Category: Worldwide

When your new backyard turns into the neighborhood’s hottest club, of course, T-Pain’s going to stop by to show some love to the crowd and sing some of his hits!

Once Zillow helped Austin-based couple Lex and Hannah find their dream home, the only thing left to do was celebrate. And, because no one throws a party quite like UPROXX, we immediately got to work building an intimate performance venue and DIY dance floor in the newlyweds’ backyard. Decked out with a photobooth, DJ, lounge area, and local bites, the stage was set for hip-hop icon T-Pain to bring the energy, welcoming Lex and Hannah to their new home via some of his biggest hits. With “Bartender” blasting from the speakers, friends toasted the couple as they reveled in reaching another life milestone together.

Watch the full surprise performance above and stay tuned to Uproxx and our program hub for more of Lex and Hannah’s inspiring journey with Zillow.

As prolific and combative as rap has been this year, the one rapper who could be said to have been more productive than almost any other (while staying stubbornly uninvolved in any of the various beef that’s been going on) is Lil Yachty. He’s worked with everyone from BIA to Pharrell (twice) and dropped a slew of tracks ranging from grungy rock to boisterous battle rap.

And, apparently, he’s just getting warmed up. On Sunday (October 20), he released videos for three new songs: “All Around The World,” “Cry Me A River,” and “we Ball Forever.” Each of the three songs displays a different side of the Atlanta rapper, who tries out wildly different flows and vibes, from singsong boasts on “All Around The World” to heady, intricate rhyme schemes on “Cry Me A River.” Meanwhile, on “We Ball Forever,” Yachty contemplates all the beef going on hip-hop at the moment and dismisses it, deciding that getting paid for self-expression is much more desirable.

Even so, he hasn’t quite been able to completely avoid controversy this summer. In July, he confirmed that the rapper Karrahbooo had parted ways with his Concrete Boys collective, but the split became acrimonious in August, with Karrahbooo accusing the group of bullying her and Yachty airing her out for haughty treatment of his staff.

Still, Yachty has done what many of his peers and contemporaries have been unable to: Keep the focus on their musical output rather than controversy.

You can watch all three of Yachty’s new videos above.

One of the biggest question surrounding the New Orleans Pelicans as they entered the 2024-25 NBA season involved the future of Trey Murphy. Among the NBA’s most promising two-way wings, Murphy has blossomed into an important part of the team’s core, but ran the risk of entering this year without a contract extension, which would have let him hit restricted free agency next summer.

But on the final day that the two sides could work out a deal, the Pelicans were able to get something across the finish line. According to Marc Stein and Shams Charania of ESPN, Murphy agreed to a 4-year contract extension worth $112 million that will keep him in New Orleans going forward. Charania went on to report that the deal has no incentives or opt-outs.

While Murphy has dealt with some injury issues and is a little older than the rest of his rookie class — he turned 24 during the offseason — getting him on a deal worth $28 million a year is a good bit of business for the Pelicans, as he is the exact sort of 3-and-D wing that teams covet. Last season, Murphy averaged 14.8 points in 29.6 minutes per game while shooting 38 percent from behind the three-point line.

Currently, Murphy is out with a hamstring strain that will cost him some time at the very start of the season. All eyes in New Orleans will now turn to Brandon Ingram, as the team’s high-scoring wing is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

It’s hard to believe, but there are now over four times as many Black Mirror episodes that premiered on Netflix than the original run on Channel 4. Soon, there will be even more. The Charlie Booker-created anthology series is coming back for a seventh season of stories about the ways human use (and exploit) technology, often with dangerous consequences.

Plus, a sequel episode!

Here’s everything we know about Black Mirror season 7, including plot details, the cast, and the release date.

Plot

Creator Charlie Brooker described season 7 of Black Mirror as “a little bit OG Black Mirror. It’s back to basics in many ways. They’re all sci-fi stories, but there’s definitely some horrifying things that occur, but maybe not in an overt horror-movie way. There’s definitely some disturbing content in it.”

The season will contain six episodes, “and two of them are basically feature-length,” he said. “Some of them are deeply unpleasant, some are quite funny, and some are emotional.” And one of them will be a sequel.

Season 7 will have a follow-up to fan-favorite episode “USS Callister.” It took a lot of planning to align the cast’s busy schedules up, “and it was something that looked like it wasn’t going to happen,” Brooklyn told The Hollywood Reporter, “and so I was delighted when it did. So, it’s been a minute. But even writing the characters is a luxury I don’t often get. I’ve never had it before on Black Mirror, to have a character that survives beyond one episode! So that’s been a lot of fun, and then seeing them all on set has been fantastic.”

Brooker is keeping coy on whether Jesse Plemons will reprise his role as toxic Captain Daly (being dead isn’t helping), but Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Billy Magnussen have been confirmed to return. The creator did, however, discuss if this is the final season of Black Mirror. More than likely, it’s not.

“I’m in a really, really fortunate position where I get to write this stuff, and it gets made, and I get to work with amazing people who also make me look better. And I love every minute,” Brooker said. “I’m sure I’ll find out when we’re not doing any more seasons! It will be made apparent to me at some point, I’m sure. But I’m in it for the long haul. I’m not going anywhere.”

Every time a tech doofus does something stupid, a new episode of Black Mirror is born. It could last forever.

Cast

The cast for Black Mirror season 7 was revealed in the most Black Mirror way possible: on a flickering computer screen in a video titled “TCKR_Confidential_NotForDistribution.mp4.” The headliners include Awkwafina, Peter Capaldi, Emma Corrin, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Billy Magnussen, Cristin Milioti, Chris O’Dowd, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jimmi Simpson, and Harriet Walter, but if you want to see the full, very lengthy list in alphabetical order by first name, click here. Spoiler: there’s no Jesse Plemons.

Release Date

Black Mirror season 7 will premiere on Netflix in 2025.

Trailer

There’s no full-length trailer for Black Mirror season 7 yet (only this), but now is a good time to re-familiarize yourself with “U.S.S. Callister” ahead of the sequel episode.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Rosé and Bruno Mars link up for pop perfection and Bon Iver drop his first project in a minute. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Rosé and Bruno Mars — “APT.”

If Bruno Mars is involved with a song, there’s a high likelihood it’s a bop. The same is true for Blackpink’s Rosé, so of course, their new collaboration “APT.,” from Rosé’s upcoming solo album Rosie, is immediately catchy and just so much fun.

Bon Iver — “Awards Season”

SABLE, isn’t a new album, but it’s new Bon Iver, which is more than enough. The four-track EP sees Justin Vernon in his vulnerable pocket on songs like “Awards Season,” which use combine horns and his distinct vocals to stirring effect.

Juice WRLD — “Both Ways”

Juice WRLD died nearly five years ago now, and since then, it has become clear that he left behind so much music in the vault. There’s been a pretty consistent stream of new Juice songs over the past few years, and there’s even a posthumous album, The Party Never Ends, due in November. An extended version of Juice’s The Pre-Party also just arrived, and featured is “Both Ways,” a fan favorite that was previously known as “Aye.”

Japandroids — “Eye Contact High”

Fate & Alcohol is out now, and it marks the official end of Japandroids. Uproxx’s Steven Hyden notes of the album, “The critical flaw in the makeup of Japandroids as a creative vehicle is that it was designed to do one thing — make Celebration Rock — and not mature or evolve one iota beyond that. But they lurch forward anyway on this record, and even if it’s not always (or often) successful, it feels nevertheless courageous. The bravado and romanticism are still there, but it’s shadowed this time by a recovering addict’s fragility. ‘You’re not dead, just dehydrated,’ King sings in ‘Alice,’ and you can practically feel his fists locked in a white-knuckle grip.”

Charli XCX — “Spring Breakers Featuring Kesha”

The Brat era may go on for forever at this point. Even after dropping the remix album Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat, Charli XCX still wasn’t done, as she quickly followed it with another new remix, recruiting Kesha for a new version of “Spring Breakers.”

FKA Twigs — “Perfect Stranger”

Twigs is set to kick off 2025 with the release of her latest album, Eusexua. The title certainly indicates that sexuality is a core component of the situation, and Twigs’ provocative video for “Perfect Stranger” doesn’t do anything to dispel that theory.

Ab-Soul — “All That” Feat. JasonMartin and Thirsty P

New Ab-Soul alert: The Top Dawg rapper just announced a new mixtape, Soul Burger. That’s set to land in November, but before that, he teamed with JasonMartin and Thirsty P on “All That,” which Uproxx’s Aaron Williams declares “features a rumbling beat and some head-spinning examples of LA slang.’

Ari Lennox — “Smoke”

Lennox is bidding her farewell to social media, but that doesn’t mean the music is stopping. She dropped “Smoke” last week, a fun doo-wop-inspired single with a delightful video to match.

Mk.gee — “Rockman”

Mk.gee just dropped Two Star & The Dream Police, but he still had “Rockman” left in the tank after that. In case you Nintendo heads were wondering, the track is about Rockman amplifiers, not the Japanese name for the Mega Man video games.

Gunna — “Him All Along”

Gunna has become a villain to some since accepting a plea deal in the YSL Rico case, but that hasn’t stopped the flow of music. On last week’s “Him All Along,” the rapper pumps himself enough, reaffirming that he’s big-time.

No one has a laugh like Joni Mitchell.

At the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night, for the first of two sold-out Joni Jam performances, her deep chuckle punctuated nearly every song, a mixture of deserved pride, amusement, gratitude, and pleasure.

Sometimes, she’d laugh at her own lyrics, still getting a kick out of her poetic quips decades after it was written. Sometimes she’d laugh at the fans’ overwhelming responses to songs they thought they’d never hear live, where standing ovations were the norm and “we love you Joni” often echoed over the pin-drop reverence that most songs earned. And the best was when she’s laugh inexplicably, keeping at least some of the inside jokes and mysteries to herself.

At the end of “God Must Be A Boogie Man,” she had a hearty laugh while reciting the church parking lot slogan “‘God is dead’ – Nietzsche, ‘Nietzsche is dead’ – God.” Yes, even Joni Mitchell isn’t immune to dad jokes.

During “Night Ride Home,” Joni Mitchell’s unofficial legacy guardian, advocate, biggest fan, and friend Brandi Carlile nearly fell out of her chair reacting to Joni’s words and delivery, making Joni laugh back, another marker of the crucial relationship they’ve cultivated over the past several years.

That’s all to say that there was a long time that the idea of seeing Joni Mitchell laughing on a stage felt more remote than a Smiths reunion or a Talking Heads concert. She retired from touring in 2000, and then suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that made this kind of night feel like a pipe dream. But as Carlile outlined to the Bowl crowd, Joni jams first occurred to play Joni’s music back to her, taking a while before Joni felt comfortable to join in and sing with them. From there, there’s been the surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, her massive return concert at the Gorge, the remarkable performance of “Both Sides Now” at the Grammys, and a spattering of one-off appearances. A career that seemed destined to end in sadness has received a surprise final act, and hardly a soul of the typically chatty 17,000 fans in attendance at the Hollywood Bowl seemed to take a moment for granted.

But there is nothing but joy on the menu at a Joni Mitchell concert these days. The majestic live debut of “The Sire Of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)” couldn’t bring down the crowd down despite its titular emotional signifier — though Joni followed it with the sly “God Must Be A Boogie Man” just in case. The expansive backing band were all toothy grins for the entirety of the three-hour-plus set, which included — deep breath — musical director Blake Mills, Jacob Collier, Robin Pecknold, Marcus Mumford, Lucius, Annie Lennox, Allison Russell, Jon Batiste, Carlile, and many more.

Near the end of the night, Carlile noted that this was a career highlight for many on stage, and they all played like it, always sure to center Joni even when shining in their own right.

And the audience gave that shine right back. At the concert’s penultimate song, “Shine,” the unprompted crowd turned their cell phone lights on and lit up the Bowl. It’s a move that’s fairly common at big-room events, but often at the artist’s request and rarely for a figure who is less accustomed to these sort of gestures. Joni urged everyone to look behind them and see what she saw, before once again letting out her hearty, infection laugh.

“Let’s never forget this moment,” Carlile exclaimed to the crowd.

Don’t worry, Brandi, we couldn’t possibly.

Taylor Sheridan’s TV release schedule is chock full of variety. Lioness, which releases a second season this month, couldn’t be further removed both Tulsa King (also recently dropping a second season in September) and Yellowstone, which will possibly finish its run later this year before the return of 1923. Then there’s Landman, which will debut in November while also departing from the Dutton ranch for the sprawling oil fields of Texas.

As always, Sheridan created and wrote the series to carve out another look at a lifestyle that is quintessentially American. Sure, there will be boots and cowboy hats galore, but the focus will be on oil-field roughnecks, the wheelers and dealers who organize that trade, and the tycoons who profit handsomely from it. Additionally, Sheridan continues to amass A-listers who are clamoring for roles in his Paramount Network (and Paramount+) empire, so let’s get down to business on what to expect from Landman.

Cast

1883 cast member Billy Bob Thornton leads this series after Sheridan created the Tommy Norris role specifically for the Sling Blade, Fargo, Bad Santa star. Norris is an oil company crisis manager who can alternately be found in the fields and in lush drawing rooms. His chief ally, oil-industry king Monty Miller, will be portrayed by Jon Hamm with his wife, Cami, picked up by Demi Moore.

Tommy’s strenuous life doesn’t end after hard days on the job. His private life will receive plenty of air time with his ex-wife, Angela, portrayed by Ali Larter and their young adult children represented by Michelle Randolph and Jacob Lofland (who does his time amid dangerous conditions in the fields, too).

Meanwhile, Michael Peña will be on hand as “veteran roughneck” Armando Medina with Andy Garcia and Paulina Chávez rounding out the main cast.

Plot

A recently released trailer (with the top-scoring YouTube comment being “There Will Be Billy Bob”) revealed that the series will be more (literally) explosive than perhaps imagined. And sure, that comment alludes to Daniel Day-Lewis’ protagonist, Daniel Plainview, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, a film that not only fell into the Western and thriller umbrellas but could arguably qualify as a horror movie in its own right. Not that I’m suggesting the movie influenced Taylor Sheridan in making Landman, or at least, he hasn’t declared as much, but perhaps when Sheridan’s audience has watched the full first season, we’ll see some legit comparisons being made.

Landman‘s story will be a more contemporary saga that is based upon the popular Boomtown podcast, and the show’s description promises a drama “set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and described as a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs.” We can also expect “an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.”

Jon Hamm has promised that this is not a story about cowboys but more of an interpersonal drama. However, the trailer emphasizes risks that roughnecks and landmen (described by Hamm as “the guys that run around and try to acquire mineral rights and land rights”) face on a daily basis while speculating and then guarding the land. Those include balls of fire that, as we see, will land multiple characters in need of medical care, surely with inner scars to follow.

Billy Bob admitted that the production was anything but easy, telling Vanity Fair that he had to run in 100 degree weather in high humidity while wearing cowboy boots on “caliche roads.” On the more glamorous side of the business will be Demi Moore, who explained to Deadline that the “boomtown of Fort Worth, Texas” will reveal “kind of this subculture that we haven’t seen before, which is what I think Taylor does so well.”

Release Date

Weekly drops will begin on November 17 while Lioness continues as well on Paramount+.

Trailer

“Welcome to the oil business” kicks off an explosive few minutes.

The days when fame seemed like a dream are far behind us; these days, stars make it look much more like a nightmare. In the video for his new song “Noid,” Tyler The Creator addresses the anxiety and paranoia his notoriety brings with it, particularly invoking the recent violent tragedies that have beset so many of his contemporaries in his hometown. Afte being accosted by crazed, autograph-seeking fans (including a cameo from The Bear‘s Ayo Edibiri), T barricades himself in his home, fearing assassins infiltrating his stronghold.

The imagery throughout the twitchy video suggests recent incidents in Los Angeles in which rappers like Nipsey Hussle, Pop Smoke, and PnB Rock were all shot to death. In the latter cases, the killers were motivated by materialistic jealousy; Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a home invasion in 2020 after accidentally revealing his address online, while PnB Rock was robbed for his chain at a restaurant and shot to death while fighting back against his assailant.

This is a marked turn from Tyler’s last album, Call Me If You Get Lost, which depicted a jet-setting lifestyle that would ordinarily be enviable. It looks like his next album, the recently announced Chromakopia, looks to put the other side of the equation on display, before anyone gets too envious.

You can watch Tyler The Creator’s “Noid” video above.

Chromakopia is due on 10/28 via Columbia Records. You can find more info here.

There’s a buzz in Manhattan entering this NBA season. The New York Knicks are coming off of a 50-win season that included a run to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where they fell in seven games to the Indiana Pacers. Now, the team has legitimate aspirations of competing for a championship during the 2024-25 campaign, in large part due to the player who makes things go for them: Jalen Brunson.

After blossoming as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, Brunson famously joined the Knicks as a free agent during the 2022 offseason. He’s done nothing but get better during his time with the team, and last year, that included his first All-Star nod and an All-NBA Second Team selection. Injuries limited him down the stretch of the series against the Pacers — he left Game 7 with a hand fracture — but as the new season rolls around, Brunson is expected to lead the Knicks to heights they haven’t reached in quite some time.

It should help that the team was ultra-aggressive over the summer. While they lost a key cog in Isaiah Hartenstein via free agency, Brunson signed a new deal at below market value. OG Anunoby, their prized trade deadline acquisition last year, signed a lucrative contract extension. The team swung for the fences in the trade market, as they acquired Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Eastern Conference runs through Boston this year, but there’s a clear belief among the Knicks faithful that New York can challenge the defending champions with Brunson at the helm and the roster around him.

In the lead-up to the new season, DIME caught up with Brunson as part of his new sponsorship deal with BodyArmor, where we discussed the partnership, the vibes ahead of this season, adding another former Villanova standout to the team, that time he hopped in the ring with Tyrese Haliburton on Friday Night SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, and much more.

(Ed. note — the interview was conducted before the Knicks acquired Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves.)

What do you have going on with BodyArmor?

BodyArmor and I came to an agreement, and being partners now going forward is really important for me. My body, obviously, staying hydrated has been important in the offseason. So, I’m just excited — BodyArmor is real, and I think we share the very same values when it comes to being real. They’re real hydration, real flavors, real ingredients, I think it’s very authentic.

Why was linking up with them the right move for you?

Because I believe that I’m starting to understand more and more about, like, what goes into a player’s body and how it’s important for you and your success, and your health. Not necessarily when you’re playing, but like, those days when you’re supposed to be recovering. Like, how fast can you recover? And so, I think BodyArmor has helped me, and we have that ability to continue to recover faster and just be real.

Season is right around the corner, just generally, how are the vibes around the team?

Vibes are gonna be good. I really think that we’re gonna be kicking off with good chemistry once training camp starts, and then, yeah, we’ll just take it one day at a time, just as we have been. Can’t look too far ahead, that’s just not one thing that we want to do. As long as we continue to take one day at a time, I think we’re gonna be right.

Have you gotten a chance to play, get a few offseason runs in with you and Mikal and Josh and Donte, or do you guys just trust that once you get on the floor, you’re going to be able to find that chemistry pretty quickly?

Both, we’ve been on the court together, we’ve talked about things, but everything becomes real once training camp starts. And so we’re really excited about the opportunity again, and can’t wait to see.

There’s obviously that famous clip of you, I think it was at a Villanova game, celebrating when the Knicks got Josh. Did you have a similar reaction when the Mikal trade happened?

Very similar, it was very similar. I was at dinner, and I was actually with people with my foundation. We were doing a camp at my high school. And afterwards, we’re at dinner, and then, yeah, had a very similar reaction. It was really cool, I’m really excited.

It’s interesting, because I think obviously, for all the Nova stuff that gets focused on, the team isn’t going out and trading for Mikal unless they think he’s getting you guys closer to a championship. In your eyes, how does Mikal help you guys take that next step towards becoming champions?

I think for us, Mikal, I said this a long time ago: He can be a perfect piece to any puzzle. And so, I think us, obviously, being here and going to school together, it definitely gets a little bit blown out of proportion. But he’s a player that will come and then do whatever it takes to win. And so, he’s always been that person, and the way he’s just worked on his game non-stop since the day I met him, and he’s put himself in the position where people think that highly of him. It’s definitely the step in the right direction for us. And we just, like I said before, we’re gonna have to go out there and see when things become real.

Where’s the biggest way that you’ve seen — obviously, you’ve seen him dating back to when he first stepped on campus at Villanova, but even over the course of his NBA career, the biggest way where you’ve seen him develop as a basketball player in the time that you’ve known him?

My biggest takeaway from Mikal is just watching his work ethic grow. Not saying that he didn’t work hard before, but you just see how much he cares about his craft and how much he cares about being a better basketball player every single day. He’s another person that really takes the time to make sure his mind and body is right every single night. And so, when you have a player like that who consistently drives himself to be better, he can help any team. And I’m just thankful he’s with us.

The same question for you. It’s your third year in New York, you’re at a point where you’ve established yourself as an All-Star, as an MVP candidate, all these things. What’s the biggest way that you have grown, either on or off the basketball court, during your time as a Knick?

I mean, on and off the court, I think I’m growing as a player, as a person. Obviously, every single year, I’m trying to get better and better, trying to help my team win, just trying to help and do my part and on the court. But I think the best part about everything is that the one thing that stayed the same is my consistency, like how I’ve been as a person, how I’ve been as a player, how I workout, everything. I think that’s my biggest takeaway about just my time being in the league and in New York, I’m like the same person. I don’t think anything’s really got to my head. I don’t think I think highly of myself, I think the same way I did before. And just trying to stay as humble I can, and continue to work as hard as I can.

One thing that interests me so much about your game is your ability to get to the spot that you want and get off a shot cleanly. When in a possession do you decide where you want to get to? Is it right away? Is it once you see where the defense is set? Or is it one of those things where you kind of just go with the flow, see what happens, and let that dictate where you’re trying to get to?

It’s a mixture of all those. Sometimes you have to go, and sometimes you kind of want to wait and see what’s happening, and then all of a sudden, something happens during the game, and you have to react, you have to change your thought process, and you’re basically just reacting. And so, I think when it comes to working on my game every summer, I’m doing all these things to make sure that, when it comes to make a sudden change or react to something, I’m able to do it. And so, yeah, it’s never the perfect answer or the right time and place to do things. You just, things happen and go back to your habits.

Is that a matter of the work you put in on the court, watching film, whatever? Or is that just a matter of you have to have a natural feel of how to do that sort of thing in order to do it successfully?

I think it comes from work ethic. The more you work at it, the more you understand it, the more natural it becomes for you. I think me working on it, it made it natural. Some people, I think, just have that in their in their game, but I think I worked for it, and it’s paid off.

I’m interested in the center spot for you guys. Isaiah is in Oklahoma City now, Mitch working his way back, and as a result, Precious and Jericho are in line to play a ton of basketball. What is it about the two of them — how they know your system, the way that they play, whatever it might be — that gives you confidence that you guys are going to be really strong at the five with Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims?

Yeah, I think the one thing about our team that is understood, it’s always a next man mentality, no matter what the situation is, no matter who’s out there, we always have our teammate’s back. There are never moments where like, Oh man, this person’s hurt, like, what are we going to do? It’s like, alright, now let’s step up now together. It’s never going to be one person just picking up the slack as the five guys are out there making sure we’re on the same page. Obviously I’m happy for Isaiah and him getting a contract, and obviously we’re going to miss him. Mitch, I think he’s going to continue to work his way back, but it’s like I said, it’s always a next man mentality, and that’s just how we are, that’s who we are — honestly, as long as Thibs is here, that’s not changing.

What’s a louder pop that you’ve gotten at Madison Square Garden: Literally anything with the Knicks, or was it when you grabbed a steel chair and hopped into the ring on SmackDown?

Honestly, when I grabbed the steel chair, it was really cool. It was really, it was really cool. I guess I’m used to it when it comes to basketball, because I’m comfortable out there. It was a totally different type of adrenaline rush. And it was, it was unbelievable. I’m just happy for that opportunity, I was like a little kid again. It was so cool, I can’t lie.

I actually went back and watched it, and I was stunned at how you and Tyrese kept straight faces the entire time. Did you guys get into the back and just bust out laughing or anything?

We talked about it. It was, I think we were both just like, it was just a great experience. I think we were more shocked about how, like, how loud the pop was and everything. To go out there and do what we did, even though it was very minimal, it wasn’t anything crazy. But it was, man, it was awesome. I can’t lie.

WWE is on fire right now, what is your favorite thing going on in professional wrestling at the moment?

Happy Roman’s back.

Yes, definitely.

I’m definitely happy Roman’s back. It’s not just one thing. I think just the momentum that everything has, I feel like they’re on top of the world more than they’ve ever been. The way it’s grown, and the way it kind of is resurging, it’s been really cool to see. And so, I’ve definitely paid a lot more attention with these past couple years than I did when I was even younger. It’s awesome.

This interview has been lightly edited for content and clarity.

While Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss song “Not Like Us” has been a massive hit since their dust up this spring, fans have been wrestling with the meaning of its titular phrase all along. Obviously Drake is “not like us,” but just who is “us,” and what are they like? In explaining the title of his hit, K. Dot might as well have fired more shots at his onetime rival.

In an interview with his former TDE labelmate SZA for Harper’s Bazaar, Kendrick was asked to explain “what does ‘Not Like Us’ mean to you?”

“Not like us is the energy of who I am, the type of man I represent,” he replied. When asked what kind of man that is, he elaborated, “This man has morals, he has values, he believes in something, he stands on something. He’s not pandering. He’s a man who can recognize his mistakes and not be afraid to share the mistakes and can dig deep down into fear-based ideologies or experiences to be able to express them without feeling like he’s less of a man.”

All of which implies that he doesn’t think Drake is that kind of person. One day, someone’s got to get the real story on just what transpired between the two rappers that Kendrick was willing to go on such a terror campaign against the Canadian.