Stopwatch #1: The NBA, AoT, & Fredo Bang
This is the first edition of a monthly series that I want to do called Stopwatch. Each month, I want to stop and take some time to share some stray thoughts about things I’ve been interested in. I’m planning to do about 3–5 things a month so I hope you’ll enjoy!
NBA Season: COVID Edition
As anyone that knows me can attest to, I am a diehard NBA fan. If you look through my personal TL on Twitter, you will always find an assortment of NBA highlights, stats, stories, and memes. I probably love the NBA a little too much to keep it real. So when it was announced that the new NBA season would indeed go on, I was ecstatic initially. I had my concerns at first but since the players agreed to it, I felt that it was okay.
However, after the first quarter of the season, my uneasiness has only grown. I have enjoyed witnessing LaMelo Ball’s flashes of greatness this year, Jaylen Brown’s ascension to stardom, and LeBron James’ constant reminder that he is still the best player in the world. But, it is weird to see and enjoy those things while we see the Washington Wizards and other teams get devastated by COVID and numerous games postponed.
It’s heartbreaking to see Asia Durr, WNBA player for the New York Liberty, discuss her struggles with COVID and the uncertainty of whether she will play basketball ever again:
After losing seven of his family members to COVID, KAT himself contracted COVID in what must feel like a nightmare of a year for him:
All of this contributes to my uneasiness. We don’t know what the long term effects are from this virus. Players have continued to become infected and it doesn’t seem to matter. That worries me. I understand that the NBA has brought a lot of joy to people amid this pandemic. Shit, it has brought me a lot of joy. I enjoyed the bubble and seeing my favorite player of all-time win another championship. But it also doubles as a distraction.
When the pandemic first began and the world “shut down”, it brought to light a lot of the injustices and inequities of our society. Without the usual capitalistic inventions to distract us, people started to become more aware of the wrongs we face daily. There was a lot of momentum over the summer with people supporting bail funds and mutual aid and pressuring celebrities to do the same. It was good energy but it seems to have lost some of its fire. I don’t want to diminish the work that people are continuing to do. But, a lot of people are unfocused on the issues at hand. Over 400,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Yet, we all just go about our days like it is normal.
I think it is important to find joy within moments like this. Otherwise, how would we all go on living? I probably will continue to watch games. But should I? When I know it is distracting me from more important things? That’s something I’ll have to answer for myself and something that we should all consider.
Attack On Titan: Who is on the right side?
Attack On Titan has been a joy to watch this Winter anime season. I was worried about it from the beginning knowing that it is the final season. I felt that there was so much content to cover and didn’t know how they would cover it all in one season. I still don’t know how they will do that but I am still enjoying it nonetheless. Eren’s character development has been incredible to see and he is now one of my favorite characters. I am so intrigued at what his final Titan form will look like as he continues to collect new Titans like infinity stones.
The ultimate question I have been wondering about while watching this season is who should I be rooting for. We’ve grown to love Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. However, because of the beginning episodes of this season, my sympathy for Marley and the Eldians still in the country has grown. The Eldians are currently being oppressed. But, it also seems that the Eldians may have done a lot of oppressing themselves:
This was a really good video that broke down the different versions of Titan history. Apparently, it’s a part of a series that breaks down the real truth. I didn’t watch them though because I’m scared of spoilers as I haven’t read the manga. Ultimately, it does make me think that parts of all of the stories have some truth to them. The Eldians aren’t completely blameless.
So can we really blame Marley for what they are doing? To some extent, we can. Their hate for Marley may be justified but their imperialistic tendencies are not. What about the Eldians in Marley? They’ve been enslaved and fed propaganda for them to hate their own brethren. To add to that, can we even blame the current Eldians on Paradis Island? They have no recollection of their history before the Walls. Are these really their sins to bear?
I personally haven’t come to a really good conclusion on this for myself. Currently, I’m just rooting for Eren because that’s my guy. It’s been awesome to see him go to work on his enemies and I know the pain he has been through. We also have Captain Levi, Mikasa, and Armin. How can I root against them?
Fredo Bang — Top Remix
Each month, I’m probably going to talk about my favorite song currently. Right now, it’s Top Remix feat Lil Durk. I heard Fredo Bang for the first time on a Moneybagg Yo tape last year. The song is good but I didn’t check him out anymore after that. One of his songs popped up on my New Music Weekly playlist and I remembered him so I decided to check it out. This led me to listen to his new project In The Name of Gee (Still Most Hated). Overall, the tape is cool and the first five songs stick out to me the most. However, when I heard “Top”, I fell in love with it. His melody, the beat, even some of the lyrics. The chorus is my shit though:
Mama, I’m a stepper, I can’t walk by fate
Every day, I wake up to some brand new hate
Every nigga opps, every nigga want some, it’s on everybody top
All these storms that I weathered, most couldn’t take
I got problems with some niggas ’cause I won’t be fake
Every nigga opps, every nigga want some, it’s on everybody top
“Mama, I’m a steppa, I can’t walk by fate” has been in my head this whole week. The song is an interesting dichotomy because the production and the way he is singing is upbeat while he is talking about people hating on him and weathering storms. Honestly though, it might be on purpose. Despite his trials and tribulations, Fredo Bang still has been able to persevere through.You can see it in the video. His haters haven’t got him down. He’s smiling and with his boys.
Safe to say, this is one of the best songs of 2021 so far. I’m excited to see what is in store for the rest of Fredo’s 2021. But, this type of track is a good combination for him. Whenever a southern rapper (Fredo is from Baton Rouge) starts the melodic rap singing, sign me up.
