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Every murder of an innocent person is tragic, but the cold-blooded killing of a child is too heinous to even think about. So when a man walks up to a 5-year-old riding his bike in broad daylight and shoots him in the head in front of his young sisters, it’s completely reasonable that people would be horrified. It’s an unthinkable and unforgivable act.

Cannon Hinnant didn’t deserve to die like that. His parents didn’t deserve to lose him like that. His sisters didn’t deserve to be scarred for life like that. We can all agree that a horrible tragedy in every way.

His murderer—Hinnant’s dad’s next door neighbor, Darius Sessoms—deserved to be rounded up, arrested, and charged for the killing. And he was, within hours. He deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law, and history indicates that he assuredly will be. The system is working exactly as it’s supposed to in this case. Nothing can be done to bring Cannon back, but justice is being served.

So why is #SayHisName trending with this story, when that hashtag has long been used in the movement for Black Lives? And why is #JusticeForCannon being shared when justice is already happening in this case? Why is #ChildrensLivesMatter a thing, when there’s never been any question that that’s the case?

The complaint stems from the claim that the media isn’t covering this story because the murderer is a Black man and the victim was white. It doesn’t “fit the narrative,” according to these complaints. “If the races were reversed, we’d see nothing but this story on the national news,” say people foaming at the mouth on Twitter as they point to public support for Black Lives Matter protests and ask why there isn’t a similar outrage for this little boy.

First of all, the story is being covered by news outlets. It’s a popular media attack tactic to say that the media isn’t covering a story, when it takes a 30 second Google search to find that it’s not true. National media outlets generally don’t report on individual crime cases, so them not picking up an individual murder story immediately is the norm, not an exception. But it’s certainly not being ignored.

Second of all, while every child’s murder is undeniably tragic, it happens every day. Literally, an average of three children are murdered in the United States every single day. The vast majority of these crimes don’t make headlines on the national news, because most of the time, the system works like it’s supposed to. Families suffer terribly, but murderers are apprehended and convicted. Generally, individual murders—even of children—are considered local stories unless there’s something in the story that pushes it into the national discourse. (For a BLM-related example, Ahmaud Arbery’s murder didn’t make national news when it happened, but rather months later when it came to light that the men who killed him hadn’t even been arrested, much less charged or convicted.)

Third, the not-so-subtle racism in the hijacking of the #SayHisName hashtag is gross, as are the false equivalencies with the BLM movement. Cannon Hinnant was not killed by the police with impunity. He was not a victim of a justice system that disproportionately harms people with his skin color. His murderer is not walking free. BLM isn’t just about Black people being murdered, otherwise the #SayHisName or #SayHerName hashtags would be used for every Black murder. It’s about Black people being killed with impunity by agents of the state charged with protecting people, or murdered by others and justice not being served. There’s not an ongoing justice issue with children being murdered in broad daylight and their murderers walking free.

When I see people complaining that Cannon Hinnant’s murder isn’t getting the same outrage or attention as Black Lives Matter, I see people who willfully don’t get the issue, which has been explained ad nauseam. What exactly is the justice people are calling for in this case? For Cannon Hinnant’s murderer to be apprehended? Already done. For him to be charged with murder? Also already done.

Stop conflating a heinous individual tragedy with the fight against systemic injustice. And stop using a child’s gruesome murder to discredit or demean or deflect from a social justice movement. There is little doubt that justice will be done in Cannon Hinnant’s case.

By all means, be outraged that this little boy was murdered, but direct that outrage at his murderer, not at the individuals and groups calling for justice to be equally applied to all. Say his name if it makes you feel better, but don’t politicize his death to hijack the movement for racial justice. Call for justice in a case where justice is already happening if you must—even though it doesn’t makes sense—but ask yourself if you’ve put that same energy into the systemic racial injustices that have long been documented in this country.

Cannon Hinnant’s murder is a tragedy, no question. But using his death as a political talking point is a travesty. Just stop.

Tattooing, like any other skill, requires practice. The problem is, how do you practice permanently putting a nipple on someone else’s body?

This genius tattoo artist found a solution. “Shannon McCauley gives out free tattoos to the people who volunteer their bodies to help her practice tattooing nipples.

McCauley is a tattoo artist at Steadfast Tattoo in Rochester, NY. She went absolutely viral after tweeting a photo of a leg with a nipple with the caption, “Tattooed my first nipple on skin. I’ll be covering this tattoo for free once it’s healed. I’m learning this so I can tattoo in surgeon’s offices and help breast cancer survivors that had mastectomies.”

She later said she’ll also use this skill for people in the trans community. Simply amazing. You can visit Shannon’s instagram to see even more photos of nipples tattooed on legs.

Tattooing is very common for people that have gone through mastectomies because surgeons can only do so much in terms of pigmentation. Tattoos on the hand have a practically infinite range of shade and color. Artists like Shannon are necessary in helping people through the recovery process.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Lovecraft Country (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — This series (created by Misha Green, based upon Matt Ruff’s 1950s-set dark fantasy novel, and executive produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams) will blow your expectations away. It’s an audacious, ambitious, and absolutely astounding horror series with standout performances from Jurnee Smollett, Jonathan Majors, and the rest of the cast.

Project Power (Netflix film) — Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in the next Netflix action movie about superpowers that can be unlocked through a mysterious drug. Who created the pills, and can the resulting crime wave be stopped? Well, the powers only last five minutes per drug hit, so these are some fast moving criminals for sure.

Boys State (Apple TV+ film) — This A24-produced documentary scored a Sundance Grand Jury prize and follows a group of Texas teens who run their own mock government. Tune in to find out if they go all Lord of the Flies or not.

The Legend of Korra (series arriving on Netflix) — Amid the current controversy involving a live-action Avatar The Last Airbender, all four seasons of this animated sequel series (from Nickelodeon) have arrived for the binging.

Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix series) — You totally know what this series is about already (not Warrior Nuns), but let’s do this anyway. Two fraternal twins decide to rebel against their religious Southern upbringing by joining forces with a veteran bounty hunter named Bowser. Jenji Kohan (Orange Is The New Black) is executive producing, so expect things to get weird.

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+ series) — Jason Sudeikis is reviving his small-time college football coach character (who hails back to 2013 NBC Sports English Premier League coverage) for this show. Lasso is somehow coaching professional English soccer, and good luck to him.

The Great Heist (Netflix series) — This story about “the robbery of the century” is based upon true events that transpired during 1994’s assault on the Bank of the Republic. $33 million is an unbelievable take for sure.

A few must-see leftovers from last week:

An American Pickle (HBO Max) — Seth Rogen‘s dual roles have arrived, and the end product is both touching and hilarious to witness. Rogen plays a 1920s Jewish immigrant who falls into a vat of pickle juice and is perfectly “brined” for 100 years, so suspend your disbelief and enjoy the surprising amount of nuance here. It’s both an interesting match-up and a truly inspired Jewish version of Encino Man.

Hitmen (Peacock series) — It’s a workplace comedy about assassins, starring English comedy duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins as longtime pals who kill for dollars.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Room 104 (Friday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — The fourth season of the Duplass’ Brothers bizarre playground continues with Eva (Melissa Fumero) overhauling a major decision.

P-Valley (Sunday, Starz 8:00 p.m.) — The Pynk crew is forming new bonds while looking toward the future, but there’s pushback for Andre.

The Chi (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Ronnie’s seeing praise from some and reminders of his mistakes from others. Meanwhile, Kevin’s working hard to balance his obligations and personal life.

NOS4A2 (Sunday, AMC & BBC America 10:00 p.m.) — Charlie Manx must face his worst fears, and Millie must make a choice while Vic and Maggie prepare for a dangerous showdown.

We Hunt Together (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 p.m.) — A deadly duo — a former child soldier named Baba and Freddie — finds themselves drawn together (to commit murder). Two detectives are hot on the trail, and only agree on one thing this week.

Desus & Mero (Sunday, Showtime 10:30 p.m.) — The illustrious guest is the WNBA’s Sue Bird.

Is the whole “sex is better with cannabis” thing legit? Or is it just something that stoners tout as yet another benefit of their great green goddess? The short answer is that cannabis can make good sex even better. It makes music sound better, food taste more delicious, and Thanksgiving a way more interesting experience, so why would this sensually-driven experience be different? If anecdotal experience isn’t enough for you, there are some studies out there for you science nerds that suggest that cannabis does, in fact, make sex a more pleasurable experience and that stoners may be having more sex than their non-stoned counterparts.

According to Psychology Today, researchers at Missouri’s St. Louis University conducted two separate surveys of 133 and 289 adult women and found that in both studies women reported their experiences with cannabis and sex as enhancing to both their libidos and the quality of their pleasure. While a larger study, including data from 28,176 women and 22,943 men conducted by researchers at Stanford, didn’t inquire whether cannabis use increased the pleasure users experienced during sex, it did find those cannabis users we’re having more sex than their non-cannabis smoking counterparts, with a 22% increase for men and a 34% increase in women. Weed, unlike booze, doesn’t numb you out or dry you up. Instead, THC makes you more aware of your senses, which perfect if you’re having sex.

So which strains are the best to smoke before getting down? Before we get into those, let’s dispel a big myth here — there isn’t a single strain of weed out there that is proven to increase your libido or “put you in the mood.” That simply doesn’t exist, and anyone who is trying to tell you otherwise is bullshitting. Cannabis doesn’t work that way. Instead, what you should keep in mind when shopping for a cannabis strain to bring into the bedroom is what type of experience you’re looking for.

Which brings us to…

Choosing The Right Strain

It’s important to be honest with yourself. If you’re feeling anxious try reaching for a strain with a high CBD content, if you’re looking for a spark of creativity and energy, go for a Sativa. If you’re looking to increase the sensory experience, an Indica will serve you well. If you want the energy and the pleasure enhancement, go for a hybrid. It’s important to find a strain that is going to work with the mood you’re trying to set or the headspace you need to get into. You may even find that you and your partner would be better off smoking entirely different strains depending on your role that night in the bedroom. The only thing you really need to worry about is someone getting too high — which can increase sedation, paranoia, and, frankly, make you too lazy to want to have sex. So if you’re using cannabis to enhance your sexual experiences, limit yourself to one to three hits just before the clothes hit the floor.

To help get you started on a sex-cannabis exploration, we selected a mix of 10 Indica, Sativa, and Hybrid strains that will help set the mood in just a few hits, with a focus on strains that smell and taste as good as the sex you’re about to have.

Green Crack

Strain: Sativa
THC: 17%

Green Crack definitely has the least sexy name of any weed strain — next to Chemical Cat Piss — but don’t let the silly name dissuade you, Green Crack just might top your list of Sativa sex enhancers. Perfect for those looking to get creative in bed, Green Crack will fill you with a buzz of energy and euphoria, which is perfect for long sessions in the sheets stretch throughout your day. A great strain for a morning wake and bake and sex in the shower.

With tropical flavors of citrus and mango, we recommend packing your Green Crack in the bong, just make sure you refresh that water so as not to kill the mood. There is nothing less sexy than bong breath.

Hit up Weedmaps to find Green Crack at a dispensary near you.

Granddaddy Purple

Strain: Indica
THC: 17%

With just 17% THC, Granddaddy Purple is a great Indica strain to start experimenting with while dabbling in pairing sex and cannabis. Its beautiful purple buds, grape and berry flavors, and inviting scent help to get you out of your head and put your in a sensory mood without getting you way too high. Granddaddy Purple is high in alpha-Pinene, so it’s adept at putting you in a totally relaxed state. Don’t think that this is reserved for touchy vanilla sex, get wild with it — Pinene has pain-reducing properties, making this strain adaptable to any type of sex you’re trying to engage in.

To pick up Grandaddy Purple, hit up Weedmaps to find the strain at a dispensary near you.

Wedding Cake

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 23-25%

A fairly new strain in the weed scene, Wedding Cake is an Indica-dominant hybrid strain that will relax you out and enhance your senses, with a rush of euphoria accompanying the first hit. Since it’s packed with THC, at an average of between 23-25%, one to two hits should provide a head change for even the most hardcore smokers, and its earthy herbal flavor with hints of sweet vanilla will help to tantalize the palate. Better still, it won’t leave you cotton-mouthed and dried out.

Plus come on, with a name like Wedding Cake how can you go wrong? This strain was designed for long honeymoon nights but if that all feels a little too domestic for you, feel free to call it by its alternate name: Pink Cookies.

Hit up Weedmaps to find Wedding Cake at a dispensary near you.

Do-si-dos

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 20%

Keeping things on the high THC spectrum, Do-si-dos is an Indica dominant hybrid strain with a floral peppermint scent that will instantly melt your body into a buzz of euphoric sensory pleasure. With a bowl of Do-si-dos packed, take about two to three hits, reach for the blindfold and prepare to enter a world of shiver-inducing touch and closed eye visuals that’ll turn sex intro a truly psychedelic experience.

To find Do-Si-Dos at a dispensary near you, search the strain on Weedmaps.

Girl Scout Cookies

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 19%

Sometimes known as simply GSC — for legal purposes — Girl Scout Cookies checks a lot of the same boxes as the Granddaddy Purple strain, meaning its great for receiving roles in the bedroom and for enhancing the sensory experience, but GSC’s Sativa genetics help to give it an edge over the Indica Purp by putting your body into a relaxed state AND sharpening the mind, giving you the inspiration to get creative.

The bud’s mix of purple flecked leaves and bright orange hairs are a beautiful sight, too. If you’re so much of a stoner that you like to break up your weed over the body of your partner, they won’t object given this strains beautiful appearance and herbal earthy aroma.

Hit up Weedmaps to find GSC at a dispensary near you.

Sour Diesel

Strain: Sativa
THC: 18.5%
CBD 2%

If anxiety is seriously wrecking your bedroom game, Sour Diesel is the strain for you as its one of the few on this list to have a significant level of CBD content which will help to melt away your anxiety. Keep a few things in mind though, Sour Diesel isn’t sexy — it’s named so for its overly pungent chemical infused aroma, and while its THC content isn’t the highest, it packs a punch with an early onset of cerebral enhancement that feels long-lasting.

Our recommendation? Pack a bowl and light it up outside with your partner, that way the smell doesn’t totally kill the mood once you’re inside. If you can make it that far.

Hit up Weedmaps to find Sour Diesel at a dispensary near you.

Trainwreck

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 16-17%

Easily the weakest strain on this list, smoking Trainwreck, despite its rough-sex suggesting name, is a relatively chill strain. Experienced smokers can easily blow through two bowls of this stuff before being taken over by its giggle-inducing qualities making this an ideal strain for pot-head partners who just want a slight head change before getting busy or first time users looking to experiment with sex on cannabis. It’s piney and flowery flavors will fill the room with a pleasing herbal scent and its relatively low THC content will keep you from getting couch-locked or too high.

Keep this stain handy for quickies or shorter sex sessions that aren’t going to occupy your whole day, the high won’t last too long with this one, which is perfect for those with packed schedules.

Hit up Weedmaps to find Trackwreck at a dispensary near you.

Amnesia Haze

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 19%

Amnesia Haze is known for producing uplighting feelings of euphoria and a boost of energy and confidence conducive to creativity in the bedroom. We highly recommend this strain for couples who like to role-play, as Amnesia Haze will fill your head with new ideas and a desire to experiment and get a little weird, will all the ideas be good ideas? Well, that remains to be seen, but either way Amnesia Haze will give make you believe they’re good — which is something you and your partner can giggle about over a second bowl before round two.

Pink Panties

Strain: Indica
THC: 20%

Come on, you know whoever named this Indica strain knew exactly what they were doing. Look, as we said before, based on the science of how THC influences people in a myriad of ways, we don’t buy into the idea that any one strain will make you more aroused than the other, but Pink Panties is one of those strains that budtenders everywhere will claim can put you into the mood.

Maybe it’s the tantalizing name or the flowery mix of grapefruit and berry flavors, but Pink panties will definitely put you in a good mood, no matter how stressful the day has been. Just be careful, this Indica dominant strain has the power to relax you straight to bed.

Check Weedmaps to find Pink Panties at a dispensary near you.

Northern Lights

Strain: Indica
THC: 17%

We couldn’t recommend Northern Lights enough. Despite its relatively low THC content, Northern Lights excels as a sex enhancer thanks to its delicious spiced herbal and earthy flavors and inviting flowery aroma when smoked, providing a sensory experience from the moment you break up the bud until it’s euphoric effects take hold. Once the high of Northern Lights kicks in — which should be at about five to six hits for those with a high tolerance — your body will start buzzing with euphoric feelings, making this a great weed for lovers of extended foreplay sessions.

You’ll find yourself taking your time on everything when you’re high on Northern Lights, which makes you a good lovemaking partner — revealing it as a strain that will sell you on the idea of cannabis as a sexual enhancer.

Check Weedmaps to find Northern Lights at a dispensary near you.

If you’re anything like me, one of the first times you heard a chillwave song was during the opening credits of Portlandia. The sequence was soundtracked by Washed Out’s “Feel It Around,” a buoyant and hazy number with roomy percussion and nostalgia-inducing synths. The track’s inclusion in the hit show made Ernest Greene a definitive artist in the fledgling genre, and now, a decade later, Washed Out has just released his latest effort Purple Noon.

The new album is the impetus for this week’s episode of Indiecast, which finds Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen digging into the rise and fall of the chillwave genre, starting and ending with Washed Out. Purple Noon is an album from a genre strongly associated with nostalgia, but also manages to provide nostalgia for… chillwave itself. In 2020, the genre has one that reminds millennials that they are getting older.

Also covered in the episode is Welcome To Conceptual Beach, the expansive, stunning new album from Young Jesus that is already a strong contender for Album Of The Year. Check out Steven Hyden’s review here.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 3 above and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Although the coronavirus and subsequent quarantine, social-distancing lifestyle has dominated 2020, it was a couple months into the year already before COVID-19 rocked the world. Some good things happened during those months, too. For example, Christine And The Queens dropped a surprise new EP, La Vita Nuova, as well as an accompanying short film. Today, the French artist has expanded on the project with a new remix EP, featuring alternate versions of the title track.

The track got the remix treatment from Logic1000, Populous, and Charli XCX collaborator A.G. Cook. Even more good news is that they all feature Caroline Polachek, as she also appears on the original track.

Speaking of Charli XCX, she and Christine worked together on “Gone,” a 2019 single. Beyond that, Christine has remained busy in 2020. She was one of the first major artists to start doing livestreamed performances, and since then, she has made TV appearances, covered some musical legends, hopped on a livestream with Charli, and performed “La Viat Nuova” for a digital benefit event. So, while times have been tough, Christine And The Queen fans haven’t been left hungry for new content.

Stream the EP below.

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

Joe Biden’s midweek announcement that Kamala Harris would be his running mate and vice presidential candidate for the Democratic Party drew criticism from a very predictable place: the re-election campaign of president Donald Trump. But one unique criticism drew the ire of a very famous American woman: the cartoon character Marge Simpson.

The news made many immediately tie Harris’ good fortune to that of Maya Rudolph, who is almost certain to play her on Saturday Night Live quite often this fall. But a Trump surrogate made an intentionally negative comparison between Harris and Marge Simpson, the beloved matriarch on The Simpsons.

Jenna Ellis — the Trump campaign’s senior legal advisor and one of the president’s attorneys — tweeted that Harris sounded like Marge, later clarifying to make it clear that wasn’t a compliment. The tweet drew some considerable blowback, especially considering how beloved Marge is to a lot of Simpsons fans. And the show itself felt it necessary to give Marge her own response, animating and voice acting it in record time to address the comparison on Friday.

“I usually don’t get into politics, but the president’s senior adviser Jenna Ellis just said Kamala Harris sounds like me.”

Marge said she was told by Lisa, her daughter, that “she didn’t mean it as a compliment,” then brought up a familiar campaign angle for Trump: that “suburban housewives” love him and will vote for him.

“As an ordinary suburban housewife,” Marge said. “I’m starting to feel a little disrespected.”

The video shows Marge in an otherwise empty audotorium with a lone spotlight on her. And it ended with a bit more fire than Marge simply being disappointed.

“I teach my children not to name call Jenna,” Marge said before adding. “I was gonna say I’m pissed off, but I’m afraid they’d bleep it.”

The fight for the final playoff spot in the West has given us more drama than we ever could’ve dreamed of, with each of the four teams in contention this week hanging on by a thread. It all came down to a one-point victory on Thursday night to send the Blazers into a play-in series against the Grizzlies on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET on ABC) for a chance to meet the Lakers in the first round next week.

With that series now set, the Blazers clearly have the upper hand, needing to win just a single game to secure the final spot, while the Grizzlies are tasked with beating Portland twice in a row to take back the No. 8 seed that has been slipping through their grasp ever since they arrived in Orlando. Should Memphis win game one, game two will happen on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Though Portland has to be considered the favorites, Memphis (even without Jaren Jackson Jr.) are a good, fearless side that will throw everything they have at Damian Lillard and co. There are several questions that will determine the outcome of this weekend’s play-in, and the answers, of course, are never as simple as they might seem.

Will The Blazers Bother To Play Defense?

Guarding the other team hasn’t been a major concern for the Blazers this season, and that trend continued in the Bubble. Before the season restarted, Portland had the No. 3 offense overall and the 27th-ranked defense, giving up 114 points per 100 possessions. Since the restart, they’ve had the best offense, but have given up 120 points per 100 possessions. In the eight seeding games, they’ve allowed opponents to shoot better than 43 percent from three and almost 50 percent from the field, overall.

They gave up 135 points to the Grizzlies in their previous meeting in the Bubble, the first tilt that both sides played in Orlando, yet still managed to get the overtime win. They’re banking on outscoring Memphis once again, but that will likely once again mean some serious offensive output up and down the roster. Still, they’ll have to find a way to slow down likely Rookie of the Year Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke, who’s averaging 24 points per game against Portland this season.

What Can We Expect From Damian Lillard This Weekend?

Lillard has scored 154 points since he missed those two free-throws against the Clippers last weekend. At one point during their must-win game against the Nets on Thursday night, he pulled up from midcourt with 17 seconds left on the shot clock and the Blazers trailing.

There’s no reason to think he’s going to slow down anytime soon, especially with his team’s playoff hopes on the line. In the Bubble, Dame has dominated in the clutch. He’s No. 1 in scoring and tied for first in three-pointers made in the last five minutes of games in Orlando that are within five points. The player he’s tied with? Carmelo Anthony. By now, we now exactly what to expect from Dame, and that’s bad news for Memphis.

Do The Grizzlies Have Enough Firepower?

Memphis is without their second-best player in Jackson after he suffered a meniscus tear that ended his season. But in their two games against the Blazers this season, rookie Brandon Clarke has averaged 24 points a night, his highest average against any opponent in the NBA. They’re desperately going to need his production in light of JJJ’s absence if they want any chance at all of upsetting the Blazers for the final spot.

They’ll also need contributions from Jonas Valanciunas, who logged a monster triple-double (26 points, 19 rebounds, 12 assists) in a must-win game on Thursday against the short-handed Bucks, and Dillon Brooks, who dropped 31 points in that contest as well.

Will The Grizzlies’ Lack of Experience Sink Their Hopes?

The Grizzlies are facing a battle-tested Portland team that is coming off a conference finals run last season and has found itself with a healthy roster at the exact right time. Memphis, though scrappy and supremely talented, simply can’t compare when it comes to NBA experience, particularly in the postseason.

Granted, the the circumstances in the bubble aren’t the same as a pressure-cooker playoff environment in front of a hostile crowd, but the Blazers still have the upper hand here. Memphis has to go 2-0 against a red-hot Blazers team with the likely bubble MVP, which would be a big ask for even the league’s top contenders.

The Rolling Stones are getting ready to re-release their 1973 album Goats Head Soup, and it features something pretty special for classic rock fans: Added as a bonus track is a previously unheard collaboration between the group and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, “Scarlet.” They released the song last month, and now The War On Drugs have been given the privilege of remixing the song.

Adam Granduciel added some instrumentation and took a slightly different approach to the track, keeping its structure pretty much the same but adding a greater sense of The War On Drugs-y urgency in the rhythm section. Granduciel said of the remix:

“I just re-imagined the song as if I had Mick, Keith and Jimmy in the room with me. After messing with my Linn Drum for a bit, the song fell into this double time thing and I just went with it. I called my friend and bandmate, Dave Hartley, to fill out the bass on the new groove. Then I figured if I had Jimmy Page in the room I’d probably ask him to plug into my favorite rack flanger so that’s what I did. My friend Anthony LaMarca added some last minute percussion. I’m so honored to have gotten to work on this especially since ‘Angie’ was probably the first ‘rock’ song that I asked to be played on repeat when I was really young. Hope you enjoy it!”

Listen to “Scarlet (The War On Drugs Remix)” above.

One of my favorite Old Black Man sayings is when they reply to a simple “how are you?” query with the oddly clever, insanely funny, “Man, same soup, just reheated.” There are variations on this: Sometimes it’s the same soup in a different bowl, but it’s nearly always enjoyable to hear the various ways in which they’ll remix this catchphrase to essentially say, “Ain’t sh*t changed but the weather.”

Unfortunately, I feel I’m starting to relate to this point of view way too much when it comes to what is rapidly becoming Black America’s other favorite pastime: Picking on Black women for their missteps instead of dealing with all their own emotional baggage. Just about two months ago, we were sorting through the fallout of J. Cole’s “Snow On The Bluff” and how it related to its presumed target, Noname. Now, just as it seemed the dust had settled on that particular kerfuffle, J. Cole’s idol Nas has come through with his own buzzy comeback single “Ultra Black,” this time openly naming Doja Cat as the subject of a finger-wagging line tsk-ing the “Say So” singer for her relationship to her Blackness. Same soup… You get it.

Here’s the line in question: “We goin’ ultra Black, unapologetically Black / The opposite of Doja Cat, Michael Blackson Black.” That sound you just heard was the heavy sigh of thousands of Black women tired of having to justify their every move to the sort of men who call them “queen” all day but have much higher standards for women’s behavior than their own. A quick search of Doja Cat’s name on Twitter — which is currently trending, by the way — reveals two things: A mass of women exhausted that we have to have this discussion again and a whole lot of men kee-kee-ing it up at Nas’ line and the way they think it puts Doja Cat in her place after her recent chat room controversies.

So to rehash that particular fiasco, a few months ago, Doja Cat was caught up in a Twitter-bred scandal after being accused of participating in alt-right and incel chat rooms on Tinychat. Shortly after, a five-year-old song of hers titled “Dindu Nuffin” resurfaced in which Doja grapples with her conflicting feelings about her mixed ethnicity (her father is Black South African, her mother — with whom she grew up — is a white American). Due to the song’s title — a slur referring to white people’s mocking imitation of Black accents and our unfortunate history with the police — many assumed that the song was a confirmation that Doja was a self-hating Black person, rather than someone who had to come to grips with the complicated politics of our extremely racist society.

About that chat room: Not one shred of physical evidence was ever presented that it really was what Twitter commenters presented it to be. Not one. I know. I’ve been looking since then, because that’s how journalism works, people. Sources. Evidence. Facts. These things matter. That’s not how Twitter really works though. Remember playing telephone when you were little? You could start with as simple a message as “the sky is blue” and by the time it got to the other end of the line, filtering through 20 or so kids and being misheard, garbled, or outright trolled by the most mischievous of the bunch, it could be about how “ducks taste better than chickens.” Twitter takes one random person’s assertions and repeats them until they become accepted as facts. Also it’s pretty likely that the rumor was just started because horny teen boys were mad at Doja for not showing them her boobs when “Say So” hit No.1.

While it’s true that the few clips of the chat circulating online do contain some participants asking rather off-color questions, there’s no evidence that the speaker was a regular visitor, that Doja knew him, or that she was even really responding to him. She’s admitted before to having an offbeat sense of humor — something very few men are scolded for, by the way — and she apologized for the misunderstanding, her misconstrued song’s title, and her previous offensive comments made when she was a weird teen trying too hard to be edgy. Again, this is a thing anyone who’s ever played an hour of X-Box has encountered, yet when it’s boys making these jokes and comments, the overwhelming response is a collective shrug because “that’s just the way things are.”

Now, back to Nas’ assertion that somehow Blackness equals never questioning yourself or bearing an unshakeable pride in your identity. That’s patently ridiculous. While social media has led to increased access to pro-Black resources and stories, it’s also revealed just how many young Black people struggle with their identities growing up — just like anyone, really, only with the added awareness that a lot of people view you as second-class or even subhuman because of how you look. Black nerds share their recollections of being “the only one,” Black women admit that they never felt pretty because they didn’t see themselves reflected in media as beautiful, and young Black men remember feeling forced to perform a stoic appearance of manhood that they fear will only get them killed because they’ve seen it happen so damn often.

The issue with Nas’ jab at Doja Cat to score cheap woke points for himself is that we’ve been watching elder statesmen of rap doing this for far too long. Jermaine Dupri complained of “stripper rap“‘s dominance in the mainstream, a sentiment echoed by CeeLo Green just this week after Cardi B’s “WAP” landed like a bomb on the discourse. Jermaine Cole tone-polices Noname, and other pioneers of the so-called “conscious rap” movement are posting anti-Semitic memes, and generally making a nuisance of themselves online, yet none of them holds each other accountable, choosing instead to tut-tut at young Black women for not being demure enough, not dressing the right way, not rapping around the right things, or maybe not making their points as well as they could and rushing their research.

The irony here is that when Black women do preach progressive politics not just in their rhymes but on their social platforms, they either get ignored or tone-policed. I guess we want the poetry without the polemic. But while men — especially fellow rappers — pit Chika, Noname, and Rapsody against Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Nicki Minaj, who has tugged on Kanye’s elbow to let him know he’s wilding out? Aside from J. Cole, who commented on Nas’ alleged abuse of Kelis as we all await his next album with bated breath despite his rather iffy track record with full-length projects? Which of CeeLo’s peers pointed out his introductory solo hit was called “Closet Freak” — and that he was accused of drugging young women in order to have sex with them?

Rap’s problem with misogyny runs as deep as the well of clever idioms Black culture has drawn from for the last century — a well that fills rap’s reservoirs with clever catchphrases and polished punchlines. But when those punchlines punch down, at some of the most vulnerable members of our society, at people we are avowedly committed to protecting and promoting but who we’re disparaging in practice, it taints the power of the poetry that we should be using to thrive. Cardi B, Doja Cat, Noname, and rap’s staunch female fans deserve better. Meanwhile, if the architects and artisans of this craft truly want to live up to the woke images they insist on projecting, they need to stop serving the same soup over and over again — it’s no longer nourishing the culture. Truthfully, it never really did.