#the oklahoma callback and him calling back to her while she was on her way out just to say 'you've already won'

[lisbonsteresa]

just kiss once....just try it out

[go4blood]

can we be seventeen?

It is finally time. Broadway!Michael. Heathers. Best friends to lovers. U know how we do. sorry I’m on mobile and can’t do the read more feature 😔

4k words

—

High School was the time of your life. You spent everyday after school with your best friend in the theatre. You two had many starring roles together, such as Tracy and Link in Hairspray, Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw from Cabaret, and so many more. You two decided you both wanted to take on broadway. That being said, you bought an apartment together- a tiny one that is- in New York City. It was your 2nd month in New York. You loved it more than anything, but you were a starving artist. You had a few commercial roles and did some work in some short films, but you wanted to be on stage. You wanted people applauding you every night. You both wanted that.

But it’s hard to get on broadway. Broadway isn’t something easy to achieve.

The door to your apartment opened and interrupted your thoughts.

“Y/N! The restaurant was super busy today, so I think I got enough tip money to get the WiFi back on.” Michael walked through the door, car keys in hand, wearing a white button shirt with a black tie, along with black dress pants. Michael worked at a fancy Italian restaurant in the heart of New York City that only rich people can afford. He absolutely hated working there. It was far from his dream, but they had to pay the bills somehow. You worked at a coffee house yourself, and most of the time your money went towards bills and necessities only. And people hardly ever tip.

“Thank God! I’ve missed Netflix so much.” He laughed and you grinned, collapsing beside him on the couch. Michael was a great roommate. He always paid his share of everything, and he kept the living area clean. His room is another story, but at least you didn’t have to always see his room.

“I found our next audition! I forgot to tell you, when I was driving to work I saw that Heathers is currently being casted for broadway!”

You sighed, leaning your head on his shoulder, “I’m beginning to think we should’ve stayed home, it’s so hard to make it out here in New York…”

He scoffed, looking at you in your eyes, “Is my best friend, Y/N L/N, the one who forced me to audition for Oklahoma our freshman year, giving up? Come on now, that’s not the Y/N I know! Come on, auditions are tomorrow morning, it’s worth a shot.”

You pondered for a moment, thinking of the possibilities. This is what you came to New York for, after all. Maybe it was worth a shot.

“Fine, we’ll go. Just don’t get your hopes up…”

“I won’t, I promise. Now… I assume we’re having ramen again?”

“You know it.”

—

You sat beside Michael and looked around at who was at the audition. You could already tell that type casting would come into play, which made you nervous. You weren’t sure if you fit into any of these roles. What if you were wasting your time? You’d be lucky if you got to be a chorus member. Michael looked up from the paperwork as if he could sense how nervous you were.

“Relax, Y/N. You’ve been this way since High School! I remember auditions for Hairspray; you nearly had a panic attack the day of callbacks. And you rocked it! What are you scared of?”

“Failure, Michael.” You frowned and looked at him. He sighed, looking into your eyes.

“My best friend has never been a failure. Don’t even begin to think you’re a failure! Every good actor and actress struggled before succeeding.” He gave you a reassuring smile, and weight lifted off of your shoulders. Maybe he was right. In fact, he was right. You have to fall before you fly sometimes.

“Thank you, Michael.” You smiled as he smiled back at you. You wouldn’t wanna be struggling with anyone else.

A woman who seemed to be the director interrupted your thoughts, “Good morning everyone, welcome to the audition for Heathers. Shall we begin?” Everyone silently nodded, and the director cleared her throat, “the numbers my assistant gave to you when you walked in will now come into play… let’s start with #1. Come on up.”

You froze. You were #1. No pressure, right? You got up from your seat and walked up onto the stage, ready to perform the provided audition material. All of the girls were using audition material for the part of Veronica, the lead female part. No pressure.

You introduced yourself briefly and began, projecting with purpose, “My parents wanted to move me into high school out of the sixth grade, but we decided to chuck the idea because I’d have trouble making friends, blah, blah, blah. Now blah, blah, blah is all I ever do. I use my grand IQ to decide what color lip gloss to wear in the morning and how to hit three keggers before curfew… Betty Finn was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of Swatch dogs and Diet Coke heads. Killing Heather would be like offing the wicked witch of the west… wait east. West! God! I sound like a fucking psycho….Dear Diary: Heather told me she teaches people “real life.” She said, real life sucks losers dry. You want to fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly. I said, so, you teach people how to spread their wings and fly? She said, yes. I said, you’re beautiful.”

You emphasized certain things and changed tone when you felt it was needed. You wanted this so bad. But this wasn’t it! This was a musical, so you had to sing. You looked at the music provided for you and cued the piano player to begin playing. The song you were told to sing was “Fight For Me”. You sang each note with purpose. You wanted this more than anything. Before you knew it, you were done with your audition, and you sat back down in the audience beside Michael. He mouthed ‘good job’ to you, smiling. Before he knew it, it was his turn to audition.

The men auditioning read material for JD, the leading male part. You looked over what Michael had to perform, and the monologue was quite intense.

He cleared his throat and began with an intense tone of voice, “Can't believe you did it! I was teasing. I loved you! Sure, I was coming up here to kill you... First I was gonna try and get you back with my amazing petition. It's a shame you can't see what our fellow students really signed. Listen ‘We, students at Westerburg High will die. Today. Our buring bodies will be the ultimate protest to a society that degrades us. Fuck you all!’ It's not very subtle, but neither is blowing up a whole school, now is it? Talk about your suicide pacts, eh? When our school blows up tomorrow, it's gonna be the kind of thing that affects a whole generation! It'll be the Woodstock for the 80's! Damn it Veronica! We could have roasted marshmallows together!”

He was so talented. You would be damned if he didn’t get a role in this production. He then finished out his audition with the song “Meant To Be Yours”. He did amazing. He always put his all into his auditions. You were proud to be his friend. He walked off stage after he finished, and you both left.

—

As each day passed you absolutely could not stop thinking about callbacks. You were so anxious about whether you were gonna get one or not. You at least hoped Michael would get one so he could live out his dream if you couldn’t.

With each latte you made at work all that was on your mind was the possibility of getting a callback. At one point, you couldn’t even remember how to make an iced americano. They said they’d call you no matter what to let you know, which made you even more anxious. And everyday Michael came home from work all he talked about was callbacks and how bad he wanted this opportunity.

“I know you’ll make it, Michael. I mean come on, you’re extremely talented and you knocked that audition out of the park!”

“I did mediocre at best! You’re the one who’s gonna make it. You’re gonna be amazing in that cast. I’d rather you get it than me.”

You laid your head on his shoulder, looking up into his eyes, “You mean that, Mikey?”

“Would I lie to you? No. I wouldn’t. You’re amazing.”

—

You ran into Michael’s room after your shift at the coffee shop, shaking him awake, “I just got a callback during my shift! I get another audition tomorrow!”

“I got one too! While you were gone! We got callbacks!”

You two jumped up onto Michael’s bed and jumped in celebration. You were unbelievably happy.

“Well you know what that means… it’s a special occasion!” Michael ran to the kitchen and you followed behind him. He pulled out the boxed wine from the cabinet and got the plastic wine glasses out too.

The boxed wine was a tradition in your friendship. When you were casted in Hairspray sophomore year, he got his older friend to get it for him. It was cheap and lasted a while, so it was his number one choice. After high school graduation he brought it to your house after your grad party. And when you moved into the apartment, you had Dominos and boxed wine. It had a special place in your heart.

You put some wine in your cup and clinked your glass with his. Maybe it was finally time.

“Now let’s get wine drunk at 2 in the afternoon, shall we?” He smirked at you and you couldn’t help but laugh, knowing damn well he was a lightweight. It was gonna be a long day. Michael got up and connected his phone to the Bluetooth speaker, playing one of his playlists and taking your free hand in his.

“Michael what the hell are you doing?”

“Dancing! Duh!” He downed his wine glass and spun you around, laughing loudly.

You shook your head, putting down your glass and joining him, despite your lack of dance ability.

“You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only… how old are we again? Who knows!” Michael was so carefree, and seeing him have no care in the world always warmed your heart.

“Hey Michael?”

“Yeah Y/N?”

“I knew I moved to New York with the right person.

—

You and Michael woke up extremely early the next morning for callbacks. The callback went well in your opinion, and Michael seemed to feel good about his as well. But after your callback it was back to the minimum wage job with less than mediocre tips. You had to wait a whole week until you’d find out if the callback resulted in you getting a role. It was gonna be the longest week of your life. As everyday passed and you made countless lattes and iced coffees all you thought of was your callback. It invaded your mind at every second of the day. No callback had stressed you out as much as this one. This one wasn’t some high school production from back home. This could be your big break for crying out loud! This was the most stress you had ever felt in your life.

When the day finally came around you and Michael waited around the apartment with phone in hand all day. The phone call you two were about to get would decide your futures. You paced around the living room, unable to stand still. Finally, Michael’s phone was the first to ring. He immediately picked up, sitting on the couch while biting his nails nervously.

“Hello? Yes this is him… yes I would. Thanks so much… alright goodbye.” He hung up, a solemn look on his face. You felt like you already knew what he was gonna say.

He then broke out into a grin, hugging you, “You’re looking at broadways new Jason Dean!”

You smacked his chest, gasping, “how dare you worry me like that, Michael!” You laughed, returning his hug happily. Shortly after, your phone also rang.

You answered, with a shaky voice, “Hello? Yes this is she… okay, yes I would, okay… thank you, goodbye.”

You were shocked. You looked at Michael, eyes dilated and full of disbelief, “I got the part… I-I’m Veronica…”

“No way! I get to lead with my best friend? This is amazing! We did it!” He hugged you, lifting you off of the ground.

You felt larger than life. You finally got to live out your dream. You were absolutely thrilled.

—

The first rehearsal was mainly just line running and song singing without much blocking and a brief dance rehearsal. Broadway was quite a shell shock. Rehearsals were triple the length of high school rehearsals, and dances were taught by actual choreographers, not the schools dance team coach. It was extremely different. It worried you- what if you couldn’t handle it? As you read lines your mind was in a whirlwind, and Michael could tell.

The director told everyone to take a 15 minute break, and you immediately broke down into a rant of how stressed you were to Michael.

“What if I’m not good enough for this? I’ve gotten so many notes from the director on things to do differently and it’s only day 1! I just wanna be the best I can be, I’m not usually cast into this type of role! I’m never usually a cocky or sassy type of character, I’m not good enough for this-“

Michael interrupted you during your extremely long rant, “Y/N! You’re doing great, it’s literally the first day. Everyone’s getting a lot of notes. You are fine. You always get in your head in the first week of rehearsals. You’re so talented and you deserve this, just calm down. Come on, smell the flowers, blow out the candles. Smell the flowers, blow out the candles. You’ve got this! I wouldn’t wanna plot revenge with anybody else, Veronica.”

You smiled, wrapping your arms around him and hugging him tightly. He always knew what to say in these situations.

“You’re not the only one getting notes ya know? You always panic, it worries me.” You frowned, you never meant to worry him. It was just the way you were. You were always hypercritical of yourself, and it got worse as you got older. It wasn’t all your fault though.

“You know why, Michael. My parents never came to any of the shows… I fought to please them, thinking maybe they’d come one of the nights of the show. They never did. They ruined my self esteem.” At that point you were just venting, and you felt bad after the realization. You quickly stopped talking, walking back on stage keeping your eyes glued to the floor.

The director loudly interrupted your thoughts with a loud clap, “Okay everyone, we’re gonna do the number for Meant To Be Yours, so get on up here, Michael.”

Michael quickly got up on the stage, flipping through his script to the right page. You had a few lines before he started singing, so you took your place behind the “closet door”.

Michael cleared his throat, putting on his angsty evil teen voice, “Knock! Knock! Sorry for coming in through the window. Dreadful etiquette, I know!” This part seemed to be written just for him. He was so good at being the odd guy.

You got out of your thoughts, replying with your line to his remark through the closet door set piece, “Get out of my house!”

Michael scoffed, jiggling the door knob and continuing on with the scene, “Hiding in the closet? Come on, unlock the door! Come out and get dressed, you’re my date to the pep rally tonight!” He then began singing the song, yelling through the door at certain parts. You had to admit, it felt like he was actually your psychotic boyfriend. He really knew what he was doing.

You were interrupted by him singing/yelling the next part of the song, “Veronica! Open the—open the door, please Veronica, open the door…” he finished the song, letting out an exasperated breath.

“So, um, any notes? To make it better…”

The director had a look of shock on her face, but good shock though. She looked at her notepad, and then looked up, “This is an amazing start, you’re making great character decisions. I think when you sing through the door you could act more desperate for her to come out, maybe beat on the door, not just yell through it. Maybe we could give you a prop? Like a gun? We’ll see. Other than that, it’s really great. Good job.”

Michael nodded, thanking her and walking down the stairs of the stage.

“Alright, y/n! We’re gonna do the opening scene, the dear diary one. Do what you think is right and I’ll give notes, as per usual. Alright?”

You nodded, sitting at the plastic table that would soon be a lunch table once the actual set was set up.

You mimed a notebook in front of you, taking a deep breath, “September 1st, 1989. Dear Diary:

I believe I'm a good person. You know, I think that there's good in everyone, but—here we are! First day of senior year! And uh... I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself—what happened?” This then transitioned to you singing Beautiful. You only got through half of the song due to how much blocking was needed for this number in particular.

The director read off of her notes, “Alright, Y/N, so all I really have is that I want you to be more confident. I gave you this part for a reason, I believe in you. Just breathe, okay?”

You nodded, thanking her and walking off stage. You grabbed your bag and left to the subway with Michael.

“I told you you were doing good! You just need to believe in yourself, ya dingus.” He ruffled your hair and you blushed, nodding slowly.

“Michael, I think you’re the most talented person I know.”

“Well then you obviously haven’t met yourself.”

—

After what felt like a billion rehearsals, which was really just 2 months of rehearsals, costume day finally came! The best and worst day. A lot of things can go wrong. But a lot of the time, costume day is great.

You had one costume for the whole show, which you were secretly grateful for. Quick changes just stressed you out. Your costume was a grey pleated skirt that hit your mid thigh, blue knee high socks, a white blouse, and a blue blazer to go over the blouse. The director wanted everyone to be used to performing in their costumes, so you’d be rehearsing with them for the next 2 weeks until opening night.

Michael wore all black attire. His costume included a black t shirt, a black trench coat, black jeans, and clunky black boots. In all honesty, he did not look approachable. But at the same time, he intrigued you even more. With each rehearsal, you were thinking about Michael a lot more than usual, and in a different way than usual.

Were you attracted to your best friend?

Oh god. This could not be happening.

You knew way too much about him. His mother practically adopted you as her own. It would be so awkward if your feelings shined through. Your mind was racing, everything made sense.

When he would cup your cheek in one of your scenes and would immediately blush, when he would call you nicknames in your scenes and you broke into a huge grin, it was because you liked him as more than a friend.

“Y/N! How do ya like my costume?” Michael did a twirl and bowed, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Wow what a handsome teen psychopath you are, Michael.” He laughed, muttering a thank you.

“Um, you look nice in yours. Much less psycho looking, 10 out of 10.”

You laughed, twirling to show him the whole costume, “Why thank you, JD. How kind of you.”

He smiled at you, looking in your eyes for a little while.

He quickly got out of his trance, looking around awkwardly, “Um, well, let’s take our promotional photos then shall we?”

You nodded, following him to where the photographer was.

“We’re definitely getting drunk tonight, I need a breather.”

—

You and Michael were in the living room, playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch whole drinking, you guessed it, boxed wine. You were both extremely drunk, laughing at every little thing.

“Did you seriously just hit me with a blue shell!?”

Michael laughed, “Sorry! I can't accept losing to you, princess.” His voice had a tinge of sarcasm, which was far from surprising.

You pouted, desperately trying to get your number one spot back. But to your defeat, Michael took your spot at the last minute and got first place.

“How dare you!”

He laughed as you tackled him on the couch, resulting in a slight spill of both of your glasses as the coffee table shook.

“Sorry babe, I won fair and square.” His tone had a slight bit of flirtiness to it. Blushing at the nickname, you got up and got yourself more to drink.

“Alright, I lost, what do you want your prize to be? I buy your lunch tomorrow? It’s done.”

“I don’t need anything… let’s just chill now, yeah?”

You nodded, sitting beside him on the couch and laying your head on his shoulder.

“Y/N, you know I wouldn’t wanna be anyone else’s costar, right?”

“Michael, you tell me that everyday.”

“Well, it’s true. God, I’m tired of pretending,” he sat up, looking you straight in the eyes, “I came with you to New York not just to pursue acting. I came here because I care about you more than anything. You make everyday a little better. I was in such a bad place before we met freshman year. I literally love you so much.”

“Yeah I love you too-“

“No Y/N! I’m in love with you! When we do our scenes together I can’t help but think about us being together! I can’t help but imagine me affectionately cupping your cheek and kissing you outside of the show. I can’t help that I actually think I’m meant to be yours! And no, this is not the alcohol talking. I’ve always felt this way. I felt this way when we were in every other show together! I want to shout from the rooftops that I love you!” He gripped your waist and kissed you deeply, pulling you onto his waist.

His kiss was intoxicating. You didn’t know how bad you wanted this. You finally realized that he was who you wanted all along.

“You may be set out to kill the whole school so we can be together, but I love you too, Michael.”

—

Opening night you were warming up in your dressing room when a knock came at your door. The stage manager gave you your 20 minute warning, while also handing you a large arrangement of roses.

“Who are these from? No one I know is coming to see me tonight…” You looked at the notecard that came with it, and it all made sense.

My dearest Veronica,

I’m glad I get to share the stage with raw talent tonight. And you I guess (Just kidding). Break a leg, and let’s fake some deaths tonight! I love you.

- JD

You never felt more in love.

—

Taglist!!

@i-calumhood @angelbabylu

[amandajoyce118]

Avengers: Endgame Easter Eggs And References

Okay, Avengers: Endgame has been out for over a week now, so I’m actually getting my Easter eggs up on time this time around instead of waiting nearly a month. That being said, if you haven’t seen the movie, there are spoilers here. So. Many. Spoilers. Do not read this if you haven’t seen the movie.

Got it? Good.

I did not include general pop culture references or, “hey, we last saw this character in this movie,” moments. Easter eggs, comic book references, and things you might have missed are what you’ll find below.

Again, SPOILERS!

The Opening Credits

When MCU movies roll their opening Marvel logo, they’ve slowly been adding the characters they’ve added to the franchise. You see images of Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel in the last few flips, for example. This one devotes most of the images to the core six of the Infinity Saga. Most of the images you see belong to Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man Captain America, and Thor.

Tony And Nebula

A lot of people like the opening dynamic between Tony and Nebula because it’s something different for us to watch, but there are a couple of callbacks there. While Nebula getting to win a game of “football” is cute, it’s also important because, growing up, Thanos always pit Nebula and Gamora against one another. He made them compete for everything, and despite all of her “enhancements,” Nebula always lost. In fact, those “enhancements” are a result of each time she lost at a competition, prompting Thanos to find a way to “improve” her. Also, the last of the food they have? Tony tries to share it with Nebula, but she lets him have it. Tony sharing his food is a THING in the MCU. In the first Avengers movie, Robert Downey Jr. would actually tuck bags of candy, chips, nuts, etc. into drawers on set so that he could eat between takes. Eventually, Tony just started eating snacks on camera as well. This scene is a callback to him offering food to Chris Evans on camera and it staying in the movie as Tony offering Steve a snack.

The Garden

The planet where Thanos decides to retire is called 0259-S, but Nebula calls it The Garden. That alpha numeric sequence doesn’t appear as a designation in the comics, but The Garden does exist. In the comics, a Celestial known only as The Gardener lives in the blue area of the moon where he literally tends The Garden. That’s what he’s chosen to do with his life. The power of the Time Gem is what keeps his garden thriving while he’s meant to care for it. Thanos, of course, is the one to take it from him in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. The name for the movie is likely a nod to that aspect of the comic book story, while him “retiring” to a farm is also right out of the comics. So is the scarecrow made from his armor.

“I went for the head.”

Thor says this as a nod to Thanos telling him what he should have done when he didn’t defeat him in Infinity War. There’s also another callback to their fight later in the movie. During the huge battle sequence at the end of the movie, Thanos presses Stormbreaker into Thor’s chest just as Thor did to him in Infinity War.

Creator Cameos

During the sequence for Cap leading the support group (a nod to a piece of advice Falcon gave him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier), there are a couple of cameos. Joe Russo, one of the writers and directors, appears as the member of the group talking about his date. The man who asks him about it? That’s comic book heavyweight Jim Starlin. Starlin also gets a special thank you in the credits at the end of the film. He’s the man who created Thanos. (Sidenote: Joe Russo’s kids all have roles in the film as well. His daughter Ava even plays Hawkeye’s daughter Lila.)

5 Years Later

Not an Easter egg, but some timeline clarification here. With the five year time jump, the big confrontation takes place in 2023 as the start of the movie is very close to the events of Avengers: Infinity War, which started in 2018.

An Underwater Earthquake

When Natasha has her conference call with Rocket, Rhoadey, Carol, and Okoye, they briefly discuss an underwater earthquake near Wakanda. Okoye brushes it off, but there is an underwater nation that doesn’t particularly get along with Wakanda in the comics. Atlantis. Their leader, Namor, is not T’Challa’s biggest fan. I like to think this is a hint that he’s coming. (When Steve visits following this scene, you can also spot Natasha’s ballet slippers on a chair. Looks like she was feeling nostalgic in more ways than one.)

New Hair

Steve and Tony go back to their trimmed looks for this movie, but someone else gets a new haircut. After the five year time jump, Carol’s haircut is closer to her modern comic book look than what we’ve seen in the movies before.

616

The storage unit where all of Scott Lang’s belongings are, including the van and the rat that helps him escape the Quantum Realm, is marked as unit 616. That’s a nod to the 616 universe in the comics, the one that features the main continuity.

“...Only to make conversation.”

So, when Scott asks Steve and Natasha is they known anything about physics, Natasha gives this response, which on first blush, might sound like her being a smartass. It’s not. As a spy, she literally learned enough about subjects to sound like she understood them when meeting a target. The first target she took on in the comics? Iron Man, whom she needed a working knowledge of physics to banter with.

“...regular size man.”

Rhoadey calls Scott this as a reference to the last time they saw each other in Captain America: Civil War. Rhoadey was the one to proclaim, “tiny man is giant now.” It’s a nice call back

The Necklace

If you look closely at Natasha’s neck when they start recruiting Avengers for the time travel idea, you’ll notice she’s wearing a familiar necklace. It’s the same arrow she wore in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a nod to Hawkeye.

Howard Stark

Tony gets to see his father in the flesh during the time travel segment of the movie, but we get a teaser for him earlier in the movie. When Tony picks up the photo of himself and Peter in his kitchen? There’s a photo of his father on the shelf as well. (Side note: when Tony asks how far along Howard’s wife is in the 70s? It’s because he’s born in May and they arrive in April.)

Morgan

Looks like Tony went ahead and named his kid Morgan just like the dream he had in Infinity War. Morgan was also Tony’s cousin in the comics. (Also, how great is Morgan playing with what becomes Pepper’s helmet? Pepper’s armor, though it isn’t named, is a recreation of her Rescue look from the comics.)

Ronin

Though the name isn’t used in the movies, the name Hawkeye goes by in the comics when he decides to start cutting down all the bad guys in his path, is Ronin. The name comes from the word to describe a samurai without a master. It literally means “wandering man,” and is portrayed in artwork by the bones of a warrior inside their samurai gear. That depiction is exactly what you’ll find in Hawkeye’s tattoo sleeve, and it’s why Black Widow finally tracks him down in Japan. It’s also fitting that his sword doesn’t look like a traditional samurai sword to me. It looks more like a bow fashioned into a sword.

Akihiko

The guy that Clint fights in Japan is based on a comic book character of the same name. In the comics, he worked for a SHIELD rival that was also a branch of the Yakuza.

Recruiting Thor

Thor only comes out once a month for supplies? Sounds like Aquaman only coming in on the King Tide to provide for the people, but I’m hoping that’s just a coincidence and not them poking fun at one of DC’s good on screen characters. The whole thing with Thor yelling at the mean kid Korg is gaming with though? Did that feel like them shouting at the guy’s living in their mom’s basement who claim to be comic book purists to anyone else? Just me?

Also, I appreciate that New Asgard is supposed to be in a Scandinavian country. I do. Tonsberg is supposedly where Odin led his people to war against the Frost Giants thousands of years ago. And it’s where the Red Skull found the Tesseract. However, this is clearly the part of the movie filmed in Scotland. Why? There’s a half empty bottle of Irn Bru (Scotland’s national soft drink, and my personal favorite) sitting on a table behind Thor through most of that sequence. I’m glad someone on set has good taste in soda.

New Asgard also existed in the comics, but as a merging of New York and Asgard when realities collided, and also as Asgard floating above Oklahoma when it fell from the sky.

Ben And Jerry’s

Does anyone remember Dr. Strange and Wong discussing the Avengers ice cream flavors in Infinity War? Looks like Bruce finally got to try some as he’s eating a Hulk-sized container of Ben and Jerry’s during the brainstorming sessions.

Budapest

Just what was the mission in Budapest? Will we ever know? It clearly made an impression on Natasha and Clint since it’s been referenced by them twice before. We also know Fury spent time there thanks to his listing of the B countries in Captain Marvel.

“That’s America’s ass.”

Someone on set knows the internet has an appreciation for Chris Evans’ ass. Who? Who knows? But someone has clearly seen the gif sets.

The Elevator

When we see Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ant-Man return to 2012, not only do we get to see another point of view for The Avengers, but we get some nice callbacks. Cap in the elevator with a bunch of menacing SHIELD agents (hey, Sitwell and Rumlow who are off to give the scepter to Liszt, the same guy that got Wanda her powers!) who are actually Hydra evoked that amazing fight scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier. This time, he doesn’t knock them all out though. Instead, he gives a “hail hydra” to avoid the fight. That in itself also evokes the recent comic book storyline that featured a rewritten reality where Captain America was hydra all along.

“Lunch, then Asgard.”

Back in 2012, Thor tells Secretary Pierce they’re going to lunch before he goes home.That lunch is the Avengers shawarma post credit scene.

“I can do this all day.”

As the most iconic Captain America line at this point, I don’t have to tell you how often he’s said it. I’m sure there’s a gif set on tumblr for it.

Stan Lee

Stan gets a posthumous cameo driving a muscle car with a license plate that includes the numbers 420 while he spouts on about making love, not war. He’s clearly a hippie, and it’s not a subtle cameo. You’d only miss it if you left the theater to run to the bathroom here. You might have missed his “Nuff said” bumper sticker, which was a phrase he often used in his responses to letters to the editor.

Community Cameos

The Russo brothers like to feature actors from their other projects. In the MCU, they’ve included at least one actor from Community in all of the movies they’ve been involved in. This time, there’s two. Ken Jeong plays a security guard at the storage facility while Yvette Nicole Brown plays a SHIELD agent in the 70s.

The Terminal Beach

When Ken Jeong’s security guard pops up early in the movie, he’s reading a book instead of watching the cameras. The book he’s reading is The Terminal Beach. It’s a collection of short stories. One of those in the book had a familiar title. It’s called “End-Game.” It’s not about superheroes, but instead about a man waiting his execution.

The 70s Eggs

Speaking of the 70s, let’s get a few of the Easter eggs and references in this sequence out of the way. The military base is the same one where Steve initially trained and was chosen for the super soldier program. The name on Steve’s uniform? That’s Roscoe for Roscoe Simons, a man who took over for him in the comics, and then was promptly defeated by the Red Skull. When Steve calls Hank about a package? We see the original Ant-Man helmet on his table. It’s pretty impossible to miss. The photo of Steve on Peggy’s desk is one of the images used for the first Captain America movie, and I believe one from the file she had in Agent Carter, if I’m not mistaken. When Tony encounters his father, he’s looking for Arnim Zola, the man who programs his mind into the computers at that same military base and appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier there. When Howard leaves, that’s James D’Arcy still playing Jarvis and acting as his driver. Jarvis appearing in the movie is the first time a character originated on an MCU TV show to cross over to the movies. It’s a small step, but one in the right direction that might mean characters from Agents of SHIELD, Runaways, or Cloak And Dagger could eventually do the same.

“Get the rabbit.”

The Asgardian guards share Thor’s belief that Rocket is a rabbit because they say this while following him when he gets the aether.

“Daughter of Ivan, son of Edith”

Edith was in fact Hawkeye’s mother in the comics. She died when he was young, leaving Clint and his brother as orphans. Ivan, on the other hand, was not exactly Natasha’s father in the comics. Instead, one story sees Ivan Petrovich as a benevolent stranger who raises Natasha as his own when a woman gives him baby Natalia Romanova from a burning building. Retconning sees that as a fabrication as Ivan was actually a soldier and agent of the Red Room who got Natasha into the program. Still another sees him as her “uncle Ivan” whom she cared for so much that she gave up her freedom, joined the Red Room, and got them both the super soldier serum to save his life. Just how that will play into the MCU remains to be seen in the upcoming Black Widow movie.

The Big Three

When Thanos lets his weapons loose on the Avengers compound, the three that go out to meet him while everyone else is scrambling are Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. These are the three tentpole franchises of the MCU. While Hulk had a solo movie, it was distributed though Universal and starred another actor. It’s a nice full circle moment for the MCU.

Captain America Is Worthy

When it seems like Thor is headed for certain doom, his hammer finds a new target - and a new person to wield it. Cap is one of the many heroes who wielded it in the comics, but the moment he catches Mjolnir is a callback to Avengers: Age of Ultron. In the movie, the Avengers take turns trying to lift the hammer, but only Cap seems to shift it, though he’s still unable to pick it up. The implication, of course, is that by the time this movie rolled around, the things he’d been through made him worthy.

Also? That shot of him all alone, ready to take on everyone? That’s an homage to the Avengers taking on Thanos in the comics. At one point, everyone else was down and out, and Cap was the only one left standing.

Captain America’s Shield

As Thanos shatters Cap’s shield during the fight, it echoes Tony’s talk of his vision earlier in the movie. There’s talk about how Tony wanted to build a suit of armor around the world, and that wish was a result of the vision Scarlet Witch put in his head in Age of Ultron. That same vision showed Cap’s shield broken in the same way it ends up broken here.

“On your left.”

We all know that this is one of the first things Sam said to Steve in The Winter Soldier, right? It’s a cute callback.

“Is that everyone?” “You wanted more?”

Dr. Strange and Wong have this exchange as the wizards stop opening portals all over the battlefield. Not only is this a nod to the sheer number of characters in the battle sequence, but likely a nod to their being more heroes out there that aren’t in the scene. After all, none of the TV heroes are visibly present.

“Avengers, assemble!”

Is this the first time Steve actually gets to say this on the big screen? He’s been cut off while saying it in the past, so I think it is, even if he gets to say it all the time in comic books.

Pegasus

Where exactly did Valkyrie get her flying horse? We saw it in the story of her past in Thor: Ragnarok, but we’ve not seen one used in the MCU lately, so while it’s a nice callback to her past, it’s an odd one.

“We’re on it, Cap.”

Wasp gets this line when Steve needs a new quantum tunnel up and running. After, she and Ant-Man share a look because he once told her only Steve’s friends call him Cap.

Instant Kill Mode

When Peter learned his suit had this in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it freaked him out, but here? Not so much. He uses it when he gets desperate.

The Ladies Of Marvel

There is a moment during the fight with Thanos where all of the female heroes on the ground manage to congregate around Peter Parker and Captain Marvel. Their aim? Protect Carol from Thanos’ army. Some cynics have called it pandering, but it makes sense. The woman, half of whom have the power to fly, have been following the glove around the field, trying to keep it out of Thanos’ hands. While the guys are still fighting, they form a team. It looks an awful lot like an A-Force team up in the comics, but it also echoes a moment in Infinity War. When Wanda is told she’s going to die alone in battle, Natasha and Okoye step up to protect her, with Natasha saying, “but she’s not alone.” At this point in the movie, Natasha is gone, but Wanda is still following her lead, protecting the other women on their team.

“If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen.”

The first time I saw the movie, I saw this as the opposite of a self fulfilling prophecy. But seeing it again, I actually think Dr. Strange was unsure if Tony would do what needed to be done if he told him the truth about their one shot. He knew to end the Thanos problem, Tony would have to snap his fingers. It makes me think Dr. Strange underestimated Tony’s commitment to saving the planet.

“I am Iron Man.”

This is Tony’s big response to Thanos, but it’s also the most iconic movie from the first Iron Man film. Why? It wasn’t even scripted. The original script had Tony keeping his Iron Man identity under wraps. During filming, Robert Downey Jr. ad libbed the admission that he was Iron Man and it stayed, changing the route of the films.

Also, Tony wielding the gauntlet he made is a nice homage to the comics, where he was actually the first human to successfully create and use one.

Captain America’s Suits

So, we see Steve wear his first Avengers suit. But, at the beginning of the movie, he’s also wearing his Winter Soldier suit. Later, he gets a brand new suit, probably courtesy of Tony. That one combines the look of his Civil War and Winter Soldier suits. But, it also adds the chain mail look that’s prevalent in the comics. So, he gets the chance to be pretty much every version of Cap we’ve seen on screen in this movie.

Harley Keener

The Avengers, their family, and Tony’s family are all present at his memorial, but so is someone else who wasn’t in the movie. The tall teenager at the back? That’s Harley from Iron Man 3, and he’s still played by Ty Simpkins. The kid had a real growth spurt that fits the timeline.

Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart

We all remember this was a gift set on display for the Iron Man movies, yes?

Morgan Wants A Cheeseburger

Like father, like daughter. When Tony got away from the Ten Rings, he had Happy stop at Burger King on the way to his press conference because he wanted “American cheeseburgers.”

Asgardians Of The Galaxy

I know this is just Thor being Thor, but… there is a comic book team called the Asgardians of the Galaxy. Like the guardians, they travel around in a spaceship and do good deeds, but they’re all from Asgard.

“You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

In the first Captain America movie, Bucky Barnes went to war without his best friend. He told Steve not to do anything stupid until he got back. The above line was Steve’s response. Their roles (and lines) are reversed when Steve travels through time to return some Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their rightful points in history.

Captain Sam

When the elder Steve Rogers returns to his departure point in the timeline, he does it with a new shield, and passes it on to Sam Wilson. In the comics, an older Captain America who had the super soldier serum removed from his blood did the same thing. Sam even had his own Captain America comic series for a while. (Other heroes who have been Captain America in the comics include Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter, and Peggy Carter, in case you’re wondering.)

“It’s been a long, long time.”

Could the song title be more fitting for Steve and Peggy? And yes, this is a branched timeline. And yes, the song has been used in the MCU before, in The Winter Soldier.

The Clang

Post credit scenes are an MCU tradition, but this movie doesn’t have one. Instead, it has a clang. That noise is the sound of hammer hitting metal. Specifically, the sound of Tony’s hammer hitting metal when he created his very first Iron Man suit in the 2008 film, signalling the end of an era here instead of the beginning of one.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got! Tell me if I managed to miss anything.

[utgleekshq]

Have you seen Brody Weston on campus? Rumor has it that the twenty-two year old junior from Austin, Texas was born on April 14th and is currently studying Theatre & Dance in the College of Fine Arts. His friends will tell you that he’s CHARISMATIC and KIND, but they also say he can be GUARDED and VAIN, so be careful. His endgame is Brotina and fortunately for us, his role is CLOSED and unavailable for auditions. 

If you had to ask Brody where he’s from, he’d honestly tell you all over. Adopted by a young couple in Texas, one of whom worked as a photographer that earned herself several jobs across the country, Brody’s lived in many states - California, Washington, Arizona, Oklahoma, Montana, and yes, even New York - and as such, has gotten to experience many things most kids his age hadn’t. Of course, the constant uprooting, akin to those of a military family, wasn’t exactly helpful to his studies, causing him to fall behind, but Brody didn’t mind. No, he loved his family, and he knew they loved him. His parents, Bethany and Cassandra, did whatever they could to ensure that Brody knew that he could do whatever he wanted. He wanted to be a martial arts master? They enrolled him in karate lessons. He wanted to be center stage and awe an audience? They signed him up for dance classes. Any little whim or desire that Brody had was encouraged, and this led Brody to having a wide interest in things. From skateboarding to yoga to video games to baseball to Broadway, Brody is a man that isn’t afraid to state what he likes - regardless of what others might think. After all, the son of two women, he’s used to people criticizing him - so why should he care what they think?

In high school, Brody was known as the charismatic enigma at the school because no one could pin a label on him. He was the star athlete of the football, baseball and basketball teams, but he was also the leading man in all of the school’s plays and musicals. With a wide range of interests and skills, Brody received many scholarships - both academic and athletic - but there was only one place he wanted to go to. NYADA. Becoming a Broadway performer was his biggest goal, to see his face and name on a bulletin board in Times Square as he made his way through the Great White Way, and he knew that going to NYADA was the best option. Truthfully, he never thought that he was going to get in, but not only did he receive a callback, he was given an acceptance letter with a partial scholarship. Thrilled, Brody was all too eager to head to New York to take a first step towards his future career on Broadway.

New York was everything and more than Brody could ask for - and while he wasn't particularly happy about being away from his mothers or his little sister, who were now living back in Texas to be closer to his parents' family, having moved there his junior year of high school, he was ecstatic to be able to learn and train with the best of the best. Of course, Brody was still in college and he did still find himself having fun. Between going out with friends to hooking up with classmates, Brody made sure that he partook in everything that college stood for and by the time junior year rolled around, he was already on the fast-track to becoming a TA for one of the toughest dance teachers at the school. But then tragedy struck Thanksgiving week, causing him to lose a loved one that wrecked his family, and Brody knew he had to move back to Texas.

Transferring to the University of Texas' Theatre and Dance program was simple - even if the school wasn't one that had a high rate of transfers, with his letter of recommendation and his outstanding performance at NYADA, they welcomed him into the fold. And it wasn't long before Brody found himself falling into a rhythm at his new school, making friends, joining the Glee club and helping them prep for Regionals, and generally becoming an active member of the student body. One thing he doesn't tell them, though, is that he actually attended NYADA, knowing that most anyone in his Theatre classes would know that NYADA was three times better than UT's Theatre program and that they'd question his sanity on why he'd choose to transfer from NYADA, of all places, to Texas. And that was not an answer he was willing to give.

SECRET:

During his freshman year of high school, Brody began partaking in a relationship with a cheerleader and the two were essentially the IT couple until they broke up, amicably, during the summer before senior year as they knew it would make it easier on them when they had to move to different states and they remained good friends. Of course, he learned a couple of months later that she was pregnant, and it was his. At first, he had opted to stay in Texas to help raise his kid, to be a father and provide for his kid and his kid's mother, but she insisted that he follow his dreams and go to NYADA so that he didn't resent his kid, and with his moms promising to help raise his son and keep him updated, he went. But Thanksgiving week during his junior year, his kid's mother got into a car wreck that proved to be fatal, and not wanting his kid to grow up without any of his parents, he decided to move back to Texas. There is a stigma in the world about young parents, so Brody keeps his being a father a secret and if anyone sees a picture of him and his son, he simply tells them it's his baby brother that his mothers' adopted.

CONNECTIONS:

Rachel Berry: As soon as he walked in to audition for the Glee club, Brody almost instantly wanted to walk out when he saw Rachel Berry standing there. Their history started before he came back to Texas, when he went to NYADA for his callback audition, and the two met in the waiting area. They gushed about their favorite Broadway songs, their favorite Broadway shows, and their dream Broadway roles - and he had been sure she'd be a shoo-in. Seeing her at the University of Texas, of all places, was a little surprising, but it meant that there was someone there that knew he took a step backwards when he transferred. The two have agreed to not speak about NYADA to anyone, including each other - beyond that, though, the two are extremely close friends that are supportive of one another and while Brody knows that Rachel is seeing someone, he does have a crush on her.

Quinn Fabray: With parents that were supportive of him living a collegiate life, Brody was given more lee-way than most single parents and he made sure to live it up while he was in college - as he knew that he wasn't going to get the chance once he graduated. Going to frat parties wasn't exactly his thing, but it was made better when he ran into Quinn Fabray. As the two got to talking, he couldn't help but compliment her and call her beautiful, and one thing led to another and they fell into bed together. While it's not anything serious, as Brody isn't really trying to go for anything serious - not when he's sure no one wants to date a single father - he does enjoy the friends-with-benefits situation they have going on. Even if they keep it a secret from their mutual friend, Rachel.

Mercedes Jones: Though Brody wasn't new to life on a college campus, he was new to life on the UT campus and right before his first day, he was given a tour guide to help him around campus - Mercedes Jones. She was beautiful, of course, and he made sure to compliment her and let her know she was beautiful - simply because he believed it and simply because he was sure she didn't hear it enough - and by the time the tour finished and they got to know one another, Brody knew he could consider her a friend. So when he saw her at his Glee audition, he was ecstatic to have a friend there. He still makes it a habit to compliment her, wanting to get her to smile at least once a day, and he knows that if he ever needed someone to vent to? She'd be happy to lend him a shoulder to cry on.

Sebastian Smythe: Adjusting to a new college was tough, and after his first week of finding out where his classes were, who his professors were, and adjusting to the University's curriculum, he knew he needed to get out and have some fun. Going to a local club, Brody was heading up to the bar when he spotted someone putting something in another person's drink - the person that was the target he would later find out was Sebastian Smythe, as he approached him shortly after witnessing what happened and informed the man not to take a drink. With the other man completely wasted, though, Brody helped him back to his dorm - he managed to have a single suite because he transferred in - and watched over him. The two of them have a simple friendship, and while Sebastian does flirt with Brody - and Brody may flirt back - they haven't expanded their friendship further.

[flyrtreynolds]

Passion of The Weiss: “You Have to Make a Lot of Wack Shit to Make Good Shit”... An Interview with Channel Tres

His song “Controller” made me want to write about him immediately. Once again posting the full pre-edit version.

Before we speak, I spot Channel Tres in the groove.

Adorned in a vintage “Showtime”-era Lakers T-shirt and track pants, the 26 year old is skewing and swerving on the heels of his sneakers to “Got Me Coming Back Right Now,” the fizzling cut by house legend Moodymann. He appears to be alone in his bedroom, painted the archetypal Southern California egg shell, biting his lower lip in tunnel vision, an imaginary enclosure of clapping club goers forming around him.  

“Just warming up my legs,” he says when I tell him over the phone that I saw the performance broadcasted on his Instagram a few minutes prior. “Thank god for Moodymann -- that motherfucker changed my life.”

Tres, born Sheldon Young, points to the discovery of the Detroit DJ’s catalogue as a pivotal moment in his artistic trajectory, helping him evolve from pop songwriter to songleader, behind-the-scenes beatmaker to dance-floor commander. Moody’s influence is showcased proudly on “Controller,” a bass-throbbing, four-on-the-floor callback to classic Midwest dance music -- and Young’s first single on L.A. imprint Godmode Music. “Your body is a game, fuck the lames, fuck the fame, I am the controller,” he deadpans cooly before a sharp cymbal crash announces a palpitating low end, one that immediately inspires two-steps decorated with snaps and scrunched mugs.

Raised in Lynwood, Calif., right around the corner from the Compton Swap Meet, Young isn’t a native of the birth region of house music, but the genre runs deep in his genes. He discovered this only recently when his uncle, who he had little interaction with growing up, attended a DJ set at the University of Wisconsin and eagerly divulged to him that their “whole damn family is out here.” This floored Young, who always believed his now-deceased father’s side was from Kansas, a full day’s drive from the underground house shows that pulsated the Windy City in the late 1970s and early ’80s. “I didn’t know, and I had to prepare for [my next] DJ set so I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to go through the history of the full thing.’”

Returning to L.A. galvanized by a deep dive into the genre, he locked himself in his room, a tiny upstairs space rented from an elderly artist in Silver Lake, and set out to create something wildly different than his past productions. Whereas his songwriting for ardent vocalists like Kehlani and Shamir was meditative and circuitous, here he went direct and authoritative, purring out catchy refrains into his laptop’s low-quality mic. And while his beats for frequent collaborator South Central rapper DUCKWRTH were mid-tempo bops, his new work upped the BPMs, aiming to inspire more movement of the lower body (i.e. the booty) than trap’s prototypical elbow flexing. “I was falling asleep, man. Everything was just emotional and slow....I wanted to pick shit up.”

The Silver Lake sessions materialized into an email blast containing a fully formed demo, packaged neatly with Photoshop’d artwork, which landed in the inbox of Godmode co-founder and former Capitol Records A&R Talya Elitzer. Upon hearing it, she quickly put Young in the studio with her partner Nick Sylvester, the executive producer of the label’s only release thus far, Yaeji’s ep2. Young calls Sylvester a “fucking genius” and happens to be on the way to meet him at the studio as we talk.

Today they’ll be working on a track called “Jet Black,” an ode to the superhero alter-ego Young invented on the crumbly plains of Oklahoma, where he went to college for music. In the lead up to class projects, he’d sport the same pitch-dark clothing — Jet Black’s inconspicuous uniform — nearly everyday as a means of preserving his brainpower solely for the grind, a form of zealotism that icons like Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein supposedly practiced. Young has a habit of looking to geniuses for guidance: As a teen he left behind the palm trees of SoCal for the scrub of the Sooner State after hearing a freshly signed Kendrick Lamar sermonize in an interview that one needs to escape their environment in order to grow.

The plan was always to come back, though. The Lynwood/Compton area is the star at the center of Young’s solar system, the place where he was raised by his great grandma, played drums in the church choir and once had a pistol pulled on him. Its mangy greenways, vibrant strip mall signage and skateparks make up the video for “Controller,” which also features Young’s childhood friends, each drumming little easter eggs of color on his chest. These are the people and places that shaped him, and he hopes his newly formed solo career will give him the chance to “actually do something” in return (namely, he wants to create a non-profit for local kids who have an interest in the arts).

This may sound like lofty rhetoric, dreams conjured by an artist following their first nibble of fame, but Young comes off earnest in his ambitions, namely for the fact that he seems to be in a perpetual metamorphosis, unafraid to reinvent himself through his music and selfhood. As he puts it: “I been through a lot of shit growing up so I just wanna be fucking happy. But I also want to be challenged in life.”

Leading up to this interview, I had a lot of trouble finding your previously released solo work. Why’d you wipe it clean?

Yeah, yeah [laughs]. It’s a restart; I had to reset. I wanted to present myself the right way. The last music was bedroom, high-ass music. It was good music, but I feel like right now I’m hitting my stride and really making records -- records that could really fucking change lives and do shit. I gave up a lot of my past and just let it all go. You have to make a lot of wack shit to make good shit.

Were you surprised when the email blast containing your demo got a response?

Hell yeah. Fuck yeah. Shit, I was about to be an EDM DJ. I was on my way there [laughs]. That’s just the people I was fucking with at the time. They was just around that, and they were interested, but I just couldn’t spend all my time on EDM drops and shit like that. Cause the way I make music is so free -- that’s why house music sticks out to me so much.

What about the tempo of house grabbed you?

I was falling asleep, man. I was smoking weed, falling asleep in the studio [laughs]. I was just half-assing shit, going to the studio and drinking, not working. I still love making pop music, but it was just the pace was so slow. I just wanted to pick that shit up. Everything was just emotional and slow. I’m a gemini, an air sign, so I love just feeling the wave and going. When I started listening to house, that shit just woke me the fuck up.

Do you feel like black artists have been forgotten as the originators of the genre?

Yeah, I feel like it’s amissed. I love trap music, but we’re half-timed out right now. The funk came from James Brown, four-on-the-floor. George Clinton. I feel like with the time, how everything changes, and with the kids, it’s just different. Everyone’s slowed down and half-timed out. I feel like we need to pick up the pace again and get it back.

I feel like it’s looked over, but that’s a whole conversation, bro. Cause you have the media not giving certain people shine. Like when disco was out, people were against disco like a motherfucker. I seen some shit where they burn records on the baseball field. I could ramble my ass off on this. But I guess we are overlooked in the genres.

I’ve heard you say you’re from both Compton and Lynwood.

Both, I stayed on Euclid and Long Beach Boulevard, that’s right around the corner from the Compton Swap Meet. If I walk to Long Beach Boulevard, I’m in Compton. But if I walk to the other corner of the street, I’m in Lynwood. All my high school stuff with the district...they said I was Lynwood. But my mom stayed in the projects not too far from my grandma. I was raised by my great grandma, then my other grandma she actually had a house in West Compton. So it was both. I like to say Lynwood because nobody really shouts out Lynwood or anything; it’s just a small city. Nobody really talks about it. They just say Compton. So I just wanted to give some love to the area because that’s where I went to school. I played drums in the choir.

What was life like growing up there?

Shit was like...I guess it’s a regular ghetto, like every other. I don’t want to sound typical, [but] I had the typical shit happen to me. Growing up I had a gun pulled out on me; I had drive-bys on my block. But me and my friends started dancing and skateboarding, you know what I’m saying? Then N.E.R.D. came out when I was like in 9th grade, so there was a group of us that just fucked with all that shit. We were all from the hood and shit, but we just made our own crew and clicked up. A lot of the time was spent going to church and then hanging out with the homies, dancing.

I saw that your childhood friends were the ones drumming on your chest in the video for “Controller.” If that was me, I’m pretty sure I would have fucked that up somehow.

One of the homies who was doing it, he’s fucking terrible at rhythm. I just told him it’s just, “One two, one two.”

Why’d you choose to go to school in Oklahoma of all places?

I wanted to stay, but I was around so many cool people that it was kind of hard to find my identity. Everybody was just like at a professional level already. I had the passion for it but didn’t have the skill level. I felt like I had to get away. Kendrick was talking about getting out the environment; he had to start going on tour and going around the world and blowing up. In his interviews he would talk about getting out of his environment and coming back a better person.

It feels good now because I came back now and can actually do something for my friends and the community. Not like I’m famous or nothing, but shit I’m doing something.

How do you see that “something” materializing in the next few years?

I made sure I didn’t travel to certain places because I wanted to experience them through music. I wanna be able to go somewhere and be in like Tokyo and have a show because if you experience everything through music it feels a lot better.

In three to four years, I’ll be better. I told myself three or four years ago that I’d be better, and I made those goals. So I just hope to have the resources to have my non-profit started. And also records, man...I hope that I’m making the magical records that I see myself making.

https://www.passionweiss.com/2018/05/13/channel-tres-interview/