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It’s been a volatile year around the country, in more ways than one. Just as the pandemic was taking hold in America during the summer, there was an uprising among citizens against the type of police violence that has taken the lives of so many Black Americans. Athletes and celebrities around the world joined the cause, with numerous NBA stars throwing their support and influence behind the cause.

It resulted in a brief work stoppage during the first round of the playoffs in Orlando, as players put pressure on the league and its owners to enact concrete plan to fight racial injustice. Beyond that, individual teams and players have enacted their own initiatives to battle injustice.

The Boston Celtics, for instance, announced a 10-year, multi-million-dollar plan in partnership with the Shamrock Foundation that will focus on education and outreach. Celtics star Jaylen Brown is helping spearhead that plan, and on Friday, he talked more about how he plans to continue the work required to rectify racial injustice, even though there will be a change in White House occupant next month.

I asked Jaylen Brown how he was going to move his fight for social justice forward this season. Here’s his full answer: pic.twitter.com/ehDvZ9xShn

— John Karalis (@RedsArmy_John) December 4, 2020

The NBA, as an institution, was a vocal and visible proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement this year, printing the BLM logo on the court in Orlando, allowing players to display social justice messages on their jerseys, and generally encouraging players to speak out.

But Adam Silver has indicated that the league likely won’t be quite as visible about it in the coming season, amid concerns that messaging fatigue might dilute or undermine those efforts. Still, it’s clear that players like Brown and scores of others will continue to use their platform to bring awareness, education, and actionable change for disenfranchised communities across the country.

JB Smoove is widely known as one of the great Hollywood nice guys. I’ve heard this a lot, from our entertainment writers, but I’ve also seen it firsthand. When my dad was dying, Smoove dropped him a nice tweet (in those earlier, friendlier days of Twitter) that my pops got a kick out of. Small mercies like that make a big difference when facing cancer.

This week, Smoove leveled up his nice guy game, joining with BIC and Good360 to donate 200,000 razors to those in need. The promo efforts around this donation opened the door for me to hop on the phone with Danny Duberstein himself. We chatted about quarantine, his newfound passion for vertical hydroponics, and the need to become more resilient and resourceful during tough times.

I also thanked him for my dad’s favorite TV moment ever:

“It may not be such a good idea, the whole ‘flip it’ thing.”

“I like it, man. I like it!”

***

First off, I have to thank you. When my dad was dying of cancer, you have a line from Curb that was his favorite joke ever. And when he was really sick, we watched it, over and over — just this one clip. And then you tweeted something nice at him and it made his day. And I just want to thank you for that genuineness that you always bring.

That’s all we do, baby. I love it, man. Oh, man. That warms my heart, man. The purpose of what we do, man, and that’s what humor does. It’s long-lasting. So I’m happy that I’ve got a chance to do that, man. I always try to lend myself, if I can, to these moments. So I’m happy that your dad got a chance to enjoy that, you know?

I’ll never forget him quoting, “Flip it. Topsy turvy this motherfucker.” So thank you again, for that.

I’m happy to hear that, man. So happy to hear that.

Speaking of you doing good, you’re involved in a giving initiative right now. You want to tell us how that came about?

Yeah, man, sure. I’ve been campaigning with my guys at BIC for a while, and they always come up with these amazing opportunities to give back. We’ve done it several times. And what we just did on Giving Tuesday was just an extension of that. Giving Tuesday, of course, we all know as a global generosity movement. What we’re trying to do is unleash the power of people and organizations. We want to try to transform our communities. And then of course the world, man.

I partnered with BIC and we’re going to do a donation of 200,000 BIC Flex 5 razors. That’s going to Good360.
And Good360 is doing some amazing things, man. Of course, it’s up my alley, man. They are an organization. They distribute highly needed products and donations to people overcoming challenges in their lives. Of course, we know this year is a very important time to give back because everyone’s dealing with… It’s 2020. Everyone’s dealing with the pandemic. And 2020 has been rough, man, believe me.

Normally every year I have this huge New Year’s party. In 2019, when plans for ringing in 2020 came around, we put some boots to 2019. Because 2019 was bad also. And we were like, “2019, get out of here. We’re putting the boot to you.” We said, “2019, get the hell out my face.” Who would know that 2020 would be like, “Okay, I’m waiting for you!”? 2020 has been rough, man, but this was the perfect opportunity for Good360, the perfect opportunity for BIC to get everybody, keep us going, you know what I mean? And Good360 has already distributed over $200 million worth of goods in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. So this is all needed, needed, needed.

I love that you bring up we need to be more community-minded, socially-minded right now during a difficult time. Is that a mindset that you’ve had always? Has that been your approach? You know, I told the story of you doing something touching for me when my pops was sick. Is that something that has just kind of always been your way of thinking?

Always. This has always been my thought process always, man. I’m a guy that wants everyone to win. And I want everybody to at least have the opportunity to win. That’s my main thing. You know what I mean? It’s one thing to want everybody to win, but all the best people don’t always win. Sometimes bad people win. But we want to make sure everybody has the opportunity to win. And that’s always been my mindset, man. Because I think everybody could bring their A-game, everyone could bring the effort — if they have the opportunity to do that.

I’m a big proponent. I’m also a Boys’ and Girls’ Club alum. So I’m always planting these seeds, trying to make sure everyone has a swing at the ball, at least. Everyone should have at least a swing at the ball. I’ve always been involved with those positive moments in my life, where I will always want to make sure I give back on something large scale like this, or something as small as walking to the airport and seeing someone who just wants a good word and just wants some advice or some direction. I’ll stop and talk to them for 15 minutes. I missed my flight one time making sure this one guy had the right frame of mind. I missed my flight. I missed my flight one day. But I thought about it after, maybe it’s something about me missing this flight that was…

I ended up meeting another business associate. On that same day, I didn’t meet him, but I did a movie with Cameron Crowe called We Bought a Zoo, with Matt Damon. And that day I missed that flight, this was so funny. So that day, I missed that flight, right? And when I got back from that trip, I got an audition call for We Bought a Zoo. I go in for the audition, and Cameron says, “Hey man, I saw you at the airport. I saw you at the airport. I didn’t walk up to you. I just wanted to observe you and your movements. And I saw you in the airport. I just watched you talk to people. I watched you move around. And so I said I wasn’t going to say anything to you. I didn’t want to meet you there. I wanted to bring you in for an audition for this role. But I wanted you to be the same guy that I met through my vision of you, as opposed to meeting you personally.”

He said, “I wanted to feel your energy.” That’s kind of how he does it. And I got to the audition. He said, “Hey, I saw you at the airport.” I said, “Oh, wow.” I said, “What day was it?” He said, “Last week.” I said, “Oh yeah. Yeah.”

So it’s crazy how you end up where you’re supposed to be at. Sometimes you need a little push. But sometimes these are moments that I cherish, that people want to see your character. They want to know who you are, exactly. You know what I mean? And seeing this opportunity right here — with BIC and Good360 — it just keeps going, man. It’s kind of like I’m racing in a relay race and I’m passing the baton to myself. You know what I mean? And I just keep passing that baton to another version of me.

I love that visual.

Keep it the way it’s going, you know what I mean?

That’s beautiful. Now, you’re associated with maybe the most neurotic human alive, in Larry David. And you’ve been in quarantine, which makes us all neurotic. When I watch five or six episodes of Curb, I know I get more neurotic. So I imagine you living it, you’ve gotten a little more neurotic. What is the JB Smoove quarantine routine?

Oh, man. What we do is, my wife I, my wife Shonda, we are very simple, man. Believe me, we are very simple. We just like what we like, and we love who we love. We’re vegans, of course. We like simple things, man. We like RVing. We like to cook. We have our own garden in our yard that we cook off of. We get our little vegetables and we do that, man. We’ve been keeping it really easy-breezy, man. You know, maybe once in a while, we have a big yard, so we’ll just have a little social distancing picnic with another couple. We’ll just have some wine by the fire feature. We just keep it real simple, man.

I think some of us are built for these moments. We’re the helping hand you need. And everybody’s not built for these kinds of obstacles. And sometimes you just need to hear that you can get through it. Sometimes you just need to hear it. And sometimes it comes in the smallest form. But we’ve just been taking it easy, man. I take little Zoom jobs here and there. Of course, we started shooting Curb already. I’m back to work-work.

You’re taking it as it comes; seeing the bright side.

I think all of this is weird because I feel like, even in the midst of this craziness we’re going through, I think it allowed people to sit the hell still for a minute. Of course, we don’t want the loss of life attached to it, but still it felt like people needed clarity a little bit. I think that goes along with everything that’s going on, the COVID, the political stuff, anything and everything that you can attach this 2020 to, somehow in the midst of it all, we’ve got to come out clearer minded and knowing your path even greater. Knowing your path. And I think a lot of people got clarity with a lot of things, and I think we needed that.

Now, let me ask you this, you talk about growing your own food. I’m very into growing my own food. Do you find that COVID and just the idea that society can be knocked out makes you want to be more self-reliant? Is that a piece of it?

Oh yes indeed, man. You have to be resourceful in this moment. You have to figure out… It’s kind of like those squirrels, man. Those squirrels are really good at that, man. They got so organized. They will make sure that rainy day is covered. They got some seeds planted. And I think that’s the main thing is to plant enough seeds that you can get your mental and your physical can make it through. Some people can get their physical right but their mental ain’t right. They can’t deal with all this. You’ve got to have a balance of both. You’ve got to have your health. Your mental health, your physical health is going to be the benefit of you making it through all this.

Your temperament’s got to be right and I think you’ve got to be able to brush things off and understand that, especially when you’re dealing with people because people are going to be people. We have to figure all that out, and then you’ve got to know who to deal with and who not to deal with. I think we have to make sure that all your physical and all your mental bases are covered, and then the rest of the stuff you kind of deal with on a single basis. But I can say that eating right and keeping your mindset right has helped greatly in this pandemic stuff. As long as we all can stay healthy enough and stay safe, I think we can get through this, and we can get back to some normalcy.

Was there anything that you learned during the quarantine that you hadn’t done before? I know a lot of people got into bread, or if you had a favorite cocktail you learned to make, some favorite dish, you learned to make?

This garden, this is our first garden. We’re only maybe two months in with this garden. So we have a vertical garden, which is built by a company called LA Urban Farm. So it’s not the typical garden where you use dirt and all that stuff and compost. This is a vertical garden.

Vertical hydroponic, right?

Exactly.

That’s what I use, too.

We have three of those.

Oh, wow.

Oh, we’ve got three of those bad boys. We love it. We basically invite our friends over… We’ve got so much stuff, we invite our friends over to go shopping. We tell them, “Bring a little basket with you and just like pick off the garden. Get some greens, get some chard, get your mixed greens, get your cauliflower, get your kale, get your mustard greens, get all the stuff you need, get your butter head lettuce, get your onions.” We’ve got everything we need on that boy. We have all our herbs. We invite friends over all the time. “Listen, just come over with a shopping bag, because we’ve got so much that we are willing to share it,” which is also great. You share what you have.

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for your time and energy. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, man, all best to you, man. Stay safe, man, and we should definitely meet in person one day.

I can’t wait.

Especially with that story about your dad, man.

We’ll flip it together. We’ll topsy-turvy the motherfucker. I appreciate you. And I appreciate all you do.

Yeah, we’ll topsy turvy that motherfucker.

When I interviewed 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Ben Lesser a few months ago, I was blown away by his story. I also felt dismayed hearing him explain how Holocaust education is sorely lacking in so many places. Right around the time of our interview, a report came out that our younger generations have a shockingly woeful understanding of the Holocaust. Nearly two-thirds of Millennials and Gen Z participants in a 50-state survey didn’t know that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Nearly half couldn’t name a single concentration camp.

If we lose that history, we are less likely to recognize when the precursors to such atrocities repeat themselves. Additionally, the victims and families of victims of the millions of men, women, and children who were systematically tortured and killed in the 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos established during WWII deserve to have their experiences remembered and acknowledged.

The largest Nazi camp complex was Auschwitz, which included concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camps. Of the estimated 1.3 million people who were sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million died there between 1940 and 1945. Nearly five years, and more than a million people murdered in just one camp complex. The statistics alone are mind-blowing.

Such large numbers are hard to wrap our minds around. That’s why individual stories like Ben Lesser’s matter so much. He himself is an Auschwitz survivor, and his descriptions of what he experienced there are difficult but important to hear.

But what makes the Holocaust especially chilling is the premeditated, factory-like automation of the killing. Camps like Auschwitz were built for the purpose of exterminating as many human beings as possible as efficiently as possible. Men, women, and children crammed into cattle cars like sardines. Men, women, and children stripped and shaven. Nazi soldiers making split second decisions of who was strong and healthy enough to be worked to death and who would be marched straight to the gas chambers.

While individual stories are vital, so are broader visuals that help us understand the scope of what took place. Perhaps paradoxically, some of the most powerful visuals from the Holocaust don’t include people themselves. I remember the first time I saw a photo of an enormous pile of shoes from a concentration camp—there must have been thousands of them. That image stuck with me more than any other when I was first learning about the Holocaust. Each pair of shoes belonged to a person, and seeing them systematically yet carelessly tossed into a huge heap encapsulated the inhumanity that kept piling up as Nazi killings kept going and going.

Those who have visited Auschwitz remark about the size of the place—how it keeps going and going and going—but that’s hard to capture in photographs. Thankfully, the Auschwitz Museum has an educational tool for those of us who haven’t been there to get a sense of the scale of it—a panoramic, interactive tour of the grounds.

The panoramic tool lets you click arrows to move around the grounds, where you see row after row of buildings, some of which still stand and others where you can only see parts of the brick and chimneys. There’s a “read more” link in each area that describes a bit about what you’re seeing. You can click the link in the tweet or go here to take the interactive tour.

The Auschwitz Memorial Twitter account used the word “impressive” to describe the size of the grounds, which feels like a bit of an odd word choice, but the scope and size of it really is incredible. Imagine the resources that went into creating this place, solely dedicated to destruction and dehumanization. Imagine the number of people it took to run it, to go along with a plan so heinous and horrific that we consider it one of the very worst chapters in human history.

And it really wasn’t that long ago. I recently spoke to a living, breathing human being who was taken to this place by train, who watched his siblings’ incinerated ashes fall from the sky there, who barely survived the of savagery and genocide that took place on that soil.

As difficult as it is to digest, we need to learn everything we can about the Holocaust. We need to understand that such atrocity happened in one of the most advanced, cultured societies at the time. We need to see what led up to it, how propaganda and prejudice fueled it, how people allowed it to happen. We need to know what hatred can lead to—not just on an individual level, but on a mass scale.

We need to look at the entire Holocaust epic, learn how it played out in all its systematic horror, and vow—continually—to never allow ourselves to even flirt with the opening act.

In an time when social media often feels like a cesspool of hot political takes, rampant misinformation, and insufferable narcissism, a glowing example of goodness truly stands out.

Enter Nick Cho, aka “Your Korean dad,” whose wholesome TikTok videos are captivating people and capturing hearts, right when we need good things the most. Cho, whose day job is CEO and co-founder of Wrecking Ball Coffee, has been using his TikTok account to be a doting, supportive Korean dad to anyone who could use one. At first, it’s like “Okay, maybe that’s kind of cute,” but the more you watch, the more endearing it becomes.

People have compared Cho to Mr. Rogers, which is just about the highest praise anyone can receive on this earth, but it’s not hard to see after watching a handful of his videos. What could seem super schticky feels surprisingly sincere, as Cho offers fatherly advice and encouragement in ways that people might not even realize they need.

From the signature pat on the head through the camera, to the food that he sets in front of you, to the sage words of wisdom he offers in his upbeat, gentle way…oof. If you are missing a dad figure in your life, he’s got you covered. And even if you have a great dad who is active in your life, you can still appreciate what Cho is doing here.

Watch the montage Now This made to see him in action.

Cho has racked up 1.5 million followers on TikTok, and it’s not hard to see why.

People on TikTok and Twitter comment that Cho’s videos make them feel safe and cared about. For some people, the wholesomeness of it all is just heartwarming, but for others, there’s a genuine hole that Cho seems to be filling. There are a lot of people who didn’t grow up with a loving, kind, supportive father and seeing examples of what a dad can be evokes both pain and hope.

And seriously with the Mr. Rogers references, right?

Tears have been an unexpected phenomenon for a lot of people watching Cho. Like, how can I possibly be tearing up over this? It’s so simple and silly, and yet so sweet and loving and wholesome, and oh yep, here come the tears.

We are all so desperate for examples of pure goodness right now, and Nick Cho—our Korean dad—is providing just that.

I mean, look at the way he talks about respecting the intention of the designer of the newest Air Jordan shoe. Not something I would expect to care about AT ALL, but I’ll be darned if I’m not picking up what Korean dad is laying down here.

“Thanks for letting me take part in your creation.” Dang. Amazing.

Thanks, Korean dad. Please don’t leave us.

The Mandalorian is a sheer technological feat thanks to its groundbreaking StageCraft production studio that allows Jon Favreau and the team at Lucasfilm to create realistic alien locales on the fly. Not to mention, the show is being closely supervised by Dave Filoni, arguably one of the greatest creative voices in Star Wars history since George Lucas. So it’s probably going to feel really awesome when they see Australian YouTuber “close personal acquaintance” completely nail the show’s look and entire narrative style in a 30 second video made with random props.

In the hilariously low budget video titled, Mando is nothing but a dude with a helmet and black tape on his head, while Baby Yoda is an adorable green dog. It’s perfect. Aping season two’s penchant for constantly having Mando run errands while carting Baby Yoda from planet to planet, our heroes find themselves in need of milk, which requires them to engage in some quid-pro-quo by dealing with a WiFi-stealing creature. After solving the problem with some stone-cold Mando efficiency, it looks like their journey has to make another stop thanks to some classic Baby Yoda hijinks.

If you’re a fan of The Mandalorian, you can’t help but laugh at the brutal accuracy because, seriously, where is the lie? They land on a planet for reason X, Mando has to murder person Y, and Baby Yoda stuff his frog-hole with random object Z, which may or may not result in genocide. It’s a predictable formula, but that ain’t always a bad thing.

(Via close personal acquaintance)

Kyrie Irving is under a whole lot of pressure in Brooklyn this season, as is basically everyone else who plays for the Nets. The team is getting Irving back from an injury that limited him to just 20 games last season, while Kevin Durant is slated to make his debut after suffering a torn achilles during his final game as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Brooklyn went 35-37 last season and made the playoffs, and now, expectations have been raised in year one of the Steve Nash era. Things got underway this week as players began meeting with the media, although there was an exception to that: Irving. In a statement released to members of the media, Irving explained that he wanted to make sure his message was “conveyed properly,” and expressed his commitment to making sure the Nets can “win championships” with him at the helm.

It’s not exactly controversial to say that Irving and the media don’t always have the best relationship, and as a result, it appears he decided to take an approach with them here that reduces the amount of gray area through which his message can be misinterpreted. To defend other folks in the media, there have been plenty of times when Irving has said things that are kind of vague and open to interpretation, and as long as that’s the case, it’s going to be very easy for things to be printed that do not line up with what he means.

That, of course, also explains why he opted to take this approach with this press release. The very bottom line seems to imply that this is going to be his course of action all season long, but it’s unclear if that, indeed, is what he plans on doing.

“I don’t think I had a coherent style beyond wanting to be comfortable,” Jake Lyon says. “What that actually entails, I didn’t think about nearly as much until I was in a career that put me in the public spotlight. There’s a very public side to esports and gaming — it’s all entertainment, at the end of the day.”

Lyon, a retired esports competitor and present-day commentator, seems deeply entranced by the allure of a quiet life. It’s part of what guided his decision to transition from the high-stress world of esports to a more removed, lower-stakes role, on the sidelines. It’s also evidenced in his preference for casual clothing, like the outfits by American Eagle he chose for this remote photoshoot.

“Everything is functional and comfortable,” he says. “I can wear it all day and not think about it much, but there’s still some stylistic depth to it. I can go in different directions with American Eagle pieces. I think having that level of freedom and knowing that I want to dress in a way that is casual and comfortable just makes sense for me.”

Speaking via Zoom, Lyon admits that prior to becoming a live broadcaster, he never put much thought into the clothes he’d wear. But with the weight of the new job came an expectation of professionalism. Even in the casual world of gaming.

“It definitely made me think more about the clothes I was wearing and influenced me to make more conscious decisions in my everyday style,” he notes. “As gaming grows, you’re starting to see brands within the esports space take a more serious look at the merchandise they’re putting out. More and more people are putting thought into what they wear because their audience is so big.”

That rapidly growing audience actually got a little too large for Lyon’s comfort. He stepped away from being one of the most competitive professional gamers at the height of his career for a calmer existence in esports casting.

“I wanted to reevaluate my lifestyle and take a more holistic approach to what I was doing,” Lyon says of the transition. “Being a pro gamer there are some things that are really amazing, but it’s also super intense. You have to be on all the time, I wanted a change of pace.”

Lyon’s “retirement” wasn’t of the gated-community/fixed income variety, though. In 2018, there were an estimated 25.7 million esports viewers in the United States alone, a figure which is projected to rise to 46 million in just three years. With an audience that large, there’s a demand for experts who are adept at interpreting the action.

“With casting, it’s not a huge step away from competing,” he says. “I can use my knowledge as a competitive player and my understanding of the game to help deliver to the viewers a better understanding of what’s going on and why they should watch a certain player.”

This transition doesn’t mean Lyon has given up on playing at a high level, either. While he’s more likely to spend time on stress-free farm simulation games, he still plays Overwatch. In fact, he’s still ranked as one of the top 50 players in North America — thanks to a lingering competitive drive that he says is “carved into his brain.”

That continued passion for gaming is also what has made Lyon such an effective commentator. And while the thrill of being an esports superstar may be gone, he’s found new ways to stay hyped, without the constant stress.

“I get a lot of joy out of the opportunity to highlight players,” he says. “Especially those that aren’t in a traditional superstar role. If I can help the audience see how someone made this incredible play that saved the game or saved their team from a tough scenario, that’s really rewarding to me.”

Teyana Taylor has dedicated over a decade to her career in music after making her debut in 2008 with her debut single “Google Me.” 12 years and three albums later, it looks like Taylor could be ready to leave the music world behind.

After getting her music’s stats from this year’s Spotify Wrapped campaign, Taylor revealed that she’s felt “overlooked” by those in the music industry for years. Listing off a handful of grievances about how her music has been received, Taylor announced that she’s “retiring this chapter” of her career in a statement posted to her Instagram page.

“Wow, who did that? Y’all did that! Thank you I ain’t gone front in times of feeling super under appreciated as a artist, receiving little to no real push from the ‘machine’, constantly getting the shorter end of the stick, being overlooked, I mean the list on and on lol.. I’m retiring this chapter of my story with the comfort that i can depart with peace of mind seeing that all the hard work & passion put in was indeed loved & supported somewhere in the world! To all my supporters from day 1 & all my new ones I love you and I thank you for everything & don’t worry y’all know all hustlers have the understanding that when one door closes another will open…either that or I’m pickin da locks petunia!!! So wassup.”

Check out Taylor’s full statement 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 best new R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

First up, The Weeknd‘s remix to “Blinding Lights” with Rosalia. Chris Brown also drops off the music video for “City Girls” featuring Young Thug and Dee Gatti offers a visual for her buzzing track “Caught Up.” Check out the rest of the best new R&B below.

The Weeknd — “Blinding Lights Remix” Feat. Rosalia

The Grammys may have snubbed The Weeknd from next year’s awards but that’s not stopping the XO singer from dominating the Billboard charts and all of our ears with his infectious hit “Blinding Lights.” This week, Abel surfaced with a remix to the track featuring Rosalia which is sure to ignite new life into the After Hours hit.

Chris Brown & Young Thug — “City Girls”

Chris Brown and Young Thug’s Slime & B was met with high praise upon its release with a lot of love for their song “Go Crazy.” This week, the duo delivered a music video for “City Girls,” another fan favorite from the project. The music video is a cinematic production set in a 1920s era Los Angeles starring Breezy dancing his heart for the object of his affection.

Dee Gatti — “Caught Up”

Rising R&B singer Dee Gatti out of Dallas arrives this week with the music video for her buzzing single “Caught Up.” Directed by fellow Texan Dance Daily, Dee spends a little quality time with her boo while riding in an old school whip. No word when fans will be able to get their ears on a full-length project from her, but based on her previously released tracks “Chances” and “I.J.S.,” it’s surely something to look forward to.

Jet The 3rd — “Solitude”

It’s time to get to know Jet The 3rd. Described as a genre-bending, master lyricist, Jet The 3rd comes through this week with her somber track “Solitude” and a visual to go with it. The song is the first track off the Houston native’s EP Au-Courant, which is expected to experience a re-launch sometime in the near future.

Alycia Bella — “Link”

Alycia Bella’s sultry new single “Link” is out. It’s a smooth cut drowns in toxic loveship and the addiction that ensues from the taste of it. “I’m just excited for myself to accomplish something,” she said in an interview with Vogue. “And just getting my voice out there and letting people know what I’m about, and finding friends and new fans.”

Rotimi — “Love Somebody”

Rotimi drops off his Adam and Eve-inspired music video for his song “Love Somebody” starring his girlfriend Vanessa. “During this tough time in our society, we wanted to share a piece of our love with the world,” he said in a statement via email. “Love always wins.” It’s true, and the world needs love now more than ever.

Blxst — No Love Lost Deluxe

Blxst already came through and bodied his debut No Love Lost released on Red Bull Records earlier this year and now, he’s coming with even more heat in the form of the deluxe. The Los Angeles native adds five additional tracks to the project including “Wrong Or Right” with Bino Rideaux.

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.

These days, it seems like every major gaming franchise is headed into production on a movie or TV show, and Metal Gear Solid is officially the latest case. Word broke on Friday that Star Wars alum Oscar Issac will add a Metal Gear movie to his busy schedule, taking the role of Solid Snake in the film that’s been in development at Sony for some time.

The news was met with a lot of enthusiasm online, and for a variety of reasons. People like Issac, for starters, and it’s clear he’s a fan of the franchise. Considering Issac himself called his shot on the casting, there was considerable celebration when word he got the role hit social media.

For, you know, a variety of reasons.

There were also a lot of seasoned Metal Gear fans ready to tell people perhaps more unfamiliar with all the, well, Snakes, that many had the wrong picture associated with Issac’s new role.

It was another good time to share the image of Issac eating Cheetos with chopsticks, too.

https://twitter.com/jenovabuffay/status/1334936694689247233

Once the celebrating was over, a lot of talk was about what a Metal Gear Solid movie even looks like.

Many fans were hoping there will be some fun MGS easter eggs in the movie, too.

The uncertainty about what the film will be about will definitely last well into the actual shooting for the movie itself, as there’s plenty of lore to dig through in the franchise after three decades. But one thing that was clear to most fans is that the enthusiasm for the franchise is there with both Issac and also director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who is also signed onto the project.

https://twitter.com/KhailAnonymous/status/133491882496186777

In other words, it was a very good Friday for Metal Gear fans.