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Due to injuries and players excluded by the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the Philadelphia 76ers are operating in short-handed fashion. That was evident in a blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday evening and, even with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the first half against Atlanta, there was only so much Joel Embiid could do to prevent a lopsided result. On the second night of a back-to-back, the 76ers returned home to face the Miami Heat and, despite a limited roster once again, Embiid was able to put on quite the show in leading Philadelphia to what became an overtime victory.

For the most part, the first half was standard operating procedure for Embiid. The All-NBA center produced ten points and nine rebounds against a Heat team without Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, and others, but Philadelphia trailed by a 63-55 margin.

After halftime, however, Embiid decided to take the game over. As part of a 20-point onslaught in the third quarter, he threw down a big dunk and put the Heat in a spin cycle with movements that a player of his size should not be able to execute.

Later, he was even initiating the offense as something of a “point center.”

All told, Embiid made all eight of his field goal attempts and all four of his free throw attempts in the third period, throwing in three rebounds and three assists for good measure. When the dust settled, the Sixers took a one-point lead, but there was still work to do. In fact, Philadelphia needed Embiid to tie the game at the end of regulation, and the big man obliged with a pretty jumper.

Then, in the extra frame, Embiid continued to be the most dominating force on the court. On the offensive end, he produced a circus layup to put Philadelphia in front.

He also got back to basics with ridiculous rim protection at a pivotal moment.

Ultimately, Embiid finished the night with 45 points on 16-for-23 shooting and 13-for-13 from the free throw line, and Philadelphia needed every bit of his contributions to get the win. He also added 16 rebounds, five steals, four assists, and a blocked shot in 39 minutes, and it was truly a full-fledged display of his brilliance. There is something to be said for the weirdness of an overtime game that featured only 16 total players taking the floor and limited rosters on both sides, but Embiid stole the show and it was a showing to remember.

As he awaits word from the NBA league office over footage of him at a birthday celebration without a mask and remains away from the Brooklyn Nets due to “personal reasons,” Kyrie Irving was spotted on a Zoom call to launch the campaign of progressive New York City district attorney candidate Tahanie Aboushi.

A screenshot of Irving along with former gubernatorial candidate and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon was posted to Twitter by Waleed Shahid, the spokesperson for the Democratic political action committee Justice Democrats.

It begs noting that Irving is in the midst of an absence from the Nets, one which includes an investigation into him possibly breaking the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, and that this tweet hit the timeline as the Nets were playing the Denver Nuggets, so even while his intentions are noble and this was not meant to be something that went public, it’s not hard to foresee this becoming the latest whirlwind involving him. Still, as a person who has long been involved in politics ranging from Native American issues to supporting the women of the WNBA who stepped aside from their Bubble season last summer, it’s no surprise to see Irving engage in local activism this way and to support a woman of color for a position of power.

Republican politicians who helped stoke last week’s failed MAGA coup may be trying to return to normal, but it’s clear that’s not happening. There continue to be impassioned calls for congresspeople like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and more to resign — or, failing that, be expelled. (Or at least return their Hallmark dough.) And now they can add this to their list of worries: Disney has joined the growing list of companies who now refuse to make political contributions to those who spread cries of baseless voter fraud and whipped up Trump supporters into a violent and deadly mob.

This comes from Bloomberg, who reports that the planet’s largest entertainment company will not be giving money to any of the many lawmakers who voted to reject last week’s certification of the Electoral College votes. They join Wal-Mart, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Coca-Cola Co., General Motors Co., and more.

“The insurrection at our nation’s Capitol was a direct assault on one of our country’s most revered tenets: the peaceful transition of power,” Disney saidin a released statement. “In the immediate aftermath of that appalling siege, members of Congress had an opportunity to unite — an opportunity that some sadly refused to embrace.”

But there’s more. Journalist Judd Legum dug up some intel on the public record, namely that last year Disney donated money to Senator Rick Scott, who voted against the certification, as well as Hawley, who, along with Ted Cruz, has become something like the public face of the disgraced band of congress people. Hawley also lost a book deal due to his involvement in the failed coup, then got trashed after trying to make himself the victim of all that’s transpired. Then again, unlike Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, at least he didn’t get compared to MTV’s most notoriously dumb duo.

(Via Bloomberg)

Most people were already trying to write 2020 off as an abysmal year before the news hit on New Year’s Eve that one of hip-hop’s legends, MF Doom, had passed away a few months earlier. Rappers, producers, songwriters and journalist alike mourned the passing of such an iconic force, and the underground artist’s catalogue was celebrated by everyone from TDE’s Reason sampling a track, to Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) sharing a cover.

And though rappers may be in the unique position to perform or incorporate Doom’s songs out of respect to the late rapper, the main way most fans have been celebrating his life’s work is by listening to it. In fact, people have been listening to MF Doom’s music so much in the wake of his passing that Billboard reports his streams increased 870% since then. Almost a 900% increase by listeners is a massive gain, and it’s such a shame that it was a tragedy that spurred this. The data showed that during the week of December 31 through January 5, listens rose to 25.4 million streams, a huge leap over the 2.6 million streams he achieved the week before the news broke.

One of Doom’s side projects, Madvillain, also entered the Billboard 200 with the album Madvillainy appearing at No. 73. Streaming 11,000 equivalent album units, that number is

Concurrently, one MF Doom-related release re-enters the Billboard 200 dated Jan. 16, which covered the tracking week of Jan. 1-7. Madvillain’s Madvillainy appears at No. 73 with 11,000 equivalent album units, a new peak for the album and its first Billboard 200 appearance since reaching No. 117 in September 2014.

Rap Snacks has provided been putting the genre’s most popular faces on its bags since its formation in 1994. After the chip line was revamped and relaunched in 2016, Cardi B, Migos, Notorious B.I.G., Lil Yachty, and others received their own flavors. Now Rick Ross is joining them.

Starting this summer, fans will be able to find Rick Ross’ Sweet Chilli Lemon Pepper flavored potato chips in stores. The announcement was made on Tuesday, with the brand also revealing plans of a multi-product brand partnership with the Florida rapper. James Lindsay, the CEO of Rap Snacks, spoke about the new partnership in a statement, saying, “Rick Ross’ business acumen and contribution to the culture is the perfect recipe for what we’re developing next, as we introduce new flavor profiles and innovative products.”

Ross shared the news with his Instagram followers in a post that showed the design of his new Rap Snacks flavor and a caption that read in part, “Rozy Drizzle hitting the streets ASAP.” He also has a new album from him arriving later this year, called Richer Than Ever Before, which will serve as the follow up to Port Of Miami 2, which Ross released in 2019 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Port Of Miami.

The last week has seen the United States dealing with various forms of fallout from numbers of Trump supporters storming the United States Capitol with the hopes of, among other things, overturning the 2020 presidential election. Politically, this has meant a looming attempt by the House of Representatives to impeach the president for the second time, but beyond that, there have been ongoing efforts to identify those who participated in the whole thing.

Of course, this is a gigantic undertaking, so while it’s a necessary part of this whole process, that does not mean it will be easy. The good news is that some of the people made it easy for them, which was apparently the case with Olympic swimmer Klete Keller.

According to SwimSwam, Keller, who won five medals as an Olympian for the United States in his career, was captured as appearing in the Capitol Rotunda in videos of the riot last week. If you look at the 21 second mark of the following video, you can see a tall, maskless man in what appears to be a U.S. Olympic jacket.

SwimSwam did some digging and cited “at least a dozen people within the sport” who identified the man as Keller. There is no word on whether he’s confirmed it is him, because he does not have social media accounts, although SwimSwam noted that he was a vocal Trump supporter. In his Olympic career, Keller won golds as a member of the United States’ 4 x 200 freestyle relay team in 2004 and 2008, along with a silver in that race in 2000. His individual medals came in 2000 and 2004 in the 400 meter freestyle.

The relationship between outgoing president Donald Trump and soon-to-be-ex-vice president Mike Pence has always seemed like a peculiar one, to put it mildly. The former is a brash, seedy trash mouth who had to pay off a porn star with he once slept. The latter is a deeply religious old school conservative who has barely said a public word in four years. Pence has often joked about their odd couple pairing, but any tension festering over a long administration finally came to a head in the last week, according to The New York Times.

What prompted the rift? A mob of MAGA rioters whipped up by Trump’s lies about voter fraud storming the Capitol during a joint session of congress, with some hoping to actually hang Pence, didn’t help. As the Times put it, “Evacuated to the basement, Mr. Pence huddled for hours while Mr. Trump tweeted out an attack on him rather than call to check on his safety.”

It was then, the Times reports, that Pence had a decision to make: do Trump’s bidding and overturn an about-to-be-ratified election, naming Joe Biden the 46th president, or do the right thing. Pence did the right thing.

Mind you, it seems Pence was planning to do the right thing — that is, ratifying the election for Biden — anyway, having reportedly reminded the president the night before that he couldn’t overturn the results anyway. But surely his decision wasn’t helped by a president who had all but abandoned him to men with zip ties and pitchforks, decked out in what one commentator memorably put it “Chewbacca bikini.”

And there was one more detail, which surely made his decision not to disobey the will of the people all the easier. As Pence was headed over to the Capitol, Trump called him one last time. “You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Mr. Trump allegedy told him, “or you can go down in history as a p*ssy.”

Perhaps Trump’s swearing finally got to Pence — or simply fearing for his life as the president’s base raised some Cain.

(Via The New York Times)

YFN Lucci’s 2020 ended on a high note, with the release of Wish Me Well 3. However, according to Atlanta police, he’s been up to more than releasing records. Lucci, born Rayshawn Bennett, is wanted on a murder charge in connection with the shooting of 28-year-old James Adams. The news was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and confirmed to Variety by Atlanta police.

Adams was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head on December 10 and later died as a result of his injuries. According to a statement given to the AJC by Atlanta police spokesperson Sgt. John Chafee, a second gunshot victim arrived at a nearby fire station on the same night. Luckily, the second victim survived their injuries. It was later determined by investigators that the two incidents were connected. A police report reveals that Adams was shot on the 900 block of Dimmock Street in Atlanta before his body was dropped off on the 900 block of Peeples Street. Multiple shell casings were also discovered at the former scene.

According to an Atlanta police news release, Bennett also faces additional charges of aggravated assault, participating in criminal street gang activity, and weapons charges. Two other individuals, Ra’von Boyd, 23, and Leroy Pitts, 17, were arrested in Miami on similar charges for allegedly participating in the shooting. Atlanta police are offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the rapper’s arrest.

(via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

YFN Lucci is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A new year always brings in new stars, and even though 2021 is barely out of the gate, one of the year’s rising pop voices is already making huge waves. Olivia Rodrigo has been featured on several Disney shows, playing Paige Olvera on Bizaardvark and Nini Salazar-Roberts in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and even appeared on an episode of New Girl back in 2017.

But this year she’s put the silver screen on the back burner to focus on her music career, releasing her debut single, “Drivers License,” last week. Since it came out, the video has racked up over 16 million views on Youtube and earned her comparisons to the likes of Lorde and Taylor Swift – not bad company! “Drivers License” is the lead single on her forthcoming EP, and follows up a track she wrote for the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series soundtrack called “All I Want,” along with a co-write with High School Musical co-star Joshua Bassett on “Just For A Moment.”

Those songs are very much in the Disney lane though, while “Drivers License” is a more mature reflection on heartbreak and coming of age. The fact that the song is resonating with both critics and other pop stars is also a great sign of things to come for Rodrigo. Because along with getting comparisons to Taylor’s songwriting, she’s also found a fan in the Evermore artist.

“Next to Taylor on the US iTunes chart I’m in a puddle of tears,” Rodrigo wrote in an Instagram comment earlier this week, a moment made more sweet when Taylor commented back “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud.” Obviously the only thing to do after praise like that is post about it on a different social media platform, so Rodrigo took a screenshot and took to Twitter writing “Thinking about legally changing my name to “Taylor Swifts baby.”

Next step? Collaboration. I mean, Taylor is obviously in the zone lately. Let’s see how this plays out. If you haven’t heard it yet check out “Drivers License” above and look for a lot more from Olivia coming soon.

Coke and Pepsi; Bud, Coors, and Miller; Taco Bell and McDonald’s — every category of the food and drink world are dominated by just a few major brands, with everyone else falling in line somewhere behind them. The same is true for Scotch whisky, with the likes of Johnnie Walker, Glenlivet, Lagavulin, The Macallan, and Dewar’s gobbling up attention and shelf space.

And while you can’t go wrong picking up a bottle from one of those brands, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t branch out and try something lesser-known, too. The winter of our collective quarantine is a perfect time to try a new dram, after all.

When Tommy Cummins, Head Buyer at The Umbrella Project in London, thinks about lesser-known winter Scotches, he always envisions sherry bombs.

“Ones that feel like you are chewing them not drinking them,” he says. “GlenDronach is one of those distilleries that has always been pasted over, god knows why, as the 12-year-old is a perfect dram to sit down and have with a beer.”

While not everyone is as enthusiastic as Cummins about sherry-rested Scotch, plenty of other bartenders were happy to share their go-to lesser-known bottles the help us make it through the long, cold winter.

The Dalmore King Alexander III

Demetrëa Dewald, lead bartender at Bar Mateo at Zinc Café in Los Angeles

The Dalmore King Alexander III Single Malt Scotch Whisky is an often-overlooked Scotch created by one of the most legendary distilleries in the world. With a perfect blend of zesty orange, creamy chocolate, and tropical fruits, this complex spirit is like none other.

Smooth and well balanced with the vanilla aroma that The Dalmore is known for. Not always easy to find, but always worth the hunt.

Glendronach Revival 15

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

If someone is looking for a lesser-known bottle, I always point them towards Glendronach. Glendronach Revival is a well-rounded, sherry-forward bottle that always pleases.

Kilchoman Machir Bay

Alex Tack, bartender at Rex 1516 in Philadelphia

Kilchoman’s Machir Bay scotch is one of my favorite Islay scotches, most of which sort of play second fiddle to Laphroaig, Ardberg, and Lagavulin. It’s matured in both sherry and bourbon barrels, so while the intensely peaty, briny notes typical of the region are intact, they’re softened a bit by the choice of aging receptacles.

Lismore 18

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

One of my favorites, but definitely not on the mainstream radar, is Lismore 18. The nose is light, with citrus and dry lumber. On the palate, it gets a lot more interesting — with lots of toffee burnt graham cracker and a touch of smoke. The finish is light barrel and char.

With a $40 price point, it’s hard to beat.

Glenmorangie Signet

Justin Moses, wine director at Sand Valley in Nekoosa, Wisconsin

Glenmorangie is the cornerstone of any Scotch lineup. But one of their lesser-known offerings is the Glenmorangie Signet. The secret here is malted chocolate barley. Normally, this is reserved for breweries that specialize in stouts and porters, but here it lends the same espresso and dark chocolate notes to a blend of 35-40 year single malts.

It’s certainly worth the splurge.

Ardbeg Uigeadail

Gavin Humes, bartender at Scratch|Bar & Kitchen in Encino, California

Ardbeg Uigeadail is maybe not the most obscure, but for people who love Lagavulin or even Laphroaig, Ardbeg is underappreciated. It’s got the intense smoky quality that many people are looking for in Scotch, but it has a nice fruity quality on the front palate that really works for me.

Kilchoman 100% Islay

Brandon “Habi” Habenstein, bartender at The Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky

I’m a huge fan of Kilchoman 100% Islay. They are the first Scotch producer I’ve seen tackling the “grain to glass” approach head-on. For this particular bottling, they grow their own barley, malt it, cook it, ferment it, distill it, age it, and bottle it all on-site! Malting is an entire industry to itself.

That type of passion is not only inspiring but pretty much always ends up with fantastic products for consumers.

Arran 10

Courtney Cantrell, bartender and assistant manager for Old Hickory Whiskey Bar in Pensacola, Florida

Though it has only been around since 1995, the Isle of Arran distillery is one of the few independent distilleries in Scotland and is also one of my top contenders. Near Campbeltown, the Isle of Arran offers one of my favorite single malt Scotches, the Arran 10 year. This Scotch has a nice, creamy mouthfeel, yet offers tartness and notes of honey with developing complexity from sip to sip.

GlenDronach 18 Allardice Sherry Cask

Tommy Cummins, head buyer at The Umbrella Project in London

For that winter warmth, I would reach for a bottle of GlenDronach 18 Allardice Sherry Cask. It was named after the distillery’s founder. If you are going to name something after its founder, it wants to be something you’ll dream of — and boy will you dream of this!

Aged all its life in Oloroso sherry, when pouring this dark rich liquid into your favorite drinking vessel, the air will be punctuated with the smell of black forest gateau — cherries, raisins, dark chocolate, and toffee. This is a drop that needs to be respected. Once this full-bodied show-stopper passes your lips, buckets of plums, cinnamon, and allspice come rushing at you. Then comes the chewing. This special drop is one to pour to impress your partner’s father (or mother, for that matter).

They won’t have a bad word to say about you after they’ve been turned into this.

Buchanan’s Black & White

Freddy Yanez, bartender at Unreserved Beer Garden in Orlando

Black and White from Buchanan’s distillery, also imported by Diageo, is a high quality yet affordable Scotch. It’s very good to mix or enjoy broken with a splash of water.