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The Seattle Seahawks picked up an emotional win on Monday Night Football this week. Longtime signal caller Russell Wilson led his new team, the Denver Broncos, into Lumin Field, and despite the fact that they were 6-point home underdogs in one of the most raucous environments in the sport, Seattle was able to pick up a 17-16 victory.

The win did come despite an injury to starting safety Jamal Adams. During the game’s second quarter, Adams went down with a leg injury, and in the aftermath of the game, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said that he will “have to get some work on that.” And on Thursday afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network brought word that Adams will indeed go under the knife to repair a torn quadriceps tendon.

The team will respond by signing Teez Tabor off of the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad.

It is a brutal turn of events for Adams, who signed a contract with the Seahawks prior to the 2021 season worth up to $72 million to make him the highest-paid safety in NFL history. Adams came to Seattle one year earlier via a trade with the New York Jets. He was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2019 and made the second-team All-Pro squad in 2018 and 2020.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Since the last update of this weekly R&B and afrobeats column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists. Ari Lennox released her long-awaited sophomore album Age/Sex/Location while John Legend returned with Legend, the ninth album of his career. Bryson Tiller also made his return in 2022 with the Ying Yang Twins-sampling “Outside” and Rema unveiled the video for his remix of “Calm Down” with Selena Gomez. Lastly, DRAM kicks off a new era under his old name with “Wham!”

Here are some more releases on the new music front that you should check out:

Eli Derby — “Wicked”

Eli Derby made his official mark in the music industry with his debut EP Left On Read, a five-track effort featuring a lone guest appearance from 6lack. Six months after its release, he returns with “Wicked.” Derby uses the record to speak to a new love interest and plead for them to try a relationship with him as more than friends.

Sudan Archives — Natural Brown Prom Queen

Nearly three years after her debut project, Sudan Archives is back with her sophomore album Natural Brown Prom Queen. The project’s 18 songs cover themes that include race, womanhood, and the fiercely loyal, loving relationships she has with family, friends, and her partner. Natural Brown Prom Queen also arrives shortly before Sudan Archives embarks on her Homecoming Tour in North America and Europe.

Sevyn Streeter — “23”

When it comes to Sevyn Streeter, you can trust her to never be off her game. That’s the theme of her latest record “23,” which finds her balling at elite levels. The money is good, the body is great, and life is just peachy for the singer, whose 2021 sophomore album Drunken Wordz Sober Thoughtz is still a great listen.

Jahkoy — “Roll Wit It”

Toronto singer Jahkoy is back in action after a strong 2021 release, Tangible. He returns with “Roll Wit It,” a fun and charismatic singer that captures the initial connection between him and a woman. After dancing the night away, he shares his intention to end the night with her and add to their fun moments.

Zyah Belle — Yam Grier

Zyah Belle’s 2021 project Who’s Listening Anyway was one of the year’s most impressive under-the-radar R&B releases. This year, there’s no flying under the radar thanks to her new album Yam Grier. “Yam Grier is representative of a woman that is reclaiming her time, agency over her body and voice through the generations,” Belle says of the 14-track project. It includes excellent features from Tempest, Jordan Hawkins, Jane Handcock, and more, all of which pair well with Belle’s excellent vocals and overall direction.

Jenevieve — Rendezvous

A year removed from her 2021 album Division, Jenevieve decided it was time to treat her fans to some more music. She returns with Rendezvous, a six-track effort that will satisfy your dance and sweater-weather anthem needs. The project also arrives ahead of her gig as a supporting act on Giveon’s Give Or Take Tour.

Asake — Mr. Money With The Vibe

The afrobeats world received an excellent gift in 2022 in Asake. His year was highlighted by records like “Sungba,” which was remixed by Burna Boy, “Omo Ope,” and “Palazzo.” He builds on that foundation, dropping the afrobeats album of the year with Mr. Money With The Vibe. The project clocks in at 12 songs at just 30 minutes, but its concision just makes it more effective.

Melvitto — Ovrdose

Sticking to the afrobeats tip, Nigerian producer Melvitto also returns with a new project. Ovrdose, a five-track effort that follows his 2019 EP Summers, calls on Dayor, Gabzy, Oladapo, Wani, and Ayo Jay for a quick project highlighting the range and heights that Melvitto can reach.

Sebastian Mikael — “Overgold”

Next month, singer Sebastian Mikael will release his new EP Phileo. To kick things off he checks in with his latest single, “Overgold.” The funky record perfectly kicks off the road towards Phileo. “I wanted to talk about love not in a romantic aspect or in a cliche way, but more as love being a foundation for who we are and as a lifestyle,” Mikael says about the project. “When we move in love, we’re more powerful because God is Love.”

Pote Baby — “Slow Wine” Feat. Simmie & Derrick Nealy

Months after releasing an extended cut of his Turtle Crossing project, Georgia rapper Pote Baby returns with a vibrant record just in time for summer’s last weeks. “Slow Wine” captures the intimate moments between two lovers on the dance floor and the infatuation for each other that comes with it. With help from Simmie and Derrick Nealy, Pote Baby perfectly captures the vibe.

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

The climate changes at least three times in the drive from San Francisco into Tomales Bay just north of the city, and not subtly so. When I made the trip at the beginning of July, San Francisco’s famously foggy microclimate, barely hitting 60 and feeling much colder with a wet mist blotting out the sun, remained with us past the city and all along the grand red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Still shrouded in misty grey funk when we hit the south entrance of the Robin Williams tunnel (the tunnel’s entrances painted in rainbow, like Mork’s suspenders), the sun came out at some indeterminable point between entrance and exit, squirting us out into a bright sunny summer day almost like a switch had flipped.

The sun stayed with us all through east Marin County, further inland and on the bay side, where the 101 winds past Sausalito’s houseboats (which aren’t really “boats” at all, so much as floating houses on a pier, built by artist squatters after WWII) and up through Marin’s million dollar real estate in Mill Valley, Tiburon, and Strawberry, where houses with tall windows have brilliant views of the bay from secluded hillsides, and their owners spend the weekends clad in biking spandex, hollering at motorists to share the road.

Our destination was across the strip of rugged, hilly land separating bay from breakers, all the way over in rural west Marin, as distinct from tony east Marin culturally as it is meteorologically. East Marin’s sunny warmth, in the high 80s that day, lasted until about the last 15 minutes, when, abruptly once again, the air turned cool and the landscape went from dried yellow weeds (the gold in “The Golden State” and “The Golden Gate Bridge”) to verdant green moss. You lose cell service around the same time.

Even in a state as geographically diverse as California, Tomales Bay stands out as its own esoteric little pocket. Cows graze in fields and moss hangs from trees, a bit of the steamy South right in the heart of the otherwise dry far West. One of the other van passengers noted “it looks like a French fishing village.”

We’d all accepted an invite from Humboldt Distilling to come sample their wares with ideal pairings and situations at Hog Island Oyster Company in Marshall, California, right on the shoals of the aforementioned Tomales Bay. The hot topic on the ride over was “merroir.” It’s an industry-invented term, meant to explain why oysters, which almost always come from just a few different species, spawned in about 10 hatcheries serving all of North America, can still taste so distinct from each other.

The answer is that the oysters tend to take on the characteristics of the sea where they were farmed (and the vast majority of the oysters consumed in the world come from farms, only a tiny fraction are wild collected). Those sea conditions tend to vary wildly, from the muddy, shallow bays of the mid-Atlantic to Tomales Bay’s frigid waters, frequently replenished by Pacific “upwelling,” a process by which high winds off shore dredge up waters from the depths.

That cold water Tomales Bay oyster grow in is more sea than shore, and the abundance of cold, deep ocean water gives Hog Island’s oysters a briny, salty, fresh character (as well as an interesting cucumber note). Wine, of course, has long been considered the finest expression of the combination of the geographical, geological, agricultural, and climatic conditions that produced its grapes, such that anyone with a decent palate can tell whether the wine came from limestone-rich or volcanic soil. Which gives the wine a “sense of place — for which the French coined the term “terroir,” as the French are wont to do (see also: “mise en scene” for movies).

Oysters, of course, have much the same thing, a combination of all the particular local conditions that produced them. Only, they come from the sea — mer — rather than the ter of “terroir.” Ergo… “merroir.” It’s a perfectly cromulent word!

We were welcomed to the foggy shores of Tomales Bay (one of three California bays healthy enough to support large-scale oyster production, along with Humboldt and Morro) with an oyster shooter — basically, a double shot-sized Bloody Mary served with a Hog Island Sweetwater oyster on top — mixed up by Hog Island’s beverage director, Saul Ranella.

It may not shock you to learn that a cocktail prepared by a beverage director, specifically to highlight a liquor, made to pair with an oyster just pulled from the water of that oyster farm, and eaten in view of its habitat, was extremely good. This oyster shooter was like a further, brinier-but-wildly-fresh version of a Caesar — the Bloody Mary‘s Clamato-based cousin, which my in-laws converted me to a while back (it’s not as thick as a Bloody Mary and clear liquors pair weirdly well with seafood brine).

[Ranella’s shooter ingredients: Humboldt Organic Vodka, Kummel, Hog Island Bloody Mary mix, lime, and Tapatio hot sauce.]

After that, we took a tour of Hog Island’s oyster farm, founded in 1983 by three marine biologists. Oyster farms aren’t the most terribly interesting places, seeing as how oysters tend to lead a sedentary lifestyle ensconced in their own shells, mostly sitting out in their baskets, eating food and waiting to fatten up enough to be plucked out and eaten (much like your mother). But whatever bivalves may lack in action photography potential they more than makeup for in sustainability.

In an age when it’s hard to consume any seafood guilt-free (or virtually anything, for that matter), oysters are surprisingly green. Not only are they not overfished, like so much wild-caught product, the farms that produce them actually help clean the waterways where they’re grown rather than pollute them. This thanks to oysters’ filter-feeding capabilities. Of course, it takes clean waterways to produce consumable oysters in the first place, and dozens of entities are testing the chemistry of Tomales Bay’s waters at any given time to ensure their viability for food production.

Clean water, of course, is key to both making Humboldt Vodka and farming Hog Island Oysters. Which was presumably the basis of their partnership on the day. The distillery had recently announced their “Toast To The Coast” campaign, pledging to donate a portion of their sales to the California Coastkeepers Alliance (CCKA), a non-profit dedicated to fighting for clean waterways in the state.

More tastings followed, along with some shucking, led by “international oyster sommelier” Julie Qiu, who almost certainly knows more about oysters than you. As we tasted through Hog Island Kumamotos (Crassostrea sikamea), Hog Island Atlantic (Crassostrea virginica), and Hog Island Sweetwaters (Crassostrea gigas), Qiu regaled with oyster facts and handed out her self-designed oyster-tasting notebooks. Which included an incredibly thorough “flavor wheel” ranking the oysters on 16 different characteristics: Brine, umami, bright, fruity, vegetal, earthy, nutty, seaweed, buttery, smoky, metallic, mineral, body, balance, linger, and sweet. Phew.

If I’m honest, I’m not exactly thrilled at the idea of trying to take extensive, clinical notes while I’m trying to enjoy an oyster. But it speaks to one of the things I appreciate most about oysters: the ritual. Any former drug addict will tell you, that part of the addiction is the ritual it requires. Bring out your little bag of tools, tie off the vein, cook the powder in the little spoon, suck the liquid into the syringe… We humans find solace, maybe ascribe meaning, to these little collections of repeated action (every religion involves ritual, some are only ritual).

While I’ve thankfully never shot heroin, I find myself being drawn over and over to the same kinds of things in my own life, whether it’s espresso (grind the beans, tamp the grinds, clean the steam wand, steam the milk, pull the espresso, pour the milk…), avocado toast, or hell, probably golf (see the hole, remember the hole, practice the swing, deep breath, waggle-waggle…). It’s the dream of doing something over and over, getting it just a little closer to perfect each time. Some perfectionists do drugs; for some perfectionists, perfectionism is the drug.

Oysters lend themselves easily to this kind of ritualism. The way you carefully insert the shucking knife into the hinge, apply pressure until it releases, then move the knife gently from side to side to create space, separate the roof of the shell from the meat, and then the meat from the bottom by severing the abductor muscle (fun fact: French restaurants don’t sever the abductor muscle when shucking, which kills the oyster, preferring to leave it attached so that it’s alive right up until the moment you eat it — which makes a kind of sense, but also sounds like a pain in the ass when you’re trying to slurp one). Then you carefully remove the lid, make sure not to spill any little shell bits into the shucked oyster; add your mignonette, lemon, hot sauce, horseradish, whatever; and slurp it down. It’s all wonderfully ritualistic. I’m convinced oysters taste better because of the ritual they require.

For most of my oyster-eating life, even the act of getting them was part of the ritual. It was so hard to spend $3-4 per oyster when you could drive an hour and get them in bags of 50 or 60 for 50 or 75 cents per (sadly they’re more expensive than that now). Plus, you’d miss out on the experience.

Having since moved inland to Fresno (which is still pretty close to the sea relative to the rest of the country, but feels like another world from coastal California) I have yet to consume an oyster in the city where I live. In 2020, I took my wife to Tomales Bay for oysters and my friend who was supposed to join us stood us up. Thus leaving me with 70 or so oysters and a wife who, as it turned out, doesn’t enjoy oysters quite as much as I do. It took me two or three days, but I ate most of them. There’s a strange thing that happens when I eat oysters: they make me happy but not full. I can enjoy them in almost unlimited quantities and still eat a regular-sized meal directly afterward. I’ve never felt bloated or sleepy after eating one.

I learned plenty from Qiu, but if there was one thing I retained, it’s that maybe I’ve been too precious in my oyster consumption. Yes, you can get food poisoning from eating raw oysters, just as you can from eating damned near anything. But Qiu estimates that she’s eaten upwards of 7,000 oysters in her lifetime (and she seems detail-oriented enough that I’m inclined to believe her) and has never gotten sick, not even once. Considering oysters are bivalves, whose entire physiology is designed to be able to close up and survive inside their own “house” (so to speak) when the tide goes out and with it the water they need to survive, and that they’re literally alive right up until the moment you shuck them, they’re actually pretty safe.

Any FDA-regulated oyster farm has its water tested constantly and is highly regulated. As long you’re getting oysters that have been kept refrigerated (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) and are still alive when you shuck them (the shell should be closed or should close when you tap on it) there’s relatively little to worry about. The whole “don’t eat oysters in months that end in R” adage, while weirdly pervasive, is outdated in the age of oyster farms and refrigeration. Basically, if it’s dead, stinky, or looks dry* (ie, not plump, juicy, and glistening**) when you open it, don’t eat it.

I still remember what a professional fish grader at an ahi auction in Hawai’i told me when I asked him how one grades fish: “You were built for this,” he said. “You have an intuitive sense of what makes meat look healthy and inviting. Trust those instincts.”

I’ve applied that rule of thumb every single time I’ve bought any kind of meat since, and the same thing seems to apply to raw oysters. If it looks vibrant, plump, and fresh, it’s most likely because it is. If it looks, smells, or tastes weird, don’t eat it, or stop eating it. Qiu also keeps an updated list on her website of farms that will ship direct to consumers, in case you don’t trust that your local supermarket kept their oysters cold from farm to display. Qiu suggests chipping in with some neighbors or friends to save on shipping fees.

As the tour and the shucking seminar came to a close, Saul Ranella presented our final cocktail: a vesper cocktail made with Humboldt Organic vodka, a house kina, and dry vermouth blend, with nori and two kinds of roe (smoked trout and paddlefish caviar). Normally I probably wouldn’t go for a drink with two kinds of fish egg and seaweed in it, but everything about this weirdly freezing July day in California telegraphed that this wasn’t a normal day. It was an experience; a ritual. And under the circumstances, all that brine hit the spot, the perfect accompaniment to some barbecued Sweetwater oysters.

If you’re at all oyster curious but on the fence, I’d recommend barbecued oysters as a gateway. For a while when I was younger, I ate raw oysters mostly as a way to prove that they didn’t gross me out, even though, admittedly, they have a not un-snot-like texture. After a while, they became a vector for horseradish, and a while after that I came to genuinely enjoy the flavor of raw oysters themselves (preferably with a nice mignonette). Oddly, the rawer and fresher a seafood, the less “fishy” it tastes. And raw oysters are about the rawest, freshest seafood you can eat.

Of course, a raw oyster is still going to have that snot-like texture. If you haven’t learned to love that yet, a barbecued oyster is a happy medium. If you grill an oyster just until the shell pops open (they make a nice sizzle when they do, which is fun), then pull the lid off and throw some garlic butter or something in there, you get an oyster that’s cooked just enough to have some chew to it, but not enough to get the fishier, muddier taste that oysters can sometimes take on when they’re cooked too much. I don’t love them quite as much as fresh raw oysters, but they’re pretty close.

It was still cold enough for a jacket by the time we left in the early evening, the hours that are usually the hottest part of the day in a NorCal summer. After consuming at least two dozen oysters, I felt weirdly energized. Eating anything else in such quantities would put me to sleep. 15 minutes into the drive home, our cell phones vibrated back to life and the hot sun clicked back on, unmistakable signs that our reverie was over and we had entered real life again. Probably another language has a word for this feeling, German or Russian. Would it someday be possible to recapture the feeling of that escape? Could we conjure it back into existence with a simple ritual? Find it in a cocktail glass or inside a shell?

*Like your mom
**Like your mom

—

Vince Mancini is on Twitter.

This trip was hosted by Humbolt Distilling, though they did not review the story. For more on the Uproxx press trip policy, see here.

Charley St. Cafe executive chef Dan Churchill has a lot on his plate. On top of operating a restaurant in Manhattan, he drops nutrition knowledge for his YouTube series “The Healthy Chef,” on shows like Drew Barrymore, in his books like Surfing The Menu, and when creating recipes for stars like Chris Hemsworth. But despite this heavy workload, he still finds time for his passion for outdoors running and once again is training to do the New York Marathon in support of City Harvest.

There’s a reason that Churchill makes time for running outside. It’s not only a great workout but it’s also an amazing way to find your center — since it’s one of the few exercises that you can’t really do while staring at your phone or television. Whether you are running for 15 minutes or running for a few hours, those moments are yours and being spent to improve your general well-being. So it’s no surprise that many people who start running keep running, and eventually want to take on bigger and bigger routes.

Long-distance running can have amazing benefits like increasing your overall endurance, muscle power, heart health, and mental toughness. It also helps train your body to use fat for fuel. Many people who start participating in long-distance running see an enhancement in their sleep quality. When put up against a mediocre session in a dark, cramped gym, long-distance running wins. But if you aren’t providing your body with the right nutrition and hydration, you can miss out on all of those benefits.

For many adults, finding time for a run is just like finding time for the gym: difficult. The moment of opportunity is usually in the morning before the responsibilities of the day start to kick in. Stopping for 15 or 20 minutes to make a proper meal can seriously cut into that window, so one strategy is to make sure that your food is ready to go already when you wake up. That could mean an already-prepped meal in the fridge or a helpful tool that marathon runners use called energy gels — which are little carbohydrate-rich packets that deliver a perfect punch of energy.

“I have found that people doing long runs and even marathons don’t find out about energy gels until late in the game,” says Churchill. The chef also notes that the taste can be a little surprising to first-timers, on top of the fact that our palate can change over the course of a longer run. “They wait until really late in their training to try them out, and they can take some getting used to. Even if I am running for an hour I will take an energy gel with me.”

In addition to the New York Marathon, Churchill is also participating in Sydney’s Running Festival this month, which means he is well-versed in the perfect breakfast to eat before a big run or marathon. We got him to share one of his favorites below.

OVERNIGHT OATS

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: N/A… 8 hours to set

Skill: Easy

Health Facts:

Chia seeds contain all 20 amino acids and also contain plenty of fiber for digestion. Not only do they house essential proteins, but they ensure nutrients pass through the body efficiently

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

– 2 Cup Rolled Oats

– 4 Tbsp Chia Seeds

– 1/2 Cup Coconut, Shredded

– Pinch of Salt

– 1 Banana, Mashed

– 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

– 4 Cups Almond Milk

Toppings:

-Almond Butter

– Sliced Banana

-Walnuts

Instructions:

– Combine all ingredients into a bowl and put in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours

– Serve in the morning in separate bowls and top with almond butter, sliced banana and crushed walnuts

Get more great recipes and tips on fueling for running or a marathon on Dan’s site here.

To celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, NPR Tiny Desk is starting the El Tiny series, featuring Jessie Reyez, Susana Baca, and more musicians. They kicked it off today with none other than the pop star Omar Apollo who recently unveiled Ivory (Marfil), an expanded version of his massive debut that contained the five extra songs “Endlessly,” “Highlight,” “Archetype,” “Saving All My Love,” and “Pretty Boy.”

With his full band for the Tiny Desk performance, he brought tracks from the original Ivory as well as from the deluxe. He began with the stunning serenade “En El Olvido.” Before launching “Evergreen,” he prefaced it with a warning: “We’re about to get more sad.” It’s a more R&B-leaning song on which his voice is heavy with longing, and the instrumentation follows suit. Afterward, he performed “Petrified” and “Endlessly.”

Next month he will be heading out on the big Prototype Tour to give fans the full experience of Ivory (Marfil). The tour will go through North America this fall kicking off in San Diego, California in October and ending in Toronto, Ontario in November.

Watch his Tiny Desk above.

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

Whoopi Goldberg wasted no time tearing into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after it was revealed that he used taxpayer funds to ship a plane full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard as part of an inhumane political stunt. Echoing a similar move by Texas, DeSantis wanted to teach “sanctuary cities” a lesson by dropping a fresh wave of immigrants on their doorsteps. Of course, DeSantis had no regard that these are human lives he’s messing with, and in the opening moments of Thursday’s The View, Goldberg blasted him for the “bonehead” move.

“I thought that was part of what we did here in the United States,” Goldberg said after reciting the message on the Statue of Liberty. “We welcomed people, invited people who were going through crap in the countries they lived in, getting abused in the countries they lived in. I thought we asked people to come here.”

In a particularly pointed smackdown, Goldberg noted that one of the people America welcomed through Ellis Island was DeSantis’ own great-great-grandmother. She came here from Italy in 1917. “She also could not read or write, but no one gave her permission to come,” Whoopi said via The Wrap. “She came, and we still took her in.”

Goldberg ended her remarks by saying the migrants could’ve been relocated humanely, but DeSantis chose political theater instead.

“These are people you’re playing with. These are real life people, with children and older people,” Goldberg said. “And you know, we can work it out. But if you’re going to be a bonehead, who wants to play with you? You know, call me crazy, but I don’t understand why you got to be nasty about it.”

(Via The Wrap)

After gracing the stage at this year’s Emmys and inspiring the world to start saying “Yes, chef” to everything, Jeremy Allen White has been dominating your television screen this year, and next, he will dominate movie screens.

White has been cast in The Iron Claw, the upcoming biopic about the Von Erich wrestling family. The film was announced earlier this year, with Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson slated to star as other various family members.

The Iron Claw will follow the infamous Von Erich family, a dynasty of pro-wrestlers who gained popularity in the 1970s and 80s, with a tragic backstory that some believe might actually be a curse. The movie will follow the family from the 1960s to the present day. A24 will produce the film, which will be written and directed by Martha Marcy May Marlen director Sean Durkin.

Between Efron, Dickinson, and White, It’s unclear which actor will portray which brother, but here is a very good portrait of the family, for reference:

White currently stars in Hulu’s acclaimed series The Bear, which debuted this summer and was recently renewed for a second season. Before becoming a fake TV chef, White starred in the long-running series Shameless alongside William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum.

(Via Deadline)

Cardi B was sentenced to 15 days of community service after accepting a plea deal in her strip club assault case, according to TMZ. Originally accused of a litany of charges including assault, conspiracy, criminal solicitation, harassment, reckless endangerment, and felony attempted assault with intent to cause serious physical injury, Cardi pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges: 3rd-degree assault and reckless endangerment. She won’t see any jail time as a result.

Cardi was first indicted on that laundry list of charges after an August 2018 incident at a New York strip club in which Cardi allegedly ordered her entourage to attack a pair of bartenders after accusing one of having sex with her husband Offset. She was arrested in October, and initially pled not guilty to the charges against her after saying she was unbothered during an interview at the 2019 BET Awards. “F *c k you mean?” she asked a reporter. “I ain’t going to jail, I got a daughter!”

She also initially rejected a plea deal in 2020 despite prosecutors threatening that they might pull the offer in the future. Apparently, both sides balked at the 11th hour: Cardi accepted a deal in exchange for taking the misdemeanor charge, which prosecutors wanted all along, but the prosecutors avoided going to court, where Cardi might have gotten off scot-free depending on the jury.

As part of the deal, Cardi must stay away from the two women she allegedly had jumped for three years. After the hearing, she told TMZ, “Part of growing up and maturing is being accountable for your actions. As a mother, it’s a practice that I am trying to instill in my children, but the example starts with me. I’ve made some bad decisions in my past that I am not afraid to face and own up to. These moments don’t define me and they are not reflective of who I am now. I’m looking forward to moving past this situation with my family and friends and getting back to the things I love the most — music and my fans.”

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

Many times over the course of her illustrious free-skiing career, Angel Collinson stood atop mighty mountains looking over slopes that went thousands of feet down. On many occasions, the routes had never been attempted before. In Alaska’s Neacola Mountains she scored a run that made her the first female athlete to win the coveted “Best Line” award from Powder Magazine. But before shoving off and flying through mounds of untouched snow she was able to find moments of calm — through the practice of meditation.

You don’t need to be facing extraordinary circumstances for meditation to be a powerful tool. The mind is one place that we can never escape, so it’s worth putting in a little work to make it a pleasant landscape. As Collinson notes, meditation can bring you clarity, calm, and focus in all sorts of moments — from mundane to massive. This summer her story is spotlighted in Jimmy Chin’s Nat Geo series “Edge of the Unknown” which you can stream on Disney+.

Below you can find Uproxx’s conversation with Collinson about her personal path to peace, as well as a few tools that will help you start your own.

How did you first hear about meditation?

My mother was really into Buddhism and as I was growing up I learned about meditation through her. There were books lying around the house that I picked up and studied. But I grew up and forgot about it for the most part. I was into my skiing career and it came back to me. I was hearing about it from some friends and my boyfriend at the time was a mindful person.

What was your personal starting point?

I was told that I could start off slow, with the idea that all meditation has to be is one breath in and out. I think that was good advice. From there you can grow at your own pace, like perhaps focusing on two or three breaths instead of one. Next thing you know you are meditating for 30 seconds and then a minute. There is the term Kaizen which I think applies — putting these small incremental steps towards success or a goal so it doesn’t become overwhelming.

How did you use meditation when it came to your sports and what do you think it brought to your ability to grab onto opportunities?

I believe that meditating has had a profound effect on how successful I have been able to be. It allowed me to be present and to focus on what was happening on the mountain with no clutter. I use meditation as a self-check, it gives me the keys to really find out how my body and my mind are feeling.

There is no outside distraction in those moments and those can be the moments when I first realize that I’m tired or not really able to focus. If that’s the case, I might be really saving myself from a bad situation up on the mountain.

Did it help you see your way into the results that you wanted?

One of the big ways that I meditate is to visualize the goals that I wanted to realize. I would picture myself going down the mountain absolutely crushing it. But not only that, I would also visualize what if something went wrong in my performance or in nature. I wanted to be prepared for every single outcome.

The only times that I got really worried is when I couldn’t visualize it at all. That meant that something was really wrong or off, and perhaps I shouldn’t attempt it.

Once you realized that you were benefiting from meditation how did approach elevating the practice and leaning into it?

I started doing it every morning, but beyond that small focused approach, I didn’t have any kind of greater practice that I was doing… at first. I was probably meditating for ten years with no specific practice or teacher that I was following. That was pretty similar to the way that I approached the big mountains that I skied. I never attempted to take one on until I was sure that it was well within my abilities. There would be the time that people would say that I was ready, and I would add on a year to that.

Once it was time to meditate more, and dedicate more time to it, I was doing it in the morning and in the evenings. The next step was to get certified in Transcendental Meditation.

How does breathwork fit into your practice?

I am a huge fan of breathwork and was doing all sorts in the beginning. I thought they were working but that was until I was taught how to really do it. I was invited to this special camp by Red Bull since I was one of their athletes. They bring in all of these experts like Navy SEALs and coaches to run you through a gauntlet of programs. They have a heart rate monitor on you the whole time and they gave us different practices to try to see how they helped us deal with stress and fear.

One of the other tools that they gave us that really helped me was focusing on small moments in the present. I would focus on buckling up my boots, then zipping up my won jacket, and so on. These small actions that helped you be more present. The next thing I know I am flying down the mountain, focused in every single turn.

Why would you say it’s important to practice often if you are able?

The reason that I feel like it is so important to practice often is so you can find your space quickly. In an ideal world you are able to jump into that place of calm, and everything will slow down for you. That comes a lot easier once you have been done the road a few times, and even gotten there down a few different roads. It doesn’t always work for me, and I think it’s that way for a lot of people. You aren’t always going to be able to get there, but that is a part of the process. I use it when I need it like I’m nervous about a particular situation or I’m having a hard time focusing. You don’t always get to pick and choose those moments, so being able to unlock that space quickly is helpful.

Basic Breath Work Exercise: Breathe in for four counts; hold that breathe for four counts, breathe out for four counts, and hold that for four counts. Repeat.

START YOUR MEDITATION PRACTICE ON THE RIGHT FOOT

Biet Simkin, who is a world-renowned Spiritual Teach and best-selling author of Don’t Just Sit There!, has some sage advice for those looking to get in the door.

“There are a lot of teachers out there, and it’s important to find one that really speaks to you,” she says. “Rather than just typing meditation into YouTube or Spotify, ask people in your circles for recommendations. Like Collinson, Simkin agrees that starting with small steps is the best way to make it in the long run. “Meditating, even for just five minutes, is a great way to level up the way you experience this life.”