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In a new episode of his Spotify podcast, Barack Obama opened up for the first time about being called a racial slur by one of his own friends while in high school. While discussing race with Bruce Springsteen (because Obama gets the good guests), the former president recalled the locker room fight that started with racism and ended with a broken nose. According to Obama, the former friend called him a “c**n,” which at first struck him as odd because, “Now first of all, ain’t no c**ns in Hawaii, right?” and then led to him making it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of talk. Via The Hill:

“It’s one of those things that where he might not even known what a c–n was — what he knew was, ‘I can hurt you by saying this,’” Obama, 59, continued.

The country’s first Black president added with a laugh, “And I remember I popped him in the face and broke his nose and we were in the locker room.”

After the punch, Obama recalled telling the boy, “Don’t you ever call me something like that,” before launching into his wider thoughts that using racial slurs is still so pervasive today because it’s “an assertion of status over the other.” Obama then explained to Springsteen that that mindset opens the door to all kinds of terrible actions. “That basic psychology that then gets institutionalized, is used to justify dehumanizing somebody, taking advantage of ’em, cheatin’ ’em, stealin’ from ’em, killin’ ’em, raping ’em,” Obama warned as the specter of Donald Trump’s presidency and his rabid support from white supremacists still hangs in the air.

(Via The Hill)

Yesterday, the U.S. reached a tragic milestone in the number of people who have died from Covid, but that’s not stopping Fox News from complaining about Dr. Fauci and mask-wearing mandates.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade lost it on air Tuesday morning over a recent CNN appearance by Fauci, who cautioned grandparents from visiting their grandchildren until scientists had more definitive answers on how Covid spreads between vaccinated individuals. Kilmeade became visibly irate over the idea that just a year into managing the worst global pandemic we’ve seen in decades, scientists like Fauci still don’t have all the answers. So, Kilmeade decided to make up his own truth to make himself feel better.

“Unbelievable what is happening,” Kilmeade said before referencing a question journalist Dana Bash asked Fauci. “To that question: ‘My parents are 80 years old, they got vaccinated. Can they go see their grandkids?’ You know what the answer is? Yes. The vaccine is 94% effective. The chances of a kid getting it and falling ill are infinitesimal.”

Of course, children getting the virus isn’t the only concern in this scenario, it’s the asymptomatic spread and how Covid travels between vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals. There are also lingering fears about mutated strands of the virus and how they’ll interact with current vaccines which prevent professionals, like Fauci, from giving the go-ahead to slack off on social distancing measures, especially when it comes to high-risk groups like the elderly.

Kilmeade, being just a TV personality, obviously doesn’t operate under the same rigid standards of truth and responsibility to the public.

“You go over there and do it,” he spewed on. “[Fauci] doesn’t take into account the psychological damage done by not going to school, by not seeing your grandkids, by not playing sports, by not going to work, by losing your job. All he sees is a bunch of graphs.” (Fauci publicly stated he hadn’t planned to spend time with his own children over the holidays because of the virus.)

Kilmeade went on to compare Covid to everything from the flu, which he claims is just as bad — fact check: it’s not — to getting hit by a car and polio before ending his rant predicting the downfall of America because we’re being forced to cut back on tailgate parties and Sunday dinners, saying, “How long do you stay inside? Stop the lockdown restriction and let America get back to being America. It’s got to be happening now or else we have no country left.”

Maybe Kilmeade and Meghan McCain can go to group therapy together when this is all done.

Kanye West may have been the second-highest paid celebrity of 2020, but he wasn’t always successful. In fact, Kanye faced a few major setbacks when he was coming up in his rap career, including being told by a label executive that his rap game wasn’t good enough.

On an episode of Story To Tell with Andrew Barber for The Coda Collection, Lupe Fiasco joined to discuss his early career. Touching on his relationship with Kanye, Fiasco recalled one instance when Kanye had his ego bruised in a major way by LA Reid, a label head who was recently forced to step down from his position at Epic Records following a sexual harassment case:

“We brought Ye into Arista to showcase for LA Reid before Roc-A-Fella. Stack Bundles was sitting there. Imagine it’s me, Stack Bundles, Kanye, and LA Reid in the office. When we stopped, LA was like, ‘Yo you should stick to making music, you stick to making beats.’ Real sh*t. So that’s why I always honor Ye, no matter how crazy he goes. I’ve seen that man struggle and him just working through it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Fiasco discussed how he and Kanye have always had a working relationship. “I’ve been knowing Ye for a long ass time. I remember first meeting Ye when he first did ‘The Truth.’ We did a little speaking thing, I think at Columbia College. That’s when n**** had a ‘fro or some sh*t, it was weird. But I was working with Ye for years. I got Ye joints. I remember Ye used to come up to the crib and be like, ‘Hey man, what you think about this verse?’”

Watch Barber’s full conversation with Lupe Fiasco on The Coda Collection here.

After capturing the franchise’s first NBA title in 2019, the Toronto Raptors produced their best regular season effort last season, winning more than 73 percent of their games in the pandemic-shortened campaign. The Raptors exited the playoffs earlier than expected, however, and Nick Nurse’s team suffered a few key personnel losses in the offseason, headlined by Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. From there, Toronto, playing this season in Tampa, dug quite a hole at the outset of the 2020-21 campaign, losing eight of their first ten games and drawing all kinds of negative attention as a result.

Since that 2-8 start, the Raptors are 14-7 and, in short, the team looks a lot like it was supposed to look. It is worth noting that the Raptors’ metrics, including a -1.4 net rating, were much better than the 2-8 record in dictated. Still, the team was dealing with unfamiliar surroundings while playing in Florida and essentially nothing went well in the early going. Beginning with Jan. 14, though, Toronto has the third-most wins of any team in the league, boasting a top-five net rating (+4.7) and top-10 units on both ends of the floor.

Individually, several members of Toronto’s core are enjoying success. Though he’s missed the last three games, Kyle Lowry is Kyle Lowry and he provides value both ends. His backcourt partner, Fred VanVleet, is enjoying his best NBA season, averaging a career-high 20.1 points per game to go with career-bests in assist rate (28.0 percent) and turnover rate (10.3 percent). The Raptors are also getting a ton of value from Norman Powell and OG Anunoby, with both wings shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range, and Chris Boucher has proven to be a highly effective frontcourt piece. Powell is averaging 17 points per game to provide a fourth scoring option, Anunoby remains an incredibly valuable defensive player that can take away the best option for almost any opponent, and Boucher brings badly needed versatility on both ends.

Finally, Pascal Siakam seems to have rediscovered his mojo. Siakam famously struggled in the Bubble, particularly when it came to efficiency, and his scuffles carried over to the start of the 2020-21 season. In the first 15 games, Siakam averaged just 18.1 points while shooting 44 percent from the floor and 25 percent from three-point range. As such, the whispers about his sub-standard play increased in volume, but his recent play is a big reason for Toronto’s success. Siakam is averaging 23.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game in the last 13 contests, upping his efficiency to 47 percent from the floor, 37 percent from long range and 85 percent at the charity stripe.

Even with Toronto’s broad success after the first ten games, they’ve been even better recently. The Raptors are 9-3 in the last 12, out-scoring opponents by 6.6 points per 100 possessions and scoring nearly 1.17 points per possession. There was one hiccup in a home loss to Minnesota on Valentine’s Day but, after that, the Raptors reeled off four straight wins, including a road sweep over Milwaukee and a home win over Philadelphia in their last outing on Sunday.

It is certainly worth noting that Toronto’s defense, which was the team’s calling card last season, is not back to elite levels, and it may never be without Gasol and/or Ibaka in the middle. As such, the Raptors may have a lower ceiling than previous groups, but they are playing quite well and Nick Nurse, as usual, has found tweaks to make the team perform at a higher level. The Raptors are now sitting in the top five of a jumbled Eastern Conference and, well, it’s like the first ten games never happened.

Where does Toronto stack up in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s take a look.

1. Utah Jazz (25-6, Last week — 1st)

After Utah won 20 of 21 games, the Jazz finally lost once this week. Of course, they still managed to split a pair of road games against the Clippers, and they bounced back from the loss by toppling Charlotte on Monday evening and setting a franchise record for threes in a game in the process. Utah still has the best profile to this point, and they stick in the top spot.

2. Brooklyn Nets (20-12, Last week — 5th)

The Nets are absolutely rolling with the NBA’s longest winning streak. Not only has Brooklyn won six straight, they reeled off a 5-0 road trip that featured wins over the Suns, Lakers and Clippers in succession. It’s not as if the Nets don’t pass the eye test, either, and they’re doing all of this with Kevin Durant sidelined. Defense is a question, but they are scary.

3. Phoenix Suns (20-10, Last week — 4th)

We dove into Phoenix’s stellar play last week, and it continues. The Suns did lose a game to begin this week, but it came by a narrow margin to the scalding-hot Nets. After that, Devin Booker and company beat up on Memphis, New Orleans and Portland to improve to 12-2 in the last 14 games.

4. L.A. Clippers (22-10, Last week — 3rd)

On one hand, the Clippers went 1-2 this week with both losses coming at home. On the other, the Clippers lost to the Nets and Jazz, and both of those teams are in quite a groove. I’m going to side with everything being okay for a team that is third in net rating so far this season.

5. Los Angeles Lakers (22-10, Last week — 2nd)

Let’s get one thing straight. No one should worry about the Lakers. They’ll be fine. Los Angeles just lost its third game in a row, however, and they blew a substantial lead to the Wizards in the process. It goes without saying that Anthony Davis is pretty important… but Anthony Davis is pretty important.

6. Toronto Raptors (16-15, Last week — 14th)

As discussed above, the Raptors are playing fantastic basketball, but they have an interesting challenge to begin this week. Toronto plays Philadelphia and Miami in a back-to-back (with travel) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that is a good measuring stick for all three squads.

7. Milwaukee Bucks (18-13, Last week — 7th)

The Bucks just had a five-game losing streak and, if these rankings came out a few days ago, they would’ve been lower. Milwaukee bounced back with two straight double-digit wins, and they still have the No. 2 net rating in the league. That’s honestly pretty difficult to achieve at 18-13 overall, and the Bucks need Jrue Holiday.

8. Philadelphia 76ers (20-11, Last week — 9th)

Philly sits atop the East, but they’ve been pretty ordinary lately. The Sixers are 4-5 in the last nine games, including four losses in the last six tilts. They can get right with a win over Toronto on Tuesday, but it won’t be easy given the way the Raptors are playing right now.

9. San Antonio Spurs (16-11, Last week — 10th)

There might be some smoke and mirrors happening with San Antonio, and I’ll acknowledge that. They are 8-3 in the last 11 games, even while posting only a +0.5 net rating. Some of that could regress, but this is a well-coached team with depth and reasonable talent. They are navigating this season brilliantly.

10. Denver Nuggets (16-14, Last week — 6th)

It was not a good week for Denver. They went 1-3 and the only victory came over the Cavs, who can’t seem to beat anyone. Moreover, the Nuggets looked abjectly terrible at times defensively, particularly when trying to deal with Trae Young and the Hawks on Sunday night in Atlanta.

11. Indiana Pacers (15-14, Last week — 13th)

The Pacers played one game this week and it was a road win over Minnesota. That isn’t really a game that a team gets “credit” for, so we’ll call this an incomplete because of two postponements.

12. Portland Trail Blazers (18-12, Last week — 8th)

After a heck of a run to six straight victories with a short-handed roster, reality bit the Blazers to end the week. Portland just lost to the Wizards at home before being absolutely throttled in Phoenix. Honestly, it is tough to knock the Blazers because their record far out-paces their available talent, but it will be interesting to see how they finish the first half.

13. Miami Heat (14-17, Last week — 20th)

This is an oversimplification, but the Heat are 11-8 when Jimmy Butler plays this season. I’m going to trust that figure more than their overall profile, and Miami is 7-3 in the last ten games. It helps to have one of your two stars on the floor.

14. Dallas Mavericks (14-15, Last week — 15th)

Dallas is still battling defensive issues on a grand scale, in part because Kristaps Porzingis can’t seem to move. As a counterpoint, the Mavericks are 6-2 in the last eight and scoring 121.7 points per 100 possessions during that mini-run. At least they are back to their offensively dominant form.

15. New York Knicks (15-16, Last week — 12th)

Julius Randle’s All-Star candidacy is of great interest right now, in part because the Knicks are, well, decent. New York just won four of the last five games, even if there is a slight asterisk for competition. Wins over Washington, Houston, Atlanta and Minnesota won’t impress anyone in a vacuum, but they all count, especially for a team hoping to find its way to a surprise playoff appearance.

16. Golden State Warriors (16-15, Last week — 11th)

Three days later, people are still talking about Draymond Green being ejected in Charlotte. It was a wild play, to be sure, and the Warriors almost escaped with a Steph-less win. Still, it was a regular season game in February, so everything will be fine.

17. Chicago Bulls (14-16, Last week — 19th)

After Zach LaVine led the Bulls in scoring in ten straight games, Coby White toppled him with a 24-point effort on Monday in Houston. The Bulls won (by 20!) anyway. Chicago is tied for the No. 8 seed through 30 games, and they are playing some quality basketball, right as coaches are voting on whether LaVine deserves an All-Star reserve slot.

18. Washington Wizards (11-17, Last week — 21st)

Washington has been one of the tougher teams to gauge throughout the season. This week, there isn’t much nuance required. The Wizards are on a five-game winning streak, capped by a wild comeback win over the Lakers on the road. Credit where credit is due.

19. Boston Celtics (15-15, Last week — 17th)

In all honesty, I was expecting to bump the Celtics up this week after punishing them a week ago. Boston just isn’t playing very well right now, and other teams made a strong impression. Of note, no one actually believes the Celtics are the 19th-best team, but their injuries and uneven play are at least mildly concerning.

20. Atlanta Hawks (13-17, Last week — 25th)

After a hideous stretch in which they lost seven of eight, the Hawks rebounded at the end of last week. Atlanta found its offensive mojo, largely because Trae Young was lights-out, and they beat Boston and Denver in the process. It feels like everything has gone wrong for the Hawks, but they are still in the play-in right now and in perfectly fine position.

21. Memphis Grizzlies (13-14, Last week — 18th)

It was pretty much a status quo week for the Grizzlies. They beat the two teams they should beat (OKC, Detroit) and lost to the two teams they should lose to (Phoenix, at Dallas). Ho hum.

22. Charlotte Hornets (14-16, Last week — 16th)

The Hornets are wobbling a little bit right now, even if it doesn’t necessarily show in the standings. They are 2-3 in the last five, but the two wins came against the Wolves and an escape job against the Steph-less Warriors at home. In the three losses, Charlotte fell by a total of 60 points. Just something to note as they continue a lengthy road trip to conclude the first half of the schedule.

23. New Orleans Pelicans (13-17, Last week — 24th)

New Orleans is very bad defensively right now. The Pelicans are just 2-5 in the last seven games and, in that span, New Orleans is yielding more than 1.26 points per possession. It is exceptionally difficult to win that way, even with Zion and Brandon Ingram cooking on the other end.

24. Orlando Magic (13-18, Last week — 28th)

It was good to see Orlando play well this week. Things were… dire. The Magic are on a three-game winning streak, even with the caveat that all three games came at home and two of them were over the Pistons and Knicks. Maybe they can ride the wave.

25. Oklahoma City Thunder (12-19, Last week — 22nd)

The Thunder are pretty competitive, even as there is almost as much attention on their team in the G League bubble (hi, Poku!) as the big league club sometimes. OKC just finished a busy, five-game week with only one win, though, and it came against the struggling Cavs.

26. Sacramento Kings (12-18, Last week — 23rd)

Just two weeks ago, the Kings were one of the better stories in the NBA. They haven’t won a game since. Sacramento has a seven-game losing skid that included an 0-5 homestand, and they are allowing 1.22 points per possession in those seven tilts. One step forward, two steps back.

27. Houston Rockets (11-18, Last week — 26th)

It might be charitable to have the Rockets outside of the bottom three. Houston’s losing streak is now at eight games, and they have been out-scored by 15 points per 100 possession during that downturn. There are issues on both ends but, while Houston’s defense cooling off after a hot start following the James Harden trade was predictable, they are simply unable to score without Christian Wood on the floor.

28. Detroit Pistons (8-22, Last week — 27th)

It wasn’t a complete disaster from the Pistons this week. They were competitive in every game and the whole slate was on the road. With that said, they lost all three games and did so against the Magic, Bulls and Grizzlies. That isn’t exactly a murderer’s row of opposition, and Detroit has the league’s second-worst record.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (7-24, Last week — 29th)

When we last checked in on Minnesota, they knocked off Toronto on the road. That, combined with the return of Karl-Anthony Towns, provided some optimism. The Wolves then lost all four games this week, albeit by single-digits each time, and just fired their coach to hire another team’s assistant during the season. We’ll always have the Anthony Edwards dunk.

30. Cleveland Cavaliers (10-21, Last week — 30th)

It’s really bad in Cleveland. The Cavs have lost ten straight, and they are being out-scored by more than 21 (!) points per 100 possessions during the skid. Defensively, Cleveland is completely off the rails and, with multiple pieces still out of the lineup, they are pretty clearly playing the worst basketball in the league at this moment.

Save for a break in the ’90s and 2000s, Dinosaur Jr. is one of the longest-running bands out there, having formed in 1984. Since their 2005 reunion, J Mascis and company have been consistently productive, and they’ll continue that this year with a new album: Sweep It Into Space is set for release on April 23. Ahead of then, the band has shared a new song, “I Ran Away.”

Kurt Vile co-produced the album and played 12-string guitar on “I Ran Away,” and some of his signature breeziness can be heard on the track. Mascis said of working with him, “[I] ended up just mimicking a few things he’d done. I was listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy, so I was trying to get some of that dueling twin lead sound. But the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan. When the lockdown happened in March, that meant I was on my own. But it was cool.”

Listen to “I Ran Away” above and check out the Sweep It Into Space art and tracklist below.

1. “I Ain’t”
2. “I Met The Stones”
3. “To Be Waiting”
4. “I Ran Away”
5. “Garden”
6. “Hide Another Round”
7. “And Me”
8. “I Expect It Always”
9. “Take It Back”
10. “N Say”
11. “Walking To You”
12. “You Wonder”

Sweep It Into Space is out 4/23 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

The last time Bobby Shmurda had an inescapable hit was the summer of 2014 — nearly seven years ago. That was the summer of “Hot N****,” which climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 — before the rules changed that allowed the publication to count streams — launched the “Shmoney Dance” meme, and spawned seemingly dozens of freestyles and remixes featuring everyone from Chicago drill upstarts to New York ’90s legends. There’s even a reggae remix featuring Junior Reid and Popcaan.

But then his GS9 crew was scooped up by the NYPD on a truly dizzying array of crimes all bundled into a racketeering charge that claimed GS9 was a drug-dealing, war-waging gang. Bobby’s own words were used against him as the prosecution used clips of “Hot N****” to bolster its accusations. “I been selling crack since like the fifth grade,” Bobby boasts on the song. Despite the Supreme Court’s previous decision that lyrics can’t count as evidence, Bobby’s case lawyer felt strongly enough that Bobby — and his GS9 cohorts, including fellow rapper Rowdy Rebel — would lose that the rapper pled guilty to one count of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession, receiving five years in prison, after time already served.

Those five years ended this week, to the jubilation of “Hot N****” fans and Bobby’s friends in the rap game, including Rowdy and Migos member Quavo, who vowed to pick him up from Clinton Correctional Facility upon his release. He emerges to exuberant celebrations on social media and tempered excitement for new music, but that begs the question: Can he recover the momentum he lost during his six-year stint behind bars, especially in a music world that has so thoroughly moved on from the specific moment in time that he could rightfully say he owned?

For one thing, the driving force behind the success of “Hot N****” was Vine, the now-defunct social app that turned six-second video clips into pop culture meme fodder. A snippet of Bobby’s “Hot N****” video, in which he removes his ball cap and flings it into the air before beginning a hip-gyrating “Shmoney Dance,” amused users who jokingly pondered the hat’s whereabouts and shared the clip widely on other services, making Shmurda as close to ubiquitous as a character can be in today’s dearth of monoculture.

Vine has largely been replaced by TikTok, an app that plays by its own unique set of rules, mostly populated by and driven by users who may not even remember the days of “Hot N****” or the circumstances of Bobby’s disappearance from the public eye. The sounds that attract TikTok users are goofier than the menacing, booming Jahlil Beats production that backed “Hot N****.” The dances are mostly performed by the users themselves, in complicated choreography reminiscent of the Japanese “Para Para” synchronized dance style.

For another thing, that “Jahlil Beats, holla at me” tag hasn’t been heard on a Billboard hit since 2016. The prevalent sound of Bobby’s Brooklyn stomping grounds is Drill, inspired and produced mainly by London beatmakers like Axl Beats and Melo808. These producers craft sparse compositions with skittering drums and airy, haunting samples, similar to Jahlil’s cavernous cacophonies but stripped back, almost all low-end with few bells and whistles. Fortunately for Bobby, he seems suited to this style and has a toehold in the scene thanks to Rowdy Rebel’s appearance on the posthumous 2020 Pop Smoke song “Make It Rain,” so the GS9 boys might not be total strangers to Drill fans.

However, the intervening six years of Bobby’s sentence has seen changes to distribution models, an increase in streaming, cultural changes in the usage of social media, and of course, several new artists who have cropped up to fill the already saturated hip-hop market. There are even more voices to fight through for exposure, with even more avenues for those voices to be heard, and tastes that have changed drastically from the days when Bobby graced the cover of XXL’s 2015 Freshman issue. Half the rappers who joined him on that cover have since faded from public favor, while in the intervening years, the SoundCloud rap scene popped off, women have come to dominate the charts, and fans have gravitated to ever more melodic-sounding artists.

That said, there’s precedent to believe in a comeback. Artists going away as publicly as Bobby did often builds myth and mystique. When artists are plucked away in their prime, music fans often feel a sense of loss that can drive anticipation for a comeback. Tupac’s All Eyez On Me is one example of an artist’s triumphant return from prison; while more recent examples are less stark, artists like Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne, and T.I. returned from shorter stints to respectable careers driven by each artist’s prolific output and cult status, even if their mainstream acceptance was somewhat dulled by the time away.

It’s possible that Bobby can adapt to all these changes to reclaim his grip on the playlist-based Billboard charts, reassert his social media presence, and pick up right where he left off. However, it’s equally possible that the world continues to pass him by, save for a loyal niche following that sees him as more than a meme and contributed to the plays of his meager discography past “Hot N****” and “Bobby Bitch.” The wide-open nature of this new frontier is both a blessing and a curse, but at least Bobby Shmurda has the freedom to explore its possibilities.

Maybe Elon Musk shouldn’t tweet? If he’s not getting himself into trouble with partner Grimes (for insensitively tweeting), then he’s putting $15 billion on the line by typing. That’s pretty much what the Tesla and Space-X CEO did this week, not too long after Tesla sent Bitcoin’s price soaring to a record high by investing $1.5 in the cryptocurrency. Fast forward a few weeks, and things aren’t working out too well for Elon on that deal. How did that happen? Well, it’s complicated, and it likely has plenty to do with Elon’s apparent trigger fingers.

As Bloomberg reports, Monday was brutal on the Tesla front in the stock market. Tesla shares slid 8.6%, which eroded Musk’s net worth by $15.2 billion. This knocks him down to second place (with a still very manageable $183.4 billion) on the Bloomberg Billionaire’s list of most ridiculously wealthy people with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos taking the lead with a $186.3 billion net worth. How did Elon’s fortunes drastically change in the space of one day?

Elon tweeted (at 1:02 am on Saturday) that the value of Bitcoin does “seem high lol.”

It’s not the savviest move to invest so much of Tesla’s money in a cryptocurrency and then call it overvalued. According to analyst Daniel Ives, who spoke with CNBC, “Musk is now tied to the bitcoin story in the eyes of the Street and although Tesla made a billion paper profit in its first month owning the digital gold, it comes with added risk, as seen this week.” Ives believes that Musk added a “side show” that “can overshadow the fundamental EV (electric vehicle) vision in the near term for investors.”

Also, that’s a mighty expensive tweet. And of course, Elon greeted Tuesday with one of his cryptic cryptocurrent tweets: “Excession.”

This can be interpreted in multiple ways, no doubt, but maybe it’s time for Elon to take another (multi-day) Twitter break again. It couldn’t hurt!

(Via Bloomberg & CNBC)

When it comes to her past, Cardi B is an open book. The rapper has often talked about growing up in the Bronx and how much work she put in before breaking out into mainstream. But one aspect of her life is oftentimes scrutinized due to the misogyny attached to the line of work: stripping. However, Cardi is an expert at shaking off critics who try to discredit her former job. In part, it’s stripping that allowed Cardi to earn enough money to start making moves in her rap career.

Cardi recently sat down for a conversation with Mariah Carey for Interview Magazine where they chatted about music, Cardi’s daily routine, and her past. Speaking about her time stripping, Cardi said the experience made her feel “on top of the world” because she was one of the most-requested dancers:

“The stripper attitude is, ‘I’m not ashamed of being a stripper because a lot of these b*tches don’t have sh*t. A lot of these b*tches don’t have a place to stay, don’t have no car, can’t afford this, can’t afford that. Y’all out here f*cking n****s for free, but y’all shaming me because I’m shaking my ass? Y’all hoes be showing y’all f*cking bodies on social media, and y’all not getting paid.’ That mentality stuck with me. I felt like, ‘You’re judging me, but I’m making more money than you.’ I felt like nobody could shame me for being a stripper. When I started stripping, I was making probably $500 a night. As I got bigger, I was making $2,000, maybe $5,000. When I got really popular on Instagram I was making $7,000 to $10,000 a week. I felt on top of the world. I felt so untouchable and so sexy, because there were rappers that all these girls lust over who would come to the strip club and request me to go to their section. They would request me. If I’m so trash, why are these guys requesting me? I’m getting paid for my looks. Nobody’s going to spend money on you if you’re ugly.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Cardi said that, although she has a big personality, she still can get quite nervous around other celebrities. “A lot of celebrities invite me to places, but I’m really shy,” she said. “We’re doing this over the phone, but if it was in person, I wouldn’t be able to look you in the eyes. That’s how nervous I get around celebrities.”

Read Cardi and Carey’s full conversation here.

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

The Dallas Mavericks entered the 2020-21 season with lofty expectations after earning the 7-seed in the West last year in a breakout sophomore campaign from Luka Doncic. Entering his third season in the league, Doncic was the odds-on favorite to win MVP in preseason betting markets and many had the Mavs pegged for a top-4 seed in the West.

However, due to a variety of reasons, Dallas has scuffled out of the gate. Injuries and players missing time for COVID-19 protocols have played a major role in their 14-15 start, but for a team that was an offensive juggernaut a year ago, they haven’t been able to replicate that success this season. Of late, things have been looking up as they’ve won five of their last six, but few would confuse this Dallas team with a championship contender just yet.

That means there’s tinkering to be done with the roster, and just about everyone this side of Doncic is apparently up for discussion. This includes Kristaps Porzingis, the oft-injured but highly talented big man they acquired in a trade from the Knicks two years ago and gave a max deal that summer before he ever played a game for them. The expectation was he and Doncic would be a terrific fit, and last season there were times where that was the case. But overall, it hasn’t been as snug of a fit as the Mavs had hoped and, according to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, they’ve been exploring his trade value with other teams this month, with the March 25 trade deadline on the horizon.

In fact, Dallas has quietly gauged the trade market for Porzingis, according to league sources, as the Mavericks have begun reevaluating whether the 25-year-old center can truly support Doncic as the second option on a contender. “They’ve kicked the tires on everybody on their roster that’s not named Luka,” one person with knowledge of Dallas’ thinking said. “You know [president of basketball operations] Donnie [Nelson]; they’re always tinkering.”

“They’ve definitely sniffed around on him,” an assistant general manager told B/R. “They’re taking the temperature, because they know at some point it’s gonna come around.”

Adding to that report, Ian Begley of SNY reports that one of the teams Dallas has spoken to about Porzingis are the Warriors, who could be looking to move off of Kelly Oubre (an expiring who would help the Mavs clear cap space to chase free agents) or Andrew Wiggins, should the Mavs believe he could be a fit. It should be noted that nothing seems inevitable on that front, just interesting that in the second year of Porzingis’ max deal they’re already exploring all the possibilities.

In any case, Dallas is going to be a fascinating team to watch over the next month, both in seeing whether they can build on this current winning streak and vault up the West standings and, should they stall out again, what kind of moves they’ll try to make to turn things around. Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson aren’t the most patient individuals, and if they think the Porzingis-Doncic combo isn’t the answer, it’s possible they make a major shakeup to this roster.

Before he swung his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by landing the coveted role of Spider-Man after Sony and Marvel formed an unprecedented deal to reboot the character following the tepid reception to the Andrew Garfield films, Tom Holland made a run at another massive franchise: Star Wars. In a new interview, Holland revealed that he tried out for the role of Finn, which ultimately went to John Boyega, who apparently can thank the Spider-Man star for laughing at the poor woman making BB-8 noises during the audition. Via Backstage:

I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, “We gotta get back to the ship!” And she was going, “Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.” I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called. Yeah, I obviously didn’t get the part. That wasn’t my best moment.

Obviously, things worked out well for Holland. He’s currently filming his sixth MCU film, Spider-Man 3, which will reportedly be a multiverse-spanning epic and the “most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever,” according to the young actor. He also got a chance to act alongside Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley in the upcoming dystopian film Chaos Walking.

As for Boyega, while he landed the role of Finn, he has been very public about the Sequel Trilogy failing the character. However, in recent months, he’s revealed that he’s had constructive conversations with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and he’s no longer opposed to the idea of returning to Star Wars. (As long as it’s voiceover work.)

(Via Backstage)