Month: November 2020

When it comes to longevity in rap, few MCs can match the consistency and quality over time that Busta Rhymes has displayed since dropping A Future Without A Past… with Leaders Of The New School in 1991. Seriously, the list is Black Thought, Jay-Z, Nas, and Snoop Dogg — everybody else either fell out of public favor or just hasn’t been around as long. Busta just dropped the sequel to his 1998 concept album E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front and by all accounts, it’s one of his best works yet (even despite my misgivings about it). Bridging the gaps between, not just one or two, but multiple generations of rap is no small feat but Busta handily accomplishes this task and makes it look easy.

In honor of Busta’s unmatched endurance through nearly 30 years of legitimate, groundbreaking, culture-shifting genre hits, we’ve compiled a list of the consensus best Busta Rhymes songs from across his massive catalog. There’s one caveat, though: None of his iconic features are included here because ever since tearing through his star-making verse on A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 posse cut “Scenario,” he’s carved a path of destruction through so many other artists’ catalogs that writing them down would require another whole list (some examples: The Fugees’ 1997 “Rumble In The Jungle,” M.O.P.’s 2001 “Ante Up” remix, DJ Khaled’s 2007 remix of “I’m So Hood,” 2011’s “Look At Me Now,” which introduced Busta to the legions of Chris Brown fans on the latter’s comeback trail, and this year’s Stevie Wonder revival “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate”).

10. “Gimme Some More”

With its eerie string loops, the 1998 lead single from Busta’s third album E.L.E. was an unconventional one at the time. Nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards, the Psycho-sampling cut ironically lost out to a single whose content more closely matched the film: Eminem’s “My Name Is.” Like many of Busta’s early hits, it was accompanied by a cartoony, Hype Williams-directed video, and a beat by DJ Scratch.

9. “Dangerous”

One of Busta’s earlier hits, “Dangerous” appeared on his second album, When Disaster Strikes. Sampling the Extra T’s’ 1982 “E.T. Boogie” and referencing a 1983 Long Island Regional Poison Control Council PSA about prescription drugs, the single is a stern warning to challengers, lightened up by a cheeky video with winking references to both Lethal Weapon and The Last Dragon.

8. “Don’t Touch Me”

A promo single for 2009’s Back On My B.S., “Don’t Touch Me” never actually made it on the album but still made a big splash when it dropped thanks to its surreal video and jazzy backing track. To this day, I have never seen a dance floor remain empty if it finds its way into a DJ’s rotation. While it was a relatively minor hit as far as Busta Rhymes songs go, it remains a beloved favorite due to its cultural connotations — a spot on the NBA Live 09 soundtrack and a number of placements in film and television.

7. “Look Over Your Shoulder”

Busta and Kendrick Lamar. There’s almost nothing else to say here. Two of rap’s great technicians teamed up this year for only their second collaboration ever on Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God. Produced by longtime Busta go-to Nottz and sampling The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There,” Busta somehow managed to keep the track under wraps for almost four years; created it 2016, it leaked in 2018, then again with a different instrumental in 2019. However, the mastered version that found its way onto E.L.E. 2 lost none of its luster as the two MCs trade tyrannical verses reaffirming their utter dominance of the form.

6. “New York Shit”

If you’re from New York, stand up right now. Swizz Beatz’s quirky non-chorus even blasted out of whips in Los Angeles in 2006 as the third single from The Big Bang swept over radio and video, renewing interest in New York rap classics like Diamond D, whose “I Went For Mine” sampled the same song. Legendary NY rappers Q-Tip, Rakim, Slick Rick, and more appeared in the video, while dozens of remixes were created as half the rap game either freestyled over the smooth horns or put on for their own locales.

5. “Break Ya Neck”

The Dr. Dre-produced lead single from Busta’s 2001 fifth studio album Genesis helped kick off his new era after completing his disaster-themed initial run of late-’90s speaker thumpers. As much as it was a departure from what fans had come to expect by then, it was also the single that propelled Busta into the new millennium thanks to it’s buzzy, technological production and a typically exuberant performance from the always high-energy Busta.

4. “Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check”

Busta’s first solo single, “Woo Hah!!” helped propel his debut album The Coming to platinum status in just a year and landed at No. 8 on the Hot 100. Establishing all the tropes Busta would come to be known for in future years, it features an off-kilter melody sampled from Galt MacDermot’s “Space,” a trademark, just-short-of-unhinged performance from Busta, and an absurdist, colorful music video directed by Hype Williams. It’s also a stunning showcase of Busta’s one-of-a-kind flow and rhyme ability, as he maintains each verse’s scheme for all 16 bars without recycling any words.

3. “What’s It Gonna Be?!”

Although Busta is mainly known for aggressive battle raps and hyperactive party rhymes, he’s been known to throw a romantic line or two into his oeuvre. “It’s A Party” was pretty slick in its time and Flipmode Squad’s “I Know What You Want” with Mariah Carey is a classic in its own right. But the definitive smooth jam from
Busta’s catalog is his 1999 duet with Janet Jackson. With both artists at the height of their powers — at the time, at least — Busta and Janet exchange salacious come-ons over an unconventional track that suited both the way Janet’s wardrobe in the groundbreaking video hugged every curve. And the video was what made the song stick in the minds of a generation of hip-hop fans; from the then-state-of-the-art CGI to the suggestive imagery, it’s an unforgettable experience that earned Busta four MTV Video Music Awards nominations in 1999 and was one of the most expensive music videos ever produced.

2. “Pass The Courvoisier, Pt. II”

The fourth single from Genesis was easily the superior of the two “Pass The Courvoisier” cuts, adding Pharrell Williams, a bouncy, Neptunes-produced beat, and featuring Busta and Diddy trading laid-back verses with a back-and-forth flow that highlighted their chemistry and charisma. The video is suitably hilarious, drawing from Harlem Nights and Rush Hour 2 for a star-studded visual that ruled video countdowns when they were still a thing.

1. “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”

The lead single from When Disaster Strikes, this song came along after Busta had been a rap fixture for five-plus years, yet it was also the one that announced that he’d truly arrived. While “Woo-Hah!!” had been a solid hit and “It’s A Party” with Zhane proved he had more to offer than just raucous party raps, “Put Your Hands” was the song that truly sealed Busta’s iconic status thanks to its video riffing on Coming To America. Ironically, though, the song itself never truly charted despite receiving a ridiculous amount of airplay. I distinctly remember tuning into The Box and/or MTV looking specifically for the video and never having to wait too long to see it. Busta was truly robbed at the 1998 Grammys, losing Best Rap Solo Performance to Will Smith for “Gettin’ Jiggy With It.”

Rosie Perez has carved a place for herself in our cultural lexicon – rising through the ranks to earn Oscar and Emmy nominations, to steal screen time from comedy legends like Woody Harrelson, to partner with auteur directors like Spike Lee, and to rewrite the narrative of what Latinas look like on-screen.

She’s still doing that – fighting for more variations of different cultures to truly be seen – and her latest project, HBO Max’s dark, campy, murder-mystery The Flight Attendant is just another example of that. In it, she plays Megan, a friend, and co-worker of star Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie. While Cassie spirals – alcoholism and waking up next to a dead man can spark a mental breakdown in even the best of us – Megan tries to help her friend while managing secrets of her own.

We chatted with Perez about her busy year, contracting COVID while filming her new show, and being brave enough to speak up for what’s right.

How are things in New York right now?

We’re doing the best that we can. Hopefully, people will continue to wear their masks and social distance. It’s tough, but we’re tough, so it’s okay.

I think it’s so funny when there are media reports of people “fleeing the city.”

Real New Yorkers don’t leave.

Exactly.

There was a great COVID flight, I’ll tell you that much. Everybody was asking me, ‘Are you leaving?’ I went, ‘No.’ Been there, done that. It’s not the first emergency type of situation that New York has had to deal with.

You’re one of the famous New Yorkers picked by the MTA to record new announcements for subway riders directing them to mask up. Have you heard yourself on the train yet?

No. If you don’t have to take the train, then you don’t take the train. I’ve had so many of my relatives and close friends send me recordings. I remember my girlfriend, Sony, she was on a bus and I get a text from her saying, “Is this your f*cking voice? I know it’s you.” And I fell out laughing. I called her right back I said, “Sony, it’s me.” She goes, “I knew it!” And she screams on the bus, “It is Rosie Perez!” I was like, “Okay, embarrassing. I’m hanging up now.”

It’s weird to think Birds of Prey landed in theaters this year…

It does blow my mind. There were a lot of blessings, but there’s a lot of hardships. It’s weird, even during the pandemic, I didn’t stop working. I directed an independent film at my house. Ten shorts of people dealing with COVID. That was incredibly hard. And then, I was on the spinoff of Big Mouth. That’s called Human Resources, it’s Nick Kroll’s animated adult series. Very foul, very obscene. I told them, “Thank God, I’m blessed enough to have a walk-in freaking closet in New York.” How many New Yorkers have walk-in freaking closets? And they’re out in LA. They go, “Really?” I go, “Oh, you pampered little thing.” But I turned it into a recording booth, which was weird. All I could do was take all the comforters in the house and nail them all around. I’m sitting on the floor with headphones and looking at my laptop and speaking into a mic that they sent over. And I go, “This is bizarre.” So bizarre, but a blessing. It’s a blessing.

Did COVID interrupt filming for The Flight Attendant too?

We had two and a half more episodes to do. We got shut down in the middle of episode six. I had told everybody, “We’re going to get shut down.” I had contracted COVID when we flew to Bangkok. And at that time, they were saying it’s a new respiratory tract infection. It’s a virus that’s going around. We don’t really know what it is and what it does, but it attacks the respiratory system first and then travels to other parts of your body. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was terrifying. I remember my manager was with me, and I said, “Tarik, don’t let me die in Bangkok.” And he goes, “Oh my God, you’re scaring me.” And the head of the ICU says, “You should be scared, sir. This is serious. We’re going to have to put her in a separate room.” Because it was new. [This] was in December.

Shit.

I remember the doctor saying to me, “The mask that you have on, the mask that I have on, every time you go outside, every time you meet someone wear that mask — not just for you, but to protect them too.” And I haven’t forgotten it. But anyway, we got shut down and it was tough because it was a good gig for a lot of hard-working people. Every single month everyone was asking, “Are we going back? Are we going back? What’s going to happen to the show?” The only person who remained steadfast was Kaley. She kept saying, “Just relax, Rose. We’re going to go back. I know HBO believes in this, just relax.” And then, I said, “You know what, my birthday is coming up, and I always take a week to celebrate.” And I said, “I’m going to do it the last week of August, into the first week of September.” And she said, “I think you should hold off on that because I think we might go back.” And that’s exactly when we went back.

Was that difficult for you, to come back after having COVID?

I was very nervous, but when I got on set, everything was run so efficiently. I was like, “This looks like the movie, Contagion.” It was bizarre. Standing in line for the COVID test, having hair and makeup with the goggles and the face masks, and then the face shields and the blue emergency room gowns. They took every precaution possible. They were really professional about it, real champs, and put everyone at ease. But it was hard. On my last day, I was so emotional. I turned and I looked and Kaley was crying and she hugged the back of me and we were not supposed to do that. And I just turned around and I hugged her. We were both so emotional, I said, ‘Thank you, Kaley. Thank you for convincing me to do this show. I cannot believe how much fun and how much satisfaction I got from this. Thank you.”

Did it make getting back into the headspace of your character more challenging?

I would say that it was easy to be Megan again. [It’s about] maintenance, keeping a humongous secret and living a double life, and nobody knows about it, except her. I told the director, “I know how to hide my anxieties very well.” I said, “I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, and I want to bring that to Megan.” So, the anxiety that COVID brought all of us, it was so easy to slip right back into Megan, because it was later on in the series too, when everything becomes heightened. So, it was easy. What wasn’t easy? Waiting for the COVID results. Every single day, you go to work, we had to get tested — even the days we weren’t working. So, that was stressful.

You don’t like to travel.

I detest flying.

Has this show helped with that?

No.

You wouldn’t make a good flight attendant then?

No. Are you kidding? I would be the worst flight attendant on this planet. That’s initially why I turned the offer down, simply because of the travel. I just hate it. I hate everything about it. I remember the first time I traveled abroad ever; I was a choreographer. It was my first flight to Heathrow airport, and I got pulled over and had to get body checked. They thought I was a fucking mule, carrying drugs.

I’m sorry, what?

It was like, “Hello, check your racism.” Here’s this Puerto Rican kid from Bushwick, wearing overalls and combat boots in first class. At that time, that wasn’t the norm. So they thought, ‘She must be a mule,’ which is so stupid. If I were a mule, I would be in coach, trying to play it off, trying not to be noticed. So, it’s not just flying. It’s everything because that, going through security and having to be put in a room with drug task enforcement, telling me to take off my clothes — I never got over it. To this day, every time I’m going through customs, I go, “They’re going to pull me over.” And then my manager, Tarik, is freaking Lebanese and Palestinian. I’m like, “Why the hell did I bring you? They’re going to pull us both over!” (Laughs)

It’s good that you can laugh about it now, but that same prejudice is something you’ve been dealing with in Hollywood your whole career. Did you have to fight to make sure you weren’t typecast?

After Do The Right Thing — because that was a predominantly all-black crew — you step out of that and you get into the real Hollywood and you’re like, “Holy crap.” And from day one, I was like, “There’s a lot of racism going on here.” And everyone was telling me to be quiet, specifically the Latino community. And I was like, “No, I’m not going to be quiet. Why aren’t you upset?”

I remember, they took me out for lunch, saying, “Don’t rock the boat. A lot of people worked hard for what we have now.” I said, “What we have now, are you kidding me? There are maybe three or four of us that are doing well, not having stupid roles being thrown at us. No, I’m not satisfied.” It hurt me in the beginning, to be quite honest. It turned a lot of people off because I was holding up a mirror and they didn’t like what they saw. So they just wanted to push me aside. And I just kept fighting for it. When I saw the change – the first one was Raul Julia. He came up to me, and he’s a God, right?

Obviously.

And he said, “F*** them.” I went, “Excuse me, sir?” He said, “F*** them. I didn’t lose my accent. Don’t lose your accent. F*** them. They need to change, not you. I love what you’re doing. I see what you’re doing, keep going.” And I remember, I just fell into tears. He was the first one, the first one.

And then a couple of years later, here’s this hot, young, rising star, Salma Hayek. She came up to me, she goes, “Hello. I always wanted to meet you. You opened the doors for us.” And I went, “Who?” And she said, “You!” It didn’t even dawn on me. I remember just looking at her and she was with Edward Norton and he goes, “Are you okay?” And I shake my head and she goes, “Why? What you do is so amazing. It gave me courage.” And I said, “Wow. I will never forget this moment. Thank you so much.”

That had to feel good.

I’ve been fighting and I’m still fighting. The fight has changed because I have changed. I do it in a much more mature way, but the fire hasn’t dampened a bit. Things are changing and that’s fantastic. But you know what, there have been ages of this. I’ve seen it before. In the nineties, they got the Latino explosion, and then it went away. You know what I mean? It comes and it goes, but I hope this time it sticks. I really do. The Flight Attendant is fantastic for it, because the level of respect that they offered to everybody on set was immense, with a diverse cast and a diverse crew. This is a good sign, but it’s not enough, to be honest. It’s still not enough. It’s still not equal. I won’t stop fighting until it is. I paid the price, yes, but the ones before me paid even a greater price, and it will continue.

What does “equal” look like to you?

When we get the same opportunities that everybody else gets because that’s what discrimination means — when the playing field is not equal because of somebody’s stupidity, someone’s bigotry. I have an arts-integrated charity for K-12. I developed a model for our charity and I said, “What separates a privileged child from an underprivileged child is opportunity.” That’s it. You give a kid that opportunity, they will rise to the occasion every time. I’ve seen it. It’s the same thing with Hollywood. If we get equal opportunity, we get the starring roles and not just roles about poor downtrodden, ‘I’m struggling because I’m of color’ bullshit.

Those stories are necessary, and I’m not taking away any of that because there are people who have those lives. We can’t say their lives don’t matter because they do. But that’s not the totality of who we are. We’re human beings, that happened to be Latino, that happened to be African-American, that happened to be Asian American. We’re not just one thing. We don’t have just one story to tell. In my career, I’ve been very fortunate to have certain opportunities. But, honey-child, let me tell you, I fought for every single thing I’ve gotten. I’ve turned down a heck of a lot of work, and it’s hard. I want to be honest in that way because if someone, who’s younger than me happens to read this, I want them to know, it does hurt. You’re not weird. You’re not weak. It’s not any of that, because a slap in the face stings every single time, regardless of who’s delivering it.

Speaking of representation, would you be down for a Birds of Prey sequel?

I mean, if it happens, sure. When you said that, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Oh my God, I have to lose weight and get in shape again.” Hopefully, there won’t be any ageist type of jokes in it as well. Having me called “grandma.” That was the only thing, I was like, “Really guys? Really?” I was like, “Would you have the nerve to say that to Helen Mirren, in her 50 million action movies?”

Absolutely not.

It is what it is, but you have to take the chance, be brave enough to call it out and be ready for the consequences. I have been and I will be.

‘The Flight Attendant’ is now available to stream via HBO and HBO Max.

Snoop Dogg has one of the most distinctive voices in hip-hop, so it’s only natural that fans react when he branches out from music. His sports commentary is already quickly becoming the stuff of legends, as his quick wit and way with words translate to some hilariously memorable quotes delivered in his signature smooth drawl. Lending his talents to Saturday night’s exhibition bout between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr., Snoop’s play-by-play was less “pompous analyst” and more “YouTube comment minus the obnoxious trolling.”

During the bout, Snoop’s sharp observations included cracks like “This shit like two of my uncles fighting at the barbecue” and advice to the fighters. “Get up in there, then, Roy!” he counseled, to the delighted amusement of fans on social media. He even broke out into a hymn when undercard fighter Jake Paul knocked his opponent Nate Robinson to the mat. “Lord, take my hand,” he crooned. “Lead me on. Let me stand.”

Sports fans took note, praising Snoop’s commentary and recommending him for future events. That’s a sharp turn from a few years ago when UFC fighters demanded Snoop be removed for cracking jokes on them during broadcasts and more in line with the reactions from EA adding Snoop’s commentary to NHL 20.

Fear the Walking Dead has had a monumental creative resurgence in 2020, as the struggling show finally found its stride in its sixth season. There’s a lot of reasons for that success, not least of which is Lennie James, whose character has been reborn and has finally become the true lead of the zombie spinoff series.

Lennie James, of course, is the only character in The Walking Dead universe that remains from the pilot episode (although, James disappeared from the series for the better part of four seasons). He is a veteran actor who has been in the business since the early 1990s, although until The Walking Dead, he was best known in America for his role in the cult favorite, Jericho, a recurring role in Showtime’s Hung, and as a co-lead along with Mark Strong in a grim detective show, Low Winter Sun, that never took off on AMC.

James, however, has been a constant presence on British television for three decades, and despite his work on Fear over the last several years, he’s also managed to write, create, and star in a Briitish series called Save Me. The first six-episode season of the series premiered in the UK in early 2018 to stellar reviews, which led to a second season renewal that premiered in April of this year.

Because of the pandemic, and a shortage of new content in all these new streaming networks, Peacock — the Universal/NBC streamer — licensed the rights to the series and began re-airing it last month. I’m a huge fan of The Walking Dead universe, but not exactly the type that will follow stars of the series to all of their other projects, except in the rarest of cases. Lennie James is just such a case, because — like Danai Guria, Michael Cudlitz, and Jon Bernthal — he’s always stood out in The Walking Dead universe as someone who could truly excel outside of the series.

Save Me puts his talents as both an actor and a writer on full display. In it, James plays Nelly, a likable barfly whose life hasn’t amounted to much. He doesn’t have a home of his own, but he does have two girlfriends, and it’s a testament to how charming Nelly is that (when they find out he’s teen two-timing them) neither can bring herself to hate him, exactly (in fact, one of those girlfriends begrudgingly continues her relationship with him).

In the meantime, Nelly also has an ex-wife, Claire (Suranne Jones), with whom he had a child, Jody (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), 16 years prior. Jody decides one day to track down her father so that she can meet him, but en route, Jody is abducted. The chief story centers on the mystery surrounding Jody’s disappearance. Nelly is initially the prime suspect, though it soon becomes apparent that he was not involved. Despite having no relationship with his daughter, however, Nelly finally finds purpose in endeavoring to save her. His investigation runs parallel to the police investigation, and it entails digging into the lives of some of his shady mates at his local pub, because it is apparent early on that whoever abducted Jody knew a lot about Nelly, because he or she used their knowledge of Nelly to lure out Jody.

It’s an intense series, but not altogether bleak, like so many other British mystery shows. Much of that is due to the acting talents of James, who the audience continues to root for, in spite of the fact that he’s a deadbeat cad. The series also features a lot of great British character actors, some of whom are familiar to American audiences, like Kerry Godliman, Stephen Graham, and Lesley Manville.

Save Me, which is two seasons (12 episodes in all) long, is a compelling mystery, but it’s also an entertaining and high-stakes character-driven redemption arc for James’ character. It’s better even than Fear the Walking Dead, and while that might not have meant much in its first five seasons, that’s surprisingly high praise, given how improved the AMC series has been this year.

‘Save Me’ currently streams on Peacock, alongside two lesser British imports, Departure and Capture.

Since ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premiered in 1999, 14 people have become a millionaire, but only one “celebrity.” (The John Carpenter who was the show’s earliest million dollar-winner is not that John Carpenter.) Chef David Chang became the first celebrity contestant to have ever won the top $1 million prize during Sunday’s episode after correctly answering the following question: “Although he and his wife never touched a light switch for fear of being shocked, who was the first president to have electricity in the White House?” The Momofuku founder was stumped, but luckily his phone-a-friend, journalist Mina Kimes, correctly told him that it was Benjamin Harrison.

“I was so full of adrenaline, I just decided to go for it,” Chang told USA Today about getting to the final question in the episode, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (it’s still weird not seeing the late Regis Philbin hosting Millionaire). “In that moment, I was like, ‘Worst-case scenario it’s $32,000, and then I’m a laughingstock because half a million dollars for charity is huge.’ And I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to lose that $468,000,’ and I remember thinking, ‘That would be terrible. But I like to gamble, and I started to play it out in my head.” Chang was playing for the Southern Smoke Foundation, which raises funds for those in the food and beverage community. He continued, “We are in such a bad shape that half a million dollars isn’t enough – and neither is a million dollars – but I wanted to put emphasis on it and raise awareness of the problem, so it was worth the chance.”

You can watch Chang, Kimes, and, uh, Harrison’s moment of triumph above.

Ask any hypebeast which exact pair of shoes they visualize when they hear the word “sneakers” and there’s a very good chance it’ll be hightop Air Jordan 1s (probably in the famed OG Chicago colorway). Debuting on the court in ’84 and released to the general public 35 years ago on April 1, 1985, the Jordan 1s single-handedly created sneaker culture. That’s no exaggeration. Must-cop colorways, store exclusives, a robust aftermarket with jaw-dropping prices… it all started here, with this sneaker silhouette.

The Air Jordan 1 also set up the foundation that the Air Jordan line would build itself upon for decades to come. Even if it isn’t your personal favorite Jordan, there’s no doubt the familiar shoe is in your top five.

While the Jordan line would go on to be dominated by the innovative and still futuristic-looking designs of Tinker Hatfield, it was Nike’s first creative director, Peter Moore, who was the chief architect of this debut pair. Today, in celebration of the shoe that started it all, we’ve assembled a chronological look at the greatest Air Jordan 1 colorways in the sneaker’s 35-year history.

Let’s jump in!

Air Jordan 1 Royal Blue, 1985

The very first colorway released to the public, the Air Jordan 1 Royal Blue was Michael Jordan’s personal favorite. Despite not being his team colors, Jordan wore this blue and black colorway in an early ad campaign shot by famed sports photographer Chuck Kuhn.

The image of Jordan wearing Royal Blues in a matching sweatsuit on a remote Oregon airstrip at sunset is as iconic a visual as the very sneaker it’s advertising.

Air Jordan 1 Black Toe, 1985

One of the debut AJ-1 colorways, the Black Toe remains one of the sneaker’s most iconic and beloved designs. Though hardly worn by Jordan himself on the court, it was the Black Toe that MJ was rocking during the photoshoot that would inspire the now iconic Jumpman logo. For that reason alone, it’ll always be one of the greatest Jordan colorways ever.

The Black Toe has since been re-released in 2013 and again in 2016, which means we’re due for a refresh any day now.

Air Jordan 1 BRED/Banned, 1985

The BRED or Banned colorway of the Air Jordan 1 is the only sneaker that could be classified as “badass.” This Chicago Bulls-inspired colorway was famously banned for violating NBA league dress regulations, resulting in a $5,000 fine per game every time Jordan rocked a pair.

He did it anyway and Nike gladly foot the bill (or… so the story goes).

Air Jordan 1 UNC/Carolina Blue, 1985

Not quite as rare as some of the other first-year colorways, the UNC remains one of the prettiest pairs of Air Jordan 1s. Made in tribute to the college colors of Jordan’s alma mater, The University of North Carolina, the UNC pulls together shades of Carolina Blue and white across an all leather upper.

The look of a cloud is a perfect fit for someone nicknamed “His Airness.”

Air Jordan 1 Shadow, 1985

It’s easy to forget given the insane popularity of the BRED and Royal Blue colorways that the AJ-1’s debut year also produced a fifth classic colorway, the moody black and grey Shadow. While it doesn’t get the same amount of ink spilled over it as those other classics, it’s still, 35 years later, the cleanest the Air Jordan has ever looked.

Air Jordan 1 High Chicago, 1986

To correct the controversy surrounding the BRED, Nike released this league-approved red, white, and black colorway which quickly became emblematic of the AJ-1 itself. If sneakerheads picture the Air Jordan 1 when they heard the word “sneakers,” then this is the colorway they see it in.

The Chicago, or Varsity Red (as it’s now known), has been re-released several times, and it’s the colorway Virgil Abloh based his updated take on the AJ-1 on from his now-classic “The Ten” collection.

Air Jordan 1 Retro Japan Pack, 2001

Nike Japan has a track record of producing some of the brand’s greatest colorways, and that trend started with this four sneaker release. The full Japan pack consisted of Metallic Silver/Neutral Grey, White/Midnight Navy, Black Metallic Silver, and White Metallic silver colorways, with some pairs featuring reflective 3M detailing.

Each sneaker from the collection released in a limited edition suitcase, which was a puzzling move, but hey, who wouldn’t want to keep one of these pairs in a hard-shell under lock and key?

Air Jordan 1 Patent Leather, 2003/2013/2020

It’s rare that a mid-rise Jordan 1 colorway ever edges into legendary status, but this patent leather iteration of the AJ-1 is impossible to ignore. We mean literally, how can you not see this sneaker when it reflects any light source directly into your eyes?

These feel a little dated by 2020’s standards, but this black and gold colorway remains popular to this day, with a recent re-release in high-top form. The newest iteration is a huge improvement over the original, but we have to shout out the design that started the patent leather look, so we’re showcasing the mid-rise.

Air Jordan 1 XQ, 2007/2013

Sometimes sneaker brands will do things that seem to go against reason. Surely, Nike loves to make money, why then has there only been one refresh of the China-exclusive XQ colorway? This pair remains one of the most unique in the AJ-1s history, thanks to its star-speckled embossed leather paneling, and unique line detailing.

The sneaker serves as a reminder that Nike is at its best when the brand is playing loose with their design template.

Levi’s x Nike Air Jordan 1 23/501 Denim Retro, 2008

As part of their first brand collaboration, Levi’s and Nike offered up new takes on their two most iconic products, the Air Jordan 1 and Levi’s 501 jean. Sure, nobody remembers what that pair of pants looked like, but the image of the corresponding sneaker will be burned into every Air Jordan 1 fan’s memory for as long as people keep making lists of the best Air Jordan 1s.

Sporting a denim and leather upper, the 23/501s featured red paneling and a denim iteration of Nike’s famous elephant print.

Air Jordan 1 HARE, 2009

Sneakerheads rarely go crazy for cartoon sneaker tie-ins but the HARE Jordan 1 — inspired by the Air Jordan 7 colorway of the same name — has managed to carve out a space amongst even the most fashion-obsessed of hypebeasts. That’s probably because this neutral grey on pristine white colorway with red accents manages to look so dope.

On paper swapping out the iconic Jumpman logo for Bugs Bunny sounds like a stupid idea but in practice? Fresh as hell. The HARE colorway has been used on several Air Jordans to date, and it always looks fresh.

Air Jordan 1 High Strap A Tribe Called Quest, 2009

We debated not even including this pair on this list as only 25 pairs were initially released, but this A Tribe Called Quest-celebrating design — which uses Tribe’s “Midnight Marauders” as inspiration — is just too unique to ignore.

First, there is that black on red on green colorway that is so representative of Tribe, and then there is that strap, a definite anomaly in the Jordan 1 lineage and one we’d like to see a lot more of going forward.

Fragment Design x Air Jordan 1, 2014

Famed streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara had a simple recipe for this Fragment Design Jordan 1: take two of the shoe’s greatest colorways, the Black Toe and Royal, and mash them together, giving us the Fragment Design Air Jordan 1.

It could be argued that Fujiwara’s design even improves upon those original colorways. In fact, we’ll say that right here, right now.

Just Don X Air Jordan 1 High Strap BHM, 2013

Released in celebration of Black History Month to benefit the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America charity, this black and orange pair designed by legendary Chicago streetwear designed Don C features a high top strap and a premium snakeskin inspired leather upper.

It doesn’t look too much like an AJ-1, but it definitely looks fresh.

Air Jordan 1 High Legends of Summer Pack, 2014

Here is the thing about the Legends of Summer — I happen to think they’re some of the ugliest Jordan 1s ever. Why are they are on this list then? Because all three pairs, the red, the black, and the red and white sell for, easily, above $5K on the aftermarket.

While I don’t think an expensive shoe necessarily makes for a great shoe, to deny the popularity of this pack — which dropped to a limited few in commemoration of Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z’s Legends of Summer tour — would be to ignore a part of Jordan 1 sneaker history.

Air Jordan 1 Shattered Backboard, 2015

2015’s starfish orange on black and sail colorway, known simply as the “Shattered Backboard” is a modern classic. The Shattered Backboard gets its name and colors from an exhibition game in Italy during Jordan’s rookie year. Wearing an orange, black, and white uniform, Jordan dunked so hard he shattered the backboard, creating history in the process.

30 years later, it would lead to one of the AJ-1’s greatest colorways.

Air Jordan 1 Letterman

Released 30 years after his first appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, this pair of AJ-1s combined Light Crimson and Midnight Navy to create a colorway inspired by the jumpsuit Jordan wore on his first-ever late night tv appearance.

It’s a weird moment to commemorate, but hey, we’re not complaining. We’ll take 10 pairs.

Air Jordan 1 Igloo, 2017

If the aforementioned Jordan 1 UNC is the sneaker’s prettiest colorway, the Igloo is a close second. Released as an Art Basel exclusive, this mint, black, and white colorway sought to capture the look and feel of Miami’s South Beach waterfront.

Did it succeed? Who cares, it made for a dope-as-hell sneaker.

Off-White x Air Jordan 1 The Ten, 2017

With this ranking, this will now be the third time we’ve written about this Chicago inspired colorway from Virgil Abloh’s “The Ten” collection. What more can we say about this shoe that we haven’t already? If we had to choose a single sneaker to be representative of Abloh’s entire 10 shoe debut Nike collection, it would be this one.

This design could go on the cover of an entire book about Abloh’s contribution to footwear, and nobody would bat an eye, even Abloh himself.

Union x Air Jordan 1 Black Toe/Storm Blue, 2018

Los Angeles-based retailer Union has made a handful of Air Jordans and each one of them is a certifiable classic. For their first collaboration, Union took on the AJ-1 and dropped two iterations consisting of the colors of four classic colorways, stitched together with deconstruction inspired zig-zag stitching and sitting atop pre-yellowed soles.

SoleFly x Jordan 1 High Art Basel, 2018

Another Art Basel Miami exclusive — this time in collaboration with SoleFly — this high top Jordan 1 dropped in a leather and shiny patent leather version, both featuring a University of Miami inspired color combo of orange, white and green.

Air Jordan 1 High Origin Story Spider-Man, 2018

It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that we’re saying this but, Miles Morales is the coolest Spider-Man ever. Peter Parker never rocked a pair of Nikes, and this Chicago-inspired colorway worn by Morales in animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse remains the coolest pair of sneakers a superhero has ever rocked.

A Spider-inspired smash of blue and reflective details set this apart from this familiar AJ-1 color palette.

Air Jordan 1 Pine Green Retro High, 2018

An expansion of Jordan Brand’s Black Toe line, the Pine Green features a black on sail colorway with a Pine Green toe box. It’s a simple-but-striking colorway that acts as a reminder that the Air Jordan 1s debut colorways still play a major part in influencing future designs.

Travis Scott Jordan 1 High Cactus Jack, 2019

Travis Scott has produced a lot of solid designs out of his Cactus Jack label but has yet to surpass the perfection that is the Cactus Jack Jordan 1. Featuring a backward swoosh with coffee-colored suede paneling over a white sail upper, the Cactus Jack, alongside the Union LA and “The Ten” AJ-1, will go down as the colorway that kept this iconic silhouette relevant to a new generation of sneakerheads.

Off-White Jordan 1 High White, 2020

We don’t know if Virgil Abloh will ever design an Air Jordan 1 that reaches the same popularity as his Chicago inspired colorway from “The Ten,” but this all-white iteration is pretty damn close.

Released in March of this year, this iteration of the AJ-1 sold out nearly instantly and still reaches prices as high as $2K on the aftermarket. The design is simple, consisting of deconstructed white leather paneling, mesh, and blue and orange threading that adds a striking yet minimal splash of color. Truly Abloh and the AJ-1 at their best.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Taylor Swift offer up new sessions for her Folklore tunes, a new Miley album, and Bad Bunny surprise fans. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Miley Cyrus — Plastic Hearts

Miley Cyrus has spent her new album’s promotional cycle telling anybody who would listen that she likes rock music and that it had a big influence on her new album. Indeed, that is clear on the album itself: “Midnight Sky” borrows from a Stevie Nicks (who features on a remix of the song) classic, and Joan Jett and Billy Idol make appearances, as does Dua Lipa.

Bad Bunny — El Último Tour Del Mundo

Bad Bunny was already in the conversation about the year’s best albums with YHLQMDLG, but instead of resting on that laurel, he went ahead and pumped out another record. It doesn’t sound quite like his previous music, because, since he recorded it during the pandemic, it was made during unfamiliar circumstances, which he seemingly decided to embrace aesthetically.

Lil Wayne — No Ceilings 3

Wayne’s No Ceilings mixtapes are legendary among his fans, and he continued the series last week with a new installment. The fresh collection nostalgically dropped on DatPiff and it’s headlined by a new Drake collab, “BB King Freestyle.”

Phoebe Bridgers — “If We Make It Through December”

Bridgers puts out a new holiday song around the end of every year, a tradition that she carried into 2020. This time, she opted to bust out a haunting cover of Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December,” on which she is joined by frequent collaborator Ethan Gruska on piano.

Juicy J — The Hustle Continues

Juicy J has been hustling with his solo career for the past decade-plus, and on his latest album, that process continues. For the effort, he is joined by an all-star roster of guests that includes Logic, 2 Chainz, Megan Thee Stallion, and Ty Dolla Sign, among others.

Taylor Swift — Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions

Less than a week ago, Taylor Swift revealed that she and Folklore collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff hunkered down and recorded a live concert film. That premiered on Disney+ last week, but what she didn’t reveal in advance is that she would also share the audio as a live album, which hit streaming services as the film debuted.

Lil Yachty — Lil Boat 3.5

Less and less time passes between standard edition albums and their deluxe counterparts these days, but Lil Yachty has a more traditional-style expanded effort on his hands. Lil Boat 3.5 adds a solid EP’s worth of new material that adds collaborations with Oliver Tree, Vince Staples, Playboi Carti, and Lil Baby.

King Princess — “Pain”

King Princess established herself as a pop superstar in the making last year with Cheap Queen, and recent activity suggest her debut album’s follow-up may soon be on the way. Last week, she dropped her second single of 2020, “Pain,” which she called “probably my favorite song I’ve ever written.”

Saint Jhn — “Smack DVD” Feat. Kanye West

Saint Jhn got a feature from Kanye West on his latest, “Smack DVD,” but ‘Ye didn’t have as much input on the track’s video. In the visual, Jhn playfully addresses the fact that he didn’t run the clip by Kanye, who may not have loved the stripper-filled video given his newfound piety.

Rina Sawayama — “Lucid”

People living through 2020 could use some encouragement, and that’s what Sawayama aimed to provide on “Lucid.” She said of the track, “2020’s been a tough year so I wanted to finish it off with a dance bop to take us into a more hopeful 2021.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It’s not uncommon to see popular songs that are under three minutes in length. The original version of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (without Billy Ray Cyrus) for example, is actually under two minutes long. London-based label PLZ Make It Ruins has taken brevity to the next level with its new compilation, though, which features a slew of loops that are all just 1.8 seconds long.

PLZ Make It Ruins Presents Locked Grooves is set to be released on December 4, and proceeds will be split between the ACLU and Liberty UK. Artists represented on the tracklist include Arca, Blood Orange, Clairo, Dominic Fike, Four Tet, Haim, Kenny Beats, Mura Masa, Octo Octa, Porches, and Skrillex.

Listen to 100 Gecs’ contribution, “One Bar To Rule Them All,” above and find the PLZ Make It Ruins Presents Locked Grooves tracklist below.

SIDE A
1. 100 Gecs — “One Bar To Rule Them All”
2. Arca — “UwU”
3. ARTHUR — “rest_less”
4. Blood Orange — “MORRIS”
5. Buddy Ross — “Future”
6. Channel Tres — “Locked In”
7. Clairo — “Jasper”
8. Daniel Aged — “3 pictures”
9. Dijon — “PEACKOCK!”
10. Dominic Fike — “Cheesy Wine”
11. Duval Timothy — “Penny Sweet”
12. Eris Drew — “The Beat That Never Dies”
13. Floating Points — “Recourting”
14. Four Tet — “If You Spin Your Love Around”
15. Haim — “I Know Alone”
16. John Glacier — “Shiny Sounds”
17. Kelsey Lu — “Only”
18. Kelvin Krash — “Guardian Angel”
19. Kenny Beats — “dontoverthinkshit”
20. King Krule — “Moonnn”

SIDE B
1. Lauren Auder — “Thorn”
2. Loraine James — “Sooth”
3. Matthew Tavares — “I Know Myself”
4. Mica Levi — “”
5. Mk.Gee — “LL6 +50c”
6. Mura Masa — “Reassurance Loop”
7. object blue — “print sprint”
8. Octo Octa — “My Heart”
9. Oli XL — “Puppet”
10. OTTO — “Mr. Bilberry Badger’s Ringtone”
11. Overmono — “5 More Years Loop”
12. Porches — “:*)”
13. Raveena — “Heartbeat Blip””
14. Romil Hemnani — “rope”
15. Shygirl — “Shy Tag”
16. Skrillex — “Italian Sushi”
17. tn_490 — “Plus four runner”
18. Vegyn — “Circle”
19. Yawning Portal — “Lovely Poison in a Jade Wine Cup”
20. Zsela — “Liza”

Despite her husband losing the 2020 presidential election, Melania Trump has been hard at work on this year’s White House Christmas display. We also know that the first lady hated every minute of it, thanks to the infamous “Melania Tapes” that revealed her true feelings about her yuletide duties. Released in the fall, the recordings were made by Melania’s former best friend and senior advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The tapes showed a first lady who disliked not only managing the Christmas decorations, but also being asked about children in cages. It was not great. Via CNN:

“I’m working … my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*ck about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”

She continued, “OK, and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated?’ Give me a f*cking break. Where they were saying anything when Obama did that?

Now, here’s a reveal of the 2020 White House Christmas display.

It appears to be a step up from years past, particularly the dreaded 2018 blood tree display that looked like it came straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. (Perhaps a subtle foreshadowing of Amy Coney Barret’s Supreme Court nomination?) However, the internet isn’t about to let the first lady live down her “Bah Humbug” remarks, and the comments have been going to town on this year’s Christmas video.

(Via Melania Trump on Twitter)

The Fargo Frozen Five is Uproxx’s weekly collection of thoughts, observations, and goofball screencaps from each new episode of the FX limited series’ fourth season. We do not guarantee that there will be five items every week. There could be four, or six, or a dozen. Who knows? This show doesn’t follow the rules. We shouldn’t have to either.

Episode 11 — “Storia Americana” (or “Josto And Loy And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”)

5a. I think we all knew Josto Fadda was not making it out of this season alive. There was just no conceivable combination of events that could have let him survive. There were two primary reasons for this: One, major characters who are involved in crime rarely survive a season of Fargo; two, he was a mouthy little self-important weasel who was obsessed with acquiring/maintaining power and he talked down to anyone he perceived as beneath him (so… everyone), and those types of characters rarely survive any show, with Pete Campbell from Mad Men being the most notable exception. Still, I did not have “double-crossed by his consigliere and framed for killing his father and brother and dumped in a dirt pit with a hole in his head next to the serial killer who actually did murder his father and later gave him a tugjob in the car while humming ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’” I think the real problem here isn’t so much a lack of imagination on my part as it is a lack of imagination on the show’s part. This is a show that, as recently as two episodes ago, sucked up a killer in a black-and-white tornado and launched him into the heavens. In the next episode, my sweet hefty prince Gaetano tripped and blew off 45 percent of his head with his own gun. Compared to those, Josto’s demise felt… normal. Straightforward. Perfectly explainable. Which is fine — ideal, even — for another show that traffics in straightforward, sensible answers. For Fargo, a show that does not do that, the normalcy of it felt weird and a little unfulfilling. In any event, rest in peace you little creep.

5b. Big shoutout to Doctor Harvard, the pretentious hospital administrator who survived Oraetta’s strychnine macaroons and fingered her for her litany of crimes, for tossing together the phrase “the wolf in sheep’s clothing had me bamboozled” as one of his last acts as a living person, just before he got bonked unconscious and filled with bullets by Josto.

5c. Shoutout to Josto, too, I guess, for the dramatic flair he displayed in killing off the doctor and his fiancée’s politician father. Is “flicking a cigarette into a pool of gasoline and then walking away from the explosion it eventually causes” a bit of a trope? Yes, sure, it happens a lot. But it happens a lot because it looks cool as hell. Fine by me. Do it in every show. Let Ted Lasso blow up some stuff. See what I care.

4. Loy Cannon didn’t make it out alive either, which surprised me for reasons I should have disregarded. Why did it surprise me that Zelmare Roulette knifed him on his porch as retribution for his hit on Swanee? I absolutely should have seen that coming, even after the show brought Satchel back home alive (more on this in a minute), and even after Ebal screwed him out of half his business in a move that winked at both how immigrants who assimilate as white have taken from those who can’t as long as America has existed and how huge corporations pushed out small businesses on every Main Street in America. It was a tough season for Loy. He thought his son died, his best friend did die, his plan to invent the credit industry got yoinked by Diner’s Club, and then he got hoodwinked by the guy he helped put in power at the top of the rival organization in town. Maybe that’s why I thought he would survive, because the show had been taking things from him all season. But again, I should have pushed that thought away. Fargo isn’t big on moral victories. And Loy was a loansharking criminal who preyed on the weak. This was bound to happen. It still made me a little sad. I don’t know.

4b. It was nice that Zelmare got the final word regarding Swanee but I can’t help but feel like the show wasted what was generally a very fun character. She and Swanee were a hoot, especially Swanee, and I wonder if the show bit off so much at the start that it couldn’t service all of its characters even as it thinned the herd via murder. There might have been just too much going on. It’s a shame for a bunch of reasons but one of the bigger reasons is that Zelmare and Swanee could have been a whole show.

4c. Do we got oranges scattered about the scene of a dead mob boss as a younger relative looks on in sadness and confusion like we up and transported into The Godfather? Baby, you know we do.

3. If we’re running down characters of note who ended the season somewhat less than alive, then I suppose we should also say goodnight to Oraetta Mayflower, the Minnesota-nice nurse who loved baking and vigorous sexual escapades almost as much as she loved murdering people. She really did love murdering people. She loved it so much. She even loved watching people get murdered by someone else, which we discovered in her last moments when she asked if Joe Bulo could shoot Josto first so she could watch and then smiled like a freak as Josto’s brain juice got soaked up by the dirt. Probably best for the hospital patients of the Midwest that she’s gone, but she was kind of fun (I mean, as far as mentally disturbed Angels of Death go), so… No, let’s not talk ourselves into looking at a murderess who collected tokens of her victims and stole drugs from the hospital with rose-colored glasses. It’s definitely a good thing she’s in that hole.

2a. While I think I would have appreciated young Satchel Cannon roaming the streets alone with his doggy friend and pulling guns on various yokels that cross him like a little independent renegade, I cannot argue with the look of overwhelming happiness and relief on Mama Cannon’s face upon seeing her thought-dead baby alive and sauntering down the stairs. That was nice. I very much want to see Mama Cannon happy because Mama Cannon rules. I only have two bones to pick, really. The first is that Satchel left the front door open when he came home, and that one is only because I’ve been on the receiving end of enough “Were you born in a barn?”s to know he was raised better than that. He’s a good boy. He’s not wasting that electricity. I’m sure of it. The second thing is… let’s start a new section.

2b. Yes, Satchel Cannon is Mike Milligan. The mid-credits scene confirmed the thing many of us suspected as soon as we did the “the guy who is raising him is named Milligan and the timelines work out and they brought in Joe Bulo so we know the universes are connected” math. I don’t know if the show intended it to be a big reveal that people sniffed out early or if the show was winking that was on purpose all season and waiting to pay it off. Either way, there it was, with a Bokeem Woodbine cameo and everything. As I mentioned above, I kind of wish he had never come home first, if only because he already had all the origin story he needed and I like the idea of him being a globetrotting self-made man. I had that all worked out in my head. Now I have to figure out how and why he left home — and his Mama — again and left their name behind in the process. It’s a tough spot to be in. I like being right but I don’t like thinking a lot. Let’s just focus on the first part.

1.The season ended as it began, with Ethelrida explaining the history of America in her report, complete with a bit about winners and losers and who gets to tell the stories from the past versus who gets their stories told. She was one of the most interesting characters on the show this season — she took down a serial killer and outwitted Loy Cannon’s organization and she knows French, which is less important than the first two but still impressive — and the show might have been better off giving her more to do. If we assume this whole season was told by Ethelrida in her history report (which would be weird, especially considering all the murder and autoerotic asphyxiation), I think I’d give her a B or a B-. There was an interesting story with some fun twists and notable figures, but it all kind of lagged in places and the payoff left something on the table. Ethelrida won’t be happy about getting a B, if I know her like I think I do at this point. But the truth is, a B or a B- season of Fargo is still a better ride than an A or A- effort out of a lesser show. We’re grading on a curve here. It’s not fair but, as we saw repeatedly from this season, life rarely is.