Author: GoneTrending

Saying the season hasn’t started the way the Brooklyn Nets wanted would be an understatement. After the team got pummeled by the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, Brooklyn fell to 6-9 on the year. Kyrie Irving continues to be suspended from the team, Ben Simmons has largely been either hurt or a shell of his former self, and Steve Nash got fired with Jacque Vaughn taking over in his place due to the team’s original plan of hiring Ime Udoka falling through.

Throughout it all, Kevin Durant has played like one of the best basketball players in the world. Durant’s averaging more than 30 points per game and keeps finding other ways to impact games, but it has not necessarily translated to wins for one reason or another. In the midst of all that, Durant told Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that his focus is on trying to lead.

“Look at our starting lineup. Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, [Nic] Claxton and me. It’s not disrespect, but what are you expecting from that group?” Durant said. “You expect us to win because I’m out there. So if you’re watching from that lens, you’re expecting us to play well because No. 7 is out there.”

Durant went on to say that he’s having fun during games, and believes that the perception that he’s “miserable” would change “if I got mic’d up more.” He also explained that his perspective has changed in recent years, due in large part to the Achilles tear that he suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals.

“I’m really having a good time,” Durant said. “I wish y’all could hear me talk during the game. If I got mic’d up more, people would stop asking me if I’m happy or not. I’m enjoying every moment I get to step on this f*cking court, and part of it is because I tore my Achilles. And the pandemic, I didn’t know if we were going to play again. I didn’t know if I was going to play again.

“I was just like, ‘This can’t be it for me,’” he continued. “I have to really enjoy every single moment I’m out here. That’s part of being a pro. I have to be coachable, I have to knock down shots, I have to be aggressive, and I have to talk to my teammates the right way. That’s the journey and the battle.”

While Ciara has been married to NFL player Russell Wilson for several years, the R&B star opened up about her past relationship during a new cover story for Women’s Health.

She was previously dating rapper Future, before they eventually broke up in 2014. The couple had been engaged and they share a son.

“I told myself I’ve got to figure out how to navigate in the next chapter of my life,” Ciara said. “All the things I was aspiring to have at that time, even thinking about love… I was like, It’s going to happen when it’s supposed to. But I can’t love anybody to the best of my ability if I’m not loving on myself. I can’t be the best mom if I’m not loving on myself. So I put more focus on me, taking care of me; it was the best thing I could have done.”

This self-love focus eventually found Ciara even more love in a next relationship, as she met Wilson in early 2015. They since have had two children together. Meanwhile, Future has had some words in the past for his ex and new partner.

“He do exactly what she tell him to do,” Future told Freebandz Gang Beats 1 Radio in 2019, according to HipHopDX. “He not being a man in that position. He not telling her, ‘Chill out with that on the internet. Don’t even talk to him. I’m your husband. You better not even bring Future’s name up!’ If that was me, she couldn’t even bring his name up. She know that. She couldn’t even bring her exes’ names up.”

Coming off of a banner Tuesday where he led all rappers with six nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards, Kendrick Lamar kicked off his Wednesday morning by dropping a new music video for “Rich Spirit.”

In contrast to his Saturday Night Live performance of the song, where he stood stoically and rapped essentially motionless as a shadow did all of the movements for him, Kendrick evokes shades of his dance heard round the world on the “Family Ties” video with a new arsenal of moves.

The Calmatic-directed clip begins with him seemingly in a paranoid mind-state, holed up in a dimly-lit hotel room. He kneels by the bedside before popping up and strutting around the room to the rhythm. If there’s been one constant to Kendrick’s dance moves, it’s their lack of inhibition and he lets himself go to get lost into the song’s message of remaining confident amid deep self-analysis.

Note the cowboy boots that K-Dot wears with the all-red outfit at the video’s onset. Clearly a custom job, they have an image of Kendrick and his daughter from the Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album cover. Nightfall hits the room, and he dons a robe in a paranoid flash, before shifting into two other casual get-ups, dancing into a cascading mirror, and then ends the clip in a sparkly white indoor leisure suit. Then, the phone rings…

Watch Lamar’s video for “Rich Spirit” above.

As if spending four years as Donald Trump’s favorite punching bag wasn’t humiliating enough, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Mike Pence became a literal target for MAGA diehards/election deniers who believed that the then-vice president actually held the power to upend the will of the American people and hand Trump another four years in the Oval Office (and idea he allegedly got from a juiced-up Rudy Giuliani). That Pence didn’t go through with it surprised some; that he still refuses to condemn his former boss, despite Trump stating that “maybe” Pence deserved to be hanged on January 6th, has astonished most of us. The way Trevor Noah sees it? Pence is just a “punk-ass b*tch.”

On Tuesday, Pence’s barely-anticipated memoir, So Help Me God, arrived in bookstores. As part of his PR push for the book, the Mother-loving politician sat down with ABC News’ perfectly coiffed David Muir and had just about as boring a conversation as you’d imagine. While Pence mustered up the courage to call Trump’s actions on January 6th “reckless” (Woah — watch out, world!), when Muir asked the very simple and straightforward question of whether Pence, personally, believed “that Donald Trump should ever be president again,” Mr. Wishy Washy declared that “that’s up to the American people, but I think we’ll have better choices in the future.” Noah, clearly not impressed, proceeded to sarcastically — and mercilessly — mock Pence:

Hell, yeah! Good for Mike Pence! Telling Donald Trump: ‘You almost got me and my family killed. Which is why I’m now prepared to say that it’s possible there are better alternatives to you in the next election! Although that decision will be up to the American people. You tell him, Mike Pence! Ooooh — you TELL him!

“I can’t believe Mike Pence is the one leaving us hanging,” Noah joked. And while The Daily Show host understands that Pence’s plan is to play nice so that he might have a chance at nabbing some of Trump’s voters should Pence decide to throw his hat into the presidential ring as well, Noah thinks that entire way of thinking is “delusional” for one simple reason: “Trump’s people were the ones who wanted to kill him!”

“And even if that strategy worked,” Noah added, “it still makes him a punk-ass b*tch. It does! I’m sorry, but this is not the type of man you want leading the United States… If Pence was president, forget China — Canada would be invading.”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 6:15 mark.

Fans have applied the pressure and Ari Lennox has listened. At long last, Lennox has announced the tour dates in support of her sophomore album, Age/Sex/Location.

The Age/Sex/Location tour will kick off at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas in January, and span over several dates across the US before concluding in Lennox’s hometown of Washington, DC at Howard Theatre at the end of March.

Tickets will be available for purchase this Friday, November 18.

Check out the tour dates below.

01/26/2023 — Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
01/28/2023 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
01/29/2023 — Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues
02/01/2023 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
02/07/2023 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/09/2023 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
02/11/2023 — Oakland, CA @ The Fox
02/14/2023 — Denver, CO @ Summit
02/16/2023 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
02/17/2023 — Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
02/19/2023 — Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
02/21/2023 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin
02/22/2023 — New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore New Orleans
02/24/2023 — Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues
02/26/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
02/27/2023 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
03/02/2023 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
03/04/2023 — Wallingford, CT @ Dome at Toyota Oakdale Theatre
03/05/2023 — Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
03/07/2023 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
03/08/2023 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
03/14/2023 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fillmore Minneapolis
03/16/2023 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
03/18/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
03/21/2023 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
03/25/2023 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
03/28/2023 — Washington, DC @ Howard Theatre

Today’s net worth is not yesterday’s net worth. Rapper-turned-mogul Fat Joe has shared yet another valuable financial lesson with his fans —public feuds are costly. While promoting his new memoir, The Book of Jose, the Terror Squad leader revealed he missed out on a lucrative sneaker deal with the Jordan Brand.

Since serving four months in prison for tax evasion back in 2013, the Bronx native has used that as a lesson in financial literacy. The “Lean Back” rapper has continued to diversify his financial portfolio, something he wished to did much earlier. At the height of his career, Fat Joe was slated to sign with the shoe company, but his then beef with “Candy Shop” rapper 50 Cent took the deal off of the table.

If you recall, during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, in response to being heckled on stage, Fat Joe uttered the infamous line, “I feel safe with all the police protection courtesy of G-Unit.” This nearly led to a fight between the crews.

During an interview with GQ, Fat Joe recounts the incident stating, “I lost about $20 million by not getting that deal. I lost out on other endorsements too. Promoters definitely didn’t book me and 50 Cent on the same shows. Everybody had to keep us separated.”

The “All The Way Up” rapper also detailed his phone call conversation with Michael Jordan. On the call, the NBA Hall Famer stated, “you know I love you, Big Joe, but you’re too hot right now. I wanted to do it, but I’m not into all that rap beef. With all this controversy, we can’t do the sneaker anymore.”

The pair have since squashed their feud, avoiding any physicality, as Joe shared, “but as fate would have it, after the VMAs, we didn’t see each other again in person for almost a decade.”

Brooklyn Nets wing Royce O’Neale took quite the path to get to the NBA. The 29 year old is now a starter in Brooklyn, but his path to getting there involved spending his college career at Denver and Baylor before stops in Europe and the G League that he parlayed into becoming a member of the Utah Jazz. He’s seen a lot of the world, and when you travel like that, you need to find ways to keep yourself entertained and connected to the friends made along the way.

Enter Call of Duty. O’Neale has been playing video games since he was a kid — he even has the SEGA Dreamcast to prove it — but through Call of Duty, he’s found a game that lets him keep in touch with friends while providing an escape from basketball.

With the historic launch of Modern Warfare 2 earlier in the month and the release of Warzone 2.0, we sat down with O’Neale to talk to him about why it is that everyone loves Warzone, the best Call of Duty players on the Nets, and more.

What was your first Call of Duty?

Growing up, I was always a Halo fan, so my first Call of Duty that I played consistently and heavy was probably Black Ops. That was probably the one I played the most before I got into Warzone. Ever since then, my teammates played, and all my friends back home play as well. Even when I’m just meeting people, we know we have some of the same interests with Call of Duty, it’s been great.

I know you traveled internationally for a while with the start of your career, maybe connect to some of his old teammates from back then as well.

Oh yeah, for sure. I don’t see my friends as much and so we all got a group chat so we can see when each other’s getting online. And even my teammates, we all still play together when we’re out of practice or just hanging out.

How often do you play during the season?

I play, like, every day. I go to the gym, get my work in, and come home and play video games all day. I play Call of Duty, 2K, FIFA, you know, it’s like my escape outside of basketball.

Did you ever get a chance to play the original Modern Warfare 2 at all?

Yeah, I did. I played a little bit. That was kind of a time when I was bad at Call of Duty, so I didn’t really play it as much or get the hang of it. I didn’t really play a lot of multiplayer. I like to go straight to the Warzone. That’s what I kind of picked up and played a lot.

What is it about Warzone that makes it so much more attractive? I’ve talked to a handful of athletes and they all seem to gravitate to Warzone.

I don’t know. Just from myself, I would probably say the competitiveness, strategy, and teamwork. You can’t play it like it’s an individual game. I feel like multiplayer is more single-player, because you see how many kills you can get personally. I feel like in Warzone you gotta be smart, move as a team, and loot.

Do you bring a set up with you on road trips?

Yeah, [an] MSI [gaming laptop]. I have a deal with them, so I actually just got a whole new setup and everything. They got a new gaming laptop that I travel with on the road and it’s very convenient because I don’t have to carry my big Xbox or PlayStation. I can just carry that and just play right on there. I’ve been playing a ton of PC and stuff.

Who would you say is the best Call of Duty player on the Nets?

I mean myself [laughs]. Nah, probably I’d say Ben [Simmons]. He’s pretty good at it and has been playing for a while.

So you and Ben Simmons in some order.

Yeah. I’m first, and he might be tied for first, but he’s second.

What about across the entire NBA? I know you played with Donovan Mitchell back when you were both in Utah.

I haven’t played really with that many guys in Call of Duty. Mike Conley, he’s pretty good. Rudy Gobert, he plays a lot, and they say Devin Booker and Karl Anthony-Towns are pretty good. Josh Hart, he’s good, I played with him a couple of times. There are a lot of guys that actually game.

After losing Arizona’s gubernatorial race, and becoming yet another example that Donald Trump is an albatross around the Republican Party’s neck, Kari Lake is now experiencing another brand of humiliation: people finding her old tweets. Turns out, Lake was something of a Breaking Bad fan, especially when it comes to a certain character: Jesse Plemons‘ Todd.

In 2013, when Lake would’ve still been a local TV news anchor in Phoenix, she tweeted out her thoughts on the Breaking Bad finale where she lamented that series creator Vince Gilligan didn’t write less deadly ending for Todd, the deranged murderous psycho who also happened to work for a gang of neo-Nazis. Nothing telling there!

“Am I the only one who didn’t like the #Disney ending @VinceGilligan gave #BreakingBad How about letting Tod run off onto the night!? #scary” Lake tweeted.

Some time in the past 24 hours, Lake’s tweet resurfaced and the failed candidate is being ruthlessly dragged for being an unabashed Todd stan. We’re talking she probably keeps packs of Stevia in the house and leaves a trail of them leading to her bedroom. But jokes aside, who the heck was Todd fan when the show was airing? The guy’s whole purpose was to be creepy as hell and dead-eyed murdered. He was not what you’d call a sympathetic character or a sane love interest, but apparently not in ultra MAGA candidate Kari Lake’s book.

You can see some of the reactions to Lake’s Breaking Bad tweet below:

(Via Kari Lake on Twitter)

In recent times, Mariah Carey has been trying to capitalize on her status as pop’s most Christmas-associated artist by attempting to trademark the phrase “Queen Of Christmas.” However, she has faced opposition from a couple of other Christmas-loving singers, Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love. Now, the United States Trademark Trial And Appeal Board isn’t on Carey’s side either: They denied Carey’s application for exclusive rights to the phrases “Queen Of Christmas,” “Princess Christmas,” and “QOC” (as USA Today reports).

Chan’s attorney Louis Tompros said in a statement, “This was a classic case of trademark bullying. We are pleased with the victory, and delighted that we were able to help Elizabeth fight back against Carey’s overreaching trademark registrations.” Chan herself added, “Christmas is a season of giving, not the season of taking, and it is wrong for an individual to attempt to own and monopolize a nickname like Queen Of Christmas for the purposes of abject materialism.”

Chan also said, “As an independent artist and small business owner, my life’s work is to bring people together for the holiday season, which is how I came to be called the Queen Of Christmas. I wear that title as a badge of honor and with full knowledge that it will be — and should be — bestowed on others in the future. My goal in taking on this fight was to stand up to trademark bullying not just to protect myself, but also to protect future Queens Of Christmas.”

Regardless of Carey’s trademark status, she still has plenty of holiday endeavors in the works. She recently announced a Merry Christmas To All holiday special set to air on CBS, and she has some Christmas concerts set for December.

Amazon Music will be live streaming ComplexCon this weekend. The music and fashion festival is being held in Long Beach, CA. Airing on the brand’s Twitch channel and Prime Video on November 20 at 6 pm PST, fans can tune in to see performances from Pusha T, Lil Uzi Vert, Nigo, Kodak Black, Ski Mask The Slump God, Teriyaki Boyz, and more.

“ComplexCon has spent the last six years proving why Complex Networks is the most trusted media brand for youth culture. By working with Amazon Music, we can now offer our global audience access to some of the exclusive highlights that make ComplexCon the preeminent experience for convergence culture.” Justin Killion, president of Complex Network, shared in a statement. “With Complex Networks celebrating its 20th birthday this year, we’re excited to elevate ComplexCon on a global stage via Amazon Music, allowing us to showcase what two decades of being at the forefront of culture looks like.”

Along with the livestream on Twitch, Amazon Music has sponsored ComplexCon’s in-person gift shop. Festival guests can purchase everything from “official merchandise” to “rare collaborative pieces” by Verdy, Girls Don’t Cry, Wasted Youth, and many other artists/fashion brands. For those who are at home, there will also be opportunities to shop here.

Return to view the ComplexCon livestream this weekend here.

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