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The next installment of the 2021 XXL Freshman Cypher is here. For this round, viral favorites 42 Dugg, Flo Milli, Pooh Shiesty, and Rubi Rose take on another hypnotic Nick Mira production to display their varying takes of the annual tradition.

Rubi Rose sets things off with a fittingly raunchy verse in her signature husky verse, followed by a braggadocious, bouncy approach from Pooh Shiesty. Flo Milli drops in and steals the show, turning up the energy with both her bright looks and quirky punchlines, leaving 42 Dugg to bring the baton home with a laid-back verse.

While Blxst and Toosii’s Cypher was competent and the first group of MCs was uneven but attention-grabbing, this year’s batch of Freshmen has certainly added to growing sense that hip-hop’s women are doing more to stand out than the men. So far, the consensus MVP of this year’s Freshmen has been Lakeyah, who’s sharp wit and precise flow impressed fans, while Flo Milli brought something a little different with her perky output. Even Coi Leray, maligned as her performance has been, brought something different to the table and looked like she was having fun instead of just trying to look cool.
Watch XXL’s Freshman Cypher with 42 Dugg, Flo Milli, Pooh Shiesty, and Rubi Rose above.

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

More involved visits from musical guests have become more and more popular in recent years. Cardi B co-hosted The Tonight Show in 2018. Dave Grohl did the same thing just a couple months ago. Ed Sheeran recently wrapped up a week-long stay on The Late Late Show. The latest artist to enjoy a multi-night late-night stay is BTS, who guested on The Tonight Show twice this week. Their first episode featured an interview with the group and a performance of “Permission To Dance.” For the second night, they brought their current No. 1 hit, “Butter,” to the show.

Like their rendition of “Permission To Dance” before it, the “Butter” performance was pre-taped for The Tonight Show. Instead of taking to a stage, the group got set up in a gigantic bridge at night, taking advantage of the water under them, the cityscape behind them, and lighting to create quite the visual scene.

On their first Tonight Show episode of the week, the group revealed that they haven’t actually met Sheeran yet despite the fact that they have now made multiple songs with him.

Watch BTS perform “Butter” above.

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

One of the best trends in video games today is the rise of creation tools. From Super Mario Maker to Dreams, gamers are gaining access to more tools that let them make their own fun, the result of which are some really creative ideas from players.

This creativity and ability to make anything we want in games is starting to get noticed outside the gaming industry. deadmau5, one of the most well-known electronic music producers out there, sees the potential in giving players the ability to create and is offering players of the game Core an opportunity to put their creativity to the test. Players using Core can try to use the tools inside the game to create a deadmau5 music video for his new single, “Lights.”

“I’ve been blown away by the creativity I’ve seen on Core,” deadmau5 said. “Some of my passions are game, experience, and world design, and Core’s capabilities as a platform and its creators who are capable of doing all kinds of cool stuff are the next level in user generated art and experiences. I’m looking forward to checking out what fans and artists will create for my new single with ‘Lights.’”

This is a big win for Manticore Games, the developer of Core. Not only is this an opportunity to advertise their game, but it gives them the chance to really show what the community around Core is capable of as the kind of game that’s all about showing what players can do when they’re handed the reins.

“We’re thrilled that deadmau5 shares our passion for putting the power of artistic expression in as many creators’ hands as possible,” said Jordan Maynard, the chief creative officer and co-founder Manticore Games. “Core is more than just a place to play and make games; it has endless potential for new forms of social interactivity and artistry. We can’t wait to see the worlds our creators bring alive for the new video, and we look forward to working together with deadmau5 on future projects.”

During a Thursday morning segment on Olivia Rodrigo visiting the White House in an effort to urge young people to get the COVID vaccine, The View co-host Meghan McCain did what she does best: Made the conversation all about her. After simultaneously promoting the vaccine and questioning its efficacy (which is becoming a habit for her), McCain engaged in even more intellectual whiplash by arguing that, actually, Republicans aren’t behind widespread instances of vaccine hesitancy, but in a way, they kind-of are because Joe Biden’s administration should’ve taken McCain’s help when she offered it. Say what?

You can see McCain’s back-and-forth rant at the 5:55 mark below:

Via The Daily Beast:

“There’s lots of different demographics that are vaccine hesitant for a lot of reasons, and we need to be reaching out to people in lots of different ways,” Meghan McCain said Thursday on The View. “I’m going to say it again, I don’t think the White House is doing a good job reaching out to Republicans. I don’t. I’ve offered my help. They haven’t accepted it. They don’t care.”

Surprisingly, McCain isn’t embellishing here and appears to have inadvertently confirmed a previous report. According to Politico Playbook, McCain and her brother Jimmy offered to take the vaccine live on The View, but the White House never got back to her. Instead, the administration briefed Whoopi Goldberg and chose not to vaccinate McCain because she wasn’t eligible at the time.

Since then, McCain has repeatedly attacked Dr. Fauci and spread COVID conspiracy theories live on The View, which doesn’t really bolster her case for being the ideal candidate to convince vaccine hesitant Republicans.

(Via The View and The Daily Beast)

It’s been about a week since Welch producer Lewis Roberts released his glitchy album Agor under the moniker Koreless. To future explore the LP’s experimental sound, Koreless has tapped his friend and collaborator FKA Twigs to direct a video to the project’s ethereal track “White Picket Fence.”

Koreless’ “White Picket Fence” video marks the first time FKA Twigs has directed a visual for another artist. Shot in the English countryside, the fantastical visual sees Koreless pulling up to a pond in a bright green Lamborghini. A group of feral ravers sporting distressed clothing join him as the song’s gossamer vocal samples provide an atmospheric background.

Speaking about directing the video, Twigs praised Roberts’s music:

“Lewis is not only a dear friend of mine but also one of my favourite collaborators. His sonic palette is equally as alien and other worldly as it is grounded and in me it evokes feelings of being close to nature. For Lewis’ video I wanted to create this in a visual. The mystery intertwined with a feeling of familiarity. The ‘White Picket Fence’ visual is a modern day reenactment of a fable that doesn’t exist. Each character represents a sound in the music and the audience is a voyeur as the music is personified into a mystical happening. This is my first time directing a music video for another artist, I am so grateful to Koreless and Object & Animal for the opportunity.”

Echoing Twigs’ statement, Roberts added: “Twigs and I have spent a lot of time in the studio recently, I’ve got an enormous amount of respect for her as a musician and visual artist. I’d always loved how she brought her songs to life with her visual insights, and when she came to me with an idea for ‘White Picket Fence’ it was a no brainer. ‘White Picket Fence’ is one of the most precious songs on the album, but I trusted her to have full control and love the result.”

Watch the “White Picket Fence” video above.

Agor is out now via Young. Get it here.

As we enter a new age of technology where everything is becoming more digital, we’re starting to see video games go through their own evolution. Gone are the days of cartridges and discs as the go-to way to acquire games, and instead, they’re being placed into consoles and PCs directly via download. However, with services like Xbox Game Pass becoming more popular, there’s a push to move video games more into the cloud. This would allow players to skip (or at least shorten) the download process entirely and just play games immediately without a physical copy, similar to how many people watch their favorite movies and TV shows.

It’s the similarity to TV and movies that should make it no surprise that media giant Netflix is reportedly planning on offering video games as well. According to a report from Bloomberg, Netflix wants to start offering video games within the next year and they’ve hired former members of EA and Facebook to turn that dream into a reality.

Mike Verdu will join Netflix as vice president of game development, reporting to Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters, the company said on Wednesday. Verdu was previously Facebook’s vice president in charge of working with developers to bring games and other content to Oculus virtual-reality headsets.

The idea is to offer video games on Netflix’s streaming platform within the next year, according to a person familiar with the situation. The games will appear alongside current fare as a new programming genre — similar to what Netflix did with documentaries or stand-up specials. The company doesn’t currently plan to charge extra for the content, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.

With video games being such a lucrative industry, it makes sense that Netflix would be trying to get in on the fun, especially with so many companies attempting to try and emulate the Netflix model in their own game offerings. It’s not uncommon to compare Game Pass or Google Stadia to the Netflix model because of the ease of access. Players pay a one-time fee, have an endless library of games, and then they pick and choose from that library.

While Netflix has already been involving itself more in games on the TV side and even had a segment in Summer Game Fest back in June, it’s eyebrow-raising to see they want to be into games before the end of the year. So far, cloud gaming has struggled to gain a footing because the majority of cloud offerings currently aren’t as quick or smooth as simply downloading and owning the game. But of course, with technology evolving, that could be a moot point in the very near future.

Now that Robert Downey Jr. has hung up his boots (and heavy armored suit) and said farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s free to do other things like, uh, play Dr. Dolittle in a CGI nightmare of a movie with a farting dragon? Hm, let’s try that again. Downey Jr. is free to do other things, like star in an HBO and A24 co-production from an acclaimed director based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book? Much better.

Deadline reports that Downey Jr. will star in The Sympathizer, an adaptation of author Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel of the same name. Park Chan-wook, the genius filmmaker behind The Handmaiden, Oldboy, and The Little Drummer Girl miniseries with Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon, will direct and serve as co-showrunner:

Thanh Nguyen’s novel is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States. A worldwide search is underway for the lead role and the rest of the predominantly Vietnamese ensemble.

“Adapting Mr. Nguyen’s important and masterful work requires a visionary team. With director Park at the helm, I expect this to be a creative producing adventure for Susan, me and Team Downey, and a stimulating process for myself in playing these complex supporting roles,” Downey said in a statement. “A24 and HBO are the perfect combination of partners and co-parents… It’s exactly the type of challenge I’ve been craving, and I believe we will deliver an exceptional viewing experience to our audience.”

The Sympathizer is no Dolittle 2 (2Little?), but it’ll do.

(Via Deadline)

Foxing have released an impressive new video today for the title track of their forthcoming album, Draw Down The Moon. Starring Tony Award-winning actor André De Shields, the clip actually uses the set from St. Louis’ recent Shakespeare In The Park production of King Lear, which also starred De Shields.

Prior to this, the alt-emo luminaries have released album singles “Go Down Together,” “If I Believed In Love,” “Where The Lightning Strikes Twice,” and “Speak With The Dead,” the latter of which featuring indie experimentalists Why?.

Their fourth full length is “about the idea of your cosmic significance,” said the band’s Conor Murphy in a statement when the album was announced. “The way you feel like a tiny speck in the grand scheme of the universe, that’s a feeling everybody has. You can get lost thinking about how small you are. Draw Down The Moon explores how our connections to people and places and ideas are what binds us to the universe and reality.”

Press materials also noted that the band worked on the album in their St. Louis studio with guitarist Eric Hudson producing. Finally, the St. Louis outfit is releasing an upcoming concert film, Draw Down The Moon In St. Louis, which will air on August 6 at 6 p.m. PT. (Grab your tickets here.)

Draw Down The Moon is out 8/6 via Grand Paradise. Pre-order it here.

The United States men’s basketball team’s tune-up for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo could be going a little better. While the team picked up a win in its most recent exhibition, a 28-point drubbing of Argentina, things got off to a rocky start with losses to Nigeria and Australia.

While both national teams are impressive — Nigeria is an ascending team with NBA talent and a former NBA head coach in Mike Brown, while Australia has legitimate aspirations of medaling at the Olympics — the bar is set so high for the Americans that it was shocking to see them lose back-to-back games to just about anyone. In the eyes of the team’s best player, though, there is no need for alarm.

Kevin Durant spoke to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports and made clear that he believes the team simply got caught by two teams that are farther down the road than them.

“We’re a team that’s still coming together and trying to find our identity,” Durant said. “We have so many great players that you can play so many different ways, and we are indecisive at times on defense and offense. In the midst of us figuring it out, these teams are established and they’re running their sets. We’re working on our sets. The stars were kind of aligned for us to lose early on.”

Durant then went a little deeper, explaining the handful of ways that this sort of thing was possible.

“It’s easy to say that after two losses without any context,” Durant said. “Let’s just go down the roster of each team and you can find the answer. If you’re looking for NBA talent, those teams have it. Understand where we’re at as a team and then you can make assumptions for yourself. We do have all the best players in the league, but these national teams have NBA players, too, who are now No. 1 options and they’re used to playing that role internationally. We’re still adjusting as a team, and that’s not making excuses. There’s a lot of context people need to understand. We didn’t expect to lose a game, but losing games happen. We’ll get it right.”

The United States’ next game will come on Friday evening when they attempt to exact a measure of revenge against the Australians.

As more people become fully vaccinated and ready for travel, countries around the world are beginning to open up and loosen restrictions. Music festivals, bars, and clubs are slowly making a return. So are kink spaces like dungeons, swinger hotels, and sex-centric clubs where leather and latex dominate the dress code. We’re talking true hedonism; summer of love ’21.

Eva Oh, aka Mistress Eva, has been a bondage pro since 2011, when she left her vanilla corporate job to train at Sydney’s famous Salon Kitty’s dungeon. In the years since, she’s taken her enthusiasm for BDSM slave training and power exchange to select cities around the world. Currently based in Bali, Indonesia, Mistress Eva also runs the online BDSM space YouWillPleaseMe, hosts the Safeword Podcast and the #teakink webseries, and continues to tour the world for select engagements.

We hit up Mistress Eva for an extensive list of her favorite kink spaces around the globe, and since her travels have taken her pretty much everywhere, she also offered her favorite non-kink travel spots — from bars and restaurants to outdoor spaces and her favorite Bali locales. Let’s dive in!

Dungeons and Playspaces

Residenz Avalon — Berlin

This is one of my favorite places to play worldwide. Residenz Avalon is a massive standalone building that can be rented out entirely for yourself or your party. It has a diverse range of spaces that include a human pony yard and stalls and an underground dungeon of prison cells with CCTV access from the upstairs domestic quarters. It also has direct access to the river off of a small dock.

It is such a surprisingly picturesque spot for an industrial part of Berlin.

Alpha Inn — Tokyo

I keep returning to this very kitsch BDSM-themed love hotel in the center of Tokyo. It has definitely seen a lot going on within its walls and it can come across as a little dated and worn, but its many rooms, convenient location, and nice variety of kink BDSM furniture make it an easy and fun go-to for me when I’m in Tokyo.

Innana Studio — London

This beautiful and serene playspace belongs to my dear friend Adreena Angela. It is one of the most minimalist and modern spaces that I’ve gotten the pleasure to play in, and it’s conveniently located in north London. A range of BDSM furniture is surrounded by plants and thoughtful touches.

It’s a comfortingly devious space.

Kink Parties and Events

German Fetish Ball — Berlin

The German Fetish Ball is a heaving event held in Berlin each year. Kink community from across the world fly in for this multi-day extravaganza of parties, workshops, shows, and a bazaar of BDSM gear and fashion. I have yet to see another event that brings together such an international group of heavy fetishists like this does.

Klub Verboten — London

Dark warehouse spaces, brutalist dungeon furniture, and techno lead the way at this members-only kink club night in London. Their great passion for kink culture has also since expanded their offering to talks and non-club events that merge art, BDSM, political critique, and cultural education.

Kink Out — New York

The Kink Out crew is made up of some of the leading elders and activists of BDSM and sex work culture. They have held a massive event at MoMA PS1, rallied for sex worker rights, and host so much more that brings together kink, art, activism, and hedonism.

Department H — Tokyo

Tokyo’s grandest monthly kink gathering. Department H always serves up a raging latex-clad time with skillful and often fantastical performances. A lot of people come together and so many of them always know how to bring it, dress up and cause a sweet ruckus.

Kink Shops

Style Fetish — Frankfurt

My favorite BDSM furniture maker so far. Their showroom is outside of Frankfurt and although they do have distributors worldwide there’s nothing like seeing their intricate bondage devices, chairs, pillories, cages, cells, and more in the flesh.

The level of detail that goes into elements such as finger and head bondage attachments is too fabulous.

Le Boutique Bazaar — London

A luxury kink shopping event that is held a few times a year in venues around London. Custom latex, corsetry, millinery, hand-made lingerie, luxury leather, and avant-garde couture reign; and the community tends to use it as a fun opportunity to dress up as well.

Blackstyle — Berlin

This is such a convenient go-to in Berlin with a fairly massive range of heavy latex fashion, hoods, and bondage gear. They also have a really nice selection of heavy irons that includes balls and chains which is unusual for stores worldwide and delights me every time.

Kink and Sexuality Resources

UK Fetish Archive — London

The UK Leather and Fetish Archive is housed at the Bishopsgate Institute in London. They offer open access to a deep history of fetish, kink, and BDSM and they have an archive on my work as Mistress Eva too!

Project X — Singapore

Project X is a great resource and organization for sex workers and on sex work in Singapore. They have a couple of locations that you can drop in to for support and community if you are a sex worker or traveling sex worker in Singapore.

Tea

Plantation — Hong Kong

My favorite tea shop in Hong Kong, their selection is bold yet elegant and their store hosts very thoughtful tasting events. I have also gotten some of my most favorite teaware from them – they stock unusual and minimalist pieces made locally and from China and Taiwan.

Tea Chapter — Singapore

This is where I send my submissives so that they can learn traditional Chinese tea service and ceremony for me. It is a traditional Chinese tea house, where you can go, order tea and pour it yourself with friends – but they also have some short tea ceremony courses that are quick and informative.

29B Teahouse and Ceramics — New York

The tea list at 29B is stellar. The owners have such an intricate palette and that really comes through in the tea, cocktails, and food that they have at this seemingly casual yet smart teahouse in New York. Their selection of teaware is also impressive.

Museums

The Feurle Collection — Berlin

This is one of my favorite spaces to be in, worldwide. The Feurle Collection is a WWII bunker that houses a private art collection of contemporary art, imperial Chinese furniture, and Khmer sculptures that are lit in the most perfect ways. There is an incense ceremony room, they host gong baths and the enveloping darkness and curated way of navigating it are just perfect to me.

MONA — Hobart, Tasmania

I may have a thing for underground spaces. The Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania lives inside a hollowed-out cliff and the architecture is breathtaking. There is a labyrinth of exhibition rooms to be wowed in. I could write about this space for days… You must visit it.

Nature

Gordon’s Bay — Sydney

When I first started out as a Dominatrix I worked long days, sessioning with multiple and many clients all day most days. I loved it and learned a lot — but I would need to counterbalance the dungeon with Gordon Bay on my off days. It was perfect to sit on the wide rocks and swim across the cold waters.

Hangover Bay — Nambung, north of Perth

This is the beach that spoiled all other beaches for me. I am usually the only one there with the resident dolphins. The sand is white and pristine, and the water is still, clear, and sparkles. It’s definitely got a touch of my nostalgia attached, but it’s my favorite beach for just that reason.

Topanga — Los Angeles

This is definitely also nostalgia at work, but whenever I’m in LA I always rent a house on a high point of its hills, surrounded by quiet, with a wide view in Topanga. The picturesque solitude saves me from what is usually horrendous jet lag from flying in from Asia before getting stuck into LA’s offerings.

Restaurants and Bars

Gen Yamamoto — Tokyo

A deeply delightful cocktail omakase bar in Tokyo. The clarity of the ingredients presented in their cocktail tasting menu is outstanding. Flavors sit more on the essence of single seasonal ingredients than the multiple layered cocktails that you may be used to. But that is where you can spot the nuance that they do so well.

Vespertine — Los Angeles

This may have been my favorite dining experience yet. Vespertine lives in its own site-specific structure in Culver City, Los Angeles. The attention to detail reminded me of being in Japan but within an American brutalist and meditative approach. They think deeply about smell, how you move through the space, the heat of the seat and so much more.

It may also have had the most on-point wine pairing that I’ve gotten to have so far.

Cafe Gray at Upper House — Hong Kong

I don’t usually eat here, what I use Cafe Gray for is my first drink whenever I fly back into Hong Kong. I go to her top floor, look out onto the city below and the skyline across and feel instantaneously at home and in awe. She still gets me every time.

Bali, Indonesia

I travel a lot. Sometimes I can be on the road for months and other times I will travel for two weeks a month and then retreat to my house in Bali. These are the things that I do to relax and turn off there.

Mejan Bar x Desoner — Bali, Indonesia

A rickety shack on the beach that plays world-class electronic music by roving DJs every single sunset. I’ve been in Bali for years and to have this newish quality yet quaint spot come about for us is such a treat.

Nusantara — Bali, Indonesia

My favorite Indonesian restaurant on the island. They serve a seriously tasty menu of dishes from all across the massive Indonesian Archipelago and I’ll often take myself there and demolish their huge tasting menu very happily on my own. It’s run by a fantastic local restaurant and bar group (Locavore).

R4D, Room 4 Dessert — Bali, Indonesia

It is always such a delightful experience going to Room 4 Dessert. This place is helmed by Will Goldfarb and the team that he has created is so impressive and passionate. You can dive into their 21-course dessert tasting menu that starts with a tour of their edible garden and ends by their outdoor fire pit – or there are a la carte options available at the back restaurant as well.

Their cooking may be my favorite on the island.

Tangkup Waterfall — Bali

I discovered this on a photoshoot and thanks to the photographer who scouted the location it is now my favorite waterfall in Bali. It is an easy but rickety trek in, and it is a smaller waterfall compared to some others – but it is so serene, gorgeous, and feels a little bit magical.

BAWA — Bali, Indonesia

BAWA are a great organization that works to save, protect and improve the lives of all animals in Bali. I foster with them when I get the chance, and their shelters have a volunteer program that is also available to tourists and visitors.

Cappella Ubud — Bali, Indonesia

Bali is a big island and so when I feel like heading north to spend time in Ubud I enjoy the very luxe and well serviced tented camp of Capella Ubud. The view from the Architect Tent and it’s pool are such a treat.