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Brainquility Music Festival has announced their upcoming appearance on February 16th and 17th in Live Oak Florida at The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. On top of the ‘save the date’ news, they’ve announced an expansive phase one lineup. photo credit The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park @ amandabrooke23 Performing across two stages include Lotus, Space Kadet, OPIUO, Russ Liquid, Flamingosis, Dan Fester Plays with Himself, The Heavy Pets, Chachuba, The Headtones, and many more. The festival has been known to offer quality jamtronica, funk, rock, live, and electronic music into one place. Last year the festival took place only for one day, however, after a massive success, they extended it for a full weekend including adding camping. Enjoy some select tracks by the headliners, Lotus and Opiuo. Lotus ‘Umbilical Moonrise’: Opiuo ft. Texture Like Sun ‘Jelly” : Since Brainquility promises to go above and beyond than just musical performances, attendees could look forward to some exciting new activities. The festival will be highlighting creativity, art, interactive experiences like scavenger hunts, jam-sessions, and surprising activity activations. Tickets are now on sale- get details and purchase passes here. Follow Brainquility Music Festival: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram The post Brainquility Music Festival Brings The Spirit of the Suwannee Alive appeared first on EDM | Electronic Music | EDM Music | EDM Festivals | EDM Events. Source

A 43-year-old man has been arrested by Toronto police in connection with child sex abuse cases. It’s believed that Christopher Pulleynn of Mississauga used electronic dance music events to meet underage victims for years. He has been linked to sex crimes that took place between April 2010 to December 2013. According to the report, Pulleyn “frequented the rave party scene and may have had contact with people across the province of Ontario.” Pulleyn reportedly faces 13 charges, “including two counts of invitation to sexual touching, four counts of sexual assault and four counts of sexual interference.” Anyone with further information on this individual is urged to contact police at 416-808-8500 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). Photo via Toronto Police Services | Source: CP24 This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: REPORT: 43-Year-Old Man Charged with Child Sex Abuse Targeted Raves Source

“The ‘Most Shazamed’ list is a strange one. It isn’t like a Billboard list with definitive charts, nor is it anything like a ‘Most Streamed’ list. Shazam’s main function is to identify songs you don’t know the identity of, and so, if anything, it’s probably one of the strongest indicators of popular songs. Because if you really, really want to know what a song is, you’ll open Shazam – otherwise you’ll just go about your business.” – Your EDM, 2017 That was the beginning paragraph of my coverage of Shazam’s Year-End list in 2017, and I’m repeating it here because it still rings true. The “Most Shazamed” list is indeed unique, though, this year, it also mirrors many of the most-streamed lists. So what’s that about? “Solo” from Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato topped the list in 2018. Between Clean Bandit’s on-the-cusp-of-stardom nature and Lovato’s recognizable “wait I know who that is…” voice, plus the super choppy vocals in the chorus, this one is a no-brainer why it’s on the top this year. “Solo” is followed up by “X” by Nicky Jam & J Balvin, “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa, and more. Something else interesting to note, though not likely telling in any specific sense, is the presence of only two solo original songs on the Top 10 list. The rest are all collaborations. See the full list below, as well as the most Shazamed songs by genre. Top 10 Most Shazamed Songs 1. “Solo”, Clean Bandit Feat. Demi Lovato​ 2. “X”, Nicky Jam & J Balvin 3. “One Kiss”, Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa 4. “In My Mind”, Dynoro & Gigi D’Agostino 5. “Perfect”, Ed Sheeran 6. “Leave A Light On”, Tom Walker 7. “Girls Like You”, Maroon 5 Feat. Cardi B 8. “Friends”, Marshmello & Anne-Marie 9. “Flames”, David Guetta & Sia 10. “I Like It”, Cardi B & Bad Bunny & J Balvin Most Shazamed Songs by Genre Pop: “Perfect”, Ed Sheeran Hip-Hop: “I Like It”, Cardi B & Bad Bunny & J Balvin Rock/Alternative: “Feel It Still”, Portugal. The Man Dance: “Solo”, Clean Bandit Feat. Demi Lovato Country: “You Make It Easy”, Jason Aldean R&B/Soul: “Love Lies”, Khalid & Normani Latino: “X”, Nicky Jam & J Balvin K-Pop: “FAKE LOVE”, BTS This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Most-Shazamed Songs Of 2018 Revealed Source

Of course Dennis Rodman and Post Malone are friends. Of course they are. Their tattoos alone could provide chit-chat fodder for days, preferably while the pair are feasting on bottomless plates of pasta at Olive Garden. And, oh yes, they will be at Olive Garden, the restaurant Post enthused on a recent episode of Fallon, because Rodman bought the Beerbongs and Bentleys rapper a gift card for Christmas. As Alternative Press notes, photographer Adam DeGross posted a picture of the pair together on Instagram, writing in the caption that “DENNIS RODMAN got POST MALONE a Christmas gift.” Indeed, Post is holding up an Olive Garden gift card for $25, which, by our calculations, can get you three orders of three orders of unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks. Now all he needs is a set of Crocs. See it below. Head here to hear “Sunflower”, Post’s recent collaboration with Swae Lee. Below, revisit his Fallon segment, in which the host joins the rapper for a meal at the suburban Italian chain. Source

Macauley Culkin already proved that he’s a pretty chill dude. He’s a guy who loves pizza, enjoys touring, and appreciates his past. So, we aren’t too surprised that he’d be down to play some old video games, even with someone deliberately unchill like the Angry Video Game Nerd. In the latest episode of James Rolfe’s enduring online series, Culkin stops by to revisit the Home Alone games just in time for the holiday season. As Rolfe argues, he already reviewed the shitty games in a past episode, but to his surprise, that was only the first of the rubbish. (Read: The 10 Most Timeless Children Films) No, in the time that’s passed since the 1990 release of Chris Columbus’ holiday classic, there have been countless adaptations, ranging from Nintendo to Game Boy, Sega Genesis to, um, Playstation 2. It’s a whole Duncan’s Toy Chest-worth of games. Even better, Culkin arrived in the same getup as the lanky pizza delivery boy from the first film, who was originally played by Dan Charles Zukowski. It’s a great homage to both the film and Culkin’s Velvet Underground cover band, The Pizza Underground. (Read: The 25 Greatest Christmas Movies of All Time) Look, we’ll agree that any game adaptation of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is, as the French say, les incompetents. However, the original film’s 16-bit adaptation for the Sega Genesis is an all-time classic, and even expands the lore of the Chicago suburbs by involving ghosts! Agree or disagree with the video below, you filthy animal. Source

Millennials get a pretty bad rep when it comes to our overuse of technology, and for good reason. According to the Pew Research Centre, over 92% of us use a smartphone in order to sustain our crippling meme addictions while the other 8% must live in Amish communities. If you’ve got that weird mate who’s denounced technology in favour of carrier pigeons and smoke signals, then you might want to let them know that they could net $100k simply by not using a smartphone for one whole year. Vitamin Water are the twisted individuals behind the competition, which will require one selected participant to use a 1996 era cell phone in order to communicate with people. You’re allowed to use a desktop and laptop, however that means no mobile banking, Snapchat, utility apps or smartphone selfies for an ENTIRE YEAR. And don’t think you can find a loophole to use one at work, as participants are not allowed. Natalia Suarez, Vitamin Water’s associate brand manager, tells CNBC Make It. “We don’t think there’s anything more boring than mindlessly scrolling through your phone, and this is an opportunity to take that stance against routine and give someone $100,000 to do something uniquely awesome with their time,” she says. If you’re only able to last 6 months, you’ll still score $10K, but they’re going to hit you with a lie detector test to ensure you aren’t telling any fibs. If you think you can survive without technology or you’re extremely confident in your ability to cheat a lie detector, then all you have to do is post on social media by January 8th saying what you would do if you couldn’t use your phone for a year. Source

It was more than a year ago that Netflix announced it would revisit Frank Oz and Jim Henson’s 1982 cult flick The Dark Crystal with a 10-episode prequel series, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, featuring puppets from the Henson Creature Shop. Now, the streamer is back with news about the series’ story, its stacked voice cast, and its premiere, which will land sometime in 2019. First, the plot synopsis: The world of Thra is dying. The Crystal of Truth is at the heart of Thra, a source of untold power. But it is damaged, corrupted by the evil Skeksis, and a sickness spreads across the land. When three Gelfling uncover the horrific truth behind the power of the Skeksis, an adventure unfolds as the fires of rebellion are lit and an epic battle for the planet begins. Playing the film’s three central Gelflings will be Taron Egerton, who is portraying Elton John in an upcoming biopic; Anya Taylor-Joy, who’s emerged as a genre darling thanks to her turns in The Witch and Split; and Nathalie Emmanuel, who you may recognize as Game of Thrones’ Missandei. Each of their characters come from a different Gelfling clan, with Egerton playing a castle guard from the Stonewood clan, Taylor-Joy gussying up as a Vapra noble, and Emmanuel dressing down as a cave-dwelling Grottan. (Read: What’s Better? The Dark Crystal vs. Labyrinth) You’ll also hear the voices of Helena Bonham-Carter, Natalie Dormer, Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Harvey Fierstein, Mark Hamill, and Simon Pegg, as well as comedy luminaries like Eddie Izzard, Andy Samberg, and Keegan-Michael Key. See a more robust list below. The Skeksis & Mystics in #TheDarkCrystal: Age Of Resistance are voiced by: Harvey Fierstein, @HamillHimself @ralphineson @jasonsfolly @KeeganMKey, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson @simonpegg & @AndySamberg. Also Aughra will be voiced by Donna Kimball! — See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) December 17, 2018 As we previously reported, the series will combine puppetry with CGI under the eye of The Incredible Hulk’s Louis Leterrier and Brian Froud, the original film’s conceptual designer. See some more photos from the series below alongside its previously released teaser. Source

The Pitch: After turning the United States housing bubble into an Oscar-winning comedy with 2015’s The Big Short, Adam McKay returns to do the same with another sin of the States, that being former Vice President Dick Cheney. Sure, we know the guy — some might even say he was our real President over George W. — but this movie gives you the big picture on the political demon. You’ll learn how he went from being a forgettable, drunken douchebag at Yale to one of the most unforgettable douchebags to ever take over Capitol Hill. Who do we got for the role? We got Bale. American Psycho: Boy, do we ever. Once again, Christian Bale delivers another transformative role, blowing up into a baby beluga as Cheney, and even on a surface level, it’s truly a marvel unto itself. But everyone knows the Oscar winner can commit to these transformative roles — so does the Academy, who awarded him said Oscar in 2011 for David O. Russell’s The Fighter. Even still, this performance is on another level. Bale’s dealing with an icon, and while it would have been so easy to just simply add the pounds and do a Penguin schtick, he doesn’t. He goes deeper, conjuring up the power-hungry spirit that has seemingly destroyed every molecule of Cheney’s body. It’s another level of disguise for the English actor, who draws upon the minutiae of this hunger: the way Cheney folds his hands like an open-faced sandwich, that shuffle of his that seems to stem less from any kind of injury and more from being lost in Machiavellian thoughts, and of course, those pauses. Those pauses that could cause an Armageddon. It’s an unnerving thing to watch amidst all the laugh-out-loud moments, of which there are many, and like Cheney, Bale remains a silent and deadly shark swimming in these balmy waters. Even when he’s a young, hapless idiot, under the tutelage of a young and cutthroat Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), you always get the feeling that Bale is removed from the humor. He’s this enigmatic force all throughout the film, which winds up affording all the right kind of space to juxtapose him against for laughs. Needless to say, next year’s Best Actor award is Bale’s to lose, and it’d be stunning if he walks away empty-handed. Who’s in the Cabinet? Amy Adams is equally fierce as Cheney’s wife, Lynne, who ostensibly serves as the fuel and origin story for Cheney’s coarse political backbone. She props him up, she keeps him going, and for a while, stays two steps ahead of him. Seeing how Cheney is a naturally stoic and oft-silent figure, Adams also serves as an essential foil, injecting the right kind of energy for McKay, who traditionally keeps each scene going at a steady pace between 75-90 mph. Also incredible is Carell as Rumsfeld, who clearly saved his best for McKay this year. His arc is one of the more understated of the ensemble, going from a venomous python to a dusty husk, and he wrestles with just enough pathos to actually make you feel for him. No, seriously, when he’s sitting in an empty office deep within the White House, talking to his former apprentice as he waits for the guillotine, you have to keep pinching your arm and reminding yourself that he’s just as awful. That’s the power of Carell. Surprisingly, it’s Sam Rockwell, hot off last year’s Oscar win, who struggles. As the bumbling moron George W. Bush, Rockwell goes all in on his ragdoll image, tumbling around like a half-empty bottle of whiskey in the back seat of a station wagon. Whether he’s behind the desk giving “orders” or slurping up Texas BBQ, he never amounts to more than a cartoon character, but his performance also speaks to the problems of the film at large, namely how McKay can’t quite keep things together by the end. Stupid Is as Stupid Does: With The Big Short, McKay and co-writer Charles Randolph went hog wild with regards to narrative. Looking back, the movie runs on an anarchic piece of screenwriting, but it all worked, if only for the fact that the two were able to boil down something as intensely complicated as the 2007-2008 financial crisis into something enjoyable and smart. More to the point, the film never came off as pandering, even despite having Margot Robbie and the late Anthony Bourdain breaking the fourth wall to explain things. It’s why they won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2016 Oscars. McKay went into Vice solo and you get the feeling that he’s standing a little too much on ceremony. All the quirky zigs and zags of The Big Short are all over the place on his followup, and while some of it really works — including a hilarious gag involving faux end credits — he inevitably goes a tad too far. The problem is that, unlike The Big Short, he can’t seem to wrestle with the drama, and when Vice takes a more dramatic turn towards its manic third act, McKay’s preaching winds up feeling like Oliver Stone, Jr. All of those meta, tongue-in-cheek quirks start becoming self righteous and smug when they used to be clever and decisive. It’s a damn shame. The Verdict: Having said that, Vice is still a remarkable feat for McKay, who continues to prove he’s one of the more integral voices working in comedy today. Because really, the movie works best when it’s having fun, and only starts to unravel when you get the sense that McKay is trying to appease those that may walk away saying, “Dude, there’s nothing funny about 9/11 and what Haliburton has done to this world.” So, it would have behooved him to let the satire speak for itself and leave the hand-slapping to those who walked away having actually read between the lines. Then again, as this movie beautifully paints, we are a stupid nation that often don’t know those lines even exist. Trailer: Source

In an interview earlier this month, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie revealed that he’s planning to launch a proper “metal project” in the future. The pop punk frontman also divulged that he’s actually been dabbling with metal renditions of Panic! songs for some time now. “I actually just played something for my bandmates recently… we have an old song called ‘The Calendar’ and I made a metal version of it from years back,” Urie explained. “It’s like 90 seconds long and is really fun. Who knows, I might even put that out on SoundCloud on a whim some time soon!” Maybe it’s the holiday spirit, or perhaps he saw our Top Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2018 list, but Urie has now shared that 90-second metal version of Vices & Virtues track “The Calendar”. Rather than upload it to Soundcloud, Urie played the song while streaming on Twitch recently, as Rock Sound points out. Urie noted that this version of the song was recorded way back in 2010, likely during the same sessions for 2011’s Vices and Virtues. Could this be the future of Panic! at the Moshpit? Stream it below and let the headbanging commence. In 2015, Urie performed a “metalcore” take on Panic! song “Hallelujah”. Revisit that below. Source

In the annals of American filmmaking, there’s prolific, and then there’s Spike Lee. Since making his feature-length debut with She’s Gotta Have It in 1986, Lee has helmed 25 films and live specials, copious documentaries for both television and the big screen, a TV series, an NBA 2K installment’s story mode, music videos, and more still. That’s not even including all of the screenwriting, or the production, or anything else Lee has put his hands on during 30-something years at the forefront of the film industry. Yet as Lee was quick to tell us during our conversation, he’s never asked or claimed to be the spokesman for anybody in particular, even as his hard-earned status as an industry elder statesman (and something of a loquacious type) always seemed to assign him that responsibility. The director isn’t any one thing. He’s worked in nearly every genre you can think of, and if he hasn’t gotten around to it yet, you can be sure the gears are turning somewhere about it. At 61, Spike Lee somehow still feels like he’s just getting warmed up. Yet somebody just getting warm couldn’t bring the sense of authority, craft, and command of tone that Lee brought to this summer’s BlacKkKlansman. The unbelievable true story of Ron Stallworth, a Colorado Springs detective who managed to infiltrate a local chapter of the KKK using his wits, his voice, and a fellow officer as a physical proxy, BlacKkKlansman feels almost like a true story that occurred for the explicit purpose of Spike Lee being able to tel it. The film veers from comedy to high drama to moments of truly overwhelming dread about America’s past and future alike, and there are very few directors working today who could negotiate the high-wire act of a dark comedy about American racism. But Spike Lee is absolutely one of them, and in his hands, BlacKkKlansman stands up as yet another superb achievement in a career full of them. Lee offers a vision of an America that was divided long ago, one which never stopped being at all and was already planting the seeds of its own destruction decades earlier. It’s prescient and completely of-the-moment, hilarious and mortifying, edifying about our capacity to save one another from the brink even as it’s hyper-aware of just how close to it we’re all standing. And have been. We saw any number of great movies in 2018, but when it came time to pick our Filmmaker of the Year, there was only one name we could consider. One which has bore a standard of excellence for years, and has continued to reinvent against the popular fashions or politics or genres or filmmaking styles of the time. Primarily in his own words, we present the 2018 CoS Filmmaker of the Year, Spike Lee. THE PITCH Director Spike Lee and actor John David Washington, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features When Jordan Peele brought this project to your attention, what attracted you to kind of this slice of American history? Well, what attracted me, from the jump judgment, was Jordan Peele’s six-word pitch—has to be one of the greatest pitches in the history of cinema, in the history of the studio system. The six words being: “Black man infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan.” [Laughs.] It’s an incredible elevator pitch. So when I heard that, I laughed, so it was very funny, and automatically thought of those great David Chappelle skits about the blind guy in the Klan. And then I said, “Is this true?” And Jordan said, “Yeah, it’s true.” He gave me a whole backstory about Ron Stallworth. REASSESSING NOSTALGIA Director Spike Lee, Topher Grace, and Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features Nostalgia is the fuel for so much of today’s entertainment, but there’s also been a lack of reassessment in so much of it. What are your thoughts on the industry’s insistence upon it and how has that informed — if at all — your own way to revisit the past as of late? I’m a cinephile. I’m a filmmaker, a tenured film professor at NYU Graduate Film School, and I also liked history, you know, as a kid. Being African-American in the time, growing up, there was just, you know, imagery that was disturbing. I remember specifically my late mother grabbing me and saying, “Don’t think that Cleopatra looked like Elizabeth Taylor.” [Laugh] That’s the type of mother I had, and it was my mother where I began to love film. My father, Bill Lee—great composer, jazz bassist who’s done my scores—he hated movies. So, since I was the firstborn, I was my mother’s movie date. I remember specifically my mother taking me to see—she introduced me to Martin Scorsese! With Mean Streets. And I remember my mother taking me to the Easter Sunday show of Bye Bye Birdie at the Radio City Music Hall, and this is a true story—it wasn’t until many years later that I understood that me having Rosie Perez dance at the beginning of Do the Right Thing … that came from Ann-Margret dancing in Bye Bye Birdie. [Laughs] And I think Bye Bye Birdie came out ’63, ’64, so I was like seven, eight years old. I mean, I wasn’t even thinking about being a filmmaker. But to answer your question, look at the films that we use. BlacKkKlansman begins with one of the most famous shots in the history of cinema. From Gone With the Wind. When I was in elementary school in Brooklyn, New York, and there was a release of the film, we had a class trip to see that film, and nothing was done by the teachers to prepare the black students—and they were kind of young, you know, I think like sixth, seventh grade—to prepare us for the imagery that we were gonna see. It was not even thought about—and the black students did not like that film. You know, we didn’t give a fuck about Scarlett O’Hara. [Laughs] And cringed at—and no disrespect to Hattie McDaniel, who won an Academy Award, or Butterfly McQueen—the imagery. “I don’t know nothing about birthing babies!” Oh, we just wanted to duck under the chair. And the other film, Birth of a Nation. NYU Graduate School’s a three-year program, and the first film I remember us seeing was Birth of a Nation. My class included Ernest Dickerson and also Ang Lee. We were all in the same class, NYU Graduate Film School, and we were taught the discussion about D.W. Griffith, the filmmaker. The so-called Father of Cinema, if you will, and all the great techniques and innovations he had invented. There was not a discussion about the social, political aspects of that film. We were not taught that Birth of a Nation really revitalized the Klan, who were dormant at that time. So with the rebirth of the Klan, that led directly to black people being lynched. That was not discussed. At all. So those films Gone With the Wind and Birth of a Nation are very personal to me. In fact, my first film, at NYU Graduate Film School, was a film called The Answer, and it’s about a young African-American writer-director who was hired to do a big budget remake of Birth of a Nation by a Hollywood studio, and it doesn’t end up well for him, to say the least, you know. So those, those film choices are very, very specific, and personal to me, and that’s why they’re in BlacKkKlansman. The opening really recalled the ending of Bamboozled, and the way that you sort of tried to rewrite the understanding of blackness on film, especially in the 20th century. Yes. I forgot about that. The one clip we really needed, we found Bugs Bunny in blackface. Warner Brothers wouldn’t let us use it. You know, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney—you know, it was amazing, the footage we could find of people in blackface. It’s easy getting Al Jolson, but I’d never seen Judy Garland in blackface. FACT AND FICTION David Washington and Laura Harrier, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features At points, the film takes creative license with some of the known facts of the story, accepting that many of the official files are gone. On your end, what went into filling those gaps or making those changes, and how did those changes affect the story? At the beginning of the film, there’s a title that says, “This Joint is Based Upon Some For Real, For Real Shit.” So, what is the for real, for real shit? The foundation, the truth that Ron Stallworth lived, is still with us. That’s number one. Number two: Ron Stallworth became the first African-American to enter the Colorado Springs Police Department. That’s true. Third truth: Ron Stallworth infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Four: Ron Stallworth actually was assigned to be a bodyguard for David Duke. So Kevin Willmott and I, he was my co-writer … that’s all we needed. As long as we stayed true to those truths, we felt—of course, this not being a documentary—that we could, you know, make the movie we wanted to make, and as everybody does, you take poetic license. Spike Lee and Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features The character of Flip (Adam Driver) is interesting because he’s only ever addressed as “Chuck” in the book, and yet Flip’s confession about not really acknowledging his own cultural heritage until he experienced prejudice himself is a paramount theme in the movie. More specifically, how that prejudice turned his own cultural heritage into his own identity. Would you be able to talk about this inclusion in the film? One of the things that Kevin Willmott and I wanted to avoid was the stereotypical black/white buddy cop film. That is not the movie we wanted to make. [Laughs] So, therefore, we had to do some other stuff. We had to dig deeper, we had to be more complex, and it really came from this whole world of passing. Start with Ron Stallworth—he’s on the phone, a black man, on one end of the line, speaking to the Klan on the other, and he’s passing. And then you have, you bring in Flip, who is the white Ron Stallworth. He’s passing. And then you have the fact that he’s also Jewish! And one of the things that surprised me is that people don’t get it, or don’t understand, that the Klan hates Jews too! So I’m telling you, I’m amazed by how many people said to me, “I didn’t know the Klan felt that way about Jews.” I said, “What?” And these are Jewish people! I said, “What? You’re second place! You’re next in line!” [Laughs] It’s true. It’s so scary. Didn’t you see that footage? As David Chappelle said, “Those tiki torch motherfuckers?” [Laughs] Didn’t they say that—“Jews will not replace us”? “Blood and soil”—that comes from Nazi Germany! The fuck! So, all of that is tied together with passing. People—and also, let’s be honest, that’s part of—that’s a large part of assimilation, for immigrants. If you were Italian, Irish, Jewish, you change your name! Because people knew that applying for work, or whatever, your last name could keep your ass from getting a job. THAT ONE SCENE On the flipside of that, you depict white racism, and white hate as it exists, in such a milquetoast, apple pie, American kind of way, where racism is this boring, tedious thing. One of the many scenes I’m proud of in BlacKkKlansman is, we did something that’s never been done before, I think, in the history of cinema. A pillow talk love scene, a married couple, a late-night talk, lovey-dovey, all hugged up, talking about how, “We’re about to kill some niggers.” [Laughs] That scene—no one’s ever had a scene like that before! It’s so warm and cuddly and lovely and, and then my man Jasper [Pääkkönen] says, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free of them niggers at last.” [Laughs] And then, Ashlie Atkinson, she’s a great actress, I had her start channeling Lionel Richie. People haven’t gotten it yet, but part of her speech is inspired by a Lionel Richie song, “Just To Be Close to You.” Interesting. “Before I met you, I had no direction. No purpose.” [Laughs] That’s slipped by a lot of people. No one’s gotten that yet. [Laughs] Deeply in love, Klan couple, curled up in bed, late at night. [Laughs] That’s a first. CASTING DAVID DUKE Topher Grace, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features In the same way, your depiction of David Duke is so unsettling in part because he seems so everyday. Yeah, Topher Grace did a great, great job. Seriously. In working with Grace, how did you approach making such a revolting figure into a sort of friendly marking face? Well, that’s the approach to David Duke—he made that decision. That, for whatever reason, you know, to get what he wanted, to build a more broader base, that he could not be running around in public with a hood on and a cape. So he wanted to put that smile on hate. I like that, he put a smile on hate. And I didn’t really have much to do with—I mean, that’s all Topher. He’s talked about it in interviews. It’s a very, very, very hard role to do. But I told him, you know, I did the best to reassure him, like, “Look. People understand that this is not you. No one’s gonna think you’re David Duke. No one’s gonna think that you believe those hateful words you’re gonna say. So just do your thing.” And he did. Topher Grace, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features But another thing I’d like to add is that several of my African-American friends who live all over the United States saw the film in predominantly white audiences. And at the end of the movie, when the lights come on and these black people stand up, the whole crowd’s looking at them, and they’re going over to them and hugging them, saying, “I’m sorry.” I don’t know if it’s white guilt or what, but they’re like, “Come here, give me a hug.” I’ve never heard of that before, ever. And these were—I mean, they were very sincere, too. I mean it wasn’t like they were trying to be funny. They were just black folks just getting all types of hugs. You know, “Is there anything I can do for you?” I mean, it’s crazy. But that’s the power of this film. And the power—the film was powerful enough without the Charlottesville coda, but with the coda, like, that’s the whopper right there. THE CODA John David Washington, “BlacKkKlansman”, Focus Features The coda is one of the most arresting things we’ve seen on film all year. As far as directly invoking this ugly kind of American history, what distinguishes art from being able to get people’s attention in that way from seeing it on the news? Well, when you see it on the news, no disrespect to my fellow TV people, but they’re not–they’re not editors. They just show the clips. I have a great, great editor, Barry Alexander Brown, editor on a lot of my films. Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Inside Man. We have a lot of footage with the expertise. One of my secret weapons is a woman named Judy Aley, she’s my researcher. So what you saw was a whole lot of stuff that you didn’t necessarily see on CNN when it happened. We put ads in the newspapers in Charlottesville, so we had stuff that wasn’t seen. You know, anybody with an iPhone, now, is a potential reporter. So my charge to Judy was to find me archival footage, stills, whatever. I need as much material for Barry Alexander Brown, my editor, to cut this footage, this material, into a very powerful ending. So, there’s some editing going on. It’s not like a news clip. There are angles like that drone shot—no one ever saw that drone shot of the crowd—of the car going into the crowd. We had some stuff that had never been seen before. That Saturday—that was like Gettysburg. And the thing is … where are the cops? I mean, they just let it—that was like, all-out civil war. And then you might say, in Charlottesville, like, the capital of the Confederacy. Right within sight distance of the Robert E. Lee statue, which is still up. I mean, they covered it up, but, you know, it’s not knocked down yet. So, it was just very important—Kevin Willmott and I, my co-writer from the very beginning—our mission was to make a hit contemporary period piece. We had to—our mission was to connect the past with the present. And we did that, we had potential to make a good film. BACK TO THE FUTURE Spike Lee In terms of discussing the past and present alongside each other, you’re officially at a point in your career where you’ve stuck around long enough to be a part of one major national and international dialogue about race, and now you’ve been around long enough to be involved in a very different yet still similar one. How has that time and perspective colored the ways you address these things on film? Well, hopefully, you know, I’m getting better as a filmmaker, as I enter my fourth decade. And I’ve come to realize over the years that time is everything. Time is everything, and you just have the good fortune for this film to be right in the middle of all this crazy shit that’s happening. Charlottesville happened August 11th, and we started shooting a couple of weeks later in the middle of September. Do you feel a different type of hunger for filmmaking right now? No, my hunger has never waned. You know, I’m blessed, I’m doing what I love. And not that many people can say that. So my love of film is gonna—I mean, when it stops, it’s gonna be probably the day before I leave here. STANDING ON CEREMONY “She’s Gotta Have It”, Netflix Intellectual property is the skeleton key for any creative working in the industry in recent years. You’re already in the midst of revisiting She’s Gotta Have It, so is there a particular appeal that revisiting your past work through a modern lens has to you? Well, I mean, first of all, I have to thank my wife. Because it was her idea to shop She’s Gotta Have It. She watches, you know, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu. I’d never even thought about it. Thank God she came up with the idea. So, we just finished our second season, filming our second season of She’s Gotta Have It, and it’ll be out hopefully first quarter 2019. Another thing I’d like to revisit, I would love to do School Daze as a Broadway musical. So there are things like that, but people all the time want me to do a sequel to Do the Right Thing—I’m not doing that. There are just things that I’m not gonna touch. But other things, you know, I feel better about revisiting. But not Do the Right Thing. There is gonna be no prequel or sequel or remake of Do the Right Thing. That’s not happening. Spike Lee in “Do the Right Thing” You’ve worked on two Michael Jackson documentaries. Have you ever thought about being the one to actually bring his story to life? The thing about Michael Jackson, Prince, that makes me—you know, not that I’ve been asked to do it. But for me, I just can’t get past, who’s gonna play Prince? Michael Jackson? I can’t. All I can do is documentaries. But a film—I just can’t get past, who—not to say, I mean, it could be an unknown. But who’s gonna play Michael or Prince? I will tell you this, though: I don’t care what the critics say, fuck ’em—I love Bohemian Rhapsody. Rami Malek did his thing. He looks just like him. I mean, I like that film a lot. So yeah, I mean, there’s biopics. I saw a trailer for next summer, there’s an Elton John movie, a biopic! Biopics seem to come and go in waves. The wave is coming. [Laughs] Seriously! Because, you know, this is a copycat industry, so people see—they’re looking at the ton of money A Star is Born made, it’s not necessarily a biopic, but it’s music, and they’re looking at the money that Bohemian Rhapsody’s made. So I bet there are a lot more biopics that people are scrambling to buy the rights to right now. But for me, I just couldn’t get past who would play Prince, and who would play Mike. One day, you know, maybe, hopefully I’ll get to do a complete—the trilogy. You know, the first one’s Bad 25. And then Off the Wall, maybe I’ll get to do Thriller. Or even Dangerous. Such an underrated album. Oh, one of those. I wouldn’t turn it down. [Laughs] THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY “School Daze” The phrase “Wake Up” has been invoked in some form or another in all of your work. Particularly in a time where being “woke” has become a favored shorthand for a lot of people, how has your understanding of that call changed (or not) after more than 30 years in the industry? Yeah, “wake up” was way ahead of “woke.” [Laughs] You gotta wake up before you get woke. Where do you stand with the concept now? Well, I think the whole concept of “wake up” is even more crucial today. Because lies—there’s this science where lies, you know, where if you tell a lie often and loud enough, it becomes truth. And that’s something that we have to fight against. A lie is a lie. I don’t give a fuck how many times you tell it. A lie is a lie. Mexicans are not rapists, murderers, and drug dealers! All terrorist acts aren’t done by ISIS. Most terrorist attacks in this country are home-grown acts of terrorism. And so we just get this constant false narrative, and I guess people go, “Okie-dokie.” They’ve become numb, so they’ll just believe anything. And anytime where the truth is supplanted for a lie, that is a very—it becomes very dangerous. And that is the world we live in today. When I go to any film festival, especially Cannes, I always prepare myself, because I know journalists in the past have sometimes looked at me as the spokesperson for black people in America—which, I never, ever assumed that or said that. Knowing that, this film I just made, where we had the world premiere for BlacKkKlansman, I knew I’d be asked about the state of the world. The state of the United States of America. So I said to myself, “Let me come up with something different since it’s the world’s biggest and greatest film festival, in my opinion.” So I searched. I said, “When this question comes up, I want to answer it with the title of a film.” And I spent many days of thinking and I came up with a title. So when the journalists—when the international journalists asked me, like, “Spike, what the fuck is up?” I would answer with the title of a film, and that title was Peter Weir’s film, The Year of Living Dangerously. And that’s where we are now. And moving forward from May ’til now, when we just had the recent midterm election, I used World War II for another analogy, where the midterm election was Allies landing on Normandy Beach, and we had two more years, you know, to get that ground, inch by inch. This coming presidential election, 2020, I feel, is about the fight for the soul of America. That’s what I’m calling it. This 2020 presidential election will be the fight for the soul of America. Are we gonna figure out love? I’m going to reference James Agee’s script, my man Robert Mitchum, with “LOVE” and “HATE” tattooed on his fingers, now with our homage to Radio Raheem from Do the Right Thing. Are we gonna see a nation of hate or a nation of love? When you vilify people, whether they be Mexicans, the gay population, immigrants, African-Americans—our own existence, hate will destroy us all. And I’m trying not to sit around the campfire, “We are the World,” but—it might come to that! [Laughs] Because we are living in crazy times. This shit is … it’s mind-boggling. It’s insane what this guy, Agent Orange, is doing. I don’t call him by his name, his—as they say, his government name. I have to give credit to Busta Rhymes, he’s the one who came up with that, Agent Orange. [Laughs] And what we have to realize is that—what this film talks about, too, in a way—we will be remiss if we think that what we see in BlacKkKlansman is something that’s particular to the United States of America. No, no, no. There is a rise of this right-wing/fascist government, whatever. It’s global. This guy that just got elected in Brazil? Oh my God, this guy. This is happening in Europe, all over the world. And what they’re doing is they’re going back to that same old playbook of fascism, of hate. And number one, the first paragraph, is, you know, pick a scapegoat. You know, pick somebody who—whatever’s going wrong—you can say, “These are the motherfuckers, why it happened. They’re to blame.” In today’s world, it’s immigrants. And this President of the United States, to separate infants, babies from their families and put no mechanism in so families can be reunited? Like it’s—I don’t know the exact number, don’t quote me, but there’s thousands, over a thousand kids that they still don’t know who their parents are! I don’t know why that’s not on the floor of the United Nations! That’s—that has to be some inhuman act, where you’re separating infants from their mothers’ arms, and that shit’s okay? I mean, what kind of country are we? That’s just wrong. And all these people, they know what they’re doing. But they’re going to be on the wrong side of history. The wrong side. Because people, historians, they’re going to look at this period, at America—books that’ll be written, documentaries, movies, about this time we live in today. And one of the titles could be, WTF? [Laughs] “Agent Orange Years.” In capital letters! With three exclamation points! [Laughs] “WTF.” You can’t—this stuff is—I mean, sometimes I just watch the news and shake my head. It’s just, it’s crazy, and then—what we’re really involved in now is—I wouldn’t even use the word “asylum.” If it were me, this is just me, instead of using the word “caravan,” I would call them freedom seekers. These are people who, when their journey’s over, walked over a thousand miles. I mean, to walk a thousand miles? Things must be bad if you gotta walk a thousand miles. And the guy says there might be terrorists among them. That’s a lie! Again, it’s the fear. “The caravan—they’re also terrorists too!” It’s once again using the fear tactics. These people, they’re walking a thousand miles in flip flops? What, they’re gonna throw a flip flop at somebody’s head and then they’re gonna explode? What the fuck? Babies on mothers’ hips! What, are they rocket launchers, or grenades? Shit! I mean, they’re coming because—every other immigrant, the Irish, Jewish people, Italians, like every other immigrant to this country, they’re coming for a better way of life. That’s all, that’s what it’s about. Source

Beatlemania was in full display in London this weekend as a mini Beatles reunion took place at the city’s O2 Arena. Paul McCartney, who’s currently amidst his “Freshen Up Tour”, welcomed former bandmate Ringo Starr to the stage to perform their 1969 Beatles hit “Get Back”. The pair was also joined by another English rock legend in The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. The star-studded collaborative performance came during the encore portion of Macca’s career-spanning, 40-song set, which included solo selections and Wings singles alongside Beatles classics. (Read: 10 Great Cover Songs of The Beatles’ White Album) Fans in attendance were first clued in to the reunion after spotting Starr in the crowd. Sir Paul’s daughter, Stella McCartney, also posted a backstage photo prior to the set which featured Macca, Wood, and actress Emma Thompson. “Kick ass tonight dad,” Stella wrote in the caption. The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Harry Styles, and Spice Girls’ Geri Halliwell were also reported to be at the concert, as was Olivia Harrison, widow of George Harrison. Check out fan-caught photos and video footage of the “Get Back” performance below. Ringo and Ronnie Wood leaving the stage. And yes, that is Roger Daltrey. 3/3 #goodseats pic.twitter.com/ktaMEZrw6R — Rob Biddulph (@RobBiddulph) December 17, 2018 In continued support of Egypt Station, McCartney will bring his “Freshen Up Tour” to South America and the US next year. Paul McCartney 2019 Tour Dates: 03/20 – Santiago, CL @ National Stadium 03/23 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Polo Ground 03/26 – Sao Paulo, BR @ Allianz Parque 03/30 – Curitiba, BR @ Estadio Couto Pereira 05/23 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Arena 05/27 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena 05/30 – Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena 06/01 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena 06/03 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Allen County War Memorial Coliseum 06/06 – Madison, WI @ Kohl Center 06/08 – Green Bay, WI @ Lambeau Field 06/11 – Moline, IL @ TaxSlayer Center 06/14 – Arlington TX @ Globe Life Park 06/22 – San Diego, CA @ Petco Park 06/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena 07/10 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center 07/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Dodger Stadium Source

Guns N’ Roses recently put a wrap on their three-year “Not In This Lifetime Tour” by playing their first show ever in Hawaii on December 8th. Now, guitarist Richard Fortus says the band’s focus will shift toward creating their first album since 2008’s Chinese Democracy. During the band’s aforementioned concert at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, singer Axl Rose stated fro the stage, “We can’t do what’s next until we finish this, right? Now that all that’s done, we can get on with things.” While Axl’s words may have seemed a little cryptic, Fortus confirmed in a new interview with St. Louis radio station KSHE (listen below) that the “next” thing is an album. “We are going to try to do another record and get it out soon,” said Fortus. When the host remarked, “I hope it’s good,” Fortus responded, “How could it not be, though? The band’s so great right now.” The host, Favazz, then made a comment about not seeing GN’R “rushing to do this thing,” but Fortus told him, “I think it will happen faster than you think.” Asked if there will at least be a new song in 2019, and Fortus answered, “It could definitely happen.” As far as new material, Fortus mentioned, “there might be stuff started.” As for touring, Fortus said it will be a while before GN’R hits the road again, and that it “depends on whether or not we have a new record out. If we have something out, then we could tour, and that’s why we want to [make a new album].” In his last question related to a potential album, the host asked what Axl would write about these days, and Fortus responded, “I think Axl’s got a lot to write about.” While the band plans its next move, Fortus’ fellow GN’R guitarist Slash will use the time to resume touring with his band Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. They have dates in Asia, Australia, Europe and South America booked throughout the first half of 2019, beginning in January. Source

Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush has once again been accused of sexual misconduct. The allegations come from Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone who tells The New York Times that Rush sexually harassed her multiple times while the pair were working on a 2010 production of The Diary of a Madman in Sydney, Australia. Stone alleges that Rush exposed himself to her, sent sexually suggestive text messages, and even spied on her while showering. “I remember I looked up to see there was a small shaving mirror over the top of the partition between the showers and he was using it to look down at my naked body,” she recounts. She insists their working relationship was strange from the beginning, ranging from Rush asking the actress to remove his contact lenses and costume during intermission to napping with her uninvited as they waited in between the production’s matinee and evening performances. As she tells the publication, “There was no part of my brain considering speaking to anyone in any official capacity. This was a huge star, What were they going to do? Fire Geoffrey and keep me?” Rush has since responded to the allegations, insisting to The New York Times that they “are incorrect and in some instances have been taken completely out of context.” He adds, “However, clearly Yael has been upset on occasion by the spirited enthusiasm I generally bring to my work. I sincerely and deeply regret if I have caused her any distress. This, most certainly, has never been my intention,” Last year, Rush was accused of similar sexual misconduct by actress Eryn Jean Norvill, who worked with Rush on the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Lear in 2015 and 2016. At the time, his wife reported that he never wanted to act again. Currently, he is suing the publishers of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper and its journalist Jonathon Moran over these reports. Source

The Strokes will reunite for a global tour in 2019. The NYC alt-rock veterans today confirmed a headlining appearance at next summer’s Bilbao BBK Live Festival in Bilbao, Spain. It marks the band’s first confirmed performance since 2017 and will “kick off their global comeback,” according to a press release and as confirmed by a representative. Joining The Strokes on the Bilbao BBK Live lineup are Thom Yorke, Weezer, Brockhampton, Hot Chip, Cut Cope, Vince Staples, and Nils Frahm, with more acts to be announced. Over the last year, members of The Strokes have kept busy with the various side projects. Frontman Julian Casablancas released a new album with his band The Voidz, while guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. put out his fourth solo album. Meanwhile, the early days of the band were chronicled in the book Meet Me in the Bathroom. Source

Download | Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS This Monday on Kyle Meredith With…, Kyle Meredith talks with Chaz Bundwick, also known as Toro y Moi, about his upcoming album, Outer Peace, and how it ties into his ideas about disposable culture. He also discusses his work with Rome Fortune, the California wildfires, discovering that Logic has a tattoo of one of his albums, wanting to work with Darius Rucker, and how living in a “playlist era” changes a person’s mindset about music. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Each episode, Meredith digs deep into an artist’s work to find out how the music is made and where their journey is going, from legendary artists like Robert Plant, Paul McCartney, U2 and Bryan Ferry, to the newer class of The National, St. Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, Haim, and Father John Misty. Check back Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new episodes. Rate the series now via iTunes. Follow on Facebook | Podchaser | Twitter Source

Bad news for fans of Spike Lee yearning to spend another sweaty afternoon in Brooklyn with Mookie and the gang. The filmmaker says he has absolutely no interest in ever revisiting his 1989 masterpiece, Do the Right Thing. In a forthcoming interview with Consequence of Sound, the veteran filmmaker says, “People all the time want me to do a sequel to Do the Right Thing—I’m not doing that. There are just things that I’m not gonna touch. But other things, you know, I feel better about revisiting. But not Do the Right Thing. There is gonna be no prequel or sequel or remake of Do the Right Thing. That’s not happening.” Back in 2012, Lee turned several heads when he revisited the Mookie character for Red Hook Summer, which marked the sixth chapter in his “Chronicles of Brooklyn” series. However, at the time of its release, Lee repeatedly insisted it was not a sequel. So, what might be those “other things” on his mind? Well, he’s already turned his feature-film debut She’s Gotta Have It into Netflix series, which he says recently wrapped its second season, but that’s not the only intellectual property he’s open to revisiting in the future. “I would love to do School Daze as a Broadway musical,” he insists, echoing similar sentiments from this past February. This isn’t the first time, however, that he’s circled around his 1988 musical comedy. Back in 2014, one of the millions of e-mails from the Sony leak revealed that Lee had been working on a revised script for a sequel titled, School Daze Too, which was reportedly going to be packaged for Drake and Kevin Hart. Obviously that never came to fruition. A Broadway musical, however, would be perfect timing for Lee. Over the past few years, Broadway has seen countless movies make the leap to the coveted stage, from Mean Girls to Legally Blonde, Heathers to Clueless, Frozen to Sponge Bob. With Hamilton still all the rage, one would think investors would be salivating to produce another hip-hop musical. Currently, Lee is out promoting this year’s BlacKkKlansman, which recently picked up a pile of nominations at both the Golden Globes and SAG Awards with the Academy Awards in its sights. Stay tuned for our full interview with Lee in which he talks extensively about the film and the overall state of politics in the world. Though, if you’re still glum about Do the Right Thing, shake it off with Rosie below. Source

Wakaan has just released the insanely good Alone With Yourself EP from EAZYBAKED. The duo has been been best friends for several years and their bond certainly shines through musically. This EP is absolutely worth a listen. It features seven tunes, which carry themselves with intricate attention to detail and sparkling creativity. Out of the seven, our standouts include the title track, ‘Vessel’s’ eclectic energy and the snaking ‘Facelift’ which keeps surprising and delighting. Stream the full set here.  This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: EAZYBAKED – Alone With Yourself EP Source

It’s that wonderful time of the year when Quality Goods Records rounds off their year with a bumper compilation release. This week they present to us QGRC-004, which is a nine-track affair spilling with raw exclusives. Personally, it’s a yearly highlight for us. With their forward-thinking approach to new bass and trap music, you can always count on UZ’s label to deliver the goods. Standout racks include the exceptional ‘Tension’ from Ascidzz, ‘Spring’ from B-Dos and Yojas’ ‘Apathetic.’ Check them all out here.  This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Quality Goods Records – QGRC-004 Source

The Lowdown: It’s been nearly a year since Gucci Mane’s last project, El Gato: The Human Glacier. That break would be unremarkable for most artists, but considering Guwop dropped three projects in 2016 following his release from prison, fans were definitely hungry. While El Gato was short, featureless, and produced almost exclusively by Southside, the 17-track Evil Genius has more in common with last year’s Mr. Davis, with its bevy of guests and producers. The Good: At this point, Gucci Mane is a legend, but he’s still putting in work and keeping up with artists who are a decade-plus his junior. A pillar of trap who made it through prison and came out with a healthier mind and body, Gucci is able to acknowledge his criminal history (as someone who “would rob Mike Tyson”) but keep it in the past. He’s also able to juggle different sounds and vibes. On the superior first half of the album, Gucci pulls off moody glimpses inside his mind and defiance against those trying to keep him down on “By Myself” and “I’m Not Goin’” as well as cuts with more pop appeal, like “BiPolar” and the Bruno Mars– and Kodak Black-featuring “Wake Up in the Sky”. The latter also showcases some unexpectedly delightful singing from Gucci, with lyrical odes to hallowed crooners à la “Slow Jamz” (“Unforgettable, like Nat King Cole/ Gucci Barry White, I’m singing to your ho”). None of the features are particularly surprising, but Gucci brings out the best in most of them. On “Cold Shoulder”, with its strong beat from EarlThePearll, YoungBoy Never Broke Again comes charging in like he’s the wildcard henchman to Gucci’s Don. Kevin Gates, another recent parolee, reflects on his freedom and success in his idiosyncratic, coarse tone on “I’m Not Goin’”. 21 Savage’s feature on “Just Like It” keeps up his streak of verses that are closed-off and exhibit minimal energy but are somehow absolutely enthralling. Even Lil Pump turns in an admirable performance on bonus track “Kept Back”. Though not a top-tier cut, it certainly deserves to be part of the official tracklist more than several others that made it (more on that below). The Bad: Like too many lengthy hip-hop albums, Evil Genius is too much and not enough at once. It doesn’t get as tedious as, say, Culture II, but there are multiple songs that could be excised, namely short ones like “On God” and “Outta Proportion”. Had it ended at “Wake Up in the Sky”, it would be a mixed but overall satisfying album. Save for the bonus track, every song after that is either disposable and/or undercooked. “Solitaire” tries to cram Gucci, Migos (save for Offset), and Lil Yachty into about two minutes, and nobody comes out looking good, least of all the arcade game-esque beat. Somehow that was the lead single. Speaking of Migos, Quavo is on three of these tracks, and the only time he sounds remotely engaged is on “BiPolar” (“Neck ice polar, all my hoes be bi”). On “Lost Y’All Mind”, he sounds so much like Gucci, you might not even realize there was another artist on the track. The production is better elsewhere on the album, but it often sounds too smooth and generic. Even Metro Boomin, his collaborator on the excellent Droptopwop mixtape, seems to be phoning it in on “Father’s Day”. Spiffy Global’s glitchy beat for “Lost Y’All Mind” is a keeper, as is Southside’s work on late-album cut “Lord”, which sounds vaguely like Gucci rapping over something from Tim Hecker’s Love Streams. The song doesn’t come together, but it’s at least intriguing. Some underwhelming features and beats would be easier to digest if Gucci’s lyrics were able to carry the album more. There’s a startling lack of quotables here. Some of his metaphors are distressingly surface level (“Feel like a boxer, I was trainin’ in a gym”). “I’m not regular, naw, I’m not typical” and “I live a crazy life,” he declares on the profoundly dull “This the Night”. If he wants us to believe that, he needs to actually show it. When he seemingly gets Scrooge mixed up with the Grinch (“A marijuana war, we’ll take your trees like Scrooge”), it’s a humorously humanizing moment that this album needs more of. The Verdict: On Evil Genius, Gucci Mane sounds like he’s having fun and his rapping is as polished as ever. But too much of the album comes across as filler, and his lyrics seem afraid to take any kind of chance. Despite what the title says, there’s a disappointing lack of musical alchemy going on here. Essential Tracks: “BiPolar”, “Cold Shoulder”, and “Wake Up in the Sky” Source

This feature was originally published in 2016. We’re reposting it today with the release of Mary Poppins Returns just a spoonful of sugar away. Timelessness is a simple enough concept — until you try to apply it. Age must factor in, and indeed several of the children’s films featured here have popularly endured across several decades and multiple generations. (To account for longevity, we decided that a movie had to be at least 20 years old — approximately a generation — to be considered for this list. Sorry, Nemo.) Does a film need to have become part of our pop-culture lexicon to be dubbed timeless? In other words, should the bulk of the people you encounter each day have seen or know something about the movies on this list? Only a couple handfuls of films across all genres meet that standard, and a few of the kids’ flicks that definitely do are here. Now, this is where things get as hairy as an Oompa-Loompa nibbling hair toffee. Can a film be timeless for some but not for others? I suspect if I was born a few years later, I’d be more gung ho about a couple of our animated inclusions championed by my younger colleagues. By the same token, if they were my age, maybe they would’ve seconded my votes for a Don Bluth feature like An American Tail or The Land Before Time. So much depends on a few years difference or what our parents happened to push into the VCR — maybe a movie they once cherished as a child or, just as likely, what they found in a VHS or DVD bargain bin. It seems my parents found a ton of Bluth bargains. Maybe even more interesting than what is or isn’t on this list today will be what falls off a few years down the line and what films do the usurping. Is timelessness really forever? Will all these films endure as they have until now, or will the Nemos, Frozens, Inside Outs, and Paddingtons rightfully wiggle in as time passes and our children become adults and then parents with their own kids to entertain? Will constant bombardments lobbed by television programmers thrust other forgotten films back into the public consciousness as they once did Willy Wonka and, more recently, A Christmas Story? While many of the films on this list have and will continue to inspire remakes, reboots, sequels, and offshoots, they are all series originals. Given trends like the current Disney live-action reboot craze, might remakes and sequels of some of these very films one day replace their progenitors on lists like these? Only time will tell. So, where does that leave this possibly quite ephemeral list of the most timeless children’s films? Well, we could do far worse than begin with a famous comment from W.H. Auden: “There are no good books which are only for children.” This applies to film as well, I believe, and acts as the guiding force behind our choices. The following are films that children take with them into adulthood and return to when they need an escape from it. These are films that today’s iChild should still be able to unplug for and watch with an older sibling, a parent, or a grandparent, each experiencing some sense of wonder. If a children’s film can tick that box in a powerful way, it’s worth hanging on to, timeless or no. –Matt Melis Editorial Director __________________________________________________________ Source

During one of his recent online therapy sessions, Kanye made a pointed to credit Snoop Dogg, who he described as “my elder and an inspiration to me.” Snoop is my elder and an inspiration to me — ye (@kanyewest) December 14, 2018 The feeling doesn’t appear to be mutual, however. In a new Instagram video, Snoop Dogg made it clear where his allegiance lies in Kanye’s ongoing feud with Drake. “Is y’all getting tired of Kanye West and these tweets? ‘Cause I am,” Snoop said as Drake’s song “From Time” played in the background. “I see why you and Donald Trump hangout. N***a, y’all tweet like a motherfucker. I think that n***a need Dr. Phil or Maury … You know what? That n***a need Jerry Springer.” Snoop went on to advise Kanye to “get your ass off your phone and go holla at [Drake] in real life. Stop telling the whole fucking world what you’re going through. We don’t give a fuck!” Source

Over 40 various drug charges have been handed out as a result of Festival of the Sun. According to officials, there were 41 individuals throughout weekend that were busted. Approximately 3,000 total people attended the Festival of the Sun event this year, which took place in Port Macquarie over December 13 and 16. Including more than 40 arrested on drug charges at the festival, 40 for possession and just one other charged with dealing. Heavy police force and drug dogs helped to guide the operation. People were most commonly caught with substances including cannabis, MDMA, cocaine and LSD. Police also say on-site medical services treated approximately 40 people for “various issues.” Photo via Rukes.com This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: REPORT: 40+ Music Festival Attendees Arrested On Drug Charges Source

It’s been a consistently solid year for essential mixes with the BBCs long-standing series toting some mega talent in the way of RUFUS DU SOL, Four Tet and Jeremy Underground amongst others. The latest is from German DJ Motor City Drum Ensemble who has dug deep for his two hour degustation that flexes obscure cuts of house, funk and soul telling his fans on Facebook; Heres an “Essential Mix” for Pete Tong/BBC One to finish up this season! Been quite a while since i did a proper studio Mix, and for those who liked my DJ Kicks from a couple of years ago – this mix follows a somewhat similar approach, showcasing my different influences as a producer and DJ. Its not necessarily a straight “party” mix, theres tons of live sets from clubs i played around, but something you might appreciate at home on one of those winter nights. Check out his seriously smooth mix on the BBC site or stream below; Motor City Drum Ensemble Tracklisting Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts 3 Sun Ra – Starwatchers Keith Hudson – Hunting Henri Texier – Le Piroguier Anthony Shakir – Travelers 69 – If Mojo Was A.M Feelarama – Sanasol Larry Heard – Direct Drive Jeanne Lee – The Miracle Sheila And Des Majek – Let Us Plant A Tree Today Maximum Joy – White And Green Place Julian Kendall – Unreleased Demo Arthur Russell – Let’s Go Swimming Maxx Mann – Bloody And Blue Alien – Changing Times Oneiric – Emphasis A.K. Salim – Salute To Zulu Brother From Another Planet – Chronicles Paul Johnson – Love Feeling Symbiose – Esteban Unit Moebius – Mono Man Robert Hood – Peace (Closing Theme) Alton Miller – Ryythm Exposed The Salsoul Orchestra – Magic Bird Of Fire (Walter Gibbons Mix) Destiny – One Destination Atmosfear – Extract Natural Hi – Fame Firebolts – You Did What You Did Code 3 – Code Of Acid (Club Mix) Morgan Geist – Sands Family Unit – Freak (House Mix) BFC – Chicken Noodle Soup Skinnerbox – Love Supreme Round Robin & Brimstone – Plenty Good Lovin Lou Johnson – Keep That Fire Burning Source

Henry Fong is back with a new single and he’s packing in the flavor with this spicy track, “Temperatura” with Kameo and featuring Franco El Gorila. “New moombah for you!!” he writes in the SoundCloud description, which somehow makes us instantly enjoy the record even more. Henry Fong’s signature style blended with his two collaborators make for a diverse, enticing cocktail and an all-around danceable sound. A presser attached to the release describes Henry Fong as a “global bass champion” and there’s really no other way to put it. In 2018, he has put forth a steady stream of room shakers and he’s capping it all off with this stellar production. “Temperatura” has us instantly hooked. Listen to the massive new release from Henry Fong right here and just try to not dance — we dare you. Henry Fong & Kameo – Temperatura Photo via Rukes.com This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Henry Fong Delivers Spicy New Moombah Track “Temperatura” [MUST LISTEN] Source

The world has seemed a little off ever since Cardi B announced her and Offset‘s imminent divorce, hasn’t it? Well, shit just hit the fan all over again. Right about now, Cardi B should be making headlines for being the first female artist to headline Rolling Loud festival. There’s a little bit of that. Mostly, however, Offset has stolen the show — her literal show — with his desperate plea for forgiveness after cheating on her. The rapper rolled out gigantic cakes that spelled out “TAKE ME BACK CARDI.” And her face spelled out a big fat “NO.” That’s cute and all, but also totally not cool to show up unannounced and crash your ex’s show. Soon after Offset made light of the situation, “All of my wrongs have been made public, i figure It’s only right that my apologies are made public too. A nigga was just trying …..thank god I ain’t got no balloons sheeesh.” Cardi formed a response of her own in saying, “I wanna say, thank you very much to you guys that been supporting me and loving me, that feel like they need to defend me. Right, wrong or indifferent. I don’t want people to keep doing fuck shit, saying fuck shit. Violating my baby father is not going to make me feel any better ’cause at the end of the day, that’s still family.” A headline from The Grapevine sums it up perfectly: “Cardi B becomes 1st woman to headline Rolling Loud festival, then Rolling Loud becomes 1st festival to allow its headliner to be harassed on stage.” But who knows, this could just be some sort of messed up publicity stunt. Offset Crashes Cardi B Performance Yooo craziest shit happened at Rolling Loud. Offset interrupted Cardi B’s HEADLINING performance, in order to publicly ask her to take him back. She was not HAVING IT. pic.twitter.com/xmOpgs3Vqz — Romario Bautista (@coquihanii) December 16, 2018 Photo credit: Maro Hagopian This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Offset Crashes Cardi B’s Headlining Set At Rolling Loud & Begs Her To Take Him Back Source