GoneTrending

Today’s episode of UPROXX Sessions features another LA transplant, the Baltimore-born Def Jam rapper Roddy Rackzz, who gives a melodic performance of his trenches-to-penthouse anthem “Head Up.” Appearing in a red Supreme motocross vest and crooning over his Deeboy/JishBeatz-produced, guitar-looping track, Roddy makes a case for perseverance and determination in the face of adversity.

Roddy’s wardrobe choice isn’t just a fanciful affectation. He’s also an actual rider, who has shot commercials for Reebok and showing his dirt bike skills in the official video for “Head Up”… which I suppose would be a bit like Dame D.O.L.L.A. coming through to perform rocking his Portland Trail Blazers jersey. Among Roddy’s most popular tracks are the wistful trap banger “Never Enough” from his 2020 debut mixtape F*ck Rap and the money-hungry “Addict” featuring the DMV’s own Shy Glizzy.

Watch Roddy Rackzz’s “Head Up” performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Let’s face it: Running to stay fit and active isn’t easy – even for the most advanced athlete. But with a little motivation and practice, you can grow to appreciate and love running. “Anyone can be a runner. You just got to go out and run,” says Duy Nguyen, co-founder of the Koreatown Run Club.

Nguyen and the club’s co-founder, Mike Pak, detail the origins of the club and what it has meant to them in the first episode of Greater Outdoors, which is a collaboration between Uproxx and KeVita. As the two discuss in the above video, what started as an IG post in search of like-minded runners five years ago has turned into something that allows them to find a routine, celebrate community, and develop their love of running with the approximately 25 group members.

“Run club is a space we can be ourselves and work on ourselves and improve on ourselves, and hold each other accountable,” Pak tells Uproxx. “If you do feel like you do suck at running, know that you’re not the only one who’s thinking that. You’re not the only one who’s thinking that you’re going to be the last person to finish.”

Watch the video above to get encouraged by the Koreatown Run Club and its founders’ inspiring journey and stay tuned for more Greater Outdoors.

There’s usually two types of people who play The Sims. One enjoys building characters and watching them thrive, and the other prefers the more sadistic act of watching their sim die in creative ways. Either way, one thing is certainty true about The Sims universe: The game features some great music.

All of the music played in The Sims is translated into Simlish, the nonsensical language spoken by the characters which consists of familiar-sounding gibberish. The Sims oftentimes taps popular artists like Snail Mail and The Black Eyed Peas to record some of their hits in Simlish to be used in the game. Japanese Breakfast is the latest musician to offer up a Simlish version of their music, translating her Jubilee track “Be Sweet” into a catchy-yet-unintelligible tune for the game’s upcoming Cottage Living expansion pack.

Though a lot of her music on Jubilee is synth-driven, Japanese Breakfast told Uproxx in a recent interview that she has always been inspired by “cringe-worthy” indie rock like Built To Spill and Death Cab For Cutie:

“The music that I really loved growing up were bands like Built To Spill, Death Cab For Cutie, and Modest Mouse. Also, all the K Records bands and that sort of anti-folk stuff, I was into that when I was a teenager. And all the Phil Elverum projects, which had that sort of hyper-personal, confessional quality. There’s this almost cringe-worthy earnestness that accompanies the Pacific Northwest. And I feel like that type of music really influenced me growing up and is definitely a major reference point for a lot of Japanese Breakfast albums, whether or not I want to admit it.”

Listen to “Be Sweet” in Simlish above.

Jubilee is out now via Dead Oceans. Get it here.

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

Hulu’s coming-of-age comedy series PEN15 is about to get a whole lot more surreal and strange. In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, cocreator, writer, and Anna Kone actress Anna Konkle revealed the upcoming season two episode “Jacuzzi” will be entirely animated. The episode hits Hulu on August 27, hopefully not too long before the series returns with the second half of season two.

According to Vanity Fair, the episode takes place immediately after PEN15‘s midseason finale and follows best friends forever Anna (Konkle) and Maya (Maya Erskine) as they take a family vacation to sunny Florida. According to Konkle, the episode digs deep into her own memories of family vacations to Florida and how it was “never really […] what you thought it was going to be.” Konkle expanded, saying:

“I grew up going to Fort Lauderdale, where my grandparents lived in a retirement facility. I was excited to go, but then I would get there and remember, Okay, Anna, you’re sleeping on a mattress in the sunroom. So you’re going to wake up in a pool of sweat on rubber. And you will not see a person your age for a week, and if someone agrees to play cards with you, you’re lucky.”

While “Jacuzzi” was initially supposed to be a 40-minute live-action special utilizing “camera tricks and prosthetics” to better showcase and represent how Maya and Anna internalized their bizarre vacation, the team ultimately settled on switching over to animation even before COVID forced their hand. However, despite the pivot to animation, the episode will still be framed around Maya documenting the trip on her camcorder. When asked why, Konkle said the inspiration came from her own experiences with her dad being “really f*cking annoying with his camcorder,” as well as to better convey the episode’s message.

“It feels more true to the minutiae of everyday life, kind of dirty and alternative,” Konkle told Vanity Fair. “And we could direct in any way that [we wanted] to make the use of the VHS cool, not being limited to live-action camcorder.”

The Emmy-nominated series has yet to announce when the second half of its second season will hit Hulu, but here’s hoping the upcoming special means it’s not far off.

During a wide-ranging interview on his prolific career as a Hollywood screenwriter, and his work on the upcoming streaming series Sandman and Foundation, David S. Goyer revealed how Man of Steel became a movie thanks to director Christopher Nolan forcing him to take a break while Goyer was writing The Dark Knight Rises.

As Goyer tells it, he hit a wall while writing the third installment of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and he couldn’t figure out how to resolve key elements that the two wanted in the film. “It was a number of things,” Goyer told The Hollywood Reporter. “How Bruce was going to defeat Bane, how he was going to escape the Pit and the switch reveal — that the child was actually Talia. Chris and I just hit a wall, and Chris suggested we take a break for a week and put our pencils down.”

While Goyer initially thought taking a break would be counterintuitive, he heeded Nolan’s advice because, sometimes, you just have to “hope that your subconscious will come to the rescue.” In Goyer’s case, he ended up coming up with an idea for an entirely different movie that we now know as Man of Steel. Via THR:

What happened during that week is I ended up rereading the first few years of Action Comics and writing down a two-pager for a Superman movie. So when we came back, Chris said, “Well, have any ideas?” And I said, “I’ve got this Superman movie that has nothing to do with The Dark Knight Rises.” That’s how Man of Steel happened. We ended up pitching it to Warner Bros. and getting that going.

So there’s a new piece of trivia for DC film buffs. Man of Steel happened because Goyer didn’t realize he can just have Batman punch Bane really hard in his face mask thing. Seriously, go back and watch. Batman’s big plan is, “Guess I’ll just hit this thing harder,” and it works. Movies, everybody!

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

James Blake is having a big day: the Grammy-winning electronic musician has announced a fifth studio full-length, Friends That Break Your Heart, coming in September via Republic Records and featuring guest spots from SZA, JID, Swavay, and Monica Martin. In addition, Blake has shared a ruminative lead single, “Say What You Will,” an accompanying music video co-starring Finneas, and a run of fall tour dates.

“The song is about finding peace with who you are and where you’re at regardless of how well other people seem to be doing,” Blake said of the new song in a statement. “Comparison really is the thief of joy.”

Peep the album artwork and tracklist below, as well as Blake’s upcoming tour dates.

1. Famous Last Words”
2. Life Is Not The Same”
3. Coming Back” Feat. SZA
4. Funeral”
5. Frozen” Feat. JID and SwaVay
6. I’m So Blessed You’re Mine”
7. Foot Forward”
8. Show Me” Feat. Monica Martin
9. Say What You Will”
10. Lost Angel Nights”
11. Friends That Break Your Heart”
12. If I’m Insecure”

09/16 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
09/19 – San Francisco, CA @ Greek Theatre
09/21 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
09/22 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
09/28 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore
09/30 – Minneapolis, MN @ The State Theatre
10/02 – Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Auditorium
10/03 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
10/06 – Boston, MA @ Boch Center Wang Theatre
10/08 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
10/09 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
10/12 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
10/13 – Charlotte, NC @ Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
10/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle

Tickets go on sale to the general public starting 7/30 at 10 a.m. local time. Get tickets here.

Friends That Will Break Your Heart is out 9/10 via Republic Records. Pre-order it here.

Diana Taurasi’s hip injury cost her the Phoenix Mercury’s last three games before the Olympic break and all three of Team USA’s exhibition games before group stage play, but she’s nearing her return to the court. She’s started practicing with the team since they touched down in Tokyo.

“I’m getting a little better every day,” Taurasi said Thursday, according to ESPN. “I’ve touched the court for the last few days, so that’s definitely a good sign. When you haven’t played for a while, there’s a little bit of a protocol to get back on the court. I’m checking all the boxes and hopefully, I’ll be ready for the first game against Nigeria.”

One of the most horrifying games ever made is Dead Space. EA’s survival horror game was set in the cold confines of space, and at the time, it was revolutionary in the ways it terrified players. Put some really fun gameplay on top, and throw in a little bit of telekinesis, and EA had the formula for their next big franchise. Unfortunately, the series only got three games before quietly fading away.

Fans have wanted a new Dead Space for years, and this summer, the rumors surrounding a new game reached an all-time high. There were reports a new game was on the way, but nobody could figure out if it was a reboot or a remake of the original. On Thursday, during EA Play 2021, we finally got our answer: A remake of Dead Space is coming, and this one is being created by Motive Studios.

The teaser itself doesn’t give fans much to go off of. It shows a camera slowly panning through the hallways of the USG Ishimura, some quick shots of the necromorphs, and ends with a back shot of Isaac Clarke standing in front of a message in blood, “Cut Off Their Limbs.” The message is, of course, the way players fight the horrifying necromorphs in combat. Don’t follow this message and players will find themselves running out of ammo very quickly.

Some fans of the franchise may be a little disappointed because a remake likely means that it will just be a higher quality version of the original game, without doing anything new. However, a remake can be a great starting point for a few reasons. One of them is that it lays down a foundation on a new engine that future games can be built on top of. It is also a test balloon by EA sent out to fans to see how much interest there is in the franchise. If the game sells well, then that may be the green light necessary to start making brand new games. If it goes poorly, then they might choose to use assets elsewhere.

Even if it is just a remake, this is still really exciting for fans of the Dead Space franchise. Those games were beloved at the time and it’s been extremely disappointing to go almost a decade without a new one. This game simply existing is awesome, and hopefully, the game itself meets the expectations of the original.

Grimes is an active TikTok user, and unfortunately, part of that is dealing with less-than-positive comments. Recently, for example, she responded to comments about Elon Musk and whether he funds her music career (he doesn’t). Now, she’s back to defending her honor in the comments, this time against somebody who alleged she has already peaked career-wise.

Earlier today, Grimes posted a video of herself dancing in a flowy outfit while wielding equally flowy accessories. In the comments, one user decided to try and belittle Grimes by commenting, “does it ever cross your mind that art angels was your peak.” Grimes fired back with some facts, though, replying, “[Well] miss Anthropocene outperformed despite being canceled a f so technically it wasn’t.”

Indeed, Miss Anthropocene is Grimes’ highest-charting album in the US, with a peak at No. 32 on the Billboard 200 (versus the No. 36 high of Art Angels). It’s worth noting, though, that while Miss Anthropocene was well-received, Art Angels was more critically acclaimed: It has a score of 88 on Metacritic, compared to the 79 that Miss Anthropocene achieved.

This comes not long after Grimes took to TikTok to tease a new song called “100% Tragedy,” which she says her label doesn’t believe is the sort of song that should be a single.

HBO’s expensive-as-heck adaptation of The Last of Us has added a new member to the cast. Anna Torv, who was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Television Award for her performance on Fringe and later starred on Netflix’s Mindhunter, will play Tess, a “smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world,” according to Deadline. “In the original video game, Tess works with Joel to survive and smuggle weapons in and out of Boston. She also accompanies Joel on the seemingly impossible mission to smuggle Ellie to the Fireflies.”

The rest of the announced cast includes Pedro Pascal as lovable grump Joel, Bella Ramsey as survivor Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah, and Merle Dandridge as Fireflies leader Marlene; she played the same character in the video game. Another voice actor from the game, Jeffrey Pierce (the voice of Tommy), is also in the show, but he’ll portray a different character.

Based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a deadly virus. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-searching organization. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

Torv has plenty of time for The Last of Us with Mindhunter seemingly done for good. “Listen, for the viewership that it had, it was an expensive show. We talked about ‘finish Mank and then see how you feel,’ but I honestly don’t think we’re going to be able to do it for less than I did season two,” creator David Fincher said in a pre-Mank era (last October). “You have to be realistic about dollars have to equal eyeballs.”

There will be lots of eyeballs on The Last of Us.

(Via Deadline)