Category: News

Evan Mobley looks like the real deal.

It’s early — just four games into the season — but Mobley has been as good as the Cavs could have hoped he’d be right away. Primarily playing power forward with some dashes of center, he’s altering and blocking shots, eating up space when switched onto guards and looking like he can anchor a defense right now.

Take his performance on Oct. 23 against the Hawks — 17 points, 11, rebound, 4 blocks, 2 steals — for instance. On that night, he effectively took John Collins out of the game, using his extensive frame to cut Collins off from Trae Young and the rest of the Hawks’ offense. (Collins is averaging 16.5 points per game on 11.5 shots per game in his career. He had six points on eight shots against Cleveland.)

The blocks in particular show how good Mobley already is. He’s not just racking up blocks when shots are funneled to him at the rim — he’s doing anything and everything possible.

He’s been effective on offense too, playing within the Cavs’ system while getting his feet wet. Most of the time, Mobley runs the floor, sets screens, slides into the dunker spot, and hits the offensive glass. To round out his diet, he mixes in a few post-ups and pick-and-pop three-pointers to keep defenses honest. His passing is showing good early returns, too. Per Cleaning The Glass, he has assist percentage in the 60th percentile of bigs and is in the 100th percentile in assist to usage ratio. He is adding to the offense, not slowing it down to accommodate him.

If Mobley plays at this level on average throughout the year — there will be ups and downs, because that’s what happens for young players in an 82 game season — he might already be the Cavs’ best player. At the very least, it’s clear that he’s going to be at the center of whatever Cleveland is building. There are pieces there to forge the future with — Darius Garland in particular matters — but he’s going to be the team’s main focus. If a lot breaks right for the Cavs, he might be able to elevate this team right now.

“The longer you leave him on the floor, just good things happen,” Bickerstaff said after the Cavs played the Grizzlies in their season opener. “And you don’t have to do a lot for him to get involved in the game. You don’t have to shut down your offense to throw him the ball in iso game. Defensively, you don’t have to make any adjustments because he’s capable of doing a lot.”

Figuring out how to best support Mobley is now the biggest duty for the Cavs in the short and long-term. As Mobley begins his career, they’ve smartly added pieces to supplement Mobley and the rest of the team. At center, Jarrett Allen can handle the bigger, bulkier bodies and some of the brunt that comes with that position while Mobley grows into his body. Their long-term fit is not a question for right now.

Ricky Rubio, even if he won’t start when Garland is healthy, gives Cleveland another veteran on the floor to organize the offense and keep everything moving. (It wasn’t an accident that Rubio closed the game over Collin Sexton on Sunday when Cleveland had a chance to win the game. Garland was out and they needed someone to conduct an Okoro, Lauri Markkanen, Mobley and Allen foursome.) The structure they provide is needed. Even Kevin Love, now coming off the bench, creates structure by spacing the floor and adding extra playmaking off of Mobley.

Arguably the biggest choice the Cavs have made for right now, however, is starting Markkanen at the three over Isaac Okoro. It’s not hard to figure out why Bickerstaff went in that direction — Markkanen provides needed spacing off of Mobley and Allen, even if he has troubling defending wings and can’t really punish teams for putting a wing on him. The Hawks, for instance, had Kevin Heurter defend Markkanen for most of Saturday. This isn’t new either — it’s a trend that dates back to Markkanen’s time with the Bulls. Cleveland had to know this when they acquired and paid him over the summer.

So far, Cleveland has kept Mobley inside when playing with Markkanen, allowing he and Allen to protect the rim in tandem and let Mobley use his length off-ball. But it’s worth wondering if this is sustainable — at some point, Bickerstaff may have to have Mobley guard the opposing team’s starting three if only to avoid creating an obvious weak point. He did say after the Nuggets game that he would wait until the 10 game or so mark before making any changes so the decision could be made with the proper data available. Cleveland’s 99-87 win over Denver was also another game where a wing scorer who could have cooked Markkanen (in this case Michael Porter Jr.) didn’t have a big night. So far, lineups with Markkanen at small forward are, on average, -1.1 points per 100 possessions with an offensive rating of 103 and a defensive rating of 104.1.

Okoro isn’t a perfect fit either, at least for what Mobley is right now. He shot 29% on three-pointers last year, including 29.7% on catch-and-shoot attempts, per nba.com/stats. That’s not good enough. Okoro’s defense — particularly against guards — is, however, very good and it’s not hard to see Cleveland having a good defense by playing Okoro, Mobley and Allen together.

If Okoro can improve his shot — maybe bumped up to league average and throw in some cutting and attacking closeouts for variety — to avoid being a minus, perhaps this question answers itself. It also could be answered simply by Mobley himself becoming a respectful three-point shooter.

“We just want Isaac to be comfortable,” Bickerstaff said last week. “I think that’s been the most difficult part is finding the spots where he’s most comfortable on the floor — on the offensive end of the floor. Defensively, we know what we’re going to get from him every night. But what we want him to do is be in positions of comfort offensively.”

This, though, is a good problem to have to solve. It’s better than what the Cavs have had to sort through in recent years, as Mobley is the best prospect the team has had since drafting Kyrie Irving in 2011. He also may be the team’s best two-way, system-defining prospect since drafting a certain kid from Akron back in 2003. Figuring out how to best support a player like Mobley is the kind of question that, if answered correctly, this gets the Cavs somewhere.

UK emo outfit Delta Sleep have been steadily rolling out music since the beginning of the 2010’s, and they are kicking off the 2020’s with another brand new record. Spring Island finds the quartet continuing to hone their craft and push their songwriting boundaries. The resulting effort allows them to build on their momentum and leverage their international fanbase into the United States.

To celebrate the new album, Dave Jackson sat down to talk Steely Dan, ‘The Big Lebowski,’ and touring in Italy the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Is that in 4/4?

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Maybe we will still be releasing music…That would make us like 60 but you never know! If not, let us be remembered for the soft heaters.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

That’s a very tough question as every country has its energy but I will say that in the US we always have incredible shows in Chicago and Philly. They know what’s going on! Italy holds a special place in our hearts as well – Bologna in particular or anywhere in the Reggio Emilia region.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

As cheesy as it sounds, probably my dad – He used to play guitar every night in the kitchen which was right below my bedroom and eventually it inspired me to pick up a guitar.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Just outside a little town in North Italy called Correggio we sat down with our friends in Valerian Swing and had easily one of the best meals of my life. Cappoletti, Melon & Prosciutto, some lambrusco on the side. Spent.

What album do you know every word to?

The Offspring – Americana.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Deftones on their Diamond Eyes Tour was pretty lovely, with Coheed And Cambria supporting as well.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Shorts.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Francis Bourgeois. If you know, you know.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

We usually have a song on each tour that becomes our anthem, the most recent was “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies and I have no idea why…It started out with us repeating the song just to try and figure out what the hell he’s saying. Give it a go.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

N/A

What album makes for the perfect gift?

I’d recommend Veneer by Jose Gonzalez for anyone who is in need of a warm and cozy summer hug right now.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Not sure what sort of crash you mean….Car Crash, we reversed into a massive bollard in Boston and then had our van towed away for parking in a private zone all within the space of 30 mins. Falling asleep, we’ve played a lot of weird places on tour over the years – We’ve slept in an abandoned hospital outside of Florence, a capsule hotel in Osaka (where Glen had a proper night terror), but one of the strangest was an abandoned government building that was built on a hill overlooking Genoa in Italy. It was built in the shape of a massive letter ‘M’ for Mousilini back in the day, a very weird place.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I got my first tattoo on tour in Japan, in fact we all got the same tattoo which was a Gyza dumpling that had Hello Kitty eyes. We all decided it would be fun to get a tour tattoo for our first tour in Japan but it turns out getting a tattoo, or at least back then, was pretty difficult in Japan and the only place we could find near to us in Tokyo was some chap operating out of a flat in an apartment block. Seemed legit at the time…

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Steely Dan.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

We get lots of lovely gifts from fans, last time out in the US someone (sorry I don’t know your name) stitched the Ghost City album artwork for us, if you check out the Soft Sounds version of Afterimage you’ll see Blake sporting it on his makeshift kit.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Don’t join a band if you’re the only one that can drive.

What’s the last show you went to?

It’s been a while for everyone I guess but the last show I can remember was Cult of Luna in London and they blew everyone away. Hands down one of the best live bands out there.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

The Big Lebowski, gets me everytime!

What would you cook if Kanye were coming to your house for dinner?

Fish Sticks.

Spring Island is out November 12 via Sofa Boy Records. Pre-order it here.

After being arrested in March following a high-speed police car chase, YoungBoy Never Broke Again is officially out of jail. But he’s still not totally off the hook when it comes to his charges of stolen firearms. While the rapper is no longer in prison, he will be put on house arrest for the time being.

Reports of NBA YoungBoy’s release first came from XXL, which noted Chief US District Judge Shelly Dick approved the rapper’s freedom from prison with “significant conditions.” Apparently, those “significant conditions” include house arrest in his home in Layton, Utah with former US military members standing guard outside of his property.

Along with being put on house arrest, the rapper will be under probation, meaning he can’t obtain a passport or other international travel documents and he’s only allowed to reside or travel to the Middle District of Louisiana, the Central District of California, and Utah. He’s also subjected to drug tests, will undergo outpatient abuse therapy, and has to wear a GPS monitor at all times.

He’s still trying to make music while on house arrest, however. According to XXL, YoungBoy even asked judges to grant him permission to build a recording studio in his home, but it’s unclear whether or not his motion was approved.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Once again, Baton Rouge rapper Boosie BadAzz has gone off on a homophobic rant regarding Lil Nas X, and once again, Nas’ father has stepped in to check the Southern rapper. After Nas joked during an Instagram Live stream that he had a song with Boosie on the way, the Louisiana rapper jumped into a tirade on Twitter in which he slung slurs and issued some violent invective. However, on Tuesday, Nas’ father Robert Stafford, posted an Instagram story rebuking Boosie, calling him washed up.

“How the hell you’re a gangsta rapper promoting drugs, gun violence, degrading women and getting high every video talking about how you’re for the kids,” Stafford questioned. “Man sit your old looking a*s down. The game has past you. We real bankhead over here. Not like the guy who claims it. CHAMPIONS!” It’s not the first time he jumped in to defend his son; when DaBaby made comments interpreted as homophobic during his Rolling Loud set, Stafford went in on the North Carolina rapper as well.

Meanwhile, Boosie seemed uncowed by the talking-to, sneering via Twitter, “DONT GET MAD AT ME CAUSE YOUR SON CAME OUT LIKE THAT LOL I KNOW IT HURTS.”

Previously, Boosie lashed out at Nas during a live stream after apparently taking Nas’ joke about performing naked literally. “That’s the most disrespectful muthaf*cka in the world,” he said, among a slew of other NSFW and highly offensive comments. After being called out by fans on Twitter, he accepted an invitation to The Breakfast Club, where he doubled down. His fascination with Lil Nas X even prompted a late-night Twitter rant that got him excoriated by fans who think he’s paid just a little too much attention to Nas’ moves someone who disapproves so much.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t seem like the two are likely to resolve their issues anytime soon, as Boosie seems uninterested in growth and Nas is one of the internet’s most prolific trolls.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

In March of 2020, Helado Negro’s Roberto Carlos-Lange and his wife Kristi Sword drove from Brooklyn to Marfa in West Texas for a two-week stay. Geographically isolated, but creatively charged, Marfa is a popular artistic retreat for those looking to get as far away from the incessant stimuli of life in the city. For Lange and Sword (a visual artist), they were in the high desert town to collaborate on a multimedia audio-sculptural project called Kite Symphony, with the contemporary arts museum Ballroom Marfa. But a week after they arrived, pandemic lockdown orders were being handed down nationwide and before they knew it, a day-by-day approach turned into six months of living in Marfa.

“It’s so isolated by design,” Lange says on a call from his home in Asheville, NC. “You’re just looking at this expanse of the Trans-Pecos, the Chihuahuan Desert, and it’s not that you see nothing, you just see so much.”

While he made music for Sword’s visual scores, he also took to the studio to work on new songs with no new album in sight and things just started clicking.

“You’re kind of enveloped by what you see; it’s the antithesis of the city,” Lange says. “You know, how there’s something stuck in between the crack of every sidewalk? There’s no gap that doesn’t get taken up in the city, everything is filled in There’s just more space to imagine what else could be here [in Marfa.] And as you zoom in and look at things closer, you see how detailed and how alive things are.”

But before Lange hit the road for that fateful trip, he was on the heels of an incredible year in 2019 that saw his sixth album as Helado Negro, This Is How You Smile on RVNG Intl., take his career to new heights. An album that gorgeously presented how universal the emotional wavelengths of his experiences as a Latinx American are for people of all shades, it was a fixture in year-end Best Of lists across the spectrum.

He toured the globe with reckless abandon and ever-present grace, and the trip to Marfa was part of much-needed rest and an unending desire to keep creating new music without any agenda. But while in Texas, he was approached by iconic indie label 4AD, who signed Helado Negro and just last week, put out his latest album, Far In.

While a half dozen of the album’s fifteen tracks were conceived or completed in Marfa — like the celestial “Gemini And Leo,” and the laid back and equally spacey “Agosto” (featuring Puerto Rican duo Buscabulla) — Lange says that he carved out “a distinct idea” for what would become his next album shortly after completing This Is How You Smile, while at the 2018 People Festival in Berlin held at the storied recording utopia, Funkhaus.

Organized by Bon Iver and The National, People Fest brought together 200 artists across Funkhaus’s 30 studios and eight stages in which to enact their creations live. The artists collaborated for a week straight, taking over the building while making music and then performing it. It sparked a vision in Lange.

“That process was really inspirational,” he says. “One of the songs that made it on the album from that time was “Mirror Talk,” the last song on the album. And that’s a very special one to me, because it outlined the aesthetic that I wanted to attract for this record. I had this small blueprint of what I wanted to do.”

“Mirror Talk” opens with an almost jazzy acoustic guitar; its strums are noticeably precise. Followed by a violin breathing stringed textures to the track as a galactic synth begins to orbit alongside a marked electric bassline. Lange sings “‘You’ve changed,’ that’s what they’ll say // Even though they don’t know where ya been.”

He stored that vision away and went off to tour Smile. But kept planting seeds along the way: Early sessions in 2019 at his Brooklyn Studio with singers Kacy Hill, Opal Hoyt, and Xenia Rubinos, that fateful trip to Marfa, and then getting back to Brooklyn in November where he didn’t stop working on putting the finishing touches on Far In until this past April. This past July, he and Sword moved to Asheville.

“For this record, I wanted everything to have an opportunity to have a present moment; to share its identity in the song,” he says. “The drum and the bass and the groove. You feel the drums move you, but you can hear the detail in all of the percussion and bass sounds. I wanted you to feel all these rhythms and sounds.”

The result is a deep reflection of the journey Lange made. How the spirit of collaboration sparked him, how the seemingly infinite earth and evening sky of Marfa took his mind to new worlds and how it all came together in the end in Brooklyn.

“Gemini And Leo” has a funky bass line from Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, spacey synths that feel like dancing stars, and a hint of the steel drum effect characteristic of many past Helado Negro compositions. “Telescope” is a wavy, planetarium yacht rock joint with tipsy basslines and jazz fusion vocals from Benamin. The album’s most pristine moment is on “Hometown Dream,” with a driving drumbeat, hidden woodwind hums, and that electric bass groove that Lange wanted to feel everywhere. “Who could really know you now? Now that you’ve seen these dreams,” he sings.

“Outside The Outside” is an homage to the freestyle, disco, and club sounds Lange heard on late-night radio growing up in Miami. The nostalgic video for it was taken from VHS tapes of parties his parents would throw in their living room. He transferred all of his family’s old VHS tapes to digital format this year and the album’s cover photo is actually a screenshot of Lange’s face as a boy, from a tape of when he traveled to Ecuador with his family.

That photo and those tapes speak to who he is and his identity as a Latinx American has always played a crucial role in his music. Songs from 2016’s Private Energy like “Young, Latin And Proud” and “It’s My Brown Skin” rallied young Latinx fans and creatives to further embrace that which makes them unique and beautiful. And his fluidly bilingual lyrics every step of the way, especially on Smile, have rendered Helado Negro nothing short of a crucial artist in Latinx indie music. But for Lange, it’s never been about being a specific type of person or being a voice for the Latinx movement. It’s been about who he is and the thoughts that swirl in his mind while he navigates the waters (and roads) of the world. And Far In, indeed feels like a documentation of the path he’s been on personally. Just like “Young, Latin and Proud” and “It’s My Brown Skin” were, too.

“Those songs are transmissions from an older me to a younger me traveling in the path and that’s what I’ve always tried to hope that people see with what I’m doing,” he says. “That it doesn’t fit into any category of Latinx music or Latinx culture in the optics of a commercial idea. But ultimately, it represents this idea of the multitudes of what’s possible and what does exist. What I hope always is that people know that they can be anything and that the best thing to do is to write for yourself. Because you’ll be the happiest and you’ll see how many more people identify with that.”

Far In is out now via 4AD. Stream/purchase it here.

Donald Trump’s lawsuit to get his precious Twitter account reinstated just suffered an embarrassing setback. Ever since suing the social media platform, Trump’s legal team has attempted to argue that because he used to be president the Terms of Service don’t apply to him. Specifically, the part where any legal disputes against Twitter must be argued in California. Trump’s team has requested that the case stay in the more GOP-friendly state of Florida where the former president resides.

However, that line of reasoning blew up in Trump’s face on Tuesday when Florida federal judge Robert N. Scola ruled that being POTUS does not exempt you from Twitter’s Terms of Service. Via Business Insider:

“The Court finds that Trump’s status as President of the United States does not exclude him from the requirements of the forum selection clause in Twitter’s Terms of Service,” he said.

Thanks to Scola’s ruling, Twitter’s motion to move the case to California has been granted, which the former president’s legal team should’ve expected because this was the second time they got shot down making a similar move. Earlier in the month, a different Florida federal judge appointed by George H.W. Bush also ruled that Trump cannot keep his lawsuit against Twitter in the state.

But even if Trump somehow could keep his lawsuit against Twitter in Florida, which clearly is not the friendly venue he thinks it is, legal experts have been opining for months that his case doesn’t stand a chance. “This is not a lawsuit. It’s a fundraising grift,” a tech expert told Axios back in July.

(Via Business Insider)

I gasped twice while watching The Good Place.

The first time was Michael’s laugh (I will not say any more in case you, for whatever reason, still haven’t watched The Good Place; you should watch The Good Place). The second was when Chidi took his shirt off. Eleanor told us he was “surprisingly jacked,” but I’m not sure anyone expected this. It was a big reveal for The Good Place fans — it was also a vulnerable moment for William Jackson Harper, who played Chidi.

“I was terrified of taking my shirt off because I’d always been made fun of as a kid,” he told the Los Angeles Times while promoting season two of HBO Max’s Love Life. “And as I’ve gotten older, and especially as I started to work on TV, I started working out a little bit more and trying to eat a little bit better. Working out was something that was very meditative for me, and I really enjoyed it. But when I got that script, I definitely ramped it up. I found myself at the gym at 5 a.m. before going to set.”

Jackson Harper said he was “fully prepared to just get made fun of and roasted.”

“I do think a lot of dudes have some sort of body dysmorphia, body issues and a lot of fear around it. Men are mean to each other. When I have a show that requires me to take my shirt off, it’s a highly regimented, sometimes destructive process that I go through to get to a place where I feel comfortable with my body.”

His remarks echo what Kumail Nanjiani said about changing his body for Eternals. “Having other people decide how you feel about yourself — none of that goes away. It’s all still there,” he said. “What you have to do is somehow figure out how to have self-worth from within yourself. I don’t know how to do that, but I’ll let you know once I find the key.”

Love Life premieres on HBO Max on October 28.

(Via the Los Angeles Times)

It’d probably be any Chicago native’s dream to live down the street from Michael Jordan. While Chance The Rapper‘s newest property acquisition doesn’t quite make him the GOAT’s neighbor, it puts him within a 10-minute drive (which is really just a 30-minute walk, if you think about it). The Chicago Tribune reports that Chancellor and his wife Kirsten just put down $2.3 million for a five-bedroom, 9,251-square-foot mansion in Bannockburn, Illinois, upgrading from the five-bedroom, 6,721-square-foot place they’d been renting a couple of blocks away from their new place.

The purchase gets them a plethora of plush amenities, including six half bathrooms, a four-car garage, a home movie theater, six fireplaces, an exercise room, a bar, and a home office with a studio — an ever-important addition for the man of the house, who hasn’t released a full-length project since 2019’s The Big Day. The home, which was built in 1996, has been up for sale since 2012 after the previous owners paid $2.6 million in 2004. Initially listed for $3.29 million, they’d decreased the asking price every couple of years since, dropping it down to its final price in November of 2020. As noted by HipHopDX, Jordan’s Highland Park estate is just 10 minutes away, with the NBA legend also doing his best to sell his property — the site of Travis Scott’s “Franchise” video shoot — since 2012 and lowering the price successively ever since.

Chance’s mansion purchase was facilitated by his mom, Lisa Thompson-Bennett of Crown Heights Realty, who also helped him buy a Streeterville condo for $3.7 million in 2018.

Now is perhaps the best time in recorded history for fans of Snail Mail songs that share their names with famous people. Earlier this month, Lindsey Jordan teased her upcoming album Valentine with the single “Benjamin Franklin,” and today, she returns with “Madonna.” On the track, she sings of idolizing the object of her admiration: “I consecrate my life to kneeling at your altar / My second sin of seven being wanting more / Could that have been the smell of roses, backseat lover?”

Jordan says of the song, “I am excited to share this one! In summation, it’s about why love can’t exist between a person and a concept of a person. Remove the pedestal and you might realize there was never anything there at all.”

On top of the single, Snail Mail also shared a live performance video of the track, which was filmed at The Armour-Stiner Octagon House in Irvington, New York.

Jordan previously said of Valentine, “I wanted to take as much time as possible with this record to make sure I was happy with every detail before unleashing it unto y’all. Referring to the process as the deepest level of catharsis and therapy I have ever experienced would be a huge understatement. Valentine is my child!”

Listen to “Madonna” and watch the live performance video above.

Valentine is out 11/5 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here.

Following an explosive report from Rolling Stone that accused Donald Trump and Republican officials of coordinating with January 6 rioters ahead of the U.S. Capitol building attack, more outlets are now reporting that key witnesses are actively cooperating with the House committee investigating the failed insurrection. While Trump and Steve Bannon have been notably stonewalling Congress, other staffers who have vital information have not been so reticent.

According to Axios, the big reveal from Rolling Stone isn’t the GOP politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Lauren Boebert who allegedly helped plan the “Stop the Steal” rally. The significant headline is that witnesses are talking, and the list is continuing to grow. That claim is bolstered by further bolstered by a new report from CNN, and from the looks of it, the Republican loyalty to Trump stops at going to jail:

“I’ve got good reason to believe a number of them are horrified and scandalized by what took place on January 6th and they want to do their legal duty and their civic duty by coming forward to explain exactly what happened,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the committee, said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” Tuesday. “We’re going to continue to encourage everybody who has relevant information to come and talk.”

As for weeding out those responsible for the Jan. 6 attack, we’re not exactly dealing with criminal masterminds here. “It’s a real Ocean’s 11 of people who can’t count to 10,” Stephen Colbert joked earlier in the week.

(Via Axios, CNN)