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The Philadelphia 76ers are teaming up with Lapstone & Hammer, an apparel company based in the City of Brotherly Love, to launch a capsule of gear that strives to raise money for a local charity. The squad debuted the apparel on Monday morning with the help of a number of individuals, including starting forward Tobias Harris and rookie wing Matisse Thybulle.

“The 76ers Crossover was designed to celebrate what makes the city of Philadelphia unique with a focus on art, fashion, food and culture,” Philadelphia 76ers Chief Marketing Office Katie O’Reilly said in a statement. “We are thrilled to launch the next phase of our Crossover with this one-of-a-kind capsule to create unique merchandise for our fans to enjoy as we celebrate the return of basketball.”

The Sixers dropped a video to highlight the gear that will appear in the capsule, which includes apparel from the streetwear brands streetwear brands Eric Emanuel, Arena x New Era, Needles, New York Sunshine, Everest Isles, LQQK Studios and Blackstock & Weber.

The money raised by the collection will go towards the Philly-based charity Urban Affairs Coalition, which per its website, looks “to improve the quality of life in the region, build wealth in urban communities, and solve emerging issues.” The line of gear is slated to drop on August 1 at 10 a.m. ET. It’s the same day that the Sixers will begin their eight seeding games in the NBA’s Orlando bubble league — that game, against the Indiana Pacers, tips off at 7 p.m.

Gordi, the moniker of Sophie Payten, explored the themes of death, introspection, and sexuality in her spectacular sophomore album, Our Two Skins, which was released in June. The Australian singer can’t tour behind the record for obvious reasons, so she instead took the grand Sydney Opera House stage in a livestream to perform several tracks from her recent record.

Payton filled the large, empty Opera House with an 8-track setlist which included the numbers “Unready,” “Sandwiches,” and “Aeroplane Bathrooms.” After giving a rendition of her album opener, Payton said: “I did think the first time I’d be here there’d be a few more people in the crowd. But I’m imagining you all. But I’m imagining you as an NRL match’s cardboard cutouts. It is a true dream to be here.”

In a recent interview with Uproxx ahead of her album’s release, Payten said she wanted to make songs fit both for introspective moments and to share with friends:

“I wanted to make a couple of songs that you can listen to on your own. And I wanted to make a couple of songs that you listen to with others. The songs that you listen to on your own come more naturally to me, I feel like I’ll write those for the rest of the time. But I find that I have to be more careful with my sonic choices when I’m making songs like ‘Unready’ or ‘Sandwiches,’ because it’s not always my natural instincts. My natural instincts are those quieter moments like ‘Aeroplane Bathroom,’ or something. And all of those songs, like ‘Aeroplane Bathroom,’ ‘Volcanic,’ ‘Radiator,’ they all took the least amount of time because it felt very natural.”

Watch the full Sydney Opera House performance above.

Our Two Skins is out now via Jagjaguwar. Get it here.

DaBaby and his North Carolina protege Stunna 4 Vegas are back with another irreverent video for their new song “No Dribble.” Trading rapid-fire verses over a SVNDS and Retro Future-produced, flute-driven beat, the NC duo once again employs Reel Goats to produce the visuals for their latest tag-team effort.

The two conduct a locker room turn up and dribble a basketball down an alley while also giving each rides in a grocery cart and cruise around looking for trouble to get into, courtesy of some provocatively obvious green screen. DaBaby and Stunna 4 Vegas maintain their characteristic energy, making goofy faces at the camera and generally resembling a pair of rambunctious middle schoolers let loose after a long day of desk-bound boredom.

DaBaby has been enjoying a continuation of his mighty 2019 breakout this year, even with COVID-19 precautions putting a damper on his income. He’s ruled the charts thanks to his Roddy Ricch collaboration “Rockstar,” he helped breakout star Jack Harlow’s “What’s Poppin” reach impressive new heights, and his new album, Blame It On Baby, was an albums chart topper despite receiving criticism from skeptics. Meanwhile, Stunna 4 Vegas raised his own profile with standout performances on Polo G’s “Go Stupid” and his own “Do Dat” video.

Watch DaBaby and Stunna 4 Vegas’ “No Dribble” video above.

Less than a week ago, Warner Bros. pulled Christopher Nolan’s Tenet off the release schedule on an indefinite basis, and it felt like we wouldn’t hear updates for a little while, given that the U.S. has begun to (in certain areas) rollback state reopenings. Then accordingly, AMC delayed reopening its theaters without the massive tentpole on the calendar, but it looks like Warner Bros. is forging ahead with an official global release for Nolan’s latest epic project, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson.

It must be noted, however, that the new release date applies to countries other than the U.S., where selected cities will see the movie two weekends later, beginning on Labor Day weekend. Via Hollywood Reporter:

Tenet will now open first overseas in more than 70 countries starting on Aug. 26, followed by select U.S. cities on Sept. 2 in advance of the long Labor Day weekend … the major foreign territories where Tenet will open include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain and the U.K. It also has a Sept. 18 release date in Japan.

One can imagine that the U.S. (where Tenet was originally scheduled for July 17) will see a highly staggered rollout for this movie, along with other tentpoles, until the pandemic subsides, either through a viable vaccine or otherwise. Major markets like New York and Los Angeles keeping their theaters shuttered will impact the box-office take, and it’s likely that Texas, Arizona, and a handful of other states won’t be opening multiplexes on Labor Day weekend. Yet clearly, Warner Bros. feels good enough about their new plan to start doing this thing for real, beginning outside of the U.S.

The arrival of Tenet, overall, has been quite a rollercoaster for audiences and everyone involved with the film, far eclipsing the intentional mystery that ordinarily surrounds a Nolan project before (and sometimes even after) release. At least, along the way, we’ve been able to enjoy interviews from noted chaos agent Robert Pattinson, who has admitted that he didn’t fully understand the movie. He may or may not have been teasing us, since his offbeat interview style goes back to him denying ever washing his hair during his Twilight days. Whereas in Tenet, his grooming is on point, and with any luck, people (again, not in the U.S.) can finally see Tenet stick a landing date.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

The upcoming NBA 2K21 release will feature three different athlete covers, with Damian Lillard on the current generation game, Zion Williamson on the next generation console release, and Kobe Bryant on the “Mamba Forever” edition.

While the game’s release is still a ways away, details continue to trickle out about what will be a part of the game, with Monday revealing the game’s soundtrack plans. The current generation (Xbox One, PS4) edition will have a 52 song soundtrack, including a pair of unreleased tracks from Dame D.O.L.L.A.

“To be on the cover alone is a big deal to me, but to be on the cover and also have my music be a part of the game is a huge accomplishment as well,” said Damian Lillard in a release. “Personally, I’ve been introduced to new artists, songs and genres that I might hear on the radio, but I heard it first on NBA 2K.”

Right now, fans can listen to 49 of those tracks on a Spotify playlist 2K created, with the soundtrack headlined by the likes of Roddy Ricch, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD and many more.

2K also announced plans for the next generation soundtrack (Xbox Series X, PS5), and noted that soundtrack will feature a ridiculous 202 songs and will be updated with new songs. It’s an indication of what we may see on next-gen games, as developers will be able to add even more detail to games that goes beyond upgraded visuals and offers the chance to pack games with more music offerings.

Hopefully soundtrack updates will not require lengthy downloads on next-gen consoles, but it’s certainly something to look forward to having a larger music library so as you log hours of gameplay you won’t hear the same tracks over and over.

When NBA players arrived in the Orlando bubble, there were some notable sneaker debuts made on practice courts at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. LeBron James showed off the latest in his signature line, the Nike LeBron 18, and a number of Puma’s athletes in both the NBA and WNBA offered a first look at the RS-Dreamer, which was designed in collaboration with J Cole.

On Monday, Puma offered official details on the RS-Dreamer, which will see a wide release to the public this Friday, July 31. The sneaker will retail for $125 and be available on Puma.com and Foot Locker’s family of stores. As J Cole notes in the press release, the goal of the sneaker was to meld a performance hoops sneaker with design elements that make it worthy of wearing off the court as well.

“Over the years, basketball shoes have progressed greatly in their level of technology and comfort but have strayed too far away from designs stylish enough for cultural relevancy,” Cole explains. “The Dreamer hopes to change that reality. The highest level of on-court performance meets the highest level of aesthetic design for daily wear. Once again, you can hoop in the same shoes you wore outside.”

From a performance standpoint, the sneaker introduces RS Foam from Puma’s running line to a basketball sneaker, along with what the brand promises to be “enhanced durability and traction.” That Puma’s top stars in the NBA have been wearing the sneaker on the court in the bubble lends credence to its bonafides as a performance sneaker, and the look speaks for itself as a fashionable off-court shoe.

Supermodel Linda Evangelista was once quoted, “We have this expression, Christy [Turlington] and I: We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.” It appears that the expression travels well; while rapper Lil Baby is no supermodel, he’s set similarly high standards on his work. The in-demand Atlanta rapper tweeted his asking price to do guest verses for his contemporaries in June, asserting that “At this point it’s safe to say I want $100k for a feature.” He doubled down over the weekend, going from hypothesizing about it, to declaring anything less an offense.

“Ima feel offended if you want a verse from me but don’t got a $100k,” he tweeted. “Respect my hustle.” He followed that up with his belief that “$100k cheap by the way. Do your streaming research.” Both tweets ended up getting deleted but were preserved for posterity by obsequious drama monger Akademiks, who got a screenshot and cheerleaded, “Which broke ass rapper offered Lil Baby under $100k for a feature?” He also called rappers cheap and criticized them for “talking big in their records” because as we all know, no rapper has ever lied about how much money they make in the whole history of rap.

While it’s pretty funny to imagine Lil Baby turning down more money than most of us make in a year because it doesn’t meet his arbitrary asking price, it’s important to note that Quality Control, the same label Baby is on, is currently being sued by their biggest act, Migos, for withholding royalties. Rappers talk big because that’s what sells — that doesn’t often equate to actual net worth. Besides, most of that money is being fronted by labels, who loan rappers an advance when they sign them to recording contracts. That often translates to six or seven figures of debt for folks who may not even have had a bank account before — and has so often resulted in rappers ending up stuck in bad deals, struggling to recoup for even their biggest hits.

Lil Baby may feel like he has the option to set his worth now, but he should definitely be taking whatever money there is to get — there are a lot more MC Hammers in the game than Jay-Zs.

LA indie-rock outfit Rilo Kiley downloaded nine tracks onto a handful of CDs in 1999 and passed them out at their first shows. The effort was known as their self-titled debut album and has been out of print for just over 20 years. Members of the band have since moved onto other projects — vocalist Jenny Lewis was slated to tour with Harry Styles before the pandemic — but the group has now uncovered their debut effort and announced plans to reissue the album on vinyl and digital platforms in coming months.

After Rilo Kiley garnered the group attention, the band went on to release four other acclaimed records including their 2001 major-label debut effort Take Offs And Landings. But before they had ever recorded their songs, the four-piece arrived on the LA scene in 1998 and played their inaugural show at the now-defunct Spaceland in Silverlake. Comedian Dave Foley coincidentally attended the group’s first show and recalls pushing the band to record an album:

“January 1998, I was a young man, young compared to now, hanging out in LA’s alt. rock club scene. One night in particular, I found myself at Spaceland, at the bar drinking when a band started playing. They were good, so good that I stopped fighting for the attention of the bartender and turned to see who it was. On stage was a very young, delightfully unpretentious group named Rilo Kiley. Between songs they were charming, smart and funny. During songs they were brilliant. After the set I introduced myself and learned that this was their first public performance. I was astonished. They invited me back to their rehearsal space for Thai food and to hear some songs they didn’t have room for in the set. Dreamily, I filled my belly with noodles and my head with one great song after another. I was in a full on, pop music fan swoon. Having decided to force myself into their lives, I suggested (insisted) that I should fund a demo recording. They relented. I also tried to talk them into changing the band’s name. They were unrelenting. A lot of years have passed. I remain proud to know Rilo Kiley and grateful that I had the opportunity and ability to be of some help”.

Watch Rilo Kiley’s 1999 “Frug” video above and see their self-titled album cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Frug”
2. “Papillion”
3. “Always”
4. “85”
5. “Glendora”
6. “Teenage Lovesong”
7. “Sword”
8. “Asshole”
9. “Gravity”

Rilo Kiley is out 10/2 via Little Record Company. Pre-order it here.

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

Kyrie Irving was among the most outspoken NBA players during the hiatus when it came to voicing concerns about the league’s restart plan. Irving raised questions about whether the restart would be in the best interest of players, particularly amid the growing Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of NBA players continuing to be a prominent voice in that movement.

While the majority of NBA players decided to enter the bubble, the same conversations were happening on the WNBA side where a number of players opted out, both for health concerns and for social justice reasons. While NBA players that opted out had already received a significant portion of their salary for the season, WNBA players opting out were risking their entire season’s pay — in a league where players are just seeing a raise from a CBA ratified this offseason.

As such, those players do not have the potential savings of NBA players who chose not to play in the restart, and Irving wants to make sure that they are given some financial security and assistance. As such, he launched the KAI Empowerment Initiative, which is funded fully by Irving with $1.5 million that will be allocated to players that opted out of whatever reason.

“Whether a person decided to fight for social justice, play basketball, focus on physical or mental health, or simply connect with their families, this initiative can hopefully support their priorities and decisions,” Irving said in a statement on Monday.

The program will also provide a financial literacy program to players through UBS, and they’ll be able to apply online through August 11, 2020. It’s a strong show of support from Irving and will provide players who had to make a very difficult decision to sit out the season without pay with some financial security that will surely be much appreciated.

The first four seasons of Dexter are very good (the John Lithgow season is the exception, because it’s great). Unfortunately, the Showtime series continued for four more seasons, culminating in a horrible cop-out of an ending. Once you see the lumberjack beard, you can’t forget the lumberjack beard, let alone the infamous treadmill scene from a few episodes earlier. No conversation about the worst TV finales ever is complete without “Remember the Monsters?” (which has a nearly identical IMDb user rating as “The Iron Throne”), although the episode does have its defenders.

Dexter star Yvonne Strahovski, who played fellow serial killer Hannah, was recently asked what it’s like to be associated with a — to put it charitably — “polarizing” finale.

“I appreciate both sides. I got a little bit of an insight into why they did what they did… It was just sort of about having Dexter have nobody and that that was kind of the ultimate jail in a way for him to not have anybody left. And then I get the fans as well,” the Handmaid’s Tale actress said during an episode of Collider Ladies Night. “I get that perhaps it wasn’t sort of the most dramatic ending that they had longed for. Maybe they wanted to see more blood and gore… It’s not my responsibility [laughs], so it doesn’t really bother me whether people liked it or not. It’s just something that I was a part of.”

Dexter had its problems near the ends of its run, its many, many problems, but the acting was never an issue. Strahovski, then best known for her role on Chuck, was a late-season highlight, and she and Michael C. Hall had strong chemistry together. Besides, she’s not the one who decided a 45-year-old man should be a child’s stunt double.

I needed to see it again.

(Via Collider)