We bid you adieu
And so that was the day that was in pop culture. Don’t tell us that you didn’t enjoy every second of it and feel heartened by Grimes’s motivational tips. Here’s a peek at tomorrow’s cover and a teaser of what’s inside, including the bigest show on teh tellybox and – we’ll let you into a secret – some incredibly bad rap tape art.
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Tryna tell you… about the Chicago footwork scene
Look, an exclooosive clip! It’s taken from grime snappers/guerilla film-makers/general all-round dudes Tim And Barry TV’s new feature-length doc, I’m Tryna Tell You, which takes a look at Chicago’s footwork scene. It features interviews with leading lights of the scene, including DJs Spinn, Traxman, Manny and the late DJ Rashad, and, will be set for release in late October.
Like that? You’ll be able to hear these frenetic beats and more as labels Hyperdub and Teklife team up on Saturday for a warehouse party in east London.
Grimes's guide to life
Lena Dunham’s new book may have just come out and everything but if Grimes were to publish her no-BS guide to life, that’s the tome we’d be reading cover to cover on the bus to work everyday. She’s already written lengthy blog posts on her Tumblr page about how she won’t compromise her morals and suchlike but now she’s written an essay of things what she has learned for print – for Rookie’s third annual, due out on 21 October – which has been reprinted in ELLE magazine and then pasted up by Pitchfork. It’s ace and all about how to Win At Life.
Here’s a taster, some of them more bonkers than others…
1// IGNORE THE HATERZ
You will never hear more people tell you that you’re wrong than when you’re succeeding. After my album Visions came out, I spent a really long time freaking out because people were telling me that in order to take “the next step” in my career, I would have to become a much better “musician,” … I now realize that (a) none of those people have music careers, and (b) I wasted a lot of time trying to do things I was told were “important for every professional musician” to do, without realizing that as a fan, I am far more interested in things that I’ve never seen before. The point is, listening to haters is pointless.
2// HOLD ONTO YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Once upon a time, Elvis Presley wanted to record a cover of Dolly Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You,” but on the condition that she sign over half of the publishing royalties—money the songwriter gets whenever someone plays or performs their song in public—to him. Dolly said no, and many years later Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You” in a movie, and it became probably one of the most memorable (and lucrative) songs of all time.
3// SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE MEAN
In order to get things done, sometimes you need to be mean. I’m really bad at this, but you absolutely need to let people know when something is unacceptable, or they’ll keep doing it and you’ll resent them and it creates bad vibes.
4// YOU CAN LITERALLY ACHIEVE ANYTHING
Just because someone has more qualifications than you doesn’t mean they’re better than you. We live in the age of technology, so you can Google anything you don’t know how to do. The only thing you can’t Google is how to be creative and unique. Your thoughts have more value than a degree or a parent in the same field or whatever. I always think about my grandfather, who became an engineer with only a seventh grade education.
5// WEAR CLOTHES YOU CAN KIP IN
Bette Midler once said, “I firmly believe that with the right footwear, one can rule the world.” I used to try to wear heels, and it was a disaster. Now I always prioritize comfortable shoes. Also, avoid wearing white: Busy people don’t have time to change clothes very often, and white gets dirty fast (unless you are Olivia Pope). Just find one or two things that look cool that you can also sleep in.
Drake x Top Boy = keep everything, even your toes, crossed for season three
In unexpected transatlantic pop culture crossover of the week (catchy!), it turns out that Drake is massively into Top Boy and has shown nuff respect by tweeting TB actor Ashley Walters and peppering his Instagram feed with casual south London slang.
@AshleyWalters82 is too incredible!! Everybody on Top Boy gives such incredible performances. That show is just too good.
— Drizzy (@Drake) October 9, 2014
Like Utopia, a season three isn’t so far on the cards but it’s nice to picture a world where a Canadian rapper could have an influence over UK telly programming anyway.
@GRMDAILY Who knows! Lol! But if it is we need to get @Drake a part in it! #TopBoy
— Ashley Walters (@AshleyWalters82) October 9, 2014
Elsewhere – and this is completely unrelated other than the fact that it also concerns a singer and that it is on Twitter, and I can think of no way in which to segue into this news except to say MASSIVE LOL INCOMING, but it is funny and you deserve to see it – Sam Smith really needs to get better at social media…
Perils of social media when going sick: pic.twitter.com/iSanVnlUG2
— Lee Price (@Lee_Price) October 8, 2014
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Stop everything – it's #ReviewAnything time
You send us stuff. We review it. It’s a beautiful thing we’ve got going. This week, spoke word rap and bedroom power-pop gets roasting.
The week in Twin Peaks
This is the week that went Twin Peaks. You all know the news about the cult show returning but, well, here’s a roundup of all the best Twin Peaks roundups from over the past seven days. One for the never-ending bookmarks folder, eh?
- Where to get the Twin Peaks look
- An exhaustive list of Twin Peaks knitwear. Because someone had to.
- The Twin Peaks cast: where are they now?
- The 10 Greatest Twin Peaks Moments
- What Twin Peaks would do better today (okay, this is an older piece, but it pads out our list, so shaddap)
- The best Twin Peaks GIFs
- 10 Reasons Why Twin Peaks Was <insert Buzzfeed-y headline here>
- Some Twin Peaks postcards that look rather nice.
- And here’s our roundup of Twitter reactions because…
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The lo-fi True Detective?
Ahoy, some new music! This is Portland psych-rock outfit Wampire and their video for Wizard Staff, which stars two of the band tandem-riding private detectives who eschew washing their hair and healthy eating to pursue a cinema-loving wizard. Which is exactly the sort of silly stuff we like here at the Guide.
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Bun B wants your teeth to sparkle, plus hip-hop's other unlikely endorsement deals
This is Houston rapper Bun B, who, as part of the music outfit UKG, helped popularise the southern hip-hop sound and released a 1992 debut album called Too Hard To Swallow that’s considered a cornerstone of gangsta rap.
What isn’t apparently too hard to swallow, though, is Bun B’s latest venture, announced in the States yesterday – toothpaste. Here he is, advocating “standing out” with his “intoxicating” pearly whites.
It’s not exactly Rihanna advertising umbrellas, is it? But it’s the latest in a long line of bizarre and unlikely rapper endorsement deals that we’ve rounded up below (many via Hot New Hip Hop – thanks Hot New Hip Hop!).
Warren G and erectile dysfunction
Man parts not working as they should? Don’t worry – Warren ‘Regulate’ G has got an all-natural penis product for your willy woes.
Nelly and breakfast cereal
AutoTune bees. The cleanest kitchen you’ve ever seen. And Nelly.
Wacka Flocka Flame and cute puppies
“Animals ain’t gonna curse you out” – a PETA motto for us all.
Method Man and sour sweets
Warning: features heavy use of ‘the sweet bag rustle’ that may either irk you or make your stomach rumble.
Lil Wayne and condoms
Not just any condoms, though…
Memphis Black and shampoo
Hair washing has never been so hip-hop.
Snoop ‘Will Literally Endorse Anything Probably Even Iceland’ Dogg
There’s also the time he endorsed Hot Pockets snacks. The time he endorsed legal medical-grade weed. The time he endorsed an energy drink… You can go slack jawed over all the countless others here.
David Letterman has seen the future
Is David Letterman America’s silver-topped answer to Mystic Meg? He saw the future with Future Islands. And now, here he is, looking into what is probably the future of pop music, Japanese hologram Hatsune Miku.
It’s so future, in fact, that we don’t yet have the vocabulary to be able to describe it. But we’re pretty sure it doesn’t sound, as Letterman suggests, “like Willie Nelson’s bus” – an in-joke that only Americans, or people who watch more than 2 minutes of Letterman’s shows, will no doubt get.
Good morrow
Friday off to a bad start already? Don’t worry, you can’t be doing any worse than Jack White in this interview on Ellen. Awkwardness is abound as he comes face to face with a massive picture of his manky ankle and tells the chat show host how he only lets his children play with “mechanical toys”. It’ll only take 2.23m of your life and you’ll feel about 100% better about yourself afterwards.
Want more interview awks? Oh, go on then. There’s this:
And this:
And let’s not forget this:
And you thought you couldn’t cringe that early in the day…
