Category: News

Previously on the Best and Worst of Raw: We experienced a WrestleMania that was Just Too Big For One Night featuring a new WWE Champion, The O.C. summoning an army of druids to do their bidding before AJ Styles was murdered by burial, and Edge defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match with a Conchairto on top of a production truck, which made it hurt more.

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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for April 6, 2020.

The Most Fear-Inducing 10 Minutes Of Raw You’ve Ever Experienced

Forget anything Bray Wyatt, The Undertaker, or Papa Shango ever did; the most scared I’ve ever been watching Raw is when Big Show randomly turned up with a referee and goaded Drew McIntyre into a bonus WWE Championship match “after WrestleMania.” That shit turned me into young Jenny from Forrest Gump. Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far, far away from here.

In case you missed it, Raw spent roughly three hours advertising a “shocking” event that took place after Drew McIntyre’s win at WrestleMania. If you’re like me, you thought somebody had attacked Drew backstage, maybe pushed over a truss onto him or something, to set up his first feud as champion. Maybe he walked out into the parking lot and someone hit him with a car, or he was abducted by those luchadores who keep kidnapping cruiserweights.

So at the end of Raw we go to the footage, and Drew McIntyre makes a full entrance, in full gear, “20 minutes after WrestleMania” to do an interview in the ring. This is already such an absurd scenario I can’t even put it into words. Why are they doing an in-ring interview when the show’s off the air? For the ambiance? Who was that big entrance for? Were they taping this for Raw and just forgot to take down all the WrestleMania graphics, and halfway through it were like, “shit,” but sunken cost kept them from starting over? Regardless, Drew starts talking about the match he had with Brock Lesnar less than half an hour ago, and he’s interrupted by ♫ weeeEEEeellllll ♫

I felt like I was watching my life flash before my eyes. They wouldn’t have put this in the main event and referred to it as “shocking” so many times if Show didn’t win, right? And oh no, Big Show has that Netflix sitcom debuting this week, WWE would totally put the title on a guy with a new TV show so he could have it when he goes on talk shows or whatever, wouldn’t they? Even if they’re doing talk shows via webcam right now, Show could still have a big glittery WWE logo on his shoulder. And oh no, WWE would definitely spend forever treating McIntyre’s championship win like a quest to legitimize his entire life’s work only to “shockingly” yank it away from him 30 minutes later. AND OH NO, WRESTLEMANIA IX. OH NO.

But Drew wins. And it’s okay. Breathe, it’s okay.

I hated this in every way a fan can hate a wrestling match, I think, but goddamn, was it effective. I was MORTIFIED. It had 100% of my anxious attention, and got my brain racing thinking about timelines where THE BIG SHOW is WWE Champion in 20 by God 20. It just felt so plausible, and so weirdly arranged. Can you imagine another sports league doing a secret, additional championship match after a 3-hour show dedicated to that championship and then not telling you anything about it for 24 hours? They report “WWE Superstar comments on BUILDING MOMENTUM before Smackdown” or whatever on WWE.com seconds after it happens as BREAKING NEWS, and they’ll call up Sports Illustrated because they’re putting Cousin Luke from the Bushwhackers into the Hall of Fame, but a second, sudden WrestleMania main event isn’t a thing they want to tell people about until late the next day?

Secret, Easter egg main-events are an interesting concept, but I think The Hulkster ruined that for everybody back in ’93. The WrestleMania everyone agrees is the worst ever in a walk probably isn’t the one you want to be teasing and emulating. But it’s all good. No need to turn into a bird and fly away. But don’t scare me like that.

The Raw After WrestleMania, With No Fans

To me, the Raw after WrestleMania with no fans feels even stranger than WrestleMania with no fans. The “Raw after WrestleMania” is the one where smart crowds and/or aggressively self-aggrandizing crowds (depending on your point of view) “go to the polls,” so to speak, and loudly, musically tell WWE what they like and don’t like. It’s the show where Roman Reigns will get booed for eight minutes before he can speak, or the beach balls come out, or Randy Orton and Sheamus get relentlessly heckled for having a boring match. It’s become almost more of an “event” than Mania, so watching it go down in an empty gym was a real phantom limb situation for me.

That said, one thing remained from the Raw after WrestleMania playbook: “call ups.” Or, if you want to pretend like they actually think NXT is a “third brand” now and not just a vanity project masquerading as developmental, a lateral move.

Bianca Belair

A solid 30 minutes of hour one is dedicated to the arrival of Bianca Belair. At WrestleMania, the Street Profits won a Raw Tag Team Championship match against Angel Garza and Austin Theory but got attacked afterward, so Bianca made the save to even up the odds and beat up Zelina Vega. On Raw, the Street Profits win a Raw Tag Team Championship match against Angel Garza and Austin Theory (by disqualification this time, so it’s DIFFERENT) but get attacked afterward, so Bianca makes the save (slowly this time, with a full entrance, because it’s DIFFERENT) to even up the odds and beat up Zelina Vega. I don’t know why they did Bianca’s main roster debut the same way twice. Also, shout-out to Zelina Vega for being the best manager of all time. She got a team who’d never even had a 2-on-2 tag team match a Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle fucking Mania, and when they lost, she got them a rematch the next night. Lord knows they’ll probably get another shot next week. That’s efficiency.

Anyway, hey dawg, we heard you like Teddy Long tag TEAM match announcements, so we put a Teddy Long tag team match announcement in your Teddy Long tag team match announcement. Bianca making the save crashes Raw to break, and we come back to her vs. Vega one-on-one. Bianca’s been taught to always speak to the hard cam, so we get a funny bit where she’s cutting a promo on Vega to the camera while Vega’s standing behind her. It’s like at WrestleMania when the Profits picked her up and showed her to all four sides of the arena, like you might if any fans were actually in there. The one-on-one between the women ends in a disqualification as well, or some kind of no contest, at least, with the tag teams at ringside getting into a fight. So we crash to break again, and we come back to a six-person tag.

Long story short, Raw replayed a match from WrestleMania with two non-conclusive finishes in a row and had Zelina Vega’s team lose three matches in half an hour. Bianca and the Profits looked good, at least. When quarantine’s over, Austin Theory goes back into cryogenic storage.

Apollo Crews

The best and most surprising thing about Monday’s Raw for me was the Raw re-debut of Apollo Crews, and the fact that he had a 28 minute, competitive match against Aleister Black. Hell yeah, Apollo Crews. Dude’s been underworked, undervalued, and underappreciated since he debuted without a character or anything to do down in NXT.

I’m interested in how this match would’ve played out in front of a real Raw after WrestleMania crowd. Could they have even done it? I could see that crowd being really into an epic, 30-minute, TakeOver-style match between a wrestler they like (Black) and a wrestler they could (Crews), but I could just as easily see them dumping on it for being too long. Would a shorter, more intense match have played better? Would they have even CONSIDERED giving Crews 30 minutes of Raw to work and show off what he can do if we weren’t under quarantine? Regardless, if Raw’s plan going forward is to fill the three hours with longer, more competitive matches featuring stars who haven’t gotten an opportunity to look like anything but a jobber piece of shit for the past few years, I’m into it. Can we get that Crews, Akira Tozawa, and Ricochet faction going already?

One fun note here: this match was killing me with the micromanaged announce team mandate where they have to say a wrestler’s WWE Superstar’s entire name every time they’re mentioned. That becomes a real chore in long, one-on-one matches. “Aleister Black now working on the leg of Apollo Crews. What does Apollo Crews have to do to get back into this if Apollo Crews wants to win? Those kicks from Aleister Black are part of Aleister Black’s arsenal, and if Aleister Black keeps kicking Apollo Crews’ leg, how will Apollo Crews stay standing?” It felt like a vacation any time they just called them “Black” or “Crews.” There should be an asterisk on that mandate that if the match is longer than three minutes, you’re allowed to use a more conversational tone. Shit sounds like prerecorded commentary from the video games.

Nia Jax

The most important roster realignment of the night is probably the return of Nia Jax, who is back from double knee surgery with Paige’s finisher, presumably to keep her from throwing so many leg drops and risking knee damage. Jax’s return victim is Deonna Purrazzo, who is a good worker who got signed at the worst time and is stuck doing non-stop enhancement duties for two rosters in the same building at the same time.

I was hoping Jax would come back with some alterations to her presentation and character — and I thought it was an odd choice to announce her return via graphic (with an old picture) instead of just letting it be a surprise for the viewers — but she’s more or less the same as she was last time we saw her. So [shrug]. Happy to see her healthy again, at least. Returns during quarantine are hard to quantify anyway.

Also On This Episode

Asuka opens the show trying to rehab two straight losses to Alexa Bliss by tapping out Liv Morgan. Liv’s a lot better than she was during their first meeting, which was 50 seconds of televised manslaughter. Or, as Asuka herself noted, “To put it bluntly, [Liv Morgan] was so evolved. I am really surprised about that.”

Seth Rollins had a 270-pound man jump off a comically oversized sign and mash him through a table two days ago, but he’s not even going to CONSIDER selling that during this Denzel Dejournette squash. Not that I want the guy to come out in a body cast or anything, but damn, a little wincing would’ve been nice. Spectacular, violent acts that end up in highlight reels for years should at least have some mild, temporary consequences, you know? The Hardy Boyz used to sell ladder matches like they’d walked down the ramp straight from intensive care.

Brendan Vink continues to capitalize on his proximity to Winter Park and willingness to compete during a pandemic by getting another TV match. This one’s a loss to Humberto Carrillo, who is finally allowed to wrestle someone other than Andrade or Angel Garza for the first time in months. This is the first Raw match he’s had not involving one or both of those guys since December. Vink is still a “from NXT” despite having had two matches on Raw, and only one ever on NXT TV.

Speaking of NXT, Ricochet and Cedric Alexander (who are now a “hot new tag team,” because what else are they gonna do?) get a quick win over Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan that would’ve ripped down there. Ricoced has some good, high speed, tandem cruiserweight offense that would really pop if the main roster put more emphasis on tag team wrestling and put them in competitive matches against established duos that either compliment or constructively contrast with it, so here’s hoping a post-WrestleMania Raw without a lot else to do turns its tag team division turn into something valued and substantial.

No classic matches in full this week, but we get a heavily clipped and video packaged-up version of the Boneyard Match. While it didn’t work for me on the same level the Firefly Fun House Match did, it’s still worth a watch and a read, and easily the best deleted scene from the 1995 movie version of Mortal Kombat WWE’s ever produced.

Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

AddMayne

this match is too big for just one hour

Clay Quartermain

Saxton: “if Drew can hold on for a few more minutes, the Big Show is due for a face turn!”

TRB

John Cena in the void: “What kind of jerk challenges someone to a title match right after they won?”

Zelina: “A family thing? Sounds great. Let me grab my husband”
Montez: “Request for smoke withdrawn”

Endy_Mion

Asuka: My tongue is green!
Liv: My tongue is blue!
Saxton: my tongue is—
Asuka rips it out of his head and throws it at Liv.
Uproxx applauds

Harry Longabaugh

So let’s imagine this is a normal Raw after Mania. Tonight we would see:

-Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins continuing to feud for another three months
-A Bobby Lashley face turn for some reason
-Dijakovic (no first name) debuting with a victory over Lucha House Party
-Viking Raiders cutting a “shoot” promo about how they’re going to be called War Machine whether we like it or not. [Note: still Erik and Ivar]
-Undisputed Era debuting to beat down new champ Drew McIntyre. McIntyre takes out Fish, Strong and O’Reilly fairly easily. Until brand new UE member DAVEY RICHARDS shows up to even the numbers!
-And in the post credits scene, AJ Styles gets dug out of his grave….by SHAWN MICHAELS who then superkicks him back into the hole, buries him once again. “See you next year, kiddo,” says HBK as Raw…rolls…on…

AJ Dusman

*Yesterday*
Me: Maybe the Boneyard and Firefly Fun House segments show a new WWE that is willing to take risks and try new things.
*Me tonight at 10:50pm*
Me: I’m an idiot.

Baron

Raw ends …and the next thing we see is:

Taylor Swish

The last time someone spent that much time trapped in a closet and came out with all kinds of aggression towards bald black men, R. Kelly made 33 songs about it.

CFCarboni

Rollins risen from the dead after one (kayfabe) night. He really is better than Jesus!

The weekend is officially done, so now I can collapse. Thank you for reading, sharing, leaving comments, participating in our open discussion threads, and everything else. We can’t do this without you, and we mean that.

Be sure you’ve read the Best and Worst of Smackdown, Best and Worst of WrestleMania 36 nights one and two, and the Firefly Fun House analysis special edition. We’ll see you throughout the week with hopefully more unexpected 30 minute matches, Charlotte Flair returning to NXT as Women’s Champion, and whatever they decide to do with a Braun Strowman-led Smackdown.

Onward to Hollywood!

With Jay and Silent Bob Reboot out of the way, Kevin Smith is gearing up to wrap-up his “True North Trilogy” of Canadian-based films. After years of radio silence, Smith has finally delivered an update on Moose Jaws, which will cap off his series of strange, offbeat films that started in 2014 with Tusk followed by 2016’s Yoga Hosers.

In a recent online Q&A to help fans and himself pass the time while self-isolated, Smith sounded very optimistic about the prospect of getting Moose Jaws in front of a camera once the global pandemic simmers down. Via Bloody Disgusting:

“Moose Jaws is the movie I’m doing that’s Jaws but with a moose instead of a shark. It’s so weird that you bring it up. We have a phone call about it with some of the folks that we made Reboot with next week. A conference call. So yeah, it may be bubbling back to life. Wouldn’t that be nice? Head up to the Canadian outdoors, spread far apart from everybody, making movies. One day, when we’re allowed to do that sort of thing again. So yeah, movement on Moose Jaws!”

Smith first announced Moose Jaws at San Diego Comic-Con all the way back in 2014 and has been teasing bits and pieces about the film in the six years since. In 2015, he teased that the film would feature the death of one of his beloved View Askew characters. (We won’t spoil it for you, but you can click the link to find out.) And in 2016, Smith elevated the film to a passion project that could be his magnum opus, according to Comic Book:

“Moose Jaws is like, it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever written,” he said at Sundance in 2016. “This is a f-ckin’ fan film. This is like pouring my heart out on a page. I love Jaws, and I love Canada, and I combined the two of them. So the whole thing is beat-for-beat Jaws, up until the third act. In the third act it becomes Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, and ends with Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty magical.”

If you got an hour to spare, you can watch Smith’s full Q&A below:

(Via Bloody Disgusting, Comic Book)

R. Kelly is remaining right where he is, despite a request for early release from prison. In March, Kelly filed for early release, claiming concern over the potential spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the MCC Chicago detention facility where he currently awaits trial for a plethora of crimes including sex trafficking. While his concerns aren’t completely unfounded — Meek Mill has pushed governors to adopt his safety plan for prisons to contain an outbreak, while Tekashi 69 was actually granted a release this month — a federal judge did not deem Kelly to be at any increased risk of contracting the virus.

Judge Ann M. Donnelly explains in court documents obtained by Complex that “While I am sympathetic to the defendant’s understandable anxiety about COVID-19, he has not established compelling reasons warranting his release. At present, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the MCC in Chicago.” Furthermore, she writes, “The Bureau of Prisons has announced emergency measures to protect inmates and staff, including suspending all legal and social visits, suspending inmate facility transfers, making soap available to inmates, screening and testing inmates and staff, and modifying operations at detention facilities like the MCC to maximize social distancing.”

She also notes that Kelly is 53 years old, well younger than the age group of “older adults” considered high-risk by the CDC. Finally, Donnelly also considers Kelly a flight risk because of his established history of bribing and intimidating witnesses. As she reminds the court, Kelly “is currently in custody because of the risks that he will flee or attempt to obstruct, threaten or intimidate prospective witnesses. The defendant has not explained how those risks have changed.”

Donnelly rejected Kelly’s claims that he needs to be in face-to-face contact with his lawyers as well. MCC has suspended visiting hours — which actually is a smart move to help prevent an outbreak — but Kelly can contact his attorneys via email or phone. Meanwhile, his original trial date has likely been postponed because of coronavirus safety measures, so his legal team should have even more time to prepare their case (which may not even help him much, as he faces similar charges in a half-dozen jurisdictions). For the time being, it looks like R. Kelly will just have to get comfortable being on lockdown.

Read Complex‘s full report here.

Major League Baseball has not gotten the chance to kick off its 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league, like every other non-eSports league in the United States, is on the sideline trying to wait all of this out, but unlike the NBA, NHL, and MLS, baseball may have a light at the end of the tunnel.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the league and its players association are in conversations about a plan to begin this year in an isolated environment. Passan laid out the details of the league, which would take place in and around Phoenix — including Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a myriad of spring training stadiums — with no fans. Like the reported plan the NBA is kicking around that would keep its players away from everything, MLB players would live in hotels near stadiums and “live in relative isolation.”

In the most interesting twist, this would reportedly be possible because of something in desperate need across the United States right now: rapid and frequent testing.

The May return date for the plan depends on a number of concerns being allayed, and some officials believe a June Opening Day could be more realistic, sources said. Most important would be a significant increase in available coronavirus tests with a quick turnaround time, which sources familiar with the plan believe will happen by early May and allow MLB’s testing to not diminish access for the general public.

Skepticism reportedly comes due to the logistical monstrosity that this would require, and players may not be on board becausee of the amount of time this would require living in isolation and away from their families. However, there were calls between the league and the MLBPA on Monday, which came after federal health officials — including those from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health — had spoken to both sides and, per Passan, “have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation.”

If this turns into something feasible and not a pie in the sky idea to get a sport back, baseball does seem pretty uniquely positioned to have a runway to return, if only because players can keep some amount of distance between themselves most of the time. Some other measures to help with this are reportedly being kicked around, like having teams use the stands instead of dugouts, scrapping mound visits, and robotic home plate umpires.

The biggest news in all of this is, of course, the belief that quick testing will become available May, which could help speed up a whole lot of things outside of the world of sports. But beyond that, getting baseball back and having players be safe would a wonderful step in the right direction, so hopefully, something can be worked out here.

Mozzy has the attention of the streets simply because he speaks the hood’s language. When Mozzy speaks, his words present themselves as bright, expressive stanzas, proving himself to be a great sermonizer in addition to a talented wordsmith.

Hailing from Sacramento’s toughest neighborhood Oak Park, where things have not always been so sweet for him, the now Grammy Award-nominated artist has always been one to look at the silver linings of conflicted situations. He’s so in love with the “beautiful struggle” that he used the title for two separate songs; in 2015, he titled a track from Bladadah “Beautiful Struggle” and the following year, he released a project of the same name with another song titled “Beautiful Struggle.”

Now, his new album Beyond Bulletproof is slated for release May 1 and its artwork is an ode to the forgotten souls of his community, including drug addicts, the homeless, and those lost because they have been socially defined by their past mistakes.

Mozzy is not afraid to embrace the ugly, and that is the energy his forthcoming album sits in. Even as the entire planet is on a worldwide lockdown and people are mandated to stay indoors as a way to avoid spreading and catching the debilitating coronavirus, Mozzy isn’t really tripping about this moment in time. “I’m in love with it,” he tells Uproxx over the phone.

“The effects it has on family members and just bringing everybody closer together and just pausing,” he continues. “It’s like I could just pause all the materialistic things. None of that sh*t really matter right now. It holds no substance and that’s the type of person I am, so I’m ecstatic about it.”

His journey is similar to that of Nipsey Hussle or Tupac Shakur in that both had goals of helping out their community through the knowledge held in their music. As he rhymes on “I Ain’t Perfect” from Beyond Bulletproof: “I’m returning to the slums to get my people right.”

Plus, Mozzy loves being amongst the people. Perhaps it’s why, as his fame and music have grown, he’s not rapping about materialistic things but about the mentality needed to elevate, as heard on the motivating “Overcame.” The Oak Park native is living proof that it’s possible and he was gingerly inspired by his late grandmother, Brenda Patterson-Usher, who raised him while she was a member of the Black Panther Party.

During our conversation, Mozzy opened up about the intentions behind Beyond Bulletproof, his choice to see a therapist following the passing of his grandmother, and why he loves burgeoning Chicago rap star Polo G.

You got your new album Beyond Bulletproof coming out May 1 and I saw that you have a new series of you speaking to a therapist. I know you just lost your grandmother, which has always been a big part of your music. When did you first realize it was time to see a therapist and that it was okay to do so?

I used to joke about it. I feel like my music has really, truly been a therapist throughout my whole life, as therapy for me. But it’s after losing Grams, after losing my grandmother, I really don’t have nobody that I could communicate with on that type of level. I’m very discreet about certain things with certain people and there’s not too many people that’s on her level. I don’t feel that comfort with that many people. Talking to a therapist and knowing that everything you say is confidential and the fact that she doesn’t know me, I don’t know her; so it’s a lack of judgment there. I just wanted to try it out. I felt like it’d benefit me in the space I’m in right now.

How did you go about finding the right therapist?

I left it up to my manager, but I told him I wanted an African-American lady. I wanted somebody who could understand me and understand the background and upbringing, and somebody who could really sympathize being a young African-American male who lives in America today.

And she has you doing those breathing exercises. Do you find yourself doing that now, pausing and breathing?

Not really. Finally, when I do Wiz’s Kush Up Challenge! I ain’t going to lie, I almost cracked up. I almost started laughing but I was trying to be very respectful. I didn’t want her to think I thought she was a bullshitter. So I held it in. I did good.

Well, how do you relax in those moments where you find yourself really just going off?

I’m really relaxed. I get in a mood, not necessarily with people unless I’m just really comfortable with someone and we have that vibe. But really I get in my real relaxed state of mind, just real calm. I calm everything down when I get on the freeway, when I’m in a car, when I’m by myself, when I’m entitled to cry, when I’m just entitled to freestyle. I’m entitled to do whatever I feel. I’m entitled to say what I feel. When I can yell, when I can let my grandmother know “I miss you.”

This shit hurt, this shit crazy. Sometimes this shit don’t even feel like it’s worth it because it ain’t everything I did it for. I was doing it so she could… I wanted to put a smile on her face. I wanted her to feel all the work and effort she put in. That’s like me putting in so much work, so much effort, and then I don’t really get to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It just feels unfair but I’m able to just release all that. I’m able to talk to the universe and just put that out there when I’m on a freeway.

You’ve mentioned before about how she was a great person in the community and always helping out. I see you’ve been doing that. Plus, your music has grown, it’s matured a lot and I hear you rapping about a different subject matter. Do you feel a responsibility to carry on that same legacy as her?

For sure. For sure. I seen Queen And Slim and he said, “As long as my family know my legacy, I’m Gucci and Gabbana.” That’s kind of like her. She wasn’t really worried about the world and outside of the world and me publicizing. She had plenty of times they do interviews to talk about me, even during the time she was very healthy. Just the discreteness within her, it wouldn’t let her do it. I respect that she didn’t have a funeral service. She kept it real close-knit, even though she’s a big dog and a pillar within the community.

She told us she didn’t want others to see us at our weakest hour. That’s why she dictated and directed it to be like that because she didn’t want the world to see us at our weakest hour and I respect it. That’s just the type of person she was. So, sure, carry her legacy within a family. But it’s just within me, period. It’s the way I live. Just the way I raise my daughters, my sincerity. Just taking everything … just doing things with passion, everything. Every little thing that I remember her just reiterating all the time. It come to light nowadays and I try to apply within my daily living.

Your song “I Ain’t Perfect” with Blxst shows it’s okay to not be perfect and no one on earth is, but you can always become a better person. What are some ways that you think that you’ve worked on becoming a better person?

Spending more time with my children, that always helps. It fulfills me. Looking out for people. Instead of looking out for a couple of people this month, we going to look out for 20 people. Even if it’s small, even if it’s minute. Just looking out for people. I’m taking it to the next level of looking out. Just going further with it. Reading; that always assists me. It helps mold me. Dedicating myself to my family. Understanding what a priority is. Understanding how to prioritize and just understanding that we are limited to time on this earth and so whatever it is that I want to accomplish, whether it’s with family, financially, socially, I got a bite down. I got to live within a moment. I got to do it right now, right now. Practicing living in the moment always help me.

I also want to talk about Polo G since he’s featured on the album too. I see him kind of taking those same steps that you, Nipsey Hussle, and G Herbo have. What’s your relationship with him?

Oh, that’s my boy. Polo G. That’s my dog. Pull up to the video shoots. You can invite me to a shoot or even invite me to an interview or whatever the case, and it could be in one of his slimiest, treacherous neighborhood and I’m a blow down on you. I’m going to pull up, I’m going to follow through with that commitment regardless of the potential dangers. I fuck with him heavy since 30. You understand me? It’s a lack of real n****s in this rap shit. A lot of n****s get big-headed when they reach a certain social status and I just got unlimited respect for the ones who still well-grounded in this shit, man, because it’s a little bit all the same.

I know this project’s about second chances, not really being perfect, and really introspective. What is a second chance you were given that you are most grateful for?

Life. Freedom. I feel like I was at a dark space in my life in 2014. One of the darkest. I had my daughter, I was fighting for custody, I was broke, I was living with granny and I’ve just had a lot of conflict. I was funking with the neighborhood, I was funking with the opposition. I just had a lot going on. I really didn’t care about life, I didn’t care about death. It’s crazy that I… because I could feel it, I could taste it, I could smell it right now. I recall just vividly being in that, under those circumstances.

I went to jail. I went to jail for something minute. I could’ve went to jail for something crazy, but I went to jail for something minute. I got full understanding that God function with me. It got to be God. It got to be a higher power and I got to be in his favor because it was just ugly. It was ugly for me and he set me down, temporarily, just momentarily type shit. He let me get my mind right. He gave me enough time. It wasn’t too little, it wasn’t too much. I came home and I got to work. It’s just blessings upon blessing. I’m grateful. Thankful.

Love it. What is the ultimate thing you want people to get out of Beyond Bulletproof and what do we have to look forward to in the future?

The definition of bulletproof love. I just want to stay up there. I feel like I’m the face of Beyond Bulletproof. I feel like I’m the face of bulletproof love. I just wanted to take it a step further and let them know it’s Beyond Bulletproof. I really believe this shit on and off cameras. I want the forgotten. I want the one’s that’s overlooked. I want them to feel like it’s their time to shine. That n**** talking about me, he’s talking about my life. This album — it’s for me. I want them to feel possessive of the album. I want them to feel like that motherfucker was painted direct specifically for them. I just want them to be able to utilize it as a therapy tool. Cry to it, laugh to it, smile to it, get mad to it. It’s a roller coaster of emotion. I want them to really experience it, you understand? In a 3D manner.

This is random, but I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with self-help books like Think & Grow Rich?

Oh yeah, for sure.

It sounds like, with your music and Nipsey Hussle and music like that… it sounds like your music is that for the hood?

That was the best way you could paint it. I know a lot of people get mad at me cause I ain’t been on that raw-raw hype lately. I ain’t been on that 1 Up Top Ahk. I ain’t really been on that hype. I’ve been on a more progressive hype. I’m on a more productive hype and more uplifting. I think it just got a lot more substance.

My core fanbase don’t really fuck with it like that, but it’s growth and development and I understand the process. I ain’t going to be great living in 2008. I can’t be great if I’m still living in 2008. I got to progress with the time and that’s what I’m doing. My music has always been my truth. Truthfully, right now this is how I feel. I don’t know if it’s because I got a bag or cause I live on a 50th floor or cause I could take any car I want to drive this week. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I’m just in a more uplifting spirit and that’s what you’re going to get out of this album.

Beyond Bulletproof is due 5/1 on Empire. Pre-order it here.

Selena Gomez debuted her highly-anticipated comeback record Rare early this year. Since the record’s release, Gomez has been sitting on a few new tracks to share alongside the deluxe version of her record. But, amid the ongoing pandemic, Gomez has decided to attach a charitable component to her deluxe album. Gomez is donating to a COVID-19 relief fund and offering a portion of all her merch to benefit the charity.

Gomez explained her charitable actions in a social media post:

“Many of you know how excited I’ve been to release a song called ‘Boyfriend.’ It’s a lighthearted song about falling down and getting back up time and time again in love, but also know that you don’t need anyone other than yourself to be happy. We wrote it long before our current crisis, but in the context of today, I want to be clear that a boyfriend is nowhere near the top of my life of priorities. Just like the rest f the world, I’m praying for safety unity and recovery during this pandemic. Because of that, I’m personally donating to the Plus1 COVID-19 Relief Fund as well as donating $1 of every order in my official store to the fund starting now.”

The Rare (Deluxe) features three new songs from the pop singer. Along with the remainder of the 13-track record, Rare (Deluxe) includes the bonus tracks “Boyfriend,” “She,” and “Souvenir.”

Rare (Deluxe) is out 4/9 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.

A dominant big man can paper over a number of cracks a college basketball team might have, especially when the NCAA Tournament rolls around and squads need someone who can lead them to victory by sheer force of will. If the 2020 edition of March Madness hadn’t been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re willing to bet that two bigs, in particular, would have made quite the impact for their teams.

When Maryland was at its best this year, second-year big man Jalen Smith was usually at the center of everything. Smith can do it all on the basketball court and is a legitimately unguardable frontcourt player on his best days. If the Terps were going to be at their best in the tourney, it was going to be because Smith did an admirable impression of Danny Manning, the former Kansas star who led the Jayhawks to a national title and went down as one of the best players in the sport’s history. Even if Smith never becomes the No. 1 pick like Manning, Maryland just needed him to have a Manning-like impact for six games to win the NCAA Tournament, something he very well could have ended up doing.

USC had its ups and downs this year, but through everything, there was no denying that Onyeka Okongwu could just do things on the court to make the Trojans better. Like former UConn big man Emeka Okafor, Okongwu was a tenacious rebounder and defender whose ability to obliterate opposing big men in the paint brought his team to another level. The Trojans were a bubble squad this year — ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had them as the last team to get a first-round bye in his most recent Bracketology update — and if Okongwu could have played like Okafor, they had the potential to be a pleasant surprise come the second weekend.

It’s unclear what the future holds for Smith, who has not yet declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, while Okongwu is expected to be a lottery pick. Missing out on them doing their things during the tournament was unfortunate, but in a bit of good news, both of these big men should be household names in the world of basketball for a while.

Last night, on a quieter than usual Raw After WrestleMania, Nia Jax made her return to WWE after an entire year, competing in the ring for the first time since WrestleMania 35 last April. She had to take that time off for double knee surgery, but we’ve known for a month or so that she was expected back soon. Nia celebrated her return by making short work of Deonna Purazzo, and the wrestling internet immediately recognized the move she finished her off with:

Yes, that’s the RamPaige (although Nia may be giving it a new name now, I don’t think we know that yet). It used to be Paige’s finisher, although of course Paige can’t compete in the ring anymore, due to her unfortunate neck injuries. Everyone who’s paid attention to Total Divas, or just social media, knows that Paige and Nia are close friends, so people were quick to make the connection, which Nia immediately acknowledged.

But how did Paige feel about Nia adopting a finisher she can’t use herself anymore? Considering their closeness, it shouldn’t be any surprise that she’s fine with it. In fact, it sounds like Paige encouraged her to use it:

Time will tell what Nia Jax will get up to now that she’s back in WWE (a run at Becky Lynch and her title seems likely), but it’s cool that she’s brought a little bit of Paige back into the ring with her.

Drake has taken over TikTok with “Toosie Slide,” thanks largely in part due to the dance that was created for the track. It turns out this originally wasn’t Drake’s intention at all, though, because the song was actually written about Michael Jackson’s famous moonwalk dance move. Drake sings on the song, “It go right foot up, left foot, slide / Left foot up, right foot, slide.”

On Instagram Live last night, Drake explained the song’s origins (and revealed he has a new album on the way), saying, “Shout out to Toosie, because when I first made that song, I was only talking about the moonwalk. […] But Toosie made the dance to that sh*t, so it’s popping now. I didn’t know it was gonna be a dance song like that, but it is what it is. We’re just having fun getting warmed up. Album’s on the way.”

That makes a ton of sense looking at the song’s lyrics, which feature multiple references to Jackson. Drake sings, “I could dance like Michael Jackson / I could give you thug passion,” and at the start of the song, he offers was seems to be another Jackson nod: “Black leather glove, no sequins.”

Lil Baby actually almost appeared on the song, but as he noted recently, “@champagnepapi Sent Me This Song A Month Ago My Dumb Ass Ain’t Send The Verse Bacc.”

Better Call Saul is a show with range. Some characters like Jimmy/Saul lie constantly, others like Mike tell the truth to a fault. With that in mind, our coverage this season will be structured as a collection of true and false statements about each episode. Welcome to Better Call Saul Truth And Lies.

TRUTH — Nothing good happens in the desert

When did you realize things were going to go bad for Jimmy?

Actually, wait. I should be more specific about this. A reasonable argument could be made that things have been going bad in one way or another, in the singular as well as cumulative fashion, from the day we met him. Probably before, too. His whole life has been murky shortcuts and questionable decisions lined up one after the other. No, we need to really laser in here. We need to focus. Let’s try it again: When did you realize things were going to go bad for Jimmy in his quest to pick up Lalo’s $7 million in bail?

Was it when the Jeep pulled out behind him? That was really the last moment where you could have thought it might be okay, in the seconds before the ambush. But you’re smart. You probably caught on before that.

Maybe it was when he wasted the water to clean off his shoes. That was pretty brutal foreshadowing. I saw him do that and I was like, “Welp, he’s definitely running out of water now.” I didn’t leap all the way to “and he’ll have to gulp his own urine,” but that’s why Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould make this show and I just make jokes about all of it.

Was it even earlier than that, maybe when he kept insisting to Kim that everything would be okay? Or when he almost walked out on the whole thing before doubling back to do it for a $100k fee that Lalo agreed to very quickly? Those were pretty solid tipoffs. It was all in front of us for so much of the episode.

But I’ll tell you when I realized it, and I say this not to toot my own horn as much as to make an important point: I knew as soon as Lalo said the drop would happen in the desert. Nothing good happens in the desert. Ever. Especially on Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, but also in general. If someone says to you “Hey, let’s meet way out in the desert,” you should say no, because one or both of you is going to die or face a harrowing near-death experience. Same goes for the woods. Nothing good ever happens in the woods, either. Or the ocean. “Hey, let’s you and me get on a boat and head out to sea for the day.” Nope. No, sir. I’ve seen movies and television shows. I know how this ends. You are going to shoot me and fling me overboard, on purpose or by accident. Absolutely not. Zero chance. Same applies to cornfields and any building with gargoyles on it. Not gonna catch me sleeping.

The point here is that you should stay inside. In your house. Even when there’s not a pandemic. Just to be safe.

LIE — It is a good thing that Kim met Lalo

It says a lot about this show that two of its main characters spent the entire episode dodging bandits and trying to walk 30 miles through the desert and it ended on a cliffhanger where they’re still out there sweating and sunburned and dehydrated but I came out of the episode infinitely more worried about the fate of Kim Wexler, a person who has access to air conditioning and bottled water. Part of that is the future knowledge we have from Breaking Bad. Neither Jimmy nor Mike are going to die in that desert. They both have a lot to do still. So much. They’ll be fine. Fine-ish. Alive, at least.

A bigger part is the thing I’ve mentioned almost every week in these posts, how not knowing Kim’s future gave us a glimmer of hope on a show where everyone else is careening toward doom. And it looked good for her as recently as two episodes ago, when she was yelling at Jimmy for sandbagging her at the Mesa Verde meeting and it seemed to all logical parties that the big break-up was imminent, the one that separates her and Jimmy and keeps her safe and sends him diving head-first into the darker parts of his soul. The one I had naively assumed was coming because, come on, they’re not going to kill off Kim, right? Right???!!!

But then she up and proposed marriage and demanded Jimmy tell her everything — everything — even if it meant being a courier for $7 million of drug cash, figuring that their marital status would keep her safe because she could never be forced to testify against him. What she didn’t see coming, though, was Lalo, who cares not for spousal privilege and testimony as much as he cares about applying force to sensitive areas and acquiring the kind of information that allows him to do that. She’s in trouble now. Real trouble. Lalo knows she’s Jimmy’s — Saul’s, I know, this is still weird — wife, which means he now has leverage over his attorney.

I physically cringed when Mike said she’s in the game now, but she is, to a small degree, the same way Nacho’s dad is in the game. She’s the tiniest kind of player in the game, but so are pawns, and pawns are the first pieces to go. I do not like this. I do not like this at all. Kim has dipped her toe into the Breaking Bad universe now and that doesn’t turn out great for anyone, historically. A big part of me hopes Kim and Nacho fall in love and move to Bora Bora. I’m handling this great, thanks for asking.

TRUTH — If you have to get stuck in the desert with someone for a long time, Mike Ehrmantraut is a great partner

How excited were you when you realized it was Mike out there with his sniper rifle and old man bucket hat saving Jimmy’s jimmies in the ambush? I was very excited. I was sure it was going to be the Cousins. Which would have been fine. I do kind of love those silent goons. But it was better that it was Mike, for me if not for Mike, who went from torn up about being Fring’s button-man to mowing down bandits at ranges long and close in a desert massacre. Mike is way in now, if he wasn’t way in before. His speech to Jimmy near the end solidified it, the whole thing about knowing why he’s doing it and the people he cares about. This is the Breaking Bad version of Mike we’re seeing. He’s still Mike — he’s always Mike — but he’s even more emotionally checked out than before, which is really saying something because… [gestures toward everything Mike has said and done to this point].

It was good it was Mike at the ambush, too, because Mike is very much a dude you want to be stranded within that situation. Mike knows things, things that will keep you alive in nature. How to rig up a tarp to get water from nothing, how to fix cars, how to avoid breaking your leg in a hole, etc. You need that, especially if you’re a guy like Jimmy whose idea of roughing it is a motel that doesn’t have free HBO. He wouldn’t have lasted six hours out there. He would have chugged his water and started a fire and passed out from dehydration and been hunted down by the last bandit and buried in a shallow grave. Mike is almost like Bear Grylls if a Bear Grylls communicated only through grunts and eye rolls. He is Jimmy’s only hope right now.

It is worth noting here that Gus sent Mike to protect Jimmy and Lalo’s bail money, which means:

• Gus knew the whole plan even though Lalo said he wasn’t involving Nacho
• If Nacho didn’t tell Gus, how did Gus know?
• How is Jimmy going to explain how he got home, because he can’t exactly say Mike helped him
• (UPDATE: A reader pointed out that Mike could have been tracking Jimmy with the device in the gas cap he put in a while ago and removed when they started fleeing the scene. This is a good point. Please pretend I thought of it.)

And so on. Lots to consider here, provided they make it out of the desert before the end of the season.

LIE — If you have to get stuck in the desert with someone for a long time, Mike Ehrmantraut is a great partner

He’s also very gruff and silent and demanding. You’re not going to have sparkling conversations about the issues of the day. You’re not going to invent fun little games to pass the time. You’re going to walk, all the time, in the blistering heat. He’s going to make you carry the heavy bags of money. The kindest gesture he’ll offer you is a foil blanket to keep warm at night, which is nice unless your older brother wore them compulsively because of a deteriorating mental conditioner that left deep wounds in you that have not yet healed over. Mike will not make you feel better about any of this but he sure might keep you alive. That’s the deal.

Here’s a fun exercise: Spend some time today really thinking about what person you’d like to be stranded with in a desert like this. Real or fictional is fine. I think Matthew McConaughey would be a fun one, although I don’t know if you’d just die in the middle of one of his monologues. It’s a tough mix to find: outdoorsy enough to survive the elements, personable enough to make it bearable. There’s a very limited number of people who check both of those boxes. You really need to think about it. There’s a pretty obvious answer right in front of you. Want me to tell you? Okay, I’ll tell you.

The answer is JUST DON’T GO INTO THE DESERT IN THE FIRST PLACE. Jesus Christ. It’s like you didn’t even read the opening section. Come on.

LIE — The Cousins talk too much

Love these guys. Not a single word spoken in the entire episode. Just perfectly synchronized menacing movement in matching shiny suits and matching shinier shirts. Add them to the ever-growing list of characters I would watch an entire episode or limited series about. What are they up to when they’re not on cartel business? Do they share an apartment? I have this image in my head of two twin beds in one bedroom, of them both waking up at the exact same time and flinging the covers off with the exact same motion to reveal they’re wearing the same pajamas. They go to the bathroom to brush their teeth in their adjoining sinks and then hop in their showers, both in the same bathroom, separated by three feet of tile and a bathmat. I can see this in my head right now, crystal clear. I see them eating cereal and the motion of their spoons is perfectly coordinated. It’s all right there.

I bet one day one of them got mixed up getting dressed and put on the wrong color shiny shirt and it threw them into a minutes-long existential crisis.

TRUTH — If you are chugging your own pee out of a water jug, some part of your day has gone very wrong

But that’s none of my business.