a year, getting thrown into a tightly-packed festival full of thousands was jarring to say the least. Excitement about the idea of spending three days seeing live music shrouded the reality that it would also mean three days of using unsightly portable bathrooms at a time when we’re constantly reminded of the danger of germs. The dirt-covered grounds of Union Park coupled with a constant stampede of people lent itself to an incessant layer of lingering brown dust, turning unlucky festival goers’ white t-shirts to a mousy brown in the matter of a few minutes. Lines for the water bottle refill stations were never less than 15 minutes long, and the small handful of food vendors providing meals to the entire festival created such long wait times that going without dinner was not uncommon.

But the lack of creature comforts aside, the dusty, sweltering, three-day event was a reminder of the connective power of live music — and proved what people will endure for the collective joy of seeing their favorite bands on stage. Though we were all covered in a thin layer of dirt, people still simultaneously thrashed to Dogleg and Oso Oso, danced to Kelly Lee Owens and Yaeji, swooned at Jamila Woods and Erykah Badu, cried at Big Thief and Waxhahatchee, and were stunned by rock goddesses St. Vincent and Kim Gordon.

Pitchfork’s lineup is curated with the website’s editorial coverage in mind, but although the publication now calls NYC its home, Pitchfork Music Festival is still a Chicago event through-and-through. Ubiquitous Chicago beer company Goose Island cleverly turned a CTA train car into a walk-up bar, and even collaborated with Faye Webster for a peach-flavored lager inspired by her Better Distractions album. Local radio station Chirp FM hosted a record fair inviting local record stores and indie labels to sell vinyl and merchandise. A section of the grounds were even dedicated to local and national poster artists, who displayed their concert poster art and conversed about their favorite indie bands.

The only mention of Pitchfork’s website itself came in the form of a tongue-in-cheek comment during St. Vincent’s show-stopping headlining performance inspired by the ‘70s, flower child world of her Daddy’s Home album. A ringing vintage phone was answered by St. Vincent on stage, who pretended she was talking to her sister on the other line. The singer said she was at Pitchfork, then held the phone up to the crowd so the other line could hear the shouts of thousands watching her set. St. Vincent told the crowd that their screams were only “rated a 6.7,” and could be better, a brazen nod to the score Pitchfork rated her Daddy’s Home album.

After a full weekend of incredible music, Erykah Badu’s magnificent voice serenaded Pitchfork Music Festival 2021 to a cathartic close. Once the doors had officially shut, attendees left Union Park exhausted but still buzzing from the experience. Now left with sore feet and a camera roll full of precious memories, fans are already anticipating next year’s event — as long as they remember to bring extra hand sanitizer.

Check out Uproxx’s full 2021 festival coverage here.

The 2021 Met Gala certainly wasn’t a stuffy event, and much of that was due to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez distracting (as well as both thrilling and outraging) people with her “Tax The Rich” dress. The gown, designed by Aurora James (founder of Brother Vellies, a Black-owned business out of Brooklyn), carried an explicit message, of course, but AOC clarified to reporters that “I think it’s time we bring all classes into the conversation” of a “fair tax code.” And that message was visible in walk-away mode.

Naturally, some people didn’t dig this dress, which appears to have been intended to cause a messy reaction. AOC wrote on Instagram that she was “proud” to wear this dress by James, “as a sustainably focused, Black woman immigrant designer who went from starting her dream @brothervellies at a flea market in Brooklyn to winning the @cfda against all odds.” And yep, this was a “borrowed” garment.

However, two outspoken right-wing voices didn’t approve of the message or its presentation. Rootin’ tootin Lauren Boebert tweeted her disdain for “hypocrites” with shade about mask-wearing, too: “Good Morning to everyone except those who spent last night at a $35,000 per person event with unmasked celebrity hypocrites wearing a tacky dress to fight ‘wealth inequality.’”

Whereas Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren tagged AOC, calling her “tone deaf.” Tomi added, “This party is full of clowns. It’s embarrassing.”

Naturally, Boebert and Lauren both did not fare well in the reply department.

As other people Twitter suggested, however, AOC was probably calling out hypocrisy rather than being hypocritical herself, so “the hypocrisy is the point.”

On her quest to re-record her back catalog, Taylor Swift has earned plenty of supporters along the way. Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl is on board, and in fact, he actually once tried to do something similar.

A new Rolling Stone feature on Grohl and Foo Fighters includes an anecdote about Grohl at a party, speaking with a musician who plays with Swift. The artist told Grohl about Swift’s current mission to re-record her albums and the reasons behind it. A “deeply impressed” Grohl said of Swift’s re-recording process, “Like, f*ck yeah, girl. Hell hath no fury. Now I’m scared of her! I would be so nerdy and into it. I think it’s so much fun.”

He also noted that he once tried to do something similar and enlist the current iteration of Foo Fighters re-record the band’s 1995 self-titled album, which Grohl had recorded by himself over the course of a few days. However, the band’s wasn’t feeling the idea: “I was really into it. I was like, ‘It would sound like Styx, you know, instead of like a f*cking garage recording.’ Everyone was like, ‘No f*cking way, dude. People will wipe their asses with that.’”

Check out the full feature here.

Patton Oswalt stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote the new season of A.P. Bio, but while he was there, the stand-up comedian took a moment to hilariously address his recent headline-making decision to cancel tour dates in states that won’t allow venues to have COVID restrictions.

When Oswalt announced that he was pulling shows in Florida and Utah from his upcoming tour, he bluntly stated at the time, “I have an ego but my ego is not big enough to think that people should die to hear my stupid comedy.” While sitting down with Fallon on Monday night (after returning fire on Ted Cruz), Oswalt expanded on that premise, which left Fallon both laughing and exasperatingly telling people at home “please don’t die.” It was pure late night gold from Oswalt:

When did everyone become Thanos? Where it’s just like, “Whoever dies, dies. You just go out there.” And by the way, if that’s your philosophy, don’t die for a– go die seeing Lizzo. Like, that’s a good last concert to see.

By the way, you shouldn’t die for any entertainer. But if you are make it count. Don’t be in the hospital going, “I’m so glad I got to see that fat nerd whine about The Mandalorian.” That’s a terrible final [moment]. That shouldn’t be your last thing.

Of course, the big question is whether or not Oswalt’s bit was in response to Jim Breuer, or The Tonight show simply zeroing in on a viral moment from earlier in the month. On Sunday, news broke that Breuer is doing the opposite of Oswalt by canceling comedy shows at venues that do have a vaccine requirement, which he literally called “segregation.” Once the story started to spread, the former SNL star got roasted on social media on Monday where he was trending by mid-day. There’s no telling whether Oswalt (who’s an avid Twitter user) put a little extra pepper in his bit just for Breuer, but it’s amusing to imagine, at least.

If ever there was a time for Rudy Giuliani to regain even an ounce of the respect that he has lost around the world for being a bona fide nutter, the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001—his response to which earned him the nickname of “America’s Mayor.” It was a solemn occasion to be sure… unless you were at Rudy’s annual 9/11 memorial dinner, which a seemingly inebriated Giuliani appeared to have mistaken for open mic night at the Chuckle Hut, complete with a terrible impression Queen Elizabeth II.

While Giuliani is swearing he was not totally sloshed when he gave that speech, Seth Meyers isn’t buying it. On Monday night, Meyers dedicated half of his “A Closer Look” segment to Rudy’s bizarre 9/11 behavior, and his terrible knack for impersonations. More importantly, Meyers wanted to make it clear that Giuliani has absolutely denied that he was plastered during that terrible piece of performance art—and that the Late Night host wasn’t buying it:

Rudy gave an interview over the weekend and I’m going to read it to you, the actual transcript, like a guy trying to get his keys from the bartender:

‘Yes I had a scotch. But I was not drunk. There is a deliberate attempt [by] the left wing to paint me that way. I am not a drunk. I don’t think I’ve ever [been] publicly drunk in my whole life. The last time I was—was probably in college. I like to drink scotch and have cigars. That’s where it probably comes from. I drink moderate amounts of scotch. I mostly drink scotch because I like to have it with cigars.

I didn’t have a cigar last night. And this is a caricature that the left is trying to put on me… I can’t remember the last time I was drunk. Yes, of course, I had a scotch at the beginning of dinner. Beyond that, I didn’t have — it was watered down. Not even sure I drank the whole thing. It hurts my reputation for someone to say I’m drunk.’

The good news for Rudy is that it’s not his slurred speeches or other seemingly inebriated antics that have lost him the respect of pretty much everyone, including former BFF Donald Trump. “But sure, that’s what’s hurting your reputation,” Meyers said. “Not the fact that you helped incite a riot at the Capitol, lied about the election, had your law license suspended, forgot to swing your balls forward before you sat down for an interview, accidentally gave a press conference outside a landscaping company, had hair dye leaking out of the side of your head like the juice leaking out of a Hefty bag, and got caught shaving at a table in an airport.”

You can watch the full clip, which begins around the 5:30 mark, above.

Over the years, Dave Grohl has spent some time considering Kurt Cobain, whether his late bandmate is brought up in interviews or he looks back on his own. The deceased Nirvana leader even finds his way into Grohl’s “anxiety dreams,” as he tells Rolling Stone in a new feature.

Grohl describes how these dreams tend to go, saying:

“I’ve always had these live-performance anxiety dreams. They’re usually Nirvana-related. Like, Kurt’s still alive and we’re doing a show, and I’m so excited that people get to see this once again. And I walk onstage and my drumsticks are the size of telephone poles. And then the audience just kind of begins to scatter.”

He also spoke about performing “Heart-Shaped Box” with his daughter Violet at an event, describing it as a particularly emotional moment: “One of the greatest parts about it was that I think that she most represented the original aesthetic of Nirvana in that she’s a kid going through those difficult years of discovering identity. I’m used to playing that song with Kurt standing in front of me. And looking out and seeing Violet was… I beat the f*cking sh*t out of my drums. The drums weren’t big enough for what I was doing. It was f*cking amazing.”

Read the full interview here.

Tucker Carlson is suddenly Nicki Minaj’s biggest fan—and all, appropriately, because of a pair of swollen testicles. On Monday, the “Bang Bang” singer posted a rather personal, and somewhat revolting, detail about her cousin’s friend who, if he exists at all, presumably was not consulted about having the status of his inflated and inoperable junk tweeted to nearly 23 million people:

“My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”

Before reading that tweet aloud (which, trust us, is worth losing a piece of your soul to watch a Fox News clip), Carlson—who is definitely the kind of guy who has used the words “my Black friend” on occasion—had to explain who Minaj was to his audience, which is sort of like a twenty-something trying to explain TikTok to their grandparents.

“So Nicki Minaj is a huge rap artist. Not sure there’s much overlap between her audience and this one, but our producers assure us she’s one of the biggest in the world,” Carlson said, in what might be the understatement of the century.

While there’s nothing funny about COVID, the hilarity of the words “impotent” and “testicles became swollen” coming out of Carlson’s mouth was not lost on anyone, particularly given the graveness with which he read them. And the chyron certainly didn’t make it any less funny.

But the real kicker came in Carlson’s three-word response to the tweet, as reported by Mediaite: “Which seems sensible.”

Carlson promised to report more on the “big reaction” to Minaj’s tweet on Tuesday’s show. Which, we’re sort of looking forward to watching.

Meanwhile, who do you trust?

(Via Mediaite)

The Met Gala is usually the biggest fashion event of the year, and this event was no exception (although yep, it’s another weird year). This year’s theme happened to be “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which got ignored by plenty of attendees (well, AOC definitely did not ignore it), and then several of the guys decided to play it safe with the basic black suit. Those guys included Channing Tatum, Brooklyn Beckham, and Justin Bieber, although definitely not Dan Levy. As for Elliot Page, he wore a classic Balenciaga suit adorned with a green flower (an homage to Oscar Wilde). On anyone else, this black, oversized suit may have been a non-event, but Elliot rocked these duds.

The good vibes are contagious. The Umbrella Academy star and Oscar winner’s team revealed (earlier this year) that his career offers were pouring in since coming out as trans in December 2020, and over the summer, Page posted his first swim-trunks photo since having top surgery (a process to remove breast tissue), which he discussed with Oprah Winfrey. Elliot had detailed how “freeing” the procedure made him feel, which was probably how Elliot felt while hearing photographers yell his name in the below video.

As for the suit? Twitter users are quite good with this “basic” and “boring” suit at the Met Gala, but only because Elliot freaking wanted to wear it.

The lesson here? Elliot Page can pull off whatever the heck he wants, and people dig it.