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Nashville rockers Bully are gearing up for the release of their third studio, Sugaregg, later this summer. After ushering in a new era with the disorienting single “Where To Start,” Bully returns with “Every Tradition.”

According to vocalist Alicia Bognanno, Sugaregg was written during a chaotic period. Bognanno brought her personal experiences to her songwriting and find clarity through music. “‘Every Tradition’ is one of the most literal songs on the record, forcing myself throughout the writing process to cut out the bullsh*t and put down on paper exactly what was going through my mind, silencing the paranoia of the different ways it could be received,” Bognanno said in a statement. “Some songs just call for that sort of process and ‘Every Tradition’ was one of them.”

Bully’s video accompanying “Every Tradition” speaks to this sense of earnestness. Bognanno shot the video alone in her home with the help of director Alan Del Rio Ortiz on FaceTime. The singer described her video’s shooting process in a statement:

“After we tested out this method (me shooting alone at my house and sending the footage to Alan to edit and put everything together) with ‘Where To Start’ I liked it so much I wanted to do it again and trusted Alan to turn my mess into a well put together music video. Surprisingly I was a lot more comfortable on my own as opposed to having a crew of people there like there has been for past music videos. I also have a newfound appreciation for any cinematographer because god damn it’s a lot of work.”

Watch Bully’s “Every Tradition” video above.

Sugaregg is out 8/21 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.

Halloween Kills, the sequel to 2018’s Halloween (not to be confused with 1978’s Halloween or 2007’s Halloween), was scheduled to come out on October 16, 2020, emphasis on the “was.” Universal has pushed Halloween Kills, as well as Halloween Ends, back one year — the new dates are October 15, 2021, and October 14, 2022. Also delayed: Candyman (new date: October 16) and The Forever Purge (July 9, 2021).

The announcement was made by director David Gordon Green and horror maestro John Carpenter, who wrote, “We write this to you heartbroken over the fact that the delay of our film is even a discussion, but if there’s one thing that a career in the film industry has prepared us for, it is the unexpected. Over the past few weeks, our film family has looked at the forecast of theatrical exhibition with obvious concern. We have discussed and struggled with how best to present Halloween Kills to the loyal fans around the world, as well as the new audience we hope to invite to this experience.” They continued:

It was a wild and vibrant production. We lined up a cast of legacy characters like Laurie and Tommy, Lindsey, Lonnie, Marion, Brackett, and The Shape, then alongside some new faces, we aggressively made the second chapter of our Halloween trilogy.

It unfolded into an experience that was a creative playground and we feel confident that our misfit pleasures will be seen as an unexpected entry into this franchise.

If we release it in October of this year as planned, we have to face the reality that the film would be consumed in a compromised theatrical experience. After weighing our options, we have chosen to push the film’s theatrical release by one year… We’re going to have time to complete the film with the quality that fans deserve. And preparation on Halloween Ends has begun as well. It is an honor to be working with these characters and spending time in Haddonfield. We look forward to sharing our next chapters with you.

On the bright side, at least there’s a teaser trailer, which you can watch above. Laurie’s “let him burn” is an extremely 2020 mood.

Back in May, Portugal’s NOS Alive Festival announced they would be canceling their 2020 iteration due to the pandemic. Instead, they focused their energy on making next year’s event one to remember. Staying true to their word, NOS Alive has announced the first wave of 2021 headliners.

NOS Alive 2021 will be held from July 7 to 10 in Lisbon’s Passeio Marítimo de Algés. So far, the festival has shared a handful of acts they have confirmed for the upcoming event. Headliners include veteran rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers along with Angel Olsen, Alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club, Caribou, Fontaines DC, Alec Benjamin, Moses Sumney, Parcels, Caribou, Hobo Johnson And The Lovemakers, and more.

This year’s NOS Alive festival was supposed to see many big-name artists like Charli XCX, Anderson .Paak, Haim, Kendrick Lamar, Jorja Smith, and others. In a statement announcing this summer’s cancelation, festival organizers wrote: “We are feeling positive and committed about working towards making the 2021 edition the best one ever. Staying true to our signature that we want to maintain: the best line-up always!”

NOS Alive tickets are on sale now starting at $78 for single-day passes. Get them here.

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

Earlier this week, on 50 Cent‘s birthday, T.I. challenged his fellow rap mogul to a hits battle on Verzuz, the head-to-head music showcase that has been entertaining music fans on Instagram Live for the past several months of the trash fire of 2020. In his challenge, T.I. included plenty of his characteristic trash talk as he goaded 50 with reminders of his release day L to Kanye West in 2007 and declarations that T.I.’s catalog of hits would demolish 50’s. While 50’s original response was as flippant as it was dismissive, it appears he’s reached his boiling point — such as it is.

Rather than responding directly, 50 instead resorted once again to social media trolling, this time posting video to his accounts of T.I.’s “Crime Stoppers” PSA. In the PSA, T.I. relates his nickname, Tip, to the anonymous “tip line” whose purpose is for citizens to provide information to law enforcement for prevention or investigation of local crime. 50 capped the video with a clip of his verse from G-Unit’s T.O.S.: Terminate On Sight cut “You So Tough,” which obliquely references T.I.’s 2007 arrest for gun possession and gently implies that T.I. snitched to avoid a longer sentence.

“What’s today’s mathematics? Sh*t ain’t addin’ up
Get knocked with 10 machine guns, only get 12 months”

Of course, none of that really has anything to do with whose discography is better, but for better or worse, this is who 50 Cent is now. He’s more interested in promoting his other endeavors, like executive producing Pop’s Smoke’s posthumous album, than he is playing his hits for a streaming audience for free. While he has said he’d battle opponents like Snoop Dogg on Verzuz, it doesn’t seem likely we’ll see such a thing anytime soon.

See 50 Cent’s latest response to T.I.’s Verzuz challenge above.

It’s hard to imagine Charlize Theron being of scared anything. But for her new movie The Old Guard, the Oscar winner had to face one of her biggest fears: horses. Cars driven by War Boys with a dude playing a flame-throwing guitar on the roof? No sweat. But horses? That’s a different story, because when Theron was 11 years old, she was thrown off a horse. “I was unconscious for a few hours, and I broke my collarbone,” she told Vogue in 2007. But The Old Guard required her to get back into the saddle, literally.

“For some reason on this film, I decided to finally address that fear,” she said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It was the thing I definitely gave the most time to, even though there was very little of it in the movie. I’m really grateful that I got to have that experience because it was a good one for me to get over. I love horses. I want my children to be around horses. But I always had this fear when I was on them that something could go terribly wrong at any instant. So it was like a metaphor for my life in a weird way, this movie. It was therapeutic for me.”

Now that Theron has faced her fear of horses, she can add another trick to her arsenal.

Am I secretly pitching a John Wick/Atomic Blonde crossover? Maybe…

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

As Converse builds out its stable of sponsored NBA and WNBA stars, the company signed Oklahoma City Thunder youngster Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a footwear and apparel deal. The partnership will last multiple years, according to the company announcement.

Previously, Gilgeous-Alexander had been a Nike athlete, but in his eyes, Converse, a subsidiary of Nike, offers a more unique opportunity with its apparel options and the chance to get in with a new brand on the ground floor.

“They started the whole basketball sneaker thing,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Erik Horne of The Athletic. “For me, it’s building my own lane, and trying to get it back to that level of people looking at it and seeing it as that high of a basketball brand.”

Gilgeous-Alexander also said he was looking forward to the creativity of being involved with a growing team, signing with Converse while he’s young, and getting to experiment a bit.

“They proposed that they’d give me the opportunity to express myself and my personality on and off the court,” Gilgeous-Alexander told The Athletic. “That’s something that means a lot to me more than just basketball.

Though Gilgeous-Alexander of course thinks fondly of the legendary NBA stars like Julius Erving and Magic Johnson who donned Converse sneakers previously, he said the work of Kelly Oubre Jr. with the company in recent months attracted him. Converse has given Oubre the runway to express himself as part of their partnership, and the young Thunder star hopes to do the same.

He will join a team that includes Oubre, 2019 WNBA champion Natasha Cloud, and Draymond Green as Converse continues to build out its roster.

Pau Gasol did not take the floor for an NBA team during the 2019-20 campaign. While the veteran big man signed a deal to join the Portland Trail Blazers at the start of the year, he did not appear in any games and was waived back in November. His career isn’t over, though, according to a report by Varlas Nikos of EuroHoops.net.

Gasol, a native of Barcelona who started his professional career with his local club, is slated to return to Catalonia. Nikos reports that Gasol and his boyhood club are expecting to wrap up a deal later this summer that will have him suit up for Barcelona one last time, and per his report, the goal is for Gasol to have things come full-circle by suiting up with Spain’s national team during next summer’s Olympics.

If a deal happens, Pau would return to his roots as he was born in Barcelona and that’s where he made the first basketball steps. He started off in Barca’s junior selection and played for three years in the pros before moving on to a successful two-decade-long NBA career.

The ideal unfolding of Pau Gasol’s story would be that the Spaniard completes a full circle in his career with one year at Barca and then retire after one final Olympic run with the national team in Tokyo.

Ideally the arrangement between the two sides does not fall through despite things being “very close to happening,” because it would be really cool to see Gasol play for Barca one final time before he calls it a career. For his NBA career, the two-time champions suited up for five different franchise and averaged 17 points and 9.2 rebounds a night with six All-Star game selections.

I live in Washington, the state with the first official outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. While my family lives several hours from Seattle, it was alarming to be near the epicenter—especially early in the pandemic when we knew even less about the coronavirus than we know now.

As tracking websites went up and statistics started pouring in, things looked hairy for Washington. But not for long. We could have and should have shut everything down faster than we did, but Governor Inslee took the necessary steps to keep the virus from flying completely out of control. He’s consistently gotten heat from all sides, but in general he listened to the infectious disease experts and followed the lead of public health officials—which is exactly what government needs to do in a pandemic.

As a result, we’ve spent the past several months watching Washington state drop from the #1 hotspot down to 23rd in the nation (as of today) for total coronavirus cases. In cases per million population, we’re faring even better at number 38. We have a few counties where outbreaks are pretty bad, and cases have slowly started to rise as the state has reopened—which was to be expected—but I’ve felt quite satisfied with how it’s been handled at the state level. The combination of strong state leadership and county-by-county reopenings has born statistically impressive results—especially considering the fact that we didn’t have the lead time that other states did to prepare for the outbreak.

Of course, not everyone sees it that way. We have the same anti-mask, anti-lockdown, anti-public health advice folks we see elsewhere. We have conspiracy theorists, COVID deniers, “masks are tyranny” protesters, and even a county sheriff who publicly refused to enforce the governor’s stay-at-home order. But Inslee has stood firmly on the side of public health regardless of who whines about it. While pandemic responses are always going to be imperfect and filled with uncertainty and inconsistency (that’s the nature of dealing with a novel virus), the comparative results speak for themselves.

We’ve seen other governors stand their ground under intense pressure from both constituents and the federal government as well. For example, Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was criticized by President Trump for her response, yet when her state became one of the epicenters, she took an aggressive and consistent stance, didn’t back down, and now Michigan’s numbers are significantly lower than states that have taken a lax approach. For instance, Michigan’s daily case increase is now a small fraction of what they are in Florida, where Governor DeSantis has moved aggressively toward reopening, focusing far more on economic recovery than limiting the spread of the virus.

Whitmer’s leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed, either. She’s made a name for herself—as has Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson—for standing strong in the face of criticism from the president. And she’s using the spotlight to call for a stronger federal response and for the government to lead by example.

“I’d like a national mask-up campaign,” she told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “I think that if everyone endorsed this, it’s a simple cost effective thing that we could do to really mitigate spread. But the symbols that come from the very top matter and it changes behavior. If we can take the politics out of mask wearing we can save a lot of lives and in doing so save the pain, the economic pain, that we are feeling across this country.”

National leadership is vital in a pandemic, and our national leadership on coronavirus has been…well, lacking. A pandemic response was always going to be a challenge in a large country with 50 diverse states, but when state borders are invisible lines that anyone can cross at any time, we need to all be on the same page about how to prevent the spread. While outbreaks require a local response, a state-by-state approach to figuring out when and how to apply or ease mitigation measures makes little sense. (And making states compete with one another for needed medical equipment is just downright bizarre. Seriously.)

No response is going to win praise from every person, but epidemiologists, virologists, and infectious disease experts have prepared their whole careers for this moment. Political leaders must listen to them, follow their lead, and mold responses around their advice—otherwise we end up right where we are, with 25% of the world’s COVID-19 cases and deaths, despite only being 5% of the world’s population.

Thankfully, some governors are taking their public health responsibility seriously. Here’s to the leaders who have stepped up and stood up in the face of resistance, allowing health professionals to guide the way and implementing protective policies accordingly, no matter how much or how loudly some people complain about it.

While the world at large continues to mourn the loss of drill vanguard Pop Smoke, his contemporary and collaborator Fivio Foreign has picked up the torch for the nascent subgenre. The Brooklyn newcomer recruits one of his hometown’s vets to provide a stunner of a verse over another drill banger for his latest single. Young M.A. may not be native to the drill scene, but her choppy, punchline-ridden flow is the perfect complement to Fivio’s on “Move Like A Boss.”

Produced by Non Native, Bordeaux, and Saint Cardona, “Move Like A Boss” features an archetypical drill beat with rumbling, dub-step-esque bass drops, scattered, warring snares, and ghostly choral vocals, occasionally punctuated with the sound of a gunshot. However, all those sinister-sounding theatrics are merely the backdrop to the real action: the menacing, nihilistic bars describing Brooklyn’s underground scene of violence and bravado.

“N****s will give you a dap then shoot at your back with the same hand,” Fivio barks on his verse. “I’m well in tune with the mayhem, but I still walked out a great man.” Meanwhile, M.A., just a couple of years removed from her own encounters with street life, isn’t about to endanger the bag. “I pray I don’t see an enemy,” she drawls. “Woo-sah, serenity.”

“Move Like A Boss” is reportedly the third single from Fivio’s upcoming debut album, tentatively titled “B.I.B.L.E.” He’s also fresh off his own run of high-profile co-signs, including Drake’s “Demons” on Dark Lane Demo Tapes, Lil Tjay’s “Zoo York” video, and his own “Big Drip” remix, which features Lil Baby and Quavo.

Watch Fivio Foreign’s “Move Like A Boss” video with Young M.A. above.

By every indication, our country is not handling COVID-19 particularly well. Thanks to a raging culture war over face masks, and a President who prefers wishing away the virus to taking a science-first approach, it’s safe to say we’ve mangled this thing pretty horribly. It seems almost inevitable that we’ll soon enter a second lockdown, as states begin to roll-back their overly-ambitious reopenings.

If you spent the majority of the last quarantine in a state of constant panic — rather than using that time to take on a new DIY project or baking some damn sourdough — you’ll likely get a second crack at it. The era of self-reliance is upon us. As such, we’re seeking out inspiring voices to offer advice on how we can become more independent and resourceful in this difficult era. And one of the first names on our list was educator, permaculturist, and urban gardener Indy Srinath.

Through her experience managing a community garden in Ashville, North Carolina, her superb eye for photography, and a distinct ability to marry the Instagram aesthetic with thoughtful teaching and resources, Srinath has carved a path for herself in the DIY and foraging space. We spoke with her over the phone about how taking control of where you get your food improves not only your health but your connection to your community. She also offered easy advice for how every one of us can experiment with urban gardening, even if you have absolutely no land to grow on.

Given that we’re all living in the midst of a global pandemic, why is now the best time to become self-reliant and take control of where and how we get our food?

Now, like any other time really, it’s important to consolidate our food systems because that in its essence helps reduce the spread of Covid-19. By keeping your food sources contained within your community, you’re really reducing the number of folks that come into your area and distribute food, and you’re also able to consume more nutrient-dense food. When you’re eating it fresher, you’re not having that degraded-nutrient quality of foods that are prepackaged and have been sitting in a cooler for who knows how long. You’re able to eat it right out of your backyard! Also now is a time when we should be boosting our immune systems.

What would you say to those of us who are living in food deserts or big cities, how can we introduce fresher foods into our diet?

Even if you don’t have access to a large amount of land or a small amount of land, you can start growing your own food in containers that are as small as a yogurt cup. Just work with whatever you have and purchase a packet of seeds, pick something that has a quick harvest and turnover rate. Radishes are one of my favorites and they can be grown in a really small windowsill or if you have access to a porch. Finding ways to start growing with whatever size or scale you have available is the best way to approach that.

On your Instagram you talk a lot about balancing your passions with necessary activism. How can everyone involve themselves in an activist lifestyle?

I think that activism can start with really small acts — especially if you’re an introverted person like myself — it can be as simple as writing a letter to your congressperson or going to your local smoothie shop and asking them if they would be interested in switching from styrofoam cups to reusable or compostable plastic cups. Doing small activist movements, and small activist activities like that can make a huge impact.

It’s really important to voice your opinion because having sovereignty over your food and food sources and over the planet is really how you make a change. There is nothing too small to be impactful.

Could you speak a little bit more about food sovereignty?

Growing your own food and taking control of where your food sources come from gives you a sense of empowerment and a connection to the planet. There are so many ways that mass media tries to push a food agenda that is unhealthy onto folks. Moving away from pre-packaged food into raw produce impacts your health in a positive way and also just gives you the basic survival tools that a human needs to survive.

On your Instagram it appears you’ve connected the Black Lives Matter movement with environmentalism, arguing the two are intertwined. Can you speak on that relationship a little?

That’s one of the platforms I’m most passionate about, because black people and people of color in general in this country are the ones who made the soil what it is today. We have just as much right, if not more right, than any other person to have access to land and to grow our own food. When folks from African countries were brought to the Americas and enslaved and forced to farm this land — to move away from that is not helpful to black folks as a community. Not eating fresh produce and not eating healthy foods causes a lot of the health disparities that we see in the black community. Getting back to this land and getting back to growing food is something that all black folks should take into account. We own this land and have the right to grow food on it.

Why is living off the land a skill everyone should learn?

Watching something super small grow before your eyes, and watering it every day and fertilizing it and taking care of it gives you a sense of place in the world and it’s really healing to work with the soul. It’s empowering because having that self-sufficiency, where you don’t need to rely on grocery stores and markets that don’t necessarily have your best food interests in mind, moving away from those feels to me like a radical act.

Let’s talk foraging. What kind of resources are out there for people who want to explore foraging more but are afraid of accidentally consuming some sort of poison?

I think foraging is really incredible because there is so much food available that is literally just growing off trees and coming off of the ground and it’s there to be consumed. Educating yourself on what plants grow around you and what trees grow around you and what foods are available for free is a really great way to combat some of the health disparities that we see from not having access to fresh food.

For folks that feel a little bit timid about foraging and don’t feel very comfortable with plant identification, I really encourage folks to find local educators in your area, especially indigenous people, and black people, and people of color that offer classes in teaching foraging. Learning from your community members is one of the best ways you can get into foraging.

You’re a big mushroom enthusiast, what do you love so much about them, and can you speak to your experience foraging them?

I really love foraging for edible mushrooms because they are often overlooked and they’re a huge part of soil ecology. They make the life cycle of all other plants possible. I love their vibrant variety. The research that it takes to find mushrooms and how you have to kind of read the forest to figure out where they grow. It’s just something I like to nerd out on.

Do you have basic tips for how people can be more sustainable on their next market run?

It’s super important to start in the produce section and work your way through the grocery store after that. Fill up the button of your cart with unpackaged fresh produce. Try to find produce that is locally grown. Trade out the spinach you would see in a bag for the fresh head of spinach in the mister area. See how many veggies you can fit in your cart, then go for the grains, then go for the other packaged foods that you can build meals around, with your produce as your basic staple.

What about dealing with those little plastics we slip loose vegetables into?

I always repurpose plastic bags that spinach or kale comes in if I end up having to choose one of those. I will totally put a sandwich in them and take them to work and use it like someone would use a plastic zip lock bag. Those plastics can be used multiple times before they begin degrading. You should come from an angle at home where you imagine what it’s like if you didn’t have access to a trash can. Trying to reuse every piece of plastic that you bring into your house. From yogurt containers to the little plastic cups that strawberries and berries tend to come in.

Right now everyone is taking the time to learn new skills or improve themselves, what new challenges or skills are you trying to take on and learn in this time of quarantine?

I’ve been trying really hard to learn more ways that Indigenous folks, specifically in the Americas, grew food, and trying to honor a lot of different individuals who are the fathers and grandmothers of agriculture. Further educating myself on Indigenous folks in America. I’ve been learning a lot more about indoor mushroom cultivation. I come from an outdoor mushroom cultivation background but since I’ve been sheltering in place I’ve been growing oyster mushrooms inside and that’s been really fun.