Over the past five years, we’ve seen Issa Rae’s iconic Insecure character Issa Dee through it all. Between the break-ups, stalking potential baes on Instagram, and having to furnish a new home with no money to her name, Issa has been a voice of her millennial generation. Amid the ups and downs of adult life, Rae has portrayed a millennial in an all-too-relatable manner, alongside a killer soundtrack. Since the inception of her YouTube series Awkward Black Girl, Rae has aimed to make music “a character” in all of her projects. On HBO’s Insecure, which premieres its fifth and final season this Sunday (October 24th), we see Issa experience wins and losses, with many scenes tied to a specific song. Over the years, Rae, composer Raphael Saadiq and music supervisor Kier Lehman have used the show...
In many ways, adapting a beloved franchise for television is a thankless task. You’re often working with an unwieldy source material (be that a comic book, video game, or novel) that doesn’t easily translate into the episodic structure of TV. Plus, you’ve got to grapple with the high expectations of the fans — and their unmitigated fury if you mess it up. And it’s hardly a guaranteed win: for every Walking Dead, Watchmen, or Game of Thrones, there’s those that fizzle or flop, like Shadow and Bone, The Alienist, or, indeed, the much-hated final series of Thrones. Despite that, three of the giants of the streaming industry — Netflix, HBO, and Amazon — are betting on a trio of new re-workings of beloved franchises. Next month, Amazon launches The Wheel of Time, a sprawling, high-fantasy epic ...
The HYPEBEAST x Pokémon TCG 25th-anniversary celebration kicks off tomorrow, starting with the first Sino-Centre activation. Giving Pokémon fans an early look at the space, following our Charizard teaser and Hong Kong tram wrap, Mong Kok’s Sino Centre is a popular hot spot for anime/manga lovers, gamers, and card collectors and players alike. Located in the basement among the numerous card shops is our pop-up in spot B48. Channeling that nostalgic feeling for those that visited this basement arcade during their teenage years, especially those that grew up playing Pokémon TCG, this space will act as the first retail location for the collaborative apparel collection as well as the 25th-anniversary Pokémon TCG collection card packs. With doors opening at 1:30 p.m. HKT, those in the city will ...
This article contains significant spoilers for No Time to Die. As No Time To Die continues its streak of domination at cinemas worldwide — to the extent that it’s being feted in some corners as the savior of the film industry — audiences and fans are having the chance to consider the film’s elegiac send-off to Daniel Craig, who is retiring from the role of James Bond. The film’s conclusion sees (spoiler alert) the first-ever time in the franchise’s almost 60-year history that Bond is killed off. It’s put a full-stop on Craig’s 15-year run and, while it has certainly divided critics and audiences, it also gives fans a chance to reflect on his mammoth role and dwell in the decades-long fantasy that Craig has given to the world of Bond. With the Daniel Craig-James Bond franchise com...
After covering its iconic trams in Pantone’s HK Tram Green, HK TRAMWAYS is back in the spotlight with a new wrap for HYPEBEAST’s Pokémon TCG celebration. A Hong Kong commuting staple, the Hong Kong tram has been in operation since 1904 and has a rough daily ridership of 180,000. Usually for those with time on their hands, the form of transportation cost just $0.35 USD, and to many, is the slower, scenic method of travel. From its first stop in Kennedy Town to the last station in Shau Kei Wan, each double-decker tram passes by each of the 180 stations on the Hong Kong Island and is part of the world’s largest fleet of trams at 165 vehicles. Celebrating 25 years of the trading card game, the custom tram makes its debut just days before HYPEBEAST‘s special activations in Mong Kong and Central...
“This is our 49th show in Los Angeles,” Mick Jagger was shouting. In a flash, the 70,000-capacity SoFi stadium quickly responded with a harmonious yell, building a call and response that even after 60 years, The Rolling Stones have stayed as the undeniable spearheads of rock ‘n’ roll — even if just for the night. Straight from the American leg of their rescheduled “No Filter Tour,” Sunday (October 17th) marked night two of the sold-out ring of Southern California shows, and it was anything but filtered. For roughly 120 minutes, the Stones secured their crowns as the “kings of rock.” Guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood plumped the evening with hard-hitting riffs, typical Jagger catwalks, and soul-infused backup vocals bringing a tight punch to classics like “Gimme Shelter” and “You Ca...
I’ve heard M83’s “Outro,” the final track of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, in more TV commercials than I can count. Never mind the widespread usage in TV shows, films, and trailers: I’m talking strictly 30-60 second advertisements, the commercials you’d like to mute, tune out, or fast forward through. The usage of the song in media was arguably the most widespread around 2014, but even today, ten years after its release, music supervisors still gravitate towards “Outro” because of its humongous, cathartic climax, a waterfall of synths cascading into a vast cosmos of sound. Upon listening to Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming for the first time ten years ago, I doubt many people heard “Outro” and thought to themselves, “This is the sound of leasing a new Mazda.” Nevertheless, the song and album truly end...
At only 22 years old, Margielyn Didal’s name is already etched in history. Her track record as a trailblazing Filipina skateboarder has brought immense pride to her country, and her latest stint at the Tokyo Olympics — where she impressively finished in seventh place in the women’s street skateboarding event — turned her into a crowd favorite. It wasn’t just Didal’s significant finish that swooned spectators, however. Her belief that “skateboarding is all about having fun” radiated in her bright smile, goofy photobombs and uplifting energy, essentially making her the face of the sport she picked up as a 12-year-old in Cebu City. “There are no rules,” she explains to HYPEBEAST, “so you can do whatever you want and that’s what I love about it.” The most important feature on my first NB Numer...