Will Gambling Addictions Change City Skylines? Unpacking Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Performance, Record Exec Accidentally Proves Labels are Obsolete?(The Five for 02/14/25)
Plus, Zach Bryan collaborators set to blow up. Ben Affleck action flick gets a sequel after 10 years-and looks amazing.
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter, but don’t always make the front page.
It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.\
[one]
Up first, let’s dive into the loneliness epidemic, which is often blamed on porn, video games, the lasting effects of COVID lockdowns, the breakdown of church and community organizations…and even ordering from Amazon and Uber Eats, which keeps people from leaving the house.
But…what if it’s the Influencers?
From Amy the Artist on Substack:
Influencing is a game of visibility, and influencers are at the mercy of the platform’s algorithms. This not only incentivizes them to share profane, sexual images, but also to share increasingly personal details of their lives, leading them to post relentlessly as they bid to stay relevant and compete with younger, better-looking, or more interesting accounts. They appeal to base human desires for sex and friendship.
This relentless posting in turn creates a false sense of knowing among followers. Engaging with an influencer on social media underscores our desire to connect with others — it’s normal to want friends and loved ones, but our brains are not evolved to tell the difference between a person on a screen and a person in real life. Alik Earle’s followers clearly feel like they know her, but they don’t. They are in a parasocial relationship with her, a one-sided connection in which they feel a sense of intimacy, admiration, or familiarity with her because she shares so much of herself. She, on the other hand, doesn’t know them personally at all. It’s fast food friendship.
These false relationships don’t bode well for our sense of community. I wonder how much impact the rise of influencers have had on what is called the “loneliness epidemic.” Probably quite a lot.As people spend more and more of their time online, they’re more interested in the lives of influencers than in the lives of the flesh-and-blood people around them, and that’s a shame.
Dunbar’s number tells us humans don’t seem to be wired to engage in/maintain healthy relationships with thousands of people — let alone hundreds of thousands. Humans can comfortably maintain social network of about 150 individual relationships. The quality of relationships we have with others is also important, and the amount of “relationships” on social media by nature makes them poor quality. These one-sided relationships contradict the very definition of a relationship — which is a connection or bond between two people who know each other. Relationships with influencers appear to fulfill our social needs, but it’s a facade.
On the one hand, it’s a difficult theory to prove. On the other, it’s hard to see the downside of deleting your Instagram account at this point.
[two]
At first, I planned to write about how the Super Bowl halftime show was “mid” as the Gen Z’ers say. However, I watched it a couple of times, and the what was happening there wasn’t stupid or mumble-rapping…but an art form that’s highly inaccessible, without some explanation. The first 2/3 of Kendrick Lamar’s performance was largely commentary on black life in America (think of it what you want), but the closing song, “Not Like Us,” may have ended the career of one of the most disgusting people in pop culture.
Before starting the song, Samuel L. Jackson, who’s playing the narrator, warns Lamar not to go into such a controversial topic.
This verse off the Grammy-winning song is key:
Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young
You better not ever go to cell block one
To any b**** that talk to him and they in love
Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him
They tell me Chubbs the only one that get your hand-me-downs
And Party at the party playin' with his nose now
And Baka got a weird case, why is he around?
Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles
To break that section down…Kendrick is playing off the fact that rival Drake has been accused of sexual misconduct with minors, and calls Drake’s longtime bodyguard (Chubbs), a pedo (probable), Drake collaborator PartyNextDoor a cocaine addict (probable) and caps it off by bending Drake’s popular album, Certified Lover Boy, into an insult about pedophilia.
The Grammy-winning track capped off a feud between the two rappers for years that it takes the better part of a half hour to unpack. Hip hop is the only musical art form with an active competitor vibe to it, and Sunday, Kendrick took home the trophy, and may have ended the career of one of the most disgusting artist’s in pop music.
I’d call that a win.
If the halftime show wasn’t your thing, cool. “Backpacker” rapping is DENSE, and requires time to sit down and comb through. At it’s best, underground rap is delivered in such a way that it fits into your gym playlist, but goes much deeper.
There’s no better example of the brilliance of backpacker rap than Aesop Rock’s “None Shall Pass.” Seriously, take a moment to press play.
Let’s break down the word count here, in comparison to Bob Dylan, obviously a songwriting legend.
Aesop Rock: 221 different words in 4 minutes (2 words per second when he’s actually rapping, part of the song is instrumentals, samples and a sung chorus).
Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” 188 unique words in 6 minutes.
Released in 2007, “None Shall Pass” takes swipes a the Wall Street types who were profiting off both the housing market collapse, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Now, if you never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix
You wouldn't relate to the rogue vocoder blitz
How he spoke through a NoDoz motor on the fritz
‘Cause he wouldn't play rollover fetch like a bitch
And express no regrets, though he isn't worth a homeowner's piss
To the jokers who pose by the glitz
Fine, sign of the swine in the swarm
When a king is a whore who comply and conform
Miles outside of the eye of the storm
With a siphon to lure out a prize and award
While avoiding the vile and bizarre that is violence and war
I could write paragraphs about each line in just those 20 seconds, but here are the highlights:
“a day a snowcone couldn’t fix” is an obvious nod to NYC’s elite ruling class.
“NoDoz motor on the fritz” are working class people, hopped up on caffeine, working multiple jobs.
“Isn’t worth a homeowner’s piss.” A reference to the homeowners who were being foreclosed on.
“A sign of the swine in the swarm” is a reference to “when pigs fly” as well as to George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm.
“Avoiding the vile and bizarre that is violence and war.” The billionaire class don’t send their sons to the desert to die.
Backpacker rap may not be your cup of tea, and it’s perfectly fine to not like the Halftime Show (but hey, it’s free, so can’t say you didn’t get your money’s worth).
But to accuse this performance of lacking in depth and “mumbling” is just silly.
Like watching baseball, Lamar is only boring if you don’t understand what’s going on. But that’s also the problem with Lamar as a solo performer for an event like this, as my friend and fellow writer Craig Dunham points out.
While some critiqued the racial aspects of the show, others praised the multiple layers of symbolism intended, writing off those critical of Lamar by saying, “If you didn’t get it or didn’t like it, it wasn’t for you.”
That’s an interesting (and very modern) way to talk about art—especially “great art,” which so many of Lamar’s supporters called it. Weaponizing the tired “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” trope, defenders of Lamar dismissed any beholder (especially those over 35) whose eye didn’t behold the same beauty (or more accurately, nostalgia?) they did. Instead, they piled on derogatory “Boomer” cries and pointed to Lamar winning 22 Grammys as proof of his greatness.1
But “great art” (at least in the classical sense) is for everyone, not just aimed at a certain target audience or demographic. Regardless of age or background, the person who walks into Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel or views his David can’t help but marvel at what she sees; the same is true when considering works of Da Vinci or Rembrandt or Caravaggio. “Greatness” (a word that gets thrown around too much) is unmistakable when it catches our collective breath and inspires awe.
Granted, comparing truly great works of art to Super Bowl shows may seem unfair. So, comparing apples to apples, would it be safe to say the reception and impact of Lamar’s show pales in comparison to, say, the global cultural moment of U2’s 2002 music offering honoring those who died on 9/11? Or of Prince’s incredible 2007 “Purple Rain” performance, which fans and critics alike deem the greatest ever? I would even argue 2022’s halftime show featuring Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem (Lamar was also a part), played better in terms of set, sound, and aesthetic highlighting 25 years of West Coast rap.
All this makes Lamar’s personal but public feud with Drake petty by comparison.
Popular YouTuber John Deloney (part of Dave Ramsey’s brand) often says on his show “I don’t answer questions people have not asked me.” The biggest issue with Lamar as a Super Bowl halftime performer is that you have to spend time on the internet asking the right questions to figure out what the heck is going on with Kendrick’s songs.
Jay-Z famously rapped in the 00’s
I dumbed down my lyrics so I could double my dollars.
They criticize me for it, but they all yell ‘holler’
Kendrick, for better or worse, has done no such thing. He ignores traditional pop song structure and melody, almost completely. The Super Bowl is a mass media event, and Lamar is about as niche as they come…no wonder it didn’t connect with the broader audience.
[three]
You may not care about the NBA in particular, or sports in general…but hang with me here, as a recent Lakers/Mavericks trade, deemed “the second worst in history” has wider societal implications
Multiple news outletse are speculating that new Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson traded away one of the greatest players in the history of basketball, tanking a shot at Dallas returning to the NBA finals…to get sports betting legalized in Dallas.
From FootBoom:
Adelson’s family owns the Las Vegas Sands empire, and they have been actively lobbying for the legalization of gambling in Texas. Some analysts propose that she might be using the Mavericks as a means to exert pressure on state legislators to adopt legal sports betting in Texas or to justify a potential relocation of the franchise to Las Vegas, a claim that has been denied by Governor Patrick Dumont.
The timing of the trade has further fueled speculation. Just days after Doncic’s departure, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reversed his position and expressed support for online sports betting.
This has led many to wonder if the Mavericks are prioritizing a larger financial and political agenda over their on-court performance. According to this theory, Adelson might intend to leverage a struggling Mavericks team to advocate for casino legalization. If the franchise’s performance diminishes, leading to a dip in ticket sales and growing fan discontent, Adelson could present the legalization of casinos as a remedy for revitalizing the team’s competitiveness.
Rumor is that Adelson is pushing to tear down the stadium, and replace it with a massive hotel/casino/basketball arena monstrosity as a monument to what all the gambling addicts gave up for their addiction.
It’s strange how quickly culture can shift…a basketball team gets bad on purpose and then…poof…an iconic stadium may fall with the team that once held it, forever changing the skyline of an iconic American city.
[four]
This week, music YouTuber Rick Beato surfaced a quote from Warner Music UK record exec Joe Kentish, who signed pop star Dua Lipa. Kenish has some…pretty telling words about the state of the music industry.
"I think that they have to be incredibly creative, talented, instinctive, say it, they have to have all of those sorts of what you traditionally think of as, as, um, a huge social media presence. They also need to be incredibly productive and hardworking and making TikToks all the time."
"The pressures on artists are more than they've ever been, um, and so those talents are more important than they've ever been."
Rick Beato pointed out that…this kinda makes record labels obsolete.
The artists have to do all the work. They have to have the determination like Dua Lipa he mentions there who he apparently signed. These people have to be stars already. There's no Development that the labels used to do where they would help them develop over time to become better writers and bring in great producers and things like that.
No, they have to be successful on their own. They have to have a determination and be relentless in posting on social media. They have to have all of those sorts of think about what you traditionally think of as a huge social media presence, things that you need to be an artist, but then They also need to be incredibly productive and hardworking.
Productive and hardworking. What does that even mean? He doesn't mean going out and touring. Well, yeah, maybe that's part of it. He means they have to be productive and hardworking, meaning they need to be releasing content all the time. They need to be content creators. Not creative musicians. He doesn't talk about musicality or great songwriting or anything like that.
Beato goes on to claim that labels don’t develop artists anymore, just trying to sign and package creatives who have already blown up on social media.
To be fair, I haven’t worked in radio, TV or music journalism since 2012, so it’s entirely possible some labels still do put a lot of work into developing artists.
But, regardless of what your pursuit is, there’s never been a better time to 100% own what you make.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup…
MOVIES: Green Day are developing a comedy about…three guys will think their name is going to open for Green Day. || I’ve never seen a minute of the original Gen X/Elder Millennial iconic cartoon Masters of the Universe, but it’s getting the live action treatment. The guy who played The Mountain in Game of Thrones is in it (obviously). || Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick, Whip Lash) will star in a biopic about an Italian WWII resistance fighter turned cycling champion. Directed by the duo who won the Oscar for climbing doc Free Solo. || || And speaking of Affleck, he’s directing a kidnapping thriller for Netflix with Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington and Steven Yeun as the leads. Cool.
TV: Ben Stiller is leading a dramedy for HBO entitled The Band, about a music mogul who must find his next act to save his career amidst a scandal. Here for it. CBS tried the same premise back in 2006, with a show called Love Monkey (terrible title). It only lasted eight episodes, and currently exists only on this YouTube playlist, which I’m including a link to, on the off chance someone might actually watch it (seriously, it was good). || Paramount has sold the two seasons of video-game-turned-TV-show HALO to Netflix. After a terrible freshman outing, the second season was…pretty great. No word on if Netflix will continue the story, or just add the existing content.
MUSIC: Alt-country/Americana OG pioneers Whiskey Myers are working on a new album, their first in three years. || Jason Isbell dropped the second single from his upcoming release (YouTube)|| Pay attention to Ken Pomeroy, a Cherokee-heritage folk singer out of Oklahoma. She just released a single with fellow Oklahoman John Moreland, and it’s good (YouTUbe). || Post Malone and Travis Barker of Blink-182 (and Transplants, +44, Box Car Racer…dude gets around) are releasing a project of Nirvana covers for record store day.
Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Punisher) join forces in The Accountant 2 in April, with a planned trilogy on the way if this one does well. The original film, released in 2016, wasn’t a huge hit, but has built a strong fanbase online over the years.
This looks like a REALLY fun and intriguing murder/mystery/actioner, a unique mix of John Wick, Gone Girl and…Rain Man (the main character is Autistic).
Well, this one ruffled some feathers. Oscar Winner Viola Davis (The Help, Fences) has been IN action movies before (The Suicide Squad), but never actually doing the violence.
In G20, she plays a POTUS who’s kidnapped, along with other world leaders, at a summit, and must fight for the lives of her husband and children. Detractors online quickly pointed out that Davis is 59 years old, and has never done stunts or fight scenes before. But, to be fair, Keanu Reeves, Mr. John Wick himself, just turned 60.
I’d put this in the “flight/hotel movie” category. If you have nothing else to do, it’s probably worth checking out. Davis is a top-shelf talent in delivering her lines, per as usual, but it’s tough to buy into a 5’5” woman dropping into an elevator and overpowering a battle-hardened soldier nearly a foot taller than her.
It’s a shame the trailer doesn’t just stick to Davis’ character shooting people, as it’s more believable that a President would have gun training, and this would have worked so much better without the hand-to-hand combat.
Streaming on 04/10 if you wanna give it a shot that weekend, or any weekend. Or, don’t. Also an option.
A24 is the independent studio that makes movies I actually like (Ladybird, Eighth Grade, The Florida Project, Civil War) and movies that win awards (Everything Everywhere All At Once), but aren’t terrible. They’re artistic and high concept without being elitist and obnoxious.
Which makes this Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Avengers) feature, about a guy who becomes friends with the local weatherman and his pals, only to be excluded from the group and…turning into a stalker? This one looks like it has something to say about the male loneliness epidemic. In theaters 05/09.
[new music]
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
The War and Treaty are probably best known as collaborators with mega-star Zach Bryan on his song “Hey Driver.”
The spousal duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blout have been steadily releasing country/soul music since 2018, but their latest, Plus One, feels like it’s going to garner widespread attention. Out today, the track with the most buzz features bluegrass virtuoso Billy Strings on guitar. At first listen, the whole album is pretty dang good.
[read & learn]
If you’re reading this hating your corporate job, then check out Main Street Millionaire by Codie Sanchez. A former Private Equity manger who hated her job, Sanchez, who grew up working class in Texas, purchased an NYC laundry mat as a side income…much to the chagrin of her coworkers, who labeled it a “low class move.” Sanchez enjoyed it, and went on to acquire companies ranging from car washes to roofing services…to the tune of a $20M net worth.
Sanchez’ premise is that there’s never been a better time to buy a “boring business,” from a Baby Boomer, and cash in on seller financing (pay the owner monthly without bank financing) and make WAY MORE than most corporate jobs. Her article in Forbes, How Women Can Build Wealth to Become a ‘Main Street Millionaire’ is also worth a click. Amazon | Barnes & Noble.
Until the next one,
-sth