GoneTrending

During this extended period of self-quarantine, James Blake has become a regular provider of cover songs. He started even before the pandemic, actually: He began 2020 by declaring his intention to play more piano and sharing a Frank Ocean cover. As the pandemic rolls on, so too does Blake’s constant drip of reinterpreted songs (he might even release a covers album at some point). For his latest, he took on one of Nirvana’s classics: “Come As You Are.”

Blake’s intimate piano crooning might not seem like the most natural vessel for the often-raucous grunge of Nirvana, but like just about everything else Blake does, this totally works. It’s proof that truly superlative songwriting can shine in just about any form, even one as radically different as was originally intended.

The performance came as part of an hourlong “piano improv concert,” which he livestreamed on Instagram last night (June 28). The show was performed in support of The Loveland Foundation, which “is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls.” Blake raised $6400, an amount he said he will match himself.

Watch Blake cover “Come As You Are” above, and check out the full performance below.

With Tenet and Mulan pushed back until August, the only wide-release movies that are still scheduled to come out in July are The Broken Hearts Gallery (July 17) and Unhinged (July 31), a road-rage thriller starring Russell Crowe. I don’t know about you, but not even the prospect of watching Crowe “in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that proves you never know just how close you are to someone who is about to become… unhinged” could get me into a theater. Solstice Studios should just release the movie on digital this weekend and make approximately $500 million, although one woman nearly experienced an Unhinged in real life, but with a happier ending.

On Sunday, Twitter user @teriskies tweeted, “I literally cut off a truck on accident earlier, expected him to flip me off but instead he takes his glasses off and smiles… and its JON BERNTHAL.” That’s not what you’d expect from The Walking Dead and The Punisher actor, who’s known for playing quick-to-anger characters. But not only did he avoid turning into this, he smiled and replied, “Much love girl. Tell your man I say what’s up.”

It’s fun to imagine how that conversation played out. “Hey, remember that guy I cut off while we were driving this morning? Well, he’s actually a famous actor — he was in The Accountant, the only good movie — and he says what up.” Russell Crowe would never.

Kanye West’s life is coming full circle. Years and years ago, Kanye West used to work at a Gap store. Now, his Yeezy brand is teaming up with the clothing retailer for a new line, Yeezy Gap. Now that Kanye is officially involved with the brand, a giant mural featuring a handwritten message from the rapper has popped up.

The art is on a newly renovated Gap store in Kanye’s Chicago hometown. In the brief message, Kanye touches on his history with the brand, the level of dedication he is putting into Yeezy Gap, and even Tron:

“Thank God. Hi Chicago, it’s Ye. This is the Gap store I used to shop at when I would drive my Nissan from the Southside. So Blessed. I thank God and I am so humbled at the opportunity to serve. I put my heart into the color palette and every detail.”

I love Tron the original.

Do you like stuff? I don’t know what to do with my hands. Love, YZY Yeezy.”

This past weekend was a huge one for Kanye. Aside from the Gap news, he and Kid Cudi shared a teaser for their animated Kids See Ghosts show, and Kanye opened the vault to share a once-shelved “Spaceships” video.

Check out the mural below.

Every year at the BET awards, an artist gets graced with the Humanitarian Award for their philanthropic work, and this year, Beyonce will be honored for her work with her BEYGood foundation with the award. Queen Bey has raised money for a number of causes that support young women in college, including BeyGood4Burundi, a multi-year partnership with UNICEF created to provide safe sanitation and clean water to the East African country of Burundi.

In addition to BeyGood4Burundi, when the coronavirus struck all parts of the world, the BEYGood foundation sprung into action by donating $6 million to coronavirus relief funds. Beyonce, along with her mother, also joined the #IDIDMYPART initiative, which gave out 1,000 test kits, face masks, gloves, essential vitamins, and household supplies to residents while urging Houston residents to get routinely tested for the award.

Presenting the award to Beyonce, Michelle Obama commended Beyonce for her work in the community, her ability to select Black artists to place a spotlight, and her consistent efforts in calling out sexism and racism in music and in the world. The former first lady also labeled Beyonce as an inspiration to herself. Accepting the award, Beyonce dedicated the award to brothers and sisters who have protesting in the streets and fighting for equal rights. She also took the moment to urge viewers to vote in order to create the change desired in the world.

The award comes after Beyonce revealed that her upcoming visual album, Black Is King, would premiere July 31 on Disney Plus. A follow-up to the 2019 film Lion King, Disney Plus and Beyonce’s Parkwood Entertainment said Black Is King would aim to help “today’s young kinds and queens in search of their own crowns.”

Rising R&B star Summer Walker, who previously admitted to suffering from anxiety on tour, may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent shift to live performances mostly taking place via streaming from home. However, before Summer stops making music — as she promised to do by the end of 2020 — she dropped into the 2020 BET Awards to deliver a smooth, sensual performance of her song “Come Thru” with Usher via a cozy stage set up with a couch, some accent plants and a guitar player and keyboard player, who backed her up throughout the soulful rendition.

For Usher’s verse, he appeared on his own stage — situated at a quarantine-friendly social distance from Summer’s — to sing from his own couch. However, once their vocals began to blend, Usher really “came thru” to Summer’s stage, perching on the opposite end of her couch — again, just far enough away to stick to safety guidelines — to finish the song with some pretty ad-libs.

Summer recently promised a new EP is coming soon, but that hasn’t stopped her from speaking out on current events, which she says has irked her label into calling her posts too sensitive.

Watch Summer Walker’s 2020 BET Awards performance above.

It feels like it was 20 years ago now, but it was just this year that NBA icon Kobe Bryant passed away in a tragic helicopter accident, which also killed his daughter Gianna and seven others, including the pilot. Kobe received a touching tribute at the 2020 BET Awards, courtesy of Lil Wayne, who was Kobe’s friend and previously dedicated a song to him on one of his many, many mixtapes, Tear Drop Tune 2. Lil Wayne performed the song with a whole new verse shouting out Bryant’s surviving wife, Vanessa Bryant.

A short montage of highlight clips from Kobe’s career opens the performance, which finds Wayne performing in front of lights that resemble the lights of a shot clock arranged to display 24, the number that Kobe last wore for the Los Angeles Lakers and which was retired along with his previous number eight in Staples Center, where he played his entire career as a member of the Lakers. The lights also flash Kobe’s name and “Mamba,” the nickname he gave himself to represent his cold-blooded nature at the end of games.

Wayne also honored Kobe with a moment of silence on his recently-released, No. 1 album, Funeral.

Watch Lil Wayne’s “Kobe Bryant” performance above.

It’s been almost two years since the passing of legendary soul and gospel singer Aretha Franklin, but she’s been far from gone from our lives. Mere months after her passing, filmmakers were able to finally piece together Amazing Grace, the concert movie version of her best-selling gospel record. And Hollywood made sure to fast-track a splashy biopic, with Jennifer Hudson trying to match Franklin’s iconic pipes. And from the sound of the first teaser, it sounds like she’s gotten awfully close.

The film is called, of course, Respect, after one of her signature songs that doubles as a feminist anthem. We her Hudson’s dynamic version of it, the singer-turned-actress hitting the notes with about the same force as Franklin did in 1967. It was off her breakthrough album, and the teaser shows the younger singer, struggling to get noticed by the mainstream. We get glimpses of her first husband, Ted White, played by no less than Marlon Wayans. And we see her political side, with her at a meeting telling an African-American crowd, “You have to disturb the peace when you can’t get no peace.”

Those words speak to our current moment, just as Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods did mere weeks after the killing of George Floyd and the protests that have erupted both home and abroad and continue today. Alas, you’ll have to wait a long while to see Respect; it doesn’t come out till December 25. In the meantime, at least you can hear Hudson’s freakishly spot-on attempt to match someone who’s no doubt one of her idols.

You can watch the teaser in the video above.

Just over a week ago, Anderson .Paak joined the growing list of artists releasing powerful and timely protest songs with “Lockdown,” his ode to the resilience of the Black American spirit. Tonight, he joined the group of artists who delivered these powerful statements during their performances on the 2020 BET Awards — a list that now includes Public Enemy (along with Black Thought, Nas, and Rapsody), D Smoke, and DaBaby.

.Paak’s performance found him in his customary position behind the backline, drumming with bloody-and-bruised makeup on his face to speak to the injuries being inflicted seemingly daily by police overstepping their authority — both in everyday life and against protestors who took to the streets to speak out against police brutality. During the performance, .Paak was joined by a new collaborator: TDE’s Jay Rock, who contributed a new verse to the already powerful protest song. Their performance also included a liquor store backdrop, silhouetted dancers and a final shot that suggest that the world is on fire and seemed to wonder, “What are you going to do about it?”

Jay Rock previously appeared this year as an animated character in SiR’s “John Redcorn” video. Anderson .Paak was part of the PlayOn Fest lineup in April..

Watch Anderson .Paak’s fiery, blood-stained performance of “Lockdwn” with Jay Rock above.

Since his breakthrough just over a year ago, there have been few quiet moments for DaBaby. Whether it be through the three albums he released in 18 months or his steady appearances alongside a slew of musical talents or his entertaining music videos, the Charlotte-native has proven a knack for staying in the limelight. Supplying fans with another spotlight moment, DaBaby took to the 2020 BET virtual stage to perform “Rockstar” with Roddy Ricch.

DaBaby began his performance with quite the visual. Performing on the ground with a cop’s knee on his neck, DaBaby rapped the first verse of the song in that position before transition to a stage as he entered the song’s chorus. Dressed in all black with a pair of police cruisers and a group of protestors behind him DaBaby would later be joined by Roddy Ricch who performed his part of the song. Beginning on top of the police cruiser, Roddy’s verse presents him going back and forth between rapping and hitting the cruiser with a baseball bat. Bringing their performance to a close, a message appeared on the screen that read: “In loving memory to all the lives lost to racism and police brutality.”

Aside from the performance, DaBaby is up for five awards tonight which include Album Of The Year and Best Male Hip-Hop Artist. It was just a few days ago that DaBaby premiered the music video for his Billboard song chart-topper, “Rockstar.” With Roddy Ricch by his side the two rappers fight through a zombie apocalypse — because enough bad things haven’t happened in 2020 — with heavy artillery, great accuracy, and just a few headshots. He also recently joined Jack Harlow to remix “What’s Poppin” alongside Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne.

Watch his performance in the video above.

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

Inglewood brothers D Smoke and SiR showed off their family’s insane range of talents on the 2020 BET Awards. As D Smoke begins to the leverage the notice from winning Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow last year into legit superstardom, he got one of the strongest looks of his nascent career by landing the performance on BET, but he refused to keep all the spotlight to himself, adding both his brother and their mother Jackie Gouché to his passionate performance of his songs “Let’s Go” and “Black Habits.”

With a stage set up to resemble their stomping grounds off Manchester Blvd, the performance opens with officers in riot gear watching a solo dancer gyrate at center stage while D Smoke looks on. When the music starts up, Smoke steps down from atop a burned-out car to utilize the spotlight to deliver his emotive message. SiR joins him to sing the chorus, then the song switches up and a whole team of dancers joins D Smoke on stage. At the conclusion of his second song, he cedes his time to his mom, who beams proudly as she sings the bridge.

D Smoke’s debut album Black Habits was selected as one of Uproxx’s Best Albums of 2020 So Far. With the additional look from BET, it looks like his star is shining brighter all the time.

Watch D Smoke and SiR’s 2020 BET Awards performance above.