Month: April 2021

There’s no doubt that DMV rapper IDK is one of the more talented artists to make his mark in the hip-hop space over the past few years. He impressed with his major-label debut album, Is He Real? at the end of 2019, and since then he’s delivered a consistent streak of quality music, with his sophomore album, U See 4 Yourself, poised to keep that run going. But before that drops, IDK took a moment to show off his singing abilities in a silky smooth cover of Pharrell and Jay-Z’s 2003 track “Frontin.”

IDK debuted the cover with a black and white video, which sees him dressed up to the nines surrounded by back-up singers and violinists, all while he lets his falsetto voice fly.

The new take of “Frontin” is just one of many tracks that IDK has delivered in recent months. Earlier this week he joined Deante Hitchcock and Flatbush Zombies for a remix of Spillage Village’s “Baptize,” which arrived after his hard-banging track “Just Like Martin.” IDK also appeared on Pooh Shiesty’s viral track “Back In Blood,” with a devastating freestyle.

Check out the “Frontin” cover in the video above.

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

(Ed. note: All stats in this post are as of Friday, April 9, 2021)

Scoring efficiency is most commonly associated with true shooting percentage, effective field goal percentage, or whatever metric one prefers. All require nuance and context, to be sure, though none are the sole way to analyze such a term. Efficiency can arrive in varying forms of impact and value.

For Michael Porter Jr., playing alongside MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic means producing in a timely and succinct manner when he does have the ball is as paramount as providing actual scoring efficiency. Jokic leads the NBA in touches per game at 101.2, the first instance of someone eclipsing 100 since the NBA began tracking the stat 2013-14. He works from the post and elbows, surveying defenders and deciphering the optimal means of attack. The four teammates must maneuver around him, recognizing how to benefit themselves and the Nuggets from his basketball genius.

Although Jokic simplifies the offense for his cohorts, that does not necessarily make the game simple. Understanding how to thrive in a setting where one guy deservedly dominates time of possession can be challenging. Jamal Murray, for instance, has learned to do so quite well during his Denver tenure. In year two, Porter is following suit, all while commandeering on-ball reps far less frequently than Murray.

Solidifying himself as one of the league’s preeminent off-ball scorers, Porter rarely needs the ball in his hands to foster a footprint. Quickly emerging as the third scorer this team needs, he snugly fits into his role as a high-level cutter, long-range gunner, transition finisher (threes and at the rim), and put-back connoisseur, averaging 17 points on 65.7 percent true shooting (.541/.452/.759 split). Over the past 16 games, he’s been even better, averaging 21.2 points on 70.5 percent true shooting (.596/.531/.750 split). As a reminder, this is a 22-year-old with fewer than 100 games under his belt adapting to an off-ball gig after typically dominating the offense at lower levels.

Nearly 79 percent of his makes are assisted, 72.5 percent of his baskets come from touches lasting fewer than two seconds, and he’s ninth in the NBA in points per touch (.452). A glance at his Synergy profiles underscores his off-ball nature, with 80 percent of his play-type data being primarily quick-hitting actions.

With Jokic regularly drawing the rim protector away from the hoop by operating on the perimeter or at the elbows, Porter’s keen awareness empowers him to identify creases in the defenses. For Denver, the dunker spot is rarely clogged by a center’s presence, so he occupies it and offers the team an interior finishing threat on feeds from Jokic or slashes from wings/guards. A bouncy, 6’10 leaper, he excels around the rim because of his size, tools, and the space Jokic’s ethos affords him.

The former two traits reduce a defense’s margin for error in rotating to help and deter or alter shots when the second-year wing bolts inside. He’s large and quick off the ground, which is difficult to cover if you’re not priming for him. Between the cutting and offensive rebounding prowess (seven percent offensive rebounding rate, putting him in the 80th percentile, according to DunksAndThrees.com) Porter’s 71 percent clip at the rim (93rd percentile) is easily explainable.

Porter stretches his elite off-ball scoring beyond the arc, having drilled 44 percent of his 368 career triples. He spaces the floor from deep in a litany of ways, applying his size and elevated release point to launch over defenders as he pleases. This season, he’s hit 45.2 percent of his threes, including 49.7 percent(!) of his catch-and-shoot looks, which ranks third among 175 players with 100-plus attempts.

As a stationary sniper, his 6’10 frame and release point render him unbothered by closeouts. Smaller defenders do not stand a chance, while taller defenders even struggle to discourage or affect him. Pay attention to the penultimate clip here, in which Giannis Antetokounmpo is in range for a contest, albeit slightly hung up by a screen, and cannot dissuade Porter from firing and subsequently scoring because the ball is hoisted in a stratosphere unknown for the majority of big-time shooters.

The 6’10 forward isn’t confined to spot-up jumpers, either, and it’s part of what allows his shooting package to be so enticing and useful. He’ll relocate to openings around the arc — further evidence of his off-ball savvy — sprint into hand-offs with Jokic, or flow through screens for off-movement tries. Success isn’t contingent on maintaining balance; the tough shot-making gene he developed as a youngster extends to the NBA and helps amplify his shooting equity. Being a jumbo-sized spot-up guy certainly holsters utility, but there are many more avenues to deployment when someone of Porter’s stature is capable of diverse volume.

Jokic or Murray don’t always have to enact an advantage for a vacant passing outlet to Porter. He can shake free of his defender, while they simply dribble or direct the offense, and drill long balls like these.

It bears repeating that’s a 6’10 22-year-old engineering those shots. It’s assuredly a tantalizing compilation for what his future holds, but simultaneously mystifying in the present as the ball repeatedly rips through the net for 53 seconds. He’s weaving through screens, snaring hand-offs, and knocking down off-balance jumpers at a size that suggests he should be on the block and an age when many players are still just trying to stay afloat in the NBA.

Jokic and Murray are each talented tough shot-makers, too, but Porter merges some of their scoring artillery. He touts the graceful jumper of Murray and the towering height of Jokic (well, almost) to shoot over guys. His blossoming is a requisite complement to those two and helps facilitate Denver’s rise to the league’s third-ranked offense (117.0), half a point back of No. 1 Brooklyn.

While he isn’t a reliable self-creator (yet), there exists supreme worth in owning various ways to be set up by others in the Jokic-led ecosystem. If necessary, Porter can yield scoring opportunities during otherwise stagnant possessions or fulfill duties within the flow of an action via cutting, offensive rebounding, spot-ups, and hand-offs, capitalizing on each at a highly effective level. Jokic is the Nuggets’ nucleus and Porter has become a critical, versatile cog for them, ushering in stylistic variance to pose grand threats for opponents.

Defensively, he’s enjoyed significant strides this season, more frequently spending time at the 4 rather than the 3. This enhances his strengths — notably help-side rim protection — and mitigates his weaknesses. Because of stiff hips and a bit of general rigidity about him, he struggles in on-ball perimeter defense situations and navigating screens. Toggling between man and ball away from the actions is a weak point. By spending more time as a power forward, he is shouldered with fewer mental and physical responsibilities, particularly those that involve him in screens or outside the paint.

Help-side rim protection and rebounding, inarguably his greatest assets defensively, are within his domain more often at the 4. Per DunksAndThrees, he ranks in the 84th percentile in defensive rebounding rate (21 percent) and 80th percentile in block rate (2.9 percent). Although both hover around last year’s marks (24 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively), those tasks do not come at the expense of other defensive requirements to the lengths they might’ve in 2019-20.

This shift in defensive emphases is illuminated by his Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus rising from minus-1.6 last season to minus-0.7 this season. He has a role catering to his talents that aims to mask his deficiencies and emboldens plays such as these.

Forging a path toward defensive neutrality remains on the to-do list, and you can pinpoint areas where he can grow pretty easily: The aforementioned shortcomings still rear their head more than is ideal, watching him try to wiggle around screens is a frustrating endeavor, and mental multitasking can overwhelm him. But he’s in a context that reduces those scenarios and shines a light on his merits. To his credit, the defensive motor has revved up this season as well. Given the offensive juice and malleability he’s showcasing, this progress from year one to two is optimistic and acceptable.

The Nuggets have rattled off seven consecutive wins following the acquisition of Aaron Gordon. They’re fourth in the West, a game back of second, and fifth overall in net rating (plus-5.5). Their starting five harmonizes in a manner possibly unmatched around the Association. That concordance begins with Jokic, but is perhaps best exemplified by Porter, cast as an ideal third banana offensively and discovering life is easier defensively when your virtues are maximized.

The future is sterling for him, but the Nuggets certainly won’t be caught up in that because they’re well aware of just how bright the present is for everyone in the Mile High City.

Matt Gaetz is in deep doo-doo. Last week, The New York Times broke the news that the Florida representative and Trump loyalist was being investigated over alleged sex trafficking involving a minor. But that was only the beginning. Since then more claims have emerged about his untoward and in some cases illegal activity. These include him allegedly begging Trump for a blanket pardon before he left office and that he may have conducted some of his actions over Venmo — the latter which surprised even his most devoted critics.

How is Gaetz dealing with this? By stealing a common move amongst corrupt Republican lawmakers: Ignore it. As per The Daily Beast, on Friday, the scandalous politico appeared at a conservative gathering entitled the Save America Summit, which was actually held at a Trump golf course in Miami. And while there he declared that he wouldn’t let surmounting proof of sex crimes get him down.

“I’m built for the battle, and I’m not going anywhere,” Gaetz told the crowd as he spoke at an event called “Women for America First,” despite being under federal investigation over potentially paying women for sex, including a 17-year-old. He claimed the accusations were “smears” and “wild conspiracy theories,” spread by a “lying media.”

Speaking of lying, Gaetz kicked off his speech by repeating the baseless accusation that his good friend Donald Trump’s “election was stolen.” Earlier in the week, the former president — who had previously been warned to steer very clear of the scandal — offered a comically half-assed attempt to defend his ever loyal pal via a press release that ran a mere two disengaged sentences.

Mere hours before Gaetz’s appearance, the House Ethics Committee opened their own investigation into the accusations made against him. It even listed his many potential crimes, including “sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds for personal use, and/or accepted a bribe/improper gratuity, or impermissible gift in violation of House rules.”

While Gaetz was buttering up the crowd, telling them that “the best is yet to come,” pretending that all was well, it clearly was not. None of the 16 senior Trump staffers contacted by The Daily Beast — not a single one of them — would go on the record to defend him. And when you’ve lost even white supremacist theory-promoter Tucker Carlson, you may have lost the GOP itself.

(Via The Daily Beast)

DMX’s tragic death is still a fresh cut for many across the music and entertainment world. After a reported drug overdose last week, the rapper was admitted to a White Plains, NY hospital, where it was revealed that he also suffered a heart attack. On Friday morning, after nearly a week in the facility, DMX’s death was confirmed by his family. There were countless consolations, and now the mayor of Yonkers, where DMX was born, is reportedly looking to honor him with an undetermined memorial that will be a “lasting gesture,” which may take the form of a street name, a statue, or a mural.

But that’s not all. According to TMZ, Mayor Mike Spano is also recommending Yonkers Raceway as a potential venue for DMX’s family to hold a public funeral. The outdoor venue is the city’s largest event space, with a seating capacity of 7,500. Unfortunately, because of coronavirus restrictions, only 20% of the seats will be available for use. Spano believes the venue will be an appropriate setting for one of the city’s most famous residents to be remembered.

After hearing of DMX’s unfortunate passing, Mayor Spano shared a message on Twitter. “Today our city mourns the loss of a musical icon, someone who wore their heart on their sleeve and at every opportunity gave back to Yonkers — the city he loved,” he wrote. “Earl Simmons, or as we know him, DMX, was a man of exceptional talent. His spirit will live on in the power of his music and leave a lasting impact on his tremendous following.”

At the end of last year, Kali Uchis stepped out of the pop lane last year to dive into her Spanish roots with her second album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios). The project was led by three singles, “Solita,” “La Luz,” with Jhay Cortez, and “Aquí Yo Mando,” with Rico Nasty. More than three months after its released, Uchis bought her talents to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform “Telepatía,” another song from the album.

Prior to releasing Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios), Uchis spoke about the album with Steve Lacy during a sit-down with Interview Magazine. “I just wanted to play, because I’ve never made a full Spanish album and I have so many different inspirations, being multicultural and having grown up between the DMV [D.C., Maryland, and Virginia] and Colombia,” she said. “It’s two totally different cultures, so I’ve had a lot of influences. The last thing I ever want to do is be a predictable artist.”

Uchis recently won her first Grammy award thanks to her guest appearance on Kaytranada’s “10%,” which won for Best Dance Recording.

Watch Kali Uchis perform “Telepatía” in the video above.

Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios) is out 11/18 via EMI/Interscope. Get it here.

Kevin Durant, maybe more than any other athlete at Nike, likes to take big swings with design changes to his signature sneaker. Durant has explored a variety of design looks and integrated a number of different design and performance elements over his more than a decade of sneakers.

On Saturday, Durant will debut his latest sneaker, the KD14, as the Nets take on the Lakers in primetime on ABC, and longtime fans of the KD line will notice a nod to one of his most iconic sneakers, the KD4, as the midfoot strap returns for the first time since the KD7.

The design takes some influence from the Air Presto with the attachment of the strap on the inside of the shoe (see photo below). As for the tech inside the KD14, it has a full-length Air Zoom strobel running through the midsole to provide additional cushioning from heel to the forefoot while reducing the weight of the midsole and a mesh upper.

“It’s been a while since we incorporated the strap, which excites me,” says Durant. “My other favorite part about the shoe is the cushioning, which helps me feel low to the ground and still helps give me some of that energy back.”

The first colorway dropping stateside will be a black and white version for $150 on April 14, with other colorways to be released later with a number of brighter colorways to come.

On Friday morning, DMX’s family gave official word that the rapper unfortunately passed away from a drug overdose and heart attack. The music world was quick to pour out love and condolences in an array of messages posted all over social media. One of them came late Friday night from former Bad Boy rapper Black Rob, who honored the late rapper with a video. But it’s where the video was filmed that has hip-hop fans extremely concerned.

In the video, Black Rob can be seen struggling to talk as he lays in frail condition in a hospital. “What’s goin’ on. I don’t know what the pain is, the pain is crazy man,” he says. “It’s helping me out though, but it’s making me realize I got a lot to go on.” He was then asked about DMX. “I feel everything about X,” he replied. “X was positive. Big love to X man.”

There’s no word at the moment on why Black Rob has been hospitalized. Back in 2015, the rapper revealed that he suffered a mild stroke caused by high blood pressure during an interview on Sway In The Morning. Luckily, he made a full recovery and committed to changing his diet, exercising, and abstaining from alcohol.

Since Donald Trump’s exit from the White House, Tucker Carlson has become the bête noire for the left, and for good reason: He’s not only doubled down on his attacks on immigrants, but he’s also badly pretended to not know what QAnon is, actually defended the failed but deadly MAGA coup, and regularly downplayed white supremacy. (That said, even he wasn’t buying Matt Gaetz’s BS.) Speaking of which, he’s once again under fire for using his show to parrot a white supremacist theory known as “white replacement.” That caused the Anti-Defamation League to call for his ouster, and it inspired The Daily Show to make a video accusing him of “plagiarism.”

Who is Tucker alleged to have plagiarized? White supremacist mass shooters, of course. According to The Guardian, more than half of “alt-right killers” — including the perpetrators of the mass shootings in El Paso and Christchurch, both in 2019 — said they were motivated by the theory of “white replacement,” which claims white people are being “replaced” by minorities.

And there Tucker Carlson was on Thursday, floating those very ideas on the most watched program on Fox News. But, as the Daily Show video shows, it was far from the first time. He’s pitched this theory time and time again. Even though the video was made by a show aired on Comedy Central, there were no jokes — just a grim montage of a commentator with one of the world’s largest platforms filling his viewers’ heads with the same idea that has motivated homegrown terrorists. And yet it was still funnier than Greg Gutfeld’s new late night comedy show.

The Celtics are finally getting healthy and gaining some momentum, and Jayson Tatum made sure it continued on Friday night with a career-high 53 points in a 145-136 win over Minnesota.

Tatum is at his best when he has his pull-up three cooking, and that’s exactly what happened as Boston hosted the Timberwolves on Friday night. Minnesota is not a team that is going to lock you down, but they can sneak up on opponents who aren’t ready for their scoring.

Boston went into the half down nine, but Tatum willed the Celtics back into it in the second half with a stellar scoring show.

The outburst put him pretty high up on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list, which when you play in Boston tends to lead to seeing some other great names alongside you.

As Tatum noted postgame, the Celtics’ ball movement, which has been a subject of much debate lately, was better against the Timberwolves. Boston put up a whopping 36 assists as a team in the overtime victory. Tatum chipped in four assists and ten rebounds of his own, and the Celtics got a pretty nice night out of Kemba Walker, who scored 17, as well.

The Celtics have now won four of five and moved over .500 with the win.

In a game in Atlanta that didn’t feature much defense on either side, newly minted All-Star Zach LaVine put up a career-high 50 points, including 39 in the first half, a record among all NBA players this season.

A big part of LaVine’s huge first half came as the Bulls guard let it fly from deep, with all seven of his triples coming in the first half. The Atlanta wing duo of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Kevin Huerter stood no chance defending LaVine, the seventh leading scorer in the NBA this season.

That led LaVine to get red hot, at one point putting up 25 straight points for Chicago and setting an NBA season record in the process.

However, the big scoring night wasn’t enough to take down the Hawks in Atlanta, as Trae Young had himself his own big night with 42 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. While Chicago’s supporting cast wasn’t able to make plays when Atlanta’s defensive attention turned toward LaVine, the Hawks’ role players stepped up and Young made plays all over the court, with lobs to Clint Capela, quick-hitters to Danilo Gallinari, and of course Young’s own signature step-back threes.

In the end, LaVine only put up 11 in the second half, which while enough to net him a career high, wasn’t enough to outduel Young and give Chicago the win. The Bulls’ three-game win streak came to an end while Atlanta continued its climb up the Eastern Conference standings.