With the WNBA’s profile higher than it’s ever been, the league’s All-Star Game halftime performance this past Saturday needed to be someone equally attention-grabbing who could fit the league’s mission of highlighting women being excellent in their field. Enter Kehlani, who performed their song “Distraction” to the rapt attention of both fans in attendance at the game and those watching at home on ABC/ESPN. They couldn’t help swooning as Kehlani — who was universally acknowledged as the perfect choice to fill the role — sang the ballad. Even the players were grabbing their cameras to capture some footage.
my aunt & family are at the wnba allstar game & kehlani is performing at the half time show. she sent this little video & now im living vicariously through her while trying not to be extremely jealous. but look how gorgeous kehlani is pic.twitter.com/mRJRBOEKtF
The weekend saw some landmark moments in basketball history — women’s or otherwise — as the New York Liberty’s point guard Sabrina Ionescu won the 3-Point Challenge Friday night with the most points anyone has ever scored since the introduction of the money ball, 37. That means she only missed two of a possible 27 shots.
Earlier this year, Kehlani teased that they were back working on music after the tremendously successful Blue Water Road Tour, referencing breakout album SweetSexySavage on Instagram. Kehlani is billed as the headliner of Northern California’s Sol Blume festival, which was recently rescheduled due to flooding in Sacramento.
Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Drake‘s love of Kentucky men’s basketball is pretty well documented by this point. For years, Drake has made appearances in Lexington, like the time that he appeared at the team’s Big Blue Madness event and got to warm up with the rest of the roster, although he did find himself on the receiving end of some jokes due to a pretty ugly airball he launched from behind the three-point line.
Regardless, Drake and John Calipari’s squad are basically tied together at the hip at this point, and recently, this meant that the young men who suit up for the Wildcats got the chance to go hang out at Drake’s place. The Wildcats were greeted by a gigantic banner in front of the place and then got the chance to practice a bit on his basketball court.
The Wildcats are in Toronto for Globl Jam, a tournament that features men’s and women’s teams from several different countries, with Kentucky basketball representing the United States. The team played against Canada on Thursday, and there is no word on who Drake wanted to win that game.
In the video for his new song “Merch Madness,” Lil Baby has some fun with the title’s sports-related concept by teaming up with a squad of athletes to show off his philanthropic side. Filmed at a youth event where NBA players like Chris Paul and Joel Embiid gave away gear backed by Fanatics, Lil Baby roams the halls of The Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, New York, and hangs out with the kids as they enjoy their new sports equipment.
Other cameos in the video include Baby’s fellow rappers Meek Mill and Quavo, NFL legends Eli Manning and Tom Brady, and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin. The Merch Madness event, which took place on June 27, reportedly gave away over 300,000 licensed pieces to approximately 100,000 underserved youth in 100 locations across the US. In the song, Lil Baby highlights the endeavor, rapping on the chorus:
Merch madness, I done took it global
Jump back in my bag, did this one for the culture
Ain’t too good to give, my cup been runnin’ over
Made these millions for the kids, I gotta turn it over
Three-time NBA Sixth Man Of The Year Lou Williams officially retired from the league on Father’s Day. Williams’ announcement was made in the form of an Instagram video narrated by his daughter. “Finally, today, I’m happy you found peace with your decision,” she says. “You were a young dreamer out of South Gwinnett, one of the last to be drafted — straight to the league. You were eager to make a name for yourself.”
It turns out Jay-Z is responsible for Williams’ going 45th overall to the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 2005 NBA Draft out of South Gwinnett High School, rather than playing at the University Of Georgia first.
“I went straight from high school [to the league],” Williams said to start a recent episode of The Starting Five podcast presented by DraftKings. “My thing was, my senior year in high school, I started experiencing things. I had this one night — LeBron and Mav [Carter] introduced me to Jay-Z. I kicked it with Jay for a night, and I went to school the next day.”
Lou Will continued, “I was looking around the class, like, ‘I’m nothin’ like none of y’all.’ I started experiencing different sh*t, so I was like, ‘I’m not going to sit in another classroom after this.’ I literally can’t do it, you know what I’m saying? I don’t think that’s going to be the path for me.”
Williams spent the first seven seasons of his career in Philly (2005 to 2012) before signing in free agency with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, where he initially played from 2012 to 2014. Williams ultimately finished his career in Atlanta, most recently appearing in 56 games during the 2021-2022 season, but he enjoyed stops with the Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Clippers in between.
The United States women’s national team is headed to Australia and New Zealand this summer with the hopes of becoming the first team to ever win the FIFA Women’s World Cup three times in a row. After lifting the World Cup in Canada in 2015 and France in 2019, the Americans have their sights set on history — not only would going back-to-back-to-back be unprecedented, but winning this time around with mark the fifth time they’ve won the tournament.
Wednesday was a big day for the team, as U.S. Soccer announced the 23 players who will make up the squad this time around. Beyond the release that includes the full list of players, the USWNT had some fun by lining up some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment, and politics to help with the announcement — in a video posted to the official USWNT Twitter account, Joe and Jill Biden, Issa Rae, Mariska Hargitay, Taylor Swift, Shaquille O’Neal, Megan Thee Stallion, Tina Fey, Rainn Wilson, Blake Lively, Lamorne Morris, Mikaela Shiffrin, Amy Rodriguez, Gabrielle Union, Matt Turner, Sophia Bush, Kelly Slater, Breanna Stewart, Tim Howard, Quinta Brunson, Mia Hamm, John Cena, Jalen Hurts, Brooke Baldwin, and Lil Wayne all read off the names of members of the roster.
𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!
We asked a few friends to help with this year’s World Cup roster announcement
FORWARDS (6): Alex Morgan**** (San Diego Wave FC; 206/121), Megan Rapinoe**** (OL Reign; 199/63), Trinity Rodman* (Washington Spirit; 17/2), Sophia Smith* (Portland Thorns FC; 29/12), Alyssa Thompson* (Angel City FC; 3/0), Lynn Williams* (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 52/15)
*: First Women’s World Cup
**: Second Women’s World Cup
***: Third Women’s World Cup
****: Fourth Women’s World Cup
The USWNT will begin group play on July 23 against Vietnam. From there, the squad will play The Netherlands — which it beat in the 2019 Final — on July 27 before wrapping up group play on August 1 against Portugal.
J. Cole has been very loud and consistent about his love for his home state, North Carolina, and today, it was announced that he’s part of an ownership group buying its favorite NBA team. Michael Jordan, the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, has reached a deal to sell the team to a new buyer group, according to NBA.com, that includes J. Cole and fellow NC recording artist Eric Church, as well as Hornets part owner Gabe Plotkin and equity manager Rick Schnall, who was a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks. Schnall will, of course, sell his stake in the Hawks as the deal is completed.
Now, the deal to sell the Hornets must be reviewed by the NBA’s board of governors, but they’ve yet to reject a deal to sell a team (although they’ve shot down a handful of relocation bids, as well as the notorious trade to send Chris Paul to the Lakers in 2011). Michael Jordan will stay on as a minority owner, while ownership also encompasses the NBA G League’s Greensboro Swarm and NBA 2K League’s Hornets Venom GT, and managing and operating the Spectrum Center arena.
Flau’jae Johnson recently opened up to Uproxx about winning LSU’s first NCAA Division I basketball championship this April and celebrating that win while her song, “Big 4,” filled the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
“The fact that I’m being recognized for my music as well as my basketball at the highest level, that was a breathtaking moment for me,” Johnson said. “Both of my lives crossed over how I wanted it to. It was an amazing feeling. It felt like a movie.”
Johnson joined The Baller Alert Show for its June 10 episode and was asked around the 28-minute mark why she wasn’t in the video alongside Reese.
“Angel, she loves doing videos,” Johnson said. “She’s a cute girl. You know what I’m saying? Like, that’s her thing. … So, Latto, she hit me about it, like, the day before.”
Johnson explained that she told Latto she was in Los Angeles but could still “make it happen,” leading to confusion when the video came out without her involvement.
“Her people never hit my people,” she continued. “But I had seen — she had asked Angel like a week before. You feel me? I was like, OK, maybe she really ain’t want me in the video, for real, but she had to ask me because we had kind of a relationship before, and she put Angel in it. But I was like, I didn’t really care ’cause Angel was in it, and that was a big moment for women’s basketball.”
Still, Johnson can’t help but wonder “why wouldn’t you put me in it? It just makes sense.”
Watch Johnson’s full The Baller Alert Show episode above.
NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In a recent episode of his podcast, Fox Sports personality Skip Bayless claimed that Lil Wayne, with whom he has a long-standing friendship, asked if Bayless could set up a meeting between himself and Memphis Grizzlies standout Ja Morant. As Bayless says, while he made an effort, he has yet to hear back from Morant about the opportunity.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to connect Lil Wayne with Ja Morant. I know Wayne would fly to Memphis in a heartbeat.pic.twitter.com/4H4Z4V0I8t
“Lil Wayne, I said this on a previous podcast,” Bayless said. “Texted me, he said, ‘Hey, can you connect me with Ja? Because I could help him. I’ve been there. I’ve done all this. I wound up in prison, Rikers Island. I know what happens. I know where you can go wrong, and I know what right.
“I said I’ll try, and I reached out to Ja,” he continued. “‘Would you sit with Lil Wayne? Would you talk with Lil Wayne?’ Wayne would fly to him. He’d fly to Memphis in a heartbeat, tonight. Wayne would private plane it and go right to Memphis if he thought he could save a career and a soul. I got nothing back from Ja, didn’t expect anything back.”
It’s unclear how Bayless was able to get in contact with Morant, who is currently waiting to hear from the NBA about the fallout from its investigation into a recent incident where he waved a gun in a car on Instagram Live. Adam Silver said before the NBA Finals that the league was able to find additional information in its investigation, but explained that it would wait until after the series ended between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat to announce the results.
“I just had chills going through my body,” NCAA National Champion and Roc Nation artist Flau’Jae Johnson said of the moment Louisiana State University won as her song “Big 4” blasted throughout the American Airlines Center with confetti dancing in the air while The Tigers celebrated a historic win.
When the LSU women’s basketball team devastated No. 2 Iowa in the National Championship 102-85 in April, it marked the first time the women’s basketball team ever won a national championship.
Are you gonna rap or be a athlete if I’m still doing both why you asking meee ??!!4⃣4⃣4⃣4⃣pic.twitter.com/YuU57AA4mi
“The fact that I’m being recognized for my music as well as my basketball at the highest level, that was a breathtaking moment for me. Both of my lives crossed over how I wanted it to. It was an amazing feeling,” the young guard told Uproxx over the phone. “It felt like a movie.”
The song and moment magically aligned perfectly. “August of last year I recorded that,” she told me about the making of “Big 4.”
“We was in weight training with my team and we always played music on the aux, and my teammate LaDazhia [Williams] played this song and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I was like, “I’mma use this and I’mma rap on it.’ It just came out the way it came. I kept hearing the beat in my head and I didn’t know what it was. Once I figured out what it was, I asked LaDazhia, I’m like, what song is that? I remixed and then I made it my song.”
The 19-year-old Savannah, Georgia student-rapper-athlete credits consistency for her ability to tap into both talents successfully like a real-life Hannah Montana. “I’m a basketball player doing something that’s never been done before,” she told me.
Daughter of Jason “Camoflauge” Johnson, known for his song “Cut Friends” who passed away before she was born in 2003, Flau’jae is merely carrying the torch. Her drive and passion for basketball and music are unmatched.
“I’ve been playing basketball ever since I could walk. So, I’ve been hooping for a long time,” she said of her beginnings. “At a young age I just loved music. At six or seven, I started freestyling in the car and rapping for my mom. I always had an ear for music. Even when I didn’t really know what I was saying.”
On the court, she wears the number 4, which she revealed holds sentimental meaning. “[James] Murdock, who was a huge basketball player in Savannah, got killed and he used to hang around my father. He’s real known in Savannah and he’s hardest player to wear four,” she explained. “So, I was always four and I wear four for Murdock. Rest in peace to him.”
With so much going on in the city of Savannah, Flau’jae’s focus is something like Obi-Wan Kenobi’s — it cannot be broken.
Her basketball and rap interests are fueled by the same thing: “To want to be great,” the rising talent shared. “Wanting to be good at my craft, wanting to excel, wanting to be the best version of myself. That’s the best part. That’s what fuels everything I do. Just wanting to be the best.”
Being a college student-athlete as a freshman at a school like Louisiana State University on the women’s basketball team comes with all kinds of pressure. Pressure from not only the school but from LSU fans across the globe expecting their favorite team to show up with nothing less than a win. I had to ask her the secret to maintaining a smooth state of flow between basketball practices and going to the studio.
“Just being consistent,” she answered. “When I feel like I’m pushing on everything and I’m doing it the right way and I got a schedule lined up, that’s the best way for me to be successful in both areas. Being consistent in that makes everything on track. Me being able to create music when I’m feeling the best way is when I’m being consistent with basketball, music, working out, going to the studio. And, I’m actually doing my big one.”
Flau’jae’s “Big 4” isn’t the only song that’s catching a lot of attention, she also recently remixed Hot 100 hit “Put It On Da Floor” by fellow The Rap Game alum Latto into her own freestyle titled “Clickbait.”
“She told me that she really liked the remix that I did,” she revealed. “She wanted me to get in the video. Hopefully we can make that happen. Latto shows big love.”
Meanwhile, the video for Latto’s official “Put It On Da Floor Again” remix with Cardi B happens to feature a cameo from her teammate Angel Reese thanks to Cardi’s line “I been ballin’ so damn hard, could’ve went to LSU.” She and Reese also made a special appearance in NLE Choppa’s heartwarming music video for “Champions.”
On top of that, Flau’jae’s business-savvy partnership with Roc Nation is evidence that her formula is working.
“I own everything. I own my masters. I got creative control. That’s what I wanted. A deal where I could be in control and be able to write the narrative of how I wanted to, for my story. They understood the vision of me. A lot of people didn’t understand the vision of me being a rapper and an artist and being in college. Roc Nation understood it. They really seen what I could be in the future. I appreciate them.”
Ahead of Flau’jae’s second year as an LSU basketball player, she plans to unleash a collection of songs for an official EP.
“I got my project Basketball World dropping this summer, ‘Big 4 Anthem,’ my song with 2Rare going to drop after that. The music I got out right now, we got ‘Clickbait’ going stupid right now. I’m super excited, man. Stay tapped in.”
A co-sign from Drake raises the profile of any rising musician. On the other hand, sports fans tremble when the “Search & Rescue” rapper pours his support behind their favorite teams. However, Drake’s NBA Finals bet win netted the rapper nearly a million dollars as the Denver Nuggets sidestepped the “Drake Curse.”
Yesterday, the team pulled out the Game 5 victory over the Miami Heat with the final score of 94 to 89. The musician took to Instagram to share his bets on the game. He shared two that he placed, both on June 1.
The first bet was that the series would be wrapped up in five games, with the Nuggets winning four games to Miami’s one. That bet cost $250K and would net a total return of $850K. Secondly, he bet $1 million on the Nuggets to win outright. The payout for this bet brought in $1.23 million. So, overall, Drake walked away $830K richer.
The championship is the first ever for the Nuggets, which started as an ABA team back in 1967. So, the win was a huge moment for Denver, but it seemed like star center Nikola Jokic was pretty quickly ready to move on: When he was informed that the team’s championship parade was still a few days away, he seemed genuinely bummed, saying, “No, I have to go home.”
@Kehlani took the stage as this year’s #WNBAHalftimePerformance | @ATT pic.twitter.com/b3twMLUUUL
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