Month: June 2021

Megan Thee Stallion always holds it down for her supporters. Whether it be through her music or comments that stand up for the ladies and their rights, the Houston rapper has never shied away from returning the love and support her fans give her. Another example of this came through an interaction Megan had with a user on Twitter who told the rapper that a friend of hers, who was also a fan of Megan, recently died.

“Meg we lost a hottie [crying emoji] our best friend passed away unexpectedly,” the fan wrote. “They absolutely loved you, listening to ur songs was something we did every time we were together. We’re helping their family w funeral costs. We started a gofundme & are halfway there. @theestallion.” They replied to this tweet with a link to a GoFundMe that looked to raise $16,000 in funeral costs for the late fan.

The rapper caught wind of the tweet and responded, “How much do y’all need?” The fan answered back and said $8,000 was needed to meet the goal. Megan then replied with a screenshot that showed she donated $8,155 to the fan to meet the funeral costs.

The rapper’s random act of kindness comes after she made her return from hiatus with her newest single, “Thot Sh*t.”

You can read the interaction between the fan and the Houston rapper in the tweets above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Brooklyn Nets overcame a 17-point deficit in Game 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday evening, taking control of the best-of-seven clash with a 3-2 series lead. While the work of Jeff Green (7-for-8 from three) was impressive and the gutty effort of James Harden (46 minutes) was notable, Brooklyn’s explosive comeback was keyed by an all-time performance from Kevin Durant. Durant scored 49 points, including 31 in the second half, and he added 17 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, and two blocks to push the Nets over the top.

While there was some justified focus on Milwaukee’s shortcomings in what was a maddening performance from the Bucks, Durant rightfully took center stage as many active players weighed in on his brilliance.

Current and former teammates also shared their praise, ranging from injured Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie to Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.

Legends of the game also couldn’t help but laud Durant’s incredible showing, with Allen Iverson and Vince Carter showing love.

Steve Nash, Durant’s coach and a Hall of Famer in his own right, did his best to describe the effort.

Finally, LeBron James checked in to encourage observers to appreciate what they had seen.

Durant’s 49 points are the second-most in a triple-double in NBA Playoff history, and he is the first player in postseason history to exceed 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in a single game. Beyond the numbers, though, Durant’s effort in playing all 48 minutes is borderline unbelievable, and the praise will undoubtedly continue as many reflect on what was a performance for the ages.

A little more than two years ago, then-Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant suffered a ruptured achilles during an NBA Finals matchup against the Toronto Raptors. An injury that has taken careers from players far too soon, Durant spent all of the 2019-20 season rehabbing the injury and returned to the floor this year as a member of the Brooklyn Nets.

There have been plenty of moments this season where Durant has reminded us that he’s one of the best players of his generation, and on Tuesday night, we saw the former league MVP put forth a game for the ages. Durant, through sheer force of will, led the Nets to a thrilling 114-108 comeback win over the Milwaukee Bucks at the Barclays Center, putting Brooklyn ahead in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series, 3-2. He played every single second, going for 49 points on 16-for-23 shooting with 17 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, and two blocks, making him the first player to ever go for at least 45, 15, and 10 in a playoff game.

A completely different Nets team took the floor before and after halftime. Brooklyn scored 15 points in the first quarter and entered the locker room trailing by 16. Durant, Jeff Green, and Blake Griffin did everything they could, but it appeared James Harden’s hamstring injury was going to put a limit on what they could accomplish.

And then, Durant happened, taking total control of the game after the break. In one of the greatest individual playoff performances that we have ever seen, Durant caught fire during the game’s second half, hitting seemingly every shot, initiating the Nets’ offense, and playing swarming defense that played a role in the Bucks getting stuck in the mud. While we have seen Durant do some incredible things over the course of his NBA career, nothing has been quite like this.

Every single thing Milwaukee tried to do seemed hopeless against Durant, who put on a shot making clinic. And with less than a minute remaining in the game, he put things to bed, pulling up over Khris Middleton for a jumper at the end of the shot clock that made the Barclays Center roar.

While Harden obviously was not himself and Kyrie Irving was sidelined with an ankle injury, Green and Griffin came up big. The latter gave the Nets 17 points, while the former was out of his mind, scoring 27 off the bench and hitting seven of his eight attempts from three.

Both dudes competed like hell on defense, too, something that really flummoxed the Bucks in the second half. Antetokounmpo did what he could, going for 34 with 12 rebounds, but just was not able to keep up with the furious output from Durant.

Beyond Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton gave the Bucks 25 points with five assists and four rebounds, while Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez combined for 34. But once the Nets got cooking, it looked like every attempt at stemming the tide by Milwaukee was for naught — as a team, they were outscored 33-21 in the fourth quarter and just could not find any sort of rhythm.

Game 6 between the Bucks and the Nets will take place on Thursday night at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The game is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

HER has been a big deal since 2016, when she released her debut EP, HER Vol. 1. Over the years, the California-born artist has won a Grammy and an Oscar. Through it all, one of the only things HER hadn’t accomplished was release a full-length album, but that will change in just a few days.

Back Of My Mind, HER’s long-awaited long-player debut, will drop on June 18. After revealing its title and cover art earlier this month, the singer shared its tracklist with just three days until the album arrives. According to the Apple Music pre-save page, it’s comprised of 21 songs with contributions from Ty Dolla Sign, Hit-Boy, Cordae, Lil Baby, Kaytranada, Thundercat, Chris Brown, Yung Bleu, DJ Khaled, Bryson Tiller, and YG. Previously-released singles, “We Made It,” “Damage,” “Come Through,” “Hold On,” and “Slide.”

You can check out the full tracklist for the album below.

1. “We Made It”
2. “Back Of My Mind” Feat. Ty Dolla Sign
3. “Trauma” Feat. Cordae & Hit-Boy
4. “Damage”
5. “Find A Way” Feat. Lil Baby
6. “Bloody Waters” Feat. Kaytranada & Thundercat
7. “Closer To Me
8. “Come Through” Feat. Chris Brown
9. “My Own”
10. “Lucky”
11. “Cheat Code”
12. “Mean It”
13. “Paradise” Feat. Yung Bleu
14. “Process”
15. “Hold On”
16. “Don’t”
17. “Exhausted”
18. “Hard To Love”
19. “For Anyone”
20. “I Can Have It” Feat. DJ Khaled & Bryson Tiller
21. “Slide” feat. YG

Back Of My Mind is out 6/18 via MBK Entertainment/RCA Records. Pre-order it here.

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

Since the deadly MAGA insurrection of Jan. 6, the rightwing has done one of two things: downplay it, hoping it goes away, or hatching deranged conspiracy theories that take the blame off of the Trump supporters who perpetrated it. Tucker Carlson has done both. In April he tried to gaslight America, claiming they hadn’t seen a violent assault on Democracy and the lawmakers who help it run. On Tuesday he switched, admitting that it was bad, but it wasn’t Trump folks’ fault. No, he claimed, it was a false flag operation done by…the FBI.

Carlson’s comments came in the wake of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement of a plan to combat domestic terrorism, such as those that stormed the Capitol, hoping to overturn a free and fair election. According to The Daily Beast, the Fox News host claimed that was just another example of the Biden administration’s attempt to “crush anyone who leads opposition to” the current president.

He then got more specific in his conspiracy theorizing. He said that “some of the key people who participated on January 6 have not been charged,” adding, “Look at the documents, the government calls those people unindicted coconspirators. What does that mean? Well, it means that potentially every single case they were FBI operatives. Really? In the Capitol on January 6?”

Is that what it means? But Carlson was just getting started. He pointed out that Oath Keeper member Thomas Caldwell had been indicted, but that two others listed in documents have not (yet) been charged. Carlson had a tinfoil theory for that.

“The government knows who they are, but they have not charged them. Why is that? You know why,” Carlson said, throwing in a dramatic nod. “They were all certainly working for the FBI. So FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol, on Jan. 6, according to government documents!”

Carlson went on to claim the FBI were also behind the extremist plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer. He then twisted the knife, showing that he was far more worried about baseless conspiracies that make his fanbase look good than violent Americans run amok.

“If you empower the government to violate civil liberties in pursuit of a foreign terror organization, it’s just a matter of time before ambitious politicians use those same mechanisms to suppress political dissent,” he said. “And that is what we are seeing now.”

What inventive nonsense will Tucker spin next? Whatever it is, a large portion of the country will see, and maybe believe it.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Shortly after New Year’s Day this year, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine announced they would open a high school in the South Los Angeles area. It will serve as an extension of the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, an undergraduate program the duo created in back 2013. Specifics about the school were not revealed at the time of the announcement, but now that’s changed.

According to Billboard, The school will open in the fall of 2022 through a partnership between the duo and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The innovative high school, which is tentatively named Regional High School No. 1, will house 124 ninth and tenth graders, with plans to later accommodate a total of 250 students. It will also offer a unique curriculum that focuses on multidisciplinary, hands-on learning and emphasizes real-world projects. The school will be built on the Audubon Middle School campus in South Los Angeles.

During a press conference on Monday, both Dre and Iovine spoke about the upcoming school. “I think it’s going to be something extremely different,” Dre said. “I’m still trying to learn myself and understand the politics and the hurdles that we have to get over to help. All we’re here to do is help the kids.” He added, “We’re here strictly for the kids and trying to give them a future and something promising that maybe wasn’t available before then, so that is our intent.”

Iovine added, “I didn’t have great experiences at school and I don’t believe Dre did either, but it feels awesome to be here because the idea is to try … It’s incredible to be here and we come here with complete humility. We know how difficult this is, but we hope that we don’t get criticized for trying, because that’s the most important thing.”

Iovine concluded, “I want to encourage people like us that are fortunate and have success to come to these neighborhoods and really do something positive.”

The airline industry was one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as global and domestic travel came to a screeching halt last spring. When the pandemic was officially declared in March of 2020, no one knew what to expect or how long the timeline of lockdowns and life changes would last.

Two weeks after the declaration, Delta pilot Chris Dennis flew one of the airline’s planes to Victorville, CA for storage. He shared photos on Facebook that day of empty planes neatly lined up, saying it was a day he would remember for the rest of his life.

“Chilling, apocalyptic, surreal…all words that still don’t fit what is happening in the world,” he wrote. “Each one of these aircraft represents hundreds of jobs, if not more.”

He added:

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“For those airline folks who were around for 9/11, this feels even more real, more urgent. During 9/11 aircraft were stuck at airports around the country and the enemy was known. Now, they are all concentrated in huge lots and mothballed waiting for this battle to turn around against an enemy we can’t see or fight.

While we all are under 14 day quarantine and are sick of looking at our ceilings and walls, this is what is happening to the airline industry and other industries out there. It is horrifying. Please stay inside, social distance, and let this blow over quickly.”

As we all know, it turned out to be much more than a 14-day quarantine.

The final photo Dennis shared was a note he wrote and left in the tray table of the cockpit on March 23, 2020.

The note read:

“It’s March 23rd and we just arrived from MSP [Minneapolis-St. Paul]. Very chilling to see so much of our fleet here in the desert.

If you are here to pick it up then the light must be at the end of the tunnel.

Amazing how fast it changed. Have a safe flight bringing it out of storage!”

According to The Washington Post, the plane Dennis left the note in was used for parts for other aircraft while it was parked in Victorville, a common occurrence for planes in storage.

More than a year later, it was time for the aircraft to be “woken up” and prepped for passengers once again—and that’s when Dennis’s note was found.

Delta shared the note on Facebook and explained how Dennis had left it on the parked plane. Then they wrote about how it was found:

“Fast forward more than a year later to First Officer Nick P. landing at VCV and starting on his checklist to wake up ship 3009. One thing he didn’t expect to find was Chris’ letter, tucked away on a tray table in the flight deck.

Those 57 words, which captured so much of the uncertainty and emotion we all felt in March 2020, underscored the gravity of the trip, and how optimistic he now feels about the direction we’re heading in. Ship 3009 is now prepared to take the skies once again.

While the world certainly has changed over the past year, one thing is for certain: we won’t be taking that open runway for granted anytime soon.”

Thank you, First Officer Dennis, for the reminder of how far we’ve come since March of 2020 and how grateful we are to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There has always been a bit of a disconnect between the highly competitive and health-conscious world of sports and the brands that often sponsor events. The typical American sporting event will have sponsorships from fast-food chains, beer companies, and soft drinks.

In some cases, the brands will position themselves as being complementary to a healthy lifestyle. Like when Michael Jordan was a spokesperson for McDonald’s or when LeBron James endorsed Coca-Cola.

While athletes and brands are free to make whatever business deals they like, the problem is that these partnerships use superstars who are the paragon of health to promote unhealthy lifestyles.

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Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the biggest athletes on the planet, stood up to the pressure to promote unhealthy products on Monday when he scoffed at two bottles of Coca-Cola that were placed in front of him at a press conference ahead of Portugal’s Euro 2020 opener with Hungary.

The Juventus star moved the two bottles of soda out of camera view and picked up a bottle of water saying, “Drink water, not Coca-Cola.” Having one of the biggest stars of the championship denigrate a sponsor must have infuriated UEFA officials.

Do NOT put Coca Cola in front of Cristiano Ronaldo 😠

This is absolutely brilliant 🤣 https://t.co/bw9FYlTOI4

— Goal (@goal)
1623745546.0

The decision immediately affected Coca-Cola.

The soda manufacturer’s stock shares experienced a 1.6% drop in price after Ronaldo’s comments, costing the company $4 billion. However, the stock price was back up at the end of the day.

Coca-Cola responded to the initial comments by saying “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” and that everyone has different “tastes and needs.”

It is a little anachronistic to see bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of the world’s greatest athletes. Drinks like Coca-Cola have an incredible amount of high-fructose corn syrup and are linked to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

In one study on children, each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was linked to a 60% increased risk of obesity.

Ronaldo once endorsed Coca-Cola back in the day but now is an advocate for healthy living, evidenced by the fact he’s still at the top of his game at the age of 36. He’s known for having an intense health regimen and an incredibly toned physique.

Cristiano Ronaldo:

Has 3% less body fat than a supermodel

Thigh circumference of 61.7cm

Can run 25m in 3.61 seco… https://t.co/OECZspajab

— CRSEVN.7 (@cristianomotive)
1570550498.0

Ronaldo is known for eating six small meals a day to keep his metabolism going while avoiding hunger or feeling sluggish. He trains five days a week for three to four hours a day.

He’s spoken publicly about how he gets frustrated when his son has a sugary drink.

“I’m hard with him sometimes because he drinks Coca-Cola and Fanta sometimes and I’m pissed with him,” Ronaldo said according to The Mirror.

Ronaldo’s refusal to promote Coca-Cola struck a chord with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, 43-year-old Tom Brady, an athlete who’s also known for prolonging his career through an intense health regimen.

It’s almost like the veterans know what they’re doing…. @Cristiano @TB12sports https://t.co/pJ0y1BtCRt

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady)
1623711099.0

Caroline Cerny, Alliance Lead at Obesity Health Alliance, perfectly summed up Ronaldo’s bold move. “It’s great to see a role model like Cristiano Ronaldo reject Coca-Cola for water, setting a positive example for young fans and showing his disdain for a cynical marketing attempt to link him with a sugary drink,” she said.

Congress has seemed to have been trapped in gridlock for ages. It started during the Obama era, during with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was open about blocking as much Democratic legislation as he could. And it’s thought to be even worse now, when McConnell has returned to that role, and now has some help from waffling Democrats. But on Tuesday, the entire Senate, at least, came together to pass a bill that will do at least a small amount of good.

According to The New York Times, the government body unanimously passed a bill to turn Juneteenth, aka the 19th of June, into a federal holiday, after it was put on the floor by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Otherwise known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth commemorates an important though disturbing date in American history: It’s the day, in 1865, when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas — the most remote of the slave states — and informed still enslaved African-Americans that they’d been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Granger was a little late: The bill had been signed into law almost two-and-a-half years prior.

Over a century and a half later, in 1980, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday. The day earned greater significance this time last year, due to the Black Lives Matter protests that emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was later convicted of the crime.

The bill still has to make its way to the House, though a unanimous vote in the famously split Senate is a harbinger of good news. If/when passed, Juneteenth will be the 11th official federal holiday on the books.

The passing of the bill was met with much rejoicing.

But it was also met with some skepticism. Some thought it was a small measure that will turn the day into one for white people to do the bare minimum.

Some pointed out that Juneteenth was getting federal recognition at the same time that Critical Race Theory was being shut down in Republican states.

There were other issues, too.

Some, though, had some suggestions on how people — particularly people of color — can celebrate the day, which is arriving this Saturday.

(Via NYT)

If you were paying even the slightest amount of attention to indie rock in 2017, there’s absolutely no way you missed Gang Of Youths. Their album, Go Farther In Lightness picked up fans all over the world for the Sydney-based band, proving once and for all that heartland rock was no longer strictly an American thing, it could crop up anywhere on the planet. That was the band’s second album, and their clear breakout, and now it sounds like they’ve got something new in the works.

Today they shared their first new music since Lightness came out, a freewheeling track called “The Angel Of 8th Ave” that feels pretty New York City to me, but maybe that’s projection. The Springsteen influences are laced all through the track once again, as frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s vocals do the same raspy acrobatics that Bruce’s do. Hey, we might not be that far away from a Gang Of Youths/Springsteen collab, considering he just worked with Bleachers last year and has a new song dropping with The Killers.

“Angel Of 8th Ave” is the precursor to the band’s new album, which Le’aupepe told Zane Lowe came after scrapping two earlier versions. Honestly, I take that kind of perfectionism as an incredibly good sign. And Dave also said the record will be different from what they’ve done in the past. “It’s probably the only song that you’ll hear from us from now that sounds remotely kind of what we sounded like the previous kind of six to eight years that’s intriguing,” he said. “I think there was kind of a part of us that wanted to still tip the cap to what we’d been for so long, but also gestured to the future and gestures to the sounds that we’re obsessed with gestures to the world that we’re starting to create in this kind of room.”

Check out the song above and keep an eye out for an album announcement coming soon.