GoneTrending

With Jay and Silent Bob Reboot out of the way, Kevin Smith is gearing up to wrap-up his “True North Trilogy” of Canadian-based films. After years of radio silence, Smith has finally delivered an update on Moose Jaws, which will cap off his series of strange, offbeat films that started in 2014 with Tusk followed by 2016’s Yoga Hosers.

In a recent online Q&A to help fans and himself pass the time while self-isolated, Smith sounded very optimistic about the prospect of getting Moose Jaws in front of a camera once the global pandemic simmers down. Via Bloody Disgusting:

“Moose Jaws is the movie I’m doing that’s Jaws but with a moose instead of a shark. It’s so weird that you bring it up. We have a phone call about it with some of the folks that we made Reboot with next week. A conference call. So yeah, it may be bubbling back to life. Wouldn’t that be nice? Head up to the Canadian outdoors, spread far apart from everybody, making movies. One day, when we’re allowed to do that sort of thing again. So yeah, movement on Moose Jaws!”

Smith first announced Moose Jaws at San Diego Comic-Con all the way back in 2014 and has been teasing bits and pieces about the film in the six years since. In 2015, he teased that the film would feature the death of one of his beloved View Askew characters. (We won’t spoil it for you, but you can click the link to find out.) And in 2016, Smith elevated the film to a passion project that could be his magnum opus, according to Comic Book:

“Moose Jaws is like, it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever written,” he said at Sundance in 2016. “This is a f-ckin’ fan film. This is like pouring my heart out on a page. I love Jaws, and I love Canada, and I combined the two of them. So the whole thing is beat-for-beat Jaws, up until the third act. In the third act it becomes Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, and ends with Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty magical.”

If you got an hour to spare, you can watch Smith’s full Q&A below:

(Via Bloody Disgusting, Comic Book)

Previously on the Best and Worst of Raw: We experienced a WrestleMania that was Just Too Big For One Night featuring a new WWE Champion, The O.C. summoning an army of druids to do their bidding before AJ Styles was murdered by burial, and Edge defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match with a Conchairto on top of a production truck, which made it hurt more.

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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for April 6, 2020.

The Most Fear-Inducing 10 Minutes Of Raw You’ve Ever Experienced

Forget anything Bray Wyatt, The Undertaker, or Papa Shango ever did; the most scared I’ve ever been watching Raw is when Big Show randomly turned up with a referee and goaded Drew McIntyre into a bonus WWE Championship match “after WrestleMania.” That shit turned me into young Jenny from Forrest Gump. Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far, far away from here.

In case you missed it, Raw spent roughly three hours advertising a “shocking” event that took place after Drew McIntyre’s win at WrestleMania. If you’re like me, you thought somebody had attacked Drew backstage, maybe pushed over a truss onto him or something, to set up his first feud as champion. Maybe he walked out into the parking lot and someone hit him with a car, or he was abducted by those luchadores who keep kidnapping cruiserweights.

So at the end of Raw we go to the footage, and Drew McIntyre makes a full entrance, in full gear, “20 minutes after WrestleMania” to do an interview in the ring. This is already such an absurd scenario I can’t even put it into words. Why are they doing an in-ring interview when the show’s off the air? For the ambiance? Who was that big entrance for? Were they taping this for Raw and just forgot to take down all the WrestleMania graphics, and halfway through it were like, “shit,” but sunken cost kept them from starting over? Regardless, Drew starts talking about the match he had with Brock Lesnar less than half an hour ago, and he’s interrupted by ♫ weeeEEEeellllll ♫

I felt like I was watching my life flash before my eyes. They wouldn’t have put this in the main event and referred to it as “shocking” so many times if Show didn’t win, right? And oh no, Big Show has that Netflix sitcom debuting this week, WWE would totally put the title on a guy with a new TV show so he could have it when he goes on talk shows or whatever, wouldn’t they? Even if they’re doing talk shows via webcam right now, Show could still have a big glittery WWE logo on his shoulder. And oh no, WWE would definitely spend forever treating McIntyre’s championship win like a quest to legitimize his entire life’s work only to “shockingly” yank it away from him 30 minutes later. AND OH NO, WRESTLEMANIA IX. OH NO.

But Drew wins. And it’s okay. Breathe, it’s okay.

I hated this in every way a fan can hate a wrestling match, I think, but goddamn, was it effective. I was MORTIFIED. It had 100% of my anxious attention, and got my brain racing thinking about timelines where THE BIG SHOW is WWE Champion in 20 by God 20. It just felt so plausible, and so weirdly arranged. Can you imagine another sports league doing a secret, additional championship match after a 3-hour show dedicated to that championship and then not telling you anything about it for 24 hours? They report “WWE Superstar comments on BUILDING MOMENTUM before Smackdown” or whatever on WWE.com seconds after it happens as BREAKING NEWS, and they’ll call up Sports Illustrated because they’re putting Cousin Luke from the Bushwhackers into the Hall of Fame, but a second, sudden WrestleMania main event isn’t a thing they want to tell people about until late the next day?

Secret, Easter egg main-events are an interesting concept, but I think The Hulkster ruined that for everybody back in ’93. The WrestleMania everyone agrees is the worst ever in a walk probably isn’t the one you want to be teasing and emulating. But it’s all good. No need to turn into a bird and fly away. But don’t scare me like that.

The Raw After WrestleMania, With No Fans

To me, the Raw after WrestleMania with no fans feels even stranger than WrestleMania with no fans. The “Raw after WrestleMania” is the one where smart crowds and/or aggressively self-aggrandizing crowds (depending on your point of view) “go to the polls,” so to speak, and loudly, musically tell WWE what they like and don’t like. It’s the show where Roman Reigns will get booed for eight minutes before he can speak, or the beach balls come out, or Randy Orton and Sheamus get relentlessly heckled for having a boring match. It’s become almost more of an “event” than Mania, so watching it go down in an empty gym was a real phantom limb situation for me.

That said, one thing remained from the Raw after WrestleMania playbook: “call ups.” Or, if you want to pretend like they actually think NXT is a “third brand” now and not just a vanity project masquerading as developmental, a lateral move.

Bianca Belair

A solid 30 minutes of hour one is dedicated to the arrival of Bianca Belair. At WrestleMania, the Street Profits won a Raw Tag Team Championship match against Angel Garza and Austin Theory but got attacked afterward, so Bianca made the save to even up the odds and beat up Zelina Vega. On Raw, the Street Profits win a Raw Tag Team Championship match against Angel Garza and Austin Theory (by disqualification this time, so it’s DIFFERENT) but get attacked afterward, so Bianca makes the save (slowly this time, with a full entrance, because it’s DIFFERENT) to even up the odds and beat up Zelina Vega. I don’t know why they did Bianca’s main roster debut the same way twice. Also, shout-out to Zelina Vega for being the best manager of all time. She got a team who’d never even had a 2-on-2 tag team match a Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle fucking Mania, and when they lost, she got them a rematch the next night. Lord knows they’ll probably get another shot next week. That’s efficiency.

Anyway, hey dawg, we heard you like Teddy Long tag TEAM match announcements, so we put a Teddy Long tag team match announcement in your Teddy Long tag team match announcement. Bianca making the save crashes Raw to break, and we come back to her vs. Vega one-on-one. Bianca’s been taught to always speak to the hard cam, so we get a funny bit where she’s cutting a promo on Vega to the camera while Vega’s standing behind her. It’s like at WrestleMania when the Profits picked her up and showed her to all four sides of the arena, like you might if any fans were actually in there. The one-on-one between the women ends in a disqualification as well, or some kind of no contest, at least, with the tag teams at ringside getting into a fight. So we crash to break again, and we come back to a six-person tag.

Long story short, Raw replayed a match from WrestleMania with two non-conclusive finishes in a row and had Zelina Vega’s team lose three matches in half an hour. Bianca and the Profits looked good, at least. When quarantine’s over, Austin Theory goes back into cryogenic storage.

Apollo Crews

The best and most surprising thing about Monday’s Raw for me was the Raw re-debut of Apollo Crews, and the fact that he had a 28 minute, competitive match against Aleister Black. Hell yeah, Apollo Crews. Dude’s been underworked, undervalued, and underappreciated since he debuted without a character or anything to do down in NXT.

I’m interested in how this match would’ve played out in front of a real Raw after WrestleMania crowd. Could they have even done it? I could see that crowd being really into an epic, 30-minute, TakeOver-style match between a wrestler they like (Black) and a wrestler they could (Crews), but I could just as easily see them dumping on it for being too long. Would a shorter, more intense match have played better? Would they have even CONSIDERED giving Crews 30 minutes of Raw to work and show off what he can do if we weren’t under quarantine? Regardless, if Raw’s plan going forward is to fill the three hours with longer, more competitive matches featuring stars who haven’t gotten an opportunity to look like anything but a jobber piece of shit for the past few years, I’m into it. Can we get that Crews, Akira Tozawa, and Ricochet faction going already?

One fun note here: this match was killing me with the micromanaged announce team mandate where they have to say a wrestler’s WWE Superstar’s entire name every time they’re mentioned. That becomes a real chore in long, one-on-one matches. “Aleister Black now working on the leg of Apollo Crews. What does Apollo Crews have to do to get back into this if Apollo Crews wants to win? Those kicks from Aleister Black are part of Aleister Black’s arsenal, and if Aleister Black keeps kicking Apollo Crews’ leg, how will Apollo Crews stay standing?” It felt like a vacation any time they just called them “Black” or “Crews.” There should be an asterisk on that mandate that if the match is longer than three minutes, you’re allowed to use a more conversational tone. Shit sounds like prerecorded commentary from the video games.

Nia Jax

The most important roster realignment of the night is probably the return of Nia Jax, who is back from double knee surgery with Paige’s finisher, presumably to keep her from throwing so many leg drops and risking knee damage. Jax’s return victim is Deonna Purrazzo, who is a good worker who got signed at the worst time and is stuck doing non-stop enhancement duties for two rosters in the same building at the same time.

I was hoping Jax would come back with some alterations to her presentation and character — and I thought it was an odd choice to announce her return via graphic (with an old picture) instead of just letting it be a surprise for the viewers — but she’s more or less the same as she was last time we saw her. So [shrug]. Happy to see her healthy again, at least. Returns during quarantine are hard to quantify anyway.

Also On This Episode

Asuka opens the show trying to rehab two straight losses to Alexa Bliss by tapping out Liv Morgan. Liv’s a lot better than she was during their first meeting, which was 50 seconds of televised manslaughter. Or, as Asuka herself noted, “To put it bluntly, [Liv Morgan] was so evolved. I am really surprised about that.”

Seth Rollins had a 270-pound man jump off a comically oversized sign and mash him through a table two days ago, but he’s not even going to CONSIDER selling that during this Denzel Dejournette squash. Not that I want the guy to come out in a body cast or anything, but damn, a little wincing would’ve been nice. Spectacular, violent acts that end up in highlight reels for years should at least have some mild, temporary consequences, you know? The Hardy Boyz used to sell ladder matches like they’d walked down the ramp straight from intensive care.

Brendan Vink continues to capitalize on his proximity to Winter Park and willingness to compete during a pandemic by getting another TV match. This one’s a loss to Humberto Carrillo, who is finally allowed to wrestle someone other than Andrade or Angel Garza for the first time in months. This is the first Raw match he’s had not involving one or both of those guys since December. Vink is still a “from NXT” despite having had two matches on Raw, and only one ever on NXT TV.

Speaking of NXT, Ricochet and Cedric Alexander (who are now a “hot new tag team,” because what else are they gonna do?) get a quick win over Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan that would’ve ripped down there. Ricoced has some good, high speed, tandem cruiserweight offense that would really pop if the main roster put more emphasis on tag team wrestling and put them in competitive matches against established duos that either compliment or constructively contrast with it, so here’s hoping a post-WrestleMania Raw without a lot else to do turns its tag team division turn into something valued and substantial.

No classic matches in full this week, but we get a heavily clipped and video packaged-up version of the Boneyard Match. While it didn’t work for me on the same level the Firefly Fun House Match did, it’s still worth a watch and a read, and easily the best deleted scene from the 1995 movie version of Mortal Kombat WWE’s ever produced.

Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

AddMayne

this match is too big for just one hour

Clay Quartermain

Saxton: “if Drew can hold on for a few more minutes, the Big Show is due for a face turn!”

TRB

John Cena in the void: “What kind of jerk challenges someone to a title match right after they won?”

Zelina: “A family thing? Sounds great. Let me grab my husband”
Montez: “Request for smoke withdrawn”

Endy_Mion

Asuka: My tongue is green!
Liv: My tongue is blue!
Saxton: my tongue is—
Asuka rips it out of his head and throws it at Liv.
Uproxx applauds

Harry Longabaugh

So let’s imagine this is a normal Raw after Mania. Tonight we would see:

-Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins continuing to feud for another three months
-A Bobby Lashley face turn for some reason
-Dijakovic (no first name) debuting with a victory over Lucha House Party
-Viking Raiders cutting a “shoot” promo about how they’re going to be called War Machine whether we like it or not. [Note: still Erik and Ivar]
-Undisputed Era debuting to beat down new champ Drew McIntyre. McIntyre takes out Fish, Strong and O’Reilly fairly easily. Until brand new UE member DAVEY RICHARDS shows up to even the numbers!
-And in the post credits scene, AJ Styles gets dug out of his grave….by SHAWN MICHAELS who then superkicks him back into the hole, buries him once again. “See you next year, kiddo,” says HBK as Raw…rolls…on…

AJ Dusman

*Yesterday*
Me: Maybe the Boneyard and Firefly Fun House segments show a new WWE that is willing to take risks and try new things.
*Me tonight at 10:50pm*
Me: I’m an idiot.

Baron

Raw ends …and the next thing we see is:

Taylor Swish

The last time someone spent that much time trapped in a closet and came out with all kinds of aggression towards bald black men, R. Kelly made 33 songs about it.

CFCarboni

Rollins risen from the dead after one (kayfabe) night. He really is better than Jesus!

The weekend is officially done, so now I can collapse. Thank you for reading, sharing, leaving comments, participating in our open discussion threads, and everything else. We can’t do this without you, and we mean that.

Be sure you’ve read the Best and Worst of Smackdown, Best and Worst of WrestleMania 36 nights one and two, and the Firefly Fun House analysis special edition. We’ll see you throughout the week with hopefully more unexpected 30 minute matches, Charlotte Flair returning to NXT as Women’s Champion, and whatever they decide to do with a Braun Strowman-led Smackdown.

Onward to Hollywood!

It is unclear whether or not HBO will be able to air Hard Knocks this year, as it’s impossible to know what things will look like in the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If it is able to happen, however, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that HBO will try to do something a little different.

Schefter brings word that both Los Angeles squads, the Chargers and the Rams, are in line to appear on Hard Knocks this year, marking the first time that two teams get featured on the show — the Rams have been on it in the past, while this would mark the first time that the Chargers have gotten onto Hard Knocks. Both are sharing a new stadium during the 2020 season, and as Schefter laid out, that proximity to one another is something that would theoretically make putting two teams on the show a little easier.

No one yet knows whether training camp will be a go this summer because of the virus, but NFL Films must prepare as if it will. Being stationed in Los Angeles will give NFL Films the ability to embed itself with two NFL teams, a concept the show has not tried in the past.

Again, it all comes down to the ability to hold a training camp this year, something that is not guaranteed. The possibility of two legitimately interesting teams sharing this stage, though, is a fun one, and it would be cool to get a glimpse into the Chargers in the first year post-Philip Rivers, or the Rams as they look to get past last season’s disappointing campaign and make it back to the Super Bowl.

A dominant big man can paper over a number of cracks a college basketball team might have, especially when the NCAA Tournament rolls around and squads need someone who can lead them to victory by sheer force of will. If the 2020 edition of March Madness hadn’t been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re willing to bet that two bigs, in particular, would have made quite the impact for their teams.

When Maryland was at its best this year, second-year big man Jalen Smith was usually at the center of everything. Smith can do it all on the basketball court and is a legitimately unguardable frontcourt player on his best days. If the Terps were going to be at their best in the tourney, it was going to be because Smith did an admirable impression of Danny Manning, the former Kansas star who led the Jayhawks to a national title and went down as one of the best players in the sport’s history. Even if Smith never becomes the No. 1 pick like Manning, Maryland just needed him to have a Manning-like impact for six games to win the NCAA Tournament, something he very well could have ended up doing.

USC had its ups and downs this year, but through everything, there was no denying that Onyeka Okongwu could just do things on the court to make the Trojans better. Like former UConn big man Emeka Okafor, Okongwu was a tenacious rebounder and defender whose ability to obliterate opposing big men in the paint brought his team to another level. The Trojans were a bubble squad this year — ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had them as the last team to get a first-round bye in his most recent Bracketology update — and if Okongwu could have played like Okafor, they had the potential to be a pleasant surprise come the second weekend.

It’s unclear what the future holds for Smith, who has not yet declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, while Okongwu is expected to be a lottery pick. Missing out on them doing their things during the tournament was unfortunate, but in a bit of good news, both of these big men should be household names in the world of basketball for a while.

Selena Gomez debuted her highly-anticipated comeback record Rare early this year. Since the record’s release, Gomez has been sitting on a few new tracks to share alongside the deluxe version of her record. But, amid the ongoing pandemic, Gomez has decided to attach a charitable component to her deluxe album. Gomez is donating to a COVID-19 relief fund and offering a portion of all her merch to benefit the charity.

Gomez explained her charitable actions in a social media post:

“Many of you know how excited I’ve been to release a song called ‘Boyfriend.’ It’s a lighthearted song about falling down and getting back up time and time again in love, but also know that you don’t need anyone other than yourself to be happy. We wrote it long before our current crisis, but in the context of today, I want to be clear that a boyfriend is nowhere near the top of my life of priorities. Just like the rest f the world, I’m praying for safety unity and recovery during this pandemic. Because of that, I’m personally donating to the Plus1 COVID-19 Relief Fund as well as donating $1 of every order in my official store to the fund starting now.”

The Rare (Deluxe) features three new songs from the pop singer. Along with the remainder of the 13-track record, Rare (Deluxe) includes the bonus tracks “Boyfriend,” “She,” and “Souvenir.”

Rare (Deluxe) is out 4/9 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.

Mozzy has the attention of the streets simply because he speaks the hood’s language. When Mozzy speaks, his words present themselves as bright, expressive stanzas, proving himself to be a great sermonizer in addition to a talented wordsmith.

Hailing from Sacramento’s toughest neighborhood Oak Park, where things have not always been so sweet for him, the now Grammy Award-nominated artist has always been one to look at the silver linings of conflicted situations. He’s so in love with the “beautiful struggle” that he used the title for two separate songs; in 2015, he titled a track from Bladadah “Beautiful Struggle” and the following year, he released a project of the same name with another song titled “Beautiful Struggle.”

Now, his new album Beyond Bulletproof is slated for release May 1 and its artwork is an ode to the forgotten souls of his community, including drug addicts, the homeless, and those lost because they have been socially defined by their past mistakes.

Mozzy is not afraid to embrace the ugly, and that is the energy his forthcoming album sits in. Even as the entire planet is on a worldwide lockdown and people are mandated to stay indoors as a way to avoid spreading and catching the debilitating coronavirus, Mozzy isn’t really tripping about this moment in time. “I’m in love with it,” he tells Uproxx over the phone.

“The effects it has on family members and just bringing everybody closer together and just pausing,” he continues. “It’s like I could just pause all the materialistic things. None of that sh*t really matter right now. It holds no substance and that’s the type of person I am, so I’m ecstatic about it.”

His journey is similar to that of Nipsey Hussle or Tupac Shakur in that both had goals of helping out their community through the knowledge held in their music. As he rhymes on “I Ain’t Perfect” from Beyond Bulletproof: “I’m returning to the slums to get my people right.”

Plus, Mozzy loves being amongst the people. Perhaps it’s why, as his fame and music have grown, he’s not rapping about materialistic things but about the mentality needed to elevate, as heard on the motivating “Overcame.” The Oak Park native is living proof that it’s possible and he was gingerly inspired by his late grandmother, Brenda Patterson-Usher, who raised him while she was a member of the Black Panther Party.

During our conversation, Mozzy opened up about the intentions behind Beyond Bulletproof, his choice to see a therapist following the passing of his grandmother, and why he loves burgeoning Chicago rap star Polo G.

You got your new album Beyond Bulletproof coming out May 1 and I saw that you have a new series of you speaking to a therapist. I know you just lost your grandmother, which has always been a big part of your music. When did you first realize it was time to see a therapist and that it was okay to do so?

I used to joke about it. I feel like my music has really, truly been a therapist throughout my whole life, as therapy for me. But it’s after losing Grams, after losing my grandmother, I really don’t have nobody that I could communicate with on that type of level. I’m very discreet about certain things with certain people and there’s not too many people that’s on her level. I don’t feel that comfort with that many people. Talking to a therapist and knowing that everything you say is confidential and the fact that she doesn’t know me, I don’t know her; so it’s a lack of judgment there. I just wanted to try it out. I felt like it’d benefit me in the space I’m in right now.

How did you go about finding the right therapist?

I left it up to my manager, but I told him I wanted an African-American lady. I wanted somebody who could understand me and understand the background and upbringing, and somebody who could really sympathize being a young African-American male who lives in America today.

And she has you doing those breathing exercises. Do you find yourself doing that now, pausing and breathing?

Not really. Finally, when I do Wiz’s Kush Up Challenge! I ain’t going to lie, I almost cracked up. I almost started laughing but I was trying to be very respectful. I didn’t want her to think I thought she was a bullshitter. So I held it in. I did good.

Well, how do you relax in those moments where you find yourself really just going off?

I’m really relaxed. I get in a mood, not necessarily with people unless I’m just really comfortable with someone and we have that vibe. But really I get in my real relaxed state of mind, just real calm. I calm everything down when I get on the freeway, when I’m in a car, when I’m by myself, when I’m entitled to cry, when I’m just entitled to freestyle. I’m entitled to do whatever I feel. I’m entitled to say what I feel. When I can yell, when I can let my grandmother know “I miss you.”

This shit hurt, this shit crazy. Sometimes this shit don’t even feel like it’s worth it because it ain’t everything I did it for. I was doing it so she could… I wanted to put a smile on her face. I wanted her to feel all the work and effort she put in. That’s like me putting in so much work, so much effort, and then I don’t really get to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It just feels unfair but I’m able to just release all that. I’m able to talk to the universe and just put that out there when I’m on a freeway.

You’ve mentioned before about how she was a great person in the community and always helping out. I see you’ve been doing that. Plus, your music has grown, it’s matured a lot and I hear you rapping about a different subject matter. Do you feel a responsibility to carry on that same legacy as her?

For sure. For sure. I seen Queen And Slim and he said, “As long as my family know my legacy, I’m Gucci and Gabbana.” That’s kind of like her. She wasn’t really worried about the world and outside of the world and me publicizing. She had plenty of times they do interviews to talk about me, even during the time she was very healthy. Just the discreteness within her, it wouldn’t let her do it. I respect that she didn’t have a funeral service. She kept it real close-knit, even though she’s a big dog and a pillar within the community.

She told us she didn’t want others to see us at our weakest hour. That’s why she dictated and directed it to be like that because she didn’t want the world to see us at our weakest hour and I respect it. That’s just the type of person she was. So, sure, carry her legacy within a family. But it’s just within me, period. It’s the way I live. Just the way I raise my daughters, my sincerity. Just taking everything … just doing things with passion, everything. Every little thing that I remember her just reiterating all the time. It come to light nowadays and I try to apply within my daily living.

Your song “I Ain’t Perfect” with Blxst shows it’s okay to not be perfect and no one on earth is, but you can always become a better person. What are some ways that you think that you’ve worked on becoming a better person?

Spending more time with my children, that always helps. It fulfills me. Looking out for people. Instead of looking out for a couple of people this month, we going to look out for 20 people. Even if it’s small, even if it’s minute. Just looking out for people. I’m taking it to the next level of looking out. Just going further with it. Reading; that always assists me. It helps mold me. Dedicating myself to my family. Understanding what a priority is. Understanding how to prioritize and just understanding that we are limited to time on this earth and so whatever it is that I want to accomplish, whether it’s with family, financially, socially, I got a bite down. I got to live within a moment. I got to do it right now, right now. Practicing living in the moment always help me.

I also want to talk about Polo G since he’s featured on the album too. I see him kind of taking those same steps that you, Nipsey Hussle, and G Herbo have. What’s your relationship with him?

Oh, that’s my boy. Polo G. That’s my dog. Pull up to the video shoots. You can invite me to a shoot or even invite me to an interview or whatever the case, and it could be in one of his slimiest, treacherous neighborhood and I’m a blow down on you. I’m going to pull up, I’m going to follow through with that commitment regardless of the potential dangers. I fuck with him heavy since 30. You understand me? It’s a lack of real n****s in this rap shit. A lot of n****s get big-headed when they reach a certain social status and I just got unlimited respect for the ones who still well-grounded in this shit, man, because it’s a little bit all the same.

I know this project’s about second chances, not really being perfect, and really introspective. What is a second chance you were given that you are most grateful for?

Life. Freedom. I feel like I was at a dark space in my life in 2014. One of the darkest. I had my daughter, I was fighting for custody, I was broke, I was living with granny and I’ve just had a lot of conflict. I was funking with the neighborhood, I was funking with the opposition. I just had a lot going on. I really didn’t care about life, I didn’t care about death. It’s crazy that I… because I could feel it, I could taste it, I could smell it right now. I recall just vividly being in that, under those circumstances.

I went to jail. I went to jail for something minute. I could’ve went to jail for something crazy, but I went to jail for something minute. I got full understanding that God function with me. It got to be God. It got to be a higher power and I got to be in his favor because it was just ugly. It was ugly for me and he set me down, temporarily, just momentarily type shit. He let me get my mind right. He gave me enough time. It wasn’t too little, it wasn’t too much. I came home and I got to work. It’s just blessings upon blessing. I’m grateful. Thankful.

Love it. What is the ultimate thing you want people to get out of Beyond Bulletproof and what do we have to look forward to in the future?

The definition of bulletproof love. I just want to stay up there. I feel like I’m the face of Beyond Bulletproof. I feel like I’m the face of bulletproof love. I just wanted to take it a step further and let them know it’s Beyond Bulletproof. I really believe this shit on and off cameras. I want the forgotten. I want the one’s that’s overlooked. I want them to feel like it’s their time to shine. That n**** talking about me, he’s talking about my life. This album — it’s for me. I want them to feel possessive of the album. I want them to feel like that motherfucker was painted direct specifically for them. I just want them to be able to utilize it as a therapy tool. Cry to it, laugh to it, smile to it, get mad to it. It’s a roller coaster of emotion. I want them to really experience it, you understand? In a 3D manner.

This is random, but I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with self-help books like Think & Grow Rich?

Oh yeah, for sure.

It sounds like, with your music and Nipsey Hussle and music like that… it sounds like your music is that for the hood?

That was the best way you could paint it. I know a lot of people get mad at me cause I ain’t been on that raw-raw hype lately. I ain’t been on that 1 Up Top Ahk. I ain’t really been on that hype. I’ve been on a more progressive hype. I’m on a more productive hype and more uplifting. I think it just got a lot more substance.

My core fanbase don’t really fuck with it like that, but it’s growth and development and I understand the process. I ain’t going to be great living in 2008. I can’t be great if I’m still living in 2008. I got to progress with the time and that’s what I’m doing. My music has always been my truth. Truthfully, right now this is how I feel. I don’t know if it’s because I got a bag or cause I live on a 50th floor or cause I could take any car I want to drive this week. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I’m just in a more uplifting spirit and that’s what you’re going to get out of this album.

Beyond Bulletproof is due 5/1 on Empire. Pre-order it here.

Major League Baseball has not gotten the chance to kick off its 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league, like every other non-eSports league in the United States, is on the sideline trying to wait all of this out, but unlike the NBA, NHL, and MLS, baseball may have a light at the end of the tunnel.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the league and its players association are in conversations about a plan to begin this year in an isolated environment. Passan laid out the details of the league, which would take place in and around Phoenix — including Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a myriad of spring training stadiums — with no fans. Like the reported plan the NBA is kicking around that would keep its players away from everything, MLB players would live in hotels near stadiums and “live in relative isolation.”

In the most interesting twist, this would reportedly be possible because of something in desperate need across the United States right now: rapid and frequent testing.

The May return date for the plan depends on a number of concerns being allayed, and some officials believe a June Opening Day could be more realistic, sources said. Most important would be a significant increase in available coronavirus tests with a quick turnaround time, which sources familiar with the plan believe will happen by early May and allow MLB’s testing to not diminish access for the general public.

Skepticism reportedly comes due to the logistical monstrosity that this would require, and players may not be on board becausee of the amount of time this would require living in isolation and away from their families. However, there were calls between the league and the MLBPA on Monday, which came after federal health officials — including those from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health — had spoken to both sides and, per Passan, “have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation.”

If this turns into something feasible and not a pie in the sky idea to get a sport back, baseball does seem pretty uniquely positioned to have a runway to return, if only because players can keep some amount of distance between themselves most of the time. Some other measures to help with this are reportedly being kicked around, like having teams use the stands instead of dugouts, scrapping mound visits, and robotic home plate umpires.

The biggest news in all of this is, of course, the belief that quick testing will become available May, which could help speed up a whole lot of things outside of the world of sports. But beyond that, getting baseball back and having players be safe would a wonderful step in the right direction, so hopefully, something can be worked out here.

Last night, on a quieter than usual Raw After WrestleMania, Nia Jax made her return to WWE after an entire year, competing in the ring for the first time since WrestleMania 35 last April. She had to take that time off for double knee surgery, but we’ve known for a month or so that she was expected back soon. Nia celebrated her return by making short work of Deonna Purazzo, and the wrestling internet immediately recognized the move she finished her off with:

Yes, that’s the RamPaige (although Nia may be giving it a new name now, I don’t think we know that yet). It used to be Paige’s finisher, although of course Paige can’t compete in the ring anymore, due to her unfortunate neck injuries. Everyone who’s paid attention to Total Divas, or just social media, knows that Paige and Nia are close friends, so people were quick to make the connection, which Nia immediately acknowledged.

But how did Paige feel about Nia adopting a finisher she can’t use herself anymore? Considering their closeness, it shouldn’t be any surprise that she’s fine with it. In fact, it sounds like Paige encouraged her to use it:

Time will tell what Nia Jax will get up to now that she’s back in WWE (a run at Becky Lynch and her title seems likely), but it’s cool that she’s brought a little bit of Paige back into the ring with her.

Drake’s rollout for his new single “Toosie Slide” may have been slightly derailed by having to quarantine himself like the rest of us, but that hasn’t stopped him from being productive with the time indoors. During an Instagram Live stream he dubbed “Night Owl Sound” on his engineer OVO Mark’s page, Drake and Mark previewed a handful of the new songs the self-declared 6 God has been working on.

The songs featured a few guests as well; on one, New York drill newcomer Fivio Foreign gets to share some of Drake’s spotlight, while another, “Pain 1993,” featured Atlanta genre-bender Playboi Carti. Drake also played a portion of a previously leaked song, “Not Around,” confirming that a “proper version” will find its way onto his upcoming album.

From the clips he played, not only will his upcoming album be “more concise,” as he put it earlier this year, but it will also seemingly focus more on rapping and as well as highlighting his new musical direction, as suggested by the presence of Fivio Foreign and Drake’s earlier drill record, “War.” During the stream, Drake also discussed the origins of his “Toosie Slide” dance lyrics — rather than trying to cook up his own dance, he was actually describing Michael Jackson’s signature Moonwalk move, but Toosie turned it into something totally different.

Watch Drake’s livestream preview above.

Justin Bieber debuted his comeback record Changes back in February. Since the record’s release, Bieber has kept fans entertained by releasing a heaping handful of videos as part of his Changes: The Movement series. With the visual series, Bieber invites talented choreographers to conceptualize the songs on his album through dance. His latest, a visual accompanying the track “At Least For Now,” is a serene battle with nature.

Directed by Nick DeMoura, the video is a visual depiction of the literary trope man vs. nature. Featuring dancer/choreographer Sean Lew, the visual takes place atop a scenic and snowy mountaintop. In an Instagram post, Lew shared his experience being a part of the video:

“i’m still in awe of how i’m a part of this series that are filled with some of the greatest movers and minds in the entire world. when i was called to do this song, i spent months trying to figure out a concept and story. me and nick literally went back and forth for weeks and it all came down to stripping it all down and going for something simplistic and meaningful. i personally spent hours and hours writing 14 different versions of a written narrative that would best fit this song. hearing this song, it all came down to his words and that was my guide to what i wanted to represent in this video. the feeling of almost getting what we desire for so long, the key to unlock our limitations. However, you realize that sometimes we have to hold back and just accept our restrictions because it’s what’s for the best at the moment. the whole world is dealing with one of the craziest challenges we’ve ever encountered, but i truly believe that we will get through this and we just have to accept the restraints that are being given upon us.”

Watch Bieber’s “At Least For Now” choreography video above.

Changes it out now via Def Jam. Get it here.