Michael B. Jordan uses timeout at women's college basketball game to sign smoldering photo

Repost Ent dalamlima.blogspot.com

LOS ANGELES -- Snoop Dogg strolled in wearing a jacket with JuJu Watkins’ name and number on the front and back. Michael B. Jordan thrilled a USC woman fan with an impromptu autograph during a timeout.

The stars came out to Saturday’s showdown between Watkins and third-ranked Southern California and No. 6 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish won 74-61 to remain undefeated in the nationally televised game.

“Yeah, I saw them but I’m not so focused on that. I’m focused on winning with my team,” Fighting Irish star Hannah Hidalgo said. "I came into the game knowing this was going to be a big hoopla game, which I appreciate, and they were going to bring in all the celebrities and all the fans they needed.”

Actor Jason Sudeikis, who frequents college and WNBA games with one or more of his kids, sat courtside.

Jordan, who was People's “Sexiest Man Alive” in 2020, was shown on the videoboard, which then moved to a woman wearing a USC sweatshirt who held up a smoldering double-truck magazine image of the “Black Panther” actor.

The crowd roared, Jordan smiled and mimicked an autograph to indicate he'd sign the photo. With the resident DJ egging her on, the woman climbed out of the stands and met Jordan at his seat. He leaned in to ask her name above the din, signed the image and the two embraced as the Galen Center crowd of 7,894 cheered.

“For LA being the center of women’s basketball universe this weekend is really special,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Look at this building, the sellout, the star power that’s here.”

Among them were a who’s-who of women’s hoops past and present, including Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller, Candace Parker, Cameron Brink, Chiney Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby. Phoenix Suns player Oso Ighodaro was there, too.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

Adblock test (Why?)

Michael B. Jordan uses timeout at women's college basketball game to sign smoldering photo
Read More
November 24, 2024 at 01:41PM

Music Review: Kendrick Lamar's pride, anger and confidence drive 'GNX'

Repost Ent dalamlima.blogspot.com

With his surprise-dropped “GNX,” Kendrick Lamar roars from zero to 60 faster than a turbocharged ’87 Buick, faster than you can shout “Mustaaaaard.” And waaaaay faster than you can decode the dense biblical centerpiece “Reincarnated.”

Keeping the same energy of his landmark Pop Out concert five months ago, Lamar surrounds himself with up-and-coming Los Angeles artists — from AzChike to Peysoh — and raps over thumping New West Coast soundscapes shaped by his longtime producer Sounwave, along with Jack Antonoff and a garageful of other beat mechanics. He’s once again “possessed by a spirit,” sprinkling 2Pac, Biggie and Nas references throughout and maintaining a me-against-the-world antipathy that includes but extends well beyond a certain Canadian: “I just strangled me a GOAT” and “now it’s plural.”

Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Andrew Schulz, and even Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast can’t escape K-Dot’s chaotic crosshairs. Here’s hoping the chorus of “tv off” — an urgent call to “turn this TV off” repeated eight times — confuses the masses during his New Orleans halftime show in February.

This is Lamar leaning into the same creativity-juicing pride, self-righteous anger and supreme confidence that fueled the Grammy-nominated “Not Like Us” and won his Drake feud: “I kill ‘em all before I let ‘em kill my joy.” And yet, as with his first-ever hit “Swimming Pools (Drank),” even the most club-ready braggadocio songs — and there are plenty, including the massive “squabble up” and synth-stabbed Mustard production “hey now” — are slapped with a caution sticker. Introspection is baked into Lamar’s art. In “man at the garden,” he’s surveying his kingdom and glory and declares that while “I deserve it all,” “dangerously / nothing changed with me / still got pain in me.”

At age 37, Lamar remains in peak form (that breath control!) and stands alone in the rap world as a star who bridges generations without chasing trends. He generates his own gravity in the hip-hop universe. Pulling samples from the early ’80s — Debbie Deb, Luther Vandross, Whodini — he’s able to switch cadences and lyrical perspectives mid-song without ever losing the listener.

Album closer “gloria,” one of two tracks featuring former TDE labelmate SZA, is a glorious celebration of the pain and power of writing. In the vein of Common’s “I Used to Love H.E.R.” or Nas’ “I Gave You Power,” Lamar’s love story details a “complicated relationship” that listeners at first may think is about his longtime partner Whitney Alford, but turns out to be dedicated to his pen.

While carefully structured, “GNX” feels a bit more scattershot than Lamar’s traditionally concept-heavy studio albums. And there are hints that this collection of 12 songs is more of a “Part 1” or mixtape-type prelude to something more formal: The brief music video announcing the album features a snippet of a song that doesn’t even appear on “GNX.”

Whatever comes next, the Pulitzer Prize winner has written another thrilling chapter in what remains the most fascinating longform story in hip-hop: an ambitious and searingly talented poet from Compton working through his — and the world’s — contradictions on the biggest stage, forever discomforted by his crown. ___

For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews

Adblock test (Why?)

Music Review: Kendrick Lamar's pride, anger and confidence drive 'GNX'
Read More
November 24, 2024 at 12:26AM