GoneTrending

Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has had the opportunity to collaborate with a handful of rappers over the years. A prominent and relatively recent example of that is “Skeletons,” a highlight from Travis Scott’s hit 2018 album Astroworld. Earlier this week, on September 7, Tame Impala kicked off their comeback tour at the United Center in Chicago, and during the set, the band decided to perform the Scott collaboration for the first time.

In a 2018 Billboard interview, Parker spoke about how “Skeletons” came to be, saying, “[Scott’s] manager got in touch and said he was a big fan [and suggested we] meet up if I was ever in LA, so I went to a few sessions with him. We hung out and played some stuff, and he really liked what ended up being ‘Skeletons.’ That definitely got the biggest reaction out of him. I could tell he liked it. I remember going through this stuff to play to Travis, and just thought, ‘Oh, this is actually really up his alley.’ I know Travis likes his psych-rock. He likes his crusty metal guitar sound. I was struck by how much I thought it would fit Travis’ thing even though it’s not hip-hop-sounding. So much hip-hop is cycled from music that sounds like that — crusty-sounding ’70s rock. There’s so much of that, that kind of King Crimson stuff.”

In that same conversation, he talked about what it was like working with Scott, saying, “What’s cool about people like Travis is that they’re just getting a bunch of people in the room and seeing what happens. For a lot of it, I was just a team player. At some points, there were 10, 20 people in the room. You could just be there and hang out and not do anything for like an hour. And then something perks your ears up, and you can be like, ‘Oh yeah yeah, plug me in, I’ve got an idea.’ We’d go for hours, until three in the morning.”

Watch a clip of the “Skeletons” performance above.

While scientists and researchers around the world are desperately working to get ahead of COVID-19 and the many—and much deadlier—virus variants it’s now spawning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has apparently been busy working on a cure for an issue that has plagued the world for as long as men have had penises: Rape!

On Wednesday, while defending the Lone Star State’s controversial—and possibly illegal—decision to ban all abortion procedures after six weeks of pregnancy, a reporter pushed Abbott on his unwillingness to make exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Rather than engage in some sort of honest or meaningful conversation in which the governor might attempt to defend his position, he instead vowed that he was dedicated to… doing away with rape altogether. Wait, that was a feasible option all along?!

As The Washington Post reports, Abbott’s precise (and precisely idiotic) response to the question was:

“Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”

This is groundbreaking stuff, people. The governor of Texas has declared that “rape is a crime” and vowed to “eliminate all rapists” from his state by “aggressively going out and arresting them.”

The utter stupidity—and offensiveness—of this comment was not lost on White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who went full C.J. Cregg when asked to respond to Abbott’s promise to create a rape-free Texas:

“Well if Governor Abbott has a means of eliminating all rapists or all rape from the United States, then there’d be bipartisan support for that. But given that there has never in history of the country, and the world, been any leader who’s ever been able to eliminate rape, [or] eliminate rapists from our streets… it’s one of the many reasons [why] women in Texas should have access to health care. So it does not change our objectives, it does not change our commitment… Our Department of Justice is continuing to look at legal options. Our Department of Health and Human Services is also continuing to look at all options. And the president has made clear that it’s a priority to do everything we can to ensure women in Texas have access to healthcare.”

In other words: Call us when you’ve solved the rape problem, Governor Abbott. And make sure you tell us how you plan to address the approximately 90 percent of rapes and sexual assaults that go unreported.

It’s been less than a month since Lorde released Solar Power, but she’s already back with new music: Today marks the surprise release of Te Ao Mārama, an EP sung entirely in te reo Māori, a language spoken by the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. The project features five songs from Solar Power delivered with help from New Zealand singers Bic Runga and Marlon Williams.

Announcing the project in a message to fans, Lorde noted, “I know I’m someone who represents New Zealand globally in a way, and in making an album about where I’m from, it was important to me to be able to say: this makes us who we are down here. It’s also just a crazy beautiful language — I loved singing in it. Even if you don’t understand te reo, I think you’ll get a kick out of how elegant my words sound in it.”

Stream Te Ao Mārama above and check out Lorde’s full message about the project below.

“I have some VERY EXCITING NEWS. News I’ve been waiting a really long time to share with you. It is my great pleasure to present TE AO MĀRAMA, a 5-song companion piece to SOLAR POWER, sung entirely in te reo Māori, the indigenous language of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Many things revealed themselves slowly to me while I was making this album, but the main realisation by far was that much of my value system around caring for and listening to the natural world comes from traditional Māori principles. There’s a word for it in te reo: kaitiakitanga, meaning ‘guardianship or caregiving for the sky, sea and land’. I’m not Māori, but all New Zealanders grow up with elements of this worldview. Te ao Māori and tikanga Māori are a big part of why people who aren’t from here intuit our country to be kind of ‘magical’, I think. I know I’m someone who represents New Zealand globally in a way, and in making an album about where I’m from, it was important to me to be able to say: this makes us who we are down here. It’s also just a crazy beautiful language– I loved singing in it. Even if you don’t understand te reo, I think you’ll get a kick out of how elegant my words sound in it. Hana’s translations for Te Ara Tika / The Path and Hine-i-te-Awatea / Oceanic Feeling in particular take my g-d breath away.

I told the full story of the project to Leonie Hayden, editor at The Spinoff Ātea, which I highly recommend you check out here.

Huge thanks go to Hemi and Hana for their exquisite translations and general wisdom/mana/lols, to Madeline and her aunties Sandra and Marian for their expert guidance, to my favourite Kiwi musicians Bic Runga and Marlon Williams who grace these songs, to Huia Hamon for graciously allowing me to colourise one of her papa Rei’s iconic works for the cover, and of course to Dame Hinewehi Mohi and the greatest of all time, Sir Tīmoti Kāretu for overseeing this. Absolute royalty in the credits!!!

All proceeds from TE AO MĀRAMA will go to two amazing NZ-based charities– Forest and Birdand Te Hua Kawariki Charitable Trust.”

It’s hard enough for an actor to play one iconic character, but Keanu Reeves, the great Keanu Reeves, has three. There’s Ted of Bill and Ted; John Wick, who’s thinking he’ll be back in John Wick 4; and Neo, who first appeared in 1999’s The Matrix. He reprised the character in two sequels (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions) that were seen as disappointments at the time but now everyone has decided are good, and after an 18-year break, Reeves will again don the sunglasses in The Matrix Resurrections.

You can watch the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections above. Whoa.

The Matrix Resurrections, which was written and directed by Lana Wachowski and also stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Christina Ricci, hits theaters and HBO Max on December 22. It’s official: The Matrix 4 is a Christmas movie.

For 45 minutes on Wednesday night in San Pedro Sula, the United States men’s national team really stunk. The Americans, facing about as close to a must-win match as an international team could face in game three of 14 in the final round of World Cup Qualifying, rolled out a lineup that made zero sense and looked so listless that “listless” somehow is not a strong enough word to describe things. And thanks to a goal by Brayan Moya in the 27th minute, Honduras actually stepped into the dressing room up, 1-0, on the No. 10 team in the world.

But by the time the dust settled, the United States — down a number of its top performers and relying on a hodgepodge of largely youngsters and MLS players in the second half — picked up three points in a 4-1 win that propelled them to third place in CONCACAF as this international window came to an end.

The USMNT entered the game a bit of a mess, taking two points from two matches (one of which took place on home soil) and mired in an off-the-field controversy revolving around standout midfielder Weston McKennie. Add in that a few big-name players on the roster, namely European wunderkinds Gio Reyna and Sergino Dest, left the camp with injuries, and things looked bleak entering Honduras, a famously tricky place to play.

Murphy’s law struck in a big way during the first half. The Americans could not complete passes or dribbles with any sort of consistency, as the team’s brand new 5-2-3 formation just did not work. Honduras, meanwhile, looked crisp and lively on its home soil. Both of these things were hammered home by Moya’s goal in which he got ample amounts of space to head a ball past Matt Turner.

Entering halftime, the U.S. found itself completely out of ideas and near the bottom of the table. Berhalter, who received scorn for holding onto his subs for far too long in the team’s last match against Canada, responded by taking off a trio of players who were underperforming (John Brooks, George Bello, Josh Sargent) and replacing them with players (Sebastian Lletget, Antonee Robinson, Brenden Aaronson) who let them go to a more familiar 4-3-3 formation. It took three minutes for this gamble to work, as Robinson opened his national team account with a lovely finish and a backflip to celebrate.

While the team was dealt a brutal hand several minutes later when ace winger Christian Pulisic came off due to injury, the USMNT kept chipping away until 18-year-old striker Ricardo Pepi, perhaps the best prospect at the position the United States has ever produced, got a goal in his national team debut. Another sub, DeAndre Yedlin, whipped in a ball that found Pepi’s head, and the FC Dallas star headed it right past Luis López.

Pepi was done scoring, but he wasn’t done creating opportunities. In the 86th minute, Pepi drove the ball forward after a turnover in midfield and attracted both Honduras defenders in the area. This left Aaronson totally unmarked. Pepi found him and the RB Salzburg man did the rest.

The icing on the cake came via Lletget, who pounced on a saved effort from Pepi and had a wide open net to pass the ball into.

Because of the pile-on of goals at the end, the Americans now sit in third in CONCACAF, which would send them to Qatar in 2022. Its next round of World Cup Qualifiers take place next month, as the team hosts Jamaica on Oct. 7, travels to Panama on Oct. 10, and comes home to take on Costa Rica on Oct. 13.

Earlier this year, Nicki Minaj made it clear that she was working on music thanks to the re-release of her beloved mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty. Three new songs were attached to the re-uploaded project, with one of them being “Seeing Green” with Drake and Lil Wayne. From that moment on, new releases from the Minaj arrived at a consistent rate. She teamed with Polo G for their first collaboration before remixing BIA’s hit record, “Whole Lotta Money.” Nowadays, the Pink Friday rapper is hard at work on what appears to be her next album, and as she progresses with it, Nicki took to Twitter to put out a special request.

After sharing a sultry snippet that features her repeatedly singing, “yeah,” Nicki revealed she needed help from a crew of singers to complete the song. “Barbz: ask Keke, Tamar & Brandy to redo this,” she wrote in a tweet. “That’s what I sound like in my head. Would love to hear ppl who can rlly do it.” In a second post, she added, “Summer, Jhené & Kehlani can be good in the blend as well with their harmonies.” Kehlani caught wind of the tweet and asked Nicki to be a bit more specific with her request. “Just challenging 6 gurls to redo that lil thing I sang,” Nicki replied. “It’s on my story. Then I’ll take the a cappella & put together a lil Smthn,” she wrote, adding, “no big zeal zo.”

Summer Walker also responded to Nicki and wrote, “I’d love that [black heart emoji].” Nicki replied, “Okay puddin pop. Love you. Dm it or post it when u want. No big zeal.”

It’s unclear when the record Nicki has in mind will arrive, but fans sure are excited for its release in the future.

You can view Nicki’s tweets above.

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

The 2021-22 NFL season officially kicks off on Thursday evening. The defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get the chance to celebrate their title by playing hosts to the first game of the year. On the other side of the field will be the Dallas Cowboys, which had a rough season last year but, with Dak Prescott returning from injury and a division that might be the weakest in the league, there are reasons to believe Dallas will be able to make its way back to the playoffs.

Because this is the NFL we’re talking about here, the league can’t just make the first game of the season a football game that is on our televisions. It has to make this an all-out event, including a pregame concert by Ed Sheeran. You have possibly seen this graphic by now…

Pretty good! Well it turns out the NFL has come down with a pretty bad case of Sheeranmania, because the league has decided to make a bunch of gear that has his name on it to celebrate his pregame performance.

Unfortunately, it appears there has never been a player with the last name Sheeran in the history of the league, which ruins any and all hopes I had with ending this post with a joke saying this gear paid reference to some random player from the 1930s.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Tuesday marks the start of this year’s New York Fashion Week, and people can expect celebrities to step out with their best outfits. One example came from Gunna. In a recent Instagram post, the rapper shared a picture of his own NYFW outfit, wearing what appeared to be a sheer long sleeve sweater covered by a leather vest. The rapper also rocked some above-the-knee shorts and tall leather Rick Owen boots.

Gunna captioned the photo “D . S . 4 (mask emoji),” which is the abbreviation of his upcoming album, Drip Season 4. The rapper previously released the project’s lead single, “9 Times Outta 10.” As for the rapper’s interesting outfit choice, once fans caught a glimpse of it they jumped on social media to share their thoughts. One wrote, “Every time I see Gunna he’s dressed like an evil Mary J. Blige,” while another said, “Gunna really put this sh*t on and said to himself ‘yeah this the fit.’”

You can check out the post above and read some more comments from fans below.

Despite the jokes and the memes Gunna received about his NYFW outfit, the rapper seemed unbothered by the comments, as he’s yet to respond to the boatload of criticism.

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

On Wednesday, a 130-year-old bronzeu statue of General Robert E. Lee was hoisted off its pedestal in downtown Richmond, Virginia, once the capital of the Confederacy. To some, it was an emotional moment. To others, it was an outrage. Conservatives continue to valorize the military leader, who fought to keep the United States divided. One of them was former president Donald J. Trump, who a century and a half later did much the same thing.

In one of his trademark press releases that have replaced his since banned tweets, Trump fired off a lengthy screed meant to stoke the ire of his base. He claimed that he’s considered “the greatest strategist of them all.” He even went so far as to say he “would have won the war,” had it not been for the Battle of Gettysburg, seeming to suggest that that would have been a good thing.

“Our culture is being destroyed and our history and heritage, both good and bad, are being extinguished by the Radical Left, and we can’t let that happen!” the statement read. “If only we had Robert E. Lee to command our troops in Afghanistan, that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago. What an embarrassment we are suffering because we don’t have the genius of a Robert E. Lee!”

There were a lot of ahistorical chestnuts liberally sprinkled throughout, but perhaps the strangest thing was the part where he downplayed Lee, that peerless strategist, losing the Civil War.

Quite apart from him lionizing someone who tried to destroy the United States of America.

Then again, perhaps Trump identifies someone who lost in Pennsylvania.

Maybe he just loves losers.

And so, apparently, does the political party that continues to embrace him.

But one thing was for sure: If Trump was against removing the statue of Robert E. Lee, it must have been the right thing to do.

Drake and Kanye West’s long-running beef ramped up towards the end of August after the rappers traded a pair of disses — Kanye’s on his new album Donda, Drake’s on a guest verse with Trippie Redd. Things further amplified when Kanye posted the home address of Drake’s Toronto mansion. Drake’s response to that seemed to come on “7am on Bridle Path,” from his newly-released sixth album Certified Lover Boy. He then leaked Kanye’s unreleased track “Life Of The Party,” which featured a stellar verse from Andre 3000.

There’s no telling where things will go next, but according to Master P, the blame doesn’t lie with Drake and Kanye. “I think it’s the people around them,” he said during an interview with Allison Interviews. “You have to have people giving you better advice, and you have to hold yourself accountable. I’ve always had self-accountability. And start thinking about what you say or what you do, and how it affects and hurts other people, and how you wouldn’t want that to be happening to you and your family. [There’s] a lot of self-hate.”

“I would rather sit in the sewer and eat cheese with rats than sit at a nice restaurant and drink champagne and eat lobster and steak with a snake, and I think that’s what a lot of us are doing,” Master P added. “When you get to that level of the game like some of these artists, why lose what you have? Once you get killed or go to jail there’s no turning back.”

You can listen to Mater P’s full interview on Allison Interviews here.