Marjorie Taylor Greene is a QAnon conspiracy theorist, a “total whack-job” who, to choose a random example of something abhorrent she’s done, harasses survivors of school shootings. She’s also a congresswoman, so… that’s great. “If you don’t know who this person is, I wish I didn’t, too,” host Jimmy Kimmel said about the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district during Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! “She is the lady who, among other things, called for Nancy Pelosi’s execution; called for Joe Biden’s impeachment on his first day in office; and she believes our former governor here in California, Jerry Brown, used space lasers to set the wildfires here. She saw the Austin Powers movie and thought it was a documentary.”

Kimmel also brought up the resurfaced video of Taylor Greene stalking David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 people dead, and calling him a “coward.” He wondered “how it would go over with the Fox News and Ted Cruz crew if Nancy Pelosi called for Marjorie Taylor Greene to be executed and called a teenage kid ‘Hitler’? You think they’d have anything to say? Well, it was the other way around, and guess what? Most of them have nothing to say. Instead, they assigned her to the education committee. Hoping, I guess, she would get one? I don’t know.”

You can watch the clip above.

Despite changing his name, Westside Boogie is still the same rapper we all know and love. During the lead-up to his debut album, Everything’s For Sale, Boog was known to drop a freestyle video or two to keep the fans tuned-in to his moves, and today, we’re happy to report that he returns to the habit with his cocky “Joe Exotic Freestyle” video.

Vets of Boogie’s output should already know the drill: The Compton rapper posts up in a single location, lets the camera run, raps his butt off, and the lyrics scroll down the right side of the screen. It’s a simple, straightforward, and incredibly effective tactic and Boogie has mastered its use to keep his buzz going between projects without having to blow the budget on music videos.

As usual, he tackles familiar subjects like disloyal women, phony gangsters, and the stressful thoughts that keep him penning therapeutic, revelatory verses. He also shouts out Campanella Park in Compton, keeping his hometown near and dear.

Prior to releasing “Joe Exotic,” Boogie teased his forthcoming new music with a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek sketch involving a hostage situation, then shared his new single “Outside” with Joey Badass. He also guest-featured on Reason’s extended mix of the MF DOOM-sampling “Extinct,” which coincidentally dropped the day we all found out about the masked rapper’s death.

Watch Westside Boogie’s “Joe Exotic Freestyle” video above.

As the music biz ramps back up to feed the ravenous demand of housebound fans still deprived of live entertainment, this week’s offerings in hip-hop lean indie, and international. In terms of albums, British rap/grime makes a double showing, while two of hip-hop’s most prominent underground producers deliver projects full of soulful samples and nostalgic loops.

Meanwhile, on the singles side of things, there are plenty of newcomers and quirky, left-of-center expressionists dropping, along with some fast-rising regional talents. The highlights here are Bay Area upstart Caleborate, who’s been working the indie circuit for some time, and T.I. protege Tokyo Jetz, who finally looks set to take advantage of hip-hop’s “girl power” wave in earnest.
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Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending January 29, 2021

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Chip — Snakes And Ladders

British rapper Chip has been around long enough that his relative youth might be surprising, but that’s what happens when you get your start as a teenager. He’s been feuding with Stormzy for the last several months, but with this release, he returns the focus back to where it rightfully belongs: On his impressive, long-lasting legacy, and continued good standing in the grime world due to his impressive pen game.

Fendi P -– The Art Of Finessin 2

A long-tenured rapper who has put out a dozen projects on Curren$y’s Jet Life Recordings imprint, the artist formerly known as Corner Boy P has been one of hip-hop’s most consistent sound providers since the early 2010s. On his latest, he sticks to the script, delivering laid back lifestyle raps over smooth, simple beats alongside fellow Jet Lifer Fiend and longtime associate Wiz Khalifa.

Fredo — Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Since getting his start relatively recently, Fredo has made a name for himself as one of the UK’s most exciting young rappers alongside Dave and Young Adz. On his emotive sophomore project, he pays homage to the Fugees’ Delfonics cover “Ready Or Not” with Summer Walker and delves into the drill movement with Adz and the late Pop Smoke.

Haiti Babii -– Trap Art

Repping the Bay Area by way of Stockton, CA, Haiti Babii gained notoriety with his ad-lib-ridden freestyle on LA’s 92.3 The Real, but he’s since proven there’s way more to him than a bunch of sound effects. His latest is a street-rooted, with wobbly, post-hyphy bangers backing a slippery, malleable flow and bold, self-confident lyrics celebrating the street life.

Lil Durk — The Voice (Deluxe)

Following up the success of his latest release, the Windy City vet doubles down on the inevitable re-issue, adding 11 new tracks featuring a big name in Lil Baby and a bubbling star, Pooh Shiesty.

Madlib — Sound Ancestors

Elusive Los Angeles beatmaker Madlib shares 16 tracks of audio callbacks that stretch across decades, genres, and outcomes, from cosmic funk to boom-bap bangers.

The Alchemist — Carry The Fire (EP)

Not to be outdone, ‘Lib’s fellow Angeleno Alan the Chemist carves out his own space with eight spacey, retro-accented loops to groove to.

Thutmose — Best Of Both Worlds: Side B (EP)

A four-song blend of Afro-fusion and hip-hop, Brooklyn-based Thutmose’s latest is his first since 2018’s Man On Fire and his star-making turn on the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse soundtrack.

Singles/Videos

Babyface Ray — “If You Know You Know” Feat. Moneybagg Yo

Detroit newcomer is hilariously out-of-pocket and disrespectful on this sparse, throwback ode to… well, ratchet sh*t. There’s something about his zoned-out flow that makes him surprisingly engaging, even when his punchlines are grimy enough to make an elder blush.

Caleborate — “What U Want”

Berkeley rapper Caleborate has been a personal favorite since his appearance last year on COLORS, and if this emotive love letter doesn’t make you a fan as well, you’ve got to at least appreciate the deftly-plotted video that accompanies it.

Dark Time Sunshine — “The Rite Kids” Feat. Homeboy Sandman & R.A.P. Ferreira

Consisting of Seattle emcee Onry Ozzborn and Chicago producer Zavala, this single from the duo’s upcoming LP LORE sums up their avant-garde approach alongside two of underground rap’s most polished technicians.

Heno — “Blackstarrr”

Co-signed by Jpegmafia, this Maryland-bred MC’s MC shows off the heady precision of his flow as he leads up to his forthcoming album Death Ain’t THAT Bad.

Homeboy Sandman x Quelle Chris — “Hello Dancer”

Homeboy Sandman’s mastery of wordplay, breath control, and rhythm should be the subject of books. If you’ve recently discovered or rediscovered MF DOOM’s eccentric but dextrous style and are looking for more artists like him… well, here you go.

Jaah SLT — “2021 Banger”

There’s this vein of punk-rock inspired rap that’s just very infectious, including such names as Snot, Jasiah, and Rico Nasty. Throw Jaah SLT on the list and keep your eyes peeled for more yell-rap from this burgeoning, rough-around-the-edges talent.

LBS Kee’vin — “Hood Dreams” Feat. FCG Heem

I hit play on this one not knowing quite what to expect from this Florida native. I’ll tell you what; I wasn’t disappointed. With a sing-song flow, trap-friendly beat, and one heck of a catchy hook, LBS Kee’vin proves he’s one to watch and he won’t be staying local for very much longer.

Slimelife Shawty — “Homicide”

Plain and simple, a “black Air Force activity” banger. Slimelife Shawty can flat-out rap — if you know what to listen for. In contrast to the wordy delivery of some of this list’s entries, he just paints an impressionistic portrait of life on the streets of Atlanta.

Tokyo Jetz — “Know The Rules” Feat. T.I.

The witty-ass video is the draw, but this Jacksonville rapper brings a straight-up electric magnetism to her rapid-fire flow, hijacking Big Freedia and Tupac samples to drag no-good, trifling men through the mud and back. Grand Hustle bossman T.I. drops by to offer his seal of approval, but Tokyo doesn’t need it.

TruCarr — “Lose My Mind” Feat. Rich The Kid

TruCarr and his slurry flow have been drawing increased attention in the past few months as this underground favorite accumulates co-signs and establishes himself as one of the stickier songwriters coming up from Watts, California today.

With so many people finding so many ways to put out new music, it’s harder and harder to be original these days when it comes to release strategies. Hayley Williams managed to do something different last night, though: By cover of night, she stealthily hand-delivered a CD to a fan and gave them her consent to leak the song on it.

Williams chronicled the stunt in a video, in which she drove up to the home of superfan Carly Butler, dropped a CD containing the song “My Limb” into her mailbox (along with a candle), and honking as she drove off.

Butler later tweeted, “did hayley williams drive to your house and drop off a candle and a cd with her new song on it or are you having a normal night.” Since Butler had permission to leak the track, she did just that, and as of this post, the song is only available online as a YouTube video.

It’s possible the song is a taste of a new album, and if Williams were to drop a new effort this year, it would be a quick turnaround for her: Her latest album, Petals For Armor, was just released in May 2020.

Listen to “My Limb” above.

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

Jpegmafia has announced the forthcoming release of EP2!, the follow-up to his 2020 EP, the fittingly-titled EP!. To accompany the announcement, the avant-garde Baltimore rapper has shared the video for one of the seven songs from the tracklist he posted, “Fix Urself!” As an artist who never sticks with one style, Jpeg once again uses the track to morph into a reasonable approximation of Drake’s concerned lover boy schtick over a downtempo beat with digitally manipulated vocals.

The accompanying video is another self-shot affair, featuring Peggy and his girlfriend on a road trip and a nighttime walk through a city. It’s low-fi and very similar to his videos for “Living Single” and “Last Dance!” although it’s a bit grainier and he’s less aggressive in the video thanks to the softspoken nature of the song itself.

Jpeg spent much of 2020 releasing the gritty, self-contained videos, culminating with the release of EP! in November. Fans who wondered why “Last Dance!” wasn’t included on its tracklist received their answer today as Peggy shared the tracklist for EP2! which includes both “Fix Urself!” and “Last Dance!” According to Stereogum, the tracklist is below.

01. “Intro!”
02. “Last Dance!”
03. “Fix Urself!”
04. “Keltec!”
05. “This Ones For Us!”
06. “Panic Room!”
07. “Feed Her!”

Watch Jpegmafia’s “Fix Urself!” video above.

(Spoilers from Marvel Studios and Disney+’s WandaVision will be found below.)

WandaVision spent three episodes stirring up easter eggs that propped up HYDRA and Age Of Ultron references to remind everyone that Wanda Maximoff can’t escape her traumatic past. She can’t even do so while hiding in suburbia and, potentially, concocting an entire sitcom-y world to avoid reality. This week, we’re finally getting some answers, many of which were more than suggested in an advance clip, but let’s do this:

(1) Geraldine is, as suspected, actually the grown-up version of Captain Marvel‘s Monica Rambeau (who might become Captain Marvel one day), and she’s definitely an agent of SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), which is essentially a cosmic version of SHIELD that similarly deals with threats to humanity that would include HYDRA. She’s there in an attempt to “snap” Wanda out of whatever nefarious business SWORD has detected in Westview (and we also see how Monica went through her own trauma when she re-materialized from Thanos “snap” from Infinity War).

(2) Agent Jimmy Woo (from Ant-Man And The Wasp) is also a SWORD guy, and he’s the voice who was attempting to contact Wanda over the radio. At one point, he asks, “The universe created a sitcom starring two Avengers?” Oh sweet Jimmy Woo, there is so much more to that story coming your way.

(3) Darcy Lewis (from multiple Thor movies) is also assisting with the SWORD investigation on what’s going on with Marvel. She’s that figure who we saw peering into a monitor while the Westview events began to unfold earlier in the season. She’s essentially the audience POV but so much cooler than all of us.

So, that’s the setup. The episode is essentially an infodump that takes a break from the sitcom mold that it crafted for itself. Actually, there’s more to that because we’ve been wondering all along if Wanda created this world to enjoy one last, lingering hurrah with Vision after he died in Avengers: Endgame. He didn’t even just die, he had a damn hole burned into his head when Thanos extracted the Mind Stone. And after we’ve heard some “indestructible head” jokes from Wanda (who appeared to truly believe what she was saying), we got one hell of a reality check at the end of the episode.

Here’s how that went down. Wanda got nasty with Monica/Geraldine and ignited her powers, thereby hurling the SWORD agent through several walls and out of Westview.

This instantly clues Monica into exclaiming that this is “all Wanda.” From that, it sure as heck looks like Monica believes that no one else is pulling the strings in Westview. (This may not be the case, given that Darcy was shown to have uncovered everyone’s identities in Westview other than Agnes, meaning that Agnes is also up to no good.)

And, well, here’s the money shot of the week. Vision’s looking pretty damn dead here, which answers the whole “how on earth is he alive?” question.

So yes, he’s obviously dead now. No question about it. Even though he’s dead, Vision still seems freaked out by Wanda’s behavior, but since we don’t know if she reanimated his corpse or is simply imagining that he’s there (and can’t escape the “dead” thing), I have to wonder if Wanda’s thoughts from her subconscious or conscience are coming out of Vision’s mouth. Whatever the answer to that question might be, Disney+ gave us one heck of a jump scare, and worked on people.

All of this, really and truly, makes me scratch my head at the swirling rumors (that have not been discouraged by the show or cast interviews) about who the villain of WandaVision might turn out to be. It’s generally understood that this will be the greatest MCU villain of all, one who would rival Thanos in badness, but might we receive two major villains from this show? Clearly, Wanda’s losing her tenuous grip on sanity after a lifetime of trauma (she was a HYDRA test subject, lost her parents to a Stark Industries bombing, and witnessed Pietro/Quicksilver being killed by Ultron). While I’m thinking about Ultron, I do need to say that he was easily the worst MCU villain that we’ve ever seen, so that adds further insult to Pietro’s death. And I wonder if everything here might be building toward a major MCU villain actually being… Wanda/Scarlet Witch?

Wanda was introduced as the most powerful Avenger before being sidelined. She can bend reality and get inside of her enemies’ minds, and she nearly took out Thanos. Recall how she vengefully faced off against Thanos during the Avengers: Endgame final battle while snarling that he’d taken everything away from her. Kevin Feige recently confirmed that the moment does matter (a lot) in his mind. “I think it’s interesting, if you look at Endgame, Wanda Maximoff was going to kill Thanos,” Feige pointed out. “That’s as scared as I’ve ever seen Thanos, and if he hadn’t said, ‘Decimate my entire team to get her off of me,’ I think she would have done it.”

Wanda Maximoff as not merely an antagonist but a supervillain is definitely possible!

It’s worth theorizing about at the very least. A lot of the fandom still believes that, at some point, Agnes will be confirmed as Agatha Harkness, a sorceress from the comics who helped Wanda come into her powers while training with HYDRA. Her husband, Ralph, is suspected of being Mephisto, who fans are presuming will be the next big baddie. Hey, why can’t there be two big baddies? We know that Wanda will play a pivotal role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so let the speculation begin on that note.

‘WandaVision’ will stream new episodes each Friday.

After the Robinhood investment app made a highly controversial decision to block purchases of GameStop stocks on Thursday, it received bipartisan condemnation from congressional leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz, along with intense pushback on social media where the fight between retail investors who use the app has dramatically played out over the course of the week. That decision is now being reversed. As of Friday, Robinhood users can now make “limited buys” of stocks like GameStop, AMC and others that were targeted by Reddit day traders. The investment app also offered up an explanation for the now temporary ban, which it blamed on SEC and other vague financial regulations.

“Starting tomorrow, we plan to allow limited buys of these securities,” the company announced in a blog post on Thursday night. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation and may make adjustments as needed. To be clear, this was a risk-management decision, and was not made on the direction of the market makers we route to.”

However, that explanation isn’t holding water. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev appeared on Cuomo Prime Time on Thursday evening, where he was clearly not expecting host Chris Cuomo to pushback on the GameStock ban. Cuomo grilled Tenev on the decision and the “lack of trust” that’s now fomented from what looks like a move to put the interest of big Wall Street players over that of the day traders who use the app. Cuomo also challenged Tenev’s assertion that it was the SEC who forced Robinhood to pull the controversial stocks, and the CNN host listed a variety of conditions that were not present for that to be the case. Tenev was visibly caught off guard by Cuomo’s Wall Street experience.

Also on Thursday evening, Tenev appeared on CNBC to insist that his company isn’t having any liquidity issues that would have prompted the GameStop trade ban.

(Via Robinhood, CNBC)

The Weeknd is just days away from one of the biggest moments of his career: the Super Bowl halftime show. In a recent Billboard feature, it was revealed that he is throwing a lot of money at the performance, as he has invested $7 million of his own dollars to put on the best show possible.

Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, The Weeknd’s manager and founder/CEO of management company SALXCO, noted that while Super Bowl organizers cover production costs, The Weeknd put up $7 million of his own money in order to “make this halftime show be what he envisioned.”

Amir “Cash” Esmailian — one of The Weeknd’s managers who also runs his own management company, YCFU — also noted, “We always had the Super Bowl on our bucket list, and we’ve always had timelines for all of our goals. It came a few years earlier than we expected.” The Weeknd added, “We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl.”

In recent days, there have been reports that The Weeknd’s halftime show would run for about 24 minutes, which would be twice as long as the typical Super Bowl performance. However, those rumors were debunked, a a Pepsi publicist noted, “The Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show featuring The Weeknd will be roughly 12 to 13 minutes in length, as it has always been.”

Read the full feature here.

HBO Max subscriptions doubled when Wonder Woman 1984 was released in December, but the streaming service could be in for another massive increase in “activations” soon. On Friday, HBO Max announced that Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, will “exclusively” arrive on March 18. It will be released as a four-hour movie with loads of “previously unseen footage,” not four one-hour installments as initially reported.

The superhero team-up film stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Ben Affleck (Batman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Jason “My Man” Momoa (Aquaman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), Ezra Miller (The Flash), and Mr. TwIsTeD himself, Jared Leto (Joker). Here’s more:

In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, determined to ensure Superman’s ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne aligns forces with Diana Prince with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad, and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.

HBO Max also released teaser art for the movie.

A couple days ago, Halsey hopped on Instagram, shared some photos of herself with a larger-than-usual belly, and thus revealed that she is pregnant. Now that the news has had a few days to marinate, Halsey has taken some time to thank her fans for the support.

On Twitter last night, she wrote, “blahhhh. anyway. [white heart emoji] thanks for the love I’ve been bursting at the seams for the past 48 hours. it’s wonderful to celebrate something with you all after years of sharing all the sad stuff ;).” In another tweet, she added that had the pandemic not thwarted her plans to tour behind her album Manic, she doesn’t think the bun in the oven would have stopped her either. She tweeted, “and just so we’re aware, if it wasn’t for Covid I woulda done the tour pregnant [crying laughing emoji].”

This comes after Halsey officially canceled her Manic tour last week, writing in her announcement, “Despite our absolute best efforts, there is no guarantee I’ll be able to tour the currently scheduled dates. I miss seeing all of you in the crowd every night more than anything, but I need to prioritize your health and safety. That being said, the Manic tour is now officially canceled. As much as we wanted to hold out hope that this tour could eventually happen, our priority is now getting your ticket money back to you immediately.