Category: Worldwide

It has been an interesting offseason for the Houston Rockets to say the least. Russell Westbrook levied a trade request after just one year in Houston and that was followed shortly by James Harden likewise pushing for a trade, specifically to the Brooklyn Nets.

For now, both Westbrook and Harden remain on the Rockets and the team has said publicly it is happy to start the season with both despite the potential for it to be uncomfortable and awkward — in honesty, this is the only position they can take to maintain any semblance of leverage in trade talks. Still, the moves they’ve made since have been in the unenviable position of maximizing assets and trying to thread the needle between starting a rebuild and not putting a big “Fire Sale” sign out front.

They’ve dealt Robert Covington to the Blazers and flipped two-thirds of the return to the Pistons (Trevor Ariza and the 16th overall pick) to give them a pair of future, protected first round picks. From there they’ve signed Christian Wood in free agency, and added another big man in DeMarcus Cousins on Monday on a non-guaranteed one-year deal, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1331010683136303105

Cousins himself confirmed the news to Marc Spears of the Undefeated shortly after Charania’s initial report.

The question with Cousins is, of course, with his health after having suffered an Achilles tear and a ruptured quadriceps tendon. Still, it’s a low-risk move, similar to what L.A. did with Dwight Howard’s non-guaranteed deal last year, by a Rockets team that could use some upside — and there’s also the possibility that the discussed Westbrook-John Wall deal could get done reuniting the good friends and Kentucky teammates in Houston.

Though it’s difficult at this point to count or keep track of all the brilliant visual performances Beyonce has given us over the years, a few do stand out in recent memory. One of which is her performance of “Drunk In Love” at the 2014 Grammys. The set included dark lines of shadow and light as Beyonce writhed and crawled around on a table and chairs, in a black catsuit with her hair stringy and wet. Well, last night in her performance at the 2020 AMA’s, Jennifer Lopez adopted a lot of verrrrry similar visual cues for her rendition of Pa’ Ti” and “Lonely” with Maluma.

Sure, there’s no copyright on black catsuits or certain hairstyles, or even lighting cues or dance moves, but it was the presence of all four elements in a super recognizable format that had fans a little surprised that Lopez would not even consider how the performance might come off. And yes, Jennifer Lopez is a great performer in her own right, but the sheer force of cultural momentum that Black women are responsible for creating, and somehow never received proper credit and recognition for, is unparalleled. If she was going to draw on Bey as an inspiration, she should’ve credited her — and to say that performance wasn’t partly an inspiration for her AMA’s appearance just doesn’t seem to ring true. Check out more thoughts from fans below.

Following the news of his brother Glenn Johnson’s death earlier this month, DaBaby penned the poignant EP My Brother’s Keeper (Long Live G) as tribute. Now further honoring his family bonds, the rapper dropped a video alongside his track “More Money More Problems” which co-stars his adorable daughter.

Directed by Gemini Vision, DaBaby’s “More Money More Problems” video offers a glimpse at the rapper’s home life. It’s filmed in his opulent home and shows DaBaby spending a wholesome day with his daughter Renny. The dad and daughter team enjoy each others’ company as they count stacks of money, play dolls in Renny’s princess-themed room, and goof around in DaBaby’s home theater.

Along with featuring his daughter, DaBaby dedicated the visual to his late brother. “In loving memory of Glenn Allen Johnson,” the rapper wrote in the visual’s caption.

DaBaby’s 8-track project My Brother’s Keeper is his third release of the year and features the likes of Meek Mill, Polo G, NoCap, and Toosii. The EP follows his recently released album Blame It On Baby and its subsequent deluxe reissue, further cementing DaBaby’s prolific reputation.

Watch DaBaby’s “More Money More Problems” video above.

My Brother’s Keeper (Long Live G) is out now via South Coast/Interscope. Get it here.

Ken Jennings will officially take over as host of Jeopardy! following the death of legendary host Alex Trebek. For now, that is.

The syndicated trivia titan of a game show announced Monday that it would resume taping episodes following Trebek’s death from pancreatic cancer, with Jennings as the first of what’s apparently a series of guest hosts continuing the season while the show searches for a permanent replacement.

The news came as part of a larger announcement about what the show will do to honor Trebek in the wake of his death. New episodes with him as host will air in syndication until December 25, and on Monday news came that there would be a greatest hits of sorts also airing in tribute to Trebek.

“Alex believed in the importance of Jeopardy! and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him,” Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards said in a statement. “We will honor Alex’s legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved with smart contestants and challenging clues. By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and continuity for our viewers.”

Jennings will take over as Jeopardy! host on November 30, when the show begins to tape again. And the news makes it sound more like a trial run for Jennings as host than an official announcement that he’s taking over full-time, as many have speculated. Whether that becomes official seems unclear right now, but Jennings is a logical solution both in the long and short-term. He already works on the show behind the scenes, and he certainly is recognizable among fans as the official Greatest Of All Time after his win in the Jeopardy! GOAT Tournament, which aired in January.

When Netflix’s Red Notice starring Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, and The Rock shut down during the pandemic, like most productions, there was a huge question mark around whether or not the film would quickly back on track. The Atlanta-based crew managed to get back to work, but under some particularly strict COVID-19 restrictions that required crew members to stay quarantined on set for months. That meant not seeing their families until shooting wrapped in early November.

While Gadot and Reynolds made public statements addressing the hard work and resilience of the crew for making Red Notice happen, what no one knew until now is that Reynolds privately sent videos to over 400 crew members and their family members. In some instances, he even sent videos to their dogs just to keep morale up and show his appreciation for their dedication during the unusual circumstances. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Contacted by THR, Reynolds confirmed the gesture of gratitude and added that for those who didn’t have family, “I made videos for their dogs,” he said. “Morale was so low because everyone was in lockdown. They couldn’t go anywhere but work or the hotel. In some cases, their families were at home less than a mile away. I can’t imagine that kind of longing.”

Earlier in the month, Reynolds posted an Instagram photo celebrating Red Notice‘s wrap, and he made it a point to call out the crew members who powered through the unorthodox production. “Not all heroes wear capes,” Reynolds wrote. “Some wear masks. And visors. And have cotton swabs shoved up their noses every day.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

The Dallas Cowboys have had a dreadful season to this point, but Sunday brought a rare bright spot in the form of a 31-28 upset win over the Vikings in Minnesota to move to 3-7 and, somehow, just a half game behind the 3-6-1 Eagles for the NFC East division lead.

It was the best the Cowboys have looked in the post-Dak Prescott injury season, with Andy Dalton playing well in his return to the field from a concussion, and the defense, while it allowed 28 points, mostly bottled up star running back Dalvin Cook who had been running wild on teams over the past month. Apparently, that uptick in defensive effort from a team that’s been among the league’s worst in just about every defensive metric can be attributed to a rather colorful team meeting at the hotel on Saturday night before the game.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, embattled head coach Mike McCarthy decided to fire up the troops with some good old fashioned prop comedy, smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer to the delight of his players while calling out the week’s focus points.

I never thought I would hear “the players were roaring, McCarthy’s pants were soaked” in a positive frame of reference on television, but here we are. This is the type of thing you can spin as inspirational after a win, but would’ve been tragically hilarious had they lost. It did seem to get the guys fired up, with DeMarcus Lawrence apparently asking to smash the Dalvin Cook watermelon himself. I look forward to this becoming a weekly tradition as Cowboys staffers frantically scour local grocery stores for fruits McCarthy can smash to rally the team each Saturday.

On this week’s People’s Party, Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with legendary New Orleans producer, rapper, and the architect of the Cash Money label sound, Mannie Fresh. The extensive interview covers everything from Mannie’s early days in New Orleans to watching Lil Wayne evolve as a lyricist to the beginnings of Cash Money. Towards the end of the interview, Mannie speaks to the fallout and criticism he received after his Instagram Live Verzuz Battle with fellow super producer Scott Storch after many fellow producers and fans said he went too hard on Storch.

“I mean honestly, it was a battle… this is what goes on in hip-hop. Hip-hop is the story of your life. Nobody gave me the memo that this is the new hip-hop.”

Mannie came to the battle prepared, explaining that he did his homework on Storch in order to put together his skits and burns, which included light-hearted jokes like making fun of Storch’s iconic glasses, and more personal jabs about Storch’s struggles with drug abuse and specifics about his personal life. The pushback from friends and fans was enough to lead Mannie to reach out to Storch to explain his attacks were all love and in good fun and the spirit of hip-hop.

“I came to win… I don’t have no bad feelings about Scott Storch. I love him like a brother. But if you want to be a part of hip-hop you’ve got to open up your good and your bad. You don’t have a day where you can say ‘nah ya’ll can’t say that about me.’ This is what hip-hop is… We came to battles we didn’t come to kumbaya.”

While Storch and Mannie Fresh are still tight, the pushback was enough to turn Mannie off from ever competing in a rap battle again, which is an absolute shame if you actually caught the battle itself.

Check out the full chat on this week’s People’s Party with Talib Kweli above and watch Mannie detail the “controversy” in the clip below.

2 Chainz released his anticipated album So Help Me God last week, which boasted features from the likes of Kanye West, Mulatto, and more. Despite not securing a verse from Jay-Z on the record, 2 Chainz paid homage to the rapper by sampling his Reasonable Doubt track “Feelin’ It” for his song “Southside Hov.” Now, 2 Chainz is celebrating his album’s release with a reflective video alongside the track.

The flashy black-and-white visual positions 2 Chainz in front of two Teslas while rapping about his beginnings. “I’m from the Southside where it’s lukewarm / where n****s set you up for robbery and help you look for ‘em / I’ve been a stepper, I walk around with my own shoehorn / This type of flow, I give the opposition goosebumps,” he raps.

Ahead of his visual’s release, 2 Chainz told The Breakfast Club that he sent Jay-Z the video after filming it. “Me and Hov cool so I sent him the video when I did it just to show him the angle that I wasn’t trying to be him,” he said. “But since it was a Hov sample and the things that I was talking about in the song was some Hov stuff, so I named it ‘Southside Hov.’ He was like, ‘I’m humbled by it.’ It was a cool back-and-forth we had.”

While the rapper said Hov was cool with the video, 2 Chainz has since given up on trying to collaborate with him. “As far as trying to get him on something, yes I’ve given up on that part,” 2 Chainz said. “I don’t like rejection. I got this little mental thing, people that I deal with don’t even know this, where I might ask somebody something three times over my whole life and secretly, after the third time, I won’t ever probably ask again.”

Watch 2 Chainz’s “Southside Hov” video above.

So Help Me God is out now via Def Jam/Universal. Get it here.

Shawn Mendes: In Wonder (Netflix documentary) — The floppy-haired heartthrob takes fans behind the scenes of his demanding rise to the top, which led him towards a reckoning of sorts. The film promises a heartfelt glimpse into the pressures experienced while coming-of-age in front of absolutely everyone. While charting his path from precocious troubadour to global superstar, the project also includes never-before-seen footage of his private life and worldwide travels.

His Dark Materials (HBO, 9:00pm EST) — The Dust-filled fantasy series picks up with Lyra and Will looking for answers at Oxford while Magisterium mulls over a choice.

Industry (HBO, 10:00pm EST) — The Succession-esque series for the younger crowd sees the grads facing the challenge of reeling in new clients when Pierpoint loses a big client. Meanwhile, Gus has to get creative to satisfy his new supervisor.

Filthy Rich (FOX, 9:00pm EST) — The Monreaux family is searching for Antonio’s missing son while Margaret discovers a secret about the plane crash, which unveils a lot about her family’s history.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Glenn Close, Kane Brown featuring Swae Lee & Khalid

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Amy Adams, Jack Huston, Jewel

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Emma Stone, Ben Falcone, Josh Groban

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Michael J. Fox

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Mandy Moore, Jeff Tweedy

In case you missed these weekend picks:

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (Netflix film) — Everyone loves Dolly (who helped fund a promising COVID vaccine), so at least there’s one thing that you won’t be arguing about with your relatives (over Zoom) this holiday season. Featuring an album full of original Dolly music, this film (which co-stars Christine Baranski) revolves around how the coldest of hearts can melt in the face of family, love, and the enduring Christmas spirit of a small town.

Small Axe (Amazon film collection) — Five Steve McQueen-directed movies will drop each Friday over the course of five weeks. The stories, set in London’s West Indian community, will explore the endurance of the human spirit despite setbacks from discrimination and rampant racism, all set from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

Run (Hulu film) — Starring Sarah Paulson and directed by Aneesh Chaganty, this suspense film might be the perfect distraction. Paulson plays an obsessive mother who controls her daughter in total isolation, and her daughter’s now only beginning to grasp the secretive (and unnatural, possibly sinister) reasons for this behavior.

Mike Hadreas is often the focus of his Perfume Genius videos, but for his latest, he hands the reigns over to Pigman. The snouted character stars in the new “Some Dream” video, and in it, he works in a warehouse, comes across a burning house, and works a surprising twist in at the end.

Hadreas says of the single, “The song is about the sort of dream world I keep myself in, in order to write. Sometimes I wonder if there will be real world costs for staying there too long. I don’t want to pick my head up after a bunch of years go by and see a bunch of songs but nobody to love.”

Charles Grant, who directed the video alongside Hunter Ray Barker, also says of the clip, “I’ve loved Mike’s music for a long time. Marc LeBlanc is the star of the video — he plays the pigman. He’s an amazing actor and his performance in combination with how powerful and emotional Mike’s music is gave this whole project such amazing energy and spirit. Hunter and I are really grateful to have added to Mike’s creative world in a way that feels uniquely true to him, us and Marc all at once… We are all pigs.”

Watch the “Some Dream” video above and read our interview with Hadreas here.