Category: News

The Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons reached a major inflection point in his holdout designed to force the team to trade him. Simmons is owed 25 percent of his salary, which is a little over $8 million, on Oct. 1, and there were questions about whether or not the Sixers would cut him a check or keep that from heading into his bank account.

According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, Philly — which already gave Simmons’ the 25 percent of his contract he was owed earlier this year — has decided to go with option B. It is unclear whether or not this would spark a gigantic fight in which the NBA and the Players’ Association would step in, but Fischer added that a growing belief is that Simmons will end up reporting to the team but sit on the sideline, citing injuries.

In turn, there have been growing whispers this week among NBA sources with knowledge of the situation that Simmons could respond by actually reporting to Philadelphia in the coming days, but maintaining that he is injured and unable to compete. Simmons has had noted knee and back injuries in the previous two seasons.
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The Sixers’ first preseason game is in Toronto on Monday, and there’s a belief held in league circles that Simmons may even rejoin the Sixers prior to that contest. How that would be received by teammates and staffers remains to be seen.

The news was confirmed by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

It had been reported that Simmons was willing to sit out this season and forfeit his salary in an effort to get a trade from the Sixers, and that his plan is to never suit up for the team again. The question now is whether or not losing out on a major payday leads to Simmons having a change of heart.

As television productions continue to spring back after facing brutal delays from the pandemic — The Righteous Gemstones was literally on its second day of shooting for Season 2 when it was forced to shut down — HBO has dropped a heavenly bounty of information about the upcoming new season for Danny McBride‘s latest masterpiece. While the network has yet to nail down a definitive release date, The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 will start airing its nine new episodes this winter. Not very specific, but have faith the show is coming soon.

Here’s the official synopsis for the new season, which is as mysterious as the Lord’s ways:

THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES tells the story of a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed and charitable work. Season two finds our blessed Gemstone family threatened by outsiders from both the past and present who wish to destroy their empire.

HBO also released the first round of photos from Season 2, which includes a look at some of the new characters joining the holy roller cast.

Firing right out of the gate is the Gemstones family still living that jet-set life: Kelvin (Adam Devine), Eli (John Goodman), Judy (Edi Patterson), Jesse (Danny McBride), and his now estranged wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman).

Here’s a look at the Gemstones family at work at their megachurch that’s ruled with an iron fist by Eli despite the numerous messes caused by his wayward children. When they’re not embezzling money, they’re snorting cocaine with strippers, which doesn’t bode well for the holy exterior.

On the left, we have the welcomed return of “former” Satanist Keefe (Tony Cavalero) who’s been taken under Kelvin Gemstone’s wing. Or is it the other way around?

In a new addition to the cast, Eric Andre and Jessica Lowe star as megachurch pastor and wife Lyle and Lindy Lissons.

Jason Schwartzman is also a new addition as a journalist named Thaniel.

Despite being estranged at the end of Season 1 (Amber literally shot Jesse in the ass with a gun), McBride and Freeman’s characters appear to be working together in the new season, but to what end?

Easily the highlight of Season 1, Judy and B.J. (Tim Baltz)’s weird as hell relationship is apparently still going strong.

And, finally, you can’t have a new season of The Righteous Gemstones without Walton Goggins as “Baby Billy” Freeman, who survived a lightning strike in the Season 1 finale and immediately found a way to turn it into a money-making scheme.

The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 is set to premiere this winter on HBO.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is not a great movie, but it’s a movie that says, emphatically, that superhero movies aren’t that important. At a time when most other superhero movies have fate-of-the-universe implications and attempt to humanize the machinations of a shadowy (but benevolent!) national security apparatus through wry humor and comic book hyperstylization, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is pretty much just a goofy story about a couple dudes infected with comedic alien symbiotes. It’s silly, thoroughly disposable, and a breezy 90 minutes long. What else could you ask for?

Tom Hardy, effusing his usual sheepdog charm, is back as Eddie Brock, a San Francisco reporter living an odd couple life with the alien goo that lives inside his butt. Okay, maybe not specifically inside his butt, but I promise you that this kind of joke fits perfectly with V:LTBC‘s general sensibility. V:LTBC is a lot like a superhero twist on Look Who’s Talking. We get Tom Hardy, the reticent, mumbly actor with big, pillowy lips on the outside, and Venom, Tom Hardy’s effusive, Cookie Monster-voiced alter ego on the inside narrating all the action. It’s having your cake and eating it too; very dumb, but mostly in the best way.

Eddie and Venom bicker like an old married couple, with Eddie demanding that Venom not eat people and get him in trouble, and Venom constantly begging for the nutrients he needs to survive. Which, we learn, are found only in brains and in chocolate. In one bit, Eddie points out that he already bought two live chickens for Venom to eat (“chickens have brains, don’t they?”), but Venom named them Sonny and Cher and they became his pets. With so many comic book movies feeling like the CIA hired someone to rewrite Watchmen, it’s fairly refreshing to see one that feels more like an R-rated episode of Alf.

Wait, has anyone seen the cat? AAAAALF!

Meanwhile, Detective Mulligan, played by Stephen Graham, aka Tommy from Snatch, one of the most enjoyable character actors we have, gives Eddie the opportunity of a lifetime: interview serial killer Cletus Kassady (Woody Harrelson) from death row, and hopefully reinvigorate his own career while helping Mulligan clear some cases. Things go sideways when Kassady begins to provoke Venom, one thing leads to another, and the next thing you know, Kassady is infected (enhanced?) with an alien symbiote of his own. “The red kind,” Venom notes reverently, though this is never explained nor expanded upon. Presumably for the best.

Cletus and his symbiote then bust out of prison to go find Cletus’s girlfriend, Francis Barrison (Naomie Harris), who has been imprisoned in a top-secret Victorian insane asylum on account of having supernatural screaming powers (she yells loud: it can shatter glass and scare symbiotes). Cletus is on a mission to… marry his girlfriend? While Venom and Eddie have to… stop them? Witness the marriage? I’m not really sure, actually. The point is, the movie is called “Let There Be Carnage” and the screenwriters have graciously allowed there to be carnage, thus fulfilling the ancient prophecy.

That screenwriter, by the way, is Kelly Marcel, writer of Saving Mr. Banks and adaptor of the Fifty Shades Of Grey movie, with direction by Andy Serkis, who last directed Disney’s live action-ish Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and is best known as the guy in the spandex ping pong ball suit in the featurettes for the Lord Of The Rings and Planet Of The Apes movies, frequently seen discussing the act of jumping around like a chimp with the kind of reverence generally reserved for painting the Sistine Chapel. I mention them only because I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie in which the filmmakers’ pedigrees were less apparent in the final product. How these two incorrigibly cerebral-sounding Brits teamed up to create a movie that feels like an episode of WWE’s Monday Night Raw is perhaps Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s most intriguing question.

There’s the de rigeur showdown between superpowered fighters near the end of the movie, and it’s hard to tell what exactly either of them wants, though it doesn’t really matter. The real conflict in V: LTBC is between Eddie Brock and Venom. It’s essentially an unlikely rom-com, set within the backdrop of a superhero movie. The question isn’t so much “what does Carnage want and why should we care?” as it is “will Eddie and Venom finally learn to get along?”

This is all slightly unexpected and slightly refreshing, compelling for as long as it takes before the novelty value wears off. At 90 minutes, Venom: Let There Be Carnage doesn’t really let it. It peaks in a climactic sequence that’s as smash-cut-to-funeral dumb-funny as Samuel Jackson getting eaten by a shark mid-rousing speech in Deep Blue Sea. It’s pure junk food cinema, good for a cheap laugh in the moment before vanishing from memory forever. The post-credit scenes and requisite tie-ins cheapen the impact somewhat, but the basic fact remains: about the best thing a comic book movie, or really any movie, can do these days is not spend any time trying to convince you of its importance.

‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ is available in theaters everywhere October 1. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

The NWSL announced on Friday afternoon that it will call off this weekend’s matches on the heels of a damning report from The Athletic regarding now-former North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley. In it, multiple players (including two, Sinead Farrelly and Meleana “Mana” Shim, who spoke on the record about specific incidents) recounted Riley’s history of abusive behavior, which led to him being the second coach this week — alongside ex-Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke — who was dismissed due to allegations of abuse and creating a toxic environment within the club.

“This week, and much of this season, has been incredibly traumatic for our players and staff, and I take full responsibility for the role I have played,” NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird said in a statement on the league’s website. “I am so sorry for the pain so many are feeling. Recognizing that trauma, we have decided not to take the field this weekend to give everyone some space to reflect. Business as usual isn’t our concern right now. Our entire league has a great deal of healing to do, and our players deserve so much better. We have made this decision in collaboration with our players association and this pause will be the first step as we collectively work to transform the culture of this league, something that is long overdue.”

The response to the report on Riley featured a number of the most prominent women’s soccer players in the United States, like USWNT stalwarts Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, offering up support for those impacted by the actions of Riley (which reportedly date back to 2010) and the inaction of the league in investigating longstanding allegations of misconduct.

As reporting from The Athletic indicated, Riley had been the source of formal complaints to the league from players in the past, including Shim filing a complaint in 2015 in the immediate aftermath of the season. He was relieved by his then-team, the Portland Thorns, which confirmed that the investigation found him in violation of team policy.

After the NWSL adopted a new anti-harassment policy earlier this year, Farrelly and Shim contacted the league to ask for a new investigation into Riley’s behavior. League commissioner Lisa Baird thanked them for raising their concerns but informed both former players the 2015 complaint was “investigated to conclusion,” and that she could not share any details. This week, when informed of The Athletic’s reporting on Riley, including the allegations made by Farrelly that were not part of the 2015 Thorns probe, Baird chose not to respond. An NWSL spokesperson said in a statement: “The league was contacted earlier this year regarding an investigation that was completed in 2015. Absent any new or additional information, the matter was closed. That said, the behavior described by former players has absolutely no place in our league and will not be tolerated.”

Riley and Burke are the latest male coaches to leave their post or be fired this year due to these sorts of allegations.

Nobody does smart, righteous takedowns through mild-mannered sarcasm as well as Jon Stewart does. Since his departure from “The Daily Show” in 2015, his witty social and political commentary has been missed. Now he’s back with his own show, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” on Apple TV+, and he’s in peak form.

For years, Stewart has advocated for government support for veterans and first responders impacted by toxic chemicals, with several testimonies before lawmakers making the viral rounds on social media. He has played an active role in pushing legislation to provide compensation for 9/11 heroes who have suffered ongoing health issues from exposure to chemicals and particulates at ground zero, as well as veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a four-minute clip of an episode called “The Problem With War: Burn Pits and Sick Veterans,” Stewart says that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veteran Affairs keep putting off action on veterans suffering from toxic chemical exposure because they claim they need clearer evidence. However, as he points out, not only has evidence that benzene and dioxin are harmful been reported on for decades, but the Defense Department’s own internal memos say so as well.

Watch:

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The Problem With War: Burn Pits and Sick Veterans | The Problem With Jon Stewart | Apple TV+

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“We know the chemicals in burn pits are the same chemicals in Agent Orange and the same chemicals at ground zero. And we know exposure to those chemicals make you sick,” Stewart said. “We know. They know. We know they know. And now I think they know that we know that they know.”

Stewart always throws in that bit of wry humor, but the message he’s delivering is deadly serious.

“Now veterans are dying and going bankrupt because the DoD and VA are forcing them to indisputably prove a connection they already internally admit exists,” Stewart said. “And what makes it so incredibly demoralizing is that they are holding the veterans to a standard of proof far beyond the one our own government used to send them to war in the first place.”

Leave it to Jon Stewart to drive the point home with such clarity and with a gut punch right at the end.

Squid Game is on pace to become Netflix’s biggest show of all-time. It’s so popular that a man with a real-life phone number used in the show is getting around 4,000 calls a day; it’s so popular that Netflix’s stock is at an all-time high; it’s so popular that the streaming service is getting sued because it’s using up too much internet.

Reuters reports that “South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband has sued Netflix to pay for costs from increased network traffic and maintenance work because of a surge of viewers to the U.S. firm’s content.” The Netflix traffic handled by SK Broadband now requires 1.2 trillion bits of data to be processed every second. I’m not entirely sure how that compares to, say, Disney+ or Hulu, but I do know that 1.2 tacos is not many tacos. But 1.2 trillion tacos? That’s a lot of tacos.

The move comes after a Seoul court said Netflix should “reasonably” give something in return to the internet service provider for network usage, and multiple South Korean lawmakers have spoken out against content providers who do not pay for network usage despite generating explosive traffic… SK estimated the network usage fee Netflix needed to pay was about 27.2 billion won ($22.9 million) in 2020 alone, the court document said.

If only there was a way to make a quick 27.2 billion won, possibly by winning a series of children’s games.

(Via Reuters)

ABC hasn’t had much luck with its hip-hop-themed programming, though not for lack of quality (RIP The Mayor, gone too soon. You were cut down in your prime). That hasn’t stopped the network from trying, though. Its latest effort is Queens, an hour-long drama series about a 1990s rap girl band reuniting in their 40s to try to mount a comeback and recapture the magic. Fortunately, the cast has the chops to pull it off: Brandy (check out her BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher verse), Eve (veteran of both rap and television), Nadine Velazquez (the only non-musician), and Naturi Naughton (who played Lil Kim in Notorious) star and rap in the show, giving fans a preview in the video for “Nasty Girl.”

Presented as a Hype Williams-esque mega-production from 1999 (and directed by Tim Story, of all people), the “Nasty Girl” video pays homage to the elaborate, big-budget clips favored by the likes of Diddy and Bad Boy Records, with yachts, helicopters, champagne, and pyrotechnics providing all the nostalgic eye candy you could want.

Oddly, though, the song itself is decidedly much more modern sounding, with a chopped-and-screwed loop on the beat evoking memories of Bangladesh’s heyday, which was like a decade later. However, all four women acquit themselves well on the mic, especially Brandy, who for some reason the show has rapping like Kobe on “3x Dope,” and the song’s kind of an anachronistic banger. It’s enough to spark real curiosity for Queens, which premieres Tuesday, October 19 at 10 ET on ABC, as well as streaming on Hulu.

Watch the “Nasty Girl” video/show promo above.

While the world still might be a ways away from “back to normal,” things are definitely looking up for the film industry and hey, it’s a start, right? According to The Wrap, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — the latest entry in Disney’s ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe — has officially set the record as the highest-grossing pandemic-era movie after raking in $200 million at the domestic box office.

Prior to Shang-Chi‘s success, the last film to surpass the $200 million mark was February 2020’s Bad Boys For Life, which released just one month before theaters were mandated to close their doors due to rising COVID-19 cases. Since then, only one another Marvel movie — the Scarlett Johansson led Black Widow — has managed to get close to the $200 million mark, bringing in $183.5 million domestically during its simultaneous box office and Disney+ release.

Disney also announced that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings performed pretty impressively in a number of other ways as well. According to the studio, the film hit the $200 million mark as it entered its fifth weekend in theaters and after taking the number one spot on the box office charts every weekend in September. The film also completely shattered the previous Labor Day weekend box-office record with a four-day opening of $94.6 million, more than triple the $30.5 million earned by Rob Zombie’s Halloween back in 2007.

While many were concerned that Disney’s choice to give Shang-Chi a strictly theatrical release would ultimately lead to a poor reception and fiscal performance for the first Asian superhero film from Marvel, turns out keeping the film’s exclusive release might have helped it out in the long run — though the choice is still pretty questionable from a health and safety standpoint. Ultimately, the film’s success, as well as the stellar performance of 20th Century Studios’ Ryan Reynold’s led movie Free Guy, has led Disney to announce all of its remaining films this year will be released exclusively in theaters, including the next MCU movie, Eternals, which hits theaters November 5.

Back when the balance of the 2020 election seemed to hinge solely on whether or not the state of Georgia would go to Biden and elect two Democractic senators, Jason Isbell made a promise to that great state. If they went blue, he’d release an album of covers devoted to the state. Well, we all know, now, that they came through, and now Isbell is too. He’s gearing up to release the aptly-titled Georgia Blue with his band The 400 Unit in just a few weeks, on October 15, so the slow trickle of singles promoting the record are beginning to see the light of day.

He’s already shared an Isbell version of R.E.M.’s “Driver 8,” but today the stakes are a bit higher: He enlisted a few other indie legends in the making to tackle “Midnight Train To Georgia.” Back in the early ’70s Gladys Knight & The Pips went all the way to No. 1 with this classic, and obviously Isbell wasn’t about to tackle Gladys’ part on his own. Instead, he graciously passed the baton to powerhouse vocalist in her own right, Brittney Spencer, and also got John Paul White (formerly of The Civil Wars fame) to round out the sound. Check out the cover above.

The revered status of Hitmaka has been two decades in the making. Turn on the radio today at any given moment and surely there will be a song playing that the multi-platinum selling producer has touched in some form. In 2008, radio was dominated by his massive hits “Sexy Can I” and “The Business,” both off his debut album Look What You Made Me under his former moniker Yung Berg.

Lately, Berg’s talent lies in sampling sounds from the same era that he used to make music in and beyond. As a result, the Chicago native is curating this current generation’s era of sounds by working with essentially everyone from the late King Von to industry legends like Nicki Minaj.

Gifted with an ear for melody and feel-good vibes, combined with a knack for picking out a talented music-making team, it’s no wonder he has been able to continue to create songs that consistently land on the Billboard charts or become certified platinum by the RIAA. Atlantic Records tapped him to be the Vice President of A&R with great results and now he’s serving as Empire’s VP of A&R, where he’s expected to dominate the music industry even more. And that’s the goal.

Speaking with Berg about the bevy of upcoming projects he’s working on, including his latest release “Quickie” featuring Queen Naija and Ty Dolla Sign, I dug into the mind of Hitmaka to find out his hit-making process and key to his success.

What have you learned from the beginning of your career to now?

Consistency and work ethic is the key for me. A lot of people don’t really put that foot forward and wait for somebody else to do something for them. Whether it’s the team they’re provided, or just putting responsibilities on other people instead of using themselves as the vessel. Myself, I’m so driven and such a workaholic.

Have you always been this self-motivated?

I got my first record deal when I was in ninth grade. I never really had any other experience besides music. Everybody says, “Don’t put your eggs in one basket,” but I did the opposite way and put every egg in one basket. It left me with my back against the wall. Not to where it’s like, “If this doesn’t work out, maybe I could pivot and do this.” It was more so like, “This has to work out,” and that’s what it’s been my whole life.

I feel like you’ve lasted a really long time and it hasn’t been without criticism. How have you dealt with that?

You’ve just got to be built of Teflon. I feel like I’m a very resilient person. At first, I didn’t understand it when I was going through a lot of things early in my career. I looked at it as a negative. At this point where I’m at now, on the other side of my career, and not having peaked and still on my way up, I was able to go through those things and it made me tougher. It was a gift to me because it prepared me for what you could endure on any level. I went through it at a young age. I feel like it doesn’t even reach my radar. It doesn’t really penetrate anything that I have going on in my own world. It comes with the territory.

Most know you as Yung Berg but now you’re Hitmaka. Why the name change?

A few different things happened. One, when I was still deep into my Yung Berg bag and putting out mixtapes, Rico Love was the hottest producer and writer at the time. I was on Twitter one day and I reached out to Rico and he allowed me to link up with him. I went to the London Hotel and he was having breakfast on some real baller shit, sitting by the pool and just talking to me. I was telling him my journey. He was like, “Yo, I think you should change your name.”

Then, I went to Miami, because I was working on Last Train To Paris, Diddy’s album, and Rico was too. Rico would be introducing me to people as my government name. Like, “Hey, this is Christian.” And it’d be like Fat Joe and Fat Joe would be like, “No, that’s Yung Berg. What are you talking about?” He’s like, “Nah, it’s Christian.” I didn’t really like it because when I first met Joe, I was like, damn, he didn’t embrace it and it felt a little weird. But one day when I was in the studio I just said, “Hitmaka,” at the beginning of a song and I decided that I’m going to continue with it. It was a pretty bold statement. I’ve just been working hard to live up to it and it’s been working out.

That’s interesting you say it’s a bold statement. You didn’t think it was fitting?

I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I was just creating records. I was in a different space. I knew people were feeling me as an artist. On my first album, I wrote all the features and I had a lot of features. I thought, “I’m pretty good at this. Let me continue doing it.”

Do you ever get bored of producing?

No, not at all. I love producing and writing. That’s what my background is. I don’t ever get bored. This is the evolution of my career. At the end of this, I’m going to be one of the big guys at the head of a company, like a CEO. I’m really a music man. Shout out to L.A. Reid and other people I’m in business with. I look at myself like that.

You’re really good at flipping throwback hits. What is your process for choosing which songs to sample?

I put a flag in the sand and I yelled, “I’m going to flip all my songs and I’m going to be the Puff Daddy of this generation. I’m going to make it very clear what’s going on.” From there, I would just link with a guy named Paul who I met via Ayo & Keyz while making Wiz Khalifa’s “Something New,” and I’m just reliving my life. All the records that I love from the 106 and Park era, I just go back in. I know what I like. Honestly, I’m just making records to music that I personally like and throwing it out there. It’s just a blessing that the world is sharing the same taste level as me.

What are some songs that you are proud of?

I’m super proud of being able to work with King Von and doing that record for him and Lil Durk, “Still Trappin.” That record went platinum and was some of Von’s last work that we did. We did those records together in a studio and I was able to work as a co-writer on it. A lot of people don’t know, but we actually wrote the hook to that record. Even though Von came in and made his own little changes to it, he had never worked like that before to where the hook was already built into the song. He never worked like that before. It was his first time and we caught a platinum plaque. Rest in peace, Von, and shout out to Lil Durk.

I feel like you’re always on the verge of also tapping in with up-and-coming talent. What is your process for that? Do you have people telling you or are you out there, listening to the streets?

I’m scouting and I’m always looking. I have people telling me different artists to work with. Maybe someone on my team will set me up with somebody to work with, like Tink. I never worked with Tink before and we’re both from Chicago. When we met, we hit it off immediately. We were able to make her new album that’s out now, Heat Of The Moment. I think she’s on the cusp of being something very, very incredible.

I know you have your team and go-to’s but whenever you invite other people into that, how do you pick? You could really put anybody on with your name so what is that one thing you look for?

It’s just the talent. Once I hear it, and your demo is something that somebody plays me is amazing, I already know that I can take this shit to the next level. There’s a lot of people that I work with, Goldie, Rocky, Crishan, Ivory Scott is a new guy that I’m working with that’s from Chicago that’s done amazing things. We just did Yung Bleu’s record, “The Baddest” with Chris Brown and 2 Chainz together. He’s on Fat Joe’s new album that’s about to come out as a featured artist. We just did Trippie Redd’s new single that’s about to drop with Polo G and Lil Durk. If you dope, you somehow make your way to me, and you come highly recommended, then I’m going to work with you. It’s the same way I met Goldie. I didn’t know Goldie for a long time, but I have known her for, now, almost 10 years. I met her at a session and they paired us up to work together. Our relationship has continued from there.

Whenever you go number one or you get a platinum plaque, does it ever get old to you?

To be honest, I don’t even buy plaques. I have two plaques in my house. I have a plaque from Teyana Taylor and King Combs, “How You Want It,” that a co-producer, my mentor, bought for me. I don’t really go around and cop that because the work’s not done yet. I feel accomplished and I know where I’ve come from and I know what it took me to get here, but I’m still so far from what the end goal is. I’m already a pretty confident guy. I don’t need that.

You seem still hungry like you came in here three months ago. You’re still trying to go after it. So what is the end goal for you?

I’m not going to stop. I’m going to make music forever. The end goal is just to be a huge business. I’m going to be a combination of Lucian Grainge, L. A. Reid, and Mike Caren, and hopefully bigger than them. I’ve been around and have had the pleasure to be around a lot of great CEOs. The end goal is to be a titan in this game and a force to be reckoned with and legendary.

Speaking of Mike Caren at APG, you were on that label. Is Mike one of those mentors to you?

Funny thing you say that, when I hang up this phone, I’m going to meet with Mike right now. Me and Mike, we’re still in business. He shares information with me, and I’m appreciative because that’s the most we can really ask for. People want money and free this, and access, but information is key for me so I can know how to do this shit myself and put my own spin on it.

What kind of advice do you have for up-and-coming producers?

Just be ready when your number is finally called. A lot of people don’t understand that and they’re just caught up in the, “When is it going to be my time? And I’m sick of doing this. And I should’ve been on.” When your number’s called, being ready is actually the most key thing you can actually be involved in. I know a lot of people that might have got a super No. 1 hit, but wasn’t ready for the workflow that followed. I think that’s one of the biggest keys in my success and my company’s success. We work every day. Just stay ready. Don’t chase the bread. Chase the work. Once you chase the work, the money is going to catch up to you.