Category: Worldwide

Candace Parker playing at her best should probably trigger some sort of WNBA mercy rule. The two-time MVP is a one-woman transition bucket who slices through any matchup. As long as the Sparks put a good team around her, which they have in 2020, peak Parker puts the team over the top as a championship contender.

It should worry every team in the WNBA that we’ve seen that version of Parker lately. Over the past two games, Parker has filled up the stat sheet like only she can, helping the brilliant, dynamic Sparks start to fulfill their potential.

When Parker steps on a WNBA court, she sees a game she changed. Back in 2008, when she was the Rookie of the Year and MVP in her first WNBA season, her combination of smooth play-making, athletic defense, and three-level shot creation ushered in a new era of women’s basketball. For nearly a decade, Parker was a lock for 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a couple steals and blocks per night. She’s only missed the playoffs once, evidence that Parker’s presence has ensured a pretty good team for basically her entire life.

The league’s past two MVPs also show how Parker changed the league. Breanna Stewart and Elena Delle Donne are simply the logical evolution of Parker — better scorers, smoother with the ball, a bit longer and quicker. But there are a few things the legendary Parker has that still separate her from the rest of the WNBA’s great players, and they could decide the 2020 championship.

This week, it was as if Parker remembered a few of them in real time. Against the Storm on Saturday, Parker got the Sparks back into the game by churning the team’s offense. Parker has few peers as a playmaker in all of basketball, moving the ball in a way that renders measuring assists useless. This one counts as an assist, but shows how Parker can create a great shot out of thin air. It’s a weapon no other team really has.

Los Angeles ultimately lost their battle with the league-leading Storm, but four nights later (the most rest L.A. will get all season), Parker was back at it, and this time got herself going offensively even more. Like LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo, any bit of space is too much when Parker has the ball in transition.

Because the Sparks have surrounded Parker with other fantastic, multi-skilled play-makers like Chelsea Gray and Nneka Ogwumike, the team is liable to turn defense into offense at a moment’s notice. When Parker wasn’t launching outlet passes all over the court to open teammates on Wednesday night in a blowout win over the Fever, she was reminding everyone of the magic she can create getting to the hoop.

Not only is Parker one of the only players in the WNBA who can match a player like Stewart move for move, she also may be the best at exploiting mismatches against bigger front court players as well. Indiana boasts one of the best young centers in the league in Teaira McCowan, finally in the team’s starting lineup in time to get bullied by the sage vet.

A flurry of up-and-unders, spin moves and dribble drives reminded McCowan why she still has a way to go, and why Parker is the ultimate advantage at center. Parker, unlike Stewart or Delle Donne (out this season with a back injury), also has the strength and footwork to bump around with the biggest bigs, and can finish through them. With a teammate like Ogwumike, another physical combo big and former MVP, Parker also gets the benefit of tinkering with matchups to exploit opponents even more.

This version of Parker was missing in 2019, but if it’s here to stay in 2020, the Sparks have to be among the favorites. Los Angeles dropped the game against Seattle because players like Gray and breakout wing Brittney Sykes were quiet, but everything comes together when Parker plays this way. If she can keep it up, Los Angeles can redeem its loss in the league semifinals last year.

Another peak season from the ageless Parker, combined with a roster that suits her so well, gives the WNBA another legitimate title contender and gives fans the show they’ve been missing since 2018 — a show only Parker can put on.

Ahead of Jaden‘s dreamy performance of his new song “Cabin Fever” on The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon called it the “ultimate quarantine love song.” Interviewing the young star via video chat, Fallon asks about how it came together, prompting Jaden to explain, “It was written in a time when I really wanted to see somebody but we both couldn’t see each other and the world was just keeping us apart.” If that’s not a quarantine anthem, I don’t know what is.

Jaden also explains the concept of the hippie-ish music video that accompanies “Cabin Fever,” saying “it’s going into that daydream of, ‘What if we could see each other? What would it be like if we did hang out?” He then goes onto reproduce the aesthetic of the video with his performance, setting a stage overlooking the California hills at sunset. The car from the video rests in the background under a rainbow banner, while Jaden himself makes sure to utilize every square inch of the glossy stage, throwing in some Michael Jackson-esque dance moves, including his own unique take on the iconic Moonwalk.

The interview also makes clear that Jaden has a new project coming out soon and that his love of David Bowie influenced his decision to try a new sound. He also explains his latest philanthropic endeavor after he previously used a food truck to deliver healthy meals to the homeless in LA.

Watch Jaden’s performance of “Cabin Fever” and his interview with The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon above.

While their entrances into the hip-hop world differ by a little over a decade, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz have delivered a plethora of collaborations, including their joint album Collegrove, their undeniable classic, “Duffle Bag Boy,” as well as other fan favorites including “Rich As F*ck” and “Yuck!.” Striking the match once more in their careers, 2 Chainz concludes the night of his Verzuz battle with Rick Ross with yet another collaboration.

Coming together for the umpteenth time in their careers, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz get to work on their new single, “Money Maker.” The upbeat track finds Wayne and Chainz laying their best verses over the drumline-esque beat, back by rapid-fire drums and roaring trumpets. Following the concept of Ludacris and Pharrell’s classic song of the same title, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz show some support for their special woman and her physical features. The song serves as their first offering since 2 Chainz lent a verse to Wayne’s “Know You Know” from his Funeral album.

The single may land on 2 Chainz upcoming sixth album, one that he’s been teasing since late last year. On the flip side, the song may appear on the two rapper’s upcoming Collegrove 2, which 2 Chainz confirmed will arrive this year.

Listen to “Money Maker” in the video above.

When Batista returned to the WWE for his final match in 2019, there was no questions that “The Animal” wanted to end his career on his own terms. His run back to the squared circle in 2014 started with an almost certain championship win at WrestleMania before Daniel Bryan’s meteoric rise shifted reported plans.

While promoting Room 104, Batista spoke with Uproxx about his professional wrestling career, having sway when he was “making millions of dollars” for WWE, and that infamous 2014 run.

“So, throughout the rest of my wrestling career, I had a lot of input. There was one time I went back for a few months after I had left to do films. I went back with a certain understanding that I would have influence on my storylines. It was all stripped away from me and I lost control and it ended up being a disaster,” Batista said. “And I said that I would never come back until I could control my narrative and what I was doing in professional wrestling. And they let me do that, which is why I went back last year and I retired. I closed up my career, but they let me do it my way. And I think it was great.”

Batista would return to Hollywood shortly after his feud with The Shield ended, before meeting Triple H in a one-match farewell at WrestleMania 35.

Read more from Batista’s interview promoting HBO’s Room 104 here.

The Talking Sopranos podcast is a must-listen for fans of The Sopranos, as co-hosts Michael Imperioli (Christopher) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby) break down every episode of the HBO series. I would also recommend following Imperioli on Instagram, otherwise you’d never know that James Gandolfini was apparently a huge Green Day fan.

The actor recently shared a photo of himself with Gandolfini, who tragically died in 2013, and in the comments, someone asked, “What kind of music was Jim into?” Imperioli replied, “Green Day.” It seemed like a joke at first, with another follower adding “yeah f*ckin’ right, Jim listening to Dookie would be an honor to watch,” but Chrissy wasn’t lying: “He would play the vinyl of Dookie in his trailer at work… He loved Green Day.”

James always struck me as more of an Insomniac guy, but guess not.

In case you’re wondering what Tony Soprano singing to “Longview” might sound like:

As far as I can recall, no Green Day songs were ever played on The Sopranos (American Idiot came out during A.J.’s nu-metal phase), but Gandolfini has brought up the punk band in profiles before. Like this one from 2004, “Garden State Warrior: 11 Moments with James Gandolfini” by Chris Heath, who writes, “He asks me whether I have heard Green Day’s new album yet and talks about the enduring appeal of Lynyrd Skynyrd.” We sadly never found out what Gandolfini thinks of “Jesus of Suburbia.”

Megan Thee Stallion is in the midst of what is perhaps a bittersweet time in her life right now. She is fresh off the release of her Cardi B collaboration “Wap,” but she was also recently shot. She discussed the scary incident in an Instagram Live Q&A last night, and the conversation offered some insight into where her head has been since then.

Megan was asked, “What did you feel after getting shot,” and she answered:

“I feel like this is a thing that I see every single day and I see so many women and I see so many men talking sh*t about this. […] I felt, like, really crazy. I felt like, why did I get shot? Like, what did I do? It was insane. But sh*t was crazy and I feel like some people think that it’s funny and I feel like some people think that it’s a joke and I feel like some people think that they’re saying it to get to me, but I’m not ashamed of who I am and I’m not ashamed of what I’ve been through, and I’m not scared to say anything about anything.

It’s not fun, b*tch. I don’t understand. I just felt very betrayed by a friend. I felt very betrayed by all my friends. I felt very shocked, very scared. But the one thing that y’all need to know about me is I’m not a person who is able to be down for a long time. I don’t like to be victimized. I don’t like to feel like, ‘Oh my god, Megan, something’s wrong.’ I like to be upbeat. I like to be happy.”

She continued, “I always want people to know that pain does not last forever. Bad times don’t last forever. So I definitely always want people to see me being an example of bad things not lasting forever. Just because you go through something bad, don’t mean that that’s the time you’re gonna be in forever.”

Watch Megan’s full Q&A above, with her discussing the shooting starting at 11 minutes into the video.

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

Drake has been prolific in 2020. He dropped Dark Lane Demo Tapes a few months ago, he’s been hard at work on a new album (that’s nearly finished), and he dropped a pair of new songs with DJ Khaled. Before his next project comes out, he has helped an associate on an endeavor of his own.

Today, Popcaan has dropped a surprise new release, Fixtape, and Drake makes a pair of appearances on it, on “Twist & Turn” (which also features Partynextdoor) and “All I Need.” Given these are Popcaan songs, they are both dancehall-style tracks, although “All I Need” is closer to slow-burning, late-night hip-hop.

Listen to “Twist & Turn” and “All I Need” above, and check out the Fixtape art and tracklist below.

1. “Chill”
2. “Buzz”
3. “Fresh Polo” Feat. Stylo G and Dane Ray
4. “Twist & Turn” Feat. Drake and Partynextdoor
5. “Mamakita”
6. “Goodaz Gal”
7. “Canary”
8. “Rapid”
9. “Unda Dirt” Feat. Masicka and Tommy Lee
10. “Any One A Dem” Feat. Frahcess One
11. “All I Need” Feat. Drake
12. “Suh Me Luv It” Feat. Jada Kingdom
13. “Bruck Di Buddy”
14. “Murda” Feat. Preme and French Montana
15. “Jealousy”
16. “Friends Like These”
17. “Retribution”
18. “Bank And God”
19. “My Way”

Fixtape is out now via OVO Sound/Warner Records. Get it here.

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

For his follow-up to Widows, one of the most severely under-seen movies of the 2010s (it rules), Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen has made an anthology series for Amazon Prime Video called Small Axe. Each episode “celebrates little known stories of Black pride and resilience,” according to Amazon, including Mangrove, which tells the “true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed.” Black Panther standout Letitia Wright (Shuri) plays one of the activists.

“Sunday, August 9, is 50 years since the Mangrove March, which led to nine innocent Black women and men being arrested,” McQueen said in a statement. “It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill. To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing ‘evidence of racial hatred,’ I am sharing the trailer of Mangrove, one of five films to be released under the banner Small Axe” (you can watch it above). One of the other films, Lover’s Rock, stars John Boyega and was selected as the coveted opening-night title for the New York Film Festival. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Based on a true story, Small Axe celebrates little known stories of Black pride and resilience, like the Mangrove March. Learn more about what happens when even ordinary people stand up to police brutality and racial injustice to achieve something transformative with Academy Award winner Steve McQueen’s latest.

Small Axe premieres later this year.

Netflix drops the final season of a fan-favorite sci-fi series this week, along with a look at America’s problematic immigration system. First up is The Rain, a Danish drama that imagines the end of the world due to a deadly virus. A little too on the nose? Maybe. If you can’t stomach that fictional storyline, though, there is an interesting docuseries on America’s immigration policies and the government organizations that enforce them.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix this week of August 7.

Immigration Nation (Netflix docuseries streaming 8/3)

This timely, six-part docuseries arrives on Netflix to give audiences an inside look at the struggle faced by some of the country’s most vulnerable communities. Back in 2017, filmmakers Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz were granted access by Leaders of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to shoot footage for the doc, but apparently, they’ve been fighting with the government ever since to actually release what they captured on camera. The show follows the legal saga of a handful of detained immigrants as they fight for citizenship.

The Rain: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 8/6)

The final season of this Danish apocalyptic series lands on Netflix this week and with it, hopefully, a way to save the world. The siblings are still fighting over how to do that with a deadly virus that kills instantly wreaking havoc on the planet. Rasmus is now Patient Zero, and Simone just wants to play hero, but they’ll have to work together if they want to make it out alive.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 8/1/20
Super Monsters: The New Class
A Knight’s Tale
Acts of Violence
The Addams Family (1991)
An Education
Being John Malkovich
Death at a Funeral
Dennis the Menace
Elizabeth Harvest
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hardcore Henry
Iron Man: Armored Adventures: Season 1-2
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park III
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Mad Max (1979)
Mr. Deeds
My Perfect Landing: Season 1
Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea: Season 1
The NeverEnding Story
The NeverEnding Story 2: The Next Chapter
The Next Step: Season 6
Nights in Rodanthe
Ocean’s Thirteen
Ocean’s Twelve
Operation Ouch: Season 1
Operation Ouch: Special
Remember Me
Seabiscuit
Toradora!: Season 1
Transformers Rescue Bots Academy: S2
The Ugly Truth
What Keeps You Alive

Avail. 8/2/20
Almost Love
Connected

Avail. 8/3/20
Immigration Nation

Avail. 8/4/20
A Go! Go! Cory Carson Summer Camp
Malibu Rescue: The Next Wave
Mundo Mistério / Mystery Lab
Sam Jay: 3 In The Morning

Avail. 8/5/20
Anelka : L’Incompris / Anelka: Misunderstood
World’s Most Wanted

Avail. 8/6/20
The Rain: Season 3
The Seven Deadly Sins: Imperial Wrath of The Gods

Avail. 8/7/20
Alta Mar / High Seas: Season 3
Berlin, Berlin
The Magic School Bus Rides Again Kids In Space
¡Nailed It! México: Season 2
The New Legends of Monkey: Season 2
Selling Sunset: Season 3
Sing On! Germany
Tiny Creatures
Wizards: Tales of Arcadia
Word Party Songs
Work It

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 8/7
6 Days
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
St. Agatha

Leaving 8/14
Adventures in Public School
Being AP
Goon

It’s no secret that J. Cole has always loved basketball just as much as he loves rapping and rap music. Just take a look at the covers of his early mixtapes and debut album, Sideline Story. However, it was only recently revealed that he once had designs on giving up his day job to pursue those hoop dreams. In a revelatory essay for The Players’ Tribune, Cole wrote eloquently about losing his passion for working with words and turning his attention to developing the skills that might see him excel in another arena — pun intended. However, that passion was reignited by his newfound impulse for collaboration and he kept spitting — even as he continued to work on his jumper in local pickup games where he was rumored to put up some Klay Thompson-esque numbers.

Last month, though, in collaboration with Puma, Cole not only released his RS-Dreamer basketball shoe, he also shared a series of nostalgic ads that seemed to hint — as he had in his Players’ Tribune piece — that he refused to let his unfinished business remain that way. Narrated by Master P, who is notable for being the only rapper in history to try out for and make it onto an NBA roster (for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors for the 1998 and 1999 preseasons, respectively), the latest ad, “The Audacity,” watches Cole working on his game as Master P expresses his incredulous disbelief at some unstated goal Cole appears to be pursuing.

It could just be a clever way to pitch the rapper’s basketball shoe, but the idea’s already begun to take hold among the social media-savvy league’s Twitter feeds, with the Detroit Pistons account mocking up a jersey with Cole’s name on it. Players are sporting his shoes throughout the NBA’s Orlando bubble and no doubt, there’s some buzz among them whether he actually has what it takes to make it on a team. One thing has does have for sure is the experience and the passion that lays the foundation for any prospective hooper’s path to a pro basketball career. Here’s a timeline of J. Cole showing off his love for the game and the moments that are helping drive the speculation that he’s now aiming to be one of the oldest rookies in NBA history*.

*Pablo Prigioni currently holds the record, debuting with the New York Knicks at 35 years old in 2012. He’d been a professional overseas since 1995, though.

1999-2003: High School Years

While Cole’s short film/sneaker announcement Dreamer contains archival footage of a pre-teen J. Cole working on his handles on a backyard hoop and dramatizes his early experiences on the blacktop, we’ll consider his four years at Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina the beginning of his hoops journey. In 2017, Bleacher Report‘s Natalie Weiner published an excellent oral history of his time there, in which Cole’s coaches and teammates praise his work ethic, if not his skills.

2003-2007: St. John’s University

Cole went to college in New York on an academic scholarship rather than an athletic one, but that didn’t stop him from trying out for the team. He was good enough then to receive a call-back for the second day of tryouts, but had by then decided on music as his path. Though there’s some confusion about whether he was cut or just didn’t show up for day two (he insists it was the latter), he kept playing, on intramural teams and the St. John’s women’s practice team.

2007-2010: The Mixtape Years

Although he’d given up on basketball as a career by then, he kept the game close and highlighted his love of hoops in his art. His second and third mixtapes, The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights, both prominently featured basketball themes in their cover artwork and titles. On the cover of The Warm Up, he cradles a basketball in his left arm, looking like he’s on his way to a pickup game in the park, while on Friday Night Lights, he sits on the ball with his head in his hands like he just lost a huge game.

2011: Cole World: The Sideline Story

Everything from the title of Cole’s debut to his styling on the cover screams “game ready,” or at least “game adjacent.” The somewhat self-deprecating title feels like a reference to his sidelining his hoop dreams in favor of his rap ones, as well as a subtle reference to his being cut (or quitting) at both levels of organized basketball before letting go entirely. Despite this, he wears a letterman jacket as if he’s a varsity player and even the disc itself (remember those?) was printed with the lines of a basketball court seen from above.

2019: All-Star Game and Pickup Legend

In 2019, the depths of J. Cole’s love for hoops (and his emerging skills) were slowly revealed as NBA player Dennis Smith Jr. used him as a prop to dunk over in that year’s dunk contest. But it was after the dunk that we got our first public glimpse of J. Cole the hooper; retrieving the ball, he tried to go for a dunk of his own. He got hung on the rim, but was able to laugh it off — after all, he was an amateur surrounded by guys who do this for a living and just getting up there was impressive enough for most folks. But it was clear he wanted more, especially when interviews with Smith and text message exchanges his manager LB posted on social media revealed a guy who could score a casual 45 points at a rec league run but groused about no one having their phones out when he hit a game-winning buzzer beater.

2020: The Audacity

Beginning in early 2020, it seemed that Cole was feeling nostalgic for his playing days, releasing Dreamer as a way of announcing his upcoming sneaker collaboration with Puma, then publishing “The Audacity” for The Players’ Tribune. Dreamer slyly referenced his All-Star Dunk Contest failure, contrasting it with the work he’s done since to be able to complete that dunk. And now, he’s getting advice from Master P and training camp invites from NBA teams. It looks like the message of his Puma promo run — whether it leads to an NBA contract or not — rings true: “[It] sounds crazy when said out loud, but I believe all of the best dreams do.”