CONSEQUENCE

The 100 Best Vocalists of All Time consequence.net/list/the-100-b…

@mulaney The price of Snickers bars is out of control

Hello from a Wawa somewhere outside Washington, D.C. #MulaneyReads this month is all about The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin. I read this in a day, just in love with the characters, very funny people in some cases, very tragic, very human. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies “Joe” by David Gordon Green. I’m really a sucker for any story of an older person taking a lost kid under their wing. This one is electric. Buy it at your favorite bookstore. Okay on to Norfolk, VA. See you somewhere.

Ronny Chieng had one message for Harvard grads during his commencement speech: destroy AI. "Look, a lot of other respected graduation speakers in colleges around America are talking about you guys needing to master AI for the future. I'm here to tell you the mission of your generation is to destroy AI... "And I know, I know there's someone sitting out here right now who’s just like, 'Well, you know, what about the use of AI to pioneer breakthroughs in medicine and physics?' Well, first of all, shut up, nerd. I'm not talking about that. Obviously, if you're using it for that purpose, you're not the problem. "I'm talking about the accumulation of cognitive debt due to excessive use of large language models according to a study by MIT published in 2025. That's right, MIT. MIT did that study. I guess you guys were too busy giving each other A's. Feel free to boo MIT, by the way, and AI, and yourselves, I guess. "Look, this is actually good news, okay? This is why you guys shouldn't be scared of AI, because I think AI is just going to end up making mediocre people dumber. Have you heard how dumb people brag about how they use AI? They're always like, 'Hey, did you know that AI can now read my email, summarize it, and drop a response?' Yeah, you know who else can do that? Me. I can do that. You can't do that? How useless are you? You need artificial intelligence just to match me? I'm a dumb*ss who couldn't get into Harvard. "From what I can see, getting an actual advantage from AI in the future will require a minimum escape velocity of intelligence that I'm assuming you guys from Harvard have. Everyone else who can't match that is just going to get dumber, and that's when you run up the score on them, assuming we still have a functioning society, of course. "But to run up the score, you’re going to have to master your craft. And AI can be the fuel, but fuel is useless if you can't kindle the fire. For example, I recently used AI to use regression analysis to prove that a certain race of people are mathematically terrible at sports. I won't say which race, but thank you for not inviting Hasan Minhaj to Harvard. My point is, learning the fundamentals still matter. If I didn't know what a regression analysis was, and if I wasn't fundamentally racist, would I have been able to do any of that? No. "Untalented people love bragging about using AI to help them draft their speeches and their scripts and their podcasts and their promo videos for UFC fights at the White House, which to be fair, even if they had filmed that for real, it would still have looked like AI. But what they're missing is this: the creating is the fun part. The best part of comedy writing is figuring out the puzzle pieces of a joke and getting the self-regard from having accomplished a difficult thing. Why would I want AI to take that away from me? "You know what problem I want AI to solve? I want the problem of AI making everything look like sh*t. I want AI to solve that problem. How about that? "Or how about, can AI take away the part of comedy writing where my TV pilot gets passed on and when I ask if I can pitch it to someone else, the network says, 'We don't want it, but we also don't want anyone else to have it. We just want you to be sad.' Can AI solve that? "I recently tried to introduce my friend to Buddhism through a book called Buddhism Made Simple. It was literally a book about Buddhism made simple. And instead of reading it, he used AI to summarize it in 10 seconds. Believe it or not, he didn't reach enlightenment. It turns out speed running Buddhism is completely missing the point. "And I know this platitude is almost worthy of AI, but the reason shortcuts to skip to the end aren't always good is because the journey isn't just how we acquire skills. The journey is the point of all this. It is! It turns out maybe the real Harvard was the friends we made along the way. "Look, I know this won't apply to everyone's industry, but I'm just saying whatever your chosen profession is, please don't let AI rob you of the fun part of it. "I think your generation's upcoming battle won't be humans against AI. That's at least two months away. It's going to be people with substance versus people with shallow knowledge. It’s going to be mastery versus faking it. It's going to be people with good taste versus tacky. I trust you will put in the work necessary to be on the right side of those battles."

Violet Grohl on her favorite Foo Fighter: "Sorry dad, but I love Pat [Smear] so much." (via @RadioX) 📸: Paul Smith/Shutterstock

JAY-Z performs "No Church in the Wild" with The Roots and Bilal at Roots Picnic

The Great American State Fair, which has lost five of its announced musical acts in recent days, has officially announced that Donald Trump "will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24 in an opening ceremony celebrating America’s 250th birthday."

Staff Picks: Best Songs of the Week (May 23rd - May 29th) - Bossman Dlow & Megan Thee Stallion - “Motion Party (Remix)” - Gilla Band - “Giraffe” - J Noa & Trooko - “ANTISISTEMA” - K Camp - “1000 Hugs” - Madeon ft. Sam Gellaitry - “Red Jacket” - Monaleo ft. Teezo Touchdown - “Everythang Pinka” - reggie - “Beautiful Things 1st scene/audition” - Starcleaner Reunion - “Weather Instrument” consequence.net/2026/05/best-s…

On the heels of his 85th birthday, Bob Dylan is set to kick off a 35-date summer tour this week. consequence.net/2026/05/bob-dy…

M.I.A. has filed a $2.8 million lawsuit against Kid Cudi, claiming he kicked her off their joint tour in early May in order to drum up publicity and sell tickets. consequence.net/2026/05/mia-su…

JAY-Z came out firing during his first performance in six years at Roots Picnic, unveiling a new freestyle loaded with disses aimed at Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and others. consequence.net/2026/05/jay-z-…

The Killers brought some Vegas spectacle to the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday, opening the Arsenal FC vs. Paris Saint-Germain match with a greatest hits-packed performance. consequence.net/2026/05/the-ki…

Radiohead released Amnesiac on this day 25 years ago. Long cast as Kid A's leftovers collection, the album is actually one of the richest entries in the band's catalog: anxious, beautiful, messy, and full of creative left turns.

A Seven Nation Army can't hold back the incoming DMCA takedown

After numerous artists dropped out of the Great American State Fair, Trump says he’s planning to replace them by appearing himself and giving a speech.

HUGE: Ted Nugent has offered his services for the Great American State Fair

Frankie Valli, 92, has canceled the remainder of his tour dates in 2026 in order "to focus on my health." consequence.net/2026/05/franki…

Donald Trump rarely admits defeat, but he appears to be doing just that after a federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to remove his name. In a lengthy Truth Social post on Friday, the president said he would "transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it." consequence.net/2026/05/trump-…

Vanilla Ice on his decision to play the Great American State Fair: "Music has no political rules. We are entertainers."