Category: Worldwide

The NBA’s bubble league will begin seeding games on Thursday evening. While the games themselves will take center stage after the league’s months-long hiatus, there’s a perpetual concern about COVID-19 making its way into the bubble. The NBA has a rigid testing protocol and has managed to keep those in the bubble safe thus far, but all that needs to happen for a potential outbreak is for one person to slip up once.

As such, Adam Silver told Robin Roberts of Good Morning America that the league is figuring a number of things out on the fly, explaining that while the NBA has protocols in place for how it would handle an outbreak similar to what is happening in Major League Baseball, “it’s not an exact science because nobody has ever done this before.” He then took things a step further by indicating that if things got particularly bad in the bubble, he wouldn’t have any qualms about scrapping the entire project, saying the league is putting “health and safety first.”

“Probably if we had any significant spread at all, we’d immediately stop, and one thing we’d do is try to track those significant cases to determine where they’re coming from and whether there has been spread on the campus,” Silver said. “I would say, ultimately, we would cease completely if we saw that this was spreading around the campus and something more than isolated cases was happening.”

An optimist would point to both the NWSL and MLS for proof that this could work — the former pulled off a bubble league in Utah that did not have a single case within the bubble, while the latter has not seen a positive test following a pair of teams needing to pull out due to outbreaks within the bubble. A potentially four month-long operation is a little different, though, due to the sheer length of time, but here’s to hoping we do not have to figure out what the league would have to do should this situation arise.

In a similar vein to CNN’s Crossfire, or when your grandfather opens up about his views on “the Northern problem,” contentious political debate is coming to Norway. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s new show, Einig?Einig? (Agreed?) takes the bitter, aggressive, spiteful intensity we know to be public political debates out of contention and replaces them with a system that rewards positivity and politeness. The goal of the show isn’t to find where the political opponents contend with one another, but instead it aims to bring them together over opinions on which they can both agree.

Einig(?) aims to take the competition out of politics and replace it with camaraderie. Imagine if instead of Trump and Clinton lambasting each other for their checkered personal histories, they instead spent their time on television coming together to agree that Katz’s Deli truly makes the best pastrami in Manhattan.

The rules of the game are simple: don’t interrupt or attack your opponent, but instead try listening to their arguments and understanding where they’re coming from. The show is not live, and the guests are informed that the flashy argumentation and ad hominem attacks that make political debates such a viral, engrossing spectacle will be edited out in favor of civil, laid-back conversations about the issues. Gro Engen, the editor of Einig, describes the show as trying to “re-create that type of atmosphere” where the cameras are off and the guests are just speaking their minds to each other, perhaps over a cup of coffee, or what I can only assume is the Norwegian equivalent: snow-juice.

There’s no moderator for Einig, in an effort to open up discussion by placing the responsibility on the contestants to foster multidimensional conversations on a diverse array of topics, ranging from abortion to tax legislation. The thesis of the show is simple: if there’s no parental guidance, eventually the kids will discover that manners are the only way to get anything done. Tired of the political debate format that only perpetuates the “us vs. them” mentality that makes political discussion such a cage match, Einig recognizes that political issues stem from dilemmas that societies are placed in charge of solving, and by letting moral opponents form a framework of discussion around each dilemma at hand, the discussion can focus on intellectual compromises rather than emotional attacks.

The show was first released before their elections in September of 2019, before a Norwegian election that ended up surprising the pollsters as the smaller parties in Norway’s multi-party system made large gains on the majority-holding Labour Party. Perhaps this proves exactly what Einig was setting out to do: voters are not divided along clear party lines. Instead, they (ideally) hold complex political opinions that vary from issue to issue, and platforms like Einig can help political candidates better express how they’ve drawn the conclusions they form their opinions around.

It would be interesting to imagine Joe Biden and Donald Trump in an unmoderated forum like Einig for their debates this fall. So much of American politics is boiled down to the highlights and soundbites of each debate, but if our candidates were able to casually sit down and sparse things out over a cup of coffee in a polite setting, maybe our political system would stop rewarding the loudest and brashest among us, and instead elevate complex thinkers and well-reasoned intellectuals to public office. Or maybe the U.S should let itself be annexed by Norway. Really, anything seems possible these days.

The 25th anniversary of Raekwon‘s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is coming up and to celebrate, The Chef is reissuing a special edition instrumental vinyl via Certified Classics and Get On Down, which previously re-released it on cassette in 2013. The Wu-Tang Clan member was the fourth to release a separate project (after RZA’s Gravediggaz debut 6 Feet Deep, Method Man’s debut album, Tical, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version) — a project that was critically hailed and nicknamed “The Purple Tape” for the unusually-colored cassette pressings of its first 10,000 copies.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was later revered as one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history, with its single “Ice Cream” becoming a signature Wu-Tang track and songs “Incarcerated Scarfaces,” “Rainy Dayz,” and “Verbal Intercourse” becoming lauded favorites, the latter due to a standout verse from Nas, who adopted the mafioso rap stylings of Cuban Linx for his own album It Was Written later that year. OB4CL is credited with helping to launch the mafioso rap aesthetic to the mainstream, with numerous projects following a similar approach in its wake. Its influence is still being felt today, while its sequel, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, became a critical hit in its own right in 2009.

You can find more info about the vinyl reissue here.

After Rina Sawayama released her effervescent sophomore effort Sawayama earlier this year, the record became one of the top-rated albums on Metacritic and Elton John even dubbed it “the strongest record of the year by far.” When she began the recording process, Sawayama told her label that her main goal for the album was to win a Mercury Prize, one of Britain’s most coveted trophies. Fast-forward to last week and the Mercury Prize unveiled its shortlist of nominees, but Sawayama’s name was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t because her album didn’t deserve a nomination, but because the singer apparently wasn’t eligible.

Sawayama addressed the issues with the Mercury Prize and the Brit award show credentials in a recent interview with Vice UK. Apparently, both the Mercury Prize and Brit Awards necessitate UK citizenship in order to be considered for the prize. Sawayama was born in Japan but has lived in the UK for 25 years on an “indefinite leave to remain” visa, longer than Mercury Prize nominee Dua Lipa has been alive. But because Japan doesn’t allow dual citizenship, the singer can’t become a full UK citizen without revoking her Japanese passport. “I’ve just lived here all my life,” Sawayama said. “I went to summer school in Japan, and that’s literally it. But I feel like I’ve contributed to the UK in a way that I think is worthy of being celebrated, or at least being eligible to be celebrated.”

The singer further explained her frustration with the rules: “I’m signed to a UK label. I’ve lived here uninterrupted for the last 25 years. I’m only tax registered in this country. The whole album was recorded in the UK as well as in LA. It was mixed in the UK. My lyrics are in English, except for one verse in one song. […] I don’t ever want anyone to ever feel like this, when they’ve worked so hard on something and everyone can see that you’ve worked really hard, but the people who reward excellence in this country don’t.”

Sawayama said that all of her family is in Japan, so becoming a full-fledged UK citizen would feel like she was “severing ties” with her relatives. “I have no family in the UK,” she said, “they all live in Japan. So getting rid of my Japanese passport genuinely feels like I’m severing ties with them. I think a lot of people feel that way about their passports.”

The singer said that she once contemplated giving up her Japanese passport to become eligible. “Because I wanted it so bad,” she said. “But then I was like, it won’t solve anything. I fundamentally don’t agree with this definition of Britishness. I think I’m really British, and I don’t like just sorting out a symptom of something and leaving the cause to someone else to deal with.”

Sawayama and her record label, Dirty Hit, have pressured both the Mercury Prize and Brit Awards to review their entry rules in order to allow immigrants to be considered, but per Vice‘s report, they received a “curt” response saying the rules weren’t going to change any time soon.

Sawayama is out now via Dirty Hit. Get it here.

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

Dev Hynes has proven himself to be an artist who is well versed in multiple styles, whether he’s playing R&B as Blood Orange, scoring films like Queen & Slim, or performing classical music. Today he is showing off his skills in the latter field by sharing a piano improvisation he performed, based on the Julius Eastman composition “Evil N*****.”

The performance took place last month as part of Black Power Live, a virtual music festival presented by FORM and Jammcard, which also featured performances by artists like Kamasi Washington and Vagabon. Aside from sharing the audio of the performance, Hynes also posted the video, in which he hunches over his piano and riffs on the song.

Eastman was a minimalist composer born in 1940 and who passed away in 1990. He often gave his works provocative titles, like “Crazy N*****” and “Gay Guerrilla.” The New Yorker noted that Eastman said he uses the word “n*****” in his works because it represents “a basicness, a fundamentalness, and eschews that thing which is superficial or — what can we say? — elegant.” They also previously said that “Evil N*****” “becomes fixated on a minor-key figure, in falling fourths, that resembles the opening motif of Mahler’s First Symphony.”

Watch Hynes perform his “Evil N*****” improvisation above.

50 Cent‘s son has replaced him in his personal top five best rappers with the rapper whose posthumous album 50 helped produce. 50 Cent has been estranged from his oldest son Marquise since he separated from Marquise’s mother Shaniqua Tompkins in 2008. Since then, the two have feuded online multiple times but it would seem that Marquise finally found a way to really get back at his dad: By declaring that Pop Smoke is a better rapper than 50 Cent.

During a recent Instagram Live, when Marquise was asked which of the two was better, he didn’t hesitate: “Pop Smoke,” he replied, confidently. After some debate, he gave his reasoning, “Because he had both: He could do what 50 do. He sounds like him and he has melody.”

50 Cent executive produced Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, which accounts for the similarities between the two, although 50 did receive some criticism for stocking the album with big-name features rather than Pop Smoke’s Brooklyn drill cohorts.

Marquise’s comments aren’t likely to help the two reconcile; in a recent interview with Van Lathan, 50 noted that he “used to” love his son and would rather be related to Tekashi 69. Marquise responded on Instagram, criticizing the comment due to 69’s reputation as a snitch, referencing the similar rumors that have dogged 50 for much of his career. A reconciliation might not be impossible though. 50 recently proved that he does have the capacity to apologize when he did so to Megan Thee Stallion after joking about her shooting.

Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy returns this Friday with all sorts of switch-ups, due to Five screwing up a blinking maneuver and transporting the group back to 1960s Dallas. Everything’s bigger in Texas, and anything can happen on this show, so of course Five finds himself in the midst of a war zone when he lands. To no one’s surprise (including Five’s), the Hargreeves siblings have screwed up the timeline, and as a result (to the sound of Frank Sinatra), viewers can watch the U.S. and Soviet conflict come to a nuclear head. The action-packed results represent a lot of what comic-book fans are missing in theaters this summer.

Pure chaos unfolds when Allison rumors soliders’ heads into exploding, Klaus gathers an army of undead soldiers to assist, and Vanya’s powers remain unrivaled, but the fact that she took at chunk out of the moon (although not really her fault) is why this whole debacle is happening. That’s not to say that the whole season is apocalyptic. There’s plenty of time for levity, including all of the scenes involving Klaus’ doomsday cult (we spoke with Robert Sheehan about that lovefest and more), and Baby Pogo will also get some of the spotlight.

This opening scene, however, lays some excellent groundwork for what unfolds throughout the season, as Gabriel Bá and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way’s graphic novels continue to come to life. The Umbrella Academy‘s second season streams on July 31.

Jaden Smith is no longer going by his full name — a trend that he began about a year ago when he was releasing videos for his project Erys — and during a recent interview with Beats 1 Radio’s Zane Lowe, he explained how his sister Willow inspired the decision and why it works with the creative endeavors he’s currently pursuing. He also gives a shout-out to David Bowie, who was well-known for inventing alter egos to differentiate his various projects from each other.

“I realized that Willow changed her name to Willow at some point in time,” he told Lowe. “And that she was no longer Willow Smith. Yeah, it took me a while. It took me a while. Because if you look Willow Smith up, it’ll still come up. But then it took me a while to see that it was just Willow. And I was like, ‘Yo. That’s so strong. You feel like you don’t have to say your last name. You’re just Willow. I create different characters for myself — that’s also one of the reasons I love Bowie so much — it’s like, Jaden, that’s music and Jaden Smith, that’s 501(c)(3), that’s acting in movies. I wanted to just make that little distinction there, just a little bit.”

The 22-year-old star not only further distinguishes himself from his famous father as just Jaden, he’s also doing so by branching out musically. His latest track, “Cabin Fever,” adopts a pop rock bent, showing that he’s growing as an artist and ready to truly make his own way.

Watch a clip of Jaden’s interview with Zane Lowe below.

Angel Olsen released her latest album, All Mirrors, last year, which arrived three years after its predecessor, 2016’s My Woman. Olsen isn’t waiting that long between albums this time, though: Yesterday, she announced that her next album, Whole New Mess, will be out in a month. She also shared the title track, and she gave it its live debut on The Tonight Show yesterday.

Like Perfume Genius before her, Olsen played the song from an empty performance space. It was just her, a guitar, and a microphone on the stage, and the camera moved around the space to capture the performance in a single, lovely shot. Olsen began the stripped down tune, “Won’t be long now before it’s really showing / It’s every season where it is I’m going / I stretch my bones out on the floor / I think I’ll really do the change.”

When announcing the album, Olsen explained the inspiration behind it, saying, “I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that — I’d lost friendships, too. When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.”

Watch Olsen perform “Whole New Mess” above.

Whole New Mess is out 8/28 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

On May 21, 2019, author George R.R. Martin made a promise to his millions of readers: if he didn’t finish The Winds of Winter, the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, by July 29, 2020, he should be thrown in prison. Guess what day it is!

“As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce,” he wrote on his Not a Blog (current mood: amused). “But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.” New Zealand’s CoNZealand (virtually) kicks off today, with Martin serving as “toastmaster.” More like roastmaster, because he’s getting roasted online.

I feel bad for Martin, I really do. Writing is hard, even when you’re not creating a dense fictional universe that was turned into one of the most popular TV shows of all-time, as he is. Maybe an isolated location, with or without sulfuric acid lake, isn’t the worst idea, though; at least it would keep him safe. GRRM, if you need some help, I’ll give you the first line for The Winds of Winter: “It was the best of times, it was the Westeros of times.”

Good luck!

(Via Not a Blog / Fandom)