Month: May 2021

J. Cole’s new album The Off-Season has only been out for three days but it’s already trending toward being one of the top-selling releases of the year so far. This is despite a rollout that only included two singles before the album’s release, neither of which received a music video. Today, the first video for The Off-Season arrived, and rather than being for either “The Climb Back” or “Interlude,” J. Cole instead released a video for the album’s second track “Amari,” which is named for his Dreamville labelmate Bas’s nephew.

We don’t know yet whether “Amari” is the video that Cole shot in January as he crossed off his to-do list ahead of “The Fall-Off,” but the video is an eye-catching collection of shots in which Cole flies a helicopter (sort of), reflects on his dorm-to-mansion come-up, and literally sets “the booth” on fire.

Aside from the “Amari” video, Cole’s unusual album rollout also included a documentary, Applying Pressure, a cover story in Slam in whch he denied that he’s preparing for retirement, an incendiary freestyle for the LA Leakers radio show, and most unusually of all, a surprise signing to the Basketball Africa League’s Rwanda team, where he scored three points in his debut game.

Watch J. Cole’s “Amari” video above.

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville/Roc Nation. Get it here.

Are you a capable three-point shooter who lives in the Long Island, New York area? Then please find the park where Adam Sandler is apparently playing pickup basketball every day because the Sandman needs YOU.

On Monday morning, video of Sandler playing pickup basketball in a polo shirt and what one can only assume to be XXL basketball shorts went viral. I’m not 100 percent sure why video of Adam Sandler playing basketball goes viral so often, as he loves playing basketball more than I think anything else in the world and there are these kinds of videos that pop up quite regularly, but there is a joy to watching him out there in his incredibly baggy clothes playing the most fundamentally sound basketball you’ve ever seen in a game of pickup hoops.

However, there is a glaring issue facing Sandler based on the two videos we have from his latest appearance on the blacktop: no one can knock down a f*cking shot for him. Just look at these two beautiful feeds to open three-point shooters who don’t come close to cashing in on the Sandman dimes.

I am begging you, Long Island Pickup Basketball Community. Do better. Look at how dejected Sandler is after his feed on the first video results in the basketball crashing into the backboard. How do you even go about your day after that? For the rest of your life, you’ll be waking up in a cold sweat replaying that moment in your mind. Sandler, drawing all the eyes of the defense, kicking it out to you right in the shooting pocket, you rising up confidently only to miss the rim completely, and finally, you see Sandler, the source of so much joy for so many, despondent that his efforts were all for nothing.

In the second clip, Sandler is out here setting screens for folks, gets the ball back, recognizes the defense is sagging and skip passes it to the corner for a wide open three that clangs off the rim. Sandler was getting ready to celebrate you and you can’t do anything but leave it short on the front iron? Disgraceful. Get it together, Long Island. You’ve been blessed by the presence of Adam Sandler in his business basketball casual attire and this is the best you can do?

Up-and-coming Detroit rapper Sada Baby has been on the rise since his 2018 record “Bloxk Party” went viral, securing him a record deal and the attentions of such luminaries as Big Sean and Nicki Minaj. The latter featured on a remix of his TikTok-favorite 2020 track “Whole Lotta Choppas,” and Sean included him on the hometown-praising “Friday Night Cypher” from Detroit 2.

Capitalizing on these connections, Sada Baby released yet another Big Sean collaboration today, the Hit-Boy-produced “Little While.” Like “Whole Lotta Choppas,” it employs a techno-influenced beat that taps into his Motor City roots while offering an upbeat departure from his usual gritty sound. In an interview with Apple Music, he explained the intentions behind the beat choice.

“I’m the type of artist that likes to dance and just give the energy through the music,” he elaborated. “So songs like ‘Whole Lotta Choppas,’ and this one are intentionally made for people to have fun. I feel like I do those with ease. I have a lot of them, but I never wanted that to be my main thing. That’s what people expect from you.”

He also said hearing Detroit 2 prompted him to scrap his entire debut album and start over. “Me hearing his album made me scrap everything that I had, as far as [how] we’re going to structure these songs and then put them into the album,” he said. “So nope. I scrapped it and set up fresh studio time in LA to start from scratch.” He says he’s now three weeks away from completing the recording process, leaving him with enough material for three planned mixtapes next year as well.

Listen to Sada Baby’s “Little While” featuring Big Sean and Hit-Boy above.

Sada Baby is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Going into the final day of the NBA regular season, 18 of the 20 seeds in the playoffs and play-in were still up for grabs, as teams jockeyed to move up (and down) in the last game of the season. In the end, things shook out just about as expected, with some tremendous games early between the Hornets and Wizards for eighth in the East and the Warriors and Grizzlies for eighth in the West.

Elsewhere, the Clippers somehow out-tanked the Thunder to stay in 4th, while Portland cruised past an unmotivated Denver team also hoping to maybe slip to 4th, securing the final playoff spot in the West and forcing the Lakers into the play-in. With L.A. in seventh and the Warriors taking eighth, the marquee matchup of the inaugural play-in tournament is set for Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET in Los Angeles (on ESPN), as LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s paths will cross once again in the postseason.

After the Lakers beat the Pelicans and knew of their fate, LeBron James spoke about once again running into Steph in the postseason and looked back on their battles, the respect they have for each other, and made a pretty passionate case for Curry to be the MVP over the presumptive winner Nikola Jokic.

It’s possible LeBron believes this strongly, but James also knows better than anyone how to craft and curate his own legacy in real time. In a year where injuries took himself out of the MVP conversation — he also noted in postgame that he felt he was playing the best basketball of his career before a “grown man” dove into his legs — the next best thing for LeBron is to build a path through the guy he thinks should be MVP, possibly meeting the actual MVP in the second round, and then likely either the team with the NBA’s best record or the in-town rival Clippers in the conference finals.

James is a wrestling fan so he knows you always put over your opponent, and on top of that he gets to stir up a little drama in the process by seeing if he can maybe swing some votes over Curry’s way who has had, undoubtedly, one of the best seasons in the NBA. James references his support for Russ to win the MVP when he first averaged a triple-double, noting that record can’t be a deciding factor when someone has an historic season. What he’s also done is ensured that the MVP debate will rage for some time longer even as the regular season comes to a close, and that Curry vs. Jokic will be one major topic of conversation — but one that comes after discussion of the latest matchup of Curry vs. LeBron.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed from March, former-White House senior advisor and Slender Man body double Jared Kushner declared an end to the conflict in the Middle East. “We are witnessing the last vestiges of what has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict,” he wrote. Guess it’s time to unfurl the “Mission Accomplished” banner.

As the conflict continues to escalate between Israel and Palestine, including Israel launching deadly airstrikes against Gaza, many on Twitter are mocking Kushner for “bringing peace” to the Middle East. “The one positive thing to come out of the Trump administration was Kushner’s brilliance in bringing peace to the Middle East,” director Rob Reiner tweeted, while comedian Nell Scovell added, “Late tonight, while Jared is asleep, Ivanka will slip into the kitchen and quietly remove the ‘I Brought Peace to the Middle East’ mug that she bought him last Chanukah.”

Kushner, who was put in charge of brokering peace in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by his father-in-law despite no previous foreign relations experience, recently founded “an organization called the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace to work on deepening the normalization agreements he helped strike between Israel and Arab countries,” according to Axios.

Kushner is also writing a book “about his experience in helping broker the deals,” which assuredly won’t mention the “between $172 million and $640 million” he and wife Ivanka Trump made while working in the White House. He’s too busy with all that peace.

(Via Raw Story)

The 2020-2021 NBA regular season has officially come to a close and it did so in rather spectacular fashion, with a wild final day that saw teams battling for play-in positioning, playoff seeding, and some outright tanking into different matchups.

The day started out with some phenomenal games including three furious comebacks: one actually completed by the Wizards to beat the Hornets and earn the 8-seed in the East, another other by the Grizzlies, briefly taking the lead on Golden State before Stephen Curry happened and the Warriors won, and another by the Celtics to scare the Knicks who held on to earn the 4-seed in the East.

The night slate wasn’t nearly as competitive for all the reasons one might expect, as teams rested and positioned themselves to be healthy and ready for the playoffs. Out West, the Nuggets were playing guys but clearly weren’t invested in their game in Portland the same way the Blazers were, as Portland ran away early to secure the 6-seed in the West and push the Lakers into the play-in, despite L.A. getting a win in New Orleans (although with a bit of a scare from LeBron apparently tweaking his ankle). Meanwhile, the Jazz started slow but eventually pummeled the Kings to lock down the 1-seed, keeping Phoenix in second out West.

With Denver losing, the Clippers would move to the 3-seed with a win, but they clearly wanted no part of that as they did the unthinkable, out-tanking the Thunder to lose in Oklahoma City (after losing to Houston) and getting into the 4-seed to face Dallas (who lost to Minnesota trying to possibly tank their way to the 6 to dodge the Clippers). All in all, it was a wild day and at the end of it all, here is how the play-in and playoffs will shake out.

EAST

PLAY-IN
7. Boston Celtics vs. 8. Washington Wizards (Tuesday, TNT, 9:00 p.m. ET)
9. Indiana Pacers vs. 10. Charlotte Hornets (Tuesday, TNT, 6:30 p.m. ET)

PLAYOFFS
1. Philadelphia 76ers vs. 8. Winner of Play-In Game 2 (loser BOS/WAS vs. winner IND/CHA)
2. Brooklyn Nets vs. 7. Winner of BOS/WAS
3. Milwaukee Bucks vs. 6. Miami Heat
4. New York Knicks vs. 5. Atlanta Hawks

WEST

PLAY-IN
7. L.A. Lakers vs. 8. Golden State Warriors (Wednesday, ESPN, 10:00 p.m. ET)
9. Memphis Grizzlies vs. 10. San Antonio Spurs (Wednesday, ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)

PLAYOFFS
1. Utah Jazz vs. 8. Winner of Play-In Game 2 (loser LAL/GSW vs. winner MEM/SAS)
2. Phoenix Suns vs. 7. Winner of LAL/GSW
3. Denver Nuggets vs. 6. Portland Trail Blazers
4. L.A. Clippers vs. 5. Dallas Mavericks

Once the play-in games are done and the full matchups are set for the playoffs, the complete TV schedule for the first round will be released.

Late last year, when Young Thug was asked whether he’d participate in a Verzuz hits battle, the genre-bending Atlanta rapper’s answer caused a minor dustup on social media because of his controversial inclusion of one of rap’s biggest names in the response. “It would probably have to be like [Lil Wayne],” he said at the time. “… Jay-Z ain’t got 30 songs like that.”

While some fans thought that Thug’s mention of Jay-Z was disrespectful, Thug later explained on his Instagram that he wasn’t trying to diss Jay, he was just “talking too fast.” Today, he returned to the scene of the faux pas, the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, to further elaborate on his original comments and set the record straight with regard to where he stands on Jay-Z’s legacy.

Host Gillie Da Kid tees him up saying, “You were basically saying you got a lot of f*ckin’ records,” to which Thug replies, “That’s all I was saying, I just used his name because he the biggest n**** in the world to me. I just used his name, to let the world know, ‘Yo, I got just as many hits as the biggest n**** in the world.’ I’m doing two hours on stage. I don’t remember my last hour show… and I don’t do too much talking.”

Still, it might be interesting to see how the two fanbases would react to a Verzuz-style battle. Obviously, both have more than enough hit records to go back-and-forth, but the generation gap and difference in their styles could generate some fun debate among hip-hop heads, possibly even bringing them together across the regional and generational splits that have prompted so much of hip-hop’s friction over the years. However, it might be more productive for the two to collaborate on a new hit record that brings them together instead of forcing them to compete.

You can watch the full interview with Million Dollaz Worth Of Game above.

The concert and festival landscape has been bleak over the past year-plus for obvious reasons. Now, though, things seem to be slowly returning to normal (or something like what normal used to be, anyway). Artists are announcing tour dates for this summer and fall, and music festival organizers are also preparing to host events later this year. Now, one of the country’s most esteemed events is slated to make its return in 2021: Pitchfork Music Festival has announced its 2021 dates and lineup.

The fest is set to hit Chicago on the weekend of September 10 to 12. The headliners for Friday are Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief, and Animal Collective. Saturday will be led by St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, and Kim Gorden. Capping things off on Sunday will be Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat.

Elsewhere, performers will include Yaeji, Black Midi, Hop Along, Kelly Lee Owens, Dogleg, Armand Hammer, Ty Segall & Freedom Band, Waxahatchee, Jay Electronica, Jamila Woods, Faye Webster, Bartees Strange, Danny Brown, Cat Power, Andy Shauf, Caroline Polachek, and Yves Tumor.

Tickets are on sale now, so learn more about this year’s festival here.

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

Always one to speak candidly to fans about his creative process and the trials and tribulations that go down behind-the-scenes, James Gunn recently revealed that he’s been receiving daily death threats over the fate of characters in his upcoming reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad. While tweeting out a link to his new interview with Den of Geek, Gunn cited a threat he received just that day, and pointed out that it’s happening way too often.

“This morning on IG: “This is a threat. If you kill (character name redacted) I will hatecrime you.” Every. Single. Day,” Gunn wrote.

In the interview Gunn tweeted, he reiterated earlier remarks that absolutely no one is safe in The Suicide Squad, and it’s a decision that he makes entirely based on what serves the story best. “The first thing I had to do was ignore the potential blowback from killing a character,” Gunn explained before walking through his writing process and making it clear that whoever dies wasn’t a “personal choice.” Via Den of Geek:

“It’s all in relationship to the story that I would kill anyone who the story saw fit to kill. I’m working for the story. I’m just the servant of the story. So whatever the story says is what I’m going to do, no matter what the repercussions are for anything. And I believe in the truth of the story. I believe that there was a story out there that needed to be told that I don’t have total control over.”

Of course, it doesn’t set fans’ minds at ease that, when asked during an Instagram Q&A which characters die in the film, Gunn answered “almost all of them.” However, it should go without saying that reacting to that information with death threats is never the right response.

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)

In his first-ever professional basketball game, J. Cole looked like he belonged on the court, even though his stats were nothing to write home about. If anything, his debut ball game called to mind memories of his debut project: As long as he stuck to what he was good at and didn’t try too hard, he acquitted himself the way you’d expect from a self-proclaimed future superstar. That quality has held true over the course of the decade since, even up to his latest release, The Off-Season.

If a metaphor comparing the North Carolina native’s rap career to his sports one seems almost too easy, it’s only because Cole himself invited such comparisons with the new album’s title and rollout. Even the cover prominently features a flaming basketball hoop, reinforcing the symbolism of the “off-season” motif. Cole spoke at length in both interviews and his personal documentary about the mentality of drilling and training himself on his already virtuoso raps with the goal of improving to his satisfaction — much like a pro athlete would add new facets to his game between seasons.

Even with the coincidence of his first-ever game, which his longtime friend and manager Ibrahim Hamad even called something of an accident of timing due to the pandemic pushing back both the album’s release and the start of the newly created Basketball Africa League, the parallels practically write themselves. In his limited first-half minutes, Cole was able to score a bucket at the rim on a putback and was even given the honor of shooting the team’s technical free throw — a distinction that is usually only bestowed upon the team’s best shooter on the floor at the time of the foul.

In the second half, though, the team decided to reward Cole’s performance with more indulgences. He was allowed more touches, even bringing the ball up on a few possessions. This increased time brought increased exposure to the flaws in his game: whether because of first-game nerves or simply due to his trying too hard, he was responsible for three turnovers and an airball (as well as a couple of assists), and it was revealed that he either can’t or won’t go left in isolation.

Let’s compare this to his rap work. We know he can rhyme his ass off and he knows it too; this is the strongest facet of his music-making ability and he produces his best, most engaging material when this is what he focuses on. It’s when he overindulges or tries to do too much that his weaknesses as a songwriter get exposed. There’s a tendency to drone on at length about how good he is at rapping; the awkwardly framed, “relatable” songs about things like losing his virginity and folding clothes have drawn as much criticism as praise over the years. Being relatable is one thing; oversharing is another entirely.

On The Off-Season, Cole wisely mitigates most of his most glaring flaws. By keeping the runtime short, he keeps himself on topic and remains efficient in conceptualizing and executing the album’s 12 songs, without the tail-end drag he sometimes delivers on his longer projects. He also varies the production a lot more; rather than producing on every single track, he employs input from hitmakers like Boi 1da, DJ Dahi, Jake One, and T-Minus to set up the plays for him, letting him stick to the aforementioned rhyming without having to split his focus. This is especially useful on tracks like “Pride Is The Devil,” where the production — which samples Aminé’s “Can’t Decide” from the 2020 album Limbo — opens the floor for Cole and Lil Baby’s impressive two-man game on the lyrical end.

He also gets into more personal storytelling, such as on “Let Go My Hand,” where he finally confirms the long-rumored scuffle between himself and Sean Combs. Although the track is scant on details, it’s a far-sight more interesting than the stilted regular-guy raps he used to attempt. We want to hear about his life, not ours, and this is among one of the most up-to-date references he’s offered, even if the incident in question happened nearly five years before. By contrast, the other “relatable” songs he’s offered up over his career were either nostalgic recollections of his childhood in Fayetteville or the painfully earnest “Let Nas Down.”

Mercifully, Cole also cuts down on the attempted social commentary. After admitting that he’s no extensive reader during his 2020 dust-up with an unnamed Twitter user that many thought to be Noname, it seems he’s learned to stick to being more of a role player than aiming to be a do-it-all All-Star. That’s a smart move on his part; it gives critics less to pick at in his lyrical game and makes him look more like the fan-favorite he is. There’s nothing wrong with being a mid-level specialty player — they often get to star in their own right, eventually.

That just leaves the bars themselves as the primary point of contention and those are subjective. Cole’s fans will likely get as much of a kick out of double entendres like “I put an M on your head, you Luigi brother now” as his detractors will side-eye such missives as corny. Likewise, the subject matter — J. Cole’s technically proficient rhyming and wordplay — will get varying mileage depending on the listener’s preference. From the perspective of this writer, there have been many better bars and many worse ones. What Cole does well, he does really well, and it’s easy to appreciate the level of work that went into it without him reminding you once a verse.

That latter aspect tends to detract from just being able to appreciate his talent as it is; it’s a little like those players who have a bad game and conspicuously spend hours in the gym afterward getting up shots. We already know that Cole has had a hit-or-miss career buttressed mostly by the strident insistence of his most outspoken fans. Telling us about how much work he puts in isn’t going to sway listeners who don’t prefer his music. For what it’s worth, many of hip-hop’s most appreciated artists throughout its history have been those who make it look easy and effortless, whose practice stayed behind closed doors and revealed itself under the bright lights in their high-level songwriting, catchy hooks, or intimate storytelling.

Cole’s dedication to the craft, to getting better at it every day, is commendable. Whether that commitment leads to a more entertaining product is debatable. Given The Off-Season’s status as an ostensible set-up for whatever “The Fall-Off” portion of J. Cole’s career will be, it’s possible that he’s just giving us a rare glimpse into the amount of forethought and skill polishing that goes into setting up a 20+year career. That’s pretty cool, but some of us will be looking forward to watching the actual game footage, not just the practice highlights.

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville. Get it here.