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Last Updated: February 18th

The true crime genre has never been more popular, but what about the false crime genre? Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good crime flick, from rooting for that grey area anti-hero to sitting on the edge of your seat as the lovable ruffians pull off the ultimate heist. Netflix has a wide variety of flicks that deal in law, order, and justice, so here are the 10 best crime movies on Netflix right now.

Related: The Best Action Movies On Netflix Right Now

The Departed (2006)

Run Time: 151 min | IMDb: 8.5/10

Leonard DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin star in this crime thriller from Martin Scorsese about an undercover cop and a mole in the police department who attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in Boston. DiCaprio plays the good guy (or as close as) with Billy, a disturbed officer playing the part of a criminal to get close to Nicholson’s kingpin, Frank. Damon plays the rat, Sullivan, who serves as a police officer on the force, but really works for Frank. The two unknowingly thwart each other at every turn, playing a thrilling game of cat and mouse before their secrets eventually come out.

Good Time (2017)

Run Time: 101 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

This gritty crime drama hailing from the Safdie brothers transforms star Robert Pattinson into a bleach-blonde sh*t-stirrer from Queens who’s desperate to break his developmentally disabled brother out of prison. Pattinson plays Connie, a street hustler and bank robber with grand plans to break out of his urban hood while Benny Safdie plays his brother Nick, who gets roped into his schemes. When Nick is sent to Rikers Island for a job gone wrong, Connie goes on a downward spiral to get him back. Pattinson’s manic energy carries this thing, and there’s plenty of police run-ins, shootouts, and heists (however botched) to keep the adrenaline pumping.

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The Irishman (2019)

Run Time: 209 min | IMDb: 8.7/10

Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be.

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The Invisible Guest (2016)

Run Time: 106 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

This Spanish crime thriller follows a successful businessman framed for the murder of his married lover. A seemingly straightforward plot, until a car accident, a dead body, fake witnesses, and a family out for revenge is thrown into the mix. Mario Casas stars as the man in question, a young husband and father with a bright future who takes part in a terrible crime and is forced to pay for it in the most twisted of ways. You won’t figure this thing out until the end, we guarantee it.

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Uncut Gems (2019)

Run Time: 135 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

This adventurous mindf*ck starring Adam Sandler finally landed on Netflix, and our only advice before watching this criminally-good romp is this: prepare yourself for a wild, over-the-top ride. Sandler gives one of his best performances, and the Safdie Brothers prove they’ve got a knack for crafting thrillers textured with grit and a realness that just can’t be beaten.

The Devil All The Time (2020)

Run Time: 138 min | IMDb: 7.1/10

This time-hopping drama set in the backwoods of West Virginia is basically an excuse for director Antonio Campos to assemble his own Avengers-style squad of Hollywood A-listers. Seriously, everyone’s in this thing: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Haley Bennett, that kid who played Dudley in the Harry Potter franchise. The whole gang’s living in shacks and picking up hitchhikers only to murder them later and speaking in tongues and falling victim to generational trauma. It’s a heavy watch, and there’s not really a happy ending, but boy, does Pattinson deliver a batsh*t crazy turn as a perverted preacher.

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A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Run Time: 136 min | IMDb:

Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian crime thriller A Clockwork Orange most certainly is not a breezy watch. The film, based on the classic novel by Anthony Burgess, follows the charismatic, completely unhinged Alex (Malcolm McDowell), leader of a gang of criminals who enjoy inciting chaos and committing horrific crimes. When Alex is captured, the Minister of the Interior suggests experimenting on him using rehabilitation techniques that psychologically condition him to become averse to violence and sex. They work, for a time, and to disastrous consequences, but Kubrick’s real goal with this film was to dive into the idea of free will and morality.

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Nightcrawler (2014)

Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 7.9/10

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this truly bonkers crime thriller from Dan Gilroy about a con-man who muscles his way into L.A.’s crime journalism scene and very quickly becomes the star of his own reporting. Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief who stumbles his way into the stringer profession — photojournalists who chase crime scenes to sell the footage to local TV stations. As Lou begins to record more exciting crimes, demand for his work grows and he starts staging scenes, obstructing police investigations, and inserting himself in high-speed chases to get the best shot. It’s a twisted, depressing look at the ethics of journalism and the consequences of consumerism, and Gyllenhaal has never been better.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Run Time: 116 min | IMDb: 7.6/10

Steven Soderbergh gave us one of the slickest heist films of the decade when he delivered this caper about a group of suave criminals with plans to rob a Las Vegas casino. George Clooney plays Danny Ocean, a con-man recently released from prison who gets the gang back together again — the gang is Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, and Matt Damon — to rob a casino owner who just happens to be dating his ex (played by Julia Roberts). It sounds like more of a soap opera than it is and it works because Soderbergh mixes sharp comedy with high emotional stakes.

The Night Clerk (2020)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 5.4/10

Tye Sheridan stars in this thriller, playing a night clerk named Bart who has Asperger’s syndrome and hides cameras in hotel rooms to study and mimick normal human interactions. While watching footage of one woman’s room, he sees her fighting with a man and rushes to help her. Later, the woman is found dead in her room with Bart the only suspect. The arrival of a new guest and a corrupt police force complicate the murder investigation — and Bart’s life.

Recent Changes Through December 2020:
Removed: Fargo, Lawless, Boyz N The Hood, The Town
Added: The Departed, The Devil All The Time, Ocean’s Eleven, The Invisible Guest

There’s a lot to unpack about the Ted Cruz Cancún story, which has dominated the news since late Wednesday night. There’s the optics of jetting off to a beach vacation while his fellow Texans froze. There’s conservatives’ sad attempts at spin. There’s the obvious, schoolboyish lies from Cruz himself. There’s the images of the senator in a sad polo wheeling a carryon around an empty airport. There’s the memes. And if all this weren’t enough, there’s also this: He left behind a poodle, and the poodle’s name is actually “Snowflake.”

An Intelligencer reporter actually scoped out the Cruz house in Houston, where he found only a security guard and, visible through the glass door, Snowflake, a poodle left home alone by a family that sought warmer climes. This is obviously the least of the worries in this case; the dog did have some paid company, at least. (Although it’s not clear if Snowflake spent at least some time in a frozen house, as the Cruzes were among the millions in the Lone Star state to lose power. It came back on at some point Thursday.)

But a lot of people took pause with the deranged detail that Cruz would hate sensitive progressives so much he would name his dog — a poodle, no less — after the right-wing’s favorite insult for them.

Will Sean Hannity grill Cruz about his poodle’s name? Or will he try to spin that, as he’ll undoubtedly spin this whole Cancún affair? In any case, this is only arguably the most humiliating thing Cruz has ever brought upon himself, and he was once owned by the star of his favorite movie.

(Via Intelligencer)

Texas residents have been stuck without electricity or hot water after a massive ice storm levied the Lone Star State. As all of this went down, most Texans hoped their government leaders would begin working to supply help to their community. But Ted Cruz had other plans. The senator and his family decided to fly to a resort in Cancun, Mexico while his state was in shambles. He quickly changed his three-day trip to a mere 24-hour go-around after he was hit with a heavy amount of criticism.

Kacey Musgraves, who was born and raised in the state, sought to turn the senator’s head-scratching decision into something could help struggling residents. The singer took to social media to share an idea for Cruz-themed shirts on Thursday afternoon. Hours later she returned with the new gear: a white t-shirt that boldly proclaimed “Cruzin For A Bruzin’” on its front in black text. Musgraves promised that all proceeds will “directly support Texas affected by the storm and also to homeless immigrants seeking shelter and food.” She also added, “Texas is cold, I can be cold.”

The shirts are currently available for purchase on the singer’s website and it comes with a disclaimer that reads: “no actual bruising plz.”

Pascal Siakam is in the midst of his fifth season in the NBA. During his relatively short tenure in the league, Siakam has won a championship alongside Kawhi Leonard on the Toronto Raptors, made an All-Star team, and got a deserved second-team All-NBA nod at the conclusion of the 2019-2020 campaign.

All of this is to say that even though he’s in the midst of a slightly down year — which, “slightly down” means 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game — Siakam is one of the best basketball players on earth. This is what makes the following clip from Thursday night’s edition of Inside the NBA, in which Shaquille O’Neal did not know Siakam’s first name and admitted as much on screen, so baffling.

“I don’t call him Pascal,” Shaq explained earnestly even though the door was open to make a joke that would have helped him out in this situation. “I call him Siakam.”

Now, listen, most people who watch Inside understand that it is an entertainment show first and a basketball show second, which is fine! It is, objectively, more fun watching Shaq and Charles Barkley riff than most any other thing that happens on sports television, there is a formula that has worked incredibly well for them and it is why Inside is the most successful sports studio show ever behind SportsCenter. Still, there is a sentiment that they have leaned too far into this to the point that it can make them look bad when they get a bit overzealous, and those who believe this got a feather in their cap today.

Just about everyone is dunking on Senator Ted Cruz right now because he thought it would be a dope idea to go on vacation in Cancun while many in his state were busy freezing in powerless homes. And then he blamed it on his daughter. Which is colder than the weather in the state he ditched.

People not liking Ted Cruz is nothing new, Lindsey Graham once famously said, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you” (which, in the context of Trump’s second impeachment, doesn’t mean quite as much) and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer once wrote of Sen. Cruz, “Everybody who knows him in the Senate hates him. And I think hate is not an exaggeration.” Also, the senator regularly gets into it with Seth Rogen for some reason — why would you dare tangle with Seth?

And now Sen. Cruz will go down in history as the only Senator to be roasted by a clothing brand that he himself supports. With his own money. That’s like paying fealty to a guy who called your wife ugl — oh, wait.

Outdoor clothing brand Patagonia sarcastically responded to one of the several now-viral airport photos of Senator Cruz, in which he is seen wearing one of the brand’s fleece shirts.

“Thanks, @tedcruz, for supporting our mission to Save our Home Planet by choosing a Snap-T made out of 100% post-consumer recycled bottles…” writes Patagonia’s official Twitter, “If you decide it isn’t the right fit for you we’d be happy to buy it back”

That’s a climate denier burn and a “we don’t want your money” burn rolled into one!

In response to the widespread backlash, Sen. Cruz has returned to Texas, cutting his vacation short. It will be interesting to see which brands, public figures, and fellow politicians roast him between now and when he arrives at his home.

When the NBA All-Star starters were announced on Thursday evening, few surprises arose. Most of the ten starters were not particularly controversial and, while there was a tie between Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard, there is absolutely no doubt that Lillard will be included when the coaches select the reserves. To that end, it is always fun to argue about which seven players will back up the starters, and our aim in this space is to anoint the best seven representatives from each conference to form the 12-player teams.

There are some shoo-ins among the bunch, but others are a bit tricker to select. At any rate, here is the way it all breaks down, beginning with the Eastern Conference.

EAST

Frontcourt

• Khris Middleton — Middleton has 51/44/90 shooting splits. He’s completely out of his mind, yet again. Put some respect on his name.
• Jayson Tatum — The Celtics hanging around .50o isn’t ideal but, as you’ll see again in a moment, Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been masterful. The problem is… almost everything else.
• Bam Adebayo — Miami hasn’t been very good this season, but Adebayo isn’t the reason. In fact, he’s averaging 20/9/5 while shooting 57 percent and playing great defense. On the whole, he’s also been the best player for the Heat since Jimmy Butler missed extended time.

Backcourt

• James Harden — Yes, Harden deserves some blowback for the way things ended in Houston. He’s also just been (way) too good to leave off. If you didn’t already agree, watching him lead Brooklyn to a comeback win (without Durant and Irving) over Phoenix earlier this week should do the trick.
• Jaylen Brown — Brown’s breakout season continues with nearly 26 points per game and 41 percent from three-point range. He’s improved almost across the board and is a no-doubt selection.

Wild Cards

• Zach LaVine — Jokes about LaVine’s defense largely still apply. Jokes about his efficiency do not. The scoring guard is putting up 28.5 points per game and doing it on 52/44/85 shooting. He has an excellent All-Star case and the Bulls are hanging around the race for the play-in to help his cause.
• Trae Young — As usual, Young’s counting stats are awesome and he is one of the best offensive guards in the league. There seems to be some pushback, largely on account of his foul-drawing, in the national consciousness, and Atlanta’s recent swoon didn’t help. Still, the Hawks have a +3.5 net rating when he plays and a -8.3 net rating when he sits. He’s been excellent, even while shooting a little bit below where his real baseline is.

Honorable Mention

• Julius Randle — My pal and DIME’s own Bill DiFilippo made quite a case for Randle. He was my last cut and is highly deserving of inclusion.
• Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon and Myles Turner — The Pacers are a solid playoff team, and it is odd to leave them out entirely. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the case for any individual, in part because all three have been so good (and valuable) in different ways.
• Nikola Vucevic — Vucevic has been awesome this season in Orlando, and it’s truly a shame that the Magic are so bad. That isn’t the reason he is omitted, but it probably plays a part.
• Gordon Hayward — Charlotte’s investment in Hayward raised a lot of eyebrows, but year one is going well. He is averaging more than 22 points per game, shooting 42 percent from three and looking a lot like the All-Star caliber player he was in Utah.
• Jimmy Butler — This is just a math problem. Butler missed 12 of the first 28 games for Miami. He’s still very, very good and no one should be surprised if the coaches vote him in.

WEST

Frontcourt

• Paul George — There might be some question about George only playing 20 games so far, but that’s enough. He is shooting 48 (!) percent from three and the Clippers are awesome. He’s getting in and he should.
• Rudy Gobert — Utah is a juggernaut and Gobert still may be the No. 1 defensive force in the league. He’s also underrated on offense. This is an easy one.
• Anthony Davis — Davis probably won’t play (and we’ll replace him later), so this is performative. He’s still done enough to earn an All-Star bid with reduced counting stats, and it would be wise to remember that he’s an uber-elite defender on top of everything else.

Backcourt

• Damian Lillard — Perhaps the easiest selection on the entire board. He’s unbelievably good.
• Donovan Mitchell — Mitchell leads the team with the best record in the NBA in scoring. That usually gets you in the All-Star field but, even if that didn’t sell you, he’s shooting 39 percent from three for the season… even after a slow start.

Wild Cards

• Devin Booker — Booker is scoring and assisting a little bit less than last year. That comes with the territory when you add Chris Paul and the talent around you improves. He’s still the best player on a (very) good team, and Booker has proven himself at this point.
• Zion Williamson — This is probably the most controversial selection. I get it. Zion isn’t very good on defense. He’s also averaging 25 points per game with a 67 percent true shooting, and Williamson is seemingly getting better by the day. It’s also the All-Star Game and, as a tie-breaker, go with the fun player.
• Mike Conley (injury replacement) — Call me a hopeless romantic, but it would be fun to have Conley earn his first All-Star bid as the replacement for AD. Slide Zion to the frontcourt and a Wild Card spot opens. It’s not as if Conley hasn’t played well on the court. In fact, he leads the entire sport in net rating. The Jazz can have three All-Stars given their incredible run, and I’m in.

Honorable Mention

• De’Aaron Fox — Sacramento has been reasonably competitive and Fox is their best player by a wide margin. He has the stats to make a case, and it’ll come for him soon enough.
• DeMar DeRozan — Honestly, this would’ve sounded preposterous to me a few months ago. Now, DeRozan has been pretty awesome for a Spurs team that is right in the middle of the playoff race. He’s been pretty efficient as a scorer to go along with seven assists per game, and his big-shot prowess helps that team.
• Chris Paul — I almost put Paul on the team, even with no statistical argument for it. He’s been awesome again.
• Brandon Ingram — Ingram vs. Williamson could be an interesting argument, but I lean on Zion’s efficiency. Ingram is still enjoying a strong first half.
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — SGA needed to have incredibly gaudy numbers to have a real chance. Still, the Thunder are frisky and he’s playing excellent basketball and deserves a mention.

Bryson Tiller made his return to the music world last October with his third album, Anniversary, a great step upward from his 2017 project, True To Self. Nearly four months after releasing his third album, Bryson offers his video for the track “Sorrows.”

The Lousiville singer begins the video by wandering the endless horizons of a desert. He stumbles across a woman when suddenly they’re both pulled into a vortex and sent plummeting down to a world beneath them. Bryson soon finds himself standing in a similar desert that’s riddled with clocks floating around him. Later on, nightfall arrives and Bryson’s body is replaced by an unidentifiable human whose head is a hologram of the singer’s face.

The video video comes months after Bryson tapped Kehlani to play his intimate partner in a video for “Always Forever.” On a more recent note, the singer promised a deluxe version of Anniversary was on the way. An on-screen message during his December appearance on Sneaker Shopping with Complex previously said the deluxe reissue would arrive at some point in February. He also revealed his long-awaited Serenity album would be split into a triple-disc with a rap side, an R&B side, and a pop side.

You can watch the video for “Sorrows” above.

Anniversary is out now via RCA. Get it here.

There is nothing that brings joy to the masses quite like videos of animals, particularly animals doing things that are usually reserved for people. Dogs skateboarding is the elite of the elite in this genre. Dogs serving as bat boys at Minor League Baseball games is also a favorite. Basically, dogs doing anything sports related is a beloved past time of viral internet video creators, with the occasional cat playing soccer finding its way into the mix.

However, we are really limiting our possibilities when we insist on limiting our purview of animals doing sports things to just dogs and cats. The diversity of the animal kingdom has not fully been explored properly, and I would like to present Exhibit A of what I mean by this.

Look at this sledding chicken.

Yes, that chicken went X Games mode and crushed it on its little sled going down not just a straight hill, but a hill with a curve. That is a strong degree of difficulty and just look at how the chicken finds the balance with a little wing flap at the top and then cruises, cool as the other side of the pillow, down to the bottom.

The chicken is apparently a retired laying hen who was adopted from a farm and is now a beloved pet of this family, per the person who blessed us with this video (who works at said farm). The chicken very clearly enjoys its post-egg laying life as an extreme sports athlete, and we should all be so lucky to find such a rewarding, self-fulfilling second chapter. As the guy who recorded the video says, “awesome,” indeed.

The NBA All-Star Game, quite often, looks the same from year-to-year. The league has made some welcome changes in recent years with the captains format and Elam Ending, but the games themselves almost always follow a similar path, where for three quarters everyone has fun and throws crazy lobs and take 35-foot shots before getting serious about winning in the fourth quarter if it’s close. Some games are more fun than others, but they are rarely the most exciting or fun part of the weekend’s festivities.

There is, however, one thing that I love about the game. It is always extremely cool to see players make it to All-Star for the first time, something that is especially true when it’s a veteran guy who has cut their teeth for years and get rewarded for a breakout campaign. It’s great when a young, budding star makes it for the first time and you can tell it obviously means a ton to them, but think of, say, Rudy Gobert last year after he was literally moved to tears the year prior over missing out.

One thing that can get lost amid all of the discourse around basketball is that, despite the fact that they’re bigger and faster and stronger than everyone else, the people who play the games are still humans. They experience the human emotions we all do, and those feelings are not always reciprocated by all of us in the world of sports fandom and media. It is cool to see good things happen to people, especially when that someone has done things The Right Way and finally sees their hard work pay off.

This year, there are a number of players making strong cases for being a first-time All-Star, but few have established a case as strong as Julius Randle, who has been sensational in his seventh NBA season and second for the New York Knicks.

“It’d be amazing, man,” Randle recently told Sopan Deb of the New York Times of possibly making his first All-Star Game. “You put in a lot of work and sacrifice and dedication to your craft. So for you to receive those accolades or whatever it may be and be recognized as such would be a great feeling … and especially as a Knick.”

There seems to be one or two guys in every NBA season who get a push from their teammates to make the All-Star Game, which then translates to pieces like this being written about how they deserve to make the All-Star Game, which leads to more players speaking, and more pieces written, the cycle continues on unabated. The thing is that those players can oftentimes have cases the feel pretty fringe-y — sure, they have a case to make the game, but they’re not objectively someone who has played at that level.

Randle, I would argue, is not just one of those stories. As the leader of the overachieving and wonderfully frisky New York Knicks, which currently sit at 14-16 and are in the Eastern Conference morass that simultaneously has them in striking distance of a top-4 seed and at risk of falling out of the play-in tournament picture altogether, Randle has amplified all of the stuff that has made him such an intriguing player over the course of his NBA career. He’s averaging career-best marks in scoring (23.2 points per game), rebounding (10.9 boards a night), playmaking (5.5 assists per game), and three-point shooting (40.7 percent from deep). The only player to put up this sort of season is named Larry, and it ain’t Hughes or a Nance. When the Knicks need something to happen, he is given the basketball and given license to cook, something that he’s done rather well this season.

Randle has done two things especially well this season in this role as the lynchpin of the Knicks’ offense. For one, he’s really tapping into his playmaking skills in a way he never has been asked to before. Randle’s never been a bad passer by any stretch of the imagination — he’s always shown off the ability to make a quality pass here and there, but with the Knicks’ struggles with consistent point guard play this season, Randle has shouldered quite the playmaking load. Randle is tops on the squad in assist percentage (25.1 percent, putting him in the 95th percentile of all bigs, per Cleaning the Glass) while the only Knick with a higher Assist-to-Usage ratio is Derrick Rose, who has played five games in New York. On top of that, Rose’s is in the 18th percentile of all guards in this metric, while Randle is in the 85th percentile of bigs.

One of my favorite things about watching Randle play is how clever he is as a passer. He’s someone who has some nights where he gets a little sloppy, ad he’s not the kind of guy who will consistently whiz the kind of home run-style passes that only the LeBrons and Lukas of the world are capable of pulling off.

What Randle is good at is realizing the gravity he holds on the basketball court, particularly when he gets near the rim, and dumping a — and please read this in your thickest possible soccer announcer voice — cheeky little pass to someone. Watch the first pair of clips here, as Cleveland’s defense gets pulled in and Randle, realizing that their selling out on him opened things up for someone else, turns down his potentially good look for a great look elsewhere.

The funny thing about this is the whole “gets near the rim” part, insofar as Randle just isn’t doing that as much this year. In years past, it has not been uncommon for Randle to get the ball and turn into a fullback, lowering his shoulder and trying to bowl through opponents as he chucks up an ugly lefty hook/runner through traffic that does not go in. At 6’8 and 250 pounds with a good bit of bounce to him, it’d always looked a bit weird when he’d do this.

So instead, Randle is doing something entirely different: He’s shooting more midrange and threes than ever and, as a result, attempting fewer shots from inside of 10 feet than ever. Sorting out his rookie campaign, when he was injured 14 minutes into his first game and did not play again, 73.3 percent of Randle’s shot attempts are twos this year, a career-low. We can probably credit pre-injury Mitchell Robinson for taking up space, but just 20.8 percent of Randle’s shots are within three feet, again a career-low. The 20 percent of shots he’s taken from 3-10 feet? You guessed it, a career low.

His shot profile is made up of 32.6 percent midrange/long twos — 10 feet out to the three-point line — and 26.7 percent threes. He’s taking tons and tons of jumpers and is he’s knocking them down at an impressive clip. In order: Randle is making 48.4 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet (second-best mark of his career), 48.6 percent of his shots from 16 feet out to the three-point line (career-best), and as previously mentioned, a career-high 40.7 percent of his threes. While he’s not Ray Allen, Randle’s shooting form has always looked decent, and this year, he’s traded in a bunch of the haphazard drives through crowded lanes for jumpers. Camping out in the corner has been more of a staple in his game, as a quarter of his attempted triples are corner threes, and he’s knocking them down at a 45.7 percent clip.

Calling Randle the Knicks’ best player this season has been an understatement. He’s leading them in basically every metric that tries to measure a player’s impact on the game (PER, win shares, box plus/minus, VORP), and when Randle is on the floor, things just click for them. Even with intangible stuff like “he plays hard,” Randle sets the tone for New York, the rest of the team responds, and as a result, the team has outperformed expectations so far this season.

A few worthy guys in the East are going to be left out when the coaches make all of their selections. You can be all but assured that Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum will take up two of the frontcourt spots, leaving one guaranteed frontcourt position open for the group of Randle, Bam Adebayo, Jerami Grant, and Domantas Sabonis. With the backcourt talent of the East — Zach LaVine, James Harden, Jaylen Brown, and, Trae Young are all in the mix for a reserve spot — it’s possible there will only be one and maybe no Wild Card spots for the frontcourt.

Even so, on his own merits, though, Randle stands as a deserving selection for the game. Whether you go off of the statistical case, impact of winning, or the narrative, he has what voters are looking for. The way he has elevated a frisky Knicks team from “projected high lottery side” to “knocking on the door of a top-4 playoff spot” by turning into a tone setter and alpha dog is something that deserves some sort of recognition. Randle has been one of the best players and one of the best stories in the league this year. Giving him a well-earned All-Star nod would be a good way to reflect that, but whether he makes it or not, his effort this season should be commended.

Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys has reportedly died at the age of 52 from congestive heart failure, reports AllHipHop. His passing was also confirmed by the likes of Questlove, Fat Joe, and Run The Jewels’ El-P, who all took to social media to mourn his death. Born Mark Morales, Prince rose to prominence with The Fat Boys alongside Kool Rock-Ski and the late Buff Love in the early 1980s. They would become one of the first rap groups to release full-length albums and achieve mainstream popularity, finding success alongside groups like Run D.M.C. and Whodini.

In 1984, The Fat Boys emerged with their Gold-certified self-titled debut album, which is heralded as a hip-hop classic. Its release would kick off a string of Gold albums that included 1985’s The Fat Boys Are Back and 1988’s Coming Back Hard Again. The group’s lone Platinum-certified album arrived in 1987: Crushin’, responsible for the group’s high-charting song, “Wipeout,” which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Despite the group’s success, The Fat Boys broke up at the turn of the decade. Prince Markie Dee went on to be a successful producer and solo act in the 1990s. He dropped his debut solo album Free in 1992, which also birthed his first No. 1 single, “Typical Reasons (Swing My Way).” He also wrote and produced songs for Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Craig Mack, and more. On a more recent note, he served as a radio host and DJ for Rock The Bells, who shared their condolences in a tweet saying “voice and his presence can never be replaced.”

Members hip-hop community took to social media to mourn the loss of Prince Markie Dee.