Earlier this year, prolific rapper Freddie Gibbs once again teamed up with producer The Alchemist for a new mixtape. Titled Alfredo, the project features verses from Benny The Butcher and Tyler The Creator. Now, Gibbs follows the mixtape’s release with a cinematic visual accompanying the track “Scottie Beam.”
Directed by James “JMP” Pereira, Gibbs’ “Scottie Beam” video follows the rapper as he runs from the law after having a fatal run-in with a cop who pulled him over during a traffic stop. After the incident, Gibbs’ face is plastered across new sites, catching the attention of Rick Ross, who invites Gibbs to his house for protection and emotional support. The visual’s opening nods to the plotline in the 2019 film Queen & Slim, which Gibbs also makes a lyrical reference to in the track. “I’d hate to be on the run for smokin’ an officer / We were bustin’ at police before Queen & Slim, that’s on FN,” he raps.
Ahead of the visual’s release, Gibbs weighed in on his picks for the top five rappers after Eminem and Drake previously offered their picks. Gibbs started the list himself and Kendrick Lamar, adding Pusha T, Drake, and The Roots’ Black Thought to round out his choices. The rapper also named Benny The Butcher and Killer Mike as honorable mentions for his list.
When the new trailer for The Boys season two dropped earlier in the month, it opened with the team going into hiding after Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher mysteriously went missing following the game-changing reveal at the end of the first season. In a new feature for Entertainment Weekly, Urban reveals that Butcher’s disappearance will hang heavily over The Boys and dramatically impact how he and the team approaches their war on the out-of-control “superheroes” in The Seven:
“Billy thinks the only good Supe is a dead Supe, and this season is really a season about growth. He’s coming to understand that things aren’t that black and white, there’s a certain shade of grey. He’s coming to understand that there is a benefit that comes with tolerance and being able to see that if he can use an asset, even if it’s a Supe, to achieve his goal, then he’s got to do it.”
As Urban notes to EW, Butcher’s absence is “a bit of a mystery,” and that will be the case for both the audience and The Boys. At least for a little while. This time around, Amazon won’t be dropping the full season all at once, but will instead, debut the first three episodes on September 4 then release the remaining five on a weekly basis. According to The Boys showrunner Eric Kripkie, Butcher will be completely absent from the season premiere and then reemerge in the second episode with zero indication of where he’s been. However, where he’s been for those missing weeks will be revealed in a separate short film starring Urban and simply titled Butcher.
While there’s no official release date for Butcher, Kripkie says it will arrive sometime in the middle of the second season of The Boys, which will make September a banner month for fans of the crazed superhero-stomping show.
A Cheyenne, Wyoming youngster is being hailed a hero for stepping in between his little sister and a charging dog on July 9th—an act of bravery that resulted in 90 stitches to his face.
According to a post on Instagram from 6-year-old Bridger Walker’s aunt, Nikki Walker, the boy was bitten several times in the head and face after he intervened, “then grabbed his sister’s hand and ran with her to keep her safe.” Bridger later said, “”If someone was going to die, i thought it should be me.” Wow—such a selfless sense of sacrifice at just six years old.
Walker tagged Bridger’s favorite superheroes—actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe—in her post, and at least one of them has already responded.
(Scroll through photos to see Bridger recovering from the dog attack.)
Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk in the Marvel superhero movies, wrote an encouraging comment for the young hero:
“Dear Bridger, I just read about what happened to you and I wanted to reach out to say this… People who put the well beings of others in front of themselves are the most heroic and thoughtful people I know. I truly respect and admire your courage and your heart. Real courage isn’t dominating people or fighting against people or walking around like a tough guy. Real courage is knowing what is right to do and doing it even when it might end up hurting you somehow. You are more of man than many, many I have seen or known. With Admiration… Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk/Professor) 💪❤️👏”
Walker posted an edit with an update about Bridger, saying, “He’s in great spirits, and his awesome personality is intact. He can’t smile too widely yet, but he was grinning as I read some of your comments to him.”
The story has gone incredibly viral, and people have asked whether there is a GoFundMe they can contribute to. Walker said in lieu of donations to them, Bridger’s family asks that people donate to Mission 22 or Wounded Warrior Project, two organizations that help wounded veterans.
She also said that Bridger loves science, especially geology, and that he would love to get pictures of cool rocks people see. Rock photos can be sent to:
Bridger Walker P.O. Box 22141 Cheyenne, WY 82003
Sending some cool rock pictures to a kid who was willing to sacrifice himself for his sister without hesitation seems like a pretty small request. Well done, Bridger. We hope your recovery is smooth and that you enjoy the well deserved outpouring of appreciation and love coming your way.
Dashcam video from a patrol car shows a Los Angeles Country sheriff saving the life of a choking 11-month-old baby. The dramatic footage is even more poignant because the mother and child had been attending a Black Lives Matter protest being monitored by the sheriffs.
The event was organized just a few days after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by choking him with his knee.
The incident happened on May 31 in Palmdale, California 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
An unidentified mother and her child were among the 200 to 300 people gathered at a protest in a park when, according to the Sheriff’s Department “the baby got sick, stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”
The mother ran with the child across the street to a parking lot where the deputies were posted. The footage shows the mother repeatedly giving the baby back blows to clear his airway, but to no avail.
Palmdale deputy saves infant who stopped breathing
Deputy Cameron Kinsey quickly ran to the mother and assessed the baby. He “administered a mouth sweep with his finger and dislodged vomit” and the baby began to breathe again.
After the airway was cleared the deputies, mother, and her companion can be seen breathing a huge sigh of relief. Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and the baby was taken to a hospital.
At the hospital, doctors discovered that the baby had swallowed a coin that blocked his airway. The deputy dislodged the coin by turning it sideways so the child could breathe. But the coin was still in the airway when the baby arrived at the hospital.
The incident is a beautiful depiction of how people who appear to be on opposing sides of one of the most important debates of a generation can drop all of their differences over the precious life of a child.
“None of that other stuff matters,” Deputy Kinsey said according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “Just the baby.”
The footage also shows the importance of understanding infant CPR. If a baby is deprived of air for more than a minute, cells in the brain begin to die. If the baby isn’t able to get oxygen to the brain for over four minutes it can pass away.
For more information on how to sign up for CPR classes in your area, click here.
The video below also provides some basic information how to perform CRR on a child.
When the NBA returns to the court later this month, a majority of players will take the floor with various league-approved social justice messages on their jerseys in place of their name. It’s a nice gesture, but one that everyone has noted is nothing without action behind it.
The league is working with the players union on a variety of potential platforms, from a greater focus on diversity within organizations and the league at an executive level to a foundation to deliver educational and economic opportunity to Black communities. While we wait to see the concrete form of the league’s plans to support systemic and long-term change inside the sport and in the communities the league exists in, players are taking the onus to make an impact.
Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday announced on Wednesday that he would be donating his remaining salary, which is worth up to $5.3 million, to various social justice causes through a fund (the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund) he’s starting with his wife, Lauren, as he told ESPN‘s Andrew Lopez.
“Honestly when it came down to it, it was me and my wife talking about what we could do to kind of further this movement and progression and being able to help out our community and just being able to help,” Jrue Holiday told ESPN.
“We were just kind of sitting in the house, in the bed, thinking about it, and my wife said, ‘I think you should do this and you should do the rest of your salary.’ That’s a great idea. Because we want to make an impact. God has blessed us with so much. We know a couple of things that are important are time and money, and right now, we have both. To be able to give away our money to help further this movement and Black-owned businesses that have taken a hit in COVID-19, to us, it felt like the perfect time and opportunity.”
“I’ve been so blessed to make this money and play basketball … but there’s people out there that need support.”
Jrue Holiday will donate the rest of his salary for this season, worth up to $5.3 million, to launch a social justice fund, he told @Rachel__Nichols on The Jump. pic.twitter.com/7LRRmHGmFT
Holiday will look to donate the majority of that money to various non-profit organizations and Black-owned business in New Orleans (up to $1.5 million), Indianapolis ($1 million), and Los Angeles/Compton ($1.5 million), as well as $1 million to Black-owned businesses in 10 other cities across the country and $500,000 to HBCUs and other educational institutions, per ESPN.
Those three cities were selected because Holiday is from L.A. and went to UCLA — where he met Lauren — who is from Indianapolis (which is also where Holiday’s two brothers play for the Pacers), and he currently plays for the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s quite the commitment from the Holidays and is an incredible use of the platform they have with the restart for doing some good for a lot of people in communities that mean a lot to them.
In a whirlwind turn of events Wednesday, it appears that Kanye West is still running for president. Despite earlier claims that the rapper removed himself from the race, a new report shows Kanye actually completed the first necessary step in becoming an official candidate for the 2020 presidential election.
A report from TMZ Wednesday contradicts recent news that Kanye pulled out of his bid for the White House. According to the report, the rapper did quite the opposite. Apparently, West has now filed the first form required by the Federal Election Commission to make a presidential campaign official. The paperwork declares the Kanye 2020 committee serves as the “Principal Campaign Committee” and backs Kanye as their candidate. TMZ’s report states Kanye 2020 said they are affiliated not with the Democratic nor Republican party, rather the BDY, which stands for Birthday Party.
The next step for Kanye is now to file another necessary form with the FEC, the Statement of Candidacy, which states he has either raised or spent over $5,000 in campaign activity. After Kanye files this paperwork, his campaign will have legal status under the federal campaign finance laws.
So far, Kanye has been endorsed by some big-name celebrities. Elon Musk was the first to publically show his “full support” for Kanye 2020, though he has since backpedaled on his endorsement, and Chance The Rapper similarily declared his support of Kanye over Biden.
After news broke that Megan Thee Stallion was with Tory Lanez when he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon on Sunday, Megan herself posted a clarification of one of the details of the report to Instagram. While it had previously been reported she was cut by broken glass during the altercation that prompted the arrest, she revealed that she was actually shot and was taken to the hospital by police for surgery to remove the bullets.
Megan addressed some versions of the report that had apparently erroneously claimed she was also arrested. “The narrative that is being reported about Sunday morning’s events are inaccurate and I’d like to set the record straight,” she wrote. “On Sunday morning, I suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me.”
She again establishes that she wasn’t arrested before elaborating, “The police officers drove me to the hospital where I underwent surgery to remove the bullets. I’m expected to make a full recovery, but it was important to me to clarify the details about this traumatic night.”
Fortunately, she wasn’t seriously injured and says that she’s “currently focusing on my recovery so I can return back to my life and back to making music as soon as possible.” She also says she learned a lesson from all this in the caption. “This whole experience was an eye opener and a blessing in disguise,” she assured her followers. “I hate that it took this experience for me to learn how to protect my energy.” See the post below.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Chicago indie rockers Whitney returned last August with their sophomore effort Forever Turn Around. The album received critical acclaim and even led Chicago’s mayor to officially declare the record’s release day, August 30, Whitney Day. While the band had to cancel the remainder of their tour behind the album, Whitney appeased fans by sharing two covers earlier this year, “Take Me Home Country Roads” with Waxahatchee and “Rain.” But the band didn’t stop there. Whitney ended up recording several more covers which they will share in the upcoming record, Candid.
Whitney announced Candid Wednesday by sharing the track “Hammond Song,” which is a cover from The Roches 1979 debut album. Along with “Hammond Song,” Candid sees Whitney reworking some of their favorite tracks that similarly fall outside their musical comfort zone.
In a statement, drummer and singer Julien Ehrlich detailed how the band came to fall in love with “Hammond Song:”
“This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward. We both discovered ‘Hammond Song’ because Chris Coady sent it to us years ago as a reference for recording when we were making the last Smith Westerns record. It became a song that was always around for us and then we showed it to the rest of the band. This cover is the longest Whitney recording ever and pretty much everything you hear on it is totally live, save for the horns and the slide solo. For a five minute song, if you mess up one part you have to do the whole thing live all over again.”
Listen to “Hammond Song” above and find Whitney’s Candid cover art and tracklist below.
Secretly Canadian
1. “Bank Head”
2. “A.M. A.M”
3. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” Feat. Waxahatchee
4. “High On A Rocky Ledge”
5. “Something Happen”
6. “Strange Overtones”
7. “Hammond Song”
8. “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying”
9. “Rain”
10. “Rainbows And Ridges”
Candid is out 8/14 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.
Jon Hamm has officially joined the very long list of actors who’ve been trying to bring back Fletch.
In a collaboration with Superbad director Greg Mottola and Miramax, Hamm will star and produce in a modern-day update of the detective movies made famous by Chevy Chase in the 1980s. Like the Chase films, Hamm and Mottola will pull from the Fletch novels by author Greg McDonald, but this time around, they’ll be jumping right into the second book Confess, Fletch. Via Deadline:
In a mysterious chain of wild events, Fletch finds himself in the middle of multiple murders — one of which pins him as a prime suspect. While on a quest to prove his innocence, Fletch is tasked with finding his fiancée’s stolen art collection, the only inheritance she’s acquired after her father goes missing and is presumed dead. Zev Borow, consulting producer of the Lethal Weapon TV series, will be penning the feature adaptation.
Much like the revolving door of actors who’ve tried to get a new adaptation of The Crow off the ground, Fletch has seen numerous talent attached to a reboot over the decades. Prior to Hamm landing the role, Jason Sudeikis almost starred in a “gritty reboot” of the detective series that was announced back in 2014, but never materialized. Den of Geek details a laundry list of other hopefuls, including Ryan Reynolds, Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Chappelle, John Krasinski, Ryan Reynolds, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Long, and Chris Tucker.
But, wait, there’s more! At one point, Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence was working on a Fletch film that would’ve starred Zach Braff or Joshua Jackson, and Kevin Smith came very close to adapting Son of Fletch with Jason Lee. However, Smith eventually had to swap out Lee for Ben Affleck, but by that point, apparent creative differences had derailed the project.
Rising South Coast Music Group rapper Toosii is a storytelling prodigy. With the release of his Platinum Heart mixtape in February and its accompanying deluxe version, the North Carolina-based artist is preparing for the release of his next effort After The Storm. The project is expected to be filled with the handful of melodic snippets that he’s been teasing his millions of Instagram followers throughout the lockdown.
The 20-year-old bubbling rap star — born Nau’Jour Grainger — was raised in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Raleigh when he was in the eighth grade. It’s only recently that the “Love Cycle” rapper began to take his music career seriously. He is currently signed to the same label as Grammy Award-nominated artist DaBaby and before COVID-19 put an end to concerts, fans might’ve caught him opening up for likes of Summer Walker, Polo G, City Girls, NBA Youngboy and Moneybagg Yo, among others.
Its promising tunes such as the empathetic fan favorite “Red Lights,” the subtly sincere “5 Stars” and affectionately loving track “Mercedez” that separates Toosii apart from the rest of the up-and-coming musicians.
Speaking with Uproxx over the phone, Toosii, who just landed in Los Angeles and was doing a little shopping on the Hollywood strip, discussed with us on how he plans on keeping the momentum going.
What brings you out to LA?
I came with my producer. My producer got some work to do out here, so I just came with him to take a trip, catch a flight, and get right back.
You just dropped Platinum Heart deluxe with quite a few new songs on there. I saw a TikTok that you made where you’re talking about artists making albums with 20+ songs. What made you want to go ahead and add the extra songs to that project?
I felt like it needed to be light on the album that I have already put out. I felt like it didn’t have enough light yet. There’s been a whole world that don’t know about me. I feel like there’s more people who need to know about me.
Out of the songs that you added, which one’s your favorite?
Probably “Got Her Own.” “Got Her Own” — that’s a top hit. I’d say the reason “Got Her Own” is my favorite is it’s so real. I feel I got it rolling. It’s just got that vibe. That sunset, rolling down Hollywood Boulevard vibe.
I’ve noticed that you have a great appreciation for Nipsey Hussle. How has he influenced you?
Honestly, just as far as like his head spin and keeping a level head and understanding what’s really going on in the world. A lot of people in my generation follow the wrong thing. Then, Nipsey was the main reason that I started investing and saving my money and doing the things that I wanted to do, because, the OG made that look like it was cool. I grew up around dope boys and doing some smack, some had guns and stuff like that. Basically, Nipsey was like a breath of fresh air. It’s like, “Yo, you don’t got to do that type of stuff.”
There was this Instagram a few days ago talking about how, when you were growing up, there were certain people that you looked up to and now you feel like you are that person, and now you have that responsibility.
Like I said, I come from a place where we don’t really got nobody to look up to. So, the people we looking up to either dead or in jail right now and if they not, that doesn’t change what I got. But, just to be that dude now that’s riding through the hood, with the nice car, jewelry, and money bag because it’s everything that they want. Knowing that I could be that big influence and doing it the right way. That’d mean a lot.
How do you want your music to make people feel?
A lot of my fans are people who’ve been through things and I make insightful music that gives you that cry you need. You ever had a good pain? Like a pain that hurt, but it don’t really hurt, because it also feels good. I make that kind of music. To be a fan of Toosii, you’ve got to go through something. You had to be through something to be a fan of it.
I also saw that you kind of addressed people comparing you to Roddy Ricch and Lil Baby recently but it doesn’t really bother you that much. Why do you think people compare you to those two people in particular?
Honestly, I can’t tell you. It might be the type of music that I make, my type of beat selection, but I don’t even mind. The comparisons really don’t bother, because I could see them comparing me to somebody who wasn’t doing everything that they needed to do. If they feel like those is the type of influences, I mean, those are good influences. I’m not tripping.
I know you’ve been out there protesting. What type of changes you would like to see society take as far as their treatment of Black people.
Honestly, as far as what we would need as far as the change, I can’t speak on that because, we’ve got people that be hurting for 400+ years. You see what I’m saying? And that’s something that you just can’t bring back. But as far as the respect, that’s something that got to be fixed.
I see you’re a little heartthrob and the ladies love you. So, these questions are going to be for them. What’s your type?
I like girls like my mom. I won’t lie. You got to be hardworking and loving. My mom is hardworking and loving. You got to have those two things.
Would you date a fan?
Yeah, I definitely will, because to date me, you got to be a fan of my music. You got to like my music.
All these snippets that you have. What are you doing with all of them?
They about to be released. After The Storm coming soon.
Is it going to be all the ones everyone’s been begging for or will it have some new stuff on there, too?
All of it.
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