Round 8 deadline: Wednesday 15th May, 9pm GMT

Hi everyoneeee! Once again, the results for the last round were predictable, with one episode ending up with significantly more votes than the others. So, let's find out which one is leaving on this round.
...
Home. It was 1 vote away from leaving us in round 7, and now it's time for it to go. It gathered 5 votes, while all other episodes which were voted for only got 2 or 1.
Which episode will go next? It's up to youuuuu.
Vote for the episode that you like *the least. The episode that gathers the most votes will be eliminated with the **26th place in this game. Make sure you have watched all episodes before voting and don't vote more than once. (I don't think you can anyway)*

VOTE IN ROUND 8 HERE

Round 7 results
Episodes Alive: (SPOILERS!!!)
S1E1 - Who Do You Think You Are?:

• Alison and Mike inherit Button House
• Ghosts haunt them
• Captain annoyed at Fanny screaming

S1E2 - Gorilla War:

• Mike starts renovating house
• Ghosts annoy Alison
• Alison accepts ghosts as real

S1E3 - Happy Death Day:

• Pat's death day, family visit
• Kitty asks where babies come from
• Captain & Julian try to get rid of builders

S1E5 - Moonah Ston:

• Beg-Chetwyns visit for dinner party
• Captain & Mary help kill/prepare pheasant
• Ghosts do Moonah Ston ritual & watch Friends

S1E6 - Getting Out:

• Alison & Mike consider selling to hotel chain
• Ghosts think of plans to make money
• Captain leaves ghosts

S2E3 - Redding Weddy:

• Captain flashback
• A&M clear garden
• Fanny fancies Mike
• Pat keeps ghosts occupied (moon landing video, volleyball)

S2E4 - The Thomas Thorne Affair:

• Thomas death flashbacks
• Mike worries about meeting Alison's ex

S2E5 - Bump in the Night:

• Alison goes out
• Burglars break into house
• Ghosts try to warn Mike

S2E6 - Perfect Day:

• Claire & Sam wedding
• Pat recognises Keith from his death
• Claire nervous about wedding

S2E7 - The Ghost of Christmas:

• Mike's family visit for Xmas, parents help too much
• Julian feels guilty about avoiding family at Xmas
• Alison gets presents for ghosts

S3E1 - The Bone Plot:

• TV crew making documentary about Humphrey (death flashback)
• Julian thinks Barclay is having heart attack
• Pat tries to make Fanny & Captain laugh
• Thomas prepares Alison for interview

S3E2 - A Lot to Take In:

• Alison meets Lucy
• Julian remembers first day as ghost
• Mike starts new job
• Kitty & Pat dance

S3E3 - The Woodworm Men:

• A&M camp outside during fumigation
• Kitty watches Grease

S3E4 - I Love Lucy:

• Captain spies on Lucy
• Julian changes Mike's emails
• Fanny has affair with Humphrey's body

S3E5 - Something to Share?:

• Kitty shares story about ball
• Mike tries to find way to see ghosts

S3E6 - Part of the Family:

• Mike films promotional video
• Ghosts find out Lucy is lying
• Ghosts do drama/improvisation club

S4E2 - Speak as ye Choose:

• Annie teaching Mary to say what she wants flashback
• Kitty shows Captain how to live in moment
• Thomas goes cold turkey on Alison addiction
• Mike's old friends stay at gatehouse

S4E3 - The Hardest Word:

• A&M try to have relaxing day
• Ghosts make apology song

S4E4 - Gone Gone:

• Pat cheers Kitty up over Mary moving on
• Mike organises children's birthday party last minute
• Alison helps ghosts deal with their feelings about Mary

S4E6 - Not Again:

• Robin's death flashback
• Mike buys giant bear
• Kitty starts talking by saying opposite of what she means

S4E7 - It's Behind You:

• Ghosts put on panto
• Alison shows Pat old VHS recordings
• A&M get stuck in traffic on way to parents

S5E1 - Fools:

• Alison does April Fool's pranks on ghosts
• Insurance company person investigates insurance claim for fire

S5E3 - Pineapple Day:

• Ghosts figure out how Kitty died
• Mike discusses selling land with Barclay
• Thomas, Julian & Humphrey want blue plaque
• Kitty watches 'Is It Cake?'

S5E4 - En Français:

• Ghosts try playing game shows
• French woman visits with translator to see land
• Flashback of Robin learning French from Sophie

S5E5 - Carpe Diem:

• A&M have spontaneous night out
• Robin thinks someone will move on before midnight
• Fanny & Julian make most of possible last day
• Captain's death flashback

S5E6 - Last Resort:

• A&M decide whether to keep or sell house
• Obi shows up having been dumped by Brenda
• Kitty struggles to keep secret of baby's sex
• Pat & Robin fight over weather lady

Eliminated Episodes:
34th place: S5E7 - A Christmas Gift
33rd place: S5E2 - He Came!
32nd place: S2E1 - The Grey Lady
31st place: S2E2 - About Last Night
30th place: S4E5 - Poached Guests
29th place: S4E1 - Happy Holiday
28th place: S1E4 - Free Pass
27th place: S5E2 - Home

Coach Skinner: The (Unwitting) Namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd
Leonard Skinner, a Florida gym teacher and basketball coach, may not have known it, but he played a pivotal role in rock music history. Skinner's strict enforcement of a school dress code against long hair in the 1960s directly inspired the now-iconic name of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Several members of the band, including Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Bob Burns, attended Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, where Skinner was a teacher. Facing disciplinary action for their nonconformist hairstyles, they decided to immortalize Skinner's name in their band, albeit with a playful misspelling to mock his authority.
While Skinner himself might not have intended to be a part of rock and roll lore, his name became synonymous with the band's rebellious spirit and Southern roots. Lynyrd Skynyrd, despite the initial friction, later acknowledged Skinner's influence and maintained a respectful relationship with him.

Hey hey people. I'm looking for the name of that calm ambient track that plays during the basketball scene where Elliot talks about masks and where the guy tries to pick a fight with Leon by calling him a dipshit. It's episode 2 (unm4sk) of season 2.
Google search mentions "2.0_10-masktakesover.sln" but it's not that track. But I'm almost 100% certain it is composed by Mac Quayle.

Liking both underdogs in the NBA tonight. Best of luck with your picks everyone!

Indiana Pacers @ New York Knicks (7:00PM CST)

My Pick: Indiana Pacers +1
The Knicks are minus Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson. Just too many for me to place money on the Knicks win or lose realizing that I have no problems with others betting New York tonight.

Minnesota Timberwolves @ Denver Nuggets (9:30PM CST)

My Pick: Minnesota Timberwolves +4
Is this the night the home team finally wins a game in this series? Personally, I don't think so. Tonight I'm off Denver. This is a real swing game for Minnesota and I think the Timberwolves go all out and get it done. That still doesn't take away the fact that I think Denver is the best team on the court but tonight, I'm playing situation basketball.

There has been much talk about the Mavericks' poor free throw shooting in game 4. I wanted to see how much of an outlier this game was, so I ran a simulation. Here are the results:

• OKC made 23/24 FTs (95.8%). By expectation, they should have made 19.8/24 (82.5%).
• DAL made 12/23 FTs (52.2%). By expectation, they should have made 16.3/24 (71.0%).
  
• OKC had only a 5.9% chance of making at least 23 of their 24 FT attempts.
  
• DAL had only a 3.9% chance of making only 12 or fewer of their 23 FT attempts.
  
• OKC had only a 0.56% chance (about 1 a in 179 chance) of being at least +11 in FTs, as they were in this game.
  
• OKC had only a 14% chance of being at least +7 in FTs. If OKC had not been at least +7 in FTs, DAL would have won the game in regulation.
  

So, after normalizing the free throw variance and assuming the rest of the game played out identically, the Mavs had an 86% chance of winning the game in regulation.
Notes:

• This analysis took into account the number of attempts and expected FT% of the specific players who attempted FTs in this game.
• Assumption: A specific player's expected FT% is equal to his 2023-2024 regular season FT%.
• Of course, free throw shooting is not the only source of random variance/luck in a basketball game. For example, the Thunder shot only 26% from three in this game (well below their average); they also only had 7 turnovers (also well below their average). But stats like three point shooting and turnovers are affected by things like the defense of the opposing team, strategy, etc., whereas free throws are best modeled as almost pure random variance. So it is reasonable to consider the results of games after normalizing free throw variance.

Before going into it, I want to mention how this post was inspired by three things. One was user u/HastyvonFuego2 and their post on going down the rabbit hole on the Kendrick sub last week. It was also inspired by Childish Gambino’s first album release in nearly 6 years where I have been sitting on this idea for a while but he inspired me to finally post this week like he did (never posted on Reddit at all before so be gentle if I am not doing it right)! I was also inspired by an interview Bino gave to GQ about breaking down his most iconic characters. In this interview he says how This is America started out as a Drake diss but then he realized the song was too hard for just Drake so he kept working on it. He also talks in this interview about how all culture is about compression. Which means that yes, This is America is about the gun violence and police issues in America, but compressed in this video is also more about where that culture comes from which he shows is from a small handful of rap moguls, namely Drake, Diddy and Jay-Z (bear with me on this long post, I think/hope it will be worth it). At the end I talk briefly about how Little Foot Big Foot might be in this same vein of cultural compression.
[Intro: Choir]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away
The beginning of this song has no background music yet, which really gives it an ‘in the beginning’ feel. Then Gambino starts doing his dances with weird facial expressions. I will explain as we go through his video how those expressions and dance moves represent different famous rap moguls. One easy look to pick out right away is Jay-Z’s famous lip curl/growl look that Gambino gives with a head nod repeatedly. The colonial pants have been a hot topic, but since it’s only the pants that are colonial, Gambino is saying the bottom or basis for this violent culture in America is ultimately colonialism. The lyrics ‘Go Away’, are likely foreshadowing the rap moguls wanting other popular rap rivals to ‘go away’ or they will make them (aka murder them) for profit.
[Bridge: Childish Gambino & Young Thug]
We just wanna party
Party just for you
We just want the money
Money just for you (Yeah)
Usually you want money for yourself and to party for yourself, so this is a bit odd. But what Gambino is referring to is similar to these Diddy ‘freakoff parties’ we are hearing about where people who want to be famous are really partying for these rap moguls so they can get close to them. Where they suck up to them saying that they want to earn the mogul money from their songs.
I know you wanna party
Party just for free
Girl, you got me dancin' (Girl, you got me dancin')
Dance and shake the frame (Yeah)
Then this almost feels like the Diddy rebuttal where he’s like ya I know you want to party and you want to do it for free. Like Katt Williams says, “you gotta tell Diddy no”, it is never free to go to those parties. There are always consequences. When you are partying you are dancing, but shaking the frame could refer to how those boundaries/edges are being crossed, lines are blurred, etc.
Then in the video, the fellow who was playing the guitar gets shot and things turn dark from happy music. I believe that this guitar tune is meant to represent 2Pac and Nas’s song Thugz Mansion. It’s one of the original greats from ‘in the beginning’. Nas famously has always had major issues with Jay-Z too (More on why 2Pac and Nas later). It also represents how it was these moguls who murdered 2Pac like Jaguar Wright and Katt Williams keep saying. Where these murders only lead to more money and fame for the killers when the dead artists’ and their music are exploited more easily.
Also note that the gun gets taken away by a school kid after the shooting, more on this later as well.
[Verse 1: Childish Gambino, Young Thug, Blocboy JB & 21 Savage]
This is America (Skrrt, skrrt, woo)
Don't catch you slippin' now (Ayy)
Look how I'm livin' now
Police be trippin' now (Woo)
Yeah, this is America (Woo, ayy)
Guns in my area (Word, my area)
There is a song called Guns in My Area by Lil Weiner and Baby Chapox that paints a vivid picture of the everyday struggles and conflicts faced by those living in communities affected by gun violence. More compression of other songs and the American gun culture.
I got the strap (Ayy, ayy)
I gotta carry 'em
I am almost certain this line is referring to 2Pac’s song Changes. Throughout This is America, Gambino takes lines from Pac’s song: “They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone” (referred to later in this a Celly, that’s tool) “That's the sound of my tool, you say it ain't cool, My mama didn't raise no fool”
“And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped, And I never get to lay back” It seems like Gambino broke up these lyrics and scattered them throughout his song. This plays into the theme that everyone is using 2Pac and enriching themselves off of his image and music. I show below how this particular section of the video represents Diddy meaning that Diddy himself is exploiting his music (and alleging that Diddy killed Pac?). We could see this exploitation play out at length with how much Diddy milked the death of Biggie like in Every Breath You Take.
Yeah, yeah, I'ma go into this (Ugh)
Yeah, yeah, this is guerilla (Woo)
Yeah, yeah, I'ma go get the bag
The song Gorilla War by $uicideboy$ and Ramirez talks about getting a bag repeatedly in the course. Also in Otis with Kanye and Jay-Z their lyrics talk about going gorilla (I talk about this song more further down), so it could be referring to this as well. It seems like Gambino is trying to pull out lyrics from all across the rap culture and embed them in his song to highlight the ‘cultural compression’.
Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like, yeah (Yeah)
I'm so dope like, yeah (Woo)
We gon' blow like, yeah (Straight up, uh)
I think that all of the school kids in the video represent all of the rappers that are signed with these big labels. Which is interesting because they are the ones facilitating the guns for the moguls in the video. You can see that the mogul is really focused on the kids and gets agitated and directs them to follow him whenever they stray off a bit like they are his pupils, or like he owns them. Then all of a sudden the camera comes into a scene where you can see more kids shooting a rap video and all shooting money from a Supreme gun. The camera zooms out almost to show you that this is the mogul’s whole rap empire they are looking over, all of their kids in one place (this empire already includes some chaos in the background). It’s subtle but hilarious, Gambino puts fricken chickens on the ground where the kids are filming the rap video. He is directly calling all of these rappers complete chickens for playing up this lifestyle and being the cause of so much chaos rather than coming out and telling somebody what’s really going on. Trying to get their money over everything else.
[Refrain: Choir & Childish Gambino]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody
You go tell somebody
Grandma told me
Get your money, Black man (Get your— Black man)
This is where things start to get interesting. Gambino is literally saying, go tell somebody about this! We all know what’s happening, why don’t you go let people know how bad it is? But like Jaguar Wright said, who do you tell when these moguls have the cops and feds paid off? This video is literally Gambino putting it all out there in this extremely popular song for everyone to see but yet we still just see the dancing and the violent chaos of people and police in the streets and not the root cause that is hidden in plain sight.
The vast majority of those who reviewed this video until now think this scene represents the tragic church shooting in Charleston in 2015. I think it does, but we also have to look at this from an angle of compression.
The people in the choir are all of the people who are currently singing the rap mogul’s praises and who are focused on going and getting what’s owed to them, get their money (who are also profiting off of the dead fellows music since it goes back to the original tune). You can see that each choir member has a distinct look to them. Think about who you are hearing about now who is about to be implicated in these freak offs and evil deeds. Is that Will Smith in the back left corner!? The short bald fellow in the front left maybe Kevin Hart? Rick Ross or TD Jakes maybe the bigger guy towards the back right? When the camera zooms in on the choir right at first to show their faces, doesn’t the guy in the bottom middle look like an uncanny version of Jordan Peele? Or is that meant to be Cuba Gooding Jr? Then just like the guitar fellow at the beginning, bang. You may be singing Diddy’s praises now, but he will cut you down whenever he suddenly feels like it.
I think almost for sure this initial section of the music video is Gambino acting as Diddy, because right after he shoots the choir, he does the elbow pump/chicken dance. At 3:14 in Diddy’s video for P.E. 2000 he does the chicken dance (he is up first in the video and I think Gambino is trying to say here I first present to you the first public enemy of 3 in this song). That elbow dance signals that it was Diddy and this is the end of his section.
[Chorus: Childish Gambino, Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi & Quavo]
This is America (Woo, ayy)
Don't catch you slippin' now (Woo, woo, don't catch you slippin' now)
Don't catch you slippin' now (Ayy, woah)
Look what I'm whippin' now (Slime!)
There have been many accounts of celebrities being given fancy cars after suffering abuse at the hands of these moguls. So these lyrics are saying that you better not slip up and tell people what’s really going on. And if you don’t look at this sweet carecord deal/movie contract I am going to give you. Beiber told this story about Diddy wanting to give him a luxury car.
Now suddenly, the dance switches from the chicken dance to a sudden bicep flex to signal us that we have now moved on from Gambino representing Diddy to our next mogul.
[Verse 2: Childish Gambino, Quavo, Young Thug, 21 Savage & BlocBoy JB]
This next chunk of the video is all about Jay-Z. I think this is the case because he throws his arms up in a bicep flex just like Jay does in the Otis music video at 2:38. And it makes sense Gambino would pick a dance move from a video with a huge American flag in the background to fit the ‘This is America’ theme. Gambino is mocking him saying, who are you really, the pretty guy or this hard gangster like Gambino shows in his dancing. Also right before they pan to the kids on the balcony, Bino also does Jay-Z’s signature lip curl look a couple times so we know it’s him and to signal the end of his section.
Look how I'm geekin' out (Hey)
I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo)
Jay-Z is famous for making the fitted Yankees cap famous, it’s his signature look. More signs this verse is about Jay.
I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci)
Jay-Z has been seen in full wallpaper Gucci sweat suits but could also be referring to Gucci Mane who he hung out with at Beyonce’s tour around the time this song was released.
I'm so pretty (Yeah, yeah, woo)
I'm gon' get it (Ayy, I'm gon' get it)
Watch me move (Blaow)
These lines are probably referring to Jay-Z having a hidden preference for men, especially with the way Gambino flicks his wrist in the video when he says I’m so pretty.
This a celly (Ha)
That's a tool (Yeah)
On my Kodak (Woo) Black
I think that “this a celly, that’s a tool” harkens back to 2Pac’s lyrics in Changes where he sings, “They get jealous when they see ya with your mobile phone” then shortly after that he sings about the sound of his tool, referring to shooting a gun. But Childish flips these lyrics on their head. He is saying that it’s really the phone that’s a tool to be using, not a gun. And pans up and shows (the school kids specifically) on the balcony filming everything going on below. He’s telling the kids/other rappers, use your phone as a tool, you can record these bad deeds when you get blackmailed into being at the freak off. That’s how you can kill them and their career, not with a gun. Go tell somebody! There is also the reference to Kodak which plays into the picture taking theme, but also because Kodak Black has been accused of assaulting a teenage girl in a hotel room. So we have a good idea of what Gambino suggests all the kids start filming and collecting evidence of.
Ooh, know that (Yeah, know that, hold on)
Get it (Woo, get it, get it)
Ooh, work it (21)
Now we are onto Drake’s part. In the video Gambino starts doing the BlocBoy JB dance called Shoot. Drake is known for doing these little viral dance moves like in Hotline Bling. But not only that, this dance is also used in the song that both BlocBoy JB and Drake collaborate on for their video Look Alive. It starts at 2:07 in the Look Alive video. So this is Drake’s dance to signal his part is now starting.
Note this is where the pale horse rides by also potentially saying that Drake is one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Interestingly, Drake’s collab with BlocBoy JB was pretty much the apocalypse for BlocBoy’s career, who hasn’t had a hit since.
Hunnid bands, hunnid bands, hunnid bands (Hunnid bands)
Contraband, contraband, contraband (Contraband)
I got the plug in Oaxaca (Woah)
They gonna find you like "blocka" (Blaow)
Again, we know this is Drake’s section because his song 10 bands starts out by saying “10 bands, 50 bands, 100 bands” almost identical to Bino’s lyrics here. Also Blocka was famously used by Biggie in his song Gimme the Loot which could be referring to Biggie's demise like Pac’s and making money from his death. Everything in this industry originates from pushing drugs, which has been alleged through the trafficking that Diddy, Jay-Z and Drake do through their private jets likely connected to their bosses, the Clive Davises and Lucian Grainges of the world. This escalates rap beefs and the whole culture to the next level where murder is often a consequence for young rappers in their prime when international drug lord money is involved.
An interesting point is this is the only time where Childish was about to shoot someone in the video, but where he didn’t have a school kid either handing him the gun or taking it away carefully from him. (Maybe also a diss at Drake that even though he acts hard he doesn’t shoot, he gets his horseman of the apocalypse to do his dirty deeds for him instead perhaps?). This is the beginning of the end for the rap mogul as he no longer has his kids doing his bidding for him. A simple message to show how the violence can be stopped, that these shootings can end when the kids stop enabling them. So then as soon as he can’t react in that moment and shoot someone his anger is forced to chill out, as shown by smoking a J, and to go back to exploiting the dead man’s music instead. If you don’t put a gun in someone’s hand when they are heated, those feelings too shall pass - kinda feel.
[Refrain: Choir, Childish Gambino, & Young Thug]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody
America, I just checked my following list, and
You mothafuckas owe me
Whose voice does that sound like!? It sounds a lot like Diddy to me, public enemy #1. This is basically saying that the moguls are the ones who we all owe it to for all of this glorified gun violence in America. That we owe them way more follows and likes for what a massive influence they have had on the violence and chaos we see in America today.
Grandma told me
Get your money, Black man (Black man)
(1, 2, 3—get down)
In Moneybagg Yo’s song 1, 2, 3, he also has a line that says “1, 2, 3, let’s go!” in a similar vein.
But something interesting I came across was Nas’s song Get Down where they use a sample from James Brown's “The Boss” that sounds extremely similar to the way Gambino screams “Get Down!” Which would fit well if the guitar singer from the beginning is meant to be Nas and Pac doing Thugz Mansion.
Also make sure you check out Nas’s song Get Down so that you can hear how much Jay-Z outright copied this song for The Story of OJ. From the musical structure with the piano and interwoven samples right down to the theme reiterated by the sample at the end of Nas’s song: “If that’s how our people are gonna get down, how are we ever gonna get up?”
SZA
Finally to wrap up the video, I have been stumped for a long time as to why SZA is randomly at the end of this video sitting on one of the cars. But I think I finally know why and it reconfirms that this last scene is all about Drake. If you watch Drake’s music video for Worst Behavior (not very Canadian of him to spell behaviour that way I might add) you will see Drake rapping and dancing with a few cars surrounding him and one of those cars has other rappers making cameos in it. In Gambino’s video SZA represents that car with a famous cameo. I think this is further confirmed when the black edges of the video start closing inwards at the end of This is America, the exact same way that Worst Behavior ends. So why SZA as the cameo then? Cause it reminds people that Drake is a p*do.
This is from an article in the Rolling Stone: In 2020, Drake revealed publicly that he and SZA had dated over a decade ago, well before she was an established artist (her earliest music goes back to around 2012; her critical breakthrough, Ctrl, came in 2017). On 21 Savage’s “Mr. Right Now,” Drake rapped about a newer fling who was a fan of SZA’s: “Yeah, said she wanna fuck to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08 / If you cool with it, baby, she can still play.” A few days later, SZA responded, corroborating Drake’s claim with a slight correction: they dated in 2009, when both would have been over 18. Since SZA would not have turned 18 until late 2008, she wanted to set the record straight. “in this case a year of poetic rap license mattered 🥴lol I think he jus innocently rhymed 08 w wait [sic],” she tweeted. “I just didn’t want anybody thinking anything underage or creepy was happening . Completely innocent . Lifetimes ago . [sic]”
If you have to specifically say something isn’t creepy and distance yourself from it being lifetimes ago, it usually is creepy. Drake would’ve been 22 when she was 17. Metro Boomin also happens to be on the Mr. Right Now track. He is currently in trouble for resurfaced old tweets showing how Metro used to tweet disgusting things about what he wanted to do to underage girls. Interestingly, Metro Boomin is also now beefing with Drake.
Drake doing his dance on the car of the original musician’s music seems to be accusing Drake directly of stealing 2Pac’s music. Orlando Brown recently said the cryptic statement that “Drake is Pac” which likely means he stole 2Pac’s approach/style/audience after his death. Gambino did some good foreshadowing here too with the recent AI release Drake put out of 2Pac.
This dance scene also signals that the Drake section is now over.
[Outro: Young Thug]
You just a black man in this world
You just a barcode, ayy
You just a black man in this world
Drivin' expensive foreigns, ayy
You just a big dawg, yeah
I kenneled him in the backyard
No, probably ain't life to a dog
For a big dog
The outro lyrics speak to how these gatekeepers keep black men down and control them with things like being forced to wear a dress to become famous or to submit to homosexual/p*do acts.. In the video, as I mentioned above, the black edges close in on Drake’s dancing scene in This is America. But they don’t completely close and end things like they do in the Worst Behavior video. Instead, in Gambino’s video, the camera pans to show the mogul running for his life with Young Thug’s lyrics almost like a quiet echo in the background. He isn’t running from the cops though, he’s running from the kids and from the public. When I mentioned earlier that the kids not handing over the last gun before Drake’s scene signalled the beginning of the end for the moguls, this is that conclusion. Where it is showing that if all the kids come together to stop enabling and rather expose the moguls, people will be chasing these bastards down once we realize what has been going on behind the curtain. Then the song that Young Thug is singing can just be a quiet echo of the way things were in the past.
If you don’t think Gambino would be this deep and that I went too far down the rabbit hole, do a Google search on the calculations that he came up with for why he sings about loving until 3005 in his song. He seems to go real deep with his lyrics. So a big question this leaves us with is, what did Childish Gambino witness in the rap industry? His whole rap career plays out like he is trying to avoid industry norms.
Even in Sweatpants, he has lyrics like:
No hands like soccer teams and y'all fuck boys like Socrates
You niggas ain't coppin' these, niggas ain't lookin' like me (Nah)
Nah, I ain't checkin' I.D. (Nah), but I bounce 'em with no problem
Seems like he is trying to make it really clear across his catalogue of music that he isn’t a p*do but that other rappers are. Where he is saying that he doesn’t need to ID his potential partners because he can tell they are obviously too young and that’s not hard to do.
Tell 'em, Problem (Problem!)
I'm winnin', yeah, yeah, I'm winnin' (What?)...
Rich kid, asshole, paint me as a villain
So who was trying to paint him as a villain, Drake? And that’s why the diss was originally meant for him?
Don't be mad 'cause I'm doing me better than you doing you…
Better than you doing you
Fuck it, what you gon' do? (What?!)
He’s taunting the other rappers cause he knows they can’t say shit if they are creeps. He has the same sentiment in Bonfire “It’s a bonfire, turn the lights out, I’m burning everything you mother fuckers talk about.”
Childish Gambino has always refrained from talking about the meaning of This is America whenever he is asked, and I can only assume that all of this is why.
Little Foot Big Foot
Now with his new release, Little Foot Big Foot and applying cultural compression to it, it has me wondering if he is referring to Megan Thee Stallion and the Nicki beef? People like Nicki (calling Megan Big Foot) have been claiming for some time she wasn’t even shot in the foot by Tory Lanez. There were many people laughing and making fun of Megan over getting shot. Which could be an interesting story for Childish to tell to represent how crazy this violent culture has gotten that people just laugh and blame the victim now when you get shot. Also a good metaphor for things like ‘shooting yourself in the foot’ for not having a lawyer look over potentially predatory industry contracts like in the beginning of his video. That you want to get in the cool kids club so bad you overlook it. Not as sure on this one though since the song just came out and I have only heard it a few times.
One last thing that is really interesting, there have been tons of artists on podcasts like Shay Shay talking about the strings these ultra rich moguls can pull. Like buying awards or gatekeeping people from being in the industry at all. There was even a story, I think maybe it was Gene Deal who told it, that when Killer Mike won at the grammys that Jay-Z was so angry he made sure to mess up his night by getting him locked up as soon as he left the awards stage. These moguls are extremely powerful and have an incredible amount of sway in the world/industry. If you check out Gambino’s profile on Youtube, his old music videos keep getting taken down, like Bonfire for example is just gone. Fans have been having to upload the videos themselves. There is a reply to a comment, on one of the fan uploaded vids, from Gambino’s account himself when someone asks why the videos are being taken down. His account just replies “Noone knows why :(“ Seems a bit odd all things considered and like maybe he has been at the mercy of these gatekeepers for going against the system.
I am so curious to know what the rest of you think about all of this!

I want to preface this by saying that our relationship is in no way rocky or unhealthy, so there’s no need for an slew of people telling me to leave him.
My (23f) bf (25m) plays fighting games, both casually and competitively, and I play casually. He and his friends have a discord server and they all play together, talk etc. A couple of weeks ago, he told me that they had his friend’s gf in the vc with them and she played sf with them for a few matches. He knows that that’s my favourite fighting game, and I’ve complained multiple times that none of my friends play, and I have no one I know to play it with except him. I’m a bit upset that he never even considered wanting to involve me, especially knowing this. His friends all know who I am and I’ve spoken to a few of them so it’s not like it would be awkward or weird.
I raised this to him by saying that there was reddit story I’d read with the same situation, except they were playing basketball instead, and asked him for his opinion. He said the gf being upset was valid and that it was inconsiderate of him because if its something she loves and they’re bringing their gfs, he should involve her since she doesn’t often get to play in a social setting. This made me more upset because now I know I’m not being extra about it, at least not from his perspective. I’m not asking you guys to validate my feelings, I really don’t care if you agree how I feel or not. My question is, how should I deal with it? I’m not sure about asking him, because I’m not interesting in understanding why. No reason he could give could make me feel better, I would just be stuck feeling guilty for feeling a way or more upset.
TLDR: my boyfriend’s friend brought his girlfriend into their server to play my favourite game, and he never even considered asking me, despite me complaining for months that I have no friends/people I know except him to play it with.

Anyone here go to open gym basketball at G3 MWF in the evening that can comment on the level of competition? I haven’t played in a couple years and am out of shape so just want to know if I’ll get ran out of the gym or not lol

Just like people cranking loud music and their bass, be it in cars, on a stereo in their driveway, or through shared walls of some houses and annoying everyone in the area...bouncing balls (basketballs, soccer balls, etc.) is equally annoying, rude, and inconsiderate to everyone in the area...just because the noise is coming from someone playing a game rather than from some other source does not make it okay. It is just disruptive to everyone near by more so than even kids yelling or pretty much any other noise outside.
So yeah, unpopular opinion but bouncing of balls in non-designated areas should be made a noise bylaw issue everywhere that can be stopped if it's disrupting others.

The team seemed to be played off the floor whenever Joel would sit. Paul Reed puts in effort and has the hustle, but I'm not certain about continuing to force him into being Joel's back-up. I've always personally thought that Paul would be better suited as a 4.
I realize a big part of these problems is due to having had Tobias and his massive contract; it's not particularly easy to flesh out the rest of the roster within the cap constraints when you have such a void plaguing the team.
We seem to have the cap space this offseason to outright sign someone like Paul George, assuming he and his camp aren't merely posturing to get more money/years out of Los Angeles. We do have other tradable picks and will need to flesh out a big part of our roster.
Most of the discourse I've seen regarding this year's first-round pick has been concerning who we could turn it into via a trade, but I haven't seen much talk on simply keeping and attempting to fill a void with it. We've never had a consistent back-up for Joel; it's been a revolving door, just like his teammates themselves. Obviously, we're attempting to win a championship and aren't currently rebuilding, but there have been other rookie centers that have performed well for contending playoff teams, like Dereck Lively for Dallas.
Maybe I'm being crazy here, but the potential connection between Yves and Joel seems like a no-brainer. Yves is also from Yaounde, Cameroon, speaks French like Joel, and grew up playing soccer instead of basketball. Not that all of these similarities mean that Yves would inherently be a great player or worthy of the pick, but I do feel like it could simply be a great fit. Joel could have a legitimate protege. It'd also give be an opportunity for our team to have an insurance policy, of sorts - someone on the team to learn from and challenge Joel, and hopefully we wouldn't be played off the floor when he sits or if his injuries persist. He's also young enough to eventually bloom and fit within Maxey's prime, once we get there.
Perhaps I'm looking at this too narrow-mindedly, but I do feel that there's a solid opportunity here. What're your thoughts? Obviously none of this matters if he somehow gets picked before 16, but he's currently being mocked at or around 15-20 from what I see.
He's got good footwork, great touch around the rim, and can actually rebound which is what we've sorely needed. Some immediate concerns: his shooting, or lack thereof. What better big man to learn that from, though?
Here are some of Missi's recent highlights

I live in north miami, pretty close to broward, and I want to try slamball but I can’t find any places nearby. I only see trampoline parks with the hoops that are only for dunking, but I wanna play actual basketball on a trampoline. Anyone know any places I can go to play slamball with some friends?

Whether you like it or not, Gorilla tag is dying and it’s hard to ignore now. It’s not through bad updates or anything else like that it’s through the fact that the game is generally becoming boring. We all say “wait till a new map comes” or “next update will make the game feel new again” but in reality what we need is a new feature.
Now this “feature” isn’t going to be a gimmick such as the gliders in clouds and the maze in basement. This will completely rework the game and add motivation to play it. If you look at popular games with similar controls to gorilla tag (Yeeps: hide and seek, monkey see monkey doo) They offer similar games to gorilla tag but with one thing. Motivation.
In both the listed games there is a unlockables system similar to a Battle pass seen in a lot of popular online games. Now I’m not saying this should be a premium offer to only paying players but it could be a situation similar to Yeeps where you are allowed to spend shiny rocks to unlock rewards on branching paths. Some would have cosmetics while others may have additional stuff added to fill the skill tree.
TL:DR - add a battle pass system to gorilla tag
An alternative would simply be to add daily quests to the game or stat tracking.
cue insuring mob of 7-11 year old children

I (13F) have a classmate, Brady (13M). I don’t like Brady at all, he’s one of those boys who acts as a gym teacher’s pet, always telling the teacher if a kid isn’t “trying”, and I’ll admit that a lot of kids don’t try in gym and Brady and his friends will take any opportunity to get you in trouble if you’re not participating. I know it’s technically against the rules but I do t care, I’ve seen Brady and his friends gist pump after getting kids in detention, and personally, I got a detention after not wanting to participate in basketball after getting my nails done.
Brady is a popular kid and he plays baseball, I also have a lot of friends who don’t like him. He’s the type of boy who cries if his team loses in gym class, I’ll admit I’ve made a comment on it, and he said he doesn’t care if people judge him for crying and that other people are the problem if they can’t handle boys crying.
In my English class, yesterday, we were assigned groups for a project we are doing for a book we read. Our teacher uses a randomizer and I was put in a group with Brady. We then sat in our groups and started working together. Some small talk had started as we were going to figure out what to do. One of the girls in my group brought up the upcoming dance and it’s a sports theme, Brady was talking about how his friends came up with the theme, and when I complained about it, he said I should get my friends elected as school president and on the school council, as they get to decide the dance and event themes. Brady was talking about how hard his friends worked to win those elections. We began to argue and I mentioned how he acted in gym class, I told him he was unfairly hard on me as I’m a girl. He said my excuse was “bullshit” and mentioned some woman in college basketball and said “she’s better than men at basketball looking at the stats” and said she shows it’s no excuse for me to not try as hard at gym as he does. He accused me of being sexist against women as a girl for not recognizing how many women could beat men at sports and that I was just using this as an excuse to be lazy in gym class. We argued some more before our teacher came over to see the problem.
I told my teacher I wouldn’t work with Brady as he was being condescending and not listening to me. He accused me of being sexist for saying women are weaker at sports. She said she was keeping us in the groups as we need to learn to work with people who we don’t like. I told her I wouldn’t do that, and she said that we were graded as a group, so I better hope my classmates do my work. They’re refusing to work on the project if I don’t work on it.
I told my parents about what happened when I got home and they contacted the administration at my school, but the administration refused to punish Brady and said our teacher has the right to do what she wants in this scenario. My parents told me I just have to deal with Brady. Brady has been going around telling everyone what happened and now some of my friends are accusing me of being an internalized misogynist. I doubt they even know what those words mean, and Brady never used those words either. Today in English class we were in our seats, but I could see other people in our group give me dirty looks. AITA?

Something that has been really pissing me off is this narrative that Bryce James is the savior son. And some type of heir to the throne. People talk about Bryce like he is a future NBA all star.
I’m sorry to break the news but Bryce is significantly worse than Bronny. I don’t even think Bryce is a D1 basketball player. I’ve seen him play live games against average NorCal competition and he looked horrible. He’s not a top 100 player in his class, which is insane given that him being lebrons son would already give him a rankings boost. Also his only D1 offer is Ohio State and we all know why.
Also people have this weird thought process that he is 6’6 or something. Bro literally measured in at the Nike hoop summit at 6’2.5 without shoes.
I hate when people who don’t know ball start talking BS 😂.

Hello all,
My name is D! (Short for my real name of course)
I’m 30 years old and work in IT! I tend to have a lot of free time at work and I’m looking to chat with some friendly individuals about any and everything. Nothing is off limits!
My interests are as follows
Video games - who on Reddit isn’t into video games I know right? I recently started replaying the fallout series. I started with fallout 3 and new Vegas and now I’m playing through 4 on Xbox with mods
Cars - Porsches are my favorite cars but I also love jdm cars super cars hyper cars and even classics I could talk all day about cars to be honest
Sports - I’m a huge sports fan I love basketball football (American) and baseball. I’m usually watching a game after work and I’d love to discuss our favorite teams or players
Music - I’m a beginner audiophile and love discussing music and equipment. I’m always chasing the best sounds I can get and I love to tinker with software in order to maximize every bit of perfection I can get out of a song
Guitars - I started collecting guitars a couple of months ago and now I’m addicted and have 6. I’m even looking to expand my collection to 8 in the near future
Watches - I’m also very interested in collecting watches and even though I have only 2 I’m looking forward to collecting more in the future
Well that about sums me up feel free to reach out if you want to chat!
Thank you, D

Hello, I'm a local and a first time renter here in Los Angeles and I really need help or some kind of advice to make me feel less crazy.
I recently moved from a duplex in Glendale where my landlord is my neighbor and lives on the property.
They recently raised my rent from $1800 to $2000 starting may, and they alerted me at the end of March. I did the math, it's an 11% increase. Which I'm not sure is legal.
They also charged me a $500 pet deposit since I had kept my cats (I didnt have them when I first moved in) which are registered ESA animals. I had the letter sent to them in May of 2023.
Our lease had expired back in sept. So they made a new lease in April and I had to sign just cause I didn't know any better. It wasn't a full lease just an addendum for the higher rent and pet deposit.
I put my notice in on May 1st as well as paid the 2k for may rent, found a new place, and moved out most of my belongings. My mother and sister passed by to help yesterday morning to clean and she left it great.
I went last night to pick up a few things when I was met with one of the landlords who I have seen maybe 3 times in the 2 years I have rented there. I usually spoke to his sister who lived on the property and was the main landlord. I told him I was picking some things up and that Id return on the 15th at 6pm to do the final walk-through and he agreed.
Then he alerted me there was tons of broken glass and that a small window panel in my kitchen had been broken. This came as a shock since I hadn't been to the property in a couple days.
He immediately tried placing the blame on me or whoever I had in the house that morning. I had no knowledge and was positive it was not my mom as she wouldn't leave broken glass around even if she did break it. I called to ask and make sure and it was a shock to both of them as well.
We weren't there and suddenly in the afternoon around 3pm they noticed it broken. He told me the gardener was also here that morning and that the gardener would not have left the glass there. My speculation, they also have a child who comes afterschool and tends to play with his basketball in the driveway and always hits it against my wall, where the glass broke. But just speculation.
Is the broken window something I should make a police report about since we are both victims here? I left the broken glass that fell through to the inside as well. It looks like something hit it from the outside.
Later when I got home, the same landlord called me from a private number and told me I had caught him off guard with the walk-through, and that I should do my due diligence on my own and he will do his walk-through because he doesn't want me there to argue with him. Which took me off guard since I'd never complained about anything to them before.
I found this extremely unprofessional. I told him as a renter I have a right to be there at the walk-through and just flat denied anything I tried to say. (Yes I am a young woman) Then he became very confrontational when I was persistent, starting to shout that he didnt want arguments and that now I was arguing and trying to cause issues. I spoke to him very respectfully, so I don't know why he felt the need to feel attacked when I was standing up for myself and holding my ground. We hung up after that.
I know I may sound weak, but I got off the phone and I was shaking and wanted to cry from frustration. Because he continually accused us of the broken window, and how terrible he was speaking to me.
I just don't know what to do. Any help is appreciated thanks.