Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

How To Watch All Of The NBA’s Bubble Scrimmage Games

NBA basketball will make its return on Wednesday in the form of four scrimmage games from the Orlando bubble, as teams begin ramping up their intensity and on-court work in an effort to be as close to midseason form as possible when the league restarts on July 30.

The scrimmages will run for a full week, Wednesday, July 22 to Tuesday, July 28, with 33 games in total, allowing each team three warmup games before the season tips off once again. All of the bubble scrimmages will be available to watch on NBA League Pass for those with a subscription, with broadcasts on local television as well as some being shown on the team websites. There will also be games broadcast nationally on NBA TV, as they will carry at two games each day — and a quadruple-header on Sunday.

NBA

The full scrimmage schedule can be found below, as basketball will happily be back on our TVs this week — and, it should be noted, regular season action for the WNBA tips off on Saturday.

Wednesday, July 22 (all times Eastern)

3:00 p.m.: Magic vs. Clippers
3:30 p.m.: Wizards vs. Nuggets
7:00 p.m.: Pelicans vs. Nets
7:30 p.m.: Kings vs. Heat

Thursday, July 23

3:00 p.m.: Spurs vs. Bucks
3:30 p.m.: Blazers vs. Pacers
7:00 p.m.: Mavs vs. Lakers
7:30 p.m.: Suns vs. Jazz

Friday, July 24

3:30 p.m.: Grizzlies vs. Sixers
5:00 p.m.: Thunder vs. Celtics
7:30 p.m.: Rockets vs. Raptors

Saturday, July 25

12:00 p.m.: Lakers vs. Magic
12:30 p.m.: Bucks vs. Kings
4:00 p.m.: Heat vs. Jazz
4:30 p.m.: Nets vs. Spurs
8:00 p.m.: Clippers vs. Wizards
8:30 p.m.: Nuggets vs. Pelicans

Sunday, July 26

12:00 p.m.: Sixers vs. Thunder
1:30 p.m.: Suns vs. Celtics
4:00 p.m.: Pacers vs. Mavs
6:00 p.m.: Blazers vs. Raptors
8:00 p.m.: Rockets vs. Grizzlies

Monday, July 27

3:00 p.m.: Wizards vs. Lakers
4:00 p.m.: Kings vs. Clippers
5:30 p.m.: Jazz vs. Nets
7:00 p.m.: Magic vs. Nuggets
8:00 p.m.: Pelicans vs. Bucks

Tuesday, July 28

2:00 p.m.: Grizzlies vs. Heat
3:00 p.m.: Raptors vs. Suns
4:00 p.m.: Spurs vs. Pacers
6:00 p.m.: Thunder vs. Blazers
8:00 p.m.: Celtics vs. Rockets
8:30 p.m.: Mavs vs. Sixers

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

5 things Facebook can do to reduce hateful content on its platform

Facebook is in the midst of a subtle reckoning.

As the culture at large experiences deep structural changes, many are left questioning whether the social media giant has earned any place in the current conversation of racial justice, free speech, and the fight against hate groups.

While many at the leadership level of Facebook make a point of being seen as progressive and sympathetic to the movements they profess to support, it can be hard for any of that to ring true when their platform is a haven for white supremacist groups, conspiracy theorists and death threat factories.

Recently Facebook released the results of its independent audit, a report two years in the making that outlines clearly how Facebook has failed on civil rights. The report found that the companies reaction to hate speech, bias, polarization, and diversity was grievously lacking. According to the report, the company has categorically failed to remove a deluge of hate groups and abusers on the platform.


Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, had some blunt words regarding the company, “Ridding the platform of hate and misinformation against Black people only became a priority when there was a PR crisis to endure”

Concerning the report, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the company “won’t make every change they call for,” but that Facebook leadership “will put more of their proposals into practice.”

As the company scrambles to steer their enormity back into the good graces of a rapidly suspicious public, the question remains – what can Facebook do to be better?

Here are 5 things.

One – Commit to preventing data breaches

Starting with Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based consultancy with sinister ties to the 2016 election, Facebook has a dismal track record of policing bad actors on the platform – this particular one collected and used the data of tens of thousands of Facebook’s more than 2 billion users for various nefarious outcomes. This was followed by a breach that affected 50 million people on the site, and after that another breach that compromised the data of 29 million people, including phone numbers, names, email addresses and for many, dates of birth.

Facebook must put in place a more formidable security apparatus instead of simply apologizing when a litany of breaches take place.

Two – Honestly communicate with its biggest critics

From the beginning Facebook has taken a dim view of those who do not share the view that they are the greatest social fabric weaver of the modern world. For many who have taken issue with their countless gaffes and failures, Facebook is woefully lacking in humility and the desire to listen to their members. From enabling ethnic cleansing in Myanmar to allowing Nazis to organize and sell merchandise on their platform, Facebook has systematically demonstrated an utter lack of self awareness.

By bringing together the voices of those calling for changes in their company, and simply listening to their grievances, much could be achieved if only Facebook leadership would lend an ear without being dragged into the process unwillingly for PR.

Three – Listen.

In order to understand the deeper issues inherent in the companies approach to their practices, a good person to listen to is Rashad Robinson. Robinson is the executive director of Color of Change, the country’s largest racial-justice organization, and one of the people who organized the high-profile advertising boycott that shook Facebook in July.

As described on a recent podcast, “he was part of a meeting with Facebook executives about the July ad boycott of Facebook, to discuss the demands he and those companies have made to the social-media platform. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were on the call, and he was not impressed by Zuckerberg’s performance.”

He relays how in the meeting, Facebook executives were repeatedly praising themselves saying how “They’re so much better. They’re working so much harder. They have done things that other folks won’t do.”

He says, “This is the kind of constant line. At some point, someone in the meeting said, “So, I guess what you’re saying is that you’re doing everything right and that we’re just crazy.” They’re like, “No, no, that’s not what we’re saying.” I’m like, “Well, what are you saying?”

A corporate culture of viewing outsiders as assailants instead of welcome and constructive voices has hindered the companies growth, and has harmed the level of trust they can be given.

Four – Take a stand.

Corporate cowardice and a strategy of aiming to please all users has paralyzed Facebook and left it in a quagmire of its own vague indecision. By attempting to be utterly impartial, the company has ensured that the platform has become a safe haven for dangerous misinformation, political influence, hateful rhetoric, abuse, death threats, medical malpractice and more.

In order for Facebook to enjoy the privileges of a company welcomed by the culture and accepted by users as trustworthy, it is vital that they cobble together some semblance of a value system.

At this point in the life cycle of the platform, it’s almost impossible to see what, if anything, the company believes in other than being an open playing field for false information, conspiracy theories and racist memes.

Facebook must clearly delineate what they do and do not stand for.

Five – Empower new voices.

While Facebook has made great strides in ensuring their new hires are reflective of the changes so desperately needed at the company – it’s vital that these are not merely symbolic positions.

Those who have a new vision for how the company can be better must be empowered to implement those plans. Too often a company will ride the praise escalator when hiring a newly created position that promises change, yet relegate that person to a headline in an email to a PR agency.

Facebook must be prepared to utilize their new talent, and be bold when deciding just how much they’re willing to change in order to be the company they profess to actually be.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Leader of Facebook advertising boycott says they still need to do a lot more to combat hateful speech

Lately it seems Facebook has had the PR goodwill of a Bill Cosby comeback tour – from their inability to remove extreme hate groups, to their seemingly tone deaf response regarding the enormous upheaval making its way through every fibre of the nation. The social media juggernaut often professes to be on the cutting edge of progressive change, however many are profoundly concerned over the companies lack of actual policy change in the face of growing criticism.

One of these concerned parties is Rashad Robinson. He is the executive director of Color of Change, the country’s largest racial-justice organization, and one of the people who organized the high-profile advertising boycott that shook Facebook in July.

Sitting down with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway for an episode of New York’s “Pivot Podcast”, Robinson outlined his feelings on the hypocrisy on display at Facebook, one of the most powerful media forces in the modern world.


Swisher mentions this in her opening, explaining “he was part of a meeting with Facebook executives about the July ad boycott of Facebook, to discuss the demands he and those companies have made to the social-media platform. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg were on the call, and he was not impressed by Zuckerberg’s performance.”

Robinson detailed the experience with Zuckerberg and his team, “Before the meeting, we had shared the list of demands again, and the demands are not complicated. They’d been part of ongoing meetings and protests. Some of them have been highlighted in previous versions of the civil-rights audit that have come out over the past year and a half, two years. So we got there really with the goal of having them tell us what they thought and where they were heading, because they actually requested the meeting. And you know, I’ve been in a lot of meetings with Facebook. I’m going to meetings with a lot of corporations, and they get trained on how to run out the clock. They have these strategies on how to have a meeting where they get you to talk a lot and then they don’t actually have to tell you anything new. And so I took the lead. I really sort of pushed him, like, “Hey, you’ve got the demands. We actually want to go through them.”

Photo by Glen Carrie on Photo by Glen Carrie on

As Facebook leadership began stalling for time during the meeting by outlining all the aspirational goals that Facebook had in mind, Robinson reached his limit. He relays how in the meeting, Facebook executives were repeatedly praising themselves saying how “They’re so much better. They’re working so much harder. They have done things that other folks won’t do.”

He goes on to explain the issue with what comes across as a constant barrage of empty platitudes, “This is the kind of constant line. At some point, someone in the meeting said, “So, I guess what you’re saying is that you’re doing everything right and that we’re just crazy.” They’re like, “No, no, that’s not what we’re saying.” I’m like, “Well, what are you saying?”

It’s here where talks begin to break down and give way to a dark realization, Facebook doesn’t know how to please everyone — nor can they.

Aside from Facebook’s overall compromise play, Robinson has grave concerns over how they operate culturally, “The technology that’s supposed to bring us into the future is in so many ways dragging us into the past. We had created a sense of social contracts around the ways that white nationalists could organize, right? They can’t organize at the Starbucks in a public space and have a meeting. They couldn’t do things out in public, but the incentive structures at Facebook have allowed people to not only organize, but … A 15-year-old that is searching for one thing runs into some white-nationalist content and then goes down a hole because they get served more and more of this content. Because the ways that the algorithms are set up, people are almost indoctrinated into these ideas that we’ve tried to put at the margins. Facebook has created a space that feels like home, that makes these things comfortable, that makes these things acceptable. And to that extent, they’ve been damaging.”

Photo by Clay Banks on

When speaking about his conversations with Black Lives Matter Co-Founder, Alicia Garza, Robinson is blunt, “Alicia gets regular death threats on Facebook. She has to go through the same decision tree that anyone else has to go through. She’s had about 20 death threats over the last several months. And Facebook has declined to take action on every one of them through automation. They say something about how it doesn’t violate terms. And she’s never gotten a phone call from Facebook, no outreach, no engagement that one would expect. This is Alicia, who’s on TV, who is well known — and Facebook actually uses her name. They use her work in the cases they make around this, and they don’t even respond to the attacks that she’s getting. It’s because they don’t care. The same way Mark can say that these Fortune 500 advertisers don’t matter, he’s on the other hand saying that Black activists’ voices don’t matter either.”

Robinson finds the root of his issues with Facebook in their complicity, “…in order to keep profit and growth going, they actually have to stay friends with those in power.”

When searching for a long term answer to how Facebook can be kept in check, Robinson offers, “I think financial pressure is important as well as hopefully changing the political levers in Washington. That to me is the long game, because even this type of effort feels like something that we just can’t be constantly doing, going against the largest advertising platform the world has ever known. It just can’t simply be about asking advertisers to walk away.”

It seems that in their quest to please everyone on the platform, Facebook has ended up marginalizing activists, amplifying hate groups, and are in dire need of taking a stand for something. Many are struggling to see if they do, in fact, stand for anything.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

The Restart Reset: What To Expect From The Phoenix Suns In The Bubble

As the NBA’s bubble comes together in Orlando, many are asking why the Phoenix Suns are involved. While that question may seem disrespectful on the surface, the Suns finished with the 13th-best record in a 15-team Western Conference this season. From there, Phoenix posted an ugly 8-15 record in the last 23 games and, while the team is mathematically alive in its pursuit of a playoff berth, the sledding is difficult.

With that said, the Suns have a ton of young talent, with Devin Booker blossoming in a big way and Deandre Ayton stepping into a more prominent role as a former No. 1 pick. If nothing else, Phoenix is an entertaining team to watch and, at full strength, they are dangerous enough to present on-court issues for many teams at Walt Disney World.

ROSTER

Deandre Ayton
Aron Baynes
Devin Booker
Mikal Bridges
Jevon Carter
Cheick Diallo
Ty Jerome
Cameron Johnson
Frank Kaminsky
Jalen Lecque
Elie Okobo
Kelly Oubre Jr. (status unclear)
Cameron Payne
Ricky Rubio
Dario Saric

SCHEDULE

Friday, July 31 – 4:00 pm ET – vs. Washington Wizards
Sunday, Aug. 2 – 9:00 pm ET – vs. Dallas Mavericks
Monday, Aug. 4 – 4:00 pm ET – vs. L.A. Clippers
Thursday, Aug. 6 – 4:00 pm ET – vs. Indiana Pacers
Saturday, Aug. 8 – 7:30 pm ET – vs. Miami Heat
Monday, Aug. 10 – 2:30 pm ET – vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Tuesday, Aug. 11 – 4:30 pm ET – vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Thursday, Aug. 13 – TBD – vs. Dallas Mavericks

STANDINGS

1. Los Angeles Lakers: 49-14
2. Los Angeles Clippers: 44-20 (5.5)
3. Denver Nuggets: 43-22 (7.0)
4. Utah Jazz: 41-23 (8.5)
5. OKC Thunder: 40-24 (9.5)
6. Houston Rockets: 40-24 (9.5)
7. Dallas Mavericks: 40-27 (11.0)
8. Memphis Grizzlies: 32-33 (18.0)
9. Portland Trail Blazers: 29-37 (21.5)
10. New Orleans Pelicans: 28-36 (21.5)
11. Sacramento Kings: 28-36 (21.5)
12. San Antonio Spurs: 27-36 (22.0)
13. Phoenix Suns: 26-39 (24.0)

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

This is a tough one, simply because of the position the Suns are in. Even with fairly generous rules allowing for a potential play-in competition for the No. 8 seed, the Suns have a lot of work to do in order to seriously compete for the postseason. After all, Phoenix would need to surpass four teams in order to reach the No. 9 spot and, well, the math on that is tough. As such, success for the Suns looks different than many other teams in Orlando. Phoenix should be focused on player development, allowing their young guys, headlined by Booker and Ayton, to improve and coalesce together with an eye toward the 2020-21 campaign. That’s really what matters for the Suns.

X-FACTOR

At this point, Devin Booker is a legitimate star, especially if his 2019-20 efficiency continues in the future. With that out of the way, the team’s X-factor is probably Deandre Ayton. It is safe to project that Ayton will never elude questions about being selected ahead of Luka Doncic, but he put together an impressive second season, with the caveat of an early 25-game suspension that set back his development and the team as a whole. Upon returning, Ayton averaged 19 points, 12 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game, improving drastically on the defensive end and scoring with reasonable efficiency. He still has some bad habits, but the talent is there, and Ayton is a player to closely monitor as the bubble convenes.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

Despite earning a bid to Orlando, the Suns were actually below-average on both ends of the floor this season. The team’s personnel remains slanted to the offensive end, though, and it will be interesting to see how Phoenix defends in the bubble. The numbers with both Booker and Ayton on the floor (+4.9 per 100 possessions) were excellent, both due to offensive proficiency and acceptable defense. Overall, though, that is a question that will follow Phoenix as they continue to build the roster and find the combinations of young talent that work best on both ends.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Noted Oscar Critic Kelly Reichardt Jokes That This Is A ‘Great Year’ For Her To Win An Oscar For ‘First Cow’

In a just world, First Cow would be considered a Best Picture frontrunner. But if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t live in a just world, so director Kelly Reichardt’s New Yorker cartoon-meets-The Revenant film, which she knowingly described as being about “someone who steals a basket of milk” (it’s a masterpiece), is probably on the outside looking in. Or maybe not, who knows! It’s a weird year for movies, obviously (casual reminder that Dolittle remains the third highest-grossing film of 2020), but if one of Reichardt’s films were to get nominated an Oscar, this is the time she hopes it happens.

Reichardt thinks award shows are, well, cow plop (“I just don’t give a shit about the Oscars. I just can’t bring myself to watch. I find them a little embarrassing — the strutting of money and everything,” she recently said to The Daily Beast), but when asked by GQ about First Cow being an Academy Award contender, the filmmaker replied, “Listen, if you were ever going to win an Oscar, wouldn’t this be the great year? Just Zoom in, no outfit. Sure.”

You thought Billy Porter looked incredible at the Academy Awards earlier this year? Wait until he doesn’t have to leave his bedroom. Or maybe he’ll go against type, and take fashion advice (gym shorts) from Adam Sandler. I’m suddenly into an at-home Oscars.

“I just don’t like film to seem like a competitive sport,” Reichardt continued. “I just don’t like to give that power to anybody. If I get to make another film, I’ll be super good.”

Second Cow, anyone?

(Via GQ & The Daily Beast)

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Trey Songz Demands Justice In His Protest-Themed ‘2020 Riots: How Many Times’ Video

Trey Songz is the latest artist to join the wave of those speaking out about injustice through music. His sardonically-titled “2020 Riots: How Many Times” video addresses the ongoing civil unrest in the wake of police killings of Black citizens like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor with footage of protestors occupying the streets of his hometown, Petersburg, Virginia — peacefully, with very little evidence of “rioting.”

“How many mothers have to cry?” he questions in the gospel-inflected chorus. “How many brothers gotta die? How many more times?” He also takes to task the concept of colorblindness, pointing out the hypocrisy of claiming not to see color when it’s clear that Black Americans have faced incarceration, wrongful death at the hands of the police, and income inequality at a disproportionate rate. “Don’t be colorblind, ’cause when they’re killin’ mine /They’ll try to justify it each and every time.”

“How Many Times” is just one of a spate of protest-themed songs that have come out since May of this year, with other artists like Lil Baby, Denzel Curry, DaBaby, and Anderson .Paak all releasing songs speaking about the current climate.

Watch Trey Songz’s “2020 Riots: How Many Times” video above

Trey Songz is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Phoebe Bridgers Sings ‘Kyoto’ Under A Disco Ball In Her Colorful ‘Colbert’ Performance

Phoebe Bridgers released her highly-anticipated sophomore album Punisher last month and while she can’t tour behind the effort, the singer has stayed engaged with fans by performing various tracks on a handful of livestreams. On Monday, Bridgers appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to give a colorful rendition of “Kyoto.”

For the at-home performance, Bridgers decked out her room with decorations reminiscent of a middle school dance. The singer crooned “Kyoto” in front of glittery streamers, a shimmering disco ball, and multicolored lights all while sporting her signature skeleton costume.

Ahead of her late-night performance, Bridgers joined Zack Fox in the premiere of his brand-new Twitch show, Released!. During the episode, Fox helped Bridgers get to “goth prom” in an animated flying space car. During their journey, Bridgers explained the meaning behind her Punisher album title: “Say you’re hitting on someone at a bar, and then their friend comes up and starts talking to you about Jordan Peterson or some sh*t and you’re like, ‘Please get me out of here.’ But they don’t release that they’re punishing you. So, I guess I’m self-conscious that I do that.”

Watch Bridgers perform “Kyoto” on The Late Show above.

Punisher is out now via Dead Oceans. Get it here.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Natalie Portman, Serena Williams Lead Ownership Group For The NWSL’s New ‘Angel City’ Club In L.A.

The NWSL is headed to the semifinals of its Challenge Cup on Wednesday, as the league has thus far successfully pulled off its bubble tournament restart as the first team sports league in the United States to attempt to restart during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament has showcased the league and the immensely talented women that play in it over the past month, as nine of the 10 teams in the league took part in the tournament — the Orlando Pride did not make the trip due to an outbreak on the team. On Tuesday, the league announced some major news in the form of an expansion franchise coming to Los Angeles, currently dubbed “Angel City” — which is, objectively, a tremendous name and hopefully sticks.

The ownership group for the franchise is a who’s who of prominent women from sports, entertainment, and business, led by actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman (who will serve as team president), along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who led the bid through his firm. The other stakeholders feature a tremendous amount of star power and sports know-how, including tennis legend Serena Williams (who is married to Ohanian) and 14 former members of the USWNT.

Led by consortium President Julie Uhrman, the founding investor group includes Serena Williams and daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., actors Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, and Eva Longoria, late night talk show host Lilly Singh, former US Women’s National Team players including twelve representing Southern California including Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Rachel Buehler, Shannon Boxx, Amanda Cromwell, Lorrie Fair Allen, Ronnie Fair Sullins, Joy Fawcett, Angela Hucles, Shannon MacMillan, Tisha Venturini Hoch, and Saskia Webber, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and FIFA World Cup Champions Lauren Cheney Holiday and Abby Wambach, author and activist Glennon Doyle, Netflix VP Original Content Cindy Holland, tech entrepreneur and filmmaker Casey Neistat, Founding Board Member of Baby2Baby, Sabina Nathanson, Media Executive David Nathanson, Baby2Baby Co-President Norah Weinstein, and Bad Robot President and COO Brian Weinstein.

It is quite the list of names and they will look to capitalize on L.A.’s soccer boom, as LAFC and the LA Galaxy have one of the MLS’ best young rivalries, with LAFC having a similarly stacked ownership group. The team will join the league officially in the 2022 season, and more details like an official name and logo are still to come. For soccer fans in Southern California, it’s very exciting news as the NWSL finally brings a squad to Los Angeles and has the backing of some of the biggest names in the sport.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Kyle Captures The Joy Of Dreaming On ‘See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!!’

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

Usually, when rappers talk about going back to the basics for a new project, the promise is more of an appeal to fans disappointed with a past work for marketing purposes. For Kyle, it’s been more than a mission statement or a selling point; it was actually his philosophy going into See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!!, his recently released follow-up to 2018’s Light Of Mine.

The story behind album closer “Mr. Man & K.i.D.” is a prime example of this; Kyle hasn’t released a song with his junior high buddy Mr. Man since 2013’s “Bang” from Beautiful Loser, the Ventura product’s debut mixtape. Yet, Mr. Man has been there all along, as part of Kyle’s entourage and as a confidant throughout Kyle’s rise to stardom, as I learned at the video shoot for the Tyga-featuring “Money Now,” being invited to the Westlake Village shooting location to get more background for this review.

Kyle and Mr. Man not only explained how the reunion came to be, they also shared details of their long friendship that brings the overall theme of the album into clearer focus. Kyle prompted his old friend to record the verse while on a trip to Vegas but when he heard it, he insisted he come re-record it in person at Kyle’s own studio on Mr. Man’s birthday. Mr. Man insists he had no idea the song would even appear on the album, but Kyle says it had to, because it captured exactly the feeling he was going for — a reminder that nice guys don’t always finish last.

That same insistence on capturing just the right vibe led Kyle and his manager Ben to pursue the Beastie Boys sample on “Girls” with Rico Nasty for eight months, until finally, Kyle reached out to Rick Rubin personally on Twitter hoping to get the song cleared. He expressed doubts that it would be ready in time for the release, but it’s now one of the album’s standout tracks, thanks to the aforementioned nod to hip-hop history and Rico’s stunning tongue lashing of a verse.

Everything about See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!!, from its cover to the video for lead single “What It Is,” is permeated with the sense of Kyle tapping into not just his nostalgia for his early career, but also his hunger to push his pen game to new heights. As he says on “Bouncin,” “Man you n****s made me wanna rap again.” That’s not just a regular flex; while reminiscing at the “Money Now” shoot, Kyle and his friends regaled with stories of his battle rap days, when he outrapped grown men as a junior high student.

That doesn’t mean his album is brimming with aggressive, rappity-rap bars though. The thing that has always made Kyle stand out among peers has been the cheerful, upbeat expressiveness of his delivery. He can rap his ass off; he doesn’t feel the need to, instead serving the needs of the beat, from the bouncy flexes of “Money Now” to the warm introspection on “The Sun.”

On the latter, he once again displays his dedication to and passion for the art and history of music by connecting a contemporary with an inspiration. The song features Bryson Tiller on its mellow choruses and one verse, but it’s produced by and contains a feature credit for Raphael Saadiq, a dream get for the two ‘90s kids. Kyle repeats the feat on the title cut, which he calls the bonus track because of its sonic inconsistency with the rest of the project.

Knowing that AzChike is a huge E-40 fan, Kyle made sure to connect the two for the track, because he feels obligated to use his platform to “make people happy.” And while that may not be good enough for some hip-hop fans, See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! proves why the game needs artists like Kyle. Most hip-hop fans are probably closer to Kyle’s story than Pusha T’s; there are way more class clowns and passionate hip-hop fans than there are shooters and drug dealers.

See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! isn’t about shining on haters, or proving how tough Kyle can be. Instead, it’s a call to action, an affirmation. Kyle isn’t stunting out of spite, but to show that anyone can be a star, so long as they remain true to themselves and pursue what they love with determination, dedication, passion, and joy. It’s about naming your dream, then claiming it, taking that moment to savor it — then becoming an example for the next generation to keep chasing their own.

See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!! is out now on Independent/Atlantic Records. Get it here.

Kyle is a Warner Music artist Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

The Atlanta Hawks Unveiled New Uniforms For The 2020-21 Season

The Atlanta Hawks are no strangers to new uniforms and rebrands, as they made a pretty significant shift in brand identity when the league brought Nike on as their uniform and merchandise partner, as the Hawks went to the black, red, and volt look.

Now, not all that long after taking a big swing on a futuristic design, the organization is going back to the classics with a return to their original colors and a redesign that brings their uniforms a clean, retro look. The Hawks released their three new uniforms on Tuesday morning, with Torch Red, Infinite Black, Legacy Yellow, and Granite Gray as their four primary colors now, as the volt experiment has come to an end.

The uniforms are now featured in the red, black, and white, all with clean piping down the sides and have gotten rid of the aggressive patterning of their most recent uniforms, for a crisp and clean design with no fuss or effort to do too much.

Atlanta Hawks

Of note is that the Black Statement uniforms feature the Jordan Brand logo, while the Icon and Association uniforms have the Nike Swoosh. The shorts feature piping on the sides and bottom, all the way around, with a small Pacman logo on the right side. The waistband on the shorts also features the new alternate logo, as they’ve also introduced new classic logos aside from the Pacman emblem that they keep as the primary.

Atlanta Hawks

Overall, this seems like an upgrade for the Hawks, who took a big swing with their last redesign that just didn’t quite land as they had hoped, and now they return to a classic, clean look with a trio of very solid uniforms.