100 Gecs are a success story of how even niche musicians can find their way to fame. The experimental electronic duo consisting of Dylan Brady and Laura Les went from creating music at home to working with the likes of Charli XCX and Rico Nasty. While the duo only has one formally-released album, 100 Gecs remains active by reaching out to fellow musicians to remix their music. 100 Gecs’ “Gec 2 U” recently saw a remix by rising queer pop singer Dorian Electra. Now, the three have virtually teamed up to release a video accompanying the remix.

Filmed separately, the “Gec 2 U (Remix)” shows it’s still possible to collaborate while in quarantine. Directed and edited by Weston Allen, the video features Brady, Les, and Electra going about their quirky quarantine routine. Les uses their free time to experiment combining cereal with Red Bull while Brady sews his own wizard hat and learns how to juggle. All the while, Electra remains in the center of the screen, creating their own dance party.

The visual arrives ahead of 100 Gecs’ virtual festival experience Square Garden Festival. Taking place on Minecraft, the festival features music from big-name musicians like Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito, Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco, and more. All proceeds from the Minecraft festival will be donated to the charity organization Feeding America.

Watch the “Gec 2 U (Remix)” video above.

Revisit Uproxx’s Why 100 Gecs Should Be Taken Seriously here.

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

Not everyone loves their boss enough to write a song about them, but Ab-Soul has returned with a fiery freestyle in celebration of TDE founder Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith’s birthday. Produced by Devin Williams, the beat is built on a soulful loop and features some of Ab-Soul’s slickest wordplay yet, with timely references to Eminem, Craig Mack, Michael Jordan, Nat Turner, and John Mayer. Midway through the song, the beat switches up, trading in its soul sample for one from Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” while Ab-Soul unleashes, delivering nimble-tongued odes to Top Dawg and Soul’s late friend Mac Miller.

Ab-Soul has had a quiet couple of years since the release of his most recent album, Do What Thou Wilt, but recently began to poke his head back above the surface for neck-snapping verses on labelmate Reason’s latest single “Trapped In” and performances at Day N Vegas and the annual TDE community concert, where he promised his new album would arrive in 2020. With albums from the likes of Isaiah Rashad, Jay Rock, Reason, Schoolboy Q, and SZA reportedly coming soon, 2020 is very quickly shaping up to be a crowded year for the Los Angeles-based label — if coronavirus quarantines don’t derail their mainline artists’ respective comebacks.

Check out the “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” above.

Hundreds of right-wing protesters demonstrated in Denver, Colorado on Sunday in opposition to the governor’s stay-at-home-order. A small group of healthcare workers stood in the crosswalks as a reminder of why the shutdown is in place.

“This is a free country,” the protester screams in the video. “Land of the free. Go to China if you want communism. You can go to work — why can’t I go to work?”

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The video is an unbelievable display of selfishness and stupidity by the protesters. The fewer people that adhere to lockdown, the longer the virus will spread, leading to even greater economic hardship.

“Clearly this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC. “But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not going to happen.”

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As the coronavirus continues to spread, the live music industry has taken a major hit. Nearly every festival and concert tour this summer has been canceled or postponed in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, and consequently, live music and touring stocks have fallen drastically. In the midst of the festival and concert tour schedule changes, Ticketmaster is making it more difficult for ticketholders to get a refund. But artists are responding by doing what they can to return money to their fans.

Ticketmaster recently faced backlash for quietly altering their refund policy. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the company offered full refunds for shows that were either postponed or canceled by the artist. But, in recent weeks, Ticketmaster changed their policy’s language to remove concert postponements from refund availability. That means fans can only get their money back if a concert was canceled entirely, not postponed.

Musicians like Bon Jovi are attempting to combat Ticketmaster’s policy change. In a statement, the veteran singer’s crew announced they would be canceling all summer shows, rather than postponing them, so fans are able to receive refunds and financially support themselves:

“Due to the ongoing global pandemic, it is no longer feasible for Bon Jovi to tour this summer. Given these difficult times, we have made the decision to cancel the tour entirely. This will enable ticketholders to get refunds to help pay their bills or buy groceries. These are trying times. You’ve always been there for us and we’ll always be there for you. We look forward to seeing everyone again on tour when we can all safely be together. We will continue to send out news and updates on Bon Jovi touring in the weeks and months to come.”

Though some fans are not able to receive refunds to postponed shows, some artists are making sure fans can exchange their tickets for a later date. Taylor Swift recently announced she would be postponing all her 2020 tour dates. While that means fans cannot receive a refund through Ticketmaster, all tickets will be automatically transferred to the reflect newly scheduled date.

Fans place value in what their favorite celebrities say. That’s relevant during these trying times, as musicians and other famous people have spoken up and shared their thoughts about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For the most part, these messages touch on at least one of a few basic points: Only leave the house if necessary, regularly wash your hands, stay six feet apart from people, and to sum that all up, be mindful of yourself and others, more so than usual.

Then there’s Pitbull. Over the weekend, Mr. Worldwide shared his own take on a meaningful social media post, and while it may have meaning to him, it’s not clear how many non-Pitbull people know what message he was trying to convey. Sharing a photo of himself accompanied by a few lines of text, Pitbull’s post, which comes across as a slam poem crossed with a public service announcement, reads as follows:

“Wake up, don’t sleep. This is deep.
Deeper than a virus. This is about
freedom or freedumb.
The choice is yours. Educate yourself.
God bless, stay blessed.”

The meaning behind Pitbull’s vague message and odd phrasings isn’t exactly crystal, adding uncertainty and confusion to an era that already has plenty of those things. He seems to be advocating for social distancing, but said it in the most uninviting cryptic was possible. Whatever the case, listen to Pitbull and choose freedom over freedumb, and try your best to stay blessed.

Just because countrywide COVID-19 safety measures have put an end to all of our favorite annual festivals this year, doesn’t mean the virus can take 4/20 away from us. Smoking weed is a social act, something best experienced with a couple of friends at your side; and while we wouldn’t suggest breaking social distancing rules and meeting up with your friends to swap spit and pass a bowl, we still don’t think you should spend this year’s 4/20 alone.

If you’re living with housemates who don’t partake and you don’t want to smoke solo, tune-in to one of these six livestreams — ready to help you celebrate 4/20 in real-time with live performances from weed-loving comedians and musicians, virtual smoke-sessions, and interactive giveaways. Pull up a chair, place a towel under the crack of your door, and light up for the world’s first virtual 4/20. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our 4/20 deals list so you can re-up your supply on the cheap.

Come And Toke It

Join Willie Nelson for a four hour and 20 minute variety show-style livestream centered around cannabis. At 4:20 CST, Willie Newsom will be joined by a huge list of celebrity guests who have come together to celebrate all things cannabis and help raise money for The Last Prisoner Project, an organization dedicated to bringing restorative justice to the cannabis industry.

Expect to see Matthew McConaughey, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Smith, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Maher, and anyone else famous who famously partakes in the green herb.

Highstream 4/20 Festival

The National Cannabis Festival and The Emerald Cup have teamed up for a special 4/20 livestream, with performances from The Disco Biscuits, The Pharcyde, and Ape Drums of Major Lazer fame for a day of online workshops, live performances, and interactive panels all centered around your favorite herb. Highstream will raise money to benefit coronavirus relief charities as is streamable from 4-10 PM EST at Highstreamtv.

Miss Grass 4/20 Summit

Beginning at 12 PM PST until 4:20, attendees of the Miss Grass 4/20 Summit will be treated to a day of free Zoom programming in an effort to raise money for the Last Prisoner Project’s emergency COVID-19 relief fund. Chelsea Handler will head a “Get Good At Weed” workshop, and cannabis industry heads will discuss timely subjects like Sex and Weed in quarantine and restorative justice, with a closing DJ set performed by Stoned Fox.

Guests can RSVP for the experience at the Miss Grass website.

Stoned Alone

Los Angeles’ biggest cannabis crews, from Weed Rave, to Stoner’s Night LA, to Sesh-Ins, are teaming up for a three-room Zoom rave with non-stop music from Galcher Lustwerk, Wasted Fates, ABBY, Dier Times, and many more. Stoned Alone will even feature a virtual reception room with a cyber door girl who will screen guests before you enter the dance floor.

Viewers of Stoned Again will be able to participate in dance competitions for cannabis-themed prizes or hang out at a virtual patio to watch classic stoner movies or chat with friends. Who said 4/20 had to be celebrated alone this year?

The Great American Sesh In

Join B-Real, Too $hort, Tommy Chong and more for an online cannabis, music, and arts festival that seeks to raise money for COVID-19 first responders. Live on Twitch from 11 AM to 6 PM PST, The Great American Sesh In will also feature appearances from Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Scott Page of Pink Floyd, and a variety of other celebrities guests and comedians exploring all things weed-related.

WeedMaps Presents “Higher Together 4/20”

Wiz Khalifa and Billy Ray Cyrus will headline WeedMaps’ very own virtual 4/20 celebration today, beginning at 12 PM PST. For five hours viewers can tune into live music performances, stand-up comedy, and live smoke sessions in an effort to raise money for the Last Prisoner’s Project.

The livestream will be hosted on WeedMaps.

Previously on Jesus Christ, Superstars: Bob Backlund wore a jacket that made him look like a patriotic disco pirate, Marty Jannetty dressed up like a Starburst, and WWE Network took five months to upload new episodes. Thank God we’re back!

If you’d like to watch this week’s episode, you can do that here, and you can support the column (so we’re allowed to keep writing it) by reading previous installments on our Jesus Christ, Superstars tag page.

If you like these, and our break from the normal Best and Worst format, make sure to share it around so it gets read and drop us a comment below.

Here’s what you missed 28 years ago on WWF Superstars for December 12, 1992.

Jobbers Of The Week

The last time we saw “John Richner” on Superstars, he fell victim to Papa Shango’s dreaded voodoo leg cramp. This week, he’s back with the actual spelling of his name — John Rechner — and teaming with the Brooklyn Brawler. Say what you will about the Brawler, but tagging with a face from WWE’s Mount Rushmore of jobbers is a major step up from jobbing to a spooky Charley horse.

It’s also worth noting that despite having one of the worst haircuts in Superstars history, he topped it by shaving off just the middle of his scalp merkin. So now instead of having a big drain clog on the top of his head, he’s got two, smaller clogs. I think he just left a tuft in the back so Sags would have a handle while relentlessly raking the man’s face in Brian Knobbs’ razor burn.

Anybody else bothered by the Nasty Boys doing a “gross armpit” spot but shaving their armpit hair? Isn’t the hair getting stinky and gross what makes it disgusting? It’s not like all the other parts of Knobbs and Sags’ bodies aren’t sweaty. This and other observations from the guy who once wrote an entire paragraph arguing that Mr. McMahon’s “Kiss My Ass Club” isn’t as gross as they pretend because he just makes them rub their nose against his butt cheek, which is funny gross, but not gross gross like if they actually went up in there. Basically you’re just kissing his leg. What, is the lower back disgusting? It’s biologically equidistant. Butt cheek grossness is a social construct.

Please unread the previous paragraph before proceeding.

A Brief Aside About Capitalism And Classism

Not to derail Jobbers of the Week as soon as we got it back, but I have to mention this week’s green-screen promo from Money Inc. on the Nasty Boys. Sean Mooney, gift from God that he is, prefaces it with the statement, “Now when you are Tag Team Champions there is hardly time to dream; and considering the tough competitors out there in the tag team ranks, there is no rest for the weary, or the very rich.” SOCIETY!

IRS goes full MAGA while describing the Nasties:

“I’ll tell you something, Million Dollar Man. We know why they call them the Nasty Boys. They nastily stink, they nastily smell, they’re just nasty, nasty people. But we know how to deal with nasty people: we just put them back on the STREET where they belong!”

Bonus points for using some variation of “nasty” six times in four sentences to describe a team choosing to call themselves the “Nasty Boys.” Mooney sticks the landing with a deadpan, “compassion certainly not a trait of Money Incorporated.” GREED CERTAINLY NOT A TRAIT OF PHILANTHROPY LLC.

Okay, back to the jobbers.

Speaking of haircuts and terrifying armpit grossness, Gus Cantankerous is back this week, and he’s grown out his hair from when we saw him back in October. He’s on “Lance Cassidy” duty, whom you may remember as the World Wrestling Federation’s brief attempt to make Steve Armstrong a southern heartthrob with a vague “guns and mullets” vibe. Shit’s rough when you’re the fourth best wrestling Armstrong.

Harlem Globetrotters Bit Of The Week

Half Beatle John Paul returns as well this week, losing to Bam Bam Bigelow. If you aren’t familiar with Bigelow (and/or haven’t been reading the Best and Worst of Nitro) Bammer’s basically what would happen if you made the Nasty Boys into one guy and set him on fire.

Unfortunately the match is all about the encroaching Doink the Clown, who brings out a bucket during the match and drinks from a bottle of water inside the bucket to … show us the bucket has water in it, somehow? Don’t think about it, it’s like doing a submission hold on a table. It hurts more. The bucket’s got water in it. But anyway, if you’ve never seen a Harlem Globetrotters game and don’t know where this is going, Doink threatens to douse fire-type Bam Bam with water, only for the bucket to be filled with harmless confetti. Swerved!

That’s only the first half of the bit, though. Once you’ve established that you’re pretending the bucket of confetti is water, you have to flip it. So after Marty Jannetty defeats future Light Heavyweight Champion (no really) Dwayne Gill, Doink returns with the bucket.

Marty, having the deductive reasoning of a trout, is like, “haha, what a cool confetti bucket!” And then … well, you know.

The look of absolute, unfathomable betrayal is the funniest part of this entire episode. Dude wasn’t this shook when his tag team partner kicked him in the face and threw him through a stripper’s barber shop window.

Debut Of The Week

Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler’s WWE career is one of the few seemingly infinite things in the world, but have you ever wondered where it began? On this December 12, 1992, edition of Superstars. The best part? He’s debuting right now because the Royal Rumble is coming up, and it has “Royal” in the name. No, really.

“All of this talk about royalty, the Royal Rumble, it’s only natural that the true royalty of wrestling should appear on the scene.”

As you might imagine, having Bobby Heenan and 1992 Jerry Lawler on commentary at the same time is like letting Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets call your show. McMahon is a perfect intermediary, though. If you’re going back and watching the episode, watch his eyes when Lawler says, “You don’t have to refer to me as Mr. Lawler, King will suffice nicely.” It’s BUG-EYED DISBELIEF followed by a moment of pleasant acceptance followed by BUG-EYED DISBELIEF.

Goodbye Of The Week

The seven-month WWF career of justifiably angry ex-convict Nailz ends this week with a win over Repo Man’s used car salesman cousin, Mike Collins.

As we’ve mentioned before, very few people have as dramatic an exit from WWE as Kevin ‘Nailz’ Wacholz. The most reliable third-party story we have on the incident is from Bret Hart, who in his autobiography recalled that Wacholz got The Berzerker to watch the door so he could corner Vince McMahon in his office and scream at him for fifteen minutes over a pay dispute. A loud crash was heard, which turned out to be Wacholz, “knocking Vince over in his chair, choking him violently.” He was fired, of course, which led to him filing a wrongful termination lawsuit and claiming that McMahon had given him steroids, made him do steroids, and sexually assaulted him. Also he saw McMahon in the closet making babies and he saw one of the babies and the baby looked at him.

Nailz would go on to have a storied career in World Championship Wrestling — calling himself “The Prisoner” to lose his first match to Sting and immediately disappear — and would, believe it or not, team with Ron Simmons in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Super Grade Tag League (now the World Tag League) in 1994. See you never, Nailz. Heaven needed someone to put on Herman Munster shoes and choke a cop.

Positive Affirmation Of The Week

Slick, the Reverend who somehow just now found religion, delivers a surprisingly timely sermon comparing life to the Royal Rumble:

“You know in comparison, sometimes my friend, life can be just like the Royal Rumble. Every couple of minutes, things all around you are just changing. You don’t know how to trust. Trouble coming from every direction. And I want to say unto you today, this is the reverend with a message of hope: say to yourself every day, I’m going to have a happy day. I’m gon’ have a happy day, though my sky may be clouded and gray, I’m gon’ have a happy day.”

Saturday morning Slick promos for children just hit different in quarantine.

Planet Hollywood Event Of The Week

One of this week’s most interesting time capsule packages is a video about the World Wrestling Federation having a Make-a-Wish fundraiser at Planet Hollywood, featuring Macho Man Randy Savage, Ric Flair, and others. John Cena’s also there somehow, but I think they just CGI’d him in. Yokozuna arrives via what Sean Mooney calls “traditional transportation,” which he adds is, “much to the driver’s chagrin.” Who needs legs anyway?

I should also quickly note that WWE had a guy named “The Undertaker” pull up to a Make-a-Wish event in a hearse. Thank Christ for context.

Starfleet Command Of The Week

This week we learn more about Max Moon than we’ll ever learn again. He arrived in the WWF, “after battling many various enemies throughout the universe” — thank goodness he’s fought VARIOUS enemies — and is, “totally focused and FOOLY prepared for the task ahead.” What’s that, you may ask? “To blast my opponents right out of the ring, and launch them into orbit.” I wish his promo had just been, “I HAVE FOUGHT SO MANY ALIENS AND NOW MY JOB IS TO KILL A BUNCH OF WRESTLERS AND SEND THEIR DEAD BODIES INTO OUTER SPACE.” I also wish that he’d succeeded at least once, and that I could write the sentence, “Gus Kantarakis was then launched into orbit, where he suffocated in the vacuum of space and was never seen again.”

Also, did you know Max Moon supporters are called his “Star Fleet?” I bet those fans were really disappointed to see him get Roddenburied.

PACKAWHILEJACKALS Of The Week

This week’s main event segment is a “special interview” featuring a condor in Liberace’s bathrobe screeching at a Canadian drum major. [squints] Sorry, this is Ric Flair interrupting Bret Hart to scream at him about how the Royal Rumble’s coming up, which means Flair’s probably going to be champion again. Have you SEEN the 1992 Rumble? This of course ends with Flair and Razor Ramon attacking the champ 2-on-1 until professional turncoat Mr. Perfect arrives to make the save.

Later, Bret does his standard great “how DARE you” promo where he calls Flair and Ramon a “pack of wild jackals” and goes full Canadian with, “I don’t care if it’s one’a ya, or both’a ya!” He also calls Ramon “Mr. Match-IS-mo,” which is delightful. Challenge them to a fight in your dad’s dank gym!

Next Week Of The Week

Bob Backlund, Genichiro Tenryu, and Carlos Colón. Also El Gigante is there dressed as a giant naked man with fake muscles and airbrushed-on He-Man underpants. I’m not making any of this up.

Late last year, Kali Uchis debuted her first solo music since her 2018 breakout album Isolation. Her track “Solita” arrived as a standalone single and the singer has been keeping her new music under wraps ever since. Uchis recently collaborated with Little Dragon for “Are You Feeling Sad?” and Kaytranada for “10%.” But, other than those two tracks, Uchis has remained relatively quiet. However, the singer revealed on Monday that fans won’t have to wait much longer for new music.

Kali Uchis unveiled that her upcoming EP is arriving at the end of this week. Announcing the project on social media, Uchis said: “can’t give you my album yet, but i recorded some demos in my room for u.” The demos are compiled to form Uchis’ EP To Feel Alive. Along with sharing her EP’s release date, the singer revealed its raunchy cover art. Partially censored for social media, Uchis’ To Feel Alive cover art is a pastel painting of the singer performing a sex act on herself.

While the art may be jarring for some, Uchis was quick to thwart any pushback from fans. Replying to one fan who called the artwork “ugly,” the singer had the perfect comeback, writing in an understandably now-deleted tweet, “u & the cover have that in common.”

To Feel Alive EP is out 4/24 via Universal. Pre-order it here.

The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae was just one of several films that saw its spring release date jettisoned as the ongoing pandemic shut down theaters across the globe. But while other releases went straight to VOD or remained in flux, hoping that they can still make it into theaters, Paramount went a different direction and brokered a deal to release The Lovebirds on Netflix, with this new trailer showcasing the film’s romcom-crime highlights.

Unfortunately, Netflix and Paramount didn’t provide a release date at the time of the announcement, but that’s no longer the case. In a surprise Twitter video that Nanjiani dropped on Monday morning, he reveals to Rae that their romantic action comedy will be available for streaming on May 22.

You can watch Nanjiani’s announcement below, which also features Rae getting in a few jabs about his new Marvel physique:

The Lovebirds was originally scheduled to debut at SXSW, but like most festivals and mass gatherings going into the foreseeable future, that event was cancelled as the world quickly retreated into self-isolation to slow the spread of the pandemic. With studios still shuffling release dates in a mad scramble to make sure its biggest blockbusters see their full box office potential, it makes sense for smaller films like The Lovebirds to broker deals with streaming services where audiences are starved for content.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the film from Entertainment Weekly:

It hijinks start when Jibran (Nanjiani) and Leilani (Rae) are accosted in their car by a guy claiming to be a cop commandeering their vehicle to chase down a perp. But it doesn’t appear that this guy is legit an officer of the law when he runs over his target… again and again and again. Now the couple are on the run, framed for the murder.

The Lovebirds will start streaming on Netflix on May 22.