Home » FEATURES » Page 202

FEATURES

‘Cyrano’ Star Kelvin Harrison Jr. Discusses Hollywood Experiences, Basquiat and Fashion Week

During the last three years, leading actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. has managed to carve a name for himself amongst the film industry’s glittering elite. His starring roles in the critically-acclaimed thriller Luce and the family drama Waves were significant breakthroughs that garnered him widespread media attention, major award nominations, and wins. Currently lighting up the big screen – alongside Peter Dinklage – in the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Cyrano, the young actor seems poised to take his talents to the next level. In addition to upcoming roles in Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis and a highly-anticipated Basquiat biopic, he’s also added a Screen Actors Guild award to his belt – for his past performance in The Trial of the Chicago 7. As he continues to achieve box-office success, Harrison Jr....

Tomorrowland to Host First Mainstage Performance By NFT Artist

If there was any doubt NFTs are shaping the future of music, look no further than Tomorrowland‘s 2022 festival lineup.  Ape Rave Club isn’t an artist you’d normally see on any festival lineup, but this digital primate is debuting on one of the biggest stages in all of dance music: the Tomorrowland mainstage. As the first NFT artist to perform at the world renowned event, Ape Rave Club will capture the attention of the global dance music community with a set to be seen by over half a million fans. A product of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, Ape Rave Club is just one of a limited batch of 10,000 apes created last year. More recently, the collection has drawn strong celebrity interest with Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Aoki, and Paris Hilton...

Aisha Tyler on Getting to Join The Boys Universe With Her Diabolical Animated Short

Despite a long career as a voice actress, Aisha Tyler swears that she didn’t write one of the lead roles in her animated short for The Boys for herself. Yet she’s flawless casting as Nubia, one of the two superheroes featured in “Nubian vs Nubian,” the sixth short in the new animated anthology designed to keep The Boys fans happy until Season 3 premieres this June. All of the shorts in The Boys Presents: Diabolical take on unique aspects of life in this surreal universe overseen by executive producer Eric Kripke, utilizing different animation styles and some star-studded casts. In “Nubian vs Nubian,” Don Cheadle voices Nubian Prince, a superhero whose initial connection with fellow supe Nubia (Tyler) leads to marriage and a young daughter… and also the sorts of marriage issues that affect ...

Song of the Week: Belle and Sebastian Are Leaving “Unnecessary Drama” Behind

Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Belle and Sebastian mark their comeback with one of their rowdiest entries ever. There’s something about the lucky number seven for Belle and Sebastian lately. The seven-piece act is returning with a new album for the first time in seven years, and their latest single “Unnecessary Drama” is offering the first look. It’s a more boisterous entry from the band, featuring a can’t-miss harmonica riff and propulsive energy. “The song is about a young person experimenting in being a human again after a forced hiatus,” frontman Stuart Mur...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Cast and Character Guide: Who’s Who in Amazon’s Epic New Series

Fans have been patiently, (or, let’s face it, impatiently), awaiting the release of the new series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power since Amazon bought the TV rights to the franchise for $250 million back in 2017. In the past couple of months, we’ve finally been rewarded for our patience with a couple of promotional breadcrumbs, like a highly-anticipated Super Bowl trailer, as well as first looks at the characters via Vanity Fair. The show, which is coming to Prime on September 2, 2022, is set thousands of years before The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings in Middle-earth’s Second Age, and promises to fabricate a fantastical backstory to the franchise we know and love. With that comes a cast of brand new characters, as well as some of our favorite familiar faces. Here’s your definitive,...

Rap Song of the Week: Baby Tate Teaches You How to “Sl*t Him Out Again”

Rap Song of the Week is a new music feature breaking down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Baby Tate shares her ode to sexual freedom, “Sl*t Him Out Again.” Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion are three of the biggest names in music, but being a woman in hip-hop hasn’t gotten much easier. Just ask the ass-kicking Rico Nasty, who was treated disrespectfully by fans while opening for Playboi Carti without any support from the headliner. Unfortunately, chances are fellow rising star Baby Tate will have to deal with a similar disappointment at some point, but on paper at least, the Georgia native is well acquainted with self-affirmation, as heard on her late 2020 breakout “I Am.” Advertisement And with songs like “Sl*t Him Ou...

From Stem Players to NFTs, Artists Are Getting Creative With New Music Releases

Technological advancements have opened up new ways for artists to connect with their fans through music releases. Last week, Kanye West unveiled his highly-anticipated Donda 2, forgoing a traditional drop on streaming services and opting instead to release the studio album exclusively through his Stem Player hardware device. Though the rapper was reportedly offered $100 million USD to make the album an Apple Music exclusive, the 16-track LP is only available on the hockey puck-shaped device, developed by his brand Yeezy Tech and shipped out with the original Donda album pre-downloaded. Despite its $200 USD price tag, the rapper’s community has seemingly embraced the quirky new device. In the first 24 hours following the debut of Donda 2, over 8,000 Stem Players had been sold, according to ...

Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell Isn’t Convinced Things Are Great, But He’s Trying

Ben Bridwell is just waking up from a nap between interviews. Five years after his band’s last album — a span that felt even longer due to the pandemic — the Band of Horses frontman is back on the press circuit, and it’s tiring. If fielding repetitious questions from journalists weren’t wearying enough, the topics up for discussion have been weighing on Bridwell for years. Written pre-COVID, the stories on Band of Horses’ new record, Things Are Great, are about depression, darkness, and divorce. Singing those songs live is something he looks forward to as meditative (“It’ll probably be more joyful than reflective on what the story is,” he tells Consequence. “It’s more like paying attention to the goddamn chords and shit”), but speaking about them is something else entirely. “I had a Z...

Best New Tracks: NIGO x Pusha T, Joey Bada$$ and More

As the week in music comes to a close, HYPEBEAST has rounded up the best projects for the latest installment of Best New Tracks. This week’s list is led by releases from NIGO x Pusha T and Joey Bada$$, who dropped the Kanye West-co-produced cut “Hear Me Clearly” and “Head High.” Also joining this selection are projects from the late King Von, BADBADNOTGOOD, Dave and Adekunle Gold, plus collaborations from Morray x Cordae, Q-Tip x Jack White and Blxst x Zacari. NIGO x Pusha T – “Hear Me Clearly” [embedded content] NIGO enlists Pusha T for his newest I KNOW NIGO single, “Hear Me Clearly.” Co-produced by BoogzDaBeast, Luca Starz, ThaMyind and the artist formerly known as Kanye West, the track hears the “Diet Coke” rapper interpolate JAY-Z‘s verse on Rick Ross‘ “Free Mason,...

Rhys Darby on Finally Playing the Lead and Collaborating With Taika Waititi Again: “We Have Kindred Spirits”

At the end of Consequence‘s phone interview with Our Flag Means Death star Rhys Darby, the veteran comedy actor felt the need to apologize. “Sorry for rambling on — I’ve had two coffees and you’re the first person I’ve spoken to today,” he said, before adding, “I’m a lead actor now, I’m going to do way more talking!” This is Darby’s time to shine, as after decades of appearing in projects like the Jumanji films and his iconic role as Murray in Flight of the Conchords, he’s for the first time ever number one on the call sheet for a TV show. Specifically, Darby stars the HBO Max period comedy about real-life historical figure Stebe Bonnet, who abandoned his family in 1717 to become a pirate, assembling an eclectic crew on board his well-appointed ship for one of the weirder mid-life crises o...

This Year’s Oscar Nominees, Ranked By How Much They’ll Bum You Out

We have all sorts of different kinds of conversations about movies these days. As critics, we talk about a film’s quality as well as its place in cinema history, its technological achievements, and its impact on the cultural landscape. As fans, we talk about how a film made us feel, how it changed the way we personally look at the world around us. But with our friends and loved ones, especially those who haven’t seen most or any of this year’s nominees, they might have one key question as we urge them to check out our favorite films: How big of a bummer are they? It’s certainly the question that many people would like to have answered when sitting down with an unknown quantity like Drive My Car or CODA. Hence, this hopefully helpful guide, with all 10 Best Picture nominees ranked from leas...

We Took a Moment to Question the Nature of Reality With The Dropout’s William H. Macy

The Dropout is a true-crime story that happened right in front of our eyes, as a young woman named Elizabeth Holmes (played in the Hulu series by Amanda Seyfried) became a Silicon Valley darling with her concept for a blood-testing device that could revolutionize the health care industry — if it worked, that is. One of the first people to decry Holmes as a fraud was Richard Fuisz (William H. Macy), a family friend of the Holmes who took offense at his neighbor’s daughter getting involved in medical technology — his field of expertise — without consulting him. His investigation into Holmes’ work ended up being key to the reveal that her company was raising a billion dollars of funding for fraudulent devices, even while his obsession with exposing Holmes as a fraud coincided with the end of ...