Month: December 2020

According to an interview with UK-based paper The Independent, a beloved Paula Cole track is being reinstated as the introduction and theme song to the teen drama Dawson’s Creek on streaming services. “I had no idea it was going to be such a smash, totally eclipsing my own career,” Cole told The Independent about the hit song “I Don’t Want To Wait,” which became so connected to the show that it has moved beyond just theme song.

Apparently though, a recent resurgence of fans watching old episodes of the show — possibly due to being stuck inside because of the pandemic — had been complaining that Cole’s hit had been replaced. Back in the day, when Dawson Creek showrunner Kevin Williamson heard “I Don’t Want To Wait,” he called Cole and asked to use it for his pilot. Williamson also had Alanis Morissette’s “Hand In Pocket” in mind, but that song was too expensive to license, so the network had also commissioned Canadian singer Jann Arden to write “Run Like Mad” as an option.

On the DVDs and streaming services, Sony executives opted to swap in Arden’s song instead of Cole’s, basically because it was a cheaper option. “It was really just a financial decision that was made precipitously by one executive at Sony,” Cole said. “If you start doing that with a network and with large companies, you’re throwing every artist under the bus.” But fan desire for the original theme song has been so strong that Cole and Sony are now in discussions to reinstate “I Don’t Want To Wait.”

“We’re in discussions now,” Cole said. “The main thing about it all is that it was due to fan reaction. It was due to all of their posts and their tweets and their fabulous feedback. Sony finally noticed and wanted to please their fans. I’m just really happy about that. I’m really happy that they listen and they care.”

Cole said she recorded a newer version of the song that she owns the masters to, and that will be the version that’s reinstated in the show. In that case, maybe I’ll wait to binge it until they fix the theme song.

Rapper Lil Tjay was arrested today according to a report from TMZ. The Bronx rapper was stopped and searched by the police during a music video shoot last week, and he captured the interaction on video, noting that the search and seizure was illegal. During that interaction, on December 27th, the cops didn’t find anything and Lil Tjay was free to go.

Today, however, the NYPD reportedly pulled the rapper over again, and this time he was booked for “criminal possession of a weapon, marijuana possession and grand larceny,” according to TMZ sources. The weapon and marijuana charges make more sense, but the grand larceny charge remains unclear. The rapper was apparently pulled over for switching lanes without signaling, and when officers smelled marijuana they searched the car and found four loaded handguns and large quantities of weed. Tjay was in a vehicle with four other people, and since no one took responsibility for the weed and guns, all five were charged.

In many different areas of the country, using marijuana has become legal, or at least possession and use of the drug has been decriminalized. In New York, however, it remains an illegal substance. Hopefully that’s something that will be changed in the future so cops can no longer use it as an excuse to target rappers.

Legendary rapper MF Doom has reportedly died. News broke today with a statement from his wife, Jasmine, on Instagram, and HipHopDX also reports they got a statement confirming his passing. No cause of death has been released yet, but the post from his wife stated that he transitioned in October of this year. The hip-hop community is mourning the loss of a iconic figure, especially so suddenly and at such a young age.

Artists from all over the country and of all ages loved and admired the underground rapper, and took to Twitter to express their gratitude and admiration right alongside their sadness at his passing. Many fans have been commenting that in such a tough year, this is a very difficult final blow. It’s unclear why his death was revealed for the first time today, on New Year’s Eve, but it’s definitely become a day of mourning for the rap community at large.

From El-P, Phonte and Q-Tip to a younger generation of artists like Tyler The Creator, Jay Electronica, and IDK — who shared information about a track he was working on with Doom — the influence that the late rapper had is obvious. Some of the loving tributes from his peers are below.

The year 2020 is finally coming to a close, but not without one last weird thing trending on social media: Ben Affleck struggling to juggle some iced coffees and grab the mail at the same time.

If that sounds like the product of a slow news day, well, that’s kind of to be expected on December 31 of one of the worst years in recent memory. Times are tough, people are weary and there’s likely a long road ahead in 2021 that isn’t all that great, either.

Which perhaps is why people delighted so much in photos taken of Affleck outside of his home that continued a recent trend of him photographed with Dunkin drinks in varying states of stress and existence.

The photos, which show a somewhat beleaguered-looking Affleck struggling with a few drinks from the Boston-based coffee chain, are instantly endearing. And somehow mesmerizing, which is why several places like Page Six actually wrote about them. It seemed like all of social media was giving their takes on what was going on and what the images represented, too.

Like all great works of art, the photos seemed to represent something different in everyone.

Some people celebrated it like a rare shoe drop.

And as many pointed out, this running genre of photographs has caused a stir on social media before for one reason or another.

It immediately got added to an impressive collection of exhausted candids.

No team in the NBA has looked as self-assured and solidified through one week of the regular season as the Brooklyn Nets despite the fact that they entered the year with major health concerns, a new head coach, and two superstars who’d never taken the court together. The symphony thus far has been orchestrated beautifully by first-time head coach Steve Nash and their depth has shown to be a unique advantage already, but the biggest factor in the Nets’ promising start to the season is the promising return of Kevin Durant.

Since Durant went out with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, it became an immediate debate among hoops fans whether and how effectively Durant could return. Sure, his game has never been overly dependent on bursts of athleticism, and medical developments seem to have lessened the challenges of recovery from what used to be seen as a career-ending injury. But at the same time, Durant is on the wrong side of 30 and uses his left foot more than most righties, a blessing considering he tore his right Achilles. The Nets also paid him and built a team around him as if he was among the elite class of players capable of leading a team to a title.

Through four games, those debates over the past 18-plus months have been answered with little fanfare. Durant looks, well, like Durant, except seemingly even more polished and patient than when we last saw him. The two-time NBA champion is averaging over 28 points per game on 52 percent shooting from the field, leading the Nets to the seventh-best offense in the NBA.

Never overly reliant on explosive dunks or a lightning first step, Durant has always had a way of gliding across the court. Nobody occupies space on a basketball court like Durant, and that’s still there when you watch him now at age 32 and coming off the injury.

Yet there are also flashes that show you that it’s not just an old man outthinking the youths. When Durant accelerates or sees an opening developing in the defense, he can still get there. The unguardable hang dribble, the smooth crossover, the occasional spin move, and the skyscraping release didn’t go anywhere. The scoring champion inside him is still there, it just roars less often than it used to.

Durant is also following a trend early this season in which he’s involved in the offense more as a jump shooter and passer than as an attacker. After peaking with 42 percent of his shots coming at the rim for the historically great 2016-17 Warriors, Durant has taken fewer than a quarter of his shots inside over his past three healthy seasons. The main difference in how Durant has functioned in Nash’s offense is that Brooklyn is playing faster than the Warriors did.

Nearly one-fifth of the Nets’ possessions already have come in transition, and finishing possessions in the third-fewest seconds in the NBA. When Durant is out and running, it becomes rather simple — with the amount of shooting Brooklyn can put out in just about every lineup — for Durant to create for his teammates.

On this fast break dish, all Durant has to do is jog the ball toward the teeth of the defense to force an overreaction from the young, defensively challenged Hawks.

Nash is also smartly not afraid to put the ball in Durant’s hands in the halfcourt as a play-maker. With this skill as well as his unparalleled scoring ability, watching Durant heading into 2021 is like watching some sort of medieval adventurer who’s collected trinkets and tools over years trekking with different partners and challenges. Playing without much spacing in Oklahoma City, Durant learned how to get his shot off against punishing NBA defenses. With the Warriors, he grew as a passer and decision-maker. This version of him feels and operates more like LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard, guys who have seen every coverage and are content to wait out the defense before dissecting it. While Kyrie Irving — who, it must be said, has been magnificent this season — effectively closed a high-scoring win over Atlanta out, the Nets rotate around Durant as their axis.

After seeing Breanna Stewart blitz the WNBA this season and earn her second Finals MVP trophy after her own Achilles injury last spring, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise to see Durant dominate right away. They’re similar players in that they’re both jumbo guards blessed with skill that is breathtaking for players of their size, and the two discussed how they’d been in contact during their respective recoveries.

Durant could be in for a more sound return to the court than even Stewart due to his game relying even less on jumping to gain separation, as Mike Prada broke down nicely in his newsletter. However, Stewart being younger theoretically could have helped her regain her full mobility and athleticism, while Durant doesn’t yet look like himself on defense.

Nash has helped in this area by often playing Durant at center alongside another versatile big in Jeff Green or Jarrett Allen, but Durant is either saving energy early on or may not have the same ability to move his feet or help at the rim as he did before his injury. There have been several times this season when more athletic players have blown by Durant or he’s simply avoided rotating to help at the rim.

The Nets have dozens of games to figure that out though, and they’ve already demonstrated they will take things pragmatically with both Irving and Durant this year to keep them healthy. Brooklyn entered the season as a fringe championship contender in large part because of questions about how good Durant could be, so this early-season success is already exceeding expectations.

If Durant can get even more comfortable and the Nets keep finding ways to maximize him in all areas of the game, they will be a nightmare to deal with come postseason time.

Rapper MF Doom is reportedly dead at age 49. An Instagram post from his account shared today stated that the rapper had “transitioned” on October 31, 2020 and was signed by his wife, Jasmine.

Begin all things by giving thanks to THE ALL!

To Dumile

The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for. Thank you for all the things you have shown, taught and given to me, our children and our family. Thank you for teaching me how to forgive beings and give another chance, not to be so quick to judge and write off. Thank you for showing how not to be afraid to love and be the best person I could ever be. My world will never be the same without you. Words will never express what you and Malachi mean to me, I love both and adore you always. May THE ALL continue to bless you, our family and the planet.

All my Love
Jasmine

Transitioned October 31,2020

HipHopDX reported earlier today that they obtained a statement confirming t he passed. The Instagram post from Jasmine was also shared on the rapper’s Twitter channel, though no cause of death has been reported yet.

The legendary rapper frequently worked with the Rhymesayers label to release his music, and they also shared the news on Instagram:

This is a developing story and will be updated with new information.

Bowl season is, for better or worse, rolling along in college football as a very strange 2020 season comes to a close with, fittingly, some very strange bowl matchups. Among those was Thursday’s Armed Forces Bowl game between Mississippi State and Tulsa, which saw the Bulldogs edging out the Golden Hurricane in a 28-26 game that will be talked about far more for what happened after the final whistle blew.

At the end of action, when the two teams would typically meet for handshakes, they instead traded hands in the form of a benches clearing brawl that got pretty ugly, with at one point a Mississippi State player kicking a Tulsa player on the ground before running off and a number of punches being thrown, mostly between helmeted players but a few involving those with helmets off.

Punching guys in helmets remains the dumbest football guy thing that happens far too frequently, as your best hope is to somewhat startle the person you punch and the worst case is breaking your hand. That said, the guy from Tulsa that runs up on a bunch of Mississippi State players without his helmet and then has to retreat while dodging punches to his uncovered head probably should’ve thought that decision through a bit more.

It was a competitive game but not one you would have expected to end in fisticuffs, but then again, I guess you throw out all the record books when Tulsa and Mississippi State meet in Fort Worth.

Tony Hawk is, by any objective measure, one of the most important people in the history of action sports, if not at the very top of the list. As a groundbreaking skateboarder, the face of a video game franchise, and cultural icon who transcended the sport, Hawk played a crucial role in making skateboarding enter the mainstream in a way no one else has.

He is also a very pleasant seeming 52-year-old dad, and while there are not a ton of revolutionary skateboarders, there are a whole heck of a lot of those. And in 2020, a common occurrence — people not realizing that Tony Hawk is in the same place as them — went to new heights. We know this because Hawk has a tremendous sense of humor about himself (see: this), and decided to tweet out a bunch of interactions he had with folks.

The year started off strong, with someone actually recognizing him but wanting to make sure he could stay incognito. Also: Hawk made an apparent order at a restaurant he went to (god, remember doing that?) with his cholesterol in mind, opting for a turkey burger over a good ol’ beef burger.

Several months later, as the United States was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawk was out in public when he got a selfie request … after, of course, someone pointed out that he looked like himself.

In August, Hawk and his daughter stepped out to take care of some things when, once again, someone recognized him, but only because they thought he was someone else.

Hawk went out to grab a bite to eat in October, and while waiting for his food, someone’s ability to say he looks like Tony Hawk struck again.

And just under the wire of 2020, Hawk was able to play his fun little game again, this time at a COVID-19 testing site.

Stand-up comedian Kyle Cease (famous for being the slow clap guy from Not Another Teen Movie) has a bit about seeing Hulk Hogan, and being unsure about whether he actually saw Hulk Hogan, and realizing he had never had that dilemma before in his life, because he had always been able to immediately look at a person and determine whether or not they were Hulk Hogan. The difference, of course, is that you can usually tell that one pretty quickly, but apparently, no one who has ever seen Tony Hawk in public has been able to immediately go, “Oh, wait, that’s Tony Hawk.” It is my sincere hope that many things change in 2021. One of the few things that I hope does not change is this bit.

50 Cent has been teasing fans that he’ll start an OnlyFans account, letting us know he’d be willing to do a Verzuz in the right circumstances, and going back and forth on his support for Donald Trump (looks like he’s finally on the right side there, though), so it’s nice to see him fit in some new music today. But this new song is related to his TV ventures.

His newly-released track “Part Of The Game” features rising Memphis rapper NLE Choppa and Bronx songwriter Rileyy Lanez, and will serve as the official theme song for the upcoming Starz series, Power Book III: Raising Kanan. Obviously, the new show will be a spinoff of 50’s initial offering, Power which has been a very successful and much-talked about foray into television for the hip-hop mogul.

Apparently, Power Book II is one of several additional shows the rapper is bringing to Starz, including Book II: Ghost, a story about a female sports agent (in a male-dominated field), one on the Black Mafia Family, and a “hip-hop anthology series” called Moment In Time: The Massacre that kicks off with a season devoted to 50’s feud with The Game. That’s a huge portfolio for someone who only recently began making TV, and it will be interesting to see how the shows play out in 2021 and beyond. Listen to the new theme song above.

For a lot of us, new music from Taylor Swift has been the only thing making 2020 bearable. Long story short, we survived, but that’s definitely in part because of her new albums Folklore, released this summer, and Evermore released just a few weeks ago. The follow-ups to her 2019 album Lover came way off Taylor’s usual album release timeline, as she was stuck at home without a tour and not much to do besides make music.

But even with such a successful and prolific year — plenty of people named Folklore the best album of 2020, including Uproxx — clearly, this year sucked for everyone. Taylor included. To poke fun at the absurd and sad strangeness of 2020, the pop star posted a photo of herself in a bear costume (?) to Twitter this morning with the following caption: “bye 2020, it’s been weird.”

It’s an appropriately weird photo for a difficult year that we’re all hoping will immediately vanish into a lovely 2021 when the clock strikes midnight tonight.

Interestingly enough, another musician decided to bid farewell to 2020 with a photo that involved a bear and a cat — El-P, one half of Run The Jewels posted this tweet a few hours later:

Taylor Swift famously loves cats, is this some sort of signal that the two are collaborating on her next surprise album? Most likely not but if it happens, remember who predicted it! Happy new year all, time for me to drink some eggnog and get offline.