“Some of these rappers is kind of dainty,” Sir Mix-a-Lot says as he pumps gas en route to his Seattle home. “They think it makes them look rich if they got clean fingernails, but every now and then you gotta get ’em dirty.” The rapper born Anthony Ray has turned …
Read More »Watch John Oliver Explain CRISPR: the 'Microsoft Word of Gene Editing'
When it comes to gene editing,John Oliver predicts things could go in two very different directions: one where humans live free of disease and another gone horribly wrong and the world is filled with grotesque creatures he calls “pig-Hitlers.” OnLast Week Tonight, Oliver focused the main segment on the implications …
Read More »Drake's Favorite Collaborators are Ghosts
It’s unclear how, exactly, Drake pulled it off. On “Don’t Matter To Me,” a late song on the rapper’s latest album Scorpion, he recruits Michael Jackson for a duet. The late King of Pop is listed as a feature, and true to that billing, his voice handles chorus duties over …
Read More »Review: Westside Gunn's 'Supreme Blientele' Is True-School Thug-Rap
This Buffalo rapper, his brother Conway and their Griselda Records camp have an innovative aesthetic combining ’90s thug rap and Alchemist-style dusty loops. That, coupled with a canny marketing strategy aimed at vinyl swagbeasts – Westside Gunn’s 2016 breakthrough Flygod now trades for a ridiculous $600 online – has made …
Read More »'Pod Save America': 'If We Don't Win This Election, We Are F-cked'
T he four hosts of Pod Save America have just wrapped up a live taping of their popular podcast-slash-Trump-presidency-survival-guide for a raucous crowd of red-state liberals in Nashville, Tennessee. They’re at Ryman Auditorium, the onetime spiritual home of country music, and are cooling down backstage over beers. Jon Favreau, the …
Read More »Courtney Barnett and Abbi Jacobson on the Art of Vulnerability
Few artists are more sensitive to the pain and absurdity of modern life than Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett and Broad City‘s Abbi Jacobson. These days, both are turning that laser focus on themselves. On previous releases, Barnett has often masked introspection behind dazzling wordplay and humor. But her latest album, …
Read More »On the Charts: 5 Seconds of Summer Beat Beyonce & Jay-Z for Number One
5 Seconds of Summer fended off Beyoncé & Jay-Z and a streaming surge for late rapper XXXTentacion to claim their Number One album with Youngblood. The Australian pop-punk act’s third album sold 142,000 total copies in its release week, including 115,000 traditional copies. 5 Seconds of Summer previously reached the …
Read More »Rep. Pramila Jayapal on DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: 'She Is Literally Telling Lies'
On Monday afternoon, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) watched the White House’s hastily-arranged press conference featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in stunned disbelief. “I’m dumbfounded that she would lie her way through that press conference,” Jayapal tells Rolling Stone. “First she said the policy didn’t exist, then she came out …
Read More »See Amanda Shires' Striking New 'Eve's Daughter' Video
Misbehaving may not lead to making good life choices, but it sure can make for good storytelling. On her latest, “Eve’s Daughter,” Amanda Shires cuts loose and gets biblical with some scuzzy rock & roll. The second track to be premiered from Shires’ next LP, To the Sunset, it’s a …
Read More »Canada Legalizes Recreational Marijuana Use
Update, Wednesday, June 20, 3:25 p.m. EST: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that legalization will go into effect on October 17th, 2018. Canada has legalized recreational marijuana use after the country’s two legislative chambers approved the Cannabis Act Tuesday, the CBC reports. The bill will allow Canadian …
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