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for-yoongi0309 · 1 year

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BTS’ Suga Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged

Most famously known as Suga from BTS — but also by the solo moniker Agust D, as well as birth name Min Yoongi — the artist who works as a rapper, singer, producer, dancer, fashion muse and NBA ambassador wants to remind listeners that, above all, he is a human.

“In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside.

So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too.”

Today, April 7, marks the return of Agust D, the name Suga uses when releasing solo projects away from BTS, with the new single “People Pt.2” featuring K-pop superstar IU. Not only does it mark the duo’s latest collaboration after teaming for the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart “Eight” from May 2020, it also acts as an extension from “People,” a fan-favorite cut from Agust D’s D-2 mixtape released that same month. While the original “People” saw Suga reflecting on himself and meditating on how others judge and change, Part 2 longs for connection with others. As multifaceted as Suga’s world is, loneliness is a permanent source of inspiration and intrigue for the 30-year-old. Hours before “People Pt.2” drops worldwide, his call with Billboard occurs alongside multiple international teams who work around the clock for Suga and BIGHIT MUSIC artists. Some are beside him physically, others via Zoom connection virtually — but loneliness remains a muse for the star, assisting him in searching within and speaking to listeners in larger, universal ways. Since its debut, BTS’ musical appeal has reached globally largely through the septet’s extended metaphors and imagery, translating into accessible storytelling alongside boundary-pushing compositions and choreography. Suga’s range of material is vast, after producing on essentially every BTS album, not to mention scoring high-profile collaborations with everyone from Halsey and Juice WRLD to Epik High and Japan’s ØMI. But now, he’s emphasizing the topics that move him personally — and ensuring he’s properly heard.

Despite an already packed spring and summer with album promo, his solo world tour, ambassadorship duties and a YouTube series, Suga cheekily closes out our chat “Yeah, it’s fuking busy,” he says with a wink since he has no time to waste. Read on as he narrows in on the release of “People Pt.2” and all that’s led up to this reflective pop/hip-hop collaboration.

We’re hours away from the release of “People Pt.2,” your official return as Agust D for your D-Day album. Is there a different mindset when you prepare music as Agust D versus solo or as SUGA alongside BTS?

SUGA: They’re all music made by the person called Min Yoongi. So, I don’t actually have a very different mindset for each moniker — but I would say that the purposes could be somewhat different. Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, “People Pt.2” was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.

“People Pt.2” (featuring IU) of course follows up “People” from the D-2 mixtape. What was important about continuing this story with IU?

SUGA: This is a story that you’ll personally love: The title wasn’t originally “People Pt.2.” Actually, “People” from D-2 is personally my favorite song — and we actually worked on “People Pt.2” three years ago. When I was releasing my pictorial [Photo-Folio Wholly or Whole Me] photo shoot, the company actually revealed the guide [demo] version and gave a glimpse of it to the public. But anyway, it was already finished when we were working on D-2 so I was thinking, “Oh, I should release this, I should release this.” But we had to get on with “Butter” and “Dynamite” so we didn’t get the chance. Originally, the title was “Sara (사라),” without the “M (ㅁ)” consonant in Korean — because that’s, like, one consonant less than the word “saram (사람),” which is Korean for “people.” Depending on whichever consonant you put at the end of the word sara (사라), it can become “saram (사람)” and “people,” or it can become “sarang 사랑,” or “love” in Korean. So, it’s the listener’s choice to put which consonant you want at the end of “sara” (사라). But I had my friend listen to this song and people heard it as “sal-ah (살아)” which kind of means “live” in Korean and I was like, “This is not going to work.” So, we finalized the title to be “People” in the end. And some people call me August D, some people call me Ah-gust D, but I’m actually Agust D. So, you know, people take my name differently and we had to sync the person SUGA and Agust D. This is a song that kind of matches that sync. We need that bridge and sync between my mixtape and this official solo album. In order to put that sync together, I had to make this a very pop song. We didn’t try to make the music video that intense — and, in that sense, IU really played an important role in doing that. I also think this is a genre that I can do best, this pop-focused song.

There’s this sync between songs, but the themes and lyrics are very different, right? “People” was self-reflective and examined other people’s judgments, but “People Pt.2” seems more about connection and fighting loneliness. What most differentiates the two in your mind?

SUGA: In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside. So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too. This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a “Part 3” later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, “Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.”

I like that — because even in the Road to D-Day documentary trailer, there’s a moment you say you frequently consider quitting music. But when people come together, it makes you realize you can do it and have fun. Does this tie into themes of “People Pt.2”?

SUGA: This is kind of a difficult topic, because I started making music and writing lyrics [when] I was 11 or 12 years old. I’ve been making music for all these years, and now I’m 30. It wasn’t easy writing “People Pt.2,” and the album overall, but people really don’t know the whole process of that. Even though I’d been making music more than half of my life — and I’m just saying this because you understand this, Jeff — when we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person. So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process. It started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process. I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible, but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version. The documentary and “People Pt.2” try to reveal the natural side of the human Min Yoongi. I just wanted to show that I am this humane person. I am just a human.

You need to release your “Director’s Cut” one day. While D-Day and the documentary are coming, I want to congratulate you on the worldwide release of D-2 and Agust D this week. My favorite song, “Agust D” with the sample of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” was finally added to streaming too. You shared how J. Cole approved BTS’ “Born Singer” sample, what can you share about the process with James Brown‘s estate?

SUGA: I released Agust D when I was still very young, so, even as I listen to it now, it kind of sounds immature — if you listen to the tone, the rap itself wasn’t very organized, I wanted to do a lot of things at that time. It just kind of keeps going very tightly and quickly. But after doing so much various and diverse music, I think that people love the songs that have been released more recently than the songs that were released back then. So, I kind of dare say that people are starting to recognize and acknowledge these songs now. Since the musician actually passed away, I think it was the family who decided to acknowledge it. Same thing with [clearing] “Born Sinner” — and I don’t know what the path was for the musician themselves, but it was clear. And I take it as that I, as BTS, and Min Yoongi, and SUGA, and Agust D, was acknowledged as a musician. I’m really not thinking that broader consumers or audiences will accept it, because it’s not really popular music. Still, I would dare assume that it’s getting cleared because we’re finally getting recognized as musicians.

Interviewer: Jeff Benjamin at billboard

#ultkpopnetwork #mgroupsedit #idolsincedits #maleidolsedit #yoongi #suga #min yoongi #bangtan #bts #i/n.article news #i. interviews #ab.dday trilogy

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rmbaloncesto · 2 months

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Happy 25th birthday, Luka 🌟

5× NBA All-Star (2020–2024)

4× All-NBA First Team (2020–2023)

NBA Rookie of the Year (2019)

NBA All-Rookie First Team (2019)

FIBA World Cup Top Scorer (2023)

All-FIBA World Cup Team (2023)

Olympics All-Star Team (2020)

EuroBasket champion (2017)

All-EuroBasket Team (2017)

EuroLeague champion (2018)

EuroLeague MVP (2018)

EuroLeague Final Four MVP (2018)

All-EuroLeague First Team (2018)

2× EuroLeague Rising Star (2017, 2018)

EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team (2020)

3× Liga ACB champion (2015, 2016, 2018)

Liga ACB MVP (2018)

All-Liga ACB First Team (2018)

2× Spanish King's Cup winner (2016, 2017)

#cant believe he is 25 already...#luka doncic #dallas mavericks #look i have not gifed in YEARS #so this is very meh #but its luka so its automatically amazing #ITS ALMOST 7 AM #IM TIRED #but its still the 28th in dallas #so im technically not late #i was going to make 10 gifs but no <3 #anyway: happy bday wonder boy i love you so much #my gifs #mavs #luka #wonder boy #goodnight #ill stop looking at this before i hate it and delete it

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myaphelion · 1 year

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“He’s Just Ken”: An Analysis of Plastic Professionals

so the barbie movie posters led me down a rabbit hole that i’m thrilled to share with y’all. i wondered... is ken really “just ken”? what are his careers like, as opposed to the eternal, ever-working barbie? and how is ken gendered in opposition to and in company with the plastic princess?

part one: career statistics, or, grind on my mind

the era i chose to focus on for this was 1980-2000. this is for a couple reasons--it’s the barbie era i’m most familiar with, it has a good amount of documentation, and most importantly, ken is present throughout all 20 years. if i focused on the earlier years of barbie, ken doesn’t show up until partway through; if i focused on the 2000s-2020s, say, ken is missing for a good handful of those years as well. in addition, these 20 years were the ones where barbie’s jobs became more of a focus; the early barbie years were far more focused on the fashion dream, and it was in the early 80s that the “we girls can do anything” slogan showed that mattel was pushing the brand to be about career and life goals, too.

let’s take a look at the charts...

these are the approximate numbers of barbie dolls released every year from 1980-2000, along with which dolls had a career and which dolls did not. i was a little loose with the data; “ballerina” counts as a career, while “princess” does not. in addition, i counted any doll named Barbie; this includes barbies who are of different ethnicities. barbie’s friends like kira and siblings like stacey did not count.

looking at this chart, it’s pretty clear that dolls without careers outnumber the ones with them. however, this is the case for most playline dolls, and one must also take into account the amount of collector’s releases that naturally tend more towards designer fashion instead. 1998 is an interesting year because there was a line of NBA basketball barbies released; this jacked up the career number significantly. sports is absolutely a job!

now, let’s have a look at ken:

less ken dolls are released yearly. this is just a fact. as much as it’s a joke, ken really is a barbie accessory, and he has been for a long time. he’s no gi joe with his own line--he’s meant to be barbie’s boyfriend, not really his own person. what’s interesting, however, is the proportion of ken dolls with careers vs. barbie dolls. even taking into account the fact less ken dolls are released, more ken dolls have careers than barbie dolls.

here, let me show you some pie charts for a better idea:

“this still isn’t a fair comparison!” i hear you cry. i get it! i understand! it was very bizarre for me to see this, too. proportionally, 6% isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still... weird to see ken having a greater number of dolls with careers than barbie.

which led me to look at the second part of this analysis.

part two: gender roles, or, i am a girl like you

barbie and ken are heavily gendered in a societally-’appropriate’ fashion. this is obvious from the brand’s marketing, from the girl toys aisle being named the ‘pink aisle’ in honour of the famed ‘barbie pink’, from how much the barbie line focuses on fashion and style. but... the careers barbie and ken have. how much are these gendered, exactly?

n.b.: i’m trans and queer so the next few categories might seem weird to some, but i grew up in a ciscentric society with a ciscentric view of gender roles, so here we are.

i divided the job categories into three types: traditionally masculine jobs: things like the army, an astronaut, a doctor. if your first image when you think of the job is a man, it goes here. traditionally feminine jobs: things like a skater, a ballerina, a teacher. same as above--if you think of a woman first, it goes here. gender neutral jobs: this might be a hazy category, but jobs like singer/rock star, veterinarian, and movie star go here. these jobs are less or entirely ungendered in north american society, and therefore one might think of a man or woman equally.

charts again!

(i totally changed the fem jobs to pink because well. it’s barbie)

this is where things got interesting for me. barbie and ken both have a very high percentage of traditionally masculine jobs. It’s less surprising that ken has more neutral-leaning jobs than feminine, and barbie has more feminine than neutral, but the amount of traditionally masculine jobs barbie herself has surprised me. despite knowing full well how many jobs barbie has had over the years, it still surprised me that jobs like paratrooper and doctor dominated over jobs like fashion designer and ballet dancer.

part three: conclusions, or, there’s nothing we can’t do

so what can we draw from this?

firstly: ken may be an accessory, but he isn’t really just ken. proportionally, he has about the same number of jobs as barbie per release, if not more. he’s not the himbo hanging off barbie’s arm we’ve all been led to believe he is by the memes and jokes, even if it is still funny to call him barbie’s trophy husband/boyfriend. he might be ‘just ken’, but ‘just ken’ is as capable as barbie is on his best days.

secondly: barbie herself is not as highly gendered in terms of workplace environments as one might think. she’s a legally blonde type; she might be pink and pretty, but that doesn’t mean she’s to be underestimated. mattel has given her a higher percentage of traditionally masculine jobs than might be usual for a playline doll directed at girls, and i genuinely have to applaud them for that. barbie is for every girl, even the ones who don’t have traditionally feminine interests.

thirdly: they better use this info in the barbie movie

references and works used

Sarasohn-Kahn, Jane, and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. Contemporary Barbie Dolls: 1980 and Beyond. Antique Trader Books, 1998.

Toy Sisters. Toy Sisters: "Pink Aisle" Toy Guides, 11 Sept. 2022, https://www.toysisters.com/.

#barbie #barbie dolls #barbie movie #toy essay #jesus this took a bit

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cyarskaren52 · 3 months

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Jack Harlow Is Serious About This

By Ross Scarano

Photography by Stacy Kranitz

December 11, 2020

Jacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's

Somewhere amidst the green hills of West Virginia, in the kind of club that offers bottle service to its VIP customers, there’s a woman in possession of Jack Harlow’s heart.

He flew into Pittsburgh—the nearest major airport—before driving into the wild and wonderful heart of Appalachia for a club appearance. At the club, he met a bottle girl who stopped him cold. If you were unaware that West Virginia had bottle girls, so was Harlow. “I found out just shortly before you did,” he deadpans over a video-less Zoom call.

She’s been on his mind since, and because everything in Harlow’s lyrics really happened, she’s in his music, too. Track three on his debut album Thats What They All Say, his first full-length release since his smash single “Whats Poppin” (and its star-studded remix) shot up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance, to be precise.

Thats What They All Say will likely be one of the biggest albums of the year, and the bottle girl makes her cameo early, on “21C/Delta,” a mellow two-part journey into 21st century romance as experienced by a 22-year-old rap star who claims few vices outside of sex. In fact, Harlow is something of a strip club aficionado—when the Los Angeles Clippers point guard Lou Williams was allowed to leave the NBA bubble in July to attend a memorial service, it was Harlow’s Instagram photo that revealed that Williams had also found time to stop by Atlanta’s legendary Magic City. According to Harlow, there are no hard feelings and the video for his single “Tyler Herro” was shot on Williams’ home basketball court.

But he’s too decent a guy to say anything more about his brief encounter in Appalachia. “I don't want to ruin this person's life,” he says. Fingers crossed, this will not devolve into a “Courtney from Hooters on Peach Street”situation.

Jacket, $1,750, and pants, $600, by Room Service Los Angeles / Earrings (throughout), his own

Harlow was introduced to hip-hop around age seven by his mother Maggie, who played The Marshall Mathers LP and other landmarks of the genre while driving around their home of Louisville, Kentucky. Her trip to buy Kanye West’s Late Registration is one of his earliest memories. “She told me all the words I was about to hear but wasn't allowed to say,” he told me. Around the same time, he remembers his teachers praising his writing. “In first grade, I was writing personal narratives and persuasive letters,” he says. “That's when I knew I enjoyed words.”

After years of adolescent grinding in the mixtape circuit in Louisville, supported by his parents and grandmother, Harlow recognized that in order to progress he needed to be at the center of American music culture. So in 2017 he moved to Atlanta, where he met hip-hop veterans DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and Leighton “Lake” Morrison, who signed him to their label Generation Now in 2018. The mixtapes and EPshe made in Kentucky often felt too try-hard, both in terms of the attempts at comedic wordplay (“Like blue jeans at the state fair, I might cut you off straight mid-sentence”) and the self-seriousness that Harlow deployed as a counterbalance (a ride past his elementary school on “Eastern Parkway” becomes an opportunity for a belabored metaphor about states of matter). He describes those early records as “forcefully goofy,” so much so that he felt uncomfortable playing the music “in front of girls.” Atlanta gave his music a new sense of nonchalance; he learned to relax his grip. “I'm doing a much better job of representing who I am off record, on record,” he says.

Blazer, $1,025, and turtleneck, $750, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Sunglasses, $625, by Vintage Wood Collection

“I’m signed to the gatekeepers,” Harlow raps on the intro to Thats What They All Say. Often when gatekeepers are invoked in rap, it’s to decry the (white) executives, radio programmers, and members of the Recording Academy who prevent authentic music from truly succeeding, or, conversely, amplify the wrong things. But for Harlow, gatekeepers means Black men with impressive industry bona fides who vouch for him. Drama hosted the Gangsta Grillz mixtape series, where Lil Wayne did some of his most sublime work; Cannon produced a number of the highlights across those mixtapes; Lake managed both Drama and Cannon, along with the aughts R&B star Bobby Valentino for a period.

“I don't know if [credibility] is a requirement to have success, but it's important to me,” Harlow says. “When I was shopping around before I signed I wasn't like, ‘I’m not signing until I find some Black gatekeepers.’ But I’m proud to be signed to them.” Cannon says “gatekeeper is simply a word that says, ‘Hey, you belong here’”; Lake says that Harlow is “driven and trying to move in an urban space, and one thing that I appreciate about him is he's open to a conversation.”

A successful white rapper will always have to reckon with the fact that their skin color lends a commercial advantage. But these are times of particularly intense scrutiny about the ethics of cultural appropriation. The release of the artwork for Thats What They All Say, which depicts Harlow signing autographs for a racially diverse group of children while sitting in a luxury vehicle next to a faceless brown-skinned woman, prompted much ado on social media. But rather than, say, rush out a Macklemore-esque apology, he’s not sweating it. Harlow’s touch stays light.

Not everyone has welcomed his rise: In 2019, labelmate Lil Uzi Vert posted a photo on Instagram of Harlow with a clown emoji superimposed over his face after Harlow made his support of the label clear in response to Vert’s criticism of it. (Lake says he appreciates Harlow’s solidarity.)

Suit, $1,850, by Grayscale / Turtleneck, $590, by Thom Browne / Boots, $515, by Raf Simons / Watch (throughout), his own, by Rolex / Ring (throughout), his own

Harlow wants his name (and debut) to be mentioned among greats like Drake and Kendrick. The wide audiences they found and the respect they commanded for their technical abilities—he wants those things too. Drama, Cannon and Lake push him: 48 hours before Thats What They All Say was supposed to be completed, Harlow says Drama told him that “the greats would do a new intro.” In the final hour, Harlow recorded “Rendezvous,” a bars-forward salvo that sets the tone for the level of candor found in the album’s best moments. Cannon, who thinks “all the greats are honest,” encouraged him to rap with increasing frankess—a key skill in the age of the vulnerable rapper. “Nobody really knows who you are,” Cannon remembers telling him. “We have to know who you are, whether we like it or not. Whatever comes out, that's going to be our truth.”

Thats What They All Say is a concise coming-of-age story that marks significant improvement from his previous work. He’s trying the right amount, and the humor feels natural rather than overdetermined. When he raps with Lil Baby, the star of hip-hop in 2020, he doesn’t sound out of place. But above all, the project is animated by Harlow’s belief that he can be “honest about anything.” That can mean sexual adventures like the story of the bottle girl, or mishaps like the digital-era tragedy on “Way Out”: “I’m in the mountains out west on the tour bus texting a chick I used to mess with/Got her in the bed doing video shoots, tried to send one to me but it didn’t go through: damn.”

But Harlow can also be reflective about his flaws (he’s been seeing a therapist recently). He recounts running into someone he used to sleep with at a party for over two-and-a-half minutes on “Funny Seeing You Here,” an X-ray of early-twenties awkwardness that culminates with Harlow’s admission that, as a romantic partner, he can fall short:

You used to say her man was trash and tell me about the way he’d act

I would shake my head until I realized I’m the same as that

Now I wonder do she tell her man that I’m a trash dude

And would he shake his head until he realized that he was trash too?

On the album’s outro, “Baxter Avenue,” he stops pondering the vicissitudes of casual humping and turns his attention to race and his mixed crew. “Always wondered to myself if I could really be the leader to a group of brown-skinned boys when I’m not brown-skinned,” he raps before clocking the differences in their upbringings. Sounding genuinely unsure, he raps about wanting to share his success and wealth, and wonders what it would look like to do that fairly. He says it’s the kind of song that will be “tough to sit in a room and have other people hear.” According to Cannon, that’s exactly the sort of honesty he pushed Harlow toward.

Watch Now:

Jack Harlow Goes Undercover on Twitter, Instagram and Wikipedia

The song will start a conversation, something Harlow relishes. On the day he released the album artwork, the invite-only, audio-led social media app Clubhouse, which has become more and more popular as a gathering place for music industry real talk, hosted a vigorous debate about it. “I didn't tune in for a second,” Harlow says. “But a lot of people I’m close to did. There's no way we could have dressed that cover up, race-wise, without causing a discussion. If they had been all white, it would have been ‘Why are you whitewashing?’ If it had been all Black, it’s like, ‘Where’s the white people?’” Harlow thinks the cover reflects the city and scene he comes from. “If you come to our parties or the kickbacks we have with 20 people, it looks like [the cover].”

Lake chalks the conversation up to “everybody's in the house and has nothing but time.” Though he acknowledges that Harlow’s trio of label execs don’t always agree on his artwork choices, he says the critics “thought about [the artwork] in way more detail than Jack did. People that don't know Jack would maybe question it, but if you know him, that's him, 110%. He's a white artist in a Black genre, and he's attracted to women of all races, colors, creeds, everything.”

Painting, “Buster”, by Jaime CorumJacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's / Pants, $820, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh

If you still take issue with his decision to cast a faceless Black woman as his love interest, the title is directed at you: Thats What They All Sayis meant to be an all-purpose retort. “It’s how I feel about any criticism or praise that I'm receiving,” Harlow says. “You really can't tell me anything I haven't heard before.”

Still, he does hear it. Though he’s stopped searching his name on Twitter, he hasn’t stopped reading his reviews and knows he’ll take in the latest round of press. (He doesn’t need the WiFi password to recall the 5.6 Pitchfork score for his 2019 release Confetti.) “I’m just too much of a narcissist,” he says. “I always catch ‘em.”

Blazer, $1,025, turtleneck, $750, and pants, $920, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Boots, $990, by Celine Homme by Hedi Slimane

At one point on Thats What They All Say, Harlow says that “all the rappers I love most at one point got called a fake.” Among others, he means Drake. From the occasional singing to the subject matter, Harlow is a student of the great Canadian, and he has Drake’s confidence too. Accusations of fakery never slowed Drake—he only became more powerful. Reflecting on Drake’s ability to overcome gives Harlow comfort. Like Drake, Harlow works hard at this. His seriousness is part of what makes it possible to root for him. That he’s more interested in reconnecting with the West Virginia bottle girl than trying to resolve the ills of the world with his music doesn’t hurt either.

Ross Scarano is a writer and editor from Pittsburgh.

PRODUCTION CREDITS: Styled by Metta Conchetta

Sent from my iPhone

#Instagram #jack harlow #jackman thomas harlow #jackman harlow #💚💚💚#Jack Harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #jack harlow x you #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow fanfic

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kicksaddictny · 3 months

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The Iconic Converse Weapon Makes a Triumphant Return During All-Star Weekend

Converse marks a significant milestone as it brings back the iconic Converse Weapon and its low-cut counterpart, the Weapon Ox, just in time for the NBA's All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. This revival follows a string of successful collaborations with fragment design, UNDEFEATED, and Kasina, further elevating the anticipation surrounding these classic silhouettes.

Originally introduced in 1986, the Converse Weapon swiftly became the footwear of choice for basketball luminaries of the late '80s and early '90s. Now, Converse reintroduces both the Weapon and Weapon Ox in their original material composition and design, catering to a new generation of enthusiasts. Boasting leather uppers, Star Chevron underlays, egret cup soles and outsoles, and the signature Y-bar characteristic of the Weapon, these models stay true to their heritage.

While the Weapon underwent a re-crafting in 2020 as part of Converse's CX line, featuring an updated CX foam midsole, it also received a reinterpretation by Rick Owens in 2021 as the TURBOWPN. Leading the charge for the revived Converse Weapon is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the esteemed All-NBA first team point guard and two-time All-Star. He headlines a campaign that pays homage to the original 1986 "Choose Your Weapon" ads, embodying the spirit of past basketball greats while propelling the silhouette into a new era.

The Converse Weapon returns in its classic colorways, including black and natural ivory, alongside vintage white, ash stone, and egret iterations. Meanwhile, the Weapon Ox makes its comeback in white and black, as well as vintage white and vintage cargo variants. Both silhouettes are set to hit shelves on February 8, available for purchase on converse.com and at select retailers, reigniting the fervor for these timeless icons.

#converse #kicksaddict

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moregraceful · 1 year

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read your miro/luka edm fic and then proceeded to think about it. deeply. in church. i'm feeling extremely haunted and i would love to know more about how you came up with THAT. my jaw kept dropping further and further until i could unhinge it and swallow my fist whole. at the end my heart was racing j was like ohhhh. i don't even follow the dallas stars. i only barely know luka doncic from his allstars video where he sinks a half court shot and then proceeds to look incredibly in love with the dude trying to hold him back. also from his spanish interviews. have they interacted at all. where did you pull this from. why them out of all the people. follow up question how do i inject this in my veins.

Okay, first of all anon I am in love with you for thinking so deeply about this story. In 2020 I suffered extreme lockdown brain damage and got extremely into European EDM and when I saw that tweet for the first time, it stuck with me. I've been pondering that story since LITERALLY the NHL/NBA bubble playoffs. I could say so much more about it.

Second of all, strap in. I lost my mind reading this ask and blacked out while writing this primer up. I had to write this in google docs bc I was afraid my browser would crash and it's literally 1.3k. I also don’t 100% understand how European basketball leagues work, so some of Luka’s origin story might be wrong or inelegantly phrased. If any European basketball fans want to chime in and correct me, please do.

MIRO AND LUKA: ROOKIE RESPECT, A PRIMER

The year is 2017. The Dallas Stars have the third overall pick in the NHL draft. Miro Heiskanen, a mild-mannered and mature but intense Finnish defensemen, is considered one of the top European prospects and the top European defenseman in the entire draft. He goes 3OA to the Stars, who are beginning to build up what the media goes on to call their Finnish mafia (due to the amount of Finns on team) and also needed a defenseman. Miro signs a three year entry level contract shortly after the draft and is loaned to his home team in Liiga (Finnish hockey league), HIFK, for the season. He is 18 years old.

Meanwhile, Luka Dončić, who has been in the Spanish basketball trenches since he was 13, is tearing Liga ACB (the top basketball division in Spain) and EuroLeague (the top European basketball league) as an eighteen year old with Real Madrid in the 2017-2018 season. He guides Real Madrid to the EuroLeague finals and wins EuroLeague MVP. At the end of the season, he is drafted by the Atlanta Hawks third overall. He is immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for draft rights to Trae Young and a future 1rd pick. The Mavs wanted him, but drafted later in the 2018 draft and knew they didn’t have a chance in hell of getting him. So they traded for him. He is, at the time, tall, still a little gangly, and often emotional.

In 2018, Luka and Miro begin their rookie seasons in Dallas. They are both very, very good. Miro and the Stars make the playoffs in Miro’s first season. Luka and the Mavs do not, but Luka smashes the shit out of several rookie scoring records and is voted Rookie of the Year. Miro goes to the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose, the sole representative for the Stars. Luka narrowly misses being selected for the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, but finishes second in fan voting after LeBron James. Miro finishes fourth in voting for the Calder in 2018 (the NHL’s rookie of the year award) and they both, of course, make the All-Rookie Teams in their respective leagues.

If the parallel careers in their first gd season do not make you crazy, these tweets, in which they are wearing each other jerseys, will.

“Luka showing some love to @/HeiskanenMiro” can you let me live? Please?

Critical to this is that these are not even the jerseys that they swapped. Oh yes: they exchanged jerseys their rookie year. The Stars and the Mavs share an arena and their PR teams are no fools; when your city has two of the top rookies in their leagues, you lean the fuck in. They exchanged jerseys while Miro looks the most awkward he has ever looked in his life and Luka looks like a normal human being. And then their team makes them do photoshoots in entirely different jerseys. Rookie. Respect.

And that’s just their first season! The Stars lose in the second round of the playoffs, but they come tearing back the next season in 2019-2020. The Mavs do too. In their respective league playoff bubbles (NBA in Walt Disney World, Florida, the Stars in Edmonton, Alberta), they both break MORE scoring records as young phenoms. The Mavs ultimately do not make it out of the first round and the Stars lose in their final round, but there’s no doubt that the city has something special.

Meanwhile, COVID. The 2020-2021 NHL season is a fucking nightmare for a lot of teams, particularly the Stars, who got hit with COVID multiple times, and ultimately fail to make the playoffs. I frankly was only watching games during the NBA 2020-2021 season and not following narratives, so I don’t know if the Mavs were dealing with COVID to the extent the Stars were. The Mavs did make the playoffs, but lose again in the first round.

Summer of 2021. Miro is at the end of his ELC in the NHL. Luka is eligible for a rookie extension in the NBA. (I understand NBA contracts even less than I understand NHL contracts, so ask someone else about this details of this.) Both the Mavs and the Stars are prepared to break the fucking bank for these players. Guess what Luka and Miro do.

Miro signs an eight year contract with the Stars in July 2021.

Luka signs a five year contract with the Mavs in August 2021.

BRO THEY’RE SPENDING THE NEXT HALF-DECADE IN THE SAME ARENA. THEY’RE SPENDING THE NEXT HALF-DECADE IN DALLAS TOGETHER. When I say I lost my mind….!!!

In 2021-2022, the Stars come back from their COVID hell season and make the playoffs again, but lose in the first round. The Mavs lose in the Western Conference Finals, but hell, the fact that they made it to the WCF? Crucial. To be honest I was not watching much basketball OR hockey that season, so that whole season for both teams is kind of my lost year. (Well. Lost years for all teams in all leagues. I watched the NHL and NBA playoffs because the Dubs are my hometown team and I love the Avs, and this paid off well for me, but during regular season, I think I watched like three NHL games and two NBA games all season.) I don’t really know how the narrative has developed since then. I don’t know if the parallels in their careers have continued to be crazy-making.

I do know that Luka is having an insane year this season; every time I get notification from theScore, I go, how the fuck…?? And a quick glance at hockey-reference tells me that in 34 games this season, so far Miro has matched last year’s goals and is well on his way to making up the difference in assists. Miro had a rough year last year because he had mono and a hand injury, but he seems well-poised to come back strong this year. I don’t know what Luka is doing, but he is insane.

And I mean, that’s the story so far: parallel careers, parallel stories. Both 3OA, both rookie phenoms, both of them being cornerstone pieces of their franchises going forward into the future while still nascent in their careers, and just very, very good players. It’s early in their careers in the States, we have to remember that, and I am sure things could (and maybe have! Again I have been a little checked out of both sports and particularly both teams the past couple years) continue to develop and evolve in bonkers ways. How long will they stay in Dallas? How long will their careers last? How long will their lives intersect by the simple fact of a city and an arena? It makes me wild to think about. Cross-sports romances are so undervalued in sports rpf fandoms and when the narrative hits just right? Let’s fucking go.

There are exactly two fics on AO3 under their tag, both of them by the Stars RPF GOAT Nadler, and one podfic of Nadler’s work. They are both excellent fics and the podfic is quite good as well. I think about wunderkinder all the time and wish desperately for a follow up, and the PWP is just straight up good shit. And maybe someday I’m going to have a mental breakdown and finish the fake dating/mutual pining fic I started last year with them, but in the meantime, we have their IRL narrative. Fated by sports, love in the face of it all. When the narrative is right? It is so right.

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk!!!!

#they also both own pomeranians which is. SO good for me personally #superstars with fluffy purse dogs? you love to see it #miro owns two pomeranians named max and leo and luka's pomeranian is named hugo (luka has two other normal sized dogs)#i didn't put it in the post bc it doesn't have to do with their stories but it is VERY important to me #also this primer does not get into their personalities as i don't feel qualified to speak on luka's personality however i do feel that #there is a lot you can do with a large emotional european basketball player and a quiet and intense european hockey player in america #the differences in how the two leagues encourage/discourage personalities for their superstars would be juicy to dig into #this took two hours to write lol i hope someone reads this #ok i gotta get going with my day!! love you anon thank you for asking!!!#putting this under:#unfortunate birdcage fanfictions #but it's not fanfic. it's real. it's all real. every word.#ROOKIE RESPECT. LOVE COMMA LUKA

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izzykish · 5 months

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Kevin Durant is a professional basketball player known for his scoring ability and versatility. As of my last knowledge update in January 2022, he played for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA.

Kevin Durant is a professional basketball player born on September 29, 1988, in Washington, D.C. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the NBA. Durant played college basketball at the University of Texas for one season before declaring for the 2007 NBA Draft.

He was selected as the second overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics (later relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder). Durant played for the Thunder from 2007 to 2016, earning multiple scoring titles and MVP awards.

In 2016, Durant joined the Golden State Warriors, where he won two NBA championships (2017, 2018) and earned NBA Finals MVP both times. In 2019, Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets, but he missed the entire 2019-2020 season due to an Achilles injury. He returned to the court in the 2020-2021 season with the Nets.

Durant is known for his scoring ability, versatility, and basketball IQ. He has been selected to numerous NBA All-Star Games and has won various awards throughout his career. Keep in mind that specific statistics and achievements may have changed since my last update in January 2022.

#emtech #first blog

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0613magazine · 8 months

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040723 Billboard

BTS’ SUGA Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged

Back under his solo moniker, SUGA is feeling two decades of songwriting and producing connect universally: "We're finally getting recognized as musicians."

Most famously known as SUGA from BTS — but also by the solo moniker Agust D, as well as birth name Min Yoongi — the artist who works as a rapper, singer, producer, dancer, fashion muse and NBA ambassador wants to remind listeners that, above all, he is a human.

Today, April 7, marks the return of Agust D, the name SUGA uses when releasing solo projects away from BTS, with the new single “People Pt.2” featuring K-pop superstar IU. Not only does it mark the duo’s latest collaboration after teaming for the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart “eight” from May 2020, it also acts as an extension from “People,” a fan-favorite cut from Agust D’s D-2 mixtape released that same month. While the original “People” saw SUGA reflecting on himself and meditating on how others judge and change, Part 2 longs for connection with others.

As multifaceted as SUGA’s world is, loneliness is a permanent source of inspiration and intrigue for the 30-year-old. Hours before “People Pt.2” drops worldwide, his call with Billboard occurs alongside multiple international teams who work around the clock for SUGA and BIGHIT MUSIC artists. Some are beside him physically, others via Zoom connection virtually — but loneliness remains a muse for the star, assisting him in searching within and speaking to listeners in larger, universal ways.

Since its debut, BTS’ musical appeal has reached globally largely through the septet’s extended metaphors and imagery, translating into accessible storytelling alongside boundary-pushing compositions and choreography. SUGA’s range of material is vast, after producing on essentially every BTS album, not to mention scoring high-profile collaborations with everyone from Halsey and Juice WRLD to Epik High and Japan’s ØMI. But now, he��s emphasizing the topics that move him personally — and ensuring he’s properly heard.

Despite an already packed spring and summer with album promo, his solo world tour, ambassadorship duties and a YouTube series, SUGA cheekily closes out our chat (“Yeah, it’s f–king busy,” he says with a wink) since he has no time to waste. Read on as he narrows in on the release of “People Pt.2” and all that’s led up to this reflective pop/hip-hop collaboration.

“People Pt.2” (featuring IU) of course follows up “People” from the D-2 mixtape. What was important about continuing this story with IU?

This is a story that you’ll personally love: The title wasn’t originally “People Pt.2.” Actually, “People” from D-2 is personally my favorite song — and we actually worked on “People Pt.2” three years ago. When I was releasing my pictorial [Photo-Folio Wholly or Whole Me] photo shoot, the company actually revealed the guide [demo] version and gave a glimpse of it to the public. But anyway, it was already finished when we were working on D-2 so I was thinking, “Oh, I should release this, I should release this.” But we had to get on with “Butter” and “Dynamite” so we didn’t get the chance.

Originally, the title was “Sara (사라),” without the “M (ㅁ)” consonant in Korean — because that’s, like, one consonant less than the word “saram (사람),” which is Korean for “people.” Depending on whichever consonant you put at the end of the word sara (사라), it can become “saram (사람)” and “people,” or it can become “sarang 사랑,” or “love” in Korean. So, it’s the listener’s choice to put which consonant you want at the end of “sara” (사라). But I had my friend listen to this son and people heard it as “sal-ah (살아)” which kind of means “live” in Korean and I was like, “This is not going to work.” So, we finalized the title to be “People” in the end.

And some people call me August D, some people call me Ah-gust D, but I’m actually Agust D. So, you know, people take my name differently and we had to sync the person SUGA and Agust D. This is a song that kind of matches that sync. We need that bridge and sync between my mixtape and this official solo album. In order to put that sync together, I had to make this a very pop song. We didn’t try to make the music video that intense — and, in that sense, IU really played an important role in doing that. I also think this is a genre that I can do best, this pop-focused song.

In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside.

This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a “Part 3” later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, “Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.”

This is kind of a difficult topic, because I started making music and writing lyrics [when] I was 11 or 12 years old. I’ve been making music for all these years, and now I’m 30. It wasn’t easy writing “People Pt.2,” and the album overall, but people really don’t know the whole process of that. Even though I’d been making music more than half of my life — and I’m just saying this because you understand this, Jeff — when we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person.

So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process. It started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process. I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible, but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version. The documentary and “People Pt.2” try to reveal the natural side of the human Min Yoongi. I just wanted to show that I am this humane person. I am just a human.

I released Agust D when I was still very young, so, even as I listen to it now, it kind of sounds immature — if you listen to the tone, the rap itself wasn’t very organized, I wanted to do a lot of things at that time. It just kind of keeps going very tightly and quickly. But after doing so much various and diverse music, I think that people love the songs that have been released more recently than the songs that were released back then. So, I kind of dare say that people are starting to recognize and acknowledge these songs now. Since the musician actually passed away, I think it was the family who decided to acknowledge it.

Same thing with [clearing] “Born Sinner” — and I don’t know what the path was for the musician themselves, but it was clear. And I take it as that I, as BTS, and Min Yoongi, and SUGA, and Agust D, was acknowledged as a musician. I’m really not thinking that broader consumers or audiences will accept it, because it’s not really popular music. Still, I would dare assume that it’s getting cleared because we’re finally getting recognized as musicians.

Source: Billboard

#2023 #bts #suga #agust d #billboard

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cant-get-no-worse · 7 months

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I will be this annoying person that'll go "actually in my days". This whole Hazard retirement has my TL flooded with videos and I'm like what? Where have the standards gone? Same with Messi and CR7 rivalry tbh their numbers used to be around 30/40/50 goals in La Liga and we found that NORMAL. Insane. Now you got golden boy that don't even last four years or "best players itw 🔥🔥" that ghost 1/3 of their games. Are we insane, old or has it actually got worse? Honestly can't tell. Shame.

I think it's a mixture of good ol' nostalgia, but also football evolving. The 2010's produced some genuinely maddeningly good ballers - Messi and CR7 not even included, you could take Neymar and Hazard prime and they'd wash all current players, no exception. But you could say that from every other decade. The 2020's will also have their stars, if you give them time to build their legends.

Doesn't mean the standards have fallen, just means football has changed, what the masses give attention to (i.e. : stats, like the NBA) as well, not to mention the schedules tightening, the constant internet presence of players and their images/communications, players being hyped much younger than before (i.e : Yamal and co)... it's just a brand new generation. Not necessarily better or worse. Just a new way of apprehending football.

#while i tried to make this answer neutral #i'll add that I do think that this stat obsession/technologies (ultra VAR) and others are making the sport worse lol #anon ask

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female-buckets · 2 years

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May 20, 2022, 9:55 AM PDT

By Dave Zirin, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

Where are the male athletes standing up for WNBA superstar Brittney Griner? Between Russia’s war on Ukraine and the near-complete breakdown of diplomatic ties between the United States and Russia, Griner has become a Russian pawn. And despite WNBA players showing solidarity with male athletes as they protested racist police violence, as the women’s league works to raise awareness for Griner’s plight, their male counterparts and the male-dominated sports media have been disturbingly quiet.

Griner appeared in a Russian court May 13, but in a development that seemed as predictable as the setting sun, her pretrial detention was extended another month. The U.S. and Russia exchanged prisoners late last month, and experts say Russia still desires the release of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, “the Merchant of Death,” who’s serving a 25-year sentence in the United States. Russia is mercilessly allowing Griner to twist in the wind as she awaits a fate that could include a 10-year prison sentence. It is a dire situation, and the WNBA is fighting to get Griner home. The league’s fight follows two months of silence requested by the U.S. State Department and Griner’s wife, Cherelle, as the U.S. attempted to negotiate with Russia. But now that the State Department has declared that Griner has been “wrongfully detained,” the players are speaking out.

Some of the most prominent athletes in the league — for example, Seattle Storm superstar Breanna Stewart — are appearing on news programs, tweeting and speaking to reporters after games about Griner's plight. They are doing exactly what they should be doing: raising the temperature on the State Department and demanding that it use whatever back-channel options still remain with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime to “bring Brittney home.” In addition, the WNBA has a decal in tribute to Griner on every court and is donating to Griner’s charitable foundation.

But it looks like the men’s league and most sports media outlets cannot be bothered with what ought to be the biggest story in the sports world. As for sports media outlets, it’s hard not to conclude that just as they give women’s sports short shrift in their programming — less coverage, less debate, fewer highlights — so, too, have they made Griner’s story an afterthought. Do we doubt for a single, solitary second that if Tom Brady were in a Russian prison at such a perilous time that it wouldn’t be a daily story? Can anybody argue that there wouldn’t be a graphic on the screen keeping track of how many days he’s been in detention and separated from his family on the other side of the world?

While the inaction of mainstream sports media has been drearily predictable, the silence from male athletes has been most disheartening. The Phoenix Suns, who’ve been eliminated from the NBA playoffs were, by my count, the lone exception. Coach Monty Williams spoke out. Point guard Chris Paul showed up to a playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks ready to discuss Griner.

“This isn’t just an NBA or WNBA thing,” Paul said. “I think everybody wants her home. She’s a huge part of the community here. We all support her and just want to try to get her home as soon as possible. It was all in support of BG. We miss her.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday he’s working with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to win Griner’s release and that the NBA’s previous silence was advised by experts. But seemingly that’s no longer the advice, and, still, the NBA’s stars have been mostly silent.

Between 2012 and 2020 when male athletes spoke out against racist police violence in unprecedented numbers, WNBA players did more than offer support and solidarity: They were leaders. Colin Kaepernick protested racial injustice during the playing of the national anthem in August 2016, but WNBA players had protested racial injustice earlier that summer. When the sports world was reeling from the pandemic and the police murder of George Floyd, the women of the WNBA campaigned hard for the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who at the time was running against then-WNBA franchise owner and Donald Trump supporter Kelly Loeffler to represent Georgia in the Senate. It is not an exaggeration to say those WNBA activists played a role in tipping the entire balance of power by helping Democrats win a majority in the U.S. Senate.

Over the last few years, male athletes have given props to the athletes of the WNBA and reminded the public that the leadership of those women was indispensable. But true solidarity is a two-way street. Every male athlete who benefited from and praised the WNBA players’ leadership and courage should be showing leadership themselves and speaking up for Griner. Their seemingly blithe disregard is the ultimate disrespect.

There’s still time for the men in the sports world to change course, but if they don’t use their galactic platforms to amplify Griner’s case, they will be making a terrible choice. They may find themselves needing allies in the years ahead and wondering why the typically outspoken activists in the WNBA community are nowhere to be found.

#Every word of this is correct. Your NBA and NFL and NHL and MLB and Formula 1 favs are all trash....#The Phoenix Suns and USA Basketball guys are speaking up but they're literally BG's teammates and coworkers #outside of Phoenix and USAB... male athletes couldn't care less #Women show up for men. But men never show up for women.#when men face state violence... women organize massive movements to advocate for and protect them #when women face state violence... men are nowhere to be found #and we're not talking about poor working class men here... we're talking about men with 100+ million dollar fortunes #there's a lot they could be doing. and they're doing nothing #it's the most predictable least surprising male reaction #phoenix mercury #wnba #brittney griner

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getbettermedia · 11 months

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Movie : "AIR" (2023)

Directed by Ben Affleck

Written by Alex Convery

Produced and distributed (USA) by Amazon Studios

By now, you all understood I particularly enjoy films based on true events. Therefore, I had to watch Air, an American biographical sports drama film directed by Ben Affleck which tells the origin of the Nike basketball shoeline Air Jordan. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video and stars Matt Damon, which plays Nike's basketball talent scout Sonny Vaccaro, Ben Affleck which plays his relectant boss and friend and Viola Davis, who plays the role of Michael Jordan's charismatic mother, Deloris. The film takes place in Oregon and North Carolina in 1984.

At that time, Michael Jordan just got drafted to the NBA but nobody really believes that he is going to achieve greatness, except his mother, Deloris, and Sonny. At that time, Nike doesn't have any basketball player representing the brand and is making less money than Adidas and Converse, two brands that also want to sign Michael. All three have the same offer : 250 000 dollars a year. If Adidas and Converse have no problem with that amount, it is not an easy decision for Nike. The previous year has been a though one for them and they can't risk to bet all their annual budget on one player that nobody really heard about, a rookie.

Sonny then put all the effort to convince his board, but more especially Michael's mother, who is very protective and aware of the marketing system. She doesn't want brands to make money on her son's back and knows very well that those 250 000 dollars a year will disappear if Michael happens to get injured at training and can't play anymore.

Air is not about Michael Jordan's career, it is about Sonny's struggle to convince people about Micheal's greatness and the need for Nike to create a shoeline around him, Air Jordan, that he will wear during the NBA games. It is also very instructing as to how brand deals were orchastred in the 1980's and which arguments were used. When the Air Jordan was released in 1984, Nike's executives expected to make around 3 millions dollars, but ended up making a 55 millions dollars in sells and retails. Thanks to the Jordan shoeline, Nike made 150 millions dollars in total (2020).

The film received great critics and was highly promoted by Amazon, who spent 40 to 50 millions dollars promoting it. While researching infos about Air, I found out about a documentary telling the story of the Air Jordan's phenomenon, which could interest you if you enjoyed Air : "One man and his Shoes" by Yemi Bamiro.

Trailer : AIR - Official Trailer | Amazon Studios - YouTube

Bulls rookie Michael Jordan, rocking the first edition of Nike’s Air Jordans, calls for the ball during a 1984 game against the 76ers.

Sources :

Bulls rookie Michael Jordan, rocking the first... - SI Photo Blog (tumblr.com)

Air review – Ben Affleck and Matt Damon drop the ball in Michael Jordan shoe drama | Film | The Guardian

How many pairs of jordans have been sold ever? – TipsFolder.com

Air Jordan 4: How The Sneaker Became a Cultural Phenomenon | Complex

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lboogie1906 · 1 year

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Westley Sissel Unseld (born March 14, 1946 - June 2, 2020) is a former basketball player. He spent his entire NBA career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He starred for the Seneca High School team that won Kentucky state championships in 1963 and 1964. At the University of Louisville in 1965, he played center for the school's freshman team, averaging 35.8 points and 23.6 rebounds over 14 games. He lettered for Louisville as a sophomore, junior, and senior, scored 1,686 points (20.6 average), and grabbed 1,551 rebounds (18.9 average) over 82 games. He led the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding all three years. He earned NCAA All-American honors in 1967 and 1968 and led Louisville to a 60–22 record during his collegiate career, making trips to the NIT tournament in 1966 and the NCAA tournament in 1967 and 1968. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/CpxJwKhr58X/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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musicmaniahub · 11 months

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Victor Wembanyama: Biography, Wikipedia, Age, Family, Networth, Career, College, Congo

Victor Wembanyama Biography Victor Wembanyama is a French professional basketball player currently playing for Metropolitans 92 in the LNB Pro A. Born on January 4, 2004, in France, Wembanyama stands tall at 2.20 meters (7 feet 3 inches) and excels as a power forward. Considered one of the most promising European players of his generation, he is widely anticipated to be the number one overall selection in the NBA draft in 2023. Victor Wembanyama Early life and youth career Wembanyama was born in Le Chesnay, France, and began his athletic journey as a goalkeeper for a football team before transitioning to judo. Guided by his mother, a former basketball player, Wembanyama developed his basketball skills from a young age. He started at his hometown club, Entente Le Chesnay Versailles, and later joined the youth program of Nanterre 92 at the age of 10. Despite receiving offers from prominent clubs such as FC Barcelona and ASVEL, his parents decided to stay with Nanterre. Wembanyama's impressive performance in the Minicopa del Rey tournament, where he secured third place with his team, showcased his talent with 16 points and 15 rebounds in a crucial game. Victor Wembanyama Professional career Wembanyama joined Espoirs Nanterre for the 2019-20 season to compete in the French under-21 league, LNB Espoirs. In the Kaunas Tournament, a qualifier for the Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT), he set a new ANGT record with nine blocks, along with 22 points and 15 rebounds in a victory over Zaragoza's under-18 squad. He led the tournament in blocks and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. With consistent contributions, he averaged 15.8 points, 12 rebounds, 2.8 steals, and six blocks per game. Wembanyama made his debut with Espoirs Nanterre in September 2020, showcasing his skills with an impressive performance of 22 points, 18 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists against Espoirs JL Bourg. He also played for Centre Fédéral, an amateur squad associated with INSEP, where he continued to impress with his abilities. In October 2019, Wembanyama made his professional debut for Nanterre 92 in the EuroCup. He made his first appearance in the LNB Pro A in September 2020, contributing to the team's victories. He was honored as the best young player in the Pro A division during the 2020-21 season. Afterward, he made the decision to join ASVEL, where he displayed his talents in the Pro A and the EuroLeague. Presently, Wembanyama has signed a contract with Metropolitans 92 in the Pro A. Victor Wembanyama National team career Wembanyama has represented France in various international competitions. In the 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship, he played a crucial role in France's success, contributing 12 points, 21 rebounds, and eight blocks in the quarterfinals. He was instrumental in securing the silver medal for France, earning a spot on the all-tournament team. He also participated in the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup in 2021, helping France win the silver medal and receiving recognition as an all-tournament team member. Victor Wembanyama Personal life Basketball runs in Wembanyama's family, with his mother being a former player and his father having competed in long jump. His older sister, Eve, is a professional basketball player who won a gold medal with France in the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship in 2017. Victor Wembanyama's heritage traces back to the Democratic Republic of Congo through his father's side. Overall, Victor Wembanyama's impressive skills, towering height, and remarkable performances have established him as a rising star in the world of basketball, garnering attention and anticipation for his future achievements. Read the full article

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worldwide-blackfolk · 1 year

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Lanny Smith wants someone to challenge sportswear giants like Nike, Adidas and Reebok — so much that he’s trying to do it himself.

Smith, 38, is the founder and CEO of Actively Black, the sportswear company he launched in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s death. At the time, plenty of big companies were issuing statements condemning racism while pledging to promote diversity and invest in Black communities.

The promises rang somewhat hollow for Smith, a former University of Houston basketball star who saw the $170 billion industry as reliant on the Black community’s culture, influence and consumer dollars. Rather than lobbying for change within multibillion-dollar giants, Smith wanted to try beating them at their own game.

“A lot of these sports apparel brands have profited off of Black talent,” Smith tells CNBC Make It, referring to numerous endorsement deals with superstar Black athletes. ”[The companies] have profited off of the consumerism from the Black community. And I felt like they hadn’t adequately reinvested back into the Black community.”

Today, Actively Black is a multimillion-dollar brand, reportedly valued at $30 million in 2021. It brought in $5.6 million in revenue last year while promoting a rotating cast of Black designers and reinvesting 10% of sales into organizations supporting social justice, mental health and physical health in U.S. Black communities.

The company recently collaborated with Disney on “Black Panther”-themed clothing, and made Nigeria’s official uniforms at the 2022 Winter Olympics. NBA star Stephen Curry was spotted wearing an Actively Black hoodie during a press conference last year, shortly after former President Barack Obama sported a watch the brand collaborated on.

But it’s all a drop in the bucket, compared to the billions of dollars brought in each year by the likes of Nike and Adidas — meaning Smith’s commitment to making a lasting impact on the Black community is a work in progress.

“I took the mindset that it was time for us to stop asking for a seat at the table. And we were going to build our own table,” Smith says.

‘We can have a real impact’

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fun88nexttop · 1 year

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Nha cai Fun88 hang dau chau A

Fun88 là trang giải trí trực tuyến hàng đầu, cung cấp các dịch vụ cá cược với sự tín nhiệm lớn từ phía người chơi Việt Nam. Sở dĩ nhà cái thành công trong việc tạo được lòng tin đối với người chơi trên toàn thế giới. Lý do là vì Fun88 mang tới những chất lượng sản phẩm cá cược và trải nghiệm cực kỳ đẳng cấp. Để hiểu sâu và rõ hơn về nhà cái này, bạn hãy tìm hiểu nội dung bài viết phân tích về Fun88.

Hiện nay, link vào Fun88 tại Fun88next.top được đánh giá là địa chỉ truy cập mới nhất và hoạt động vô cùng ổn định. Người chơi hoàn toàn dễ dàng truy cập link vào nhà cái nhanh nhất trên từng thiết bị như sau:

Fun88next.top- Link vào Fun88 Mobile mới nhất

Truy cập bằng điện thoại iOS: Bạn mở Safari rồi truy cập link vào Fun88next.top -> Sau đó bạn chọn biểu tượng mũi tên hướng lên trên ở dưới giao diện màn hình rồi tiếp Thêm vào Màn hình chính -> Chọn Thêm và ứng dụng sẽ hiển thị trên màn hình chính.

Truy cập bằng điện thoại Android: Bạn mở trình duyệt Chrome rồi link vào Fun88next.top. Sau đó bạn chọn biểu tượng 3 chấm thẳng hàng nhau nằm ở góc phải màn hình -> Chọn Thêm vào màn hình chính -> Chọn Thêm -> Ứng dụng (hiển thị tại màn hình chính).

Truy cập bằng điện thoại PC: Thành viên đánh dấu trang Fun88next trên trình duyệt web là xong.

Những thông tin hữu ích về Fun88

Những thông tin quan trọng về Fun88 dưới đây sẽ giúp bạn có được những nhìn nhận đúng đắn nhất về nguồn gốc và quá trình phát triển của nhà cái đến nay.

Fun88 là gì?

Fun88 là trang giải trí trực tuyến, cá cược ăn tiền online. Nói theo cách khác thì tổ chức đánh bạc được hoạt động theo tên gọi là “Nhà cái trực tuyến”.

Fun88 là gì?

Thành viên khi tham gia vào Fun88 sẽ được chơi những game chơi hấp dẫn mà nhà cái mang lại. Khi chiến thắng ở bất cứ game chơi nào, bạn đều có thể rút số tiền thắng cược về ngân hàng cho mình. Đây chính là cách đầu tư thông qua những trò chơi cá cược mà FUN88 cung cấp.

Cá cược tại Fun88 có hợp pháp

Fun88 là sân chơi cá cược đã nhận giấy phép hoạt động kinh doanh hợp pháp bởi Malta, Curacao, Philippines. Bản giấy phép số 38898 giúp nhà cái chính thức trở thành sân chơi hoạt động theo đúng pháp luật. Người chơi chỉ cần trên 18 tuổi khi tham gia vào Fun88 sẽ được đầu tư cá cược 1 cách hợp pháp và minh bạch.

Chơi cá cược tại Fun88 là hợp pháp

Bên cạnh đó trang web của nhà cái Fun88 còn được công nhận là website an toàn bởi tổ chức GEOTRUST. Vì thế người chơi tại đây sẽ không cần lo lắng về vấn đề bị rò rỉ thông tin cá nhân ra bên ngoài. Bởi lẽ vấn đề này chắc chắn sẽ không và mãi mãi không bao giờ xảy ra.

Các thương vụ tài trợ của Fun88

Trong quá trình phát triển hệ thống cá cược của mình, Fun88 đã thành công trong các thương vụ hợp pháp giúp nhà cái khẳng định được tiềm năng kinh tế. Đó chính là các thương vụ như:

Fun88 trở thành đối tác tài trợ chính cho nhiều đội bóng lớn

Năm 2012: Trở thành đối tác của câu lạc bộ bóng đá Tottenham Hotspur.

Năm 2015: Fun88 chính thức tài trợ áo thi đấu cho câu lạc bộ Burnley.

Năm 2017-2020: Fun88 trở thành đối tác cho câu lạc bộ Newcastle United.

Các thương vụ đại sứ thương hiệu khá thành công mà nhà cái có được như: Cựu cầu thủ Robbie Fowler của clb Liverpool, NBA Steve Nash – -Huyền thoại 4 bóng rổ 4 lần đạt danh hiệu All-Star MVP – Huyền thoại bóng rổ, Kobe Bryant.

Tình hình hiện nay của Fun88

Hiện nay Fun88 đang hoàn thành mục tiêu trở thành sân chơi cá cược số 1 tại Châu Á. Tại Việt Nam trong nhiều năm trở lại đây, sân chơi của họ luôn nằm trong top 10 nhà cái uy tín và chất lượng nhất. Qua đó thương hiệu của Fun88 luôn nhận được những đánh giá tích cực từ phía người chơi.

Với tốc độ phát triển của nhà cái như hiện tại, chúng ta hoàn toàn tin tưởng họ sẽ hoàn thành mục tiêu của mình. Vì thế lời khuyên cho những anh em đang chơi cá cược tại Fun88 là hãy là 1 fan trung thành của nhà cái. Chắc chắn bạn sẽ chỉ nhận được từ Fun88 chứ không thể mất đi những gì mà mình đang có.

Kho trò chơi hấp dẫn không thể bỏ qua tại Fun88

Khi khám phá thế giới của Fun88, chúng ta không thể bỏ qua kho sản phẩm cá cược mà nhà cái mang lại. Vậy đâu là những trò chơi hấp dẫn mà bạn nên chọn đầu tư khi đến với FUn8.

Kho trò chơi hấp dẫn không thể bỏ qua tại Fun88

Cá cược thể thao Fun88

Là sảnh chơi chủ lực giúp nhà cái nhanh chóng khẳng định vị thế, tên tuổi của mình trên thị trường. Hiện nay, Fun88 đã cung cấp 4 sảnh chơi Thể thao đẳng cấp và chuyên nghiệp, đó chính là:

Thể Thao IBC.

Thể Thao IM.

Thể Thao CDM.

Thể Thao Fun88.

Nguồn: https://fun88next.top/

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