Month: November 2020

Hip-hop has long held a revolutionary streak thanks to acts and pivotal figures who challenged the status quo and used their platforms to address social issues. The tradition began early in its history with Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five’s “The Message,” the title of which T.I. borrowed for a new Apple Music playlist of revolutionary hip-hop songs. During a recent interview with Apple Music’s Ebro Darden, the host asked T.I. what Kendrick Lamar — who appears multiple times on the playlist — means to him “as a fan of rap.”

T.I. responds with his signature thoughtfulness and eloquence. “I think he’s probably the most successful revolutionary rapper alive,” he asserts, elaborating that, “It’s hard to sell. It’s hard to do good business in the revolutionary category… Artists like KRS-One, even Common, Mos Def, and the Roots usually have to trade commercial success for speaking truth in the revolution. Kendrick has been the one who has been able to simultaneously achieve both. That’s extremely special. That’s an art within itself.”

Although Lamar himself rejected the “conscious rapper” title early in his career, his song “Alright” became an unofficial theme for various protests throughout the past few years, from anti-Trump protests in 2016 to more recent protests against police brutality this year. His album To Pimp A Butterfly re-entered Billboard‘s charts led by the unofficial anthem, which played at marches and rallies across the country.

Watch T.I.’s interview above.

On Saturday, November 7, Rudy Giuliani inexplicably arrived at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, where he delivered a disastrous press conference to contest the results of the 2020 election — while nestled between a sex shop and a crematorium. It was one of the most surreal moments in American politics, and some believe it was the exact moment that Donald Trump’s presidency ended. That’s why a new petition is calling for the landscaping company to be added to the National Register of Historic Places… really! Via The Architect’s Newspaper:

What helps build a case for a National Register designation is the key role that both the event and the location played on the day the election was called.

According to the National Park Service, places can be added to the National Register because of architectural significance or historical significance, including association with noteworthy people or events.

If the site has to have historical significance, the commenters on the Change.org petition have been making a compelling case for adding Four Seasons to the National Register. Not to mention, it’s almost two weeks later, and the hilariously random location has been a constant source of headlines. Here’s what some of the petition signers had to say:

“This is a truly historic location. It marks the end of a vapid, inept, fascist regime in the most transparent way. What better mark of pure American charlatanism than this could there be?” – John Cole

“It is absolutely fitting that this thoughtless, embarrassing mistake become a monument to this thoughtless, embarrassing experiment with electing the most un-presidential person available to the presidency.” – Joe Biddenback

“How can we exclude a location where Giuliani out-Borated Borat on HIMSELF!” – Jennifer Vincent

As of this writing, the petition needed less than 100 signatures to reach its 2,500 goal.

(Via The Architect’s Newspaper)

When Swizz Beats and Timbaland announced the participants of their next Verzuz battle coming this Thursday, hip-hop fans were flabbergasted to see the two names attached. Gucci Mane and Jeezy, who were once engaged in one of hip-hop’s most stringent feuds, apparently agreed to set aside their differences to appear on the show for the sake of the culture, overcoming a decade of animosity.

While many rap fans breathed a collective sigh of relief, there was one person who wasn’t excited to see the two Atlanta trap rap legends come together: Jeezy’s former CTE World artist Freddie Gibbs, who expressed his disappointment in his onetime business partner on Twitter. Although Gibbs seems to still have plenty of leftover resentment from their ill-fated partnership — Gibbs left the label in 2012, just one year after signing there — it appears the source of his current animus is the track “Therapy For My Soul,” from Jeezy’s upcoming album The Recession 2.

In the song, Jeezy addresses Gibbs’ recent comments that he’s “musically irrelevant,” rhyming:

If One-Five wasn’t my dawg, I would’ve touched them
When that sh*t went down with Gibbs, I couldn’t trust him
Invested my hard-earned money, tied up my bread
But he gon’ try to tell you I’m flawed, that’s in his head
It’s happening just the way that I said it, good on your own
And if I’m honest, nothin’ gangsta about you, leave this alone

Gibbs seems to have taken issue with this characterization, throwing his own shade on Twitter. “BMF put U in a headlock in front of me,” he quoted. “BMF put U in a headlock in front of me.” He then brought up Gucci’s disrespect toward Jeezy at the height of the two rappers’ beef, advising Jeezy, “N**** smoked yo partner and u bout to sit in the room and do a Verzuz wit him. Don’t talk no street sh*t to me, fam.”

Gucci Mane and Jeezy are set to appear on Verzuz this Thursday, 11/19 at 5 pm PT/ 8 pm ET on Instagram and Apple Music. Jeezy’s album The Recession 2 is due the next day, 11/20. Pre-save it here.

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

Bernie Sanders’ most recent presidential run didn’t yield the outcome he was hoping for when he began the journey. What it did produce, though, was a bunch of memorable music moments, since a lot of indie musicians performed at his various campaign events. Ever a gracious host, he took the time to thank each one of them, and a new supercut of these thank-yous is unexpectedly delightful.

Journalist Andy Nguyen created the clip and wrote, “I haven’t been doing much of anything lately but I did string together a bunch of clips where Bernie Sanders thanks musicians because him saying Soccer Mommy in his New York accent is never not funny to me.”

The video runs for about two minutes and Sanders gets a lot of name-dropping done in that time. It sounds like he’s saying some of the names for the first time in those moments, and he name drops acts like Soccer Mommy, Sunflower Bean, Ratboys, Kitty Kat Fan Club, Joyce Manor, Twiddle, Vampire Weekend, “Laura Jane Grass,” and “The uh Lucy uh Dacus Band.”

All in all, it’s a fun compilation of a 79-year-old man shouting out artists who are mostly in their 20s, so check it out above.

Aaron Nesmith made a major leap in both production and efficiency from his freshman to sophomore seasons at Vanderbilt, emerging as one of the nation’s best shooters on incredible volume prior to a foot injury that ended his season after 14 games. In that period, Nesmith hit a ridiculous 52.2 percent of his three pointers on 8.2 attempts per game, averaging 23 points a night for coach Jerry Stackhouse’s Commodores.

His leap in production from his freshman year, in which he averaged 11 points per game and hit just 33.7 percent of his threes, is something he credits to an offseason between coaches that allowed him to focus on improving his individual game, namely his shooting stroke. Nesmith went to work last summer, diving into film study on C.J. McCollum, Khris Middleton, Dwyane Wade, Kyle Korver, J.J. Redick, and Ray Allen, and, as he says, “absolutely stripped their game down and tried to take anything I could from their game and put it into mine.”

The biggest takeaway for Nesmith from his film binge was the importance of footwork and ensuring that no matter the situation — catch-and-shoot, dribble-handoff, curling around an off-ball screen, stepback, and sidestep — his feet found their way to the same place.

“Footwork, footwork, footwork,” Nesmith says over a Zoom call. “And for me going into my sophomore year, that was the biggest change and the biggest thing I needed to make to improve my game on. I got that from watching those guys and watching their footwork coming off the off-ball screens and it made such a big difference for me shooting the basketball. Starting from the ground up, paying attention to all the little things, and at the end of the day that shot’s gonna go through at a consistent pace if you can get that footwork right.”

His film work wasn’t just focused on NBA greats, but also on himself, understanding that the only way you can truly make strides as a player is to be able to be self-critical and point out your weaknesses so you can work on them to, as he says, try to move those into the strengths category. It’s not always something players, especially young ones, are particularly willing to do. It requires a certain level of introspection and humility to understand that you can’t just keep building up your strengths. Those things you enjoy and are already good at will always be part of your game, but focusing chiefly on those and refusing to truly acknowledge and understand your weaknesses puts a cap on your ceiling as a player.

That mindset was shaped by some key influences, including Stackhouse as well as Kobe Bryant, whose show “Detail” helped him recognize the importance of pulling things from others and recognizing where others can help you grow.

“In my opinion, what separates a good player from a great player is that a great player is willing to learn from anybody and is willing to always call out his own mistakes,” Nesmith says. “So like, an example I give is Kobe Bryant and his show ‘Detail.’ Kobe Bryant was the type of person to learn from anybody. If anybody could give him some piece of advice, even if it was the 14th person off the bench, if he was a phenomenal shooter Kobe Bryant would study whatever he did to help improve his game in that shooting aspect. So just always having that mindset and having the mindset to learn and be a sponge. I would say that is definitely the difference maker.”

That desire to be a sponge paid dividends when he got the chance to play for Stackhouse, an 18-year veteran of the NBA who had previously served as an assistant coach in Toronto and Memphis, as well as as the head coach for Toronto’s G League affiliate. The wealth of knowledge Stackhouse could provide Nesmith as both a player and a coach who had seen what it takes for players to ingratiate themselves at the NBA level was invaluable in Nesmith’s transformation as a player and how he saw the game.

Nesmith says he learned how to be a professional from Stackhouse, recognizing the importance of every aspect of the game, from working out and practicing at game speed to becoming better at picking apart his film to identify consistent mistakes and work on how to fix them. For Stackhouse, he couldn’t help but be impressed at the work ethic of Nesmith and his ability to take criticism and coaching and apply it to his game to make necessary improvements.

“He’s just one of those kids who works his butt off,” Stackhouse says on a Zoom call. “You’re not going to outwork him. He’s going to stay in the gym as long as you want him to – or even after you want him to leave he’s still going to stay a little bit longer. I think he embraced all of it. He embraced his time of critiquing. He takes coaching well. He was the brunt of some pretty vicious film sessions. So for him to talk about those film sessions is great. It just lets you know that he wants to get better and he did get better. Defensively, early on, he was getting beat middle a lot. That’s one of the staples of who we want to be defensively and as the season gone on those numbers went down and he was really trending in the right direction before he got hurt.”

Over the course of a summer, Nesmith was able to transform himself into one of the country’s elite shooters, but he understands the job is far from over. He still has to hone his craft and knows that his reputation as a shooter now precedes him, meaning he has to continue refining his shooting skills both on and off the ball to get shots up in the tiny windows that he’s given.

“You’re not going to get standstill shots all the time, especially a shooter like myself and a shooter of my prowess,” Nesmith says. “I’m not going to get a chance to catch and shoot the ball wide open many times a game. So I had to really practice shooting on the move, and in order to do that at a high level and make sure that translates into the ball game, I’ve got to do that at game speed. You look at a guy like Duncan Robinson, he’s flying all over the court from side-to-side and constantly running off of handoffs and all the screens, so I’ve got to be able to do that exact same thing and do it at as fast a level I can to come to a complete stop and knock that three-pointer down.”

Shooting is the skill that will get him to the NBA, but he has designs on being much more than just a three-point marksman. Among those All-Stars he’s studied over and over is Middleton, who started his career as a role player, found a niche in Milwaukee as a shooter and defender, and evolved into one of the league’s best two-way wings. In a way, Middleton’s pre-draft profile reads as the opposite of Nesmith, as he was a good on-ball scorer but had major question marks as a spot-up shooter, before making that his signature trait early in his Bucks tenure. In his time in Milwaukee, Middleton’s evolved as an on-ball threat, with a silky midrange and most recently has become a much more adept playmaker and facilitator for others.

That path is one Nesmith looks at closely, recognizing the importance of constantly evolving one’s game by putting in the work necessary to excel in the role asked of you while also moving some of those weaknesses into the strengths category so that, eventually, you can take the next step as a player.

“[Middleton’s] become a phenomenal ball-handler, phenomenal on the pick-and-roll, phenomenal guy for the Milwaukee Bucks – a go-to guy in the fourth quarter who makes big shot,” Nesmith says. “So he’s no longer that one dimensional player of going to play defense and running off ball screens. He’s grown, he’s become a better overall basketball player, but it didn’t happen overnight. This is like his eighth year in the NBA. It takes time, it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication. But he’s put that work in. He’s put that sweat equity in and he’s where he deserves to be. So that’s definitely the goal for me. I want to get to that kind of level and I want to expand my game in the same way he has.”

For Nesmith, he knows it means diversifying his offensive skillset by being a more capable ball-handler and creating for himself, and by taking his natural size and strength at 6’6, 215 pounds and putting his energy and effort into being a better defender. He readily and happily points out those weaknesses because, for him, they mean a chance to focus his work and spend more time in the gym.

His energy when talking about the work is contagious. He’s embraced what has become an interminable Draft process that has worn on some other prospects, because he sees it as an opportunity. Once again, he’s been afforded an extended period to work on himself and his game. He’s gotten more feedback and criticism of his game for teams, which have asked him to work on his offensive arsenal and being a weapon with the ball in his hands so he can attack hard closeouts and make the right play either for himself or for teammates while the defense is scrambling. On the defensive end, he points to conditioning and making sure that he’s always at his physical best so he can take advantage of his strength and size.

When Stackhouse has talked to teams, he says he’s made it a point to “make sure they understand he’s more than just a shooter.” Vanderbilt asked him to be an off-ball player because he was the absolute best they had at that and, as Stackhouse says, they wanted him to be the one on the end of passes more often than not. In the NBA, he believes he’ll be able to take those next steps to become a more well-rounded player simply out of the opportunity to do so, and knowing that Nesmith is going to put in the work to necessary to get there.

In the immediate, Nesmith is ready to come in and impact his new team in whatever way he can and play whatever role he’s asked.

“I could be coming in from Day 1 and be asked to play 20 minutes a game and do certain number of things and whatever is asked of me to do from my coach, I’ve got to be able to do that to the best of my ability,” Nesmith says. “Or if I play five minutes a game and my numbers come back and I’m only on there to dive for loose balls and be an energy guy, I’ve got to do that to the best of my ability. Or if I don’t play at all and I’ve got to be a cheerleader for the guys who are on the floor, I’ve got to be able to do that to the best of my ability. Just star in my role, whatever role is necessary to help the team winning. So, that’s something I got from Coach Stackhouse and something I’ve gotten from just watching a whole lot of NBA basketball and my time playing basketball. Especially having a losing season my freshman season at Vanderbilt, just learning what it takes to win. Those little things matter. Starring in your role, because if everybody does their job, you’ll win basketball games.”

It’s a mindset not every player is able to have entering the NBA, as they’ve been a star on every team throughout their young career, but it speaks to the belief Nesmith has in himself and the work he’ll put in to elevate from whatever role he starts in to become a great player at the NBA level. Wednesday night will determine what team will be getting him and whoever that is they’ll taking him to be a shooter, but he has designs on becoming so much more.

Harry Styles emerged on the latest Vogue cover while clad in a dress, and this led to a lot of right-wing pearl-clutching, which also led to certain far-right figures being mocked for claiming that Styles is violating some sacred (nonexistent) tenet of masculinity. Well, the subject also came up on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, and Paul stood up as the voice of reason against co-host George Janko, who was not here for the dress wearing.

Yep, that would be the same Logan Paul who sparked outrage after posting footage (in 2018) of a suicide victim in Japan. 2020 sure is bringing all kinds of unexpected developments, but this one is a refreshing one. Paul didn’t let his co-host, George Janko, get away with dismissing Styles’ attire with a swift, “It ain’t manly, bro.”

Paul wasn’t having it. “Bro, why? What is ‘manly’ to you?” the YouTube influencer questioned. “What does it mean? Is manly being comfortable in your own skin and being comfortable with who you are, regardless of what you’re wearing?”

Janko then grew even judgier: “People are too quick to get angry like you. You got angry at our opinion.”

Paul fired back: “I’m not getting angry, but I’m calling you out for your flaw. Your lack of logic… when you say, ‘People shouldn’t judge people, but he’s not a man for wearing a dress.’” At that point, Janko tried to argue that saying “not manly” is not the same as saying that someone is not a man, and the backpeddling began.

Score one for Logan Paul, and people are pleasantly surprised to see this happen.

Christmas is a little over a month away, so the annual deluge of holiday music has begun. Today brought a handful of new offerings. Spotify launched its “Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection” playlist in 2018 and have added to it annually, and Julien Baker unveiled a new contribution today, as she covered “A Dreamer’s Holiday.”

The 1949 song was written by Mabel Wayne and Kim Gannon and was most famously performed by Perry Como and Buddy Clark, who both had successful versions of the track. Baker says of the song:

“I chose ‘Dreamers Holiday’ because I found it incredibly unique as far as holiday songs are concerned. It’s a very understated song — both lyrically and musically; while it’s technically about a ‘holiday,’ it doesn’t directly reference any specific holiday theme, it leaves the lyrics a bit more open-ended. It’s the same way with the music — the chord structure is complicated but surprisingly timeless to me even though the song itself is over 70 years old. It’s the kind of song whose arrangement can be re-imagined so many times, and I love the feeling of sonic potential a single like that gives me.”

Listen to Baker’s rendition of “A Dreamer’s Holiday” above and stream the whole “Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection” playlist below.

With apologies to the 28,000 people who signed the petition, Dr. Anthony Fauci was not named the Sexiest Man Alive for 2020. Neither was Robert Pattinson, or Dev Patel, or Timothée Chalamet, or Jonathan Majors, or Ted Lasso, or Coach Beard, or Roy Kent (now I’m just naming Ted Lasso characters), all of whom would have been worthy of the sexy throne. If you want to be surprised, you should watch the clip above from Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where the SMA wore a hazmat suit to keep himself protected from COVID-19, before scrolling down. As for everyone else: congratulations to Michael B. Jordan, who murdered last year’s winner, John Legend (I assume that’s how it works), to become People‘s new Sexiest Man Alive. A very deserving winner.

“The freedom to go wherever I wanted in public, not worry about paparazzi,” the Creed and Black Panther actor said about his perfect date night. “Enjoy somebody’s company. Go for a drive, dope playlist. Drive somewhere just for dessert. I’m definitely a movie guy, and then I’d ride the vibe for the rest of the night.” My perfect date night is watching Friday Night Lights, on which MBJ played Vince Howard, on the couch, so whatever works. Jordan, who is currently single, was also asked “what parts of a woman’s body he finds most sexy.”

“Oh man, that’s tough. It’s like lips, teeth, mouth. I think I’ve paid more attention to eyes as of late, with these masks. I love a woman’s hips, thighs. Hands and feet. And what order you go, that’s a totally different question.”

Good luck to all women with teeth or lips. You could be Mrs. Michael B. Jordan.

(Via People)

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which for Mariah Carey means that it’s almost Christmas. Her iconic holiday music is already beginning its annual climb back up the charts, and now she has revealed big plans for this year: She is hosting a new holiday special, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, which is set to debut on Apple TV+ on December 4.

It won’t be just Carey, though, as she will be joined by fellow musicians Ariana Grande, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Hudson, and Jermaine Dupri, as well as Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Misty Copeland, Mykal-Michelle Harris, and Carey’s twins, Moroccan and Monroe. Additionally, there will also be an accompanying soundtrack album, led by the lead single “Oh Santa!,” which features Grande and Hudson and will be receiving a music video when it’s released across all platforms also on December 4.

Billboard notes that in the special, Carey will “save the day in a family-friendly romp combining musical performances, dynamic dancing, and animation.” Carey is an executive producer of the project, which was written by Caroline Fox.

It remains to be seen if Carey will be able to repeat her historic chart success this year: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” went No. 1 for the first time ever last holiday season and was the first chart-topper of 2020.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney couldn’t help but act like a couple of kids when they got together for the Oceans movies. It’s not even slightly hard to believe that claim. Just look at the above Ocean’s Thirteen red-carpet image to witness Pitt whipping out the bunny ears on his “unsuspecting” friend. They both know the drill and loved it, but Pitt got Clooney pretty good on the Italian set of Ocean’s Thirteen. As Clooney (who is currently promoting his Netflix movie, The Midnight Sky) revealed, this particular prank happened in Como, which is Clooney’s hometown, so it made things extra awkward.

“Brad sent out a memo to all the people in the town — my town! I’ve lived there for years — but he had it posted on telephone poles. It said, “The movie is coming to town, and please only address George Clooney as “Mr. Clooney,” and his character’s name is Danny Ocean, and don’t look him right in the eyes. So the papers were like, ‘George Clooney is Il Divo!’ It was a horrible story, which I later got him back for.”

Those crazy guys. Even though it’s quite the mental picture to envision Clooney being jeered as “The Celebrity” in his hometown, it wasn’t only the boys who participated. Julia Roberts previously revealed that she was not immune, despite being pregnant at the time, to being pulled into the prank war. As Roberts described, she ended up with heavy statues in her suitcase, and she retaliated with something involving “itching powder and Neosporin.” Sounds brutal… oh, for the innocent days of pranks!