Despite the connotations of his rap name, Lil Uzi Vert has so far managed to avoid running afoul of gun violence or the police for much of his career. Unfortunately, his streak came to an end on Tuesday — but not in the same way as many of his peers and contemporaries. TMZ reports that Uzi was detained by police in his hometown Philadelphia after having a gun battle on the streets — albeit with paintball guns.
Police told TMZ that reports were called in of Uzi and his friends shooting out of a vehicle near North Philadelphia. When police searched the car, they found only seven, realistic-looking paintball guns (with requisite orange tips to identify them as replicas). Uzi himself live-streamed the paintball fight on Instagram and the footage eventually found its way to YouTube. Police cited Uzi and his friends, which is about the best-case outcome considering the news over the past, let’s just say 200 years.
Thankfully, since Uzi won’t face any worse consequences like jail time, he’ll likely have time to finish up his rumored collaborative project with Future while continuing to contribute outstanding guest verses like the ones he’s shared with A Boogie, Gunna, and Lil Tecca.
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.
Remember how important film soundtracks were in the ’90s and early 2000’s? It was an era when inclusion on the soundtrack to a teen or superhero film often equated to an instant mega-hit or an association with a prestige film could launch an entire career. The period’s biggest movie, Titanic, featured a song almost as colossal as the boat, while Good Will Hunting pushed virtually unknown songwriter Elliott Smith onto the Oscars stage and Singles shined a light on an entire burgeoning rock scene in Seattle. In 1999, Blink-182’s inclusion and subsequent cameo in American Pie helped boost their quickly growing public profile, while movies like Romeo + Juliet and Batman Forever also launched hugely successful singles from the likes of Garbage, U2, and Seal. And it wasn’t always for the better, like 2002’s Music from And Inspired by Spider-Man, which boasted a single from Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger that has since sold around fifteen million copies worldwide.
Clicking play on “Care,” the first single and opening track on Beabadoobee’s debut album Fake It Flowers, there is something instantly familiar that draws back to this (mostly) bygone era of rock-centered film soundtracks. And that’s exactly what Bea Kristi set out to do while writing the album. “I think music and film go so well together,” she tells me over the phone. “I’m a very visual type of person. I just think it would be super badass if I was able to write a song for a film. That’d be a dream.” The song itself embodies all of the staples of a good soundtrack: a start and stop chorus as the film’s main characters put their hands in the middle of the huddle before the big championship game, a ripping solo underneath the montage of the game itself, and a build-up to the final explosive chorus as the team scores the winning goal.
Where many musicians would say that there was a specific band or concert that encouraged them to pursue music, Kristi was instead inspired by how music could be utilized in films to heighten the emotion or comedy of a scene, but also have a life of its own outside the setting of a film. The lightbulb moment came while she was watching the 2007 film Juno, perhaps the last entry into the aforementioned “soundtrack era” (the album hit No. 1 within a month of its release and has since gone on to sell over a million copies). “That made me realize I really wanted to make music like that and to play guitar like that,” she recalls. The event sent her down a rabbit hole of discovery, both prompted and enabled by the ubiquity of streaming services and the ease of finding any artist’s algorithmically curated related artists.
Soon, Kristi had jumped from the Juno soundtrack deep into the studio work of that album’s breakout, lo-fi indie staple Kimya Dawson and her band The Moldy Peaches. She then transitioned toward heavier alternative acts like Veruca Salt, My Bloody Valentine, and The Smashing Pumpkins. All of these influences are seamlessly incorporated across the twelve tracks that make up Fake It Flowers, resulting in an album that is simultaneously the most modern and nostalgia-inducing release of 2020.
After gaining buzz and momentum with a series of EPs over the last several years that landed her slots on tours with artists like The 1975 and Clairo, everything changed for Beabadoobee in 2019 when her early track “Coffee” was sampled in the chorus for Canadian artist Powfu’s “Death Bed.” The track promptly went viral on TikTok and broke the top 20 on charts in nearly 30 countries worldwide. Just like that, the bubbling singer-songwriter exploded into a full-blown star. “It was very, very fast and in such little time,” she recalls. “Everything was so overwhelming.”
She retreated from the spotlight to her parents’ house in London, where she doubled down on writing Fake It Flowers. “I felt like I had to write an album just for my mental health even, because I just needed to get things off my chest.” Where her early EPs represented Kristi’s mindset in the moment of putting pen to paper, Fake It Flowers instead takes on a wider approach, encapsulating a period of introspection and examination of Kristi’s life up to this point.
You can hear the chaos throughout the album, as Bea masters the loud/soft dynamic that some say was popularized by Nirvana (which in turn was lifted from the Pixies, but I digress). She even calls Fake It Flowers a “female album,” channeling the vocal stylings and arrangements of fierce female alternative rock icons Alanis Morrissette and The Cranberries’ Delores O’Riordan. Some tracks rage with the fuzzed-out, heavy instrumentation that hearkens back to alternative rock staples of mid-late ’90s, while others take on a more reserved approach, giving Kristi’s vocal space to emphasize her deeply personal and reflective lyrics.
In fact, each song can be viewed as a standalone narrative from a moment in Kristi’s life — the infectious “Worth It” tells the story of a failing long-distance relationship, while the reverb-drenched “Dye It Red” revels in the temporary comforts one can find in a change in physical appearance. “Sorry,” on the other hand, is firm in its declaration of prioritizing one’s self, even if that means separating from someone entirely, building from just a single guitar to the onslaught of overdriven guitars laced with intense feedback and brash percussion.
The album is versatile in its delivery method, giving the listener many opportunities to engage with and latch on to Kristi’s lyrics, ideally to serve as a source of inspiration and a sense that you might not be alone in your feelings. “If one person can relate to at least one song on this album, that means I’ve done something right,” she explains. “The whole idea behind Fake It Flowers is something I was supposed to tell someone, but couldn’t. Writing this album helped me a lot with my problems, and hopefully, it can help someone out there too.”
With her debut album, Beabadoobee has created a project that is an epic film score for growing up, never shying away from the difficulties of coming of age that are the same for everyone, regardless of whether that period was in the ’90s, or the 2020’s. As for the classic film soundtrack she wishes she could have written for? “But I’m a Cheerleader because they only chose female artists. And basically the whole film, it’s a comedy, and they’re really fun songs and really dancey type songs, and there’s sad ones. And I feel like I’d want a song from Fake It Flowers to be in that movie. That or The Craft.”
Fake It Flowers is out October 16 on Dirty Hit. Pre-order it here.
Not too long ago, Oneohtrix Point Never announced a new album, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, which press materials described as “a nostalgic and self-referential career-defining body of work, collaging maximalist baroque-pop within atmospheric glitter.” Today, Daniel Lopatin returns with another preview of the album: a video for the Caroline Polachek-featuring “Long Road Home.”
The stop-motion clip follows a pair of demonic creatures who become romantically interested in each other. The courtship carries on from there until they eventually become one. The clip is described as an homage to the 1982 Georges Schwizgebel short Le Ravissement de Frank N. Stein.
Co-directors Charlie Fox and Emily Schubert said of the clip in a joint statement, “It’s a romantic fable about love and transformation, which grew out of a lot of wild philosophical conversations with Dan over the summer. We wanted to take these supposedly grotesque or demonic creatures and turn them into the weirdly adorable and heartbreaking protagonists of this courtship ritual. For a song that seems to be sung by something mutant and magical in a time when intimacy is craved and feared, it felt like a hot match; it just felt good inside. And all this stuff started oozing out.”
NLE Choppa must have recorded his verse for Juicy J‘s “Load It Up” video before he changed his mind about his rap content because he goes all the way in on his usual subject matter, threatening enemies with hollows and Glocks. Meanwhile, Juicy also sticks to his own well-worn script, tossing off lines about weed, women, and cash before his heavily pregnant wife shuts down the video shoot and drags him home in a tongue-in-cheek peek behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz style.
The Memphis great has been gearing up for the release of his new album The Hustle Continues, which also features the Wiz Khalifa collaboration “Gah Damn High.” It’ll be his first full-length album release since 2017’s Rubba Band Business — although he’s also released a handful of mixtapes since then, including ShutDaFukUp and Road To Stay Trippy — and his first independently released project after leaving Columbia Records.
Choppa, meanwhile, is enjoying a breakout year that included the release of his debut album, his inclusion in XXL‘s 2020 Freshman Class, and his turning over a new leaf, beginning plant-based diet and delving into meditation.
Watch Juicy J and NLE Choppa’s “Load It Up” video above.
NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After battling zombies for over a decade in six Resident Evil movies, Milla Jovovich (along with director Paul W.S. Anderson) is officially moving onto other beasts, like dragons and other massive creatures who burst out of the desert in Sony’s Monster Hunter trailer. The visuals might remind people of Dune sandworms, but that’s where the similarities end. And that’s alright, considering that Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s heady sci-fi epic masterpiece will come to theaters next year, and Monster Hunter (which is based upon Capcom’s video game franchise) is geared toward sheer escapism. Jovovich portrays Captain Artemis — interestingly enough, a character who doesn’t hail from the video games — and the focus here is on action, one-liners (including a Guardian of the Galaxy joke), and those enormous CGI beasts.
Will the movie actually land in U.S. theaters soon, though? As of now, Sony is holding onto its December 30 release date, and given that this was always planned as a tentpole film (with some Mad Max: Fury Road vibes), it’s doubtful that this project will go straight to VOD. Also, the sound design is clearly meant to make theaters vibrate, with all those monsters flying everywhere and Milla Jovovich shooting them down like it ain’t no thing. More than likely, we’ll see the U.S. date push back with this movie continuing as planned in recovered overseas markets, where it should fare well.
Monster Hunter feels like a welcome popcorn movie (with no viruses!) in a time when it’s sorely needed. Of course, the audience will trade out our world for the place where Artemis and her army suddenly find themselves after slipping into some sort of portal. Anderson recently stated during New York Comic Con that Artemis’ unfamiliarity with this new world (and newness to the franchise) might help simulate the video game for moviegoers who aren’t yet familiar with the franchise’s stories. People will have to acclimate quite quickly to this world, given that the monster invasion appears to be unrelenting. The cast includes T.I. Harris (yes, that T.I. Harris), Ron Perlman, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta, Josh Helman, and Jin Au-Yeung.
The WWE draft was supposed to end with the end of Monday Night Raw this week, but like last year, some WWE Superstars never got drafted on either show, and WWE needed a couple of days to catch up. In addition to Smackdown and Raw, Superstars were drafted on Talking Smack, Raw Talk, and then finally on Twitter.
In addition to everyone covered in the first two Draft Reports, here’s who else has been officially drafted:
RAW
Humberto Carrillo
Tucker
Drew Gulak
Andrade
Erik of the Viking Raiders
Lince Dorado and Gran Metallik
SMACKDOWN
Kalisto
Shorty G
Murphy
Billie Kay
Tamina
Zelina Vega
Finally, although they were never officially drafted, PWInsider is reporting that Mickie James and Andrade will both be on Raw. Mickie’s currently out with a broken nose, but it’s pretty surprising that Andrade, who’s been on TV quite a bit recently, never got drafted on screen.
Other things to note with these additions: Tucker is on Raw while Otis is on Smackdown, so that’s officially that for Heavy Machinery (and quite possibly for Tucker). Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are similarly split up, showing WWE’s dedication to keeping the IIconics apart. Kalisto was separated from the rest of Lucha House Party, although Gran Metallik and Lince Dorado seem likely to stay together as a tag team. Finally, Zelina Vega is truly off on her own now, on a separate brand from her former clients Andrade and Angel Garza. But on Smackdown, a least, she won’t have to worry about further attacks from a fiendish Alexa Bliss.
Here are the complete rosters of both shows as we understand them after the complete draft:
RAW
Drew McIntyre
Asuka
The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, and MVP)
Sturgill Simpson has had a chameleonic career, putting out albums filled with everything from traditional country to straight-up rock and roll. His latest, 2019’s Sound & Fury, falls in the latter camp, but with his next effort, he’s going in a decidedly different direction. Yesterday, the musician announced his next album, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions, which will feature bluegrass interpretations of some of his past material.
The 20-track album features songs from his first three albums — High Top Mountain, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, and A Sailor’s Guide To Earth — as well as songs from his previous band, Sunday Valley. This was meant to be a surprise release, but info got out early on a streaming site. Simpson shared the cover art and wrote on Instagram, “Welp,..was hoping to surprise everybody on Thursday but somebody somewhere (Germany) got all excited and just couldn’t hold their horses.”
Check out the Cuttin’ Grass art and tracklist below.
Sturgill Simpson
1. “All Around You”
2. “All The Pretty Colors”
3. “Breakers Roar”
4. “I Don’t Mind”
5. “I Wonder”
6. “Just Let Go”
7. “Life Ain’t Fair”
8. “A Little Light”
9. “Life Of Sin”
10. “Long White Line”
11. “Living The Dream”
12. “Old King Coal”
13. “Railroad Of Sin”
14. “Sitting Here Without You”
15. “Sometimes Wine”
16. “The Storm”
17. “Time After All”
18. “Turtles All The Way Down”
19. “Voices”
20. “Water In A Well”
Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions is out 10/16.
Sturgill Simpson is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s been a while since Kanye West released any new music, so fans were excited to receive a new freestyle from him, even if it wasn’t quite what they’ve been hoping he’d drop since he began his one-man war against the music industry. Instead, he and his team were apparently feeling “energized,” as he put it in the tweet containing the freestyle video, so he set the freeform rap to a video of a UFC knockout and shared it with his followers.
The freestyle came after Kanye shared a screenshot of election poll results from Kentucky showing him leading both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which was later clarified as a test of reporting code. Of course, Kanye wouldn’t care that the results aren’t valid because he’s Kanye and he believes what he wants, so the claims he makes on the song should be taken with a grain of salt. He does, however, reference the popular Star Wars “high ground” meme, along with a sample of the infamous line from Revenge Of The Sith. He also talks a bit about his recording industry beef.
Someone discovered a cached web link that we used during June’s primary election to post Associated Press election results. The old link was still populating current AP data and showed test results, which is part of the preparation the AP does in advance of elections. (1/2)
The results shown were not valid. They were simply part of a test. We regret the discovery of the cached web link and have removed the data from that page. We apologize for any confusion. (2/2)
With the 2020 presidential election not far away, a lot of people are looking for a change. Among those is Demi Lovato, who has released a scathing criticism of Donald Trump with her new song, “Commander In Chief.”
Lovato sings on the ballad’s chorus, “Commander In Chief, honestly / If I did the things you do / I couldn’t sleep, seriously / Do you even know the truth? / We’re in a state of crisis, people are dyin’ / While you line your pockets deep / Commander in Chief, how does it feel to still / b`upre able to breathe?
In a CNN interview, Lovato said of the song:
“It’s very important for me that I get to use my platform for something much bigger than just singing. There’s been so many times where I wanted to write the president a letter or sit down with him and ask him these questions. And then I thought, I don’t really actually want to do that, and I think one way that I could do that is writing a song and releasing it for the whole world to hear, and then he has to answer those questions to everybody and not just me.”
She also spoke about voting, saying, “We have to show up, we have to turn up and vote because it’s so important that our voices are heard. And, honestly, for me, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, just get out and vote. Just get out and vote so that at the end of the day, whatever happens, whoever wins, we can actually look and say, ‘Well, you know what? At least everyone got out there and voted and did their part, and our country spoke.’”
Demi Lovato discusses her new song, “Commander in Chief” aimed at President Donald Trump in new @CNN interview. pic.twitter.com/Gp7ljscVC9
Meanwhile, Finneas, who co-wrote and co-produced the track, also noted on Instagram, “I think people underestimate the bravery it takes to put out a song like this when your platform is as large as Demi’s is. But I’m sure if you asked her, she’d tell you it was her responsibility. It was an Honor to produce this one for the wildly talented Demi Lovato.”
Showtime’s Shameless will finalize the Chicago-based Gallagher stories with the upcoming Season 11, quite like the U.K. version of the show. With Emmy Rossum’s Fiona departing over a year ago, and the rest of the siblings starting to grow their own families, the time feels right to let them all venture off in their own directions (though I’m still sort-of rooting for a certain character to win a spinoff). Season 11 will premiere on December 9, and here’s where things left off in January:
– Gallovich officially happened with Ian and Mickey finally tying the knot despite plenty of misgivings on both ends. They were terrible cellmates in prison, so will they fare any better with a little more breathing room (and a bathroom with a closing door)?
– Lip fell off the wagon in a big way at the wedding ceremony, which became a funeral for his sobriety Tami’s verbal barbs arguably went too far. Watching him down stiff drink after stiff drink was heartbreaking, and I hope the show brings him back from this cliff. Things are never as real for anyone else on Shameless than they’ve been for Lip.
– Debbie’s on the run from the law after Julia’s mom reported Debbie for statutory rape. According to series creator John Wells, she’ll be required to register as a sex offender, which will complicate things at home, to say the very least.
Heading into Season 11, the show did rewrites before heading back to the set, and Shameless will integrate the pandemic into its various arcs. Here’s Showtime’s synopsis:
The final season of Shameless finds the Gallagher family and the South Side at a crossroads, with changes caused by the COVID pandemic, gentrification and aging to reconcile. As Frank confronts his own mortality and family ties in his alcoholic and drug induced twilight years, Lip struggles with the prospect of becoming the family’s new patriarch. Newlyweds Ian and Mickey are figuring out the rules and responsibilities of being in a committed relationship while Deb embraces her individuality and single motherhood. Carl finds an unlikely new career in law enforcement and Kevin and V struggle to decide whether a hard life on the South Side is worth fighting for.
Noel Fisher, who plays Mickey, has shared some masked set photos.
Well, Shameless has always been a relatable show, which is why it’s so beloved, so it does makes sense for them to confront COVID head on. Granted, I wouldn’t have minded watching the Gallaghers exist in a world where viruses don’t exist, but the show was one of the first to return to production during our current situation, so yes, they’re gonna do this thing. And is Carl really gonna become a cop? Oh boy.
Shameless will return on December 9.
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