It’s rare for an artist to double back and shoot a video for a newly popular song from a year-and-a-half-old album, especially when the song in question wasn’t originally planned as a single or have a video in the first place. Yet, that’s exactly what Doja Cat did with the release of her video for “Streets,” the Hot Pink song from 2019 that became the basis for the red-hot Silhouette Challenge on TikTok. Capitalizing on the sudden viral success of the non-single in the middle of the rollout for her third album, Planet Her, Doja Cat has just made a case for a new paradigm for how artists should maneuver in this post-TikTok era.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Doja Cat can handle fame so well, or that she always seems perfectly equipped to ride the changing tides in the wake of a song’s breakout popularity. When she released her debut album Amala in 2018, it seemingly came and went without making much of an impact — and then she made “Mooo!” for fun in her bedroom with a sheet for a green screen and a silly rap about being a cow. Overnight, she became a sensation — then, rather than letting the buzz fade away or announcing a new project, she tapped into the colorful sights and sounds it turned out her newfound fanbase couldn’t get enough of.
Within a year of the breakthrough represented by “Mooo!”, Doja Cat had put out the videos for “Tia Tamera” with Rico Nasty and “Juicy,” adding all three new songs to the deluxe version of Amala nearly a year after its release, boosting it onto the Billboard 200 just as her second album, Hot Pink, was about to drop. Where any number of artists might have expected these successful viral hits to turn up on Hot Pink‘s tracklist, Doja instead used them to bolster sales of her debut, keeping the rollout for the new album wide open(-ish). A remix of “Juicy” featuring Tyga helped lift Hot Pink to No. 9 in its first week, despite the relatively lukewarm reception for its other singles, “Bottom Bitch,” “Rules,” and “Cyber Sex.”
But then, six months after the release of the album, TikTok user Haley Sharpe used “Say So,” a song that wasn’t planned as a single, as the backing track for a choreographed dance that caught fire on the app — and caught Doja Cat’s attention. With the dance lifting “Say So” to bonafide hit status on the app, Doja pivoted, turning the song into a single and fast-tracking the music video for it, employing Sharpe’s dance steps and giving the viral video star a cameo in the disco-esque clip. While constituting part of the trend of artists releasing singles and pushing TikTok engagement as a way to drive streams, the truly innovative aspect was Doja Cat’s willingness to not just “let the fans pick the single,” but to completely change her gameplan to incorporate the fans’ eager involvement.
With the release of the “Streets” video, she’s doubling down on that bet, against shifting gears in the middle of an album rollout to take advantage of the surprise boost in popularity of a track from her last album, rather than focusing adamantly on the future. This time, the song in question was even older — nearly 18 months past the release date of Hot Pink, past any album’s usual promotion cycle. However, this time, the Silhouette Challenge had caught flame, its popularity becoming so great that Doja herself was pulled into the fervor to contribute a TikTok video embracing the trend.
She also embraces the trend in the official music video, employing the same sultry crimson backlighting and poses as a nod to the challenge that prompted the video’s creation. Meanwhile, the video also incorporates high-concept visuals of Doja as a black widow spider, lending the video the air of months of planning, when in reality, it was created as a reaction to a sudden pop of interest and attention, not as part of a detailed plan to stimulate engagement in a past or upcoming project. But Doja’s previous experience with “Mooo!” reigniting interest in Amala likely informed her willingness to backtrack despite having a new album on the way.
The benefits are obvious; Doja directs the new fans discovering her through her viral moments back to her old projects, where they can begin to build rapport with her previous work, converting casuals into hardcore supporters. It also builds rapport with existing hardcore supporters, making them feel acknowledged, which they’ll in-turn reciprocate when the time comes to release her new project. And finally — and possibly most importantly in today’s fast-paced, saturated attention economy — it keeps all eyes on Doja to see what she’s going to do next, increasing her public profile, and generating more streams, never a bad thing at a time when touring is still effectively out of the question.
For proof of these benefits, look no further than Doja’s nearly tyrannical stranglehold over award shows and late-night television in 2020. She performed “Say So,” the song that wasn’t meant to be a single until fans made it one, no less than five times on high-profile shows like the MTV EMAs and VMAs, The Tonight Show, and the Billboard Music Awards — making her an inescapable, unavoidable household name. She also won Best New Artist at the Billboard Music Awards, just two years after her debut album failed to make an impact on the magazine’s charts. Her successes are duplicable — she herself has repeated the feat three times in as many years — and should be considered an example for all kinds of artists looking to maximize their media footprint.
With the advent of streaming and social media, the rules have changed seemingly every day, but one rule has remained absolute all this time: Content is king. To paraphrase the poet, the best-laid plans of mice, men, MCs, and media moguls often go awry, but being able to adjust on the fly might be the one skill that ensures that they all get lucky anyway. Doja Cat’s method of letting the tide take her to her next port of call would not only have been impossible before these new technologies came along, but the lukewarm success of her planned singles might have also ensured that she became known forever as a flop, relegating each new album to whatever shelf countless other underperforming projects have ended up sitting on.
Instead, by being open, creative, and willing to use her unprecedented access to fans’ whims, Doja Cat has demonstrated how an artist can not only serve their established fanbase but also weaponize them against industry expectations and the apathy of casual listeners. The positive feedback loop she created by refusing to get stuck to one idea of the perfect rollout has ensured that all of her rollouts end up being perfect — eventually. Wise artists and execs will take note, using the greater wealth of tools at their disposal to maximize their projects’ potential for success instead of writing them off and leaving money on the table. Meanwhile, Doja’s fans, old and new, will continue to eagerly await Planet Her to see what songs they can convince her to turn into hits next.
Billboard reports Triller Network, the company behind the popular Triller app, has acquired the popular “hits battle” streaming show Verzuz, giving its creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland positions on the Triller management team. Swizz and Tim will also receive equity in Triller, which they say they will share with the 43 artists who have appeared on the show to date. Verzuz exploded in popularity last year after an impromptu hits battle on Instagram Live between the two veteran producers expanded into a full-blown concert series, complete with corporate sponsors like Ciroc.
Over its first year, Verzuz invited such guests as Alicia Keys, DMX, Gucci Mane, E-40Patti LaBelle, and many, many more legends in the game to appear, celebrating their musical legacy in a nostalgic style similar to a sound clash in the West Indies/Caribbean. With little else to do during a partial shutdown of live entertainment nationwide, fans tuned in by the thousands to watch these celebrations of artists who may no longer be trendy, but who have all contributed greatly to the broad spectrum of Black music culture.
Meanwhile, Triller, a video-creation app similar in function to TikTok, has been a fixture on many young music fans’ phones for a while, although it hasn’t received as much attention in that time as its neophyte competitor. It’s likely Triller Network is hoping that the Verzuz acquisition can bring an influx of attention similar to TikTok’s so that it can likewise become one of America’s primary social media obsessions.
Celebrity pranks are a genre unto themselves, and perhaps no one is better known for them than George Clooney, who once put a “F*ck the Police” bumper sticker on Brad Pitt’s car knowing that it would get him pulled over.
There is one Clooney prank, however, that stands above the rest, and while Clooney has shared this story multiple times over the years, he has rarely had the opportunity to do so outside of the confines of a late-night talk show, where he’s given 7 minutes to speak without using profanities while also promoting a new project. This week on the Smartless podcast, however, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes landed Clooney as a guest. This is a huge deal because Clooney is very selective about who he will speak to in the media, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard Clooney do a full-length podcast.
It was a good episode, but his retelling of the prank he pulled on his former roommate, Richard Kind, makes the episode a must-listen. I’m going to recount the tale here, but it won’t do justice to Clooney’s retelling, complete with his impeccable Richard Kind impression. Listen to that here, starting at the 19-minute mark in the podcast.
As Clooney tells it, when he was living with Kind, he was mostly auditioning, so he had a lot of free time, so much so that he’d watch the East Coast feed of Jeopardy every day and then rewatch it again on the West Coast and answer all the questions right to impress Kind, who had no idea that he’d already watched.
In any event, Richard Kind also had “this little tiny kitten” that Kind would “sleep with on his chest, and he called it kitty.” Because Clooney wanted to be a good friend and roommate, and because he had nothing better to do, he decided to clean up the kitten’s litter box one day. The litter box was next to the toilet, so he scooped up the cat poop and flushed it while Kind was out working.
When Kind comes home, he goes to the bathroom, comes out, and he says, “My little kitty. He hasn’t taken a sh-t in, I think, three days.” Clooney doesn’t say anything to this. He doesn’t know why — he just decides not to. Meanwhile, over the next several days, Clooney continues to clean up the cat poop and flush it down the toilet.
“And then he takes the cat to the vet, and they give him this kitty Metamucil. And so now this little kitty is sh-tting 15 times a day, and I am scooping it all up, because I have nothing else to do,” Clooney says.
Soon enough, Kind starts to freak out because, as far as he knows, his kitty hasn’t pooped in days. Clooney, however, keeps it up. “I have no idea why. It’s just funny,” Clooney says. “And then after a couple of weeks, the light bulb goes off, and I realize what I must do.
And this is when the story goes from funny to sublime.
“I must take a sh*t in the cat box,” Clooney laughs. And that is what he does. George Clooney, one of the most famous men in the world, squatted over a kitty litter box and took a dump in it.
“Now there is this moment,” Clooney continues, “when I’m squatted down over a cat box where I’m going, ‘Really? I mean, it’s funny. It’s good. But I’m not sure it’s how I want to be remembered.’”
It’s important to understand here that “the cat is like six-inches long. It’s a tiny cat.” As for Kind’s reaction to the human turd in his cat’s litter box?
“I’m watching Jeopardy and Richard comes home. We’re talking for a minute, and he goes to the bathroom. He’s in there for like a minute, and I don’t hear anything. Then, all of a sudden I hear, ‘OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD.’ And he comes running out, and he’s like, ‘You’re not going to believe this. You have to see this.’”
“And when I come in, I’m laughing so hard that tears are streaming down my eyes, and slowly … slowly he figures it out. He realizes that I have been shoveling the cat sh-t out for weeks, and he gets madder and madder and madder.”
“And then finally he says, ‘I understand humor! Defecation doesn’t make me laugh!’”
And that is the legendary story about George Clooney’s prank on his old roommate, Richard Kind.
Not even George Clooney shitting in Richard Kind’s cat’s litter box?
The Brooklyn Nets entered the 2020-21 season with sizable expectations, even before acquiring James Harden in a massive, multi-team swap. Though question marks did surround the Nets, the presence of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving attracted immediate attention and, once it was clear Durant had returned to his pre-injury form as one of the best players in the NBA, the spotlight grew. With that in mind, it wasn’t a shock when the Nets started just 9-8 but, at the same time, the concerns about their defense and top-heavy roster building came to the surface.
Since that 9-8 start, however, the Nets are a blistering 15-5 and they rank fourth in the NBA in net rating (+6.0). That includes a 10-1 spurt before the All-Star Break and, while Brooklyn is also the league’s No. 1 offense for the season (118.4 points per 100 possessions), they are essentially unstoppable right now. The Nets boast a 120.4 points per 100 possession mark in the 24 games since acquiring Harden and, in the aforementioned 11-game streak, that number rises to a ridiculous 121.8 points per 100 possessions.
It was worth saying plainly that Brooklyn’s offensive pieces are virtually unmatched in the history of the league. Allowances could certainly be made for the Durant-era Warriors and a few other squads, but the Nets essentially deploy three of the ten best individual shot creators in the NBA, and they also have one of the best supporting offensive pieces (Joe Harris) in the league. Not only are the statistical results tremendous, but the Nets are 17-6 with Harden in the lineup since he arrived, even as both Irving and Durant have missed time with injuries.
As you may expect, the Nets have been (quite) good when even one of their best players sees the floor, and that is one of the appeals of having three No. 1 options. Brooklyn has a +10.2 net rating when Durant plays, with a +10.0 mark for Irving and a +6.0 for Harden, which is weighed down by units in which he is asked to carry a Rockets-like workload. When they are paired together, the results are staggering, including a +18.0 net rating in 140 minutes when the three stars play with Harris.
It is worth pointing out that, while all expectations are that the Nets will be fantastic when all of their pieces play together, we are still in a small sample size world with this group. Still, Brooklyn’s offense has shown itself to be in a class of its own so far this season and, at least when looking at recent results, the Nets are beginning to play a little bit better on the defensive end.
Brooklyn still lands in the bottom five of the NBA in defensive rating this season, yielding 113.6 points per 100 possessions. If that were to continue, it would be wise to fade the Nets in the grand scheme, simply because that is untenably poor. Brooklyn’s defense is improving, both with the eye test and the statistics, though, and that includes a 112.2 defensive rating in the last 11 games. That may not seem like much but, at the highest levels, the formula for Brooklyn will be to lean heavily on their offense and produce just enough stops to win. With their ability to switch (particularly for Harden) and lock in when it matters, the defense is a concern, but perhaps not a fatal one.
At this moment, FiveThirtyEight installs the Nets as the single most likely team to reach the 2021 NBA Finals, albeit with only a 30 percent chance to do so. It remains to be seen as to how Brooklyn will matchup with the likes of Philadelphia, Milwaukee and others in the playoffs but, with three scorers averaging at least 25 points on uber-elite efficiency, it stands to reason that no opponent will be able to stop them. Hopefully, observers will have more of a chance to examine what it looks like when they all play together but, after one half of the 2020-21 season, the Nets are terrifying.
Where does Brooklyn land in the All-Star Break edition of our DIME power rankings? Let’s explore.
1. Brooklyn Nets (24-13, Last week — 2nd)
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The Nets have the second-best record in the NBA since acquiring Harden. The Nets have the best record in the league over the last 11 games. This isn’t a slam dunk by any means but, with the Jazz losing their last two games, the door was open. However, let’s just say the gap isn’t very big.
2. Utah Jazz (27-9, Last week — 1st)
Utah’s been really, really good and I considered leaving them at the top. Considering they’ve lost four of the last seven games, that is a testament to just how dominant they were previous to that (slight) downturn. The Jazz still lead the NBA in net rating (+8.5) with top-four marks on both sides of the floor. They are real, and it won’t surprise anyone if they are back at No. 1 soon enough.
3. Phoenix Suns (24-11, Last week — 3rd)
Even with Brooklyn playing the way they have, it could be argued that Phoenix is the hottest team in the league. They are 16-3 in the last 19 games and, ironically, two of those losses came when they blew big leads. It’s probably unsustainable on some level, but the Suns are really good. Let’s keep an eye on Devin Booker, though, as he missed the All-Star Game due to a knee injury.
4. Philadelphia 76ers (24-12, Last week — 7th)
Philly leads the East by a half-game and everyone knows they are playing well. With that out of the way, Joel Embiid absolutely eviscerated Rudy Gobert and the Jazz on Wednesday, and that was quite the message. It will be interesting to see how long Embiid and/or Ben Simmons are sidelined due to contact tracing, but they are in a fantastic position.
5. Denver Nuggets (21-15, Last week — 8th)
The Nuggets swept through an entire road trip before the break, winning four games in a row. The headliner was a dominant “statement win” over the Milwaukee Bucks, and that prompts the three-spot jump this week. Nikola Jokic and company are rolling and they are up to fourth in net rating for the season.
6. Milwaukee Bucks (22-14, Last week — 6th)
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Milwaukee won six of the last seven before the break, with only the aforementioned loss to Denver. After what many might describe as a disappointing first half, the Bucks are second in net rating. You can pick that apart, to be sure, but they are 17-9 with Jrue Holiday, and I trust that a lot more than the 5-5 mark without him.
7. Los Angeles Lakers (24-13, Last week — 4th)
It’s pretty hard to “rank” the Lakers right now. Everyone understands they are a leading title contender when healthy. They are also 3-7 in the last 10 games and they effectively punted the end of the first half schedule. It would be nice if they could perform better without Anthony Davis but, well, Anthony Davis is really good and virtually irreplaceable.
8. Boston Celtics (19-17, Last week — 16th)
It doesn’t mean that everything is solved in Boston, but they just won four in a row before the break. Granted, the Celtics were a complete mess prior to that spurt, but they beat three solid-or-better teams in that run. Getting Marcus Smart back will help, but Boston still has a move (or two) to make before the trade deadline for them to be considered serious contenders.
9. L.A. Clippers (24-14, Last week — 6th)
We’re punishing the Clippers for three straight losses at the end of the first half. To be fair, absences from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George contributed (greatly) to those results. Their defense hasn’t been great lately, though, and it a bit strange that the Clippers are “only” 24-14 while leading the NBA in three-point shooting and free throw shooting.
10. Dallas Mavericks (18-16, Last week — 10th)
No team could match Brooklyn’s 10-1 mark in the last 11, but Dallas came close at 9-2. They were (unsurprisingly) awesome on the offensive end and solid enough to defensively to stack some wins. It is certainly concerning that the Mavs have still be outscored for the season, but their struggles appear to be behind them, for now.
11. Portland Trail Blazers (21-14, Last week — 14th)
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It is very difficult to parse Portland’s last month of results. The Blazers won six in a row in early-to-mid February, only to give it back with four straight losses to close the month. Then, Portland went 3-0 to finish the first half, but the victories came at home against Charlotte, Golden State (by two points) and Sacramento. We’ll see how they start the post-break stretch.
12. Miami Heat (18-18, Last week — 9th)
In the grand scheme, the Heat are still riding high as they were last week. Miami is 7-1 in the last eight games, and they are looking like they are supposed to look. Erik Spoelstra’s team did have a hideous performance against Atlanta in the one loss, though, scoring 80 points and looking generally hapless without Jimmy Butler.
13. San Antonio Spurs (18-14, Last week — 13th)
With the slew of postponements in February and a 2-3 record once they returned, the Spurs are still in the “TBD” category. San Antonio starts with six road games in the first seven contests after the break, and that could go a long way toward determining what’s real and what isn’t.
14. New York Knicks (19-18, Last week — 12th)
New York was 8-3 before the break and they did it on defense. That aligns with the way the team has played all year, but it’s worth remembering just how unforeseen all of this development has been.
15. Toronto Raptors (17-19, Last week — 11th)
Following some fantastic work to climb out of an early-season hole, the Raptors limped into the All-Star break with four losses in the last five games. They really get an “incomplete” due to absences related to health and safety protocols, but Toronto is going to need to bank some wins coming out of the hiatus as they look to avoid the play-in.
16. Golden State Warriors (19-18, Last week — 15th)
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Steve Kerr’s team gets a mulligan for the blowout loss they suffered against Phoenix to end the first half, simply because of the skeleton roster they utilized. The two losses before that can’t be wiped away, though, and the Warriors are creeping back toward the .500 mark. Golden State just can’t seem to score (98.6 offensive rating) without Stephen Curry on the floor, and that’s a problem.
17. Atlanta Hawks (16-20, Last week — 25th)
The Hawks definitely had some preseason hype but, in taking a step back, Atlanta was basically projected as a .500 team. Obviously, a 16-20 mark isn’t great through that lens but, when considering the lack of contributions the Hawks have received from their offseason acquisitions, it suddenly doesn’t feel so bad. Atlanta also started the Nate McMillan era with back-to-back wins before the break, and they are in a solid spot overall.
18. Memphis Grizzlies (16-16, Last week — 17th)
After some early-season streakiness, the Grizzlies have pretty much settled in as a .500 team. Ironically, they are 11th in net rating (+0.8) despite their relatively modest win-loss mark, but that speaks to the morass in the middle of the league. Memphis may be closer to their 7-10 mark in the last 17 games, but they are also maintaining a pretty impressive 9-5 road record in 2020-21.
19. Chicago Bulls (16-18, Last week — 20th)
The Bulls are beating the teams they are supposed to beat. That includes a 12-6 mark against teams with sub-.500 records but, as you can glean, they aren’t doing very well against “good” opponents. Following that recipe might be good enough to make the play-in, and it helps that Zach LaVine is still maintaining a 65.3 percent true shooting clip for the season.
20. Charlotte Hornets (17-18, Last week — 21st)
Charlotte is incredibly average, down to their 17-18 record and -0.5 net rating. They are a lot more fun than that, but it’s been a month since they won or lost two straight games. It’s rather fitting, really, but at least LaMelo Ball entertains the basketball world on a nightly basis.
21. Indiana Pacers (16-19, Last week — 18th)
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This might be too high for Indiana this week, which seems crazy. The Pacers are 5-12 in the last 17 games, and their only victories came against Memphis, Atlanta, Detroit, Minnesota and Cleveland. Their net rating (-3.1) isn’t as bad as their record in that 17-game stretch, but Indiana doesn’t have a ton of quality depth right now, and it’s catching up to them.
22. Washington Wizards (14-20, Last week — 19th)
The five-game winning streak from February has stabilized to a 3-3 mark in the last six games. Honestly, Washington would probably take that .500 baseline moving forward, but two of the three late victories came over Minnesota and a short-handed Clippers team. The Wizards still own a -3.9 net rating and a bottom-five defense.
23. Oklahoma City Thunder (15-21, Last week — 23rd)
OKC continues to hang around. They were 4-3 in the last seven before the break, and their final contest was a good encapsulation. The Thunder went into San Antonio and won on the second night of a back-to-back. They aren’t very good on offense but, at this very moment, Oklahoma City is a top-10 defensive team, yielding fewer than 1.1 points per possession.
24. New Orleans Pelicans (15-21, Last week — 22nd)
Following a great win over Utah at the end of last week, the Pelicans lost to the Bulls and Heat at home on back-to-back nights. Neither loss was completely egregious, but they just have a hard time stringing wins together. Having the NBA’s second-worst defense for the season is a big reason for their uneven play.
25. Cleveland Cavaliers (14-22, Last week — 24th)
Things have been pretty weird for the Cavs. Cleveland lost 10 in a row in February, going from the middle of the playoff race to the absolute dregs. Then, they won four in a row before (narrowly) losing to Indiana in their final pre-break outing. For the team with the second-worst point differential in the league, they do have some very competitive moments, but the overall package is underwhelming.
26. Sacramento Kings (14-22, Last week — 27th)
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A lot has changed since the Kings were 12-11. Sacramento did finish 2-2 in their last four games before the break but, before that, it was chaos, and not in a good way. It is pretty difficult to be a bottom-five team in the league when you have a top-10 offense, but the Kings are trying their best.
27. Detroit Pistons (10-26, Last week — 28th)
Detroit just keeps losing, even if their peripherals aren’t as bad as their record. The Pistons have the second-worst record in the league, with three more losses than any team other than the Wolves. Detroit is 23rd in net rating, and that might be more indicative, but they’ve lost seven of the last nine.
28. Orlando Magic (13-23, Last week — 26th)
The top line with Orlando is five straight losses to end the first half. That explains their demotion in the rankings, but the Magic left quite a negative mark with their final six-minute stretch before the break. Orlando led Atlanta by 16 points with six minutes remaining. From there, they missed 9 of the last 10 shots and allowed the Hawks to hit seven threes to pull off a win. Yikes.
29. Houston Rockets (11-21, Last week — 29th)
It’s really bad for the Rockets right now. Houston is on a 13-game losing streak (the longest in the NBA this season) and, over that time period, they are scoring only 100.8 points per 100 possessions. Yes, injuries are a big factor but, in this space, we have to judge the Rockets on what they’ve done (or haven’t done) and only the struggles of the Wolves keep Houston out of the basement.
30. Minnesota Timberwolves (7-29, Last week — 30th)
With the Rockets losing 13 straight, there is an argument for Houston here. However, the Wolves are just just 1-13 in their last 14 games and that includes an active, nine-game losing skid of their own. Minnesota has the worst record in the league by three full games and they now own the worst net rating (-8.4) on top of that. They aren’t necessarily that much worse than the rest of the NBA on paper, but the results are what they are.
The idea of a movie about an Asian-American basketball prospect is compelling enough, but Boogie is also saddled with the baggage of seemingly everything writer/director Eddie Huang thinks is cool. Some of it fits, some of it doesn’t, and lots of times his attempts at a fresh angle come off achingly corny.
Huang, the lawyer-turned-streetwear-designer-turned-chef-turned-memoirist whose book Fresh Off The Boat spawned a hit television show, made headlines back in 2015 for a Twitter feud with Black feminists, who’d called him a misogynist for comparing Asian men in the dating scene with Black women. The feud ended with Huang sarcastically asking one if they were dating.
Knowing that, it’s hard not to interpret Boogie, a movie written and directed by Huang, about a Chinese-American basketball prospect played by Taylor Takahashi, who falls in love with a Black woman played by Taylour Paige*, as a love story between Huang’s idealized self and his idealized partner — possibly an attempt to work through his Twitter spat in a story. Which isn’t a criticism; the best stories are personal, and can often grow out of an attempt to understand one’s self. Yet Boogie is so full of mumbly dialogue, stock phrases, and failed analogies that it’s hard to tell what insight Huang ultimately gained.
Takahashi plays Alfred “Boogie” Chin, an NYC basketball prospect who has joined a failing basketball team for his senior year, in order to prove to D1 scouts that he’s worthy of a scholarship — which he can do by beating his rival and already-star, “Monk,” played by the rapper Pop Smoke. Alfred tells his teacher “I prefer to go by my stripper name,” Boogie, and meets his love interest, Eleanor, in the school weightroom. When she catches him staring at her crotch, Boogie tells her that she has “a nice vagina.” As a character-establishing anecdote it makes sense enough — Boogie is a sought-after hoops prospect and maintains this cocky punk front to hide his insecurities. In terms of humor, it feels more brash than funny, like giving us set-up and treating it like punchline.
The elephant in the room: Takahashi is 28, Paige is 30, and neither look remotely like high schoolers. Generally speaking, I can overlook a director choosing acting competence over strict authenticity. In this particular case, Takahashi is clearly a competent basketball player, and presumably that’s why he was cast. Acting-wise he’s decent for a non-actor. Basically, the reverse is true of his rival, Monk, played by Bashar “Pop Smoke” Jackson, whose acting is on point but whose basketball scenes take more cuts than Liam Neeson jumping the fence in Taken 3. Over and over Monk takes two dribbles in the lane and then we smash cut to a tomahawk dunk. Pop Smoke was killed in early 2020, so perhaps there are logistical reasons for how hacked together the basketball scenes look. But without speculating, it’s not great when a basketball movie has bad basketball scenes.
Boogie and Eleanor eventually bond, allowing Boogie to drop the cool-jerk facade and open up. He explains that his dad “is irresponsible, but he clearly cares about me. My mom is responsible, but doesn’t seem to care about me.” Boogie is constantly getting caught up in their struggle to control his basketball destiny. There’s something there, but whatever it is tends to get lost in Huang’s sloppy metaphors and penchant for shoehorning internet speak into scenes. Like when Boogie’s coach, played by Dominic Lombardozzi (Herc from The Wire) benches Boogie and Boogie mutters “weird flex, but okay.”
Yep, that’s, definitely something people on the internet say.
Another scene set in English class sees Boogie taking issue with Catcher In The Rye, calling out Holden Caufield for his “inherently privileged perspective.” Boogie’s teacher praises this bold take and tells Boogie he should speak up in class more. Lord, are we still congratulating ourselves for privilege-checking the protagonists of a 50-year-old novels? Too much of this movie consists of Huang writing himself as the hero of five-year-old Twitter discourse, like the streetwear Aaron Sorkin.
In another scene, arguably Boogie‘s centerpiece, Boogie the character complains to Eleanor about broccoli beef. He points out that other immigrant groups like the Greeks and Italians all have their own versions of broccoli beef. And then sighs “Chinese people could be so much more if this country didn’t reduce us down to broccoli and beef.”
I rewound this scene two or three times and I still have no Earthly idea what this metaphor is meant to convey. Maybe I’m just not cool enough to “get it.” Maybe the point is that I don’t get it. Or maybe Huang, who has built a persona on being unique and provocative, often gets caught between analogies that are meant to explain feelings and ones that are strictly a branding exercise.
‘Boogie’ is in theaters now. Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
*How about that, I didn’t know they were both named Taylor until just now.
Bottles of bourbon whiskey coming in at just under $100 dollars are sure to be special. When you can get pretty darn good stuff for about $30, bottles priced at more than triple that had better be worth it. But these aren’t standard issue bottles — unique barrelling methods and craft techniques abound — which means that calling one dram “better” or “worse” is mostly a matter of taste. It’s all about where your palate is at, which flavors intrigue you, and what you find yourself reaching for.
Do you like to be a bit mystified or do you look for more classic bourbon whiskey flavors? Do you want high proof or something more simple to sip? Cask strength? Single barrel? Limited edition? The best we can tell you is that we vouch for the expressions featured below. Try them and see what you think.
The actual price of these bourbons is really going to depend on where you’re standing when you buy a bottle. Some of these are only going to be available in their local markets at these prices. A few might even be cheaper, depending on your state’s liquor taxes. Those are the breaks.
Jefferson’s Ocean is already crafted as a unique and very tasty dram. This expression uses a wheated mash bill (instead of high rye) that’s aged for six to eight years on land. Barrels are then loaded onto a ship and sailed around the world where the spirit and wood interact the whole time thanks to the choppy seas, creating an incredibly unique whiskey in the process.
Tasting Notes:
This has a very subtle nose, with hints of vanilla, dark salted caramel, and mild eggnog spice drawing you in. The palate holds onto those flavors fairly well, while adding in a touch of popped corn to the salted caramel as the vanilla becomes more of an eggnog spiced pudding that remains very airy and light. The end is slightly nutty with a touch of cedar as the spice and svelte vanilla slowly fade away.
Bottom Line:
This is an interesting sip that’s shockingly accessible. It really is well-rounded and delivers on classic bourbon notes next to an overall easy-drinking experience with a cool story to boot.
MGP makes a lot of the whiskey you love that’s bottled under different labels. They also bottle their own labels from their massive stock and this yearly limited release is their highwater mark. The juice is a blend of two 12-year-old rye’d bourbons — one with 21 percent rye and one with 36 percent rye. The married juices are then touched (just barely!) with the Ohio Valley’s soft limestone water and bottled in a classy Don Draper-era bottle.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a real sense of fresh maple syrup on the nose that leads towards a rich vanilla creaminess with hints of Christmas spices full of candied orange rinds. The palate zeroes in on the spices and becomes more sharpened and peppery with more creamy vanilla, dried dark fruits, and a touch of dry cedar. The end is very long and leaves you with a warming spicy tobacco chewiness with no rough edges whatsoever.
Bottom Line:
If you ever wondered what an MGP bourbon tastes like from the source, this is a great place to start. The dram really does benefit from a drop or two of water to open it up. Do so and you’ll find some coffee and chocolate bitterness and maybe a hint of Amarena cherry syrup.
This is essential drinking to get a better understanding of the power of MGP in relation to the wider whiskey world in general.
Hillrock’s Solera Bourbon is a mingling of Spain, Scotland, New York, and Kentucky in the bottle. The bourbon (own-make from New York’s Hillrock blended, with sourced Kentucky juice as well) is aged in sherry casks from Spain (much like many a great scotch) using the Spanish “solera” method. That’s where a sherry barrel is never fully emptied before more fresh juice goes in for a maturation cycle. That process is repeated over and over again, creating a sort of heritage to the spirit that goes all the way to the first fill.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a hint of honey next to dried red fruits, a touch of cinnamon, and a very distant note of sweet spring flowers. The palate, on the other hand, has this sweet lightness that hints at plummy and nutty sherry wood while leaning into bright dark cherries and dried apricot with an underbelly of bourbon vanilla and Christmas spices. The end holds onto that spice and cherry, creating a cedar box full of cherry tobacco warmth that’s just pure velvet.
Bottom Line:
You really need to take your time with this bottle (if you can find it). Nose, sip, add water, nose again, sip again. Repeat. There’s a lot of depth in play and it’s worth going slow to find them in this dram.
Garrison Brothers is a true grain-to-glass experience from Hye, Texas. The juice is a wheated bourbon made with local grains. That spirit is then aged under the beating heat of a hot Texas sun before the barrels are small-batched, proofed with local water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a caramel apple note on the nose next to a bit of dry straw, worn leather, and … what feels like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That cereal nature continues through the palate with a sugary and buttery shortbread note mingling with hints of vanilla cake frosted with lemon cream leading to a touch of orange oils. The end is very long and warm with a bit of cinnamon that ultimately leads back to the caramel apples plus just a touch of dry campfire smoke at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a bold bourbon that’s not going to be for everyone. There’s nothing subtle in play in this sip but you are getting exactly what’s advertised: A well-crafted whiskey that’s made with a lot of love and feels like Texas in a bottle.
The team over at Wilderness Trail continues to wow with last year’s 6-year-old Wheated Bourbon release. The juice is a mash bill of 64 percent corn, 24 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley and uses co-founder Dr. Pat’s (yes, he’s a real doctor) proprietary yeast. The juice is then aged in their main warehouse where it’s moved to a new floor every one of those six years, allowing a little extra magic to happen in the barrel.
Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with a cinnamon-heavy pecan pie with a lard-hewn crust next to hints of wet pine. The palate leans into the corn syrup of the pecan pie while the cinnamon draws you towards an apple tobacco chew with a touch of caramel and vanilla lurking in the background. The finish doesn’t overstay its welcome and holds onto the cinnamon and pie vibes, ending on a fruity tobacco buzz.
Bottom Line:
This is a very limited release (the bottles were initially only available at the distillery). Still, if you’re able to snag one, really let this one settle and breathe. There’s a lot of great, hidden notes in the dram that’ll take time to sort through.
If you’re feeling fancy, make a Manhattan with this after you’ve enjoyed it straight. You won’t be disappointed.
Back in the day, this was Weller 7-year-old. These days, the expression from Buffalo Trace’s warehouses is named after the 107 proof of the juice in the bottle. The whiskey is the iconic and seminal Weller wheated bourbon that gets a lot of hype, hence its price tag ringing in at double its MSRP.
Tasting Notes:
This opens up with sweet summer florals with a rounded and almost meaty honey base next to vanilla beans. The palate adds in a clear dusting of cinnamon next to cherry with hints of wet brown sugar and cellared oak. The short-ish end holds onto the spice and warms up your senses, leaving you with a cherry tobacco chew and buzz that’s smoothed out by a vanilla creaminess.
Bottom Line:
This is a highly refined workhorse whiskey. It’s a solid sipper, especially on the rocks. It’s also a killer cocktail base, thanks to its defined flavor profile and higher ABVs.
This sourced whiskey from Indiana (MGP) is one of the best examples of how a unique shingle can make whiskey shine. Redemption’s team painstakingly searches the warehouses for just the right barrels to meet their taste requirements. In this case, that was a nine-year-old single barrel of bourbon with a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent malted barley.
Tasting Notes:
The nose really gives you a sense of oily vanilla pods with touches of wildflower honey, rich and buttery toffee, and a hint of dark roasted espresso beans. The palate holds onto those notes as the vanilla and honey both become creamy while adding a slight black pepper spiciness with a hint of salty smoked bacon fat lurking way in the background. The end is medium-length and touches back on that vanilla, toffee, pepper, and bitterness on the fade.
Bottom Line:
This yearly limited release is yet another reason to stop bashing sourced whiskey. This juice really shines and has a unique taste that feels like classic bourbon with palate expanding depths.
This is also a nine-year-old MGP single barrel of bourbon at cask strength. Is it anything like the above bourbon? Let’s find out.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with deep vanilla that mingles with hints of dark chocolate sugar cookies with a touch of mint. The palate centers the creamy vanilla while adding in a cinnamon bark vibe with notes of black pepper and floral honey moved into the background. The end is long-ish and carries more of that vanilla cream while that cinnamon becomes slightly chewy with a dried choco-mint tobacco buzz on the tip of the tongue.
Bottom Line:
You can definitely feel a few overlaps — namely black pepper and floral honey — between the two expressions above. But beyond that, this its own beast. And that’s the beauty of these barrel selections. Each team is going to look for flavors that suit their brand.
That’s also the beauty of aging whiskey: these two barrels could be from the exact same distillation, sit next to each other in a warehouse for years, and still end up being this unique.
This small Brooklyn craft distillery uses New York-grown corn with English malted barley in its mash (80 percent and 20 percent, respectively). The juice is then aged for four years in small-format barrels (only 15 gallons) and then proofed down to 100 proof and bottled in flasks.
Tasting Notes:
With no wheat or rye, the corn really shines on the nose with a buttery and slightly salted caramel kettle corn feel next to a hint of vanilla frosting and strawberry shortcake. There’s a greenness to the body that feels like wet pine next to dark chocolate with a touch of vanilla and malt. The (fairly quick) end moves away from that green note and towards a dry pine with a dark and bitter cacao nib feel, as the vanilla and caramel provide a counterpoint to those flavors.
Bottom Line:
Bourbon rarely has 20 percent malted barley in the mix. That makes this an interesting dram that will remind you of Scotland (if only very subtly).
This yearly limited release from Park City, Utah’s High West isn’t technically a bourbon (though that’s the only shelf you’ll find it on in a liquor store). It’s a blend between one MGP rye and two bourbons that have been aged at least ten years. High West’s team chooses the barrels specifically for their taste and marries them into this much-lauded blend of whiskeys.
The 2020 release was a marrying of MGP’s iconic 95 percent rye with a high-rye bourbon with 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, and four percent barley, and a mid-range rye bourbon with 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent barley. Again technically, that probably makes this an “American whiskey.” But we don’t really know since we don’t know how much of each barrel went into the batch — hence its categorization as a bourbon.
Plus, with no “Bouryes” on the market, we decided to give it shine here.
Tasting Notes:
The nose dances between cherry cola, grilled pineapples, rich salted caramel, and a touch of burnt sage. The palate has a Christmas cake vibe that leans into the nuts and candied fruits, which leads towards spicy orange chocolate with a slightly bitter black tea note. The finish holds onto those spices in the form of a chewy and buzzy spicy tobacco leaf with a touch of toffee and that cherry cola popping back in on the slow fade.
Bottom Line:
This is just interesting all around. There’s a lot going on that all seems to work well together. Again, this might not be for everyone but it’s definitely worth seeking out for a truly unique “bourye” experience that’s really unmatched out there.
Over the past few years, Phoebe Bridgers has convinced Jackson Browne to become a part of her extended universe (although Phoebe Bridgers is a horse very clearly worth hitching your cart to). In 2018, Browne backed Bridgers on her cover of “Christmas Song,” and a few weeks ago, he participated in her virtual Tibet House performance of “Kyoto.” Now Bridgers has busted out a new Spotify Singles release, and it once again features Browne backing Bridgers on “Kyoto.”
As is tradition, these Spotify Singles release usually also include a cover, and for hers, Bridgers went with John Prine’s “Summers End.” Bridgers previously covered the song in April 2020 during a livestream performance and said while introducing the song, “He’s one of the most important people on the planet to me. I was lucky enough to see him a couple times. This is from his last record, it’s one of my favorite songs ever.” A couple months later, she performed the song again for SiriusXMU Sessions.
Bridgers previously participated in Spotify Singles in 2018, when she shared a rendition of “Scott Street” as well as a cover of The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love.”
Listen to Bridgers and Browne’s rendition of “Kyoto” and Bridgers’ Prine cover below.
Eminem tends to drop controversial and/or inflammatory lyrics on a regular basis, and now young TikTok users are trying to get the veteran rapper canceled. Those efforts haven’t been fruitful so far, though, as it has just led people to poke fun at Gen-Z. Now Lil Nas X (a TikTok star in his own right with nearly 10 million followers) has joined in on the fun.
In response to a widely derided freestyle from a millennial TikTok user, Nas shared his own freestyle, in which he raps. “Generation Z wants to cancel Eminem? [laughs] / Generation Z wants to cancel Eminem? [laughs] / Yeah [laughs], listen up, Generation / Z, you’re a generation of Z / Z, generation of Z.” He ends by trailing off with laughter that increasingly lacks in confidence.
This comes a couple months after Eminem dismissed cancel culture, saying, “With me, it’s literally like every f*cking every other day. I’m canceled for whatever the f*ck it was. It’s funny because I see some of the same people or sites who b*tched about things back then that I said and then going back now and saying, ‘Why can’t he be that again?’ What the f*ck? When I was that you had a problem with that, too. I understand some of the sh*t, but for the most part, like for people who just sit online and they feel like they need to b*tch about whatever it is to feel like they’re a part of something. With cancel culture, it’s like no one ever really gets canceled, though.”
As expected, Jimmy Kimmel had a lot to say about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s very expensive, yet highly explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. While Kimmel initially joked about how he only watched the interview because his wife put it on, he fully copped to being drawn in by the couple’s revelations about the Royal Family and called the whole event, “the most shocking gender reveal party of all time.” More importantly, Kimmel went out of his way to say that he believes Markle’s claims about being silenced and the racism that she experienced. Although, Kimmel did have some issues with Meghan and Harry’s choice for a new home:
You know things are bad at Buckingham Palace if they came to America to get away from racism. That’s like trying to get some peace and quiet at Chuck E Cheese.
Naturally, the late night host also blasted the Royal Family for raising concerns about the skin color of Meghan and Harry’s son Archie. “They should hope that the kid looks more like Meghan than Harry,” Kimmel quipped. “No offense, but I mean, Harry kind of looks like the guy who played Screech. May he rest in peace.”
Kimmel also fully roasted the ridiculousness of the Royal Family raising issues about Archie’s possible appearance considering the family’s known methods of preserving the bloodline, as it were.
“Imagine after centuries of inbreeding all of a sudden these people are concerned about the color of a baby’s skin.”
While Fleet Foxes is of course a band whose members all contribute to the group’s creative output, Robin Pecknold is the most recognizable figure of the group and he’s been at the forefront of promotion for their latest album, last year’s Shore. The first livestream performance they gave since releasing the album was just Pecknold performing alone at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York. The band later shared his rendition of “I’m Not My Season” from that performance as a standalone video.
Now the band has taken their turn participating in NPR’s at-home Tiny Desk Concert series, and once again, it’s just Pecknold (probably because the pandemic makes it easier for just one person to perform instead of a whole band). Armed with an acoustic guitar and sitting behind an appropriately minuscule desk, Pecknold performed “Going-To-The-Sun-Road,” “Sunblind,” “Featherweight,” and “I’m Not My Season.”
Pecknold previously compared the new album to the band’s previous one, telling Uproxx, “Crack-Up was a super personal album. I had a really specific idea of what I wanted it to be, and the songs were from a pretty specific emotional time. On this record, I wanted the first line I sang to be for someone else, like ‘For Richard Swift.’”
Watch Pecknold’s Tiny Desk performance above.
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