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Jeff Staple is always looking into the future (no wonder he hangs with Andre 3000). With 25 years in the streetwear game, the legendary designer has proven not just the resilience of his brand, but the resilience of streetwear itself. And while that gives Staple every opportunity to rest on his laurels and collect his paychecks, he seems just as energized now as he was in ’97 — truly embodying that NYC hustler mentality.

You know, that scrappy pigeon lifestyle that has made his brand so iconic.

That energy was on full display last month when NTWRK and Staple’s brand came together for the second annual STAPLE Day — a one-day in-app and in-person shopping event featuring exclusive drops and rare collections. This year, it also served as the 25th Anniversary celebration of the iconic brand. Still, the biggest thing on Staple’s mind wasn’t the giant milestone he’d just passed, it was the growing interplay between Web3 and fashion and the relationship between brands and consumers in the digital space.

“Three years ago I would’ve said that the golden age just passed us,” he tells me of the state of streetwear in 2022. “I would now say that there’s been a recharge and I’m really excited to see what we’re all able to do in the next five years. I think it’s going to be on another level and I’m already seeing concrete, black and white examples of that happening.”

Look no further than STAPLE Day itself, which let shoppers around the country in on the exclusive gear, via the NTWRK app. Buying exclusive drops isn’t exactly a Web3 phenomenon, of course, but it is indicative of how streetwear’s global reach continues to be amplified thanks to technology. And that’s something Staple is keenly interested in pushing forward.

To dive deeper, we spoke to the visionary designer about the future of streetwear, his collaboration with Crocs, and his current favorite sneaker silhouettes. Let’s jump in.

I’ve been following Staple Day and that came with a lot of drops and collaborations. We’d never ask you to pick a favorite but what were some of the collaborations you were most excited to see people lose their minds over?

Yeah, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Some of the highlights were probably that we did a collaboration on a capsule collection with an artist named McFlyy who is based out of LA. Him and I have been chatting for a couple of years now pre-COVID, just fans of each other’s work and always trying to figure out a way that we could work together. Like when people say to each other “Yo, we need to do something together…” It’s like, “Yeah, we do” but then it’s cool when it finally comes to fruition and it was also cool that we met physically for the first time at Staple day to drop the collection, which is pretty amazing.

Another cool highlight was that we did a Topps baseball card drop and for Staple Day I was signing them in a special pigeon pink ink color that I don’t do anywhere else. And we actually had the PSA, which is the actual autograph authenticator for world-class, legendary athletes everywhere in the world. They were on hand to certify my autograph on the baseball card. So now part of that collection, if you see something that’s signed by me, whether it’s a sneaker or anything, you can actually go to the PSA and have it authenticated because I’m on the books now with them.

I think the highlight of the whole thing, which was the grand finale if you will, was that being that this year was the 25th anniversary of Staple, one thing that I thought would be fun to do was to look back from 1997, which is the year I founded the brand until today and choose my favorite sneaker from every year. My favorite shoe of ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, and on and on. And then collect all of those 26 shoes together and give them away as one pack. And so one lucky winner won all 26 shoes, my curation of the best shoe that dropped every year for the last quarter-century.

Those all vintage pairs then?

Yeah!

Some of those shoes are pretty old now, for a sneaker, what was the condition on those?

All brand new, none of them worn. So we did the work and we paid the money to gather them all up. But yeah, some of them are quite old — I don’t know if you’d want to wear them because they might crumble. Some of them are vacuum-sealed in plastic, but it’s just an incredible trophy piece to have in any sneakerhead collection.

One part of your legacy is that you’re always willing to push things forward. So with that in mind, I’m curious if you think of streetwear as having a golden age — like some would say 90s hip hop is the golden age of hip-hop. Do you feel like streetwear has an equivalent or does it continue to evolve with the times? Are the best days ahead?

That’s a great question. Because if you asked me this like three years ago, I would’ve said that the golden age of streetwear has already passed and I think what happened with COVID and the separation of people around the world, it forced all of us to have like a hard reset. And in many ways, even though it was a terrible epidemic that had a lot of tragedy, I think there was a lot of silver lining in that too, because the people who managed to survive it came out with new insight, new perspective, if you will, and new priorities and that’s on a macro global level.

So of course all of that is going to boil down into different subcultures, such as street culture.

Then you add in this thing that I’m really passionate about, which is the metaverse and Web3, and really just ownership of your own IP. It is really interesting because I think this is like, if three years ago I would’ve said that the golden age just passed us, I would now say that there’s been a recharge and I’m really excited to see what we’re all able to do in the next five years. I think it’s going to be on another level and I’m already seeing concrete, black and white examples of that happening. So I’m super excited about it.

I’d like to talk about the term “streetwear.” I’ve talked to a lot of designers now and I’ve noticed a trend that some people who came up in the streetwear scene have been distancing themselves from that label and category. I don’t know if it’s ’cause they’re trying to appeal to a luxury market — which is ironic because luxury labels are already obsessed with streetwear. Do you still think of all of this as streetwear?

I still am cognizant of why people feel like there’s a stigma around the idea of a streetwear designer. And if they’re trying to break into a higher price point or a different customer tier, then it makes sense why they don’t want to have streetwear baggage on them. I totally understand where that comes from. And I feel the same way sometimes, but I’m more open to wearing it on my sleeve that when people ask me if they don’t know what brand Staple is, I have no problem saying like “it’s a streetwear brand.” I know some people will be like, “Oh, it’s a luxury high-end street-inspired…” — it’s like I don’t even know that stuff.

Streetwear or street culture, if you break down the word, it’s like the culture and the fashion of people walking on the streets, right? Like real people, whereas I feel like runway shows, couture and high fashion are really cool and inspiring to look at, but I also sometimes struggle to find the connection point between everyday life. And I’m even talking about everyday life in some, 1% gentrified place, like Soho or Fairfax, or what you see on the runway in Paris doesn’t ever translate to Prince & Lafayette or Harajuku. It doesn’t even translate there, but you have to remember that there’s a UPS driver that works in Flint, Michigan that loves Staple.

So how is that ever going to translate to him or her? And I’m always really cognizant of the everyday person, the normal guy that doesn’t go to Paris fashion week, doesn’t pop bottles in some hot club, he’s got a family, a great job, and he just wants to look fly. You know what I mean? That to me is what street culture is all about. It’s actual people who live and operate in these streets.

I never want to lose that person, this is my thing. So while the luxury world is very enticing and you get starry-eyed over it, I personally feel way more goosebumps, love, and satisfaction when a UPS driver comes up to me and gives me a fist bump because of how much he loves the brand. And I keep saying that because that literally just happened an hour ago, a UPS driver came up to me and he was just like, “Yo, your brand is amazing, I love it, spend half my paycheck on your brand!” and that to me is better than getting into any runway show.

Congratulations on the huge milestone of Staple being 25 years old!

Thank you.

I know you can’t give away everything, but what are some of the most exciting things we can expect for the next 25 years and what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in this journey?

The things that I’m most excited about are the merging of this digital world with the physical world. As I mentioned before, that really excites me because I think we’ve already been heading in that direction for nearly a decade now where most of our lives are consumed on a screen or expressed through a screen. So to me, the leap to way more of that is not a huge leap. Whereas I know some people are very scared and skeptical of the metaverse or Web3 or NFTs. But I know for a fact we’ve already been there, we’ve already had eight of our toes in that water without people even knowing it.

You just look at music or sneakers or fashion, or even home, even home interiors. If you bought an Eames Lounge Chair and you’re flexing it in your home, probably 99% of the people who see that and experience it is through a screen.

The number of people who come into your house and sit on it is probably 1% of your circle. So it’s already been there, done that. I’m really excited for the masses to accept that art expression and supporting a brand can be done without actually owning the physical product. I think that COVID was a big accelerator of that because in two years people realized that, wow, we could actually still do things through a screen and just because we don’t get to meet up in person doesn’t mean that the world stops.

I think the other factor there is the environmental factor where the earth is going to force us to not make everything physically, but if that happens, then we as humans have to learn how to enjoy and appreciate things that don’t require a physical 3D object in our hands.

So that’s what I’m really excited about for the next quarter-century. I also recognize that my position in this field is that of an elder statesman, so I recognize that I can either be that old guy in the club that’s trying to bro down with young people and pop bottles, or I can just spread the knowledge. And I definitely want to take the latter. Everything that I do, I try to share the wealth and just share those experiences with the younger generation and get inspired by each other because they can get inspired by the learnings and the experience and the wisdom that I have from a quarter-century of street culture and then I get inspired by them because of just the raw, relentless energy. If I do talks or interviews, it’s typically with someone in their twenties or thirties, because we’re just learning from each other, it’s really dope.

It’s interesting that you’ve mentioned having eight toes in the water, because I think in terms of a digital life, a lot of people don’t realize that gamers have been doing this for, long time. But I do wonder your take given the crypto NFT crash that has happened recently. Do you see that as just growing pains or is that a bigger warning sign? Does it worry you or is it just part of the journey?

It doesn’t worry me. I also want to expressly say I’m not giving financial advice here, but it doesn’t worry me because to me it’s just a factor of currency exchange. I’ll give you an example — if I want to go to Tokyo next week, if I want to experience Tokyo to its fullest, I have to change my USD into Japanese Yen. Next week the exchange rate could be really beneficial to me or it could be really bad for me right? Anyone who’s traveled across borders knows that “Oh, I’m getting hammered by the Euro!” or “Wow, I’m killing it in great British pounds.”

You know what I mean? So it fluctuates and because crypto is so new, the fluctuations are really, great and tremendous, but it’s just the course of doing business, things go high things go low.

Even though we’re at a real low right now, I think it’s a great time to build and innovate because it’s cheaper for somebody to get in now. Obviously, if you bought high and if you own a lot of digital assets, you’re feeling the crunch of it right now. I totally get that but if you were ever interested in building something in Web3 now is the time. It’s like if you’re building a house, do you want to build a house when lumber and steel are at their highest or at the lowest? You want to build when it’s at its lowest and that’s where we’re probably at right now. So it’s two sides of the same coin really.

I noticed on your Instagram that you gave the Air Presto Hello Kittys a shout-out. Definitely one of the best drops of the year. And I think that goes down to the full packaging, not just the shoe, the box and everything. What other big sneaker drops of 2022 have really caught your attention?

I think overall it’s really exciting what’s been happening with Crocs, we dropped the Crocs recently, my friend Salehe Bembury has been killing it with Crocs and it’s really cool to see a brand that five years ago, you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing out in public. It wasn’t even a no-name brand, Crocs, was a mockery of a brand. Straight ridicule and in such a short amount of time, it’s become like this fashion icon piece.

I think that’s cool because I love the brand. Obviously, I collaborate with them, but I also think it’s cool if you’re a marketer or if you’re into building brands or if you own a brand that is maybe not “hot” or viral right now, it’s a great case study, there’s no such thing as being over, anything can happen. I really love that.

The New Balance coming out are amazing. Their made in USA line is great and they’re also a great case study in the idea that slow and steady wins the race. They never tried to sign some Kanye West level rapper to do a sub-line with, they just held their ground. All of their collaborations have this great running DNA through them and where they lack maybe in crazy left field out-of-the-box innovation, they kill it in consistency and they slowly but surely grinded away at youth culture. Now, I live in downtown New York City — I definitely see more N logos on the side of people’s shoes than swooshes right now.

The last shoe I want to call out is the Tom Sachs General Purpose Shoe. I don’t know if you’ve seen that one. It’s like the “boring shoe” I love the shoe, and I think what Tom is trying to do in terms of beating the resellers and doing this thing where he claims they’ll be no resale or up sell prices because he’s going to make this shoe so readily available for everyone who wants it, that it won’t be an issue… I think is Tom is an incredible artist, but he’s not a sneakerhead who’s had four decades in the game.

While his mission is pure and innocent, I think it’s going to be harder than it sounds to pull off. Because you know, coming from me, who’s been doing a lot of collaborations and high heat sneaker drops. It’s not easy to thread the line between the idea of let’s get everyone who wants a pair to have a pair for regular retail price and also not worry about excess inventory overages and discounting.

How do you predetermine six to 12 months in advance that 134,500 people will want this shoe and get all of them that shoe and not over and not under produce? If it’s under, you have resale prices, if it’s over, you’re at the factory outlet and people are making fun of you as an artist. So it’s really interesting to see how he’s going to tread that line. I think he made the proclamation without yet figuring out how it’s actually going to happen.

If you look at the resale prices of his general-purpose suit, right now, it’s $400, $500, so it’s already not working. So I’m really keen on watching how that goes, cause he’s doing this like in partnership with Nike. So let’s see if one of the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest footwear brand can actually figure this out when they’re both on the same page.

You mentioned it in passing, but I really want to talk about your Crocs collaboration, the Sidewalk Luxe Clog. Definitely one of my favorite Croc drops. A constant in your work, as I said before, is this willingness to redefine what sneaker culture is, which is what I think Crocs doing in real-time. What are some of the touchstones of Staple that you brought to that collaboration and was it hard to get Crocs to do those giants pigeon Jibbitz?

I want to say it wasn’t actually, but they were surprised by the idea, even my own internal team was surprised of the idea. They tried to convince me out of it and if you look at the other Jibbitz, the New York City-style Jibbitz, that more so came from my team, they wanted to do that and not the big pigeon talons. But I was like, no, the big pigeon talons have to stay!

Then the Crocs team was like, ‘we’ve never made Jibbitz this big, we don’t even know if it’ll function properly, or it’ll stay on your foot.’ But we tried it and it worked out and I love that we kept on doing it. And it’s obviously the thing that you see talked about the most about that shoe. It was great working with them all in all, I’m glad we did it. In fact, I actually submitted that Croc to the Guinness Book World Records for the largest shoe they ever made in history. So I’m hoping I get a Guinness out of this too.

I mean, someone has to hold the title right?

Exactly.

To close out, aside from the SB Dunk, of course, what are your five favorite sneaker silhouettes right now?

Right now I’m really varied, I wear Hoka a lot. Hoka Clifton 5 is one of my favorite shoes, I wear Crocs classic of course, the Staple Croc, I just came out of wearing a lot of Salomon S-lab. Solomon is this ski brand, they have a division of shoes called the S-lab that I’ve been wearing a lot. Less so as a summer shoe, but in the spring and winter, you definitely wear them. I’ve been wearing the New Balance 2002 R Protection Pack, which I had a customizer by the name of Staniflou do a pigeon version on that 2002 R, which you can see on my feed, which is beautiful. And I’ve been wearing the shit out of those.

And last, let’s say, the Hello Kitty Presto. I’m back on my Presto tip.

Spoiler: This post contains spoilers for the 1995 movie Heat, which you really should see, it’s very, very good.

Earlier this year, Michael Mann announced he was returning to one of his biggest triumphs. The beloved filmmaker said he was working on a prequel/sequel to Heat, his 1995 crime epic which paired Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for the first time since The Godfather: Part II (in which they shared no scenes and played father-son, albeit in different sections). The catch was that it wouldn’t be a film. It would be a novel, which would make it easier for him to delve into both his characters’ backstories and what happened to them after (if they survived to the end of the film, that is).

That novel won’t be released for another month, but already Mann is changing course. As per Empire, he’s decided he wants the book, called simply Heat 2: A Novel, to be a film after all. “It’s totally planned to be a movie,” Mann told the publication , while admitting it would exactly be a small undertaking. “Is it a modest movie? No. Is it a very expensive series? No.” He adds, “It’s going to be one large movie.”

Of course, there would have to be some re-casting. Heat was filmed almost 30 years ago, when some of its cast were already well into middle age. While he could see Pacino returning to the role of hepped-up LAPD lieutenant Vincent Hanna, both De Niro and Val Kilmer would be out. De Niro’s character, ice cold thief Neil McCauley, perished in the film’s final scene. And while Kilmer’s character, fellow robber Chris Shiherlis, is in the “sequel” section of the novel, the actor has health issues, which Top Gun: Maverick was able to work around.

“I love those guys, but they’d have to be six years younger than they were in Heat,” Mann says.

It sounds like Mann is not into going the Irishman route and de-aging Pacino and De Niro with expensive CGI. Still, at least he could take Pacino’s possibly jokey response to who should play the younger him: Timothée Chalamet.

(Via Empire)

America sure does have its own problems right now. But don’t forget about our nation’s former overlords. The United Kingdom is in some ways doing worse, with controversial prime minister and Brexit cheerleader Boris Johnson having recently — and narrowly — avoided a no-confidence vote. He may still remain in power, but on Tuesday, it was reported that he’s losing so many cabinet members and other Conservative politicians that it’s not clear who’s in charge.

As per The New York Times, Johnson has lost two prominent members of his cabinet, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, who were quickly replaced. But they were just the beginning. They were followed by several other people in his party. One, Bim Afolami, a member of Parliament as well as the Conservative Party’s vice-chair, made his announcement on live television, saying, “I can’t serve under the prime minister.” Others indicated their moves reflected the anger of their constituents.

“The events in the past few months have undermined public trust in all of us,” wrote Saqib Bhatti, a member of Parliament, in his resignation letter. “My conscience will not allow me to continue to support this administration.”

Another, Parliament member Andrew Murrison, resigned as Johnson’s trade envoy to Morocco. He, too, posted his resignation letter to Twitter, in which he wrote, “Your position has become unrecoverable.”

The resignations come after a slew of scandals plaguing Johnson’s cabinet. The latest involved a member of his government, Chris Pincher, admitted to getting too drunk one night and groping two men. It was later revealed there had been similar allegations against him made before.

Pressure has been building on Johnson to resign. If he does, the Conservative Party would have to find a replacement, who would be voted upon by Parliament members and then members of the party. Johnson would be expected to stay in power until his replacement is found. Indeed, Johnson himself only became PM after his predecessor, Theresa May, resigned after receiving a no-confidence vote.

(Via NYT)

This week, People’s Party with Talib Kweli is joined by Reggie Noble aka Redman. Arguably one of the most versatile rappers in the history of the art form. Legend status.

Redman has been so consistently relevant in hip-hop, that it is easy to forget that he has been crushing mics and stages since before Whut? Thee Album dropped in 1992. While tons of MCs from the 1990s are MIA (or getting retrospective documentaries made about their careers) he is still making bangers that matter. Redman’s trademark blend of battle-hardened lyrics (sprinkled with cutting-edge humor) and funk-flavored boom-bap production remains unmatched.

At first, you might think it came easy to the ‘Brick City Mashin’ rapper. However, he tells Kweli that his abilities were cultivated directly by mentorship from the legendary Biz Markie who passed away July 16, 2021.

In the video above, Redman shares his history of learning from Biz in the early days of his career. He talks about what it meant to him to learn directly from the diabolical Biz.

“Before I went to EPMD to sign me, I went to Biz Markie,” Red tells Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh. “And I asked him to put me on, bro. He was with the Juice Crew at the time. He was like ‘Yo, I don’t got the time right now.” I was like ‘Aight, cool,’ and maintained doing what I had to do [to make it in the industry as an unsigned artist]. But he allowed me to go to his place — where he lived at — to go through records.”

Later, Red shares the remarkable experience of learning his trade at Biz’s house — “Biz Markie lived right in the center of the hood downtown. But he had the dopest, biggest fucking layout!” After EPMD signed Red, Biz invited him to do local tours and battle his way through MCs across all five boroughs in New York.

“He set it up where I was battling people,” Redman says. “It was all through New York Yo, I was air-ing motherfuckers out left and right!”

Once an opponent failed to show up for a battle in Queens, he and Biz decided to just rock the stage. A bootleg of the performance was recorded and the tape caught fire on the streets of NYC. Eventually, rhyme junkies Stretch and Bobbito got hold of the tape and put it in regular rotation on their radio show. With Biz’s mentoring not only was Redman getting paid (which kept him from returning to drug dealing) it gave him the recognition that set his career on a new trajectory to superstardom. my career.”

Listen to Redman, aka your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper on People’s Party with Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh.

The Eagle Scout Service Project is the culmination of a Scout’s leadership training and requires considerable effort. The project is to demonstrate the Scout’s leadership abilities while also creating something that benefits their local community.

Boyd Huppert’s “Land of 10,000 Stories” highlighted the incredible leadership skills of Eagle Scout Dominique Claseman of Olivia, Minnesota, who, at the age of 15, realized that his hometown needed a veteran’s memorial. So he decided his Eagle Project would be to build one.

“I wanted to show more appreciation in a bigger way,” Claseman, who comes from a long line of people who served their country, told Huppert.

Olivia’s mayor Jon Hawkinson was a little skeptical when the 15-year-old presented his plans for the memorial. “He had architect drawings, he had the space picked out,” the mayor told Huppert. “He knew there would be people in our community who would want to donate to something like this.”

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Claseman got to work selling paving stones to veterans’ families and soliciting donations from local businesses and organizations. All his hard work paid off and he wound up raising a whopping $77,000 for the monument. “It was more than I could imagine,” Claseman told the West Central Tribune.

Claseman broke ground on the project at Kubesh Park on April 27 and the memorial was finally ready for the community for the dedication ceremony on Memorial Day.

“Dom, on behalf of the community of Olivia, thank you for your Americanism, dedication to decency and vision,” Hawkinson said at the ceremony.

“The memorial before you is a result of the generous support I and the veterans of our community have received,” Claseman said, according to the West Central Tribune

“Memorial Day is our nation’s solemn reminder that freedom is never free,” National Guard Major Andrew Lang said at the ceremony. “It is a moment of collective reflection of the noblest of sacrifices of those who gave their very last measure of devotion in service to our ideals and in defense of our great nation.”

The memorial marker reads:

“Dedicated to the courageous brothers and sisters from our community who served our country in times of peace and war. We thank them for their service, especially those who gave their lives in that service. May God grant them all eternal peace.”

u201cDominique Claseman built Olivia, Minnesota a veterans memorial for his Eagle Scout project. He finished it before his 17th birthday. https://t.co/OSeArAgfUmu201d

— KSDK News (@KSDK News)
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The memorial features a walk of honor with footprints from a soldier’s boots. On both sides are black and gray slabs that feature the names of 280 people from the Olivia area who served their country as well as those who donated to the project. The walkway ends at a 21-foot circle with the memorial stone surrounded by four benches where people can commemorate those who sacrificed for their country.

Behind the memorial are three flags, the American flag, a POW flag and the flag of the state of Minnesota.

The memorial is a beautiful tribute to those who served their country but Claseman says it isn’t finished yet. He hopes that his two younger brothers will one day expand the memorial for their Eagle Scout projects.

The fourth of July is supposed to be a patriotic holiday celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence before the founding fathers sent it off to King George (their timing was terrible; the first fighting of the American Revolution started days before it reached its destination). But for many Americans — let’s just say “most” of us — it’s really a day off work in which we get to eat unconscionable amounts of barbecue, get exceedingly day drunk, and/or blow some stuff up. Namely: fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks.

And despite the fact that fireworks are illegal in many municipalities for obvious reasons, that hasn’t stopped people from “celebrating” July 4th with impromptu displays in driveways, backyards, parking lots, and/or in the middle of the street. It certainly didn’t stop Chief Keef, who set off an impressive display in his own driveway on Monday, surrounded by his friends and fleet of muscle cars. Unfortunately, there was just one problem: Chief Keef is by no means a pyrotechnics expert and things almost immediately went wrong, spraying fireworks all over the driveway and sending people ducking for cover behind the cars.

Look: it’s not completely funny. After all, 11,500 Americans were hospitalized with fireworks-related injuries in 2021 alone and that was a drop from the year before. There’s a reason private fireworks are illegal. But on the other hand, if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes, and there is little as amusing as watching instant karma, provided nobody actually gets hurt. Maybe Keef and co. have learned their lesson and will invest in a specialist next year. Still, we’d rather see our favorite rappers playing with fireworks than with guns, so viva la revolution until next year.

Watch the video above.

In the two weeks before what proved to be a very grim July 4 weekend, the Supreme Court went on a tear. The right-leaning bench dropped one radical ruling after another, wiping out Miranda rights and Roe v. Wade, making guns easier to carry in public, crippling the EPA and more. But people haven’t only been angry with the Court. They’ve been angry with Democratic leaders, who’ve seemed ill-prepared — even disinterested — in doing, well, anything. The lack of urgency has even shocked Republicans.

One of them is Brian Fallon, a longtime party insider, who’s worked for the likes of Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Eric Holder. Now he’s an activist, running the advocacy group Demand Justice, and in an interview with Vanity Fair, he was not kind to the party’s leaders, including some of his former employers.

For instance, when asked if he was “surprised” by the Supreme Court’s radical new rulings, he said, “No,” then turned on Democratic leaders. “The thing that surprised me,” he said, “is how little evidence there is that anybody on our side took advantage of the two months lead time, since the leaked Roe draft, to get our response coordinated and aligned behind a vision of what we’re going to do about it next.”

Fallon speculates that the Biden administration may have been distracted by the host of other problems plaguing the country, including a baby formula shortage, inflation, rising gas prices, and more. But their lack of urgency, he says, may be more holistic:

Biden is a politician of a particular vintage. He was a Senate judiciary committee member for many years. He wants to defend the institution and always see the legitimacy in it, even when it’s behaving illegitimately. The other thing is, I think Democrats of that age have only known the courts issue to be one that mobilizes Republican voters. So the idea that the pendulum is now swinging and Democratic voters are now motivated by the court more than Republican voters, which polls are showing is the case, that’s a new phenomenon that I don’t think is factoring into the thinking of these people, that it’s actually a winning issue now to wield a cudgel against the court and call it out.

Fallon concludes that Democratic leaders are not meeting the GOP on equal terms. Citing Biden’s recent kowtowing to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell by appointing an anti-abortion judge, he says, “It just goes to how we always bring a butter knife to a gunfight. I mean, Mitch McConnell would never throw somebody a bone in this way.”

Not all is lost. Fallon offers a couple solutions, including “taking on the court rhetorically as a political villain and as an institution that is out of touch with a majority of the American public.” (Though some, like Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, have already been doing that.) He also suggests being more open to bold moves, like opening abortion clinics on federal lands, which has already been poo-pooed by Biden’s team. “It’s very dispiriting when lawmakers and outside experts propose things and the Biden administration rules them out within 48 hours,” Fallon says.

In any case, reading poems and singing songs ain’t cutting it.

(Via Vanity Fair)

Summer League has begun in the two warmup cities of Salt Lake and San Francisco, but the league as a whole will descend on Las Vegas later this week.

The headliners, of course, are the young stars from the last two Drafts who are scheduled to play, rom this year’s highly coveted prospects like Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith, and Jaden Ivey, to top rookies from last year like Cade Cunningham and Josh Giddey. Some rosters are stacked with potential rotation players next year, and my colleague Jackson Frank so kindly laid out what teams you should be setting your schedule around for Summer League viewing.

However, I’m here to talk about the individuals who are guaranteed to become fan favorites at Summer League. As a veteran of 10 of these, I feel qualified to predict what players fit the most cherished Summer League archetypes, which my friend Steve Jones correctly pointed out on Twitter today.

The main addition on my end to this list is the short big man who can either get buckets and/or is stronger than everyone, and that will be reflected below. Here, I’d like to point out the guys that I expect to become the fan favorites at the great Cox Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Arena this week, most of whom are somewhat lesser-known names — although I had to point out one top pick who is going to maybe steal the entire show.

Kenneth Lofton Jr. and David Roddy (Memphis)

Memphis always loads up on talented players that Draft Twitter loves but don’t quite fit NBA archetypes, and they’ve got two of the most fun ones on their Summer League roster. Roddy, the No. 23 overall pick, put up monster numbers at Colorado State and can absolutely shoot that thing at 6’6, 260. He’s a bucket-getter, and in Vegas, that’s the skill that always stands out above all else.

Joining Roddy is my personal favorite player of anyone going to Summer League, Kenneth Lofton Jr., the man who carried Team USA to the U19 World Cup title in 2021 and is just an absolute force on the block. He’s undersized in height at 6’7 but uses all 280 pounds to get wherever he wants on the basketball court, carving out space to get his shot off and absolutely dominating the glass despite being four or five inches shorter than most centers. I cannot wait for NBA fans to put their eyes on Lofton — he already carries the stamp of approval from Stephen Jackson, who called him “Baby Z-Bo,” which might be the highest compliment a player on the Grizzlies roster can get.

Ron Harper Jr. and Christian Koloko (Toronto)

The Raptors have two strong candidates for fan favorite on their roster. The first is former Rutgers star (and yes, the son of that Ron Harper), who is a bucket. He’s a big fella (measured in at 6’4, 240 at the combine), which only adds to the joy in watching him stop and pop on folks. He can light it up from deep (39.8 percent from three at Rutgers last year) and isn’t afraid of taking over a game late. On a team like Toronto without a ton of guys prepping to be in the NBA rotation at Summer League, I expect Harper Jr. to assert himself out in Vegas.

Koloko, meanwhile, fits the shot-blocker and rim-runner archetype that is always fun at Summer League. He’s gonna catch lobs and send shots into the second row, and while the Raptors will be more concerned with how he looks as a defender in space and all that, we can all enjoy the more eye-popping parts of his game that will be on display.

Jaden Hardy (Dallas)

If you’re trying to find the young guard with a pull-up jumper who isn’t afraid to use it, as Steve noted, Hardy might be your man. He will get shots up, and while he’s not the most efficient, he can pile up points and Dallas has plenty of reason to let him cook in the Summer League setting. We love a Summer League gunner, and Hardy is high on my list of guys I expect to get ’em up and have fans chattering.

Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana)

I know I said I wasn’t going to touch on top picks too much, but I cannot emphasize enough how cool Mathurin is as a player and how much everyone is going to love him in this format. The first time I saw Mathurin in person was at the 2020 NBA Academy Global Camp in Chicago where he tried to dunk on every single big man at the camp — I thought he had injured himself on multiple occasions crashing to the floor, only to pop up and try again minutes later. He plays the game with a mean streak that stands out in a more laid back atmosphere like Summer League, and those guys are always the most fun. Also, please click on this link for his thoughts on LeBron James.

Joshua Primo (San Antonio)

Primo is one of the frontrunners for the “Oh, he definitely is too good to be here” roster spots, but unlike other second year guys (ex: Cade Cunningham), the Spurs have some reason to give him continued minutes in the desert. With Dejounte Murray gone, Primo’s role is getting a big increase this season, and the more reps he can get having a team that is his, the better for his development and for the Spurs next season. I expect him to put up some eye-popping numbers, especially since the Spurs top pick, Jeremy Sochan, is at his best as a team defender. That isn’t exactly a great Summer League skill to have, so Primo should have all the opportunity he wants to pile up points.

Scotty Pippen Jr. and Shareef O’Neal (Los Angeles)

Listen, it’s Summer League, which means no matter what, the Lakers are going to draw crazy crowds. This year’s Lakers squad doesn’t live up to those Lonzo Ball/Brandon Ingram/D’Angelo Russell teams of years past when Thomas & Mack would damn near sellout every game, but rest assured, the two sons of NBA legends are going to draw plenty of attention. Pippen Jr. seems most likely to have real success in Summer League, as he is not shy about shooting the ball, averaging north of 20 points per game last year for Vanderbilt. Shareef O’Neal, meanwhile, is just looking to stick on a training camp roster, but you can rest assured the big man out of LSU will have lots of support any time he’s on the floor.

I don’t think I’ve ever been as surprised by a food test as I was by this week’s test of hot dog-cooking methods. Granted, we started with Olympia Provisions uncured frankfurters, which are basically the Rolls Royce of hot dogs. Even so, I never imagined a plain ol’ hot dog (I ate these without a bun or toppings of any kind) could taste so good.

I was never a major hot dog head. I think I unwittingly absorbed much of the 1990s pseudo-health babble that basically convinced us that hot dogs were made out of pig’s buttholes dunked in bleach and that you’d get a heart attack if you even looked at one (I also avoided egg yolks for a time back then, which you couldn’t pay me to do now). A lot of the 90s anti-fat crusade turned out to be flawed, and these days it’s hard to get a straight answer about which part of a hot dog is actually bad for you. I think the common sense approach probably applies: don’t eat one every day, but an occasional hot dog is probably fine.

These days I have probably two a month, usually on the golf course, always with a bun and slathered with as many condiments as I can find (I’m talking mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, and mayonnaise, and absolutely kraut and jalapeños if they’re available). I always enjoy them in limited circumstances but for a family cookout I probably would’ve told you I preferred hamburgers. After this week’s test, though… I may be a changed man.

A great hot dog can compete with a burger.

Whether you eat hot dogs a lot or a little, the same question still applies: what’s the best way to cook a wiener? Before this, I probably would’ve told you a steamed or boiled dog, ballpark style, was best. I think that was based more on looks than anything else. Nothing beats the look of a steam-plumped frank. Yet this week’s winner turned out to be a method I’d never even tried before. You learn something new every day, I guess.

The Methods:

I fully expect to have 10 weird, bespoke methods of hot dog cooking shouted at me in the comments, but these seemed like the basics:

• Boiled
• Grilled
• Fried
• Beer-braised
• Pan-grilled
• Baked
• Microwaved
• Sous vide.

I suppose I could’ve wrapped one in bacon, Sonora-style, but we all know those are amazing so we wouldn’t be discovering much, and it might cheapen the magic of buying them outside a bar at two in the morning.

THE RANKINGS

8. Microwaved

The Method:

Listen, I knew microwaved wasn’t going to win this contest, but a lot of people tell me they actually do eat them this way so I felt duty-bound to include it. I didn’t know how long to cook it for (hot dogs are pre-cooked, so really you’re just heating them up), and I thought 30 seconds seemed like a reasonable amount of time to start with.

Turns out I was wrong. 30 seconds made this bad boy look like a victim of Robocop. I could’ve grabbed another frank and tried this one over again, but I just didn’t feel like wasting another perfectly good frank in order to learn that, duh, microwaving isn’t the best way to make a hot dog. I think we all knew that.

Tasting Notes:

Obviously, it exploded and thus looks like absolute hell. Major point deductions for the look alone. To make matters worse, all that yummy fat that should be inside of the dog when you bite into is now mostly all over the plate and the inside of my microwave. The meat squeaks when I bite into it. It has a rubbery texture and a saltier taste than the others — presumably because a lot of the liquid that would normally dilute that salt has leeched out. Not great, Bob. I’m sure I could’ve put it in the micro for less time or covered it with a wet paper towel or stuck it inside a water-filled Tupperware first (editor Steve’s suggestion) to make a better version of this, but I feel fairly confident that none of those steps would’ve saved microwaved from the bottom spot.

Bottom Line:

You don’t microwave a hot dog because you think it’s going to taste great, you do it because you’re Milhouse’s sad divorced dad. 4/10

7. Baked

The Method

Once again, I did what seemed pretty reasonable to me in theory. I cook bacon in an oven, why not hot dogs? So I stuck a dog on a sheet pan and baked it at 350 for less than 10 minutes. That relatively low temp and short time wasn’t enough to keep it from bursting a little, and here, again, I felt like experimenting to find the ideal time and temp to bake a hot dog seemed contrary to the ease of preparing that makes hot dogs hot dogs.

Not to mention a waste of perfectly good dogs.

Tasting Notes:

This one also exploded, and consequently, it looks fucked. Wrinkly skin and with the interior partly dried out. Taste-wise, it’s less salty and not nearly as rubbery as the microwaved but the skin is kind of tough more than it’s snappy. and

Bottom Line:

There isn’t much about this method to recommend it above any of the others. 5/10

6. Sous-Vide/Water Bath

The Method:

Is a sous vide (or more properly a water circulator or water bath, since sous vide means “under vacuum” in French, and you don’t really need, nor did I use, a vacuum sealer for this) a hopelessly fussy method for cooking hot dogs? Absolutely. That being said, if I needed to make 150 hot dogs all cooked to the same exact temperature for some reason, I could do it this way pretty easily, so it’s not without its potential usefulness.

For the purposes of this test, I cooked a dog at 140 degrees for an hour — as per the instructions on Anova’s website, the company that makes my circulator.

Tasting Notes:

The sous vide dog comes out with nice, taut skin, with no bursting or blistering, but also less plump than a boiled dog. The appearance is pretty close to the uncooked version, which is good and bad — it looks nice and uniform, but also not a ton of plumping, and no char on the skin, if you’re into that. Biting into it, there’s a light snap to the skin, and the inside is juicy and nice. This method probably leads to the least liquid loss, so the inside stays pretty moist. Still, if you’re going with a water-based cooking method, it seems like the plump is what makes it. This one looks a little sad compared to a nice, plump steamed or boiled dog.

Bottom Line:

I think you could sous vide a dog and then finish it in a hot pan for just a few seconds, but that’s a lot of work and time for a dog, and it takes away the sous vide method’s only real upside — that you can do a lot more of them at once and have them all be finished at the same time. 7/10.

5. Boiled

The Method:

I just threw this sucker into simmering water and left it there for about 15 minutes. I didn’t do a separate steamed dog because I can’t imagine it would taste too different. Plus, this way you get the satisfaction of producing half of a Limp Bizkit album.

Tasting Notes:

This looks like a classic ballpark/golf course frank, so it’s very appealing to me. Looks-wise, undoubtedly the best of the bunch. I love the way it plumps up and curls just a little. “Tumescent” is really the only way I can describe it.

Biting into it, there’s a nice snap to the exterior, and it’s very plump and juicy on the inside (not surprisingly). Taste-wise it’s difficult to judge against the sous vide, but I give it the slight edge based on the obvious plumpness difference.

Bottom Line:

Very solid experience overall, but the biggest and most obvious drawback is that does miss some of those Maillard flavors. 7.5/10

4. Grilled

The Method:

If you’re making dogs for the family for a holiday like the 4th of July, chances are they’re going to be grilled, and there’s a lot to recommend this method. The flame produces a nice Maillard reaction, adding a depth of flavor you don’t get with a water-based method and a different texture on the skin. You also get nice aroma waft from the combination of fire hitting skin and fat hitting the grill (I’ve just invented the term “aroma waft,” you have to pay me five dollars every time you use it) which is an important part of the hot dog ritual. “Hey, whatcha cookin’ over there?” your neighbors will ask, to which you can respond enthusiastically, “Mind your own goddamned business, Dave.”

I have a crappy propane grill, so admittedly I’m not getting the flavors you’d get with a charcoal or wood-fired grill, but in any case, I just tried to get a reasonably even char without letting the franks burst too much and lose moisture (which wasn’t that easy on my crappy grill).

Tasting Notes:

The skin is slightly blackened in places and the dog has shrunk inside its skin slightly, which I don’t love. I like when a hot dog is supple and taut against its skin. Biting into though, it definitely makes up for what it loses in the looks department with taste. The skin has a nice snap to it, a tiny little crunch when you bite into it that the water-based ones don’t have.

Bottom Line:

That caramelization on the outside is so nice, and you’re getting so many flavors you just don’t without a char. 8/10.

3. Pan Grilled

The Method:

You don’t need to own a barbecue or go outside for a grilled dog, a cast iron (or really any) pan works just fine as well. You don’t get quite the same taste or texture as a flame-kissed dog, but the upside is a slightly more even char.

Tasting Notes:

It’s a little wrinkly, like the grilled version, though with more even char. Biting in, the skin has a nice snap, with a tasty interior… The skin seems slightly more tender than the flame-grilled version.

Bottom Line:

This gets the very, very slight edge over the flame-grilled version — though maybe they’d be flip-flopped if I used a charcoal grill that imparts some flavor. For now, I don’t get enough flavor difference for the flame-grilled to overcome the pan-grilled method’s slightly improved texture. 8.5/10

2. Beer Braised

The Method:

This is basically the cooking method seen in The Irishman, which Zach already attempted to recreate in full here. Basically, I seared the dog a bit on all sides in the hot cast iron (which doesn’t take much longer than a minute or two) then poured in about a half bottle worth of Modelo. Modelo just seemed summery (as most Mexican beers do to me), and honestly, there aren’t too many mass-market light lagers better than Modelo.

Then I cooked it until all the beer burned off.

Tasting Notes:

I’m honestly shocked at how god damn beautiful a dog this method produced. It looks similar to the pan-grilled, but with this gorgeous sugary glaze coating the skin, almost like maple bacon or honey-baked ham. My mouth is watering long before the first bite.

Biting into it, there’s definitely a brightness it gets from the beer, both sweetness and acidity in a sticky glaze. It has a depth of flavors that the others don’t. The skin not only snaps, it crackles a little. It doesn’t quite melt in your mouth like the day’s big winner. It’s very close though. The texture is glazed and sticky, which none of the others have.

Bottom Line:

The effect of the beer is downright magical. Highly recommend. 8.75/10.

1. Pan Fried

The Method:

This seemed fairly obvious, but I’d never tried them this way. Zach, who lives in Berlin, says it’s standard practice for Berlin’s famous “currywurst.” I just put a little vegetable oil in the bottom of my hot cast iron fry pan and rolled the frank around in the oil. It took less than five minutes, and I was, in all honesty, blown away by how good it was.

Tasting Notes:

The skin is a little dark on the outside, and it burst a little (once again I underestimated how little heat it takes to burst these things), so there’s a little light wrinkling on the exterior. Biting in… Ooh, that caramelization on the skin (plus a little of the interior) is actually really, really nice. The exterior has crackly, snappy skin, but it melts in your mouth. I had to call my wife over to taste my favorite two cooking methods and she actually closed her eyes and went “Mmm” while she chewed. It was that good. (I’d actually done the same thing so it was nice when she confirmed that it wasn’t just me being impressed with myself.)

With this method, the skin burst a little, but the hot oil basically cauterized the wound, and created this additional layer of crunchy caramelization. It was incredible. Obviously, this isn’t the healthiest method for cooking a hot dog, but if you’re already calorie splurging and you’re just cooking a hot dog, I can’t imagine what little oil it soaks up is that much worse for you than the other dog-cooking methods. Of course, that’s really a question for your nutritionist. All I know is that it tasted fantastic.

Bottom Line:

Far better than I realized any hot dog could ever taste. 9/10

Vince Mancini is on Twitter.

Fans of turnt-up, unapologetically Southern crunk rap are undoubtedly tuned in to the monstrous hit that is Hitkidd and GloRilla’s “FNF (Let’s Go).” Released in May, the song has already accumulated well over 30 million streams across all platforms and has been tabbed as the song of the summer in many circles. That’s before Bay Area favorite Saweetie teased an impending remix, adding her star power to what has already become an unstoppable juggernaut of a hit. And now, the icing on the cake: The song has officially resulted in a label deal for the burgeoning Memphis hitmaker GloRilla, courtesy of one of her hometown’s heroes.

Yo Gotti, head of CMG Records and the rapper behind huge viral smashes such as “Down In The DM” and “Rake It Up,” announced he has signed GloRilla to his imprint via a video Tweet showing GloRilla and her friends mobbing their way onto a private plane, where she puts ink to paper to solidify their artistic partnership.

In a report about the signing, Yo Gotti told Billboard, “GloRilla is a natural born star – she has a different sound and approach that’s needed in hip-hop right now. It’s one of the quickest rises that I’ve seen in my career because she only dropped in late-April and now she has the hottest cultural records in music. Glo is hungry for success and determined to win. We look forward to watching her grow as an artist and reach her full potential.”

Meanwhile, GloRilla herself said of the move, “I’ve put in years of hard work to get this point and I’m blessed to sign with the hottest label in music with CMG. manifested this moment and trusted my talent even when others didn’t. I’m grateful for Gotti for believing in me and I’m not gonna let up. Trust that I have more new heat on the way.”

She’s not exaggerating; CMG is also home to several of rap’s fastest rising stars, including Moneybagg Yo, 42 Dugg, and EST Gee, all of whom have seen tremendous success in the last two years with either their debuts, follow-ups to their debuts, or joint projects masterminded by Yo Gotti himself. If the pattern holds, expect to see a lot more of GloRilla on the charts in the coming months.