Month: April 2021

Two weeks after the music world received news of DMX’s tragic death, his close friends and family gathered at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the first of two memorial services to honor the late rapper. A beautiful moment during the first on Saturday night came when DMX’s daughter took the stage to share her version of one of the rapper’s most popular songs.

Sonovah, who is just 12 years old, took the stage with her family and shared her own version of “Slippin,” DMX’s 1998 song that details his struggle and fight to overcome life’s demons.

“Ayo, I’m growing, I’m learning to hold my head up / Ayo, I’m growing, I’m learning to hold my head up,” she rapped. “Ayo, I’m growing, I’m learning to hold my head up / My daddy’s still holding my hand so I gotta stand up.” She even debuted a verse of her that fell in line with the flow DMX used on the original record. Sonovah’s family cheered her on as she performed the track for well over two minutes.

Sonovah’s “Slippin” remix joins Kanye West and the Sunday Service Choir’s as the highlight performances from DMX’s memorial service. The rapper and the group opened the night with a beautiful medley of gospel and soul records and continued to perform throughout the night. A second memorial service for DMX will be held on Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. EST and air on BET.

You can listen to DMX’s daughter’s version of “Slippin” in the videos above.

The first of two memorial services for DMX began from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Saturday. The event was livestreamed to fans and supporters on YouTube as the venue was closed to only close friends and family of the late rapper. After a roughly two-and-a-half-hour delay, the service started with a chilling performance from Kanye West and his Sunday Service Choir. The rapper and the group took the stage in red hoodies and sweatpants to deliver a performance filled with gospel and soul records in honor of DMX.

Throughout their set, the Sunday Service Choir performed tracks that included Soul II Soul’s “Keep On Movin’” as well as the opening record in the classic film, Belly, which DMX appeared in. They would return later in the service to perform additional tracks like “Ultralight Beam.”

The opening performance comes after Kanye’s Yeezy brand teamed up with Balenciaga to release tribute shirts in honor of DMX. The release features an image of DMX between two crosses on the front and the phrase “In Loving Memory” on the back. The late rapper’s birth and death dates can also be found on the shirt’s left and right sleeves respectively.

You can watch clips from Kanye West and the Sunday Service Choir’s opening performance above and tune into the memorial service here. A second memorial service for DMX will be held on Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. EST and air on BET.

Tributes for DMX have come in special ways outside of the message shared on social media since his unfortunate death on April 9. Fellow Ruff Ryders member Jadakiss held a food giveaway in honor of the late rapper in their hometown of Yonkers. On Saturday, the late rapper’s casket was driven through Brooklyn on a massive monster truck that was followed by hundreds of motorcyclists and bikers on the way to one of two memorial services. And Kanye West has now joined in on the special tributes as he released a special shirt in honor of DMX through his Yeezy brand.

The shirt, which was also made in collaboration with Balenciaga, features an image of DMX between two crosses. “RIP” appears above the rapper’s head and “In Loving Memory” can be found on the back of the shirt while his birth and death dates are printed in large lettering on the left and right sleeves respectively. The shirt only comes in black and can be purchased for the price of $200 on dmx-tribute.com. According to the site, all proceeds from the shirt will go to the late rapper’s family.

The release came hours before DMX’s memorial service at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. After a few delays, the service, which will be livestreamed on YouTube, started at 6:15 p.m. A second memorial will be held for DMX on Sunday, April 25, and air on BET. You can check out an image of the shirt in the post above.

Jim Acosta has had a long few years covering the Donald Trump White House, and now the CNN reporter is taking aim at some of the racist rhetoric found on another cable news network. The journalist blasted Fox News and two of its anchors, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, most notably for their reactions to the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.

That guilty verdict earlier in the week drew relief from many and further calls for justice in the many instances of police brutality, especially against people of color. But on Fox News, various boogeyman arguments about fear of Black Lives Matter protesters and “autonomous zones” dominated the airwaves. Given that Carlson has openly advocated for the wildly racist “white replacement” theories multiple times, it’s no surprise that Acosta found time to comment on the anchor on Saturday.

But first he started with Ingraham, who has had her own history of racist viewpoints and fear-mongering in recent weeks. Acosta played a clip from her show talking about the “big lie” in America, which is apparently that systemic racism isn’t a problem across America in policing, education and housing policy, to name a few.

“Laura Ingraham, her only expertise in big lies is that she tells so many of them,” Acosta said. He then pivoted to Carlson, calling him “Fox’s Chief White Power Correspondent” and ripping his maniacal laugh-filled reaction to the guilty verdict.

Acosta said that his reaction “showed us all what’s under the hood” of his worldview.

“Tucker Carlson’s anger wasn’t about the actions of a police officer who murdered a man, but about the guilty verdict. Or as Carlson, Fox’s chief white power correspondent, described the decision, ‘Please don’t hurt us,’” Acosta said, noting that whether it’s not supposed to be taken seriously it’s extremely harmful rhetoric that is absorbed by viewers and manifests in horrible ways.

“Now you can call all of this an act or schtick. But these big, race-baiting lies have been spreading like a cancer on the far right,” he said.

It’s not all that uncommon for people working on different networks to criticize competitors, but this kind of direct attack is pretty striking from Acosta. He seems to have no problem calling out Ingraham or Carlson, and certainly had some strong words for both on Saturday.

Miley Cyrus is not at all new to the experience that is Saturday Night Live. The singer’s appearances on the show date back to 2011 and have come in both the form of a host and a musical guest. Her first time on the show came as a host during Season 36 and since then, she’s returned to the show on several occasions. Almost a year to the date removed from her last SNL set, the singer is bringing her talents back to the stage in an upcoming episode.

The Plastic Hearts artist shared the news by posting the SNL flyer for the May 8 episode to her social media pages. She will serve as the show’s musical guest while Elon Musk will host, a selection that some people aren’t too happy about. Nonetheless, viewers can expect Miley to rock out on the Studio 8H stage, returning after her last appearance was a remote one during the show’s pandemic-sparked SNL At Home phase. It’s her first time on SNL since she released her Plastic Hearts album at the end of last year.

The announcement comes as Miley continues to tease her remix of The Kid Laroi’s “Without You,” a track she may perform during her SNL set. Earlier this month, she performed classic records by Queen, Stevie Nicks, and Blondie as well as her own music during her NCAA Men’s Final Four set.

You can check out the SNL flyer for the May 8 episode above.

Last week marked four years since Kendrick Lamar dropped his last solo album, DAMN. Since then, fans haven’t been entirely deprived of new music from him as the rapper has delivered several guest verses on top of his big role on 2018’s Black Panther soundtrack. Despite this, supporters of the TDE rapper are heavily anticipating a new body of work from him, something they think is coming soon thanks to a tweet from LeBron James.

On Saturday morning, LeBron posted, “Man I miss @kendricklamar ! In dying need of his gift/presence right now.” From the looks of it, the tweet may appear as just an innocent shoutout to the rapper, but some fans think otherwise.

“Lebron the A&R just told us Kendrick is coming with some summer heat I fear,” one person wrote in a tweet. Another user noted what happened the last time LeBron shared a similar tweet. “The last time he did this Kendrick dropped Untitled Unmastered (laughing emoji),” they wrote. “I appreciate what LeBron is doing for the people.”

LeBron’s tweet comes after TDE in-house engineer MixedByAli shared some insight on the rapper’s upcoming album. “I would say, every album that he has dropped since Good Kid has come with a different feeling so just look forward to Kendrick obviously expressing himself in the most creative way -– the most highest of the creative way,” he said. As for whether or not it would drop this year, this is what MixedByAli had to say: “It might, it might, you never know.”

You can read more reactions to LeBron’s tweet below.

Bad beats are all over sports if you squint hard enough and know the lines sports bettors are agonizing over, but sometimes they stand out much more than others because of how horrifyingly cruel the loss becomes. That was certainly the case for anyone who had Devils +1.5 (-105) on Saturday afternoon, as Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby delivered one of the most brutal beats we’ve seen on the ice in some time.

The Penguins were trying to hang on with seconds to go against New Jersey on home ice, up 3-2 with the Devils desperately trying to find a goal in the closing seconds to force overtime. That meant the New Jersey goal was empty, with the Devils scrambling to tie the game with an extra attacker on the ice. After a close call in front — started by a stick literally exploding on a point shot — the puck went behind the goal with seconds to go. And instead of burying the puck in the corner to kill off the final seconds, Crosby wheeled around and went for goal to make a very specific group of people very mad.

As far as empty-net goals go, this one is particularly impressive. Just getting the puck out of the zone would be an accomplishment here, but Crosby is one of the greatest players in modern NHL history and not only did he rifle the puck about 185 feet in less than three seconds, he hit the net to boot. The puck crossed the goal line with 0.1 seconds on the clock, literally as late a goal as you can score in a regulation NHL game because the clock isn’t any more precise than that.

You can see on the video above, even Crosby had to watch on the video board hanging above the ice to see if he beat the clock. And the team’s Twitter account sort of just shrugged it off. But those who knew, knew. Including prominent NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.

On top of being a back-breaking loss for the Devils puck line, it pushed total bets, which is painful for Under bettors who felt this one was locked up as well. As you may often hear on ESPN, it’s a goal that was certainly significant to some. And those on the wrong side of it will always have a bone to pick with Crosby’s 20th tally of the season.

The New York Knicks can’t stop winning. On Saturday afternoon, the Knicks picked up their ninth consecutive win, pulling away late for a 120-103 win over the Raptors.

Julius Randle is the catalyst for just about everything the Knicks are doing, as he piled up 31 points and 10 rebounds in another sensational performance. Derrick Rose’s presence as the backup (but closing) point guard has been massive since he was acquired earlier this season, and R.J. Barrett has taken a massive leap as a scorer and defender in his sophomore season. However, late in games one figure’s presence shows up over and over again, and that is Nerlens Noel.

Noel has had a long, winding journey to get to New York, starting in Philadelphia before being dealt to Dallas and later signing with the Thunder. After a quality 2029-20 season as a bench big for the Thunder, he still didn’t find much traction in free agency and ended up with the Knicks on a bargain of a 1-year, $5 million deal. That signing became a godsend for this Knicks team, particularly after Mitchell Robinson fractured his foot, and Noel has become their defensive closer.

What Noel is doing with the Knicks isn’t new. He’s always been a terrific shot-blocker with great length, timing, an uncanny ability to stay vertical, and the quickness to stride over from the weakside to contest and block shots. What the Knicks have done — and the Thunder did a year ago — is fully embrace who Nerlens is and put him in lineups that let him thrive. The Knicks often close with Rose, Barrett, Reggie Bullock, Randle, and Noel, leaning on Nerlens’ ability to challenge at the rim to allow their perimeter players to be aggressive at the point of attack.

Take this play late against Toronto, where the Knicks swarm the ball at the top of the key, but the Raptors are able to move the ball until they get it to Siakam wide open in the lane for what normally would be a dunk. Nerlens has other ideas.

Watch as he presses up on the pick-and-roll, wheels around to get to the corner to contest when the pass initially tries to go that way, then dives back to the paint once Siakam gets the ball and meets him at the rim for a block. His helpside defense is truly something to behold, and it allows Tom Thibodeau to have more lineup versatility to put better shooters and offensive players on the floor and have them play aggressive and press high to force opponents off the three-point line and funnel them to the paint. Noel had two other blocks in the second half, each as a help defender, that illustrate his value to this aggressive New York defense.

The way he glides across the lane and meets shots at their apex is just a natural gift, and in New York he’s found a team that just wants him to be what he is and nothing more. He’s a great frontcourt complement to the ball-dominant Randle on offense, never looking for a shot but happy to clean up scraps on lobs and putback opportunities. On defense, he’s an elite rover, so as the Knicks aggressively double and scramble out to shooters on the perimeter, he gets to put his insane instincts and shot-blocking abilities to great use to clean up when anyone gets to the basket.

He’s such a unique defender because he’s an elite shot-blocker but isn’t especially big, which requires you to use him differently than you would a Rudy Gobert or Clint Capela or Brook Lopez. He’s not someone you want just sitting in drop coverage, although he’s capable there, but the Knicks ask him to use all his athletic gifts. Look at the way he steps up to hedge on the pick-and-roll with Bogdan Bogdanovic and then drops back to cover the middle before recognizing the baseline drive is coming and knowing that his teammates have the strongside covered and the only place the layup can go is on a reverse so he calmly strides over and stuffs it with two hands.

The Nerlens late-game block highlight reel can’t be complete without his ridiculous stuff of Brandon Ingram late to help the Knicks beat the Pelicans last week, as he strafed

This one is just, simply, elite timing and great hands to get all-ball on a dunk attempt. Noel’s uptick in minutes has been a bit by necessity with the Robinson injury, but what he’s providing them is making sure that he’ll have a robust market as a free agent next year. Even with Robinson returning, Noel still might have a home in New York, as he’s clearly become a Thibodeau favorite and allows the Knicks to play the aggressive defensive style they want to. Robinson has similar abilities on that end, and being able to deploy both would be quite the luxury.

In any case, as New York looks ahead to their playoff run, this win streak is showing a lot in terms of why they’re a real contender to push some of the East’s best. It’s not just nuclear performances from Julius Randle — although those help — but a collective effort on both ends that’s leading them on this 9-game winning streak, with Noel providing the highlight reel plays on the defensive end to complement Randle, Barrett, and the rest’s efforts offensively.

DMX’s death is something the music world is still healing from. The hip-hop legend tragically died earlier this month after a reported drug overdose that triggered a heart attack and left him on life support for nearly a week. Two weeks after his passing, the world will get a pair of opportunities to say their final goodbyes to DMX in memorial services for him that will occur this weekend. With the first is set to begin Saturday afternoon, the rapper was brought to Brookyln’s Barclays Center, where the first memorial will be held, in the most fitting way.

The rapper’s casket was delivered to the arena on a massive monster truck that featured the phrase “Long Live DMX” on the left and right sides in large white and red lettering. As the truck journeyed through the Brooklyn streets, fans stood on the sidewalk to cheer as it drove by. The monster truck was also followed by hundreds of motorcyclists. Upon arriving at the arena, a message honoring the rapper could be seen on the outdoor screen. “We each have a star, all we have to do is find it,” it read. “Once you do, everyone who sees it will be blinded.”

The first service for DMX will begin at 4 p.m. from Barclays Center and be livestreamed on YouTube. A second one will be held on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and air on BET.

You can watch video of the massive monster truck with DMX’s casket above.

During the four years of the Trump administration, reality itself seemed to take a turn for the weird. The news was not only frequently bad but it was often bad in inventively random ways. Since he left office, things have generally chilled out, but this whopper, dropped in the middle of a lazy Saturday afternoon, felt like a throwback to crazier times: For some reason, bad pandemic opinion-haver Elon Musk is going to host SNL.

The world’s most visible billionaire, last heard from floating the definitely smart idea of perhaps making a real-life “Jurassic Park”, will take center stage in 30 Rock for the live sketch show’s May 8 episode. Can Musk even perform? Maybe his wife, the musician Grimes, taught him a few things. Perhaps his friends known him as a skilled impersonator, and this is his chance to reveal he can do more than put Tom Cruise’s life in danger by letting him film a movie in space.

The good news? Miley Cyrus will be the musical guest, so there’s two segments that Musk can’t ruin, unless he screws up his requisite song intros.

When news of Musk’s SNL gig went public, it was met with less than stellar reviews.

Some wondered why comedy people — such as Justin Roiland, who got him to appear on Rick and Morty — seem to like him so.

And there were lots of jokes.

And others had a genuinely good idea on how to make this right.

But for now, Elon Musk will host SNL on May 8. Again, at least there’s Miley.