Commentary by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — Let’s start this weekend right with one of the most anticipated animated sequels of the last decade and a half, Incredibles 2.  It will be at the Wellington Regent Theatre soon. I urge you not to miss it. Pixar is one of the rare movie studios that strictly makes only great movies and their long-time-coming sequel to their only superhero movie does not disappoint.  Incredibles 2 picks up only days after the first one ends with the fight against a villain called the Underminer. As the heroes are once again cast out of society, a wealthy businessman sees an opportunity to bring heroes back to the masses except he wants to start with family’s matriarch, Elastigirl.  

Like all Pixar films, Incredibles is expertly written with a deeper, wholesome message that kids can take home with them. This time around, it’s all about parents accepting their roles in a time when gender roles were a lot stauncher. Mr. Incredible copes with being the house-spouse while his wife is fighting crime and finds out raising the family is tougher than challenging bad-guys.  The movie also brings out a litany of supporting characters with captivating powers as the Pixar universe widens its lens.

We waited 14 years for this sequel and the studio/writers/animators knew they had a lot of hype to live up to and the passed with flying colors. In an industry seeming to burst with superhero flicks, Incredibles 2 is one you can’t pass up, no matter if you have kids of your own or you remember watching the first with your own parents.

My personal favorite streaming service, Spotify, proved yet again how much better it is than Apple Music with a new feature called Summer Rewind. With the summer months upon us (and if you’re in Kansas, you know it’s in full force), we all look for some music as hot and upbeat as the roaring sun beating down on us.  While you’re scouring the radio waves for the track that will absorb you for the next three months, feel free to take a trip down memory lane with your favorite tunes from last year.  Spotify used its treasure troves of your personal data to create a personalized playlist of all the tracks you played most from a year ago. When I stumbled upon this feature I was pleasantly surprised by songs I’d forgotten about and songs I wish I could forget about (I was a little disappointed when a Charlie Puth/Meghan Trainor song came up).  Spofity is the king of inventive ways to get you more in touch with your listening patterns and this new feature is yet another instance of the lengths they’re willing to go to make you more at home in your headphones. So go ahead, beat the heat with D.R.A.M.’s Broccoli or whatever else you were obsessed with the last time the Earth was this close to the Sun.

The power couple of the century was back this week and I’m not talking about the Obamas. I’m referring to Queen B herself, Beyoncé and her husband Jay Z.  The Carters released their first collab album, Everything is Love much to the enjoyment of their massive fan bases and music lovers in general.  The dynamic duo have been killing the game since B’s deadly Lemonade album where she drug Jay through the mud after he cheated on her and this album is about that struggle and how the couple have come back even stronger after that tumultuous period.  They also have banger tracks like APESH*T that celebrate how much wealth and power they’ve achieved in their lives and have no problem stunting it for the world to see.  

The couple actually rented out the entire Lourve to film the music video (linked below) for the song and it’s already received over 29,000,000 views and an avalanche of terrible analysis videos from would-be art historians.  I’m not going to harp of the “artistic significance” of the video, but I will say the song sounds great and the album follows suit.

Everything is Love is a great mash-up for Beyoncé fans that love to hear her talented voice and rap fans who love HOV.  The pair rap together on several songs and I must admit, Beyoncé can cross over to the rap genre whenever she gets tired of running a singing empire.

Finally, it’s that special time of the year when hip hop magazine, XXL, drops their XXL Freshman List.  The list sports a lineup with names like Lil Pump, Ski Mask the Slump God, Stefflon Don and is the de facto who’s who of the coming generation. And to nobody’s surprise, this year’s issue is full of tattooed-faced mumble rappers with some great talent mixed in.  The cover photo of the group looks like a press p

hoto for everyone that

 tried and failed to audition for the part of Joker in the new Batman franchise. While they may look like clowns, this year is no different than any other in the fact that these youngsters are very talented and we will no doubt be hearing from them for years to come. Each year, the rappers have 

roughly a minute to deliver a cypher track of their best material that XXL posts on their YouTube page.  While all of the videos aren’t up yet, they did post a couple and I’ve linked my favorite rapper of the group, J.I.D’s cypher that shows off his range and lyrical inventiveness that I think makes him the star of the class.

Meme of the week

I unfortunately can’t look at every meme that dominates the internet every week, so if you see a meme and think it should be the meme of the week please send it to: SumnerCultureCow@gmail.com

If you disagree with my analysis, have a grievance or any other complaint please visit here

Follow us on Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter.