Category: News

After wearing a controversial face mask earlier this week that was captured by Rockets’ social media, All-NBA guard James Harden explained why he wore the mask in a conference call with media.

“It was just something that covered my whole beard. I thought it looked cool,” Harden said. “That was it.”

Harden added that he was not familiar with the symbolism of the art on the mask, which included a “Thin Blue Line” flag that has been associated with white supremacy and opposition to the movement for Black lives. The mask also featured a likeness of the Punisher, another symbol that has been used by “Blue Lives Matter” counter-protestors.

This NBA season is highly focused on promoting the Black Lives Matter movement and furthering the efforts of the league and its players around political engagement and anti-white supremacy activism. Harden made it clear the mask was not intended to diverge from that purpose.

“It wasn’t to make a political statement,” Harden said.

As conversations regarding history and racial reconciliation have overtaken the national discourse, many NBA players and other prominent athletes had to backtrack their messaging. Harden clearly didn’t want his position to be left to a social media post, and distanced himself from the political motivations behind others who have used similar symbolism to do harm.

In an alt-universe, a movie about the absence of consequences and the sameness of every day may have been rejected for being a little too on the nose during the broken Summer of 2020. But through the force of its charming cast and clever storytelling, Palm Springs manages to deliver on its awesome hype, offering thoughts about existence and love that are bound to resonate while also sparking conversations around things left unexamined or unexplained – particularly its ending. And that’s the real gift here: continued time-wasting opportunities to discuss something that isn’t tied to the nightmarish real-world news cycle.

Instead, it’s the quest for meaning and the fight against loneliness that we’re examining. Which is, believe it or not, a little easier to take right now. With that in mind, here’s a spoiler-filled guide to some of the questions the film leaves us with (including some that may be conjured by too much investigation) and a few stray thoughts.

What’s the deal with Nyles’ lack of a back story?

If you were trapped in a time-loop, you’d probably do everything Andy Samberg’s character, Nyles, does. The no-fucks-to-give attitude, beer can cavalcade, and ultra-casual dress needs no explanation. Ditto not wanting to reflect on the different levels of chaos he has inflicted in his more experimental phase. We get it. We’ve all played GTA with cheat codes in hand. But Nyles’ inability to recall what he did for a living before the loop seems a little weird. Like, seriously, he can’t even feel a hint of an idea around what he did (and how it was absolutely part-time realtor/full-time friendly weed guy)?

It’s clear Nyles has been stuck for a long, long time. That’s bolstered by his confession to Sarah (Cristin Milioti) that they’ve had sex thousands of times. But still, would your job be that forgettable even after a decade? I can’t see losing the emotional scars I’ve accumulated from my working life going back to when I was a 19-year-old clerk. I can dream about it, but I can’t see it.

Also, it’s weird that he never mentioned Fred the dog’s existence until the very end. Jobs come and go, but shaggy dogs imprint forever. Maybe Nyles’ refrain about how things “drift away” (and the loaded glance that followed) stems from an awareness that he’s forgetting things outside of his loop existence, offering him more of a reason to never feel anything.

The Time Loop has impacted people other than Nyles, Sarah, and Roy, right?

Nanna Schlieffen (June Squibb) definitely seems to know something is up at the end. Also, does Jerry (Tongayi Chirisa)? It’s interesting how he says it’s “interesting” when Nyles confesses his love for Sarah. What about Jena Friedman’s Daisy the Bartender? She seems to be surfing a wave of indifference that isn’t foreign to anyone who has had a service job, but maybe there’s more there to explain the detachment from everything and everyone around her. Maybe it’s just misdirection, but there’s a purpose and some weirdness attached to Nyles’ early days rant when he says to Daisy: “I know you know, but you don’t know that I know. Or do you know?” Maybe Daisy never went to the cave and isn’t burdened with the full effect, but maybe, instead, there’s a less potent impact on people in close enough proximity to those who did. And maybe it manifests in different ways, explaining why Connor O’Malley’s character is the way that he is. Was Meredith Hagner’s character always cheating on Nyles with the Aussie drug store cowboy officiate, or did that develop over time in the loop, a variation on the order of things in response to a feeling that something was off with Nyles? Hey, that’s a stretch, but there are no wrong theories when concocting theories. Here’s another one.

Where’s Roy’s oldest son?

JK Simmons is fantastic playing it revenge-crazed and sadistic, but then we get a peek at the life he was, at once, running from and trying to hold on to. There, we see a more fatherly and knowing man, trapped in his own complicated version of the time loop. And that’s where we see the value of his character beyond the fun Wile E. Coyote vs. The Roadrunner dynamic that he has with Samberg.

When we initially see into his house, however, we see a family picture with what seems to be three kids, not two. A teenager is missing from Nyles’ awkward visit to Irvine. He doesn’t even garner a mention. It’s probably nothing. Unless it isn’t just memories being erased, but whole people. (Gasp)

I’ll also say that the look thrown off by Roy’s daughter at Nyles is weird. As is Roy’s response. Is that further confirmation that people are somehow changed by being around Nyles? And if that’s the case, does she sense something with Roy? Is Nyles giving off a different energy because of how long he’s been the loop or is it something else? I’m going to stop before I break out a bulletin board and tie myself up in string.

The cave and the ending.

This isn’t a question so much as it’s an observation perhaps influenced by my own relationship to the big topics of life, love, and meaning that the film explores.

Everywhere I look with Palm Springs, specifically in those last few moments, I see metaphors for marriage and the epic, angst-spurring decision to commit to someone else. This all culminates in that big, frightening, universe-altering explosion — which is the point where, I think, this story really and truly ends for me.

To some, marriage (and committed coupledom) is an overblown construct from a different time. Something that may not be especially reflective of our wants and needs while, at the same time, seeming like something that may one day lead to emotional destruction and despair. That cynicism is reflected in the movie, but so too is the magical view of marriage as a kind of salvation or solve for the gaps in our lives and that phantom limb feeling that someone should be next to us.

Falling in, not just love but trust, and getting to the cliff’s edge of that commitment is, in and of itself and speaking from personal experience, an epic story. I really like being married, but the moment in the film, when Sarah and Nyles are about to head into the unknown, really connects if you’ve stood at an altar. “Come on, let’s see if we blow up and die” may as well replace “I now pronounce you.” Nothing explains the feeling of saying “I do” quite so well. It’s thrilling, it’s frightening, and you don’t know where you’re going to land — in the same place, totally fine, 20 years down the road with nothing to show for it, or exploded right from the start. Is all of the above an option?

I actually would have been totally fine with Palm Springs ending at the cave as Sarah and Nyles kiss and her hand moves to the detonator. That’s the end of that specific story, really. Everything that follows masquerades as closure but it’s really a prompt for more questions about the reappearance of the dinosaurs, whether they’re just stuck in a different loop, and what happens next for Roy — things that feel like the start of a new story that I would, incidentally, love to see more of down the road. But with this one and all its questions, I’m most drawn to its one big answer: they decided to face the abyss together.

‘Palm Springs’ is available to stream on Hulu.

In the early months of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, regularly appeared in White House coronavirus briefings and served as a spokesperson for the federal government response in news interviews. The past month or so, however, he’s been conspicuously absent from television—an absence that appears to be a deliberate choice on the part of the White House, who has limited the approval of TV appearances for Dr. Fauci.

Dr. Fauci has a theory as to why that’s happened. “I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things,” he told the Financial Times last week. “And that may be one of the reasons why I haven’t been on television very much lately.” One might think that an administration that claims to pride itself on “telling it like it is” would appreciate such truth-telling, but apparently not so much.

In the middle of a pandemic, we need Dr. Fauci’s voice and expertise more than ever. Thankfully, he spent 45 minutes talking with Mark Zuckerberg live on Facebook to answer questions and share his thoughts on what the experts have learned about virus transmission, the effectiveness and safety of masks, considerations for school reopenings, racial disparities among COVID-19 victims, and more.

Watch the interview here:

Thank you, Dr. Fauci, for clearly articulating what we know at any given time, explaining what has changed in what we know, reminding us that the nature of a novel pandemic is that information is constantly evolving, and encouraging us to remain flexible and humble enough to change the way we think as we get new information.

Musical artist Nick Cannon was fired from Viacom this week after the release of a podcast in which he made anti-semitic comments. According to the New York Times, the podcast was an interview with Richard Griffin (also known as Professor Griff), who was kicked out of the band Public Enemy after blaming Jews for most of the wickedness in the world in a 1989 interview. “The Jews are wicked. And we can prove this,” he told the Washington Times. Cannon told Griffin he’d been “speaking facts” and also praised Louis Farrakhan, who has been known to make anti-semitic comments.

In addition, Cannon referenced a conspiracy theory that the media is all controlled by wealthy Jewish families. “I find myself wanting to debate this idea and it gets real wishy and washy and unclear for me when we give so much power to the ‘theys,'” he said, “and ‘theys’ then turn into illuminati, the Zionists, the Rothschilds.” He also said that Black people are the true Semitic people. “You can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people,” he said. “That’s our birthright. So if that’s truly our birthright, there’s no hate involved.”

At first, despite the backlash, Nick Cannon refused to apologize for this remarks. Responses to his firing ranged widely across the internet, with some calling him out as a bigot and some praising him for what they saw as “free speech.”

But one woman on Twitter, who happens to be Black and Jewish, took the opportunity to explain exactly why his comments were so problematic. Speaking as “your Black & Jewish educational fairy godmother,” Malana wrote:

“My partner and I were just discussing how a lot of Black people don’t have the education around anti-Semitism to fully get why Nick Cannon’s rant was messed up. So let me be your Black & Jewish educational fairy godmother.

First, that Rothschild bank theory. That ain’t real. Many Jewish people in Europe were forced to work in banking because of laws restricting them from entering other types of work. This is where the stereotypes of stingy, money grubbing, banking, etc. Come from.

But it was the racist/anti-Semitic structures that pushed Jewish people into that system in the first place. This is similar to calling Black people Welfare Queens – a system was created that locked people into place and a stereotype was invented around it.

One old-timey Jewish family being rich doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy theory. It’s like wealth inequality has existed for generations! *gasp* If you want to know who runs the banks google Bank of America and Chase (hint- they’re very white and very not Jewish).

Now as far as Nick calling Jewish people savages, I hope it’s pretty obvious why this is anti-Semitic. But in case it’s not, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch

Then Nick’s whole original semite thing…ugh… there’s so much wrong with it. So the idea is that Jews stole Black people’s identity as the ‘true’ people of israel. This means that Jewish people are to be blamed for all the racism Black people experience.

You see this a lot in Farrakhan’s rhetoric. Taken to the extreme, you’d have [sic] to exterminate racism you’d have to exterminate Jewish people so Black people can reclaim their spot as the ‘chosen people.’

Farrakhan and other Black supremacists use Jewish people as a boogeyman and scapegoat to push their own agenda and cult of personality. There can be no end to racism without an end to anti-semitism

The us (Black people) vs. Them (Jewish people) people like Nick Cannon use breaks down when you have someone like me, a Black Jew.

In fact, many anti-Semitic ideas of features are rooted in anti-Blackness and vice versa: curly hair, big nose, etc.

Historically, the very idea of racism came initially from Spain and its treatment of Jews during the Inquisition. https://atlasobscura.com/articles/how-racism-was-first-officially-codified-in-15thcentury-spain… these types of racial codifications were later used to entrench chattel slavery in what would become the U.S.

I know lots of white Jewish people are racist. I know lots of Black people are anti-Semitic. I know these communities have hurt each other, and I know from personal experience it is much harder to be Black in the U.S. than it is to be Jewish. But all oppression is connected.

Anyway, there’s a lot more to be said but I’ll leave it there for now. Go head and ask questions if you’re here to learn. Other Black Jews especially feel free to chime in.

Adding this because people keep saying Viacom fired Nick because he’s a Black man exercising his freedom of speech. Stop it. Colin Kaepernick was fired for exercising his freedom of speech. Nick Cannon was fired for shooting off racist conspiracy theories.

Viacom is a racist company that has stock in for-profit prisons. Maybe Nick was given a quicker hook than a white person saying the same things would have been. Doesn’t make it any less racist or mean Nick should be expected to not face consequences.

Black people: you cannot want people to suffer consequences for racist actions *but only when they’re racist against Black people.” You also can’t have it so Black people aren’t also held responsible for racist actions. That’s not how justice and liberation works.”

After initially taking a defensive position, Nick Cannon has shared posts in the past 24 hours indicating he is open and learning from Rabbis and others who have reached out from the Jewish community to educate him. On Thursday, he shared the following message on Instagram:

“First and foremost I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to my Jewish sisters and brothers for the hurtful and divisive words that came out of my mouth during my interview with Richard Griffin. They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from. The video of this interview has since been removed.

While the Jewish experience encompasses more than 5,000 years and there is so much I have yet to learn, I have had at least a minor history lesson over the past few days and to say that it is eye-opening would be a vast understatement.

I want to express my gratitude to the Rabbis, community leaders and institutions who reached out to me to help enlighten me, instead of chastising me. I want to assure my Jewish friends, new and old, that this is only the beginning of my education—I am committed to deeper connections, more profound learning and strengthening the bond between our two cultures today and every day going forward.”

Here’s to all of us learning more about the history of all marginalized groups and doing what we can to build bridges between people of all backgrounds.

Alex Trebek has a new memoir coming later this month full of stories about his life and time on Jeopardy! and through it we’re learning just how essential he is to the show. Though not the trivia game show’s first host, over the years he’s become synonymous with Jeopardy! and the rapid-fire show currently on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanging over all of that is his battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, which has impacted him significantly and also, in a way, created more urgency for him to write the book in the first place. With The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life coming out next week, Friday brought us a profile of Trebek in the New York Times. One intriguing anecdote from the story — which sadly has some heartbreaking moments detailing the pain he’s suffered from chemotherapy and how it’s impacted his day-to-day life — is about his uncanny ability to predict which questions will give contestants trouble.

As the story goes, Trebek usually would get to the studio very early in the day to look over the hundreds of clues for the five episodes the show tapes per day. He’s very careful with pronunciation and the cadence of how the clues are read, and he often makes notes on the clues themselves if they seem too tough.

Pre-pandemic, when “Jeopardy!” and everything else was still getting made, Trebek would wake up at 5:15 a.m. and arrive at the Sony lot at 6:30. At 7:30, he would go over the 305 clues for that day’s shows, making notations, diacritical marks and pronunciation notes. If a clue seemed too hard, he told the writers to drop it.

“I’ll say, ‘Nobody’s going to get this.’ And they usually take my suggestions, because I view myself as every man,” Trebek said.

There’s a very specific way clues are written and structured on the board, including how difficult the question is based on how much money it’s worth. But Trebek’s notes have some serious value here. Whether the show’s writers listen to him, well, that’s up to them. But he’s usually right about his “every man” instincts.

Sometimes the writers keep esoteric clues in anyway. Almost invariably, the contestants are stumped. “We get this horrible dead-fish look from him,” said the show’s co-head writer Billy Wisse. “We know we’re going to hear about it at the next meeting.”

It’s an extremely charming story, though I definitely wouldn’t want to be scolded by Trebek about much of anything, let alone stumping contestants. And it’s another detail about just how instrumental Trebek is in coming up with categories and questions and the impact he has on the show.

As we’ve heard from Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings here at Uproxx, figuring out what people know is hard, and Jeopardy! itself has impacted what people know and consider general trivia canon. It’s another indication of just how much of Jeopardy! is Alex Trebek, and how difficult it will be for the show to move on without him when he decides it’s time to retire.

Did you know Kevin James has a YouTube channel? I didn’t until today, so I’m delighted to discover the Grown Ups star’s video series, “Sound Guy,” where he digitally inserts himself into famous movies as, well, a sound guy. He’s done Inception, A Star is Born, Joker, Star Wars, The Notebook, There Will Be Blood, and most recently, There Will Be Blood‘s Best Picture rival, No Country for Old Men. Have you ever wanted to see the King of Queens be threatened by Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh? Probably not! But it’s actually pretty funny and well done; also, James is wearing a Mets hat. (Go Mets.)

What other Best Picture winners should Kevin James be edited into? I would love to see him as Jack in Titanic. Or maybe Henry Higgins in The Music Man. Or Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly in Chicago. Richard Gere’s character, too. What I’m saying is, remake Chicago and have every character be played by Kevin James. It’s a prestige Klumps!

In real life, James will next appear in Hubie Halloween, a Netflix/Happy Madison comedy starring Adam Sandler as “Hubie Dubois, a good-natured but eccentric community volunteer who despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, is mocked by kids and adults alike.” It will be seen by approximately 70 million people.

In 1990, Ahmad Rashad was in the midst of transitioning from an All-Pro NFL player to a national broadcaster. After his final season in 1982 with the Minnesota Vikings, Rashad joined NBC Sports as an NFL commentator and host for Sports World. Rashad worked as a studio anchor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and won an Emmy for writing.

The following year, in Nov. 1989, NBC reached a $600 million broadcast agreement with the NBA. David Stern, the commissioner of the league at the time, approached Rashad about the idea of a half-hour show on Saturday morning that would have entertainment geared to kids and player features that would resonate with fans of basketball across all ages.

Rashad would not just be a co-host — he was offered the role of managing editor and executive producer, with full creative control over the program. It was exactly what he was looking for to take the next step in his career.

“My whole goal in broadcasting was never to be a football analyst,” Rashad told Uproxx. “I was really concerned about being a broadcaster who could do any sport. I wanted to get to a point where I could produce a show.”

And that’s how Inside Stuff was born.

The NBA season doesn’t actually restart until July 31, when the New Orleans Pelicans tip off against the Utah Jazz at Disney World. But it unofficially returned when Denver Nuggets guard Troy Daniels shared a photo of his first meal inside the NBA bubble.

It was the return to normalcy for all of us who are accustomed to consuming off the court content from the most social media friendly league in the world. Since Daniels’ viral food photo, we’ve seen players share their experiences inside the bubble on a daily basis. Matisse Thybulle of the Philadelphia 76ers, for instance, started his own YouTube channel to give fans a peek into life inside the bubble.

Today, this type of behind the scenes content is available everywhere. Three decades ago, it was only available on Inside Stuff, a show built to showcase the excitement of the league — thanks to segments like “Rewind” and “Jam Session,” and combined with the insider access of exclusive player interviews — giving viewers a look, for the very first time, of what life was like away from the court.

Rashad decided early on the show would be an extension of his personality. He was a fun-loving, easy going guy who exuded a radiant energy and found the perfect balance of unrelenting and steady.

“My work was personality driven,” Rashad says. “I didn’t have an act. How I was on the show is pretty much how I am in life. I didn’t have a character I needed to build myself into. I was always me.”

The NBA Finals had been broadcast on tape delay in the mid-80s, and we were still a few years away from the explosion of international popularity of basketball thanks to the Dream Team, Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Bulls winning six championships en route to becoming a global phenomenon.

“It was a new genre,” Rashad says. “There wasn’t anything like it on television. There was nothing that took you behind the scenes. Nobody was going to the players’ homes, to where they grew up, or going to the grocery store with them. During that era, you would see a great player on television, but you would know nothing about them. Sometimes you wouldn’t even know what their voice sounded like.”

The show’s personality resonated with players, too, as they realized an entire generation was tuning in to Inside Stuff. It became a destination spot for every single NBA player. Being featured on Inside Stuff became a badge of honor — “If [a player] didn’t make the show, they were lacking some kind of legitimacy,” Rashad says. “You hadn’t really made it until you were on Inside Stuff.”

Players would run by Rashad sitting courtside after a great play during games and remind him that they had just made a highlight that was deserving of the show. Paul Pierce once approached Rashad in a restaurant, listed off his accolades, and asked why he hadn’t been on the show.

Rashad took advantage of his full creative control and what felt like an unlimited budget when it came to tracking down stories for the show. When he heard about a player named Hedo Turkoglu, described as the Michael Jordan of Turkey, he booked a flight there to find out firsthand. Rashad traveled around the world — often at a moment’s notice — to track down any player and tell any story he wanted.

It also helped that Rashad had relationships with players around the league. Rashad was featured prominently in The Last Dance because of his close friendship with Michael Jordan. The two would drive to the arena together on game days and hang out away from the basketball court. Getting players to open up to him was not, however, was a skill that Rashad used on more than just His Airness.

“People said it was just Michael Jordan,” Rashad says. “But it wasn’t just Michael. Whether it was, say, John Stockton, or Shaquille O’Neal, I had access to all the guys, which helped tremendously.”

Rashad was everyone’s main man, a term he used frequently in reference to his favorite players in the league. “My dad could never remember his friends’ names, people who would just come over to the house,” Rashad says. “He could see them on the street and say, ‘What’s up, my main man,’ because he forgot their names.”

Rashad’s access once landed him a segment with O’Neal before he entered the NBA Draft. The two met at a gym to play one-on-one. During their game, O’Neal drove to the basket and dunked the ball so hard the entire backboard shattered and fell on him as he crashed to the floor.

“Everybody was in panic,” Rashad says, laughing. “I thought his agent was going to have a heart attack. Shaq is laying on the ground and I walk over to him to see if he’s okay. He said yeah, so I said, ‘Keep rolling.’ To this day, he still reminds me of that, he’ll tell me, ‘Remember when I almost killed myself and you told the cameras to keep rolling.’”

Despite being the show’s face, Rashad is quick to give credit to the entire team that made Inside Stuff possible every week, from the behind the scenes work of Andy Thompson, Dion Cocoros, and numerous others, to the “wonderful” Willow Bay, with whom he co-hosted the show from 1991-98.

Bay, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business, worked as a reporter in 1991 when the NBA called about a co-host position on Inside Stuff. Even though she was a sports fan and confident in her knowledge, Bay didn’t take any chances.

To prepare for her interviews, she went to the New York Public Library and read a year’s worth of Sports Illustrated issues. After the final interview, Stern told Bay that it was down to herself and another candidate, but he would choose her because of the MBA, which meant if she faltered as a co-host, Stern could re-assign her to the marketing department.

Bay’s first week on the job featured a bombshell: Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive. A somber moment in the NBA world, this gave Bay an early look at the potential of Inside Stuff.

“While the show was high energy, spirited and fun, we were able to mine some very powerful topics and stories,” Bay tells Uproxx.

She still remembers poignant stories like her interview with Drazen Petrovic in New Jersey with the World Trade Center as the backdrop. She still remembers Petrovic — a dynamic, high-scoring guard for the Nets who passed away in a car accident in 1993 — describing the relationships that were severed because of the war back home in Yugoslavia.

There were also fun moments, like when she got to visit Reggie Miller and hang out on his back porch, learned how to spin a basketball with Harlem Globetrotter Frederick “Curly” Neal, and have dinner with Felipe Lopez and his mother in the Bronx.

And then there was the on-air chemistry with Rashad.

“I’ve had great partners and co-anchors but Ahmad was really special,” Bay says. “Our on-camera relationship is really special, and our friendship continues to this day. We had so much fun. We could play off each other because I had a much dryer sense of humor.”

“Willow allowed me to bounce all over the place while she drove,” Rashad says. “I was so far off the script, and on purpose, that’s what made it fun. She was so sharp and so good and she would always keep us on the road so we wouldn’t crash somewhere. She was wonderful and just a great person to work with.”

The original version of Inside Stuff ran from 1990 to 2006. In 2013, the series was revived with Grant Hill and Kristen Ledlow as hosts. Earlier this year, while The Last Dance was appointment viewing for basketball fans, Rashad and Bay hosted a reunion show with a slew of NBA superstars including David Robinson, Reggie Miller, John Stockton, and Dominique Wilkins.

Rashad can’t help but wonder if the original Inside Stuff would still work as a show today.

“Times have changed,” he says. “I don’t know, do kids sit down for half an hour on Saturday? Who has the attention span? The attention span is like three minutes now. Back then, it was at least like 20 minutes. Kids can’t sit down for 20 minutes anymore.”

Bay, who is currently the Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, looks back on her time on Inside Stuff fondly.

“It was probably the most fun I had on the job ever. It was so filled with life, energy and laughter,” she says. “When I look back at it, I look back at that experience with enormous pride, because I think that show was groundbreaking in so many different ways.”

Three decades later, Inside Stuff remains an integral piece of NBA history.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have someone tell me that they watched that show,” Rashad says. “If you sat at home and watched Inside Stuff, you were a pretty cool person, because that was a pretty cool show.”

As rising LA rapper Duckwrth inches closer to the release of his major label debut studio album, he flexes some experimental muscle on his latest single, “Coming Closer,” which features fellow LA rapper G.L.A.M. and indie singer Julia Romana. With G.L.A.M. producing alongside twin producers Two Fresh, Duckwrth and his co-stars glide over an electronic, dance-pop beat that glitters and sparkles behind his low-key boasts. Romana’s smooth hook anchors a glitchy chorus, while G.L.A.M. provides a chin-jutting counterpoint to Duckwrth’s swagger, matching him with her own deft rhymes tip-toeing over the instrumental.

In the year since his return from musical hiatus Duckwrth has been featured on the soundtrack to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, released his The Falling Man EP, and released a string of singles that have slowly raised his profile from LA underground art-house rapper to potential star in-the-making. In May this year, he shared the single “Find A Way” after being featured on St. Vincent’s Shower Sessions podcast and popping up as the voice of a performer in League Of Legends‘ in-game rap group.

With his debut SuperGood releasing in August, now is the time to get familiar with the artist who will soon be offering backing tunes to all your favorite shows and movies and packing out concerts when it’s once again safe to do so.

Listen to Duckwrth’s ‘Coming Closer’ with G.L.A.M and Julia Romana above.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the hottest R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

This week, we got releases from Tinashe who dropped off her new single “Rascal (Superstar),” Pink Sweats with The Prelude EP as something for his fans ahead of his debut album and Jhene Aiko came through with Chilombo Deluxe. Check out the rest of the best new R&B this week below.

Tinashe — “Rascal (Superstar)”

At the request of her fans, Tinashe delivered her latest single “Rascal (Superstar)” and a quarantine-inspired Jasper Soloff-directed music video to go with it. “When we initially created this record, I went live on Instagram from my home studio and played it,” Tinashe said via e-mail. “The vibes and energy were so infectious that It felt right to share, spontaneously.” It’s the first single fans have gotten from the singer since her 2019 project Songs For You.

Pink Sweats — The Prelude EP

Pink Sweats is gearing up to drop his debut album, but before he serves his first full-length piece of work to all his supporters the Philly crooner has dropped off a sweet short stack of songs in the form of The Prelude EP. The collection of songs includes his previously released tracks “17” and “Not Alright.”

Jhene Aiko — Chilombo Deluxe

The deluxe edition Jhene Aiko‘s Chilombo has arrived with nine unreleased sexually healing jams and remixes, including “B.S.” with Kehlani and “Tryna Smoke” featuring Chris Brown and Snoop Dogg. Jhene and her sister Mila J even connected for the freaky tale “On The Way.”

Radiant Children — “Mariposa”

Radiant Children has plans on releasing their new project in October and ahead of its release, the trio has been dropping off musical gems after musical gems. This week, “Mariposa” arrived.

They. — “Play Fight” Feat. Tinashe

Off The Amanda Tape, R&B dyad They. and the talented Tinashe unite for “Play Flight” accompanied by a very cool “relationship simulator” visual and now fans get to hear the song in its entirety. It’s a love song dripping in devotion and yearning.

Kara Marni — “Young Heart” Feat. Russ

British singer Kara Marni reflects on a fresh break-up with her latest single “Young Heart” featuring Russ. Along with the release of the song is a fun 8-bit video, created by renowned animator Ivan Dixon of Studio Showoff. “Young Heart” follows Kara Marni’s 2019 project Logic.

Tash Sultana — “Greed”

Tash Sultana really impresses with her latest release “Greed.” It’s all her playing multiple instruments, including the drums and guitar, with the grace of her soulful voice. The black and white visual was filmed at her Melbourne studio as she puts the finishing touches on her forthcoming album.

Boylife — Church/Boston EP

Boylife‘s recently released double single Church/Boston is really good. It’s moody, raw, and melodic while living in the vein of an emerging new sound that expresses vocal emotions in a fresh way. “Church,” really does take you to the pulpit and “Boston” has a spacey vibe that allows for listeners to marinate in its vibrant trance.

Your Grandparents — “So Damn Fly”

DaCosta, Jean Carter, and producer ghettoblasterman, also known as Your Grandparents, came together for a fresh R&B goodie titled “So Damn Fly.” The group describes the song as “an ode to the unapologetically beautiful, black, and bold youth of today.” It’s the follow-up to their eclectic breakout debut EP Been Cold.

Check out this week’s R&B picks, plus more on Uproxx’s Spotify playlist below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Add comic book writer to Keanu Reeves‘ rapidly growing list of talents.

Debuting in October from Boom! Studios, BRZRKR is a 12-issue limited series from Reeves and co-writer Matt Kindt that features art from Alessandro Vitti. The story will focus on Berzerker, the half-human son of a war god who has lived for over 80,000 years and has reached a tentative deal with the government where he performs brutal mercenary missions in exchange for help in figuring out what he truly is. But, of course, there will be double-crosses and subterfuge along the way as the two sides slowly reveal their ulterior motives.

Naturally, Boom! Studios is excited to work with the actor on bringing his vision to comic book life, and it turns out Reeves is a damn good storyteller. Via USA Today:

Working with Reeves has been “immensely cool,” says Boom! editor-in-chief Matt Gagnon. “Spend five minutes with Keanu and it becomes clear very quickly why he’s earned all the success he has. Exceptional creative instincts, deep reservoirs of wisdom on story, the ability to consistently tap into the raw emotion of a moment, relentless commitment to quality and the task at hand – it’s all this and much more that make Keanu an inspiring force.”

In its exclusive preview of BRZRKR, USA Today can’t help but note that Berserker looks an awful lot like Reeves, and the actor didn’t even try to hide his enthusiasm when asked if the immortal warrior could become his next action character thanks to Boom! Studios’ first-look deal with Netflix. “I’d love to play Berzerker!” Reeves exclaimed during a Skype call from Berlin.

In the meantime, Reeves’ next creative endeavor is yet another foray into dominating all forms of media. This fall, the actor will appear in Cyberpunk 2077, the highly-anticipated new game from CD Projekt Red, the studio behind the award-winning The Witcher III.

(Via USA Today)