Joel Embiid Shouts Out Sam Hinkie As 76ers Clinch No.1 Seed: “Trust The Process”

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Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid gave a shout-out to his former general manager, Sam Hinkie, after the team clinched the number one seed in the Eastern Conference standings, Friday.

“Trust the Process… Sam Hinkie knew,” Emiid said, echoing Hinkie’s iconic motto.

Rich Hofmann of The Athletic reports that 76ers president Daryl Morey told Emiid to reference the quote.

“Being the top seed helps a lot from home-court advantage. Definitely helps a lot as we’ve been dominant at home. We barely lose here… So it means a lot to have the No. 1 seed,” Embiid added.

Joel Embiid, Sam Hinkie
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Hinkie served as the 76ers GM from 2013-16 and was a fierce supporter of advanced statistics. He was often accused of “tanking” to receive better draft picks.

Head coach Doc Rivers, who joined Philadelphia at the start of the season, described the accomplishment as “part of what you can get on the way to what you want.” 

“It’s an accomplishment. I don’t want to downplay it, but I told our guys to enjoy, I don’t want to call it a moment, I told them to enjoy the second, because it’s not what we want, but it’s part of what you can get on the way to what you want,” Rivers said after the game.

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Kevin Garnett Thanks Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan In Hall Of Fame Speech

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Following a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame welcomed the Class of 2020, Saturday. The inductees included Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and more. Garnett praised Duncan and the late Bryant during his speech at the induction ceremony.

“I wanted to say, Timmy, thank you, man,” Garnett said. “Congratulations to you and Kob, seriously. There was nothing [more] epic than when we battled, I looked forward to all the battles, seriously. And I thank you for taking you to another level, you and Rasheed [Wallace]. I appreciate you. It’s an honor to go in the Hall with you, bro, you, and Kob. Congratulations Vanessa, I love y’all.”

“My only regret in Minnesota was that I wasn’t able to bring them a championship,” Garnett added.

Kevin Garnett, Hall of Fame
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Garnett is widely considered one of the greatest power-forwards of all time. He won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2004 and help win the Celtics an NBA Championship in 2008. Garnett was selected to 15 All-Star teams throughout his 21-season career.

Others included in the class are Patrick Baumann, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens, Eddie Sutton, and Rudy Tomjanovich.

Check out Garnett’s speech below.

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Chance The Rapper Says He Is Remaking “Home Alone”

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Chance the Rapper says that he is working on a “hood” reboot of Home Alone. The Coloring Book rapper discussed the film project with Jimmy Fallon on the latest episode of The Tonight Show.

“It’s a Chicago film, and since I was younger I was like, ‘What if there was a hood Home Alone—or Hood Alone if you will,” he told Fallon. “Just a little more realistic story about people trying to kick at the doors at the wrong house. And hilarity ensues, I can’t give you too many details.”

“It’s up for grabs if you want to get in on this project,” Chance added, offering a role to Fallon.

Chance The Rapper, Home Alone
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A Home Alone reboot won’t be the first time Chance will have worked in film. In addition to having provided his voice acting skills in The Lion King, he is also releasing a concert film, Magnificent Coloring World, later this year, which will be shown in AMC theaters.

“Basically, it’s four years old. It was a film that I shot right after I won the Grammys in 2017,” he told Fallon. “I came back to Chicago right after finishing up this tour, getting ready to go on another one, I just had this idea that I wanted to do this concert but specifically for film and it’d be shot like a movie and eventually put it out in theatres.”

“It came together in like three weeks a bunch of years back,” he said, “but I didn’t really know a lot about film at all or how to edit or anything. So about three weeks ago, I sent out for the film and brought it to the studio house and worked tirelessly on it with about 20 people and shot some new stuff.” 

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Gucci Mane Reveals How His Label Deal Contract Looks

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Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane is really, really, really serious about signing new talent to his roster. The hip-hop superstar has lit up social media with a glimpse into what a record contract looks like. Gucci Mane Reveals How His Label Deal Looks Guwop went to Instagram with a label recording agreement document. Mane ultimately encouraged […]

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Summer Walker Gives Glimpse Into Her Weekend Goals

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R&B singer Summer Walker is soaking in her weekend grind. The popular crooner and new mom has blessed social media with a sneak peek into how she’s spending the next 48 hours. Summer Walker Gives Glimpse Into Her Weekend SW went to her Instagram page with a slideshow of must-see content. The shots feature both […]

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J. Cole Details How He Changed His Approach To Competing With Drake And Kendrick Lamar

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J. Cole’s The Off-Season is the talk of the music world this weekend. The project is his first solo effort in over three years and everyone is raving about it, from everyday fans to NBA players. And in what’s been a unique press run, at least on Cole’s term, the rapper has shown his face to the media more than some might’ve expected.

From a documentary and a SLAM Magazine cover that also arrived with an interview to an LA Leakers freestyle, it’s clear Cole is not sticking in his cave this time around. Just a little over a day removed from the release of The Off-Season, J. Cole sat down for another interview with Kevin Durant and Eddie Gonzalez on the duo’s podcast, The ETCs.

One highlight of the trio’s nearly 90-minute conversation came when Cole spoke about competing with fellow heavyweight rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar and how he eventually realized it would be better to dial back his competitive nature.

“I’ve never been a reach-out [person], especially because when there’s competition involved,” he said. “It’s almost like working out together. I guess in the NBA, in the past, that was unheard of. Like, ‘Why would I work out with this n****? … I’m trying to destroy this n****.’ That was kind of my mentality early on.”

He added, “But as I’ve gotten older, I realize … no one is truly my peer or can relate to what’s going on in my life better than these people right here — just in terms of whatever pressures there might be … nobody can really relate to that like these dudes, and I really genuinely f*ck with these dudes.”

At that point, Cole realized he had to “strip competition” from not only his approach to Drake and Kendrick but music altogether. “I also see a time when I’m not doing this. That seems very realistic to me,” he revealed. “And in the time when I’m not doing this, I don’t wanna be like, ‘Damn, we never kicked it, we never really did nothing.’”

You can watch a clip of the interview above and listen to the whole episode, which touches on Cole’s family, basketball, and the new album, here. The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville/Roc Nation. Get it here.

Tee Grizzley Urges His Fellow Rappers To Invest In Life Insurance

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Tee Grizzley is a few weeks removed from his latest project, Built For Whatever. The effort is the Detroit rapper’s seventh project since 2017 and it’s one that saw him work with the likes of King Von, Quavo, YNW Melly, Lil Tjay, Baby Grizzley, G Herbo, Big Sean, Babyface Ray, and Young Dolph. It also arrived after he joined Lil Yachty on his Michigan Boat Boy mixtape. While some might expect his focus to be on the project and its promotion, Grizzley took a second to speak about something he deems as important and a topic that fellow rappers need to look into.

In a video he shared to his Instagram story, Grizzly urged rappers to invest in life insurance. “So look right, as rappers, as successful Black men from the trenches, we the No. 1 target and the least prepared,” he said. “I feel like everybody should have life insurance. I need everybody to go get life insurance if you don’t got it. If you got kids, I need you to get a will set up for your kids so, God forbid anything happen, but if anything happen your people ain’t bold after you gone because you weren’t prepared and have your sh*t together.”

He added, “We’re the No. 1 target and we’re the least prepared bro. I need us to get on top of this sh*t, get life insurance, we need get to our wills right so the next generation don’t have to go as hard as we did and have to go through everything we did.”

You can listen to Tee Grizzley’s thoughts in the video above.

Chance The Rapper Teases A ‘Home Alone’ Reboot That May Be Titled, ‘Hood Alone’

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It’d be inaccurate to label this stage of Chance The Rapper’s career as anything along the lines of idle or inactivity. The Chicago native is busy on the music side of things as he recently shared “The Heart And The Tongue,” as well as “Shelter,” a collaboration with Vic Mensa. He also premiered a new movie titled, Magnificent Coloring Book, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his mixtape, Coloring Book, and he’s set to headline the Summerfest 2021 show with Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus.

While that’s an ample plate of tasks, the rapper is adding something else to the mix.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday night, Chance revealed that he’s working on a reboot for a particular classic movie.

“It’s a secret thing. I’m working on…I got this pitch for a Home Alone reboot,” he said. “As a lot of people know…I’m sure everybody here is a huge fan of Home Alone and John Hughes. Chicago guy, Macaulay Culkin, it’s a Chicago film. Since I was young, I always watched it and I was like, ‘What if there was a hood Home Alone?’ Or Hood Alone, if you will.”

He added, “Just a little more realistic story about what happens when people try to kick in the doors at the wrong house. Hilarity ensues. I can’t give you too many details, but yeah.”

You can watch him talk about the reboot in the video above.

DMX’s Eldest Son Reportedly Approved Final Album

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DMX was revving up for a massive comeback before his untimely passing in April. The rapper had secured a deal with Def Jam and was preparing for the release of a new album. Exodus, the album X planned to release, was wrapped up before his death and fans will get to hear it in its entirety on May 28th.


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According to PageSix, Swizz Beatz hosted a listening party over Zoom for a few DJs across the world. A source close to the tabloid publication detailed some of the music which is reportedly a healthy balance between the streets and his spiritual side. “He gives the street side he is known for, but also shows his side with God,” the source said. “He embraces his age and you can tell he was in a good space and was having fun.”

The source added that Swizz Beatz revealed during the Zoom call that he reached out to DMX’s oldest son, Xavier Simmons, for approval of each song before it reaches the ears of the public.

Exodus will mark X’s first posthumous album and first project since 2012’s Undisputed. The tracklist is stacked with features including Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Nas, The LOX, Lil Wayne, Moneybagg Yo, Griselda, Usher, Alicia Keys, and more.

Swizz Beatz recently revealed that both Lil Durk and Lil Baby pushed back the release of their joint project out of respect for DMX’s release date. 

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