With tumbled grey leather hitting the eyestay, mudguard and toe box, a lighter grey canvas appears on the quarter panel and heel alongside a white leather Swoosh, white sole and hits of green on the tongue tab and laces.
Available now from Titolo, look for these soon at your local NSW retailer. via Sneakerfiles
Falling from No. 18 to No. 24, however, next week will almost certainly mark the end of Take Care’s reign as the number one hip hop album, with Drake’s labelmate Nicki Minaj preparing to debut on the charts next week with her own sophomore LP Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Tyga moved another 12,500 units of Careless World, landing at No. 33 overall.
After debuting at No. 5 last week, Odd Future’s The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2, fell drastically to No. 36. Diggy Simmons’ Unexpected Arrival also slowed down, landing right behind Odd Future.
But the most impressive chart action this week came from E-40, who dropped three albums last week, all of which made the Top 200. His Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil trifecta made the top 50, selling 9,500 units, and landing at No. 44 as a package deal. Between this and the sales of Vol. 1, 2, and 3 individually, 40 Water sold over 32,000 albums in The Block Brochure’s first week.
Next week’s Billboard 200 looks to be an exciting one with the arrival of Nicki’s highly anticipated Roman Reloaded. The XXL staff gave predictions here. How many copies do you think Roman Reloaded will sell? —Neil Martinez-Belkin for XXL
Drizzy seemed to hint about possibly planning some kind of posthumous Aaliyah collabo during a recent interview with the United Kingdom’s Tim Westwood.
“I have some great Aaliyah news coming soon,” Drizzy shared with the UK’s Tim Westwood. “Some special things. Great things man. Great things for music, period.”
Saying Drake is an Aaliyah fan is an understatement; the Young Money superstar has a tattoo of the late crooner on his back.
“You know it’s hard for me to ride around to a female singer because at the end of the day, you’re a man, but she always kept it so G with the writing and the melodies,” Drizzy told Westwood. “It was something to ride to, especially when it was chopped and crewed. That’s when I used to love.”
There have been talks about a posthumous Aaliyah album for quite some time now. Early last month, producer Jeffrey ‘J. Dub’ Walker even tweeted about such project, saying, “Just got great news today; the smash unreleased song called “Steady Ground” I produced on #Aaliyah is gonna be on her upcoming album.”
Aaliyah was tragically killed at the age of only 22 back on August 25, 2001, when the small passenger plane she was traveling in from The Bahamas to Florida crashed shortly after take off.
After her death, two posthumous albums dropped in her honor: 2002’s I Care 4 U and 2005’s Ultimate Aaliyah. —Jakinder Singh for XXL
This was the case last year, when Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller was left off the ballot. This is the case this year, when it comes time for Miller's induction.
We'll fawn over Miller in late summer, when he takes to the stage for his induction speech. For now, the story is that Reggie Miller was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, a weird catch-all collective that is also bringing former coach and player Don Nelson into its mix, as well as former Virginia and Houston Rockets center Ralph Sampson. Does Miller belong? Does it matter?
At this point, no. A decade ago, Stern heard the criticism surrounding the Hall of Fame's seeming love of long time college coaches and international players over his league's B+-level non-champions, and he drew his scythe. Cleared the mess, and burned a logo into the crops. No more would types like Dominque Wilkins be ignored in favor of some coach who made the Final Four in 1982 and 1993. Stern and Jerry Colangelo, with help from ESPN's "labor negotiation advisor" Russ Granik, took over that building, planting a swoosh anywhere it could.
Reggie Miller, flush with shoe ads and Madison Avenue cred during his mid-1990s heyday, didn't need the help. His stats, even taking into considering the fact that his later seasons tempered his percentages, won't blow you away. His career 21.4 Player Efficiency Rating is outpaced this year by both Marcin Gortat and Kyrie Irving, mainly because Miller didn't do much more besides curl off of screens (up until the 2000-01 season, mostly, which we'll get to in August) and not turn the ball over. He was never an all-around guard in the mold of a Michael Jordan or even a Clyde Drexler.
He was, and is, famous. And to borrow a hack-y baseball sportswriter phrase, it's the Hall of Fame, man, not the Hall of Pretty Good.
Reggie Miller was pretty, pretty damn good at what he did. He was the go-to offensive force for a deep Pacer team that never quite got over that hump. A pretty-good team that nobody would ever confuse with, say, the Suns or SuperSonics or Jazz or even Knicks teams that lost out on rings during Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon's championship runs. Miller was no martyr, because he was afforded all the benefits of a superstar, even if his teams weren't good enough. Even when he came close to acting the heel, Knick superfan Spike Lee still somehow came off worse.
All that, plus working knees, cushy TV gigs that nobody can justify, and a Hall of Fame induction. Not a bad haul, considering.
This is why, in the time between now and Miller's induction, we have to take a step back while considering his Hall of Fame credentials. Because we should be beyond that, by now. It's like arguing over the Grammys. The organization really is that insipid.
Congratulations, Reggie Miller. Come late summer, we'll be ready to fawn over your time as a player in the wake of your induction. In the meantime, as was the case last year when the Hall of Fame didn't even deign to put you on the ballot, we're just going to remind ourselves of what a joke the Basketball Hall of Fame is and will continue to be. via Ball Don't Lie
