MANILA, Philippines—It was a fitting ending for a riveting Chooks-to-Go MPBL Invitational late Thursday. After missing his first eight shots, Philip Manalang hit the basket that mattered most at the buzzer to lift Basilan Jumbo Plastic Medical Depot past the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards, 84-81, in overtime before a loud but ruly crowd at Mall […]
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††† (Crosses) – the electropop side-project of Deftones’ Chino Moreno – have returned with a breezy new cover song, putting their minimalistic, yet paradoxically energetic spin on Q Lazzarus’ 1988 track ‘Goodbye Horses’.
READ MORE: Deftones: every single album ranked and rated
It marks the first release from Crosses in just days shy of a year, with a Cause & Effect cover, ‘The Beginning Of The End’, landing last December 26. That track came as somewhat of comeback single – before it, Crosses’ last release was their eponymous 2014 album.
Fans of the project will also note that Moreno and co. have taken a crack at ‘Goodbye Horses’ once before, releasing a cover of the song – which famously appeared in the 1991 film The Silence Of The Lambs – shortly after their aforementioned debut hit shelves. The new version shines a little brighter, though, with a crisper mix and more refined, widescreen production.
Have a listen to Crosses’ new cover of ‘Goodbye Horses’, then check out the 2014 version below:
In a post to Crosses’ social media pages, the band confirmed that more new music was on the way, slating their next release for Spring 2022. It comes after the band signed to Warner Records earlier this week, with member Shaun Lopez (who also plays in post-hardcore outfit Far) sharing the news in an Instagram post.
At the time of writing, Crosses are yet to reveal exactly what their plans for the future entail, or whether ‘Goodbye Crosses’ will be a part of any bigger release.
Prior to the release of their Cause & Effect cover, Moreno said last October that he was keen to revisit the Crosses project. “The best part about it for me,” he said, “was [that] no-one knew we were making [the 2014 album]. We put it out as EPs first and we just kinda dropped out of nowhere.
“Making music without any expectations was super freeing and fun. I really love doing it. I like the guys that I work with in that so I’m gonna try to get some [previously unreleased material] finalised… finished up.”
Meanwhile, Deftones are gearing up for a huge year in 2022. In addition to their North American headline tour in support of 2020 album ‘Ohms’, the band will appear at festivals like Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park, Graspop Metal Meeting and Download.
In a five-star review of ‘Ohms’, NME’s James McMahon said: “While it’s not explicit at all – lyricist Chino Moreno has rarely signposted what on earth it is he’s singing about – you can feel both pain and catharsis all through Deftones’ ninth studio album. It’s heavy stuff, both sonically and in emotional clout.”
Back in November, Deftones launched their own cannabis collection. The band teamed up with California-based cannabis brand Golden Barn for the venture, saying the first product in the line – dubbed ‘The Passenger Box’ – had a “great scent” and “tastes just like it smells”.
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Rules concerning new generation athletics shoes will be tightened after the Paris 2024 Olympics, World Athletics said on Thursday. The move comes at a time where carbon and foam soles in athletics shoes appear to be improving performances. “A long-term sustainable and implementable solution for athletic shoes which balances innovation and fairness will be introduced […]
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February’s Beijing Winter Olympics look set to be the strictest mass sporting event since the coronavirus pandemic. AFP Sport looks at what measures athletes and others can expect to face in the “bubble” and how that compares to last summer’s virus-delayed Tokyo Games. What is the ‘closed loop’? China, where the virus emerged towards the […]
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MANILA, Philippines—Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna grounded Shania Mae Mendoza in the 11th and final round to crown herself queen of the 2021 Philippine National Women’s Chess Championship Thursday night at PACE building in Quezon City. The top-seeded Frayna outplayed the second-ranked Mendoza in the opening to snatch a pawn edge, seal the win and […]
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During the latest episode of his podcast The Bridge: 50 Years Of Hip Hop, Nas clarified the target behind the title of his eighth album, ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’
READ MORE: Nas on being a hip-hop legend: “I’m rapping the same way I did when I was on the block”
The topic came up during a conversation with Jeezy, who initially took offence to the record’s sentiment as it landed during his own rise to fame in the genre.
When the album came out back in December of 2006, Jeezy told Philadelphian radio station 100.3 The Beat: “I don’t think hip-hop is dead at all. It’s just a new day and time, it’s a new story, it’s a new movement. I’ma respect his craft; he ain’t gon’ respect mine?”
In the new podcast episode, Jeezy elaborated to Nas’ co-host, Miss Info: “When he did ‘Hip Hop [Is] Dead’, I thought he was talking about us. I wanted to be the front guy and say what I said. At the time, you gotta think, ‘I’m just getting on. I’m just seeing my first legitimate money. I’m just getting my shows going.’ And then you got The Don in New York saying, ‘Hip-hop is dead’!”
The album was controversial with a suite of rappers across the US and abroad – particularly for its title track, on which Nas rapped: “Everybody sound the same, commercialise the game / Reminiscing when it wasn’t all business” – but as Nas explained this week, his ire was aimed mostly at those hustling in North America’s east coast.
“I didn’t think that certain people would think I’m talking about them,” he said. “I’m talking about mainly New York! I’m talking to everybody, but I didn’t explain it thorough enough.”
Though Jeezy was initially miffed at Nas’ choice of concept for his 2006 record, the pair avoided beef when Nas and Jeezy convened over the phone, the former asserting to the latter that he meant no ill will.
Take a listen to the full episode below (the topic of ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ pops up around the 15-minute mark):
Today (December 24) saw Nas drop his 15th album, ‘Magic’, with less than half a day’s notice. The nine-track effort follows the August release of ‘King’s Disease II’, which itself arrived 12 months after 2020’s ‘King’s Disease’. Though it doesn’t continue that series in title, ‘Magic’ was minted in collaboration with Hit Boy, with whom he collaborated on both ‘King’s Disease’ albums.
Nas previously spoke about making a third album with Hit-Boy shortly after the release of ‘King’s Disease II’. At the time, he said the pair had no plans for another joint project but he would be up for working with him again if the idea was right. “I feel like the next thing I do, if I was to work with Hit-Boy on the next thing I do, I think that we might do something that is going to be magical,” the rapper said.
“I think what we have is magic. And I think the next thing we do would have to be the next page. And that, to me, excites me, that possibility […] I think if we do another one, I’m excited about that idea, but you know, we’re celebrating this one now.” He also called Hit-Boy his “Quincy Jones”.
In October, the duo teamed up once again for the single ‘Big Nas’, which was released as a preview for Nas’ MasterClass series on hip-hop storytelling.
The pair recently earned two nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards, receiving nods for Best Rap Album (for ‘King’s Disease II’) and Best Rap Song (‘Bath Salts’). Earlier this year, ‘King’s Disease’ won the trophy for Best Rap Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
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Jay-Z has declared his appreciation for the unique artistry of Frank Ocean, saying the R&B trailblazer has crafted “some of the best music that we’ve ever heard”.
READ MORE: For Fans Of: 5 artists fans of Frank Ocean can’t afford to ignore
The comment came during Jay’s appearance in a Twitter Space hosted by Alicia Keys earlier this week (the singer was there to promote her recent eighth album, ‘KEYS’), where he also compared Beyoncé to Michael Jackson, and said there was “not a chance in hell” that someone could take him on in a VERZUZ battle.
“You know, the success has to be like Frank Ocean,” Jay said in the Space. “Now obviously, you know, he’s super popular, but I wouldn’t say that he’s playing by what were the industry rules. He’s playing by his own set of rules – he’s making music that he wants to make, and it doesn’t fit a format.
“He doesn’t have songs on there that fit pop radio or that make it [to] a billion streams; he just has music that’s better than everyone else. And that’s what has to be the goal going forwards. And I don’t want to say [he’s] better than everyone in terms of competing with music, I’m just saying, like he has some of the best music that we’ve ever heard.”
Keys echoed the praise for Ocean, vouching that he “lives in his world and goes and creates what he loves”, and that it’s clear he’s not “playing by anybody else’s rules”.
Jay-Z speaks on Frank Ocean. pic.twitter.com/mR60SSU3yE
— Odd Future (@OddFuturePage) December 22, 2021
Ocean – who made waves with his neon green robot baby at this year’s Met Gala – has been eerily mum in recent months. His last release was a double A-side, comprising the tracks ‘Dear April’ and ‘Cayendo’, back in April 2020. His most recent full-length was ‘Blonde’, which landed all the way back in August of 2016.
Fans may not have to wait much longer for Ocean’s third studio album, though, as it was reported in September that he was “shopping” the record to various labels. While he reportedly signed a deal with Warner Chappell Music publishing in 2019, Ocean has remained independent since he left Def Jam following the release of ‘Endless’, a day before he self-released ‘Blonde’.
2021 also saw Ocean launch his “independent American luxury company”, Homer, which he opened up about during his first interview in two years back in August. That same month, Homer opened a flagship store in New York City.
Ocean’s last performance went down in 2017, when he headlined that year’s Flow Festival in Helsinki, Finland. His return to the stage has been locked in, though it won’t be for a long while: earlier in the year, he was confirmed to be headlining Coachella 2023.
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Brazilian football great Pele was discharged from hospital Thursday after two weeks of chemotherapy for a colon tumor, announced the Sao Paulo hospital that treated him. The 81-year-old ex-player known as “O Rei” (The King) “is stable and will continue the treatment of the colon tumor that was identified in September of this year,” the […]
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WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will face each other at some point as that is the fight people want to see, Todd DuBoef, the president of promoters Top Rank Boxing, said on Thursday. Fury, 33, had been set to face fellow Briton Joshua in Saudi Arabia in August in a unification title […]
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South Korea’s Olympic Committee (KSOC) has set a target of two gold medals and a top-15 finish at next year’s Beijing Winter Games, Yonhap news agency reported. South Korea won five golds when they hosted the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang and their overall tally of 17 medals, including eight silver and four bronze, was their […]
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BTS rapper Suga has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
READ MORE: The 25 best K-pop songs of 2021
On December 24, Big Hit Music shared that the 28-year-old South Korean idol had contracted the coronavirus, revealing his positive results on a PCR test.
The star had returned to Seoul from the US on Thursday (December 23), and had been in self-quarantine since arrival. He has not been in close contact with the remaining six members of BTS.
“He has no special symptoms and is staying at home in accordance with the guidelines of the quarantine authorities,” stated the agency, per Yonhap News Agency. It added that Suga had completed two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in August.
Earlier this month, Big Hit Music had announced that all seven members of BTS would be on an “extended period of rest” for the first time since 2019. The news had come shortly after the boyband’s in-person ‘Permission To Dance On Stage’ concerts at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, as well as their appearance at the 2021 Jingle Ball Tour.
“The period of rest will produce the members of BTS… a chance to get re-inspired and recharge with creative energy,” Big Hit said in its statement. “It will also be the first time for them since their debut [in 2013 where they will get] to spend the holiday season with their families.”
In other BTS news, the K-pop juggernauts made a recent appearance on the latest instalment of The Late Late Show With James Corden‘s ‘Crosswalk Concert’ segment. The new clip sees boyband taking to the crosswalk to perform their hit singles ‘Butter’, ‘Permission To Dance’ and ‘Dynamite’ – complete with costume changes, back-up dancers and elaborate props, with Corden directing the whole production.
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Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 30 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting as the visiting San Antonio Spurs used a balanced attack to roll to a 138-110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. Derrick White added 23 points and Lonnie Walker IV had 21 for the Spurs, who finished a 3-1 road trip. […]
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