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The Internet can be an ugly place. (Shocking, I know.) Things got especially messy over the weekend, though, when the “Worst Chris” Twitter fight heated up again over the weekend. Perhaps the news that many Avengers (other than Chris Pratt) were onboard a Joe Biden fundraiser didn’t help, but yep, Chris Pratt ended up “winning” the title this time around. Katherine Schwarzenegger felt the need to defend her husband, and people were bringing up Pratt’s political and religious beliefs (and that cat story), and yes, all not very fun stuff. Some O.G. Avengers are now defending Pratt, which (in turn) is now stirring up another controversy: why didn’t they step up for Brie Larson?

Yep, a few of Pratt’s Marvel Cinematic Universe co-stars are stridently supporting Pratt. Namely, they’d like everyone to know that it’s not cool to call Pratt “worse” than the other Chrises in unwitting contention (Evans, Hemsworth, and Pine). Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., hopped into view with a vigorous statement that does not defend Star-Lord (who genuinely is the worst) but the man who portrays him.

“What a world…” Downey wrote. “The ‘sinless’ are casting stones at my #brother, Chris Pratt… A real #Christian who lives by #principle, has never demonstrated anything but #positivity and #gratitude… AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value. If you take issue with Chris,,, I’ve got a novel idea. Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of #character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness.”

Mark Ruffalo then Hulked-out on Twitter to declare Pratt to be “as solid a man there is.” He added, “I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now.”

Ruffalo has a point. The world is burning while a pandemic rages, and U.S. racial tensions are at an all-time apex in 2020, and people are piling onto the Chrises as a contest. It is silly and mean, yes. However, people aren’t exactly thrilled with how this situation compares to what Brie Larson has endured since signing onto Captain Marvel. The film was fake-review bombed by sexist trolls that endlessly harassed Larson, who couldn’t even pick up the Thor hammer without making some nerds angry. It’s true that Don Cheadle and Chadwick Boseman stepped up to support Larson, but people are wondering why the O.G. Avengers stayed relatively quiet.

It’s a fair argument: why defend one co-star but not the other? Regardless of what happens next — 2020, please calm the heck down soon.

2018 saw Julien Baker link up with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus to form Boygenius, and now she’s ready to come back with her first new project since then. Today, the musician announced her third solo album, Little Oblivions, with a video for “Faith Healer.”

The track marks a musical expansion for Baker, as it’s more instrumentally fleshed out than her previous material. Press materials note that Baker played almost everything herself, too: “Baker’s tactile guitar and piano playing are enriched with newfound textures encompassing bass, drums, synthesizers, banjo and mandolin, with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker.”

Baker says of the song:

“Put most simply, I think that ‘Faith Healer’ is a song about vices, both the obvious and the more insidious ways that they show up in the human experience. I started writing this song 2 years ago and it began as a very literal examination of addiction. For awhile, I only had the first verse, which is just a really candid confrontation of the cognitive dissonance a person who struggles with substance abuse can feel — the overwhelming evidence that this substance is harming you, and the counterintuitive but very real craving for the relief it provides. When I revisited the song I started thinking about the parallels between the escapism of substance abuse and the other various means of escapism that had occupied a similar, if less easily identifiable, space in my psyche.

There are so many channels and behaviors that we use to placate discomfort unhealthily which exist outside the formal definition of addiction. I (and so many other people) are willing to believe whomever — a political pundit, a preacher, a drug dealer, an energy healer — when they promise healing, and how that willingness, however genuine, might actually impede healing.”

Watch the “Faith Healer” video above, and find the Little Oblivions art and tracklist below.

1. “Hardline”
2. “Heatwave”
3. “Faith Healer
4. “Relative Fiction”
5. “Crying Wolf”
6. “Bloodshot”
7. “Ringside”
8. “Favor”
9. “Song in E”
10. “Repeat”
11. “Highlight Reel”
12. “Ziptie”

Little Oblivions is out 2/26/2021 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Harry Melling knew next to nothing about chess before they took on roles in Netflix’s upcoming limited series, The Queen’s Gambit. Nearly a year after filming, they still wouldn’t label their play as particularly “good.” Of course, creator Scott Frank (Logan, Godless) didn’t need them to be grandmasters to play two men caught up in the unpredictable whirlwind of a young chess prodigy played by Anya-Taylor Joy – their characters Benny (Sangster) and Harry (Melling) end up losing to Joy’s Beth more times than naught. No, he needed them to make the game look good. Exciting. Maybe even a bit sexy.

We can’t believe we’re saying it, but they succeeded. The Queen’s Gambit takes a classic, stuffy boardgame and transforms it into a thrilling vehicle for exploring everything from addiction to obsession to sexism, friendship, and childhood trauma. We chatted with Sangster and Melling about the series, their lengthy careers, and what drives their own obsessions outside of work.

Did you guys intend to make chess sexy with this show because if so, mission accomplished?

Harry: [Laughs] Couldn’t help it. That was, in fact, the only thing I wanted to achieve [with] this entire job, was to make chess look sexy.

The gameplay is so intense. It’s the most chess I’ve ever seen actually played on screen. What’s the trick for memorizing those moves because I’m assuming you’re not all Grandmasters?

Thomas: I’m not entirely sure what the trick to it is. It’s just another memory lesson, really. I mean, the guys that were teaching us chess, mid-scene would try to explain why you moved that bishop is because you’re protecting that queen from the opponent’s knight and you go, “Okay, that’s all really very, very interesting, but that’s not enabling me to memorize it very well. Just show us the moves. That black one goes to that white square there. And that one then moves there.” That was how I did it. I loved all that psychology behind it, but on the day, you’re just trying to move the pieces around the board and look good doing it.

Harry: It’s all pretend.

Who would be the best chess player in this cast?

[Note: Reader, note we said “best.” Harry Melling thought we said “worst.” We blame this next bit of mild trash-talking on the fickleness of Zoom chats.]

Harry: I guarantee you it’d be me.

It would be you?

Harry: Easy. It would be me, easy. Thomas did you play, Jacob [Fortune-Lloyd]? Because Jacob was good. Jacob was really good.

Thomas: I didn’t. He played properly.

Harry, why are you so confident that it would be you?

Harry: Who would lose?

You would lose or you would win?

Harry: No, I’d 100% lose.

Oh man, I was seriously impressed with your confidence for a minute there.

Harry: [Laughs] Oh no. I misunderstood. I didn’t know how to play chess before this so I was really learning from scratch. And as Tom said, it was very much “this bigger piece goes to this square here.” And of course, after that, you get the feel of it and you can sort of talk to the chess team about why certain things would go places. It was fascinating. The number of sequences they have in their head at one time was just unreal. But I would lose. I would lose to probably every single person on that film set I think — happily and easily.

The good thing is this show isn’t just about chess. It dives into obsession and how it can control your life in unexpected ways. Has either of you been as single-minded about something as Beth is about this game?

Thomas: Maybe not to that extent but I will get obsessed about one particular thing. I like to build things and craft things. I’ve got into my mom’s garden or work on my motorbikes, or twiddle away on wood and things. But in that moment, that’s all I will concentrate on. I can’t think about anything else whatsoever, which gets very frustrating if you’re trying to go out with me, or if you’re trying to be a friend of mine, or if you’re trying to be an agent of mine because my mind only kind of really focuses heavily on one thing. But when it’s focused on that one thing, it works very well at that one thing.

Harry: I don’t think I’m particularly good at spinning many plates at the same time. I’m very sort of, I’m doing this now. Please, can everyone leave me alone whilst I do this thing? Maybe it’s a sort of actor related thing? I’m not sure, but [it’s] not to the extent of where Beth goes in the story. The emotional cost of what it is to sort of operate on that level all the time must be really tough.

Beth gets to a point where she questions what’s next for her. You both have been acting for a long time. Have you ever had that thought when it comes to your career?

Thomas: Yeah. I think that’s just a healthy way of looking at it, really. I often questioned myself and make sure that I’m doing things for the right reasons. Whether I still have love for what I’m doing, because that’s all that matters, is whether you love it. And when you’re getting something from it, because as soon as you stop getting that, then don’t put your full effort in. Especially with something that’s as exposing as acting, you have to put everything in because an audience expects that. That’s where you get that trueness from. It comes from a person throwing everything that they have into something. And even if you’re playing someone who’s completely ridiculous you have to have that grounding. That grounding comes from within you as a person and that only can exist if you love it. So it’s very important, I think for everyone to always assess what they do and why they do it, and whether they love it and also, to branch out and make sure that they expand their minds to include all sorts of other things, to exercise their brains in very different ways, so they don’t become one dimensional.

We’re all realizing the need for more hobbies right now, I think.

Thomas: I know. That’s what’s interesting about this moment, actually. I think it’s really cool for all the big agents and producers that just live life at a fast pace — I think it’s great that they’ve all had to just stop for a second. I think that’s healthy for the world.

Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ premieres on Oct. 23rd.

All the iconic directors are crafting Netflix movies these days, and David Fincher is now joining them. Even more notably for cinephiles, he’s doing so with a 1930s Hollywood throwback to the days of Orson Welles, and when social critic/alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. “Mank” Mankiewicz scrambled to put the finishing touches (and his name) on the Citizen Kane screenplay. If Fincher’s prowess and Gary Oldman in the title role weren’t enough to get you onboard for Mank, then perhaps hearing that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the musical honors will be the final enticement you need.

As if we weren’t already hungry enough for the filmgoing experience, right? Between the sounds and the sights (sumptuously rendered through flawless black-and-white visuals), those who love movies are in for a treat. The Gone Girl and The Social Network director is essentially bringing us his own Citizen Kane for the Internet crowd. It’s mind-boggling to consider in such meta-terms, so it’s probably best to simply enjoy the experience.

Along with the swaggery Oldman, the ensemble cast includes Amanda Seyfried as Hollywood siren Marion Davies and Lily Collins as burlesque queen Rita Alexander. Viewers will also enjoy performances by Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, and Charles Dance.

Mank will stream on Netflix on December 4.

Aside from her ascending music career, Mxmtoon is also a popular social media personality. She has well over a million followers across various platforms, including Twitch, where she has about 119,000. Yesterday, she was part of a viral game streaming moment: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a number of big-time Twitch streamers (including Mxmtoon) for some rounds of the latest mega-popular game, Among Us.

Mxmtoon had one particularly impactful interaction with the representative, as she got killed (in-game, of course) by AOC early in one of the rounds. She was absolutely flabbergasted. She shared a clip of the moment on Twitter, which showed her character getting shot in the head by AOC’s. Once Mxmtoon realized what happened, she squealed in shock, exclaiming repeatedly, “AOC killed me!” As the other players in the game discussed the death, Mxmtoon had her hands over her mouth, was restless in her chair, and was otherwise blown away by the moment. She captioned her post, “today. i was killed by @AOC in among us within the first five minutes.”

On Monday, AOC tweeted, “Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun).” After joining Twitch and getting everything organized, AOC joined a group of internet personalities — including Pokimane, Gus Johnson, Myth, and Jacksepticeye — and streamed for about three-and-a-half hours last night. It was one of the biggest moments in Twitch history: It reached over 435,000 concurrent viewers, which appears to be the third most ever.

Watch an archived video of AOC’s full stream here, watch Mxmtoon’s full stream here, and check out some other highlights below.

Maybe it’s because I’m one of those cursed ’90s Kids who grew up during the Disney Renaissance (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King), but I still get excited whenever Walt Disney Animation Studios releases a new movie. That excitement has let me down (the mid-2000s were a rough time for non-Pixar Disney animated movies), but the studio has been on a hot streak lately with Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana. But thankfully, it looks like Raya and the Last Dragon, the 59th Walt Disney Animation Studios feature that dates back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is more Wreck-It Ralph than Home on the Range.

Directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada (who directed Blindspotting) and written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim (who wrote Crazy Rich Asians), Raya and the Last Dragon stars Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi) as Raya, a lone warrior, and Awkwafina (Jumanji: The Next Level) as Sisu, the titular last dragon. The teaser trailer above has thrilling action, gorgeous animation, and adorable animals (I am already in love with Tuk Tuk). In other words, it’s a Disney movie, one that I am very excited to see.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well.

Raya and the Last Dragon opens on March 12, 2021.

Dolly Parton has a once-in-a-lifetime voice that can bring people to tears.

Just ask Stephen Colbert.

The “Jolene” singer was the special guest on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show, where she discussed her new book, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, and the songs that her mother used to sing to her. “Mama used to sing all those songs brought over from the old world. Mama was a good singer, too, and she would just sing a capella all the time,” Parton said. “So many of those songs were sad, and as I say, some of them just ‘plum pitiful.’ But there was a song she used to sing called ‘Bury Me Beneath the Willow.’ It was about a girl that was going to get married, and her boyfriend left her at the altar or whatever, so she died, of course, she killed herself, I suppose.” Cue the waterworks.

Parton must be used to people having an emotional breakdown during her songs, because she asked Colbert, “Are you crying?” but continued singing. “I’d better hush before you cry yourself to death and can’t finish your show,” she joked afterwards. “Like a lot of Americans, I’m under a lot of stress right now, Dolly,” Colbert said through tears of joy and sadness. “You got under my tripwire right there, I’ll tell you right there, that was pretty beautiful… Isn’t it funny that sometimes there’s nothing happier than crying?”

You can watch the clip above, and Dolly’s Christmas on the Square on November 22.

In 1983, T.D. Allman wrote a book called Miami: City Of The Future, which introduced the world to the saying “The Miami of today is the America of tomorrow.”

It’s a phrase that can be either hopeful or fearful, and documentarian Billy Corben, along with his producing partner Alfred Spellman, have essentially adopted it as their career mantra. Since 2001, the duo have documented “Florida f*ckery” through 13 documentaries, from Cocaine Cowboys to The U to 2018’s Screwball, all of which to varying degrees posit that South Florida is both a metaphor and a cautionary tale for America at large. Along the way they’ve essentially become, as I like to think of it, the Mark Twains of insane Floridiana.

In that sense, their latest, 537 Votes, premiering October 21st on HBO, is a culmination of sorts. It’s an examination of the peculiar and extremely Floridian circumstances that gave us first a contested presidential election in 2000 and eventually a dubious “victory” for George W. Bush — by the infamous factor of 537 votes. As Corben puts it, we’ve been “living in the epilogue” of that moment ever since.

“As we’ve chronicled South Florida over the years, ‘Miami of today is the America of tomorrow’ has rung true more often than not,” Spellman says. “537 Votes is probably the best encapsulation of that, because Miami of 2000 certainly looks like the America of 2020.”

And what did Miami of 2000 look like? It was place polarized by the Elián Gonzalez case, riven with internal conflicts, and ruled by a minority, in the form of the (largely rightwing) Cuban-American exile community. It was the scene of the infamous “Brooks Brothers Riot,” a Republican political stunt influencing a presidential election victory that was first called (mistakenly) by a Bush cousin at Fox News, legalized through a deciding vote by a justice appointed by Bush’s father (Clarence Thomas), and certified by Bush’s Florida campaign manager, Katherine Harris (in her capacity as Florida’s then Secretary of State). And how we got there is a story all its own, involving one young refugee, Cuban-American talk radio, a shady judicial power broker, and Miami’s then-on-the-rise Democratic star mayor Alex Penelas — whose failure to provide security allowed Republican operatives to own the streets, shouting and intimidating their way to a political victory.

The strength of Corben-Spellman films is their ability to mine all the ridiculousness that make Florida stories so irresistible for the rest of us, while also making the case that we should be paying attention to them as more than mere diversion. Florida at large, and Miami specifically, is so often the Ghost of America Future, rasping cryptic warnings about cronyism and demagoguery through garish fake tan and tacky dye job in a WWE-style spectacle.

Again, never is this more true than in 537 Votes, documenting a stolen election that gave us a Mariel Boatlift of hypotheticals: If Gore wins, do we get 9/11? Do we get the Iraq War? Do we go from massive budget surpluses to massive deficits? Do we get a financial crisis? Do we get ISIS and a European refugee crisis? Mass surveillance, Abu Ghraib, Trump… the list goes on. In every example you could at least make the case that the bad thing might not have happened if not for… (*shakes fist*) Florida!

“I think Miami is like this laboratory of humanity,” says Spellman. “You don’t think about Cincinnati or Phoenix. I’m always saying that — this shit would never happen in Cincinnati. But Miami just has this way of all the worst excesses and worst instincts of humanity revealing themselves here. Because we’re a border town, because we’re a place of such a transient population, people move in, they move out, it has kind of this rhythm where almost every 10 years it resets itself and it develops a new image, a new identity.”

“Most other American cities have some sort of indigenous industry,” Corben says, looking a bit like a cool professor with his glasses and shaggy hair, but sounding more like a less bellicose Jim Rome. “Like Motor City, every other city kind of had an identity built around a particular business or company or institution. Miami never had that. I mean, we sold sunshine. We said ‘Come here for vacation. Come here to play.’ So everybody who moved here to live here permanently has to find a hustle to survive. Everybody has always subsisted from hustle to hustle.”

If the Miami of today is the America of tomorrow, the obvious question that comes to mind is, uh… how do we avoid that? Especially since, with a president who lost the popular vote, a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, mass voter suppression efforts afoot, and the widespread fear that the courts might once again step in to decide an election, the 2020 parallel to 2000 is so head-slappingly obvious that it’s almost redundant to mention.

“Brad Blakeman, the Bush campaign operative, has his metaphor about the three-legged stool,” Corben says. “You had to win in the courts, you had to win in the canvassing board recount rooms, and you had to win on the streets. And Al Gore lacked that third leg, and thus his stool fell.” [I’m ignoring the intense poop and penis euphemisms in this statement, though it’s perhaps fitting in a discussion centered around Florida, America’s dong.]

“What does Rick Sanchez say in the movie? ‘While the Democrats were trying to do the right thing, the Republicans were figuring out how to win.’”

“Close elections can be stolen,” Corben goes on. “This fault line that has been dividing over the last 20 years really starts to break and split in 2000. Thinking that we could rely on these checks and balances and the Electoral College or the Supreme Court to say, ‘Well of course you have to count the ballots.’”

“What’s crazy about it is that not only did they stop the recount, but they threw away votes. Bush’s lead had narrowed to 154 by the time the US Supreme Court intervened, and then they said ‘Nah, f*ck it. Let’s throw away those votes that had been discovered in a partial recount.’ I think about Matthew Broderick in Election, when Tracy Flick wins by one vote. He takes the two ballots and he crumples them up in his hand and he just throws them in the trash. The Supreme Court of the United States basically did that in 2000.”

For the rest of us, we can only hope and pray and perform elaborate animal sacrifices that the impending election doesn’t come down to another inept mayor, naive Democrats, and a few shady election officials in South Florida. But for Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, choosing to remain focused on Florida F*ckery has been the career gamble that paid off.

“Billy knew our third partner, Dave Cypkin, since they were three,” Alfred Spellman says. “They went to preschool together. Billy and I met in TV production class, and started making short films together in high school. We all kind of met back up in 2000 to make Raw Deal. So we’ve never really had real jobs. We had our first production company when we were 15. Our dads had to sign the paperwork.”

“We were the youngest filmmakers in Sundance history when we debuted Raw Deal: A Question of Consent,” Corben says. “We did like 60 interviews in five or six days, and the last question was always the same. Now that you’ve made a big splash at Sundance, are you going to move to New York or LA? And we just said, ‘No, we’re going to go home.’ We felt that Miami and Florida, Florida at large and Miami specifically, were just this under-tapped resource of characters and stories that we wanted to tell. We wanted Florida f*ckery to be our genre.”

As they say, be careful what you wish for.

‘537 Votes’ premieres on HBO October 21st. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

For nearly two weeks, there have been daily protests in Nigeria over accusations of kidnapping, harassment, and extortion made against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit. Things got even more serious yesterday when demonstrators were reportedly shot by SARS officers. The situation has captured the attention of people abroad, including Beyonce, who shared a message about it.

Taking to her BeyGOOD Twitter account, she wrote, “I am heartbroken to see the senseless brutality taking place in Nigeria. There has to be an end to SARS. We have been working on partnerships with youth organizations to support those protesting for change. We are collaborating with coalitions to provide emergency healthcare, food and shelter. To our Nigerian sisters and brothers, we stand with you. Please visit Beyonce.com for a list of organizations to show your support.”

As Al Jazeera notes, SARS was established in 1984 as the country battled rising levels of crime and kidnappings. The unit was initially successful, but Fulani Kwajafa, who created the unit, recently said, “SARS of today is not the same SARS I established in 1984. [It has been] turned into banditry.” The new wave of protests was sparked after a viral video allegedly showed SARS officers killing a young man. Authorities denied the authenticity of the video and arrested the man who filmed it.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

It takes a lot of confidence to declare oneself a “legend.” It likely takes a lot more to say one is “running” any city, state, or other location with which one is affiliated. But it takes an abundance of talent, hard work, and longevity to stake a claim to both of those conditions at once and uphold a pretty reasonable argument. Fortunately for T.I., whose 11th studio album, The L.I.B.R.A. (The Legend Is Back Running Atlanta), he’s got not only the requisite confidence to employ such a lofty album, but he’s also got the track record to — mostly — justify it.

Before any T.I. stans take up arms on behalf of the 40-year-old Atlanta rap veteran/trap rap pioneer, here’s an explanation for that “mostly.” Far from intending any offense, that “mostly” is buttressed by a recent revolution in the musical style T.I. freely admits he had help in inventing. The current sound is far removed from the subgenre he, Gucci Mane, and (then-Young) Jeezy carved out of the Peach State’s rich red soil. It’s been reinvented, reinterpreted, remixed, and utterly upended by mad scientists like Future, Migos, and Young Thug, who’ve added melody, vocal experimentation, and a whole constellation of new star producers whose approaches are wildly different from those of DJ Toomp, Jazze Pha, and Lil Jon.

Yet, to his credit, T.I. has remarkably kept pace with the rapidly-changing landscape in a way he might sneer at New Yorkers and Los Angelenos for being (mostly) unable to. While up north city dwellers rail against the various metamorphoses of the Big Apple sound and West Coasters remain locked in a G-Funk haze, T.I. and his Dirty South compatriots have shepherded their newcomers, proving adaptable and generous in sharing their spotlight rather than desperately grasping onto their last vestiges of relevancy.

So yes, mostly. T.I. hasn’t had a No. 1 peak since 2008’s Paper Trail and while he’s been critically praised in recent years, his last handful of projects haven’t been as fervently received by younger fans who are more likely flock to his successors’ releases, as is so often the case in hip-hop. But he’s aged gracefully and more importantly, used his platform to bestow his blessing on future generations of potentially game-changing stars. While The L.I.B.R.A. seemingly boasts that it’s about T.I. coming back to reclaim his crown nearly a decade and a half after he declared himself King, it’s really about him choosing his successors and graciously passing them the torch.

As he did for then-relative newcomers Young Thug and Nipsey Hussle in 2014 with Paperwork, T.I. demonstrates his gift for recognizing talent here, vouching for budding stars like 42 Dugg and Mozzy with “On The Hood,” acknowledging the lyrical dexterity of the Griselda Clan by pairing Benny with Jadakiss on “Make Amends” and partnering with Conway on “1/2 Ticket,” and even doing his best to make up for giving the world Iggy Azalea by anointing Tokyo Jetz on “Hit Dogs Holla.” He also crowns current stars Lil Baby and 21 Savage, ensuring that their contributions over the past two years are recognized on “Pardon” and “Thank God,” respectively.

As for the “legend” part, T.I. utilizes the age-old adage about being known by your friends to his advantage here, bringing along marble-cast monuments like Jadakiss, Killer Mike, Rick Ross, and Snoop Dogg to accompany him on tracks that speak to his chameleonic ability to rap to damn near anything. He and Snoop are smooth old-school players on “Moon Juice,” while the luxury raps flow like silk on the Rick Ross-featuring “Respect The Code.” T.I. works to show off any many aspects of his personality as possible, including his outspoken — and occasionally misguided — political passions on “How I Feel” with Killer Mike, a song that harkens right back to the early-90s protest rap that had Republicans clutching their pearls.

But the most touching inclusions — and maybe the most significant, since every king needs an heir — are those of T.I.’s kids. On “Family Connect,” he and his son Domani finally collaborate on a song that explains the wait and makes it worth it. T.I. is fond of sharing wisdom with listeners, but with his son as a foil, his advice feels all the more urgent — and somehow, satisfying as well. “Learn to be the thermostat, not the thermometer,” he counsels. It’s not just solid guidance for a son, but for anyone listening — framing it as the former makes it more palatable and poignant.

Then, he cedes the final track to his daughter Deyjah, giving her the final say in their very public 2019 embarrassment over his ill-advised, ill-timed, and possibly misinterpreted joke about her doctor’s visits. “Deyjah’s Conclusion,” rather than rehashing the past or casting around for some pithy insight, instead reflects back the confidence 19 years of living with one of the biggest shit talkers on the planet must impart on someone: “I bet you were expecting to hear something different / Probably hoping I’d serve you some tea more specific to business of ours / But I’m just too gifted to be here on that bullshit you see / Evolution is key, and stagnation ain’t me.” Consider the future to be in excellent hands, indeed.

The L.I.B.R.A. is out now Grand Hustle. Get it here.