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Bryce Harper has gotten off to another strong start to the season, with a 1.083 OPS for the Phillies to start the season with six home runs and 10 RBIs in the first 22 games. Unfortunately for Harper and the Phillies, it’s possible that the star right fielder will miss some time after a terrifying scene in St. Louis on Wednesday night.

In the sixth inning, Harper took a 97 MPH fastball from Genesis Cabrera to the nose, trying to bail out of the way from a pitch that just kept riding up and in and got past his hand to hit him in the face. Harper was, happily, able to walk off on his own power but left the game with a cut and undoubtedly some serious soreness and pain, with Matt Joyce coming into the game for him to pinch run.

Cabrera also hit the next Phillies batter, Didi Gregorius, before getting pulled. We won’t know more on Harper’s status until they run some tests, but one would assume he will have a nasty bruise, possibly a broken nose, and will be monitored for a concussion after every hitter’s worst nightmare. We’ll provide further updates when they’re available on Harper’s status, but it’s just good news that he was able to walk off on his own.

President Biden’s first address to Congress on Wednesday night covered a number of topics: COVID-19, the war in Afghanistan, climate change, healthcare, taxes and more. But it was a personal comment to America’s transgender community that might have been the most powerful moment of the night.

Transgender Americans continue to be one of the most openly discriminated against communities in America. Since Biden’s election, a number of states have proposed bills that would restrict the rights of transgender citizens, including children.

Some leaders have bravely stood up for the rights of our most vulnerable citizens. For example, North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum recently vetoed a bill that would have banned trans girls from competing in sports.

“To all the transgender Americans watching at home, especially the young people who are so brave, I want you to know that your president has your back,” Biden told Congress in his call for passage of the Equality Act.

Biden’s calm and caring words to the trans community were immediately celebrated online.

Biden has promised to make passage of the Equality Act a priority during his first 100 days in office, something he failed to achieved and which has generated criticism from trans activists. However, tonight’s address may restore some hope that action is imminent. Along with Biden’s call for action, First Lady Jill Biden used her VIP guest list to include Stella Keating, a 16-year-old that President Biden had speak before Congress in support of the Equality Act’s passage.

J. Cole has kept fans waiting for his sixth album, The Fall Off. Before 2019 came to a close, Cole announced that it would arrive in 2020 during his headline set at the Day N Vegas festival, but the year came and went without its release. Now it looks like he’s ready to drop it, but not without the arrival of something called “The Off-Season” first.

Fellow Dreamville rapper Bas shared a now-deleted Instagram post that announced the upcoming release, whatever it may be. “The Off-Season,” he wrote under a photo of Cole in the studio. “pack your bags. [rocket emoji] in two weeks.” It appears that “The Off-Season” could be the lead single to The Fall Off, but that has yet to be confirmed by Cole or anyone in the Dreamville camp.

“The Off-Season” was first announced through an Instagram post from Cole that showed off a to-do list. The list, titled “The Fall Of Era,” listed five separate things: “Features,” “ROTD3,” “The Off-Season,” “It’s A Boy,” and, lastly, “The Fall-Off” itself. The first two items — 2019 feature run and the release of Revenge Of Dreamers III — were crossed off, having already been released.

You can view a screenshot of Bas’ Instagram post above.

Kodak Black will avoid jail time in his sexual assault case that dates back to a 2016 incident. According to CBS affiliate WBTW, the rapper entered a guilty plea for assaulting a high school student, an act he was indicted for on first-degree sexual assault charges back in 2017. Under the deal, Kodak pled guilty to lesser charges of first-degree assault and battery. As a result, rather than the suspended 10-year sentence that he originally faced, he’ll be on probation for 18 months.

According to 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements, the victim in the case was present during the court proceeding and agreed to the terms of the plea deal, which also included Kodak vocally taking responsibility for his actions, agreeing to undergo counseling, and publicly apologizing to the victim, which he did in court. He was also joined by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in court. Earlier this year, Jackson called for former President Donald Trump to commute Kodak’s 2019 sentence on weapons charges. Trump eventually pardoned him on his final day in office, something Kodak celebrated on his “Last Day In” single.

On a more recent note, Kodak’s security guard was shot earlier this month. The incident occurred in a Tallahassee, Florida McDonald’s parking lot and left the security guard with a bullet wound in his leg.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Arsenal supporters have long had gripes with its ownership group, frequently grumbling about the perceived lack of investment — both in terms of effort and money — of the American-based Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The group owns a number of professional sports teams in the United States, but none of them are as tradition-rich as their London-based Premier League side.

This frustration reached a new level during the Super League debacle in recent weeks, with fans being more vocal than ever in their cries of “Kroenke out.” As a result, Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, has made clear that he wants to purchase the club away from the Kroenkes, and on Wednesday, he appeared on CNBC and claimed that he is ready to make a bid.

“I’ve been an Arsenal fan since I was 8 years old,” Ek said. “Arsenal is my team, I love the history, I love the players, and of course, I love the fans. So, as I look at that, I see a tremendous opportunity to set a real vision for the club, to bring it back to its glory. And I want to establish trust with fans, I want to engage the fans again.

“So, to answer your question, I’m very serious,” Ek continued. “I’ve secured the funds for it, and I want to bring what I think is a very compelling offer to the owners and I hope they hear me out.”

Ek is going to run into one pretty gigantic problem here, even if he has support from fans and other players and whomever else: The Kroenkes have apparently made clear that they don’t want to sell. But perhaps Ek — along with whatever partners he has — can come to the table and make something lucrative enough that Arsenal could come under new ownership.

The 2021 NFL Draft begins on Thursday night. It’s the biggest day in the lives of a number of individuals, all of whom will achieve their dreams of becoming an NFL player. For us sitting at home, the Draft is an opportunity to learn about the next generation of professional football players during the biggest sports event of that weekend.

The Draft has grown considerably from a fun little quirk to an all-out event, and apparently, the fine folks at Marvel have decided to get in on the fun. ESPN announced that it’ll team up with Marvel to create a collection of comic book-inspired cover for seven players in this Draft: Alabama’s Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith, BYU’s Zach Wilson, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Georgia’s Azeez Ojulari, Michigan’s Kwity Paye, and Notre Dame’s Jeremia Owusu-Koramoah.

The Worldwide Leader dropped six of the covers already, with the seventh getting revealed just before the start of the Draft.

As that tweet indicates, Lawrence is the only player whose Marvel cover is not clear. At the very least, this adds the smallest amount of uncertainty to what should be a pretty drama-free night for the former Clemson standout, as Lawrence has been written in permanent marker as the No. 1 pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars from the moment he declared for the Draft.

On Wednesday, after mostly staying out of the news since his client, former president Donald J. Trump, left office, Rudy Giuliani was pulled back in. The feds descended upon his New York City home and office, stepping up a criminal investigation into his dealings with Ukraine. Later in the day, the former NYC mayor tried to spin it — and given that he’s almost cosmically doomed to inventive failure, it couldn’t help but seem perfectly pathetic.

As per The New York Post, Giuliani tried two things. He tried to pin the blame for the investigation on “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — a term often used by Republican lawmakers and pundits whenever Trump came under scrutiny by those not on his side. And he tried another favorite Trumpist move: invoke the unholy name of Hunter Biden.

In a statement released by his own lawyer, Giuliani claimed that he offered, “on several occasions,” federal investigators copies of Hunter Biden’s hard drives. They “steadfastly declined” them. “Keep in mind that the agents could not read the physical hard drives without plugging them in, but they took Mr. Giuliani’s word that the hard drives were copies of Hunter Biden’s hard drive and did not contain anything pertaining to Mr. Giuliani,” the statement read. “Their reliance on Mr. Giuliani’s credibility tells you everything you need to know about this case.”

Or maybe it doesn’t tell you everything you need to know? It’s a pretty unconvincing piece of spin, even for a Trump loyalist. But what would you expect from someone whose November was more disastrous than some people’s whole lives?

The Giuliani investigation involves his alleged attempts to dig up dirt on the current president’s son, and it also involved issuing a grand jury subpoena to his executive assistant, as well as searching the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to him who had several dealings with Ukrainian officials.

All in all, today marked a big step down from the Giuliani of 20 years ago. Once upon a time he earned raves, even multiple SNL stints, for his handling of the September 11 attacks. Today his New York City residence and office were raided, and mere months after he spread election misinformation and attempted to subvert the will of the American people. There can be second acts to American lives, but sometimes they ain’t pretty.

(Via The New York Post)

While Travis Scott has amassed a number of awards in his career, his latest comes as a result of his work with public service. According to Billboard, the Astroworld rapper was recently awarded for his philanthropic efforts for HBCU students, specifically his work with Red Carpet Advocacy (RAD) Awards, which highlights people who “inspire purpose.” Scott was one of five recipients of the award, joining a list that includes Laverne Cox, Charlize Theron, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Margot Robbie.

Some of Scott’s past charitable contributions include paying off the tuition of five students at historically Black colleges and universities, which he did back in October. A month later he created the Cactus Jack Foundation, and a few months later, he partnered with his Houston hometown to deliver 50,000 meals to residents after the state’s brutal ice storm. The foundation also launched its first major initiative, the Waymon Webster Scholarship program, named after the rapper’s grandfather, who attended an HBCU, and aimed at granting several HBCU students with scholarships. First-round selections have already been made through the program for potential recipients that were enrolled at Prairie View A&M University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, and Grambling State University.

The award arrives after Scott was listed as a headliner for Rolling Loud’s Miami festival with Post Malone, ASAP Rocky, and others.

It’s been a while since we heard from Rudy Giuliani, formerly “America’s Mayor” and last year one of the big stars of Donald Trump’s disastrous final months in office. (To say nothing about his inadvertent role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.) But on Wednesday he roared back into the news: His Manhattan home (and office) was raided by the feds, who are looking into his potential criminal activity involving Ukraine.

One person not happy about it: Andrew Giuliani, son to New York City’s former mayor. A former Trump staffer currently employed by the Trump-leaning Newsmax, Giuliani the Younger spoke to press outside his father’s Upper East Side apartment, claiming that if the feds could do this to a man of high power with lots of dubious ties, it could happen to anyone.

“Any American, whether you are red or blue, should be extremely disturbed by what happened here today, by the continued politicization of the Justice Department,” Andrew said. “This is disgusting.”

He also tried to throw another prominent son under the bus. “The only piece of evidence that they did not take up there today was the only piece of incriminating evidence that is in there — and it does not belong to my father, it belongs to the current president’s son.”

Andrew — who once upon a time was, along with his sister Caroline, estranged from his father before patching things up and getting sweet jobs — was not met kindly by social media. They were quick to spot the similarities to a famous impersonator of famous politicos: Will Ferrell. Not only did he look a bit Ferrell-esque, but his patois, particularly his mangling of the word “politicization,” was, too.

In fact, lots of people made the same Will Ferrell joke.

It even encouraged a response from the company co-founded by Ferrell.

Some saw a bit of Matt Gaetz.

Others were reminded that Chris Farley used to impersonate him on SNL when he was a child, who achieved fame for his rambunctious appearance during his oath of office back in the day.

And others just saw another unfortunate scion.

The rollout for Young Thug and YSL Records’ Slime Langauge 2 has been quite eventful. Thug and Gunna teamed up for a lavish pool party in their video for “Ski,” which also saw the emergence of the Ski Challenge. Thug later spotlighted his brother, Unfoonk, in a video for “Real.” Outside of music, Thug and Gunna also joined forces to bail 30 inmates out of Georgia’s Fulton County Jail, a good deed that was displayed in their latest video for “Paid The Fine.”

The new video captures the newly freed inmates as they walk out of the county jail and reconnect with family friends. Elsewhere, Thug, Gunna, Lil Baby, and YTB Trench sit around a large table, accompanied by fellow rapper Bankroll Freddie and more. There, they eat a big meal as they rap along to the Slime Langauge 2 track.

Prior to the new video, Thug and Gunna joined a list of celebrities that includes Saweetie, Jack Harlow, Mookie Betts, and more in the trailer for the third season of Call Of Duty: Warzone. Their appearance convinced J. Cole to play the video for the first time ever, which was shared by Cole’s manager, Ibrahaim “Ib” Hamad.

You can watch the “Paid The Fine” above.

Slime Language 2 is out now via 300 Entertainment/YSL Records. Get it here.

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