Sports

The Rockets Postponed ‘Travis Scott Night’ After Eight Died At Astroworld Over The Weekend

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The Houston Rockets will play host to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in a primetime, national TV window on ESPN. It gets that spot because it is the first meeting between the top two picks from the 2021 NBA Draft, as Detroit’s Cade Cunningham faces Houston’s Jalen Green.

It will be a celebration of young talent, two of the league’s hopeful future stars squaring off for the first time on teams that hope to build something meaningful around them. That celebration of youth and promising futures happening in Houston this week is bittersweet coming on the heels of the tragedy at Astroworld over the weekend, where eight died, ranging in age from 14 to 27, and hundreds were injured at Travis Scott’s show when fans stormed towards the stage, trampling others in the mad rush across NRG Stadium.

An investigation into the event is ongoing and lawsuits against Scott, Live Nation, and others in charge of the event are mounting, as families of the victims seek some sort of accountability for what should have been an avoidable tragedy. For the young Rockets, the news hit hard, as many players said they would have been at the show had it not been during a road trip, and Scott has become a fixture at Rockets games. Wednesday’s game with Detroit was also supposed to be Travis Scott Night, but per Marc Spears of The Undefeated, that has understandably been postponed, with a moment of silence planned for the victims from the event.

The Rockets were slated to celebrate “Travis Scott Day” during Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, but it was postponed following the tragedy. The Rockets will instead hold a moment of silence before the game.

As the investigations and lawsuits continue, more information about what exactly happened, how it was communicated in the moment, and where fault lies for an unsafe environment will emerge. In the immediate, many will reflect on how to find ways to support those who lost loved ones.

Freddie Gibbs Finally Got Bulls Tickets From Chance The Rapper And Took Home DeMar DeRozan’s Jersey

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It looks like Freddie Gibbs finally got those Chicago Bulls tickets he wanted — and he walked away with a player’s jersey as a bonus. And, as it turns out, the person he has to thank for it all is the one who was blocking him from getting the tickets in the first place: Chance The Rapper.

Last week, the Gary, Indiana MC lamented his inability to secure tickets to a home game (Gary is much closer to Chicago than Indianapolis, where the Pacers play, despite Chicago’s location in a different state), tweeting, “Can’t get no f*ckin bulls tickets cuz they give em all to Chance the Rapper.” He pointedly reminded the Bulls account of his longtime fandom and needled the Windy City native, joking that “Chance a bucks fan and y’all give him 30 tickets.”

However, earlier this week, Gibbs did manage to make it out to the Bulls’ home game against the Brooklyn Nets, where he met up with Chance himself after taking in the game from some courtside seats. “Chance took my tickets, but he gave me a couple,” he goofed in a video posted from the lounge, where he hung out with The Rapper. However, Chance had a different story for fans: “I don’t got no tickets, so please don’t let n****s tell you I got your tickets,” he pled. “Keep it straight they didn’t have no tickets for Freddie and they blamed it on me.” Gibbs piled on the pressure, though, referring to Chance sharing the tickets as one of his many acts of charity. “He do good for the community,” he teased. “He gave a n**** two. I appreciate it.”

To commemorate the occasion, Gibbs came away with one hell of a souvenir of the event as well: Bulls guard/forward DeMar DeRozan‘s jersey, which the Comptonite shared with Freddie after the game.

Ludacris Had To Perform A Clean Acapella Set At The Atlanta Braves Championship Celebration

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Thanks to some technical difficulties during his set at the Atlanta Braves’ World Championship celebration, Ludacris was forced to perform not only clean versions (it was a family event, after all) but also do so without his instrumentals. Fortunately, the veteran rapper was more than up to the task.

After playing his hits “Welcome To Atlanta” and “Southern Hospitality” with no trouble, the beat for “Yeah” began skipping as a result of the fans’ exuberant bouncing, according to Luda’s DJ. So, he decided to perform “Yeah” and “Money Maker” totally acapella before being able to complete the set as normal, noting that a “true MC” should be able to perform under nearly any conditions and still keep the party going.

Once the sound was fixed, Luda ran through a dizzying display of fan favorites, including “Fantasy,” “Roll Out,” “Stand Up,” “How Low,” and “Move B***h,” closing out fittingly with “All I Do Is Win.” Luda’s set was preceded by another pair of hometown heroes, Big Boi and Killer Mike, who chose to perform their song “Kryptonite.” Big Boi also performed several Outkast favorites with Sleepy Brown, including “ATLiens,” “Bombs Over Baghdad,” and “Rosa Parks.” Veteran hip-hop journalist Julia Beverly was right in the front row for the whole show, posting some great videos on Instagram, which you can watch below.

Freddie Gibbs Claims He Can’t Get Chicago Bulls Tickets Because They Give Them All To Chance The Rapper

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Like many Indiana natives, Freddie Gibbs is a hardcore hoops fan, however, despite growing up in the Hoosier State, which you might think would make him an Indianapolis Pacers fan, Gary, Indiana’s proximity to Chicago meant the gruff-voiced rapper developed more of an affinity for the Bulls. However, as it turns out, despite being a relatively well-known rapper — he was nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy this year and has seen his profile rise prolifically since his initial foray into the rap game — Freddie can’t get tickets to see his favorite team — and it’s all Chance The Rapper’s fault, apparently.

At least, that’s what Gibbs attributed his rotten luck securing to on Twitter. “Can’t get no f*ckin bulls tickets cuz they give em all to Chance the Rapper,” he tweeted. It’s no secret that Chance is a pretty big hoop head himself, vowing to get a Chicago Sky tattoo after a recent playoff win (no word yet on whether he’s actually done it), getting shots up (poorly) at Staples Center in Los Angeles after a Clippers game, and even buying his new house just 10 minutes away from Michael Jordan’s estate (which might be a coincidence, but had to leave him pretty jazzed). To be fair, Chance is actually a Chicago native with a longstanding track record of community activism, which might have factored into the favoritism.

But while Chance gets to appear on the Jumbotron at Madison Square Garden, it looks like poor Freddie Gibbs can’t even get in the door at the United Center. While it’s possible — likely, even — that Gibbs is just trolling, as he’s wont to do from time to time (he’s currently engaged in a cheeky tet a tet with Wale over a feature that couldn’t get cleared for Folarin II), here’s hoping he and Chance can work out a timeshare or something, since the Bulls are actually good again (the City of Compton acknowledges your debt, Chi-Town. You’re welcome).

Drake Wants A WNBA Team In Toronto

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If there are two things we know that Drake loves, it’s basketball and women. So it makes sense that he’d like to combine the two in his hometown with a franchise of the WNBA. Drake, who already has a role as ambassador for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, made his case on Instagram in the wee hours of the night, posting a single-frame Instagram Story reading, simply, “@WNBA, I need a Toronto team.”

This poses all kinds of fascinating possibilities. Would Drake be the owner? Would he want an ambassador role like the one he has with the Raptors? What would the team’s name be? You have to hope it wouldn’t be dinosaur-themed, as the Raptors’ entire concept came from the popularity of the original Jurassic Park the year of the team’s inception.

Furthermore, how would this affect the league as a whole? You’d think adding just one team would unbalance the season schedule quite a lot, so how many teams would be created in an expansion? Would there be an expansion draft? How would the talent in the W, which just went through a dramatic upheaval after solidifying a new CBA, be redistributed to provide parity?

For now, this is all just speculation and spitballing, but it would sure be fun to find out that the (much-needed) expansion is actually in the works. It’d probably be even more fun to see the self-declared Certified Lover Boy sitting courtside, cheering on favorites like Candace Parker, Chiney Ogwumike, and Aja Wilson, bringing some well-deserved publicity to the WNBA.

Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl Scandal Is Getting The ‘New York Times’ Documentary Treatment For Hulu

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Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl scandal has become the subject of a new documentary coming soon to Hulu and FX, according to Deadline. After the success of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, the streamer is taking on the backlash against Jackson in Malfunction: The Dressing Down Of Janet Jackson, launching on November 19 (incidentally, both docs prominently feature Justin Timberlake for his role in both women’s respective downfalls. I don’t know what it says about JT that he was so closely involved in both but it feels a little like he’s gone through his own version of what they went through over the last few years, falling out of public favor as social media became more prevalent.).

For those who don’t remember, during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson joined Justin Timberlake on stage during a performance of his song “Rock Your Body,” ending with Timberlake pulling part of Jackson’s costume off, baring her breast and touching off a national controversy that led to Janet essentially being blackballed by the entertainment industry. The incident coined the infamous term “wardrobe malfunction” and a content crackdown by government and network regulators.

According to Deadline, the film will “examine the racial and cultural currents that collided on the Super Bowl stage, and explores how the incident impacted one of the most successful pop musicians in history.” It will include interviews with some of the producers of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, as well as “music industry insiders,” cultural critics, and members of Janet’s famous family.

Tidal And Seven NBA DJs Teamed Up To Make Playlists In Celebration Of The New Season

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The 2021-22 NBA season is underway, and the folks over at Tidal teamed up with a collection of NBA DJs to celebrate the music played in arenas. The DJs come from teams across the league, with their playlists spanning decades and oftentimes paying tribute to some of the artists who played a major role in shaping the sound of their various cities.

The seven DJs provide in-arena tunes for the Philadelphia 76ers (DJ Ghost), Milwaukee Bucks (DJ Shawna), Los Angeles Clippers (DJ Dense), Miami Heat (DJ Irie), Los Angeles Lakers (DJ Roueche), Brooklyn Nets (DJay Jung), and Golden State Warriors (Derrick “D Sharp” Robinson). You can check out all of the playlist by clicking the links, but here is a collection of what you’ll find.

DJ Dense: Los Angeles Clippers

“Expensive Pain” by Meek Mill
“Blue Notes 2” by Meek Mill feat. Lil Uzi Vert
“Headlock by Lil Wayne feat. Rich The kid
“Rollin Papers” by Dom Kennedy
“Poke it Out” by Wale feat. Cool & Dre and J. Cole
“Ye” by Burna Boy
“Essence” by Wizkid feat. Tems
“Want it All” by Burna Boy feat. Polo G
“Moon” by Kanye West
“Way 2 Sexy” by Drake feat. Future and Young Thug
“Believe What I Say” by Kanye West
“EVERY CHANCE I GET” by DJ Khaled feat. Lil Baby and Lil Durk
“Gaspar Yanga” by D Smoke feat. Snoop Dogg
“California Love” by 2Pac feat. Roger Troutman and Dr. Dre

DJ Roueche: Los Angeles Lakers

“Big Tings” by The Suicide Doors feat. Jacoby X
“DNA” by Kendrick Lamar
“24” by IDK
“Welcome To The Party” by Pop Smoke
“Drop It” by Tujamo feat. Lukas Vane
“Breakin’ a Sweat (Zedd Remix)” by Skrillex feat. The Doors and Robby Krieger
“Let’s Go” by Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo
“2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted (feat. Snoop Doggy Dog)” by 2Pac
“Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
“Twist My Fingaz” by YG
“Grinding All My Life” by Nipsey Hussle
“Higher” by The Game
“Roses (Imanbek Remix)” by SAINt JHN
“Turbulence” by Steve Aoki feat. Laidback Luke and Lil Jon
“Bounce Generation” by TJR feat. Vinai
“Nonstop” by Drake
“Whoopty” by CJ
“family ties” by Baby Keem feat. Kendrick Lamar
“Big League” by O.T. Genasis
“In My Zone” by The Suicide Doors feat. Chancer Smith
“Baila Conmigo” by Dayvi feat. Victor Cárden and Kelly Ruiz
“Soul Sacrifice” by Dombresky
“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” by Fergie feat. Q-Tip and GoonRock
“Song 2” by Blur
“I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman

DJay Jung: Brooklyn Nets

“family ties” by Baby Keem feat. Kendrick Lamar
“Way 2 Sexy” by Drake feat. Future and Young Thug
“Knife Talk” by Drake feat. 21 Savage and Project Pat
“Sharing Locations” by Meek Mill feat. Lil Durk and Lil Baby
“The Scorpion” by Conway The Machine
“KD” by Conway The Machine
“No Time For Sleep” by Bobby Shmurda
“Big Drip” by Fivio Foreign
“What It Feels Like” by Nipsey Hussle feat. JAY-Z
“Hypnotize” by The Notorious B.I.G.
“Gimme the Loot” by The Notorious B.I.G.
“U Don’t Know” by JAY-Z
“Brooklyn’s Finest” by JAY-Z
“Show Me What You Got” by JAY-Z
“Welcome 2 Brooklyn” by M.O.P. feat. Maino
“Jump” by Rupee
“La Mama de la Mama” by El Alfa feat. El Cherry Scom
“In Da Getto” by J Balvin feat. Skrillex
“Set It Off” by Big Daddy Kane
“What’s Up Suckaz” by TJR

Twitch Announces A Streaming Partnership With T-Pain With ‘I’m Cool With That’

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T-Pain was on Twitch well before it was cool. While Twitch had been in use for years among video game fans, it was not a place that celebrities typically hung out like it is now. These days it’s not uncommon for famous athletes, actors, or musicians to be seen hanging out on Twitch playing a game and interacting with their community. T-Pain, on the other hand, was doing it originally as just something to do in his free time. He’d play games, show off new music, and just hang out.

These days, Twitch is almost as much of a job as his music career for him. He’s an extremely popular streamer with thousands of people tuning into his streams live or watching the VODs after he’s wrapped up. Twitch saw his popularity and got in contact with him. Now, T-Pain and Twitch have formed a partnership where his presence on the site will be even more visible. He’s kicking off his partnership with an exclusive listening party on his Twitch channel for his new single “I’m Cool With That.”

“This partnership means that I have been seen,” T-Pain said. “With so little representation on the service previously, the fact that Twitch came to me means that they actually see our community and understand the value of our contribution to the streaming world. We’ve been hosting beat battles and collaborative sessions for years… ‘I’m Cool With That’ is a combination of some of those efforts and was the first song created and released with my community, and I hope this is just the start of a journey Twitch and I are about to go on to uplift and strengthen the music community on Twitch.”

The upcoming listening party will be where T-Pain further breaks down the new track and shares details about other aspects of his partnership, such as monthly “Post Ya Song” and “Post Ya Beat” reviews from community producers. It’s really cool to see this kind of opportunity for T-Pain considering that he was one of the first well-known names to really embrace Twitch. Now he has a partnership and his community gets to watch his streams become even bigger.

This is another big step for Twitch as well, as the platform continues to try and show it’s for more than just video games. Twitch will always be about video games first and foremost, but the platform has not shied away from growing to become something even bigger. Lucky for them, T-Pain not only represents the video game side of the platform but the music side as well. He’s the perfect choice for this partnership.

Megan Thee Stalliion Calls Joc Pederson A ‘Bad B’ In An Incredible Intro For Game 2 Of The World Series

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Game 2 of the World Series saw some Houston trying to change the mojo as the Astros looked to even the series after dropping Game 1 at home on Tuesday, as Minute Maid Park had the roof open for a playoff game for the first time since 2005.

The Fox broadcast also tapped a Houston icon for their intro video, as they got Megan Thee Stallion to set the stage for Game 2 with some Houston flair, as well as some love for the Braves too. The highlight of the video is her mentioning Joc Pederson and his pearls, calling him a “Bad B.”

It was about as well done as any celebrity hype video, as Meg doesn’t try to do anything but be herself for the video and even her getting her favorite tag lines like hotties and savages very naturally. Joc Pederson will surely love getting the Bad B*tch stamp of approval from Megan Thee Stallion, after that was the explanation he used for why he has been wearing a pearl necklace throughout the playoffs. Whoever slid that through the Fox clearance process for this video deserves a raise.

The intro also gave us the delightful opportunity to hear Joe Buck saying “Something For The Hotties.”

There’s a very good chance they have a similar video lined up with an Atlanta artist for when the series shifts to being Braves home games, and hopefully we get more Joe Buck reading off the titles of hip-hop albums as a result.

Megan Thee Stallion’s Visit To The F1 Grand Prix Resulted In A Seriously Awkward Interview

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As much as hip-hop collectively loves mentioning Nascar (mostly because it rhymes with a lot of things, especially “fast car”), there’s another form of racing sport about which most rappers seem frighteningly uninformed: Formula 1. Part of that has to do with the fact that it just hasn’t caught on here the way it has in Europe; this resulted in a hilarious case of culture clash this past weekend as Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion visited the F1 US Grand Prix this weekend in neighboring Austin and the world discovered that the unawareness can go both ways.

As she strutted the track with her entourage, Megan was approached by Sky News reporter and former driver Martin Brundle for an interview but as the rapper seemed to be in hurry, things got off to a bad start. Brundle was very nearly pushed away by Meg’s massive bodyguard (an absolute unit, that one), then, when addressing her, he noted that she is a “freestyle rapper” and wondered whether she had any “rap on F1.” Bursting into laughter, Megan politely declined to rap for the reporter as she kept it moving and he was left in the dust.

For what it’s worth, the awkwardness was probably a result of the generation gap as much as anything, as the older British reporter was clearly trying to turn a phrase and show off his own witty wordplay, which they’re quite fond of across the pond. However, nobody has used the term “rap” to mean “discuss” or “chat” in at least forty years. Sometimes you can get a little too clever, especially when it comes to so many degrees of separation (old, white, British man, meet 20-something, Black woman from Houston). Of course, some folks gave their own impressions of the hilarious incident on Twitter:

Seriously, though, people should stop asking Megan Thee Stallion about sports. It should be very clear by now that she is a big nerd and should only ever be asked about anime, video games, and hottie sauce. Check out Uproxx’s interview with Megan Thee Stallion about her iconic Mileena cosplay for Mortal Kombat 11.