Month: June 2021

After a series of on-air shouting matches with co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, a noticeably subdued Meghan McCain had a rare moment on The View where she not only fully agreed with co-host Sunny Hostin, but she seemingly bucked her follow conservatives that have been pushing back against teaching Critical Race Theory in schools.

During a segment on Joe Biden becoming the first American president to recognize the Tulsa Race Massacre a century after it occurred, Hostin criticized the city of Tulsa for raising millions for the centennial commemoration and “not a dime of it” went to the survivors or their families that are still living in poverty. “This a textbook case for reparations,” Hostin said. When it came to McCain’s time to talk (at the 7:06 mark), she backed the call for reparations while admitting it’s not something she usually supports.

Via The Wrap:

“I actually think the case that Sunny laid out for reparations for, at the very least, the living ancestors and the families of the people who were the victims of this massacre is actually a really, really good one,” McCain noted. “I’m not always in favor of the argument for reparations, but I think in this specific case, much like for descendants of Native Americans who had their land taken from them, I actually think it’s something that should probably be brought in front of Congress.”

Meghan also agreed with co-host Sara Haines who said that it’s important that schools teach students about “one of the darkest and worst days in all of American history” or else we’re “destined to repeat the mistakes of the past.” To McCain’s credit, that is not a popular opinion in conservative circles right now as Republican politicians continue to protest Critical Race Theory being taught in American schools.

(Via The View on Twitter)

Rina Sawayama has had a big year. After releasing her standout debut album Sawayama, the singer performed on late-night talk shows, earned cosigns by the likes of Elton John and Lady Gaga, and even announced she’ll be starring alongside Keanu Reeves in John Wick 4. But the singer’s success didn’t come overnight. Sawayama worked tirelessly for years before finally securing a record deal, and she had to work some odd jobs along the way.

Sawayama recently sat down for a cover interview with Billboard where she talked about all the obstacles she faced on her rise to fame. Before signing with Dirty Hit Records, she found out one record label used a racist nickname, calling her “Rina Wagamama” behind her back. On top of that, a major-label A&R company backed out of a deal last-minute after hearing the demo to her hit song “STFU!”

But even before recording her debut album, Sawayama worked a number of odd jobs to support her musical aspirations. The gigs included selling ice cream sandwiches out of her friend’s truck in London and working as a nail technician in a salon. She even scored a job working at an Apple store, but says she was fired just a few months later after management found out she had modeled in a Samsung advertisement.

Reflecting on the beginning of her musical pursuits and the aftermath of her Apple job firing, Sawayama said she didn’t have many resources. “When I started out, I was like, ‘What do you do as an artist?’ I had no idea how to release things or why it’s important to release songs or albums,” she said. “I didn’t grow up around the music industry. I have no connections.”

Paxton Smith was named valedictorian of her graduating class at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas, with a 104.93 average. She submitted a speech about media and “how much of it she consumes and how that consumption has shaped the way she sees the world,” according to D Magazine, to school officials a few days ahead of the ceremony. But when it came time to deliver her remarks, she gave her actual speech.

“As we leave high school, we need to make our voices heard. I was going to get up here and talk to you about TV and content and media because those are things that are very important to me. However, in light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state,” Smith said. She was up there to talk about the so-called “heartbeat bill” (Planned Parenthood prefers the term “abortion bans”) which Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law last month. It essentially prohibits abortions in the country’s second most-populated state.

“Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after six weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. Six weeks. Most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant by then,” Smith said in her speech. “And so, before they have the time to decide if they are emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human into the world, the decision has been made for them by a stranger. A decision that will affect the rest of their lives.” She added, “I hope you can feel how gut-wrenching it is, how dehumanizing it is, to have the autonomy over your own body taken from you.”

Smith told D Magazine that she “feels great” about pulling the speech switcheroo, but it “also feels a little weird. Whenever I have opinions that can be considered political or controversial, I keep them to myself because I don’t like to gain attention for that kind of stuff. But I’m glad that I could do something, and I’m glad that it’s getting attention. It just feels weird for me personally, that I’m linked to the attention that the speech got.”

You can watch the speech above.

(Via D Magazine)

Welcome to SNX DLX, our weekly roundup of the hottest sneakers to hit the streets. This week we’re coming at your with eight selections, from this week’s best Jordans (every week has great Jordans, no lie) to the latest collabs, like Bricks & Woods dope 57/40 New Balances and the latest colorway out of Yeezy Brand. We’re now comfortably in the month of June and rumor has it that this month is supposed to bring Ye’s first offerings in his partnership with GAP.

Whether that collab will be dope is something we can’t predict, but it’ll sell out, that’s almost guaranteed. So if you’re holding that GAP stock, prepare for a fun month! If you’re on the hunt for non-Kanye fits, be sure to hit up our list of the 15 streetwear brands you need on your radar this summer.

Let’s get into the shoes!

Mimi Plange x Nike LeBron 18 Low Higher Learning

For LeBron’s latest, he and Nike linked up with Ghanian fashion designer Mimi Plange, who delivers this varsity jacket-inspired take on the LeBron 18, dubbed “Higher Learning.” We’re loving this mix of mustard, Burgundy, pink and crimson! Varsity Jacket detailing completes the look of this shoe, with striped ribbing, blocky University-inspired lettering, and embroidered patches.

LeBron sneakers are always a little nuts, design-wise, but in partnering with Mimi Plange, this take on the 18 is one of the best!

The Mimi Plange x Nike Lebron 18 “Higher Learning” is set to drop on June 2nd for a retail price of $170. This one is likely already sold out on the Nike and Mimi Plange store, so be sure to hit up aftermarket sites like StockX.

COMME Des Garçons PLAY x Converse Chuck 70 Blue Quartz/Steel Grey

I would never think to describe CDG’s Converse collab as “serious.” Part of what is so appealing about the PLAY sneaker is just how playful and lighthearted it is, but this new Blue Quartz and Steel Grey of the sneaker is — well, it’s the most serious the sneaker has ever looked. We’re not mad at it, it’s an interesting juxtaposition!

Available in both low-top and high-top options, the Blue Quarts and Steel Grey colorways feature a single heart graphic over the midsole. Prepare to see these everywhere! If you can get a pair of course.

The COMME Des Garçons PLAY x Converse Chuck 70 Blue Quartz/Steel Grey is set to drop on June 3rd for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Dover Street Market webstore or Converse.

Air Jordan High OG Court Purple

Another week, another WMNS exclusive Jordan! It’s all good — we’re glad to see people with smaller feet getting the dopest Jordan colorways and this week’s high-top Court Purple is even better than last year’s Men’s size counterpart, which features purple paneling over a white upper.

This iteration keeps the Court Purple to a minimum, using the color on the sneaker’s collar and the wrap-around swoosh, which pops against a pristine white genuine leather upper. By keeping the purple to a minimum, this design just looks so much cleaner.

The Air Jordan High OG Court Purple is set to drop on June 3rd for a retail price of $170. Pick up a pair at GOAT or Flight Club.

Bricks & Wood New Balance 57/40

LA-based label Bricks & Wood have teamed up with New Balance for a hyper-modern take on the classic 574 silhouette. Dubbed the 57/40, this design combines premium construction featuring leather underlays and pig suede and nubuck overlays, embroidered detailing, and a colorway of Forest Green and Aspen inspired by South Central, Los Angeles.

The color palette was inspired by the convenience store Liquor Bank, a staple of label head Kacey Lynch’s childhood and an emblem of the neighborhood.

The Bricks and Wood New Balance 57/40 is set to drop on June 4th for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

Air Jordan 6 Electric Green

Dropping just in time for summer, Nike is launching an Electric Green iteration of the Air Jordan 6, which recalls the Oregon PE colorway of the shoe, which dropped two years back. Featuring a moody black upper with Electric Green accents, this sneaker sports nubuck suede construction with a rubber outsole and translucent detailing, giving the sneaker a sort of glow-in-the-dark vibe.

The sneaker sits atop a polyurethane sole, which offers lightweight cushioning and features an embroidered Jumpman branding in eye-popping Electric Green.

The Air Jordan 6 Electric Green is set to drop on June 5th for a retail price of $190. Pick up a pair at GOAT.

Fragment Design x Nike Dunk High Black “Beijing”

If you’re a fan of Fragment Designs’ OG Dunk collaboration from over a decade ago, you’re going to be all about this refreshed take on the design, unofficially dubbed the “Beijing.,” but known to Nike 2021 as simply “Black.” Featuring a leather upper with a deep purple base and nicely contrasting black overlays, this sneaker features dual Fragment Design and Nike branding and is probably the moodiest we’ve ever seen a Dunk look.

From certain angles, this sneaker looks like it could be a Jordan, but that really says more about the versatility of the Dunk than it does this particular design. The original release was part of a City Pack that also featured colorways repping London and New York. We’ll take some new iterations of that as well, Fragment Design, if you’re listening!

The Fragment Design x Nike Dunk High Beijing is set to drop on June 5th for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app, or select Nike retailers.

Adidas Yeezy 500 Taupe Light

Yeezy has been dropping a lot of sneaker silhouettes in vivid colors that the brand had yet to explore prior to this year, yet this week we get a throwback Taupe Light colorway. What gives? Could Ye be planning on dropping a similar monochromatic apparel line that will pair nicely with the shoes? We can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely weird to see Yeezy brand take a step back into their old vibe the same month the rumored Yeezy apparel line is about to drop.

If you’re a fan of OG Yeezys, you’re going to love this Taupe take.

The Adidas Yeezy 500 Taupe Light is set to drop on June 5th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Adidas webstore or Yeezy Supply.

Air Max 97 Puerto Rico

Silver-toned 97s simply look dope, just like Fire Red Jordans! This week brings a new 97 colorway and design with a silver base that celebrates Puerto Rico, complete with the colors of the Puerto Rican flag accenting this classic design on the sock liner and midfoot, and in place of the Swoosh and Air-Sole bubble. The flag makes an appearance on the tongue’s pull tab. Overall, this is just a dope design, whether you rep for Puerto Rico or not.

The Air Max 97 Puerto Rico is set to drop on June 5th for a retail price of $175. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

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Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

There are good shots, great shots, and then there’s this shot by Phoenix Mercury guard Kia Nurse. If you predicted that we’d have a euro-step buzzer-beating halfcourt heave for the win in a WNBA game this season, congrats. Come pick up your prize.

Nurse’s bucket lifted the Mercury over the Chicago Sky, 84-83. She finished with 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting including five three-pointers. Phoenix is now 2-1 without Diana Taurasi, who is sidelined with a fracture in her sternum that will cost her at least a month. Each win without her is huge, especially in year the league will only play a 32-game regular season.

Back to the shot now, please. The precision, awareness, and technical genius necessary to make a shot like this ever — and not just in the high-pressure circumstance Nurse was in — is wild.

Look at where she takes her first step to throw the Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot off to the wrong direction.

This is art.

And while this was great for the Mercury, every bit of this shot was feel-good for Nurse, too. Nurse is coming off a tough season with the Liberty where the sharpshooter never got her rhythm after suffering knee and ankle injuries. She made just 23.8 percent of her 6.2 three-point tries per game and the Liberty won just two games all season. She was then traded to the Mercury, and in 2021, she’s caught fire, making 41.5 percent of her 5.9 looks from distance.

Also, as WNBA Twitter noted, this was the second miraculous game-winner Vandersloot’s had a front-row seat to. It’s time she gets her revenge.

In 2013, Darkside, the collaborative project of Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington, released their debut album, Psychic. That was pretty much it from the duo for a long time, but that has changed recently. Towards the end of last year, they started to tease their return, and last month, their officially announced a new album, Spiral. That’s set for release in July, but they have shared some advance previews of the album ahead of then.

Now they’ve added another to that list, as they’ve dropped “Lawmaker” today. The eerie new tune is driven by rhythmic guitar and bass, as well as some storytelling lyrics.

In an earlier statement, the duo spoke about their return, with Jaar saying, “From the beginning, Darkside has been our jam band. Something we did on days off. When we reconvened, it was because we really couldn’t wait to jam together again.” Harrington also added, “It felt like it was time again. We do things in this band that we would never do on our own. Darkside is the third being in the room that just kind of occurs when we make music together.”

Listen to “Lawmaker” above.

Spiral is out 7/23 via Matador. Pre-order it here.

Earlier this year, Chvrches ushered in a new era of vibrant music with the kiss off tune “He Said She Said.” The song made it clear that the band’s fourth album was on the way, which Chvrches now confirms with their new Robert Smith collaboration “How To Not Drown.”

“How To Not Drown” ventures into alternative rock territory, leaning on crashing snares and Smith’s languid vocal delivery. It officially announces their next LP, titled Screen Violence, which vocalist Lauren Mayberry notes was a form of escapism for her.

“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” Mayberry said of Screen Violence. “That felt freeing initially, to have concepts and stories to weave your own feelings and experiences through but in the end, all the lyrics were definitely still personal.”

Echoing Mayberry’s statement, band member Martin Doherty says, “To me, the screen aspect was a bit more literal. When we were making the record, it was like half of our lives were lived through screens. What began as a concept was now a lifeline.”

Listen to “How To Not Drown” above and find Chvrches’ Screen Violence cover art and 2021 North American tour dates below.

11/09 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11/10-12 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live
11/14 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
11/15 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
11/17 — Minneapolis, MN @ Armory
11/18 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Riverside Theater
11/19 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
11/20 — Columbus, OH @ Express Live!
11/22 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
11/23 — Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
11/26 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/27 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/30 — Washington, DC @ Anthem
12/01 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
12/02 — New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
12/03 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
12/05 — Cincinnati, OH @ Ovation
12/06 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
12/08 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
12/09 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
12/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Union
12/11 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
12/13 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
12/14 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
12/16 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/17 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

Screen Violence is out 8/27 via Glassnote Records. Pre-order it here.

Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? There have been plenty of games that fit this bill such as the Ace Attorney series, a few Nancy Drew games, and even Professor Layton. However, the appeal has always involved catching the murderer. Very rarely is the player the actual murderer.

Overboard!, just now released for PC, Switch, and iOS, is a murder mystery game where the player is the murder. Don’t worry, that didn’t just spoil the entire plot, because the whole point of the game is to get away with it. Now, that sounds like a game that could be unnecessarily dark, but the trailer has enough of a silly vibe to it that the game is likely very tongue-in-cheek.

What’s weird about this game is that we’ve known about it for more than a month now — developer Jon Ingold spilled the beans back in April. On April Fool’s Day. Of course, it sounded absurd, so no one took him seriously. Having said that, you only get one of these, Jon, and you used it brilliantly.

The game sounds like it is going to be very funny, but there’s also an endless curiosity to how it will handle you being the murderer. Will there be multiple endings? Can you get yourself caught? At the very least, this is going to take a tried-and-true story telling formula and put a bit of a twist on it, and we cannot wait to see how it looks.

After more than four decades at the helm of the Duke Blue Devils, men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is reportedly going to retire following the 2021-22 campaign. The Hall of Famer plans on stepping down from his post after one last run, per Jeff Goodman of Stadium, a decision there have been rumblings about for a few weeks.

The news was eventually confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Coach K’s career is nothing short of legendary, as he has compiled a 1,170-361 record in his career at Army and Duke, including five national championships in Durham, reaching 12 Final Fours in his 41 seasons in Durham. Duke has also won 15 ACC Tournament titles under Coach K and a dozen regular season ACC crowns, as they have been at the top of one of the nation’s best basketball conferences for much of his tenure. Along with an incredible career as a college coach, Krzyzewski will go down as one of USA Basketball’s most successful head coaches, winning three Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012, and 2016.

As Goodman and Wojnarowski note, the expected replacement for Krzyzewski is current Duke associate head coach and former player Jon Scheyer, who has been an assistant with Duke since 2014 and served as associate head coach since 2018 after the departure of longtime assistant Jeff Capel for Pittsburgh.

Capel and others would certainly have interest in the job, but much like when Roy Williams stepped down at North Carolina after this last season and Hubert Davis was elevated to head coach, one would expect Duke to follow a similar pattern and hire from within. Per Goodman, there is a meeting on Wednesday to determine if Scheyer will indeed be elevated to head coach immediately upon an official announcement of K’s retirement.

The Philadelphia 76ers will not have Joel Embiid’s services for Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Washington Wizards. The team announced an update on the status of the big man’s knee injury, and while he is officially listed as day-to-day, the injury he suffered means he will be unable to take the floor for the potential closeout game.

In a statement posted to the team’s Twitter account, the Sixers said that Embiid has formally been diagnosed with “a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee.” The good news for the Sixers, beyond the fact that it sounds like Embiid could take the floor soon, is that the team believes it will be able to handle the injury via a “physical therapy and treatment program.”

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN added some details as to what will determine Embiid’s ability to take the floor moving forward in the postseason.

This lines up with reporting from Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice, who brought word on Tuesday night that “the Sixers feel good about the ability to manage Embiid’s health from a long-term/overall playoff perspective.” Previously, the team had considered Embiid doubtful to play in Game 5.

Embiid hurt his knee during the Sixers’ Game 4 loss to the Wizards.