Month: August 2020

Longtime Today show weatherman Al Roker has had an eventful 2020. He loves working from home so much that, early on during the pandemic, his wife had to ask him to stop wearing sweatpants. Over the summer, he also released another book, this one a series of stories from his life called You Look So Much Better in Person. More recently, however, Al Roker has had to undergo shoulder replacement surgery, from which he is still recovering.

Before his surgery, however, Roker was making the publicity rounds to promote his book while sharing stories from his life (not unlike the story about the time he pooped his pants at the White House). On Justin Long’s Life Is Short podcast, he told a story about an incident early in his career when he was confronted with racism at work. In this case, the racist incident occurred live on air.

“I had an anchorman who was quote unquote “mugged” by an older homeless black guy,” Roker said on the podcast. “Everyone knew him, and he was fairly harmless. And [the anchorman] wasn’t really mugged. This guy came up and swatted him on the back of the head with a rolled-up newspaper, which is pretty much the same thing that most of us who worked with him wanted to do.”

“Anyway,” Roker continued, “he was married to his co-anchor. And they were about to introduce me live [to do the weather], and he’s about to start, and he says [to Roker], “I don’t know if you know this, but last night, one of ‘your people’ attacked me.’”

Roker was stunned into silence. “Time kind of stands still” after an objectively awful remark like that, Roker said. “And I wonder, do I go after him? Do I ignore him?

“So, I just looked at him, and I said, ‘Doug, why would a weatherman attack you?’”

Well played, Al Roker.

Not only was it a “brilliant deflection” to a racist remark, as Justin Long noted, but according to Roker, “the switchboard lit up. People were livid, and he was suspended and then eventually fired.”

It sounds a lot like what happened to a certain baseball announcer who aired homophobic thoughts this week. Roker, meanwhile, expanded on the incident recently with Yahoo News:

“It was one of those things — it happened, there’s no point in dwelling on it and I kept moving. Listen, there are people who have suffered far greater insults, slights and biases that it’s hard for them to move on because it affected their careers. Doug didn’t affect my career, so I was able to keep moving. But there are others that have had to suffer far greater things. It taught me there are degrees in ways in which you react. I think I reacted in the way it needed to be.”

Interestingly, however, the man who made the racist remark, the late Doug Adair, was a friend of Al Roker, who served as his best man when he married his co-anchor.

Source: Life is Short with Justin Long

Jessie Ware released her shimmering, disco-inspired record What’s Your Pleasure? earlier this year, but that’s not all the singer has been up to. Along with being an acclaimed musician, Ware is the host of food-centric podcast with her mother titled Table Manners. Each episode, Ware and her mom invites a different celebrity to try a homemade dish and chat about their relationship with food. In the podcast’s most recent episode, the two tapped “You’re Beautiful” musician James Blunt, and he shared a story about the time he got scurvy.

Recounting the story, Blunt said he was at a Bristol college in the ’90s studying engineering and sociology when he decided to take on the all-meat diet:

“On the engineering side, there were 170 men and only three girls. And then on the sociology side of things, there were 170 girls and only three boys. All the girls were vegetarian or vegans. So out of principle, I decided I’d become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe some mayonnaise. And it took me about six to eight weeks to get very very unhealthy and see a doctor who then said, ‘I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy.’ [The doctor] said you are really lacking in vitamin C so I took it upon myself to drink a liter of orange juice every night — then I nearly developed acid reflux. So, as you can see, food is not necessarily my forte.”

Listen to Blunt’s full interview on Table Manners With Jessie Ware above.

What’s Your Pleasure? is out now via EMI. Get it here.

Selena Gomez has had a busy year so far. Not only did the singer release her comeback record Rare, but Gomez broke ground on her own beauty company and secured a brand new show on HBO Max. Titled Selena + Chef, Gomez’s new series invites famous chefs into her home kitchen to serve up some creative recipes. Along with featuring seasoned chefs, one of Gomez’s episodes had a cameo by a high-profile star.

In the fourth episode of Selena + Chef, Gomez worked with Korean American chef Roy Choi to learn how to cook his specialty Korean breakfast tacos. Gomez was so proud of the results, she interrupted the episode to show off the tacos to her “best friend,” Taylor Swift. Swift promptly answered the call and was impressed by Gomez’s dish. “If you don’t send me the recipe, we’re gonna have words,” Swift joked. “I want to be served that.”

Ahead of the show’s premiere, Gomez explained how her cooking show came to be: “I’ve always been very vocal about my love of food. I think I’ve been asked hundreds of times in interviews if I had another career, what would I do and I’ve answered that it would be fun to be a chef. I definitely don’t have formal training though! Like many of us while being home I find myself cooking more and experimenting in the kitchen.”

Watch a clip of Taylor Swift’s Selena + Chef cameo above.

See the full Selena + Chef episode on HBO Max here.

Griselda Records rappers Armani Caesar, Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, and Westside Gunn all took to Instagram Wednesday to honor their late producer, DJ Shay who recently passed away. DJ Shay, born Demetrius Chawton Robinson, was a Buffalo-based DJ and producer who worked closely with the local crew in the 2000s, producing and recording with Benny and Conway, calling them “the two best rappers in the world.” Gunn noted in his post that Shay had been diagnosed with COVID-19. He was 48 years old.

The official Griselda Records Instagram also posted a tribute to the late producer. “Your legacy & your impact will transcend the boundaries of time,” it reads. You were the earliest conduit to this thing of ours. LEGENDS NEVER DIE! You are immortalized in our hearts. Rest up King! We love you. And sending out the most sincere condolences to your family during these times.”

Meanwhile, each of Griselda’s main rappers’ posts reflect their personalities to a tee. Gunn’s is wordy and expansive, Conway’s is direct and to-the-point, and Benny’s is typically short and stoic. Keisha Plum, the Buffalo poet who often works with Griselda on their projects, also shared a post, as did teeh page for Benny’s separate label, Black Soprano Family, and fellow Buffalo standout Che Noir. You can see all their tributes below.

Joe Rogan and his mask opposition recently made headlines, given that studies have proven that masks do help stop the spread of Covid-19. However, it’s sure difficult to argue with concerns that he has about authorities approving the release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys. CNN originally reported that residents are understandably peeved, and Rogan agreed while Instagramming that the situation “feels like the opening scene in a horror movie.”

Yep, it totally sounds like a few permutations on The Mist or any number of Stephen King stories. And with Covid-19, people are already making references to The Stand and our current situation, which has gone off the rails in the U.S.

Rogan’s blunt perspective also aided by scientific minds who don’t understand why the state and federal governments are going here, especially since Florida’s dealing with enough already. CNN spoke with Jaydee Hanson, policy director for the International Centre for Technology Assessment and Centre for Food Safety, who is sounding the alarm on why this is such a bad idea:

“With all the urgent crises facing our nation and the State of Florida — the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, climate change — the administration has used tax dollars and government resources for a Jurassic Park experiment.”

Yup, nothing predictable can come of this “pilot project” that the EPA approved as an experiment in halting the Aedes aegypti mosquito species that carries diseases including Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. Whereas the altered mosquito, called OX5034 for Oxitec, the company that created it, will only produce female baby mosquitoes that die before being able to bite anyone.

Baby dinosaurs, baby mosquitoes. Life needs to find a way, and Rogan’s got it right this time… let’s hope someone puts the brakes on this one.

(Via CNN)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

If any song on Burna Boy’s new album, Twice As Tall, can be considered its (and his) mission statement, it’s the fiery “Monsters You Made,” featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Over a riff on Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” indicating Burna’s willingness to wear his influences on his sleeve and court global approval, Burna takes Western colonialism of Africa to task, excoriating the external influences that have exploited the continent and its people for the last several hundred years. “Dem European teachings in my African school,” he barks. “So fuck the classes in school.”

This is a Burna Boy who’s learned a hard lesson in the years since his song “Ye” accidentally went viral and introduced Afro-fusion to the world at large. On the album’s intro, “Level Up (Twice As Tall),” Burna addresses the slight that fuels the album’s more pugnacious tone; “’Cause the Grammys had me feeling sick as fuck,” he laments, “Throwing up and shit / Asking questions like, ‘Why it wasn’t us?’” In a way, Burna’s plight is reflective of the world into which Twice As Tall was born. While news anchors question the methods of protestors as cities worldwide burn, the protestors defiantly fire back with reminders that they already asked nicely.

In hindsight, perhaps that was the point of African Giant, Burna Boy’s initial foray into the Western mainstream with his unapologetic presentation of African-ness. Knowing that his blended Pidgin English and Yoruba lyricism and “exotic”-seeming videos might intimidate or confuse his newly engaged audience, he presented them all to us with a smile and a handshake, a joyful celebration of his ideal of a unified Africa (and by extension, a unified diaspora). Of course, he knew all along what the results might be — but still, he had to try it the easy way first.

Twice As Tall is what happens when the “phone voice” version doesn’t achieve the desired result. It’s the musical equivalent of putting some bass in your tone to remind the audience who the boss is — or should be. Reflecting and perhaps trying to mitigate this new, combative stance, Burna employs a familiar Black American producer to play both diplomat and military advisor. Sean “Diddy” Combs gives American audiences a friendly face to latch onto, but he also spends much of the album rallying behind Burna’s aggressive approach. “Sometimes you’re in a situation where you have no choice,” he warns in the intro. “You have to fight.”

Burna plays with this dynamic throughout the project, showing his American audience his American influences to put them at ease, then baring his teeth — although whether he’s smiling or snarling seems to largely depend on which portion of that audience he’s addressing from track to track. He does the former on the aptly-titled “Naughty Nature,” bringing in the classic rap act for which the track is named in a nod to the first English song he ever memorized word-for-word: Naughty By Nature’s iconic party anthem, “Hip Hop Hooray.” Here, he’s having the time of his life, showing flashes of the easygoing nature that African Giant employed to bridge the cultural gap.

Likewise, on “No Fit Vex,” he expresses “no hard feelings,” as though speaking to an estranged relation… much like the kinship between native Africans and their far removed Black American cousins. But then on tracks like “Monsters You Made” and to a lesser extent, “23”, “Real Life,” and “Bank On It,” he exposes the scars that such a stance requires him to hide. “Bebo,” a slang term meaning something like an untrustworthy leech, could just as easily be a stand-in for the colonial powers Burna spends much of the album lambasting. On “Comma,” he co-opts familiar American slang and flips it, transforming it to side-eye the baggage that comes with the flex. As he explained to Apple Music: “A ‘comma’ the way we would use it to say something but then explain stuff that comes after it as the comma. Like the baggage, or everything else that comes with it that’s not quite right—that’s the comma. So I might say, ‘I’ve got a plan and the money’s gonna come…but there’s [a] comma.’”

In pointing out the commas adjacent to commercial success, Burna subtly reminds listeners that there’s always a dark side to everything they enjoy. In his case, his danceable Afro-fusion isn’t just a new musical craze for them to latch onto for a while — there is a history and a legacy behind it. You can’t engage the art without engaging the artists who make it, and that means a lot of uncomfortable context. You won’t always get it with a smile and a handshake either. Sometimes, those artists find themselves in situations where they have no choice. In those cases, you must be prepared for a fight.

Twice As Tall is out now via Atlantic Records. You can stream or download it here.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the 2020 NBA Draft is not well regarded for its star potential. There will be useful players in this class, but the top end of the lottery is as bereft of surefire stars going in as any year in recent memory. More than one bad team will probably opt to take the perceived safe pick, when in reality, they should swing for the fences. This is in part because what constitutes a “safe pick” in this class is up for debate.

Enter Serbian teenager Aleksej Pokuševski. The first thing you notice about Poku is his incredible fluidity and coordination for someone his size at his age. He’s listed at 7-feet, though there is some anecdotal evidence that he’s a little taller than that now, and given that he turns 19 after Christmas, he’s the youngest player in the entire class. Poku does not have the pedigree or the base statistical profile one would generally associate with a top-10 pick. Only playing in 12 total games in the low-level Greek Second League, Poku was not the dominant scorer in Europe that current superstars Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić were, averaging only 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. His profile is closer to something like what Kristaps Porziņģis’ was, albeit against lesser competition.

As you can probably tell, a more thorough examination of the numbers is where Poku shines. His Per 36 numbers this season are quite good — he averaged 16.7 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.8 blocks. I shouldn’t have to note how uncommon it is for a younger seven footer to average almost five assists per 36, never mind those rebounding and steal/block numbers. The way he gets those assists is even more remarkable, functioning as a legitimate ball handler in transition and in the pick-and-roll. In case you think these numbers are a fluke, bear in mind that they similar to the numbers he had last summer in the Under-18 European Championships: 21.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.1 steals, and 4.8 blocks per 36.

Not to get too numbers heavy but, a 17/18-year-old tallying 57 steals and blocks in about 350 minutes is superhumanly good. The same player also having 117 rebounds, 43 assists, and 27 made threes in that period of time is almost unheard of. Across all of 2019, Poku went for 18.1 points, 11.6 boards, 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 3.4 blocks per 36 minutes. He also had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and a 27-for-73 (.369) mark from deep. It’s not entirely out of the question to ask if any other recent 7-foot prospect has put up numbers like these, so I figured I’d check.

With apologies to Marvin Bagley, here’s everyone ever called a “unicorn” and what their Per 36 numbers looked like in the year before entering the NBA Draft.

What really stands out here is Poku’s rebounding, passing, and defensive playmaking (as well as his miserable overall field goal percentage, which we’ll get into). It’s really not a stretch to say he’s the most multi-faceted big man in recent Draft history. I included Giannis less as a direct comp and more because he’s the only one of these players to also play in the Greek Second League, although Poku was younger.

Is all of this to say Poku will be as good as any of these players in the NBA? Of course not, and that’s especially true with Embiid, Giannis, or Jokic, who are all incredibly strong and well-built players. The biggest reason for that poor field goal percentage inside the arc is Poku’s complete lack of strength in his upper and lower body — he’s listed at a paltry 201 pounds.

Thankfully, Poku has the potential shooting versatility that all these players, save Jackson and Towns, lack. He comes off screens, shoots stepbacks, pulls up in transition, and shoots from either end of a pick and roll. That last one is a particularly rare skill, even in the three and PnR heavy NBA. Here he is isolating at the top of the key, moving to his right, and firing off a contested three. On shots like this, it almost doesn’t matter if it misses, because this sort of thing puts fear into any defense.

Here is Poku spotting up in transition with a quick hitter. This is something you’re likely to see from Seth Curry or Troy Daniels, not a seven footer playing in his first international tournament.

That’s an even more terrifying pull-up. These are just three isolated shot attempts from Poku and only scratch the surface of all the things he can do on the court. Connecting on 37.5 percent of his threes and 77.1 of his free throws are legitimate shooter’s numbers at any age. This isn’t a big man like Deandre Ayton or Embiid taking some open shots at the top of the key. There are questions about Poku playing the 5 in the NBA, but if he’s ever physically able to do so and he takes shots like this, he’s going to break defenses.

That’s really the biggest question about Poku at this point, whether or not he’s ever going to be able to withstand any amount of physicality. Defensively, he’s generally able to use his length and timing to absorb contact from smaller drivers, but even then, against someone like Russell Westbrook, he’ll be toast. The positive is that he’s not afraid of contact, it’s just going to take time. Toni Kukoč or Lamar Odom might be good comparison points for Poku’s NBA future. Kukoč in particular was not physically dominant at all, but was still a matchup nightmare for NBA forwards for the better part of a decade and was one of the best FIBA players of the ’90s as a whole.

A potentially positive trend is Poku’s shot chart at Olympiacos B this season. While his two-point percentage is still pretty miserable (I’d say mostly because of his aggressive shot selection), his percentage at the rim is greatly improved from his FIBA play last summer.

While 20-for-32 isn’t terrific, it at least points to Poku’s good natural touch and, perhaps, a growing sense of propriety in the paint. It would be a good step forward for him to be able to determine when he should and shouldn’t be attacking players that are likely much stronger than he is.

The best evidence I have for Poku being a success in the NBA is his obvious work ethic. He’s been preparing himself to play in the NBA, having learned English and played professional basketball away from his home for years. Comparing his numbers to Giannis’ earlier wasn’t meant to suggest he could ever become the dominant force that the NBA MVP has become. Very few people in human history have had the maniacal drive and work ethic Giannis possesses, but if Poku has even half of the desire to succeed, then it’s hard to argue against him becoming a star in this league.

He’ll likely have to spend a lot of time in whatever the 2020-21 version of the G League looks like, but if you could guarantee me that Aleksej will gain 15 pounds of legitimate muscle, I would probably take him third overall in this draft and take my chances.

Pharrell Williams is set to curate a package of Time magazine cover stories called “The New American Revolution” and will release a new track with Jay-Z in conjunction with it. The cover stories feature a conversation between young athletes Mikey Williams and Naomi Osaka, Kenya Barris in conversation with Tyler The Creator, a 21 Savage essay on financial literacy, and a whole fleet of Black luminaries (including Angela Davis, Barbara Lee, and more) speaking to the issues that most concern America’s future. Time provided a teaser of the song, which releases Friday at midnight.

Pharrell says of the new track, “The intention for a song was all about how tough it is to be an entrepreneur in our country to begin with — especially as someone of color. There’s a lot of systemic disadvantages and purposeful blockages. How can you get a fire started, or even the hope of an ember to start a fire, when you’re starting at disadvantages with regards to health care, education, and representation?”

He also criticizes how those differences have kept Black Americans hamstrung in their pursuit of the same goals as the white majority. “They keep saying the American Dream is about the house and picket fence, the wife and two kids. Come on—let’s be honest. It’s always boiled down to money and an opportunity.”

Time also shared a quote from Jay’s verse, in which he again advocates for supporting Black businesses and critiques the exploitation of Black people’s creativity by mainstream establishments. “Black Twitter, what’s that? When Jack gets paid, do you? / For every one Gucci, support two FUBU’s.”

Listen to a preview of the new track above and stream it in full 8/21 at midnight.

Sylvan Esso, the duo composed working couple Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn, are gearing up for their third release, Free Love. Since the band is issuing an album rollout in an unprecedented time, amidst a global pandemic, they have to come up with innovative ways to keep fans excited for their music. Sylvan Esso was tapped to perform on Full Frontal With Samantha Bee and used a moving pickup truck as their unconventional stage.

Performing their recent single “Ferris Wheel,” Meath and Sanborn hopped in a pickup truck and drove through a meadow. Even though she was jostled around in the car’s moving bed, Meath managed to deliver each lyric from their single with gusto. To conclude the performance with energy, the truck arrived in a clearing surrounded by bursting fireworks.

Ahead of the group’s Full Frontal performance, Sylvan Esso discussed the themes around their upcoming third release:

“It’s a record about being increasingly terrified of the world around you and looking inward to remember all the times when loving other people seemed so easy, so that you can find your way back to that place. This first single, ‘Ferris Wheel,’ is about discovering your power and awkwardly figuring out how to wield it. It’s for the summer, it’s for you, we hope you like it.”

Watch Sylvan Esso perform “Ferris Wheel” on Full Frontal above.

Free Love is out 9/25 via Loma Vista. Pre-order it here.

Miley Cyrus is fresh off the release of a new single, “Midnight Sky.” It’s been a few years since Cyrus’ last full-length album, 2017’s Younger Now, so naturally, amid this flurry of activity, fans are wondering when her next album will come. Well, it looks like it could be a while, as she doesn’t want to put out her new album until she can perform live shows and properly tour behind it.

Cyrus said in a recent interview, “I feel like in this time, this record that I’ve made so far — [for] which I’ve written probably like 20 songs already — […] I really think that the record I made is meant for festivals, for shows, for touring. So for me, I really want to wait until I can perform… my live performances really drive my music. That’s where I thrive: Me and the band. That’s what I would love to see happen in the near future, and I’m a patient person; Even though it may not seem that way, I am pretty patient, so I think I would like to wait until we can get connected to release a whole body of work.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean the well of new music from Cyrus will run dry, though. In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, she said she likes dropping singles: “I really have always enjoyed dropping singles, rather than the full body of work, because it allows you to talk to your fans in real time. It’s like I feel something. I experience it. I write it. I release it. When you write a record, a lot of the time, you’re writing your experiences, and then by the time the record comes out, you’ve evolved past that experience.”