For anyone who thought “Not Like Us” was just a diss moment, they missed the point. Kendrick Lamar turned battle rap into a cultural anthem, with its cadence and language escaping hip-hop and showing up everywhere from schools to churches. Then he performed it at the Super Bowl—the Super Bowl.
Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at Caesars Superdome on February 9, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
For those of us who respect battle rap as one of hip-hop’s purest forms, watching that energy command America’s biggest stage felt revolutionary.
Kendrick Lamar’s Versatility Is the Real Flex
I respected Kendrick early because his flow and delivery didn’t sound like any West Coast rapper I had heard before. He was immediately set apart. I’m not a Kendrick superfan, either. I admire the craft and, maybe even more, his refusal to fit inside whatever box the music industry builds for him.
His versatility is just as powerful as his voice, and that’s where his victory lives.
We had gotten used to battle Kendrick and reflective Kendrick when “luther” arrived with SZA and completely changed the temperature. It reminded me of hearing Tupac make “I Get Around” and “Keep Ya Head Up.” Wait—this is the same dude?
Kendrick had already shown vulnerability on records like “Mother I Sober,” but “luther” brought warmth and romance without sacrificing his identity.
The song, built around Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s version of “If This World Were Mine,” became another example of a catalog that refuses to stay in one lane.
Kendrick Lamar Is Breaking Kendrick Lamar’s Records
Kendrick Lamar, winner of Record of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Best Music Video, and Song of the Year for “Not Like Us,” poses in the press room during the 67th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 2, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Now the numbers are catching up with the argument.
That BMI honor didn’t come from “luther” alone. Lamar earned it for co-writing six of the previous year’s most-performed songs — proof the run extends well past one record-breaking single.
Whether Kendrick is No. 1 on your personal rapper list almost doesn’t matter anymore. The respect is undeniable.
Streams and trophies can measure popularity. Kendrick’s best work reaches for something bigger: social value, conversation and the pulse of the culture. At his best, he doesn’t feel like simply a rapper. He feels like a great American writer who happens to rap.
And every time we think Kendrick Lamar has reached his ceiling, K. Dot builds another floor.
Chris Rock returns to filmmaking for the first time in over a decade in this new A24 film, in which the iconic comedian takes a serious turn with a drama about Hollywood and humanity.
Misty Green, set for theatrical release in the U.S. on October 9, details the premise, “Years after her Hollywood breakthrough, a talented actress whose career has stalled fights for her second act.”
Rosalind Eleazar plays the titular role in the upcoming film, with supporting roles portrayed by Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, and Rock himself. Ahead of the film’s premiere, Misty Green’s future has already been determined, thanks to a streaming deal between A24 and HBO Max.
‘Misty Green’ HBO Max Release Window, Explained
HBO Max has a “Pay-1” rights deal with A24, through its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, which was renewed in 2026, thanks to the films’ high viewership across the studio’s catalog on the platform. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the terms of the agreement state that HBO Max will hold streaming rights for A24’s film releases, and they will join HBO’s library after their theatrical and PVOD (Premium Video on Demand) release periods have ended.
Based on data from A24 films that have gone to HBO Max through this deal, the theatrical-to-streaming window for HBO and A24 under this agreement is approximately 119 days, which is around 17 weeks, or 4 months at most. Recent A24 hits, such as the record-breaking Backrooms, arrived on HBO Max exactly 119 days after their theatrical premiere date.
If Misty Green goes ahead with its planned premiere date of October 9, the new film should be available for streaming on HBO Max by Friday, February 5, 2027. These projections, as it should be noted, are based on theatrical and streaming dates in the U.S., and international versions of HBO Max will likely vary in accordance with their equivalent theatrical debut.
College football is just getting srarted, but Matt Leinart is asking fans to think beyond what happens on the field. For the third consecutive year, the former USC star is teaming up with Abbott and the Big Ten for the We Give Blood competition, an initiative aimed at addressing the country’s ongoing blood shortage.
For Leinart, the cause hits close to home. His mother had a rare blood disorder called polycythemia and ultimately required multiple blood transfusions before her death after the condition progressed to leukemia.
“So I just, when this partnership came about, it just meant a little more to me,” Leinart told Men’s Journal. “I understand the need for blood. I understand how important it is to be able to donate if you can, and because it saves lives.”
The We Give Blood competition brings together all 18 Big Ten schools in a battle to see which university can inspire the most blood donations. Abbott will award the winning school a $1 million grant to advance student health. Over the first two years of the competition, donations have helped save up to 300,000 lives.
Leinart has participated himself, donating blood for his alma mater, USC, during the first two years of the competition. And with USC now competing in the Big Ten, he has another reason to hope his fellow Trojans fans turn out in force.
“I hope so because we’ve been just not — we have not been good,” Leinart joked when asked whether he expects more USC fans to participate. He pointed to Nebraska and Wisconsin as some of the Big Ten schools that have performed well in the competition, adding that USC and UCLA need to “step up a little bit.”
Why Matt Leinart Wants Younger Fans to Get Involved
The competition’s college football connection is intentional. About 25% of blood donations currently come from people ages 65 and older, according to the campaign, making it increasingly important to encourage younger generations to become regular donors.
For Leinart, using the competitive nature of college sports to encourage people to give blood makes perfect sense.
“Fans are competitive. We know athletes are competitive no matter what they play,” he said. “So it’s like, hey, we can be competitive off the field, but in a super impactful way.”
The campaign is open to everyone, not just current college students or alumni. Anyone can donate at a U.S. blood center and represent their favorite Big Ten school, or simply donate without choosing a school.
And while the $1 million prize gives fans an obvious reason to get involved, Leinart believes the most important incentive is considerably bigger.
“One donation can save up to three lives,” he said. “To me, that’s just as impactful.”
Leinart Has a Front-Row Seat to College Football’s Changing Landscape
Leinart has experienced college football from just about every possible angle. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2004, helped USC capture a national championship, played in the NFL, and now works as a college football analyst.
That makes him particularly well-positioned to assess just how much the sport has changed since his playing days.
The biggest differences, he said, are obvious: NIL and the transfer portal have fundamentally altered the college football experience.
“When I was going to school, there were transfers and all that, but it just was rare,” Leinart said. “You went to school, you committed to that school, you were loyal to that school for the most part, and you finished out at that school for the most part.”
Leinart stressed that he supports players being compensated, but he acknowledged that something has changed along the way.
“I do think there’s a certain level of loyalty and commitment that’s gone,” he said.
His perspective is now also informed by his role as a parent. Leinart’s older son is a quarterback at SMU, giving him a firsthand look at the modern college football system from the other side of the recruiting process.
“It’s not their fault. This is the world they’re growing up in,” Leinart said of the changes.
USC Abbott blood donation
Abbott / Big Ten
Matt Leinart Is Ready for Another College Football Season
Despite all the changes, Leinart’s enthusiasm for the sport hasn’t faded. If anything, he still sounds like the same college football fan who once led USC onto the field.
There is one part of the modern preseason experience he could happily do without, though: rankings.
“I hate preseason rankings,” he said. “I think they’re just useless.”
Instead, Leinart is looking forward to seeing teams actually take the field and establish their identities. He specifically pointed to early-season matchups such as Michigan vs. Oklahoma and Texas vs. Ohio State as games that could provide an early glimpse at where some of the country’s top teams stand.
He’s also watching for the unexpected teams that emerge as the season progresses. And these days, he has an especially personal rooting interest in SMU, where his son plays quarterback.
But before the games take over, Leinart has one more message for college football fans.
“Just go,” he said when asked what he’d tell someone who has been considering donating blood but hasn’t done it yet. “It’s just very easy to do.”
Fans can learn more about the We Give Blood competition and find information about donating at BigTen.org/Abbott. The competition runs through December 4, giving fans plenty of time to turn their school spirit into something that can make a real difference.
Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez will be reuniting once more — this time in the world of animation — for Not Alone, the Illumination film set to premiere early next year.
“When Joe (Chalamet) and Fran (Gomez) are brought together to prepare for the inaugural launch of this revolutionary rocket, there are immediate sparks, but neither is particularly adept at romance,” Sony’s official logline teases.
“Life becomes more complicated when three aliens—tiny, unruly and adorable—take refuge in Joe’s home. Dunk (Rob Brydon), Welly (Diane Morgan) and Shirm (Jamie Demetriou) are on the interplanetary run from a zealous-yet-inept officer of the law named Zandro. The aliens determine that Fran’s rocket could provide their means of getting back home to safety.”
Thanks to a deal between Illumination (as part of Universal), Peacock, and Netflix, the intergalactic romance movie will be taking off to streaming shortly after its theatrical debut.
‘Not Alone’ Streaming Release Window, Explained
As a Universal Pictures production, Not Alone presumably falls under Universal Pictures’ current streaming deal with Peacock and Netflix. The terms of the partnership deal state that films will stay in theaters for a maximum of 120 days, before making their streaming debut on Peacock for 4 months.
Once those 4 months (or 16 weeks/120 days) are over, Netflix adds the Universal film to its library for 10 months, after which Peacock will have the streaming rights to the film once more, for an undefined timeframe. This is a similar streaming journey that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, another Illumination/Universal film, embarked on.
If Not Alone keeps its planned theatrical premiere date of April 16, 2027, the animated film should arrive on Peacock by Saturday, 14 August 2027. 120 days from there, Not Alone should join Netflix’s catalog by Sunday, 12 December 2027 at the latest. After that, it should remain on the streaming juggernaut until fall 2028 — that is, if the constantly shifting world of streaming services and acquisitions stays somewhat stable.
WWE is bringing more star power from the music world to Sunday Night’s Main Event, with hip-hop artist Quavo set to take the stage for a special performance.
WWE confirmed the news on its official website. “Hip Hop Superstar Quavo will open Sunday Night’s Main Event in his hometown of Atlanta, performing an unreleased track off his upcoming album QROMELIFE, due out on all platforms soon,” WWE wrote.
“A lifelong fan of WWE, Quavo has made appearances at WWE Day 1, where his group Migos’ song ‘Straightenin’ was the official theme song for the PLE, took in WWE Bad Blood at ringside alongside Lil Yachty, and Yeeted alongside ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso on Raw in January of 2025.”
The “HOTEL LOBBY (Unc & Phew)” singer won’t be the only musical artist at the event as rapper Lil Yachty will face WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin later in the show. Should Yachty survive five minutes in the ring with Corbin, his friend and WWE star Trick Williams will earn a championship rematch against Corbin on the same night.
More Matches Announced for SNME
Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton speak during SmackDown at Canadian Tire Centre on August 28, 2026 in Ottawa, Ontario. (Photo by Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images)
Elsewhere at Sunday Night’s Main Event, former friends Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes will collide in a WrestleMania 42 rematch. “The Viper” returned at SummerSlam to ensure that Rhodes lost his Undisputed WWE Championship bout against CM Punk. Now, they’ll face off once more, with tensions higher than ever.
Two of WWE’s biggest titans, Bron Breakker and Oba Femi, will also wrestle each other to determine who is the true future of the company. In six-woman tag team competition, former world champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss will partner with Tatum Paxley to take on Jade Cargill, B-Fab, and Michin.
WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event will emanate from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on Sept. 6, streaming live on Peacock in the United States and YouTube internationally.
Nearly four months after their stunning WWE departures, Kofi and Austin Creed made their highly anticipated AEW debuts on Sunday at the All In pay-per-view.
Their thrilling debuts couldn’t have gone better, either. Kofi and Creed teamed up with Swerve Strickland in the Trios Roulette Royale to claim the AEW World Trios Championship.
Kofi and Creed performed as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods in WWE, respectively. Since 2014, they were part of the legendary New Day stable, along with Big E, before the latter had to retire after a career-ending neck injury in 2022.
In a recent Q&A session, TC of WrestleVotes (h/t Ringside News) reported that one WWE source thinks the company is feeling some “regret” over the decision to move on from New Day.
“I did meet up with a source in WWE,” T. “He told me that this is the first time he thinks there is regret on WWE’s side of things for not having them come back. This is the first time there is a disconnect between TKO and WWE. The person I spoke to today said, ‘You know what? Maybe TKO mismanaged this one.’ People in WWE never wanted to see them leave.”
Other notable WWE talents to leave in 2026 include Apollo Crews, Sheamus, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Kairi Sane and the Wyatt Sicks stable.
WWE Reportedly Asked New Day to take Pay Cuts
Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston making their WrestleMania 41 entrance.
With an all-star cast, The Hunger Games prequel Sunrise on The Reaping is providing all the glitz and glamour of the Capitol. The film, based on the Suzanne Collins book of the same name, sees some of the franchise’s most iconic characters almost a quarter of a century before the original Hunger Games story takes place.
Oscar winner Kieran Culkin will take over from Stanley Tucci, and Elle Fanning will portray a younger Elizabeth Banks, portraying two of the games’ most eccentric characters, Caesar Flickerman and Effie Trinket, respectively. Ralph Fiennes will portray President Coriolanus Snow and Jesse Plemons will play Plutarch Heavensbee, originally performed by late actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland. Newcomer Joseph Zada will take on the lead role as Haymitch Abernathy (originally played by Woody Harrelson), with the film following the young tribute’s experiences as a Hunger Games tribute.
The highly-anticipated prequel is set to premiere in November this year, with a planned streaming window with Lionsgate Films’ partners in the months following its release.
‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on The Reaping’ Prime Video Streaming Window, Explained
Lionsgate has its own streaming service, Starz, which becomes the automatic first-stop streaming home of all of the studio’s properties, once the theatrical and Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) windows come to an end.
Lionsgate also has a streaming deal with Amazon Prime Video, where films will reach the much larger streamer after making its debut on Starz. Major hits for the studio, such as Now You See Me: Now You Don’t or The Housemaid, are some of the most famous examples of the theatrical-Starz-Prime trajectory (per The Hollywood Reporter).
The average gap between a Lionsgate theatrical debut and its arrival on Starz is roughly 4 and-a-half months, according to data collected by 3Vision. This seems to be the case for the Lionsgate Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which premiered in late April and is set to join Starz on August 10.
With this in mind, and given that The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is set to premiere theatrically on November 20, the film should reach Starz by Friday, 29 January 2027, which is 10 weeks from that date. There is no solid data, however, that has been published regarding the average window between Starz and Amazon Prime Video.
However, a recent Forbes report estimated Michael would arrive on Prime from Starz around late 2026 or early 2027, giving the film a good few months to half a year on the smaller platform. Should this trajectory happen again for The Hunger Games, fans of the franchise who want to stream the video on Prime should expect it around the Summer 2027 mark.
The first game of the NFL season is right around the corner, so while we’re waiting I figured I should try to predict who will win each division. I already wrote about the AFC, you can check that out by clicking the link below. Now it is time for the NFC.
Let’s start off with what could be the best division in football. Last year the Seattle Seahawks topped the division with a 14-3 record with the Los Angeles Rams coming in second place at 12-5. The Seahawks and Rams would ultimately face off in the NFC Championship game with Seattle coming out on top. The 49ers had a solid season going 12-5 and the Cardinals… well they didn’t do so well posting a 3-14 record. I think it will once again come down to the Seahawks and Rams, but this time with the addition of Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald the Rams will take the crown from Seattle.
NFC East
The Philadelphia Eagles have won this division each of the past two years, winning the Super Bowl in 2024. The Washington Commanders fell off after a great 2024 campaign and the Cowboys remained mediocre, slightly improving on their 7-10 record by way of a tie, finishing 2025 out at 7-9-1. The New York Giants looked fun to start the season but struggled with injuries down the stretch. I think that the Eagles will once agian win this division, with the Cowboys right behind them. I’m not sure if the Giants have done enough to improve and the Commanders are in for another long season.
NFC North
The NFC North is another solid division, with the Bears winning it last season at 11-9, the Packers coming in second at 9-7-1, the Vikings going 9-8 and the Lions going 8-9. I think that the first place schedule might hold Chicago back from repeating and if Jordan Love and the Packers stay healthy I expect them to take first place this season, with the Vikings and Lions likely hovering around the same records as last season.
NFC South
There’s a pretty popular meme about how each fanbase in the South thinks they can win because the other teams are so bad. That makes it a bit difficult to predict which team will end up on top because none of these teams are particularly great. Last year the Carolina Panthers won the division at 8-9 with the Buccaneers and Falcons losing out on tiebreakers with the same record. The Saints finished 6-11 but they might have one of the better up and coming quarterbacks. For that reason I’m picking the Saints to shock everyone and win the South. The division is no stranger to a team coming in last and then winning the division as it happened many times after realignment.
So where do you think I’m wrong? Where am I right? Let me know in the comments.
“Choosin’ Texas” is choosin’ to stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The Ella Langley mega-hit has shattered a record on the aforementioned chart, remaining in the No. 1 spot for a whopping 20 weeks. It’s officially the longest run ever for a non-holiday song.
Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ Is Longest-Running No. 1 Non-Holiday Song
Langley released the track on Oct. 17, 2025, as the first single from her sophomore studio album, Dandelion. The country star co-wrote it with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joybeth Taylor. It’s Langley’s first No. 1 single on the Hot 100, entering said chart on Nov. 1, 2025, at No. 39 before climbing to the top spot on Feb. 14, 2026. The song has also dominated the US Hot Country Songs and US Country Airplay charts.
Per Billboard, “Choosin’ Texas” is the second track in the chart’s 68-year history to hold this distinction, the first being, you guessed it, Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which had a 22-week run at No. 1. Carey’s Christmas classic has returned to the Hot 100 every year since its first No. 1 in 2019.
Langley expressed delight over the tune’s popularity. “We loved the song when we wrote it, but none of us thought that it would be the song to do everything it’s doing. It keeps giving us a reason to celebrate new milestones.”
“Choosin’ Texas” has amassed 24.2 million streams and a remarkable 56.8 million radio airplay impressions. Beyond the US, the country smash hit has skyrocketed to the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. It also peaked at No. 3 in the UK.
Disaster movies are getting a drag makeover, in Stop! That! Train!, the RuPaul-led parody film which will be coming to Netflix next month.
Directed by Adam Shankman, the filmmaker behind The Pacifier, Hairspray, and Rock of Ages, this campy train twist on films like Airplane! or Snakes on a Plane was met with praise from critics.
Stop! That! Train! is a “bonkers, star-studded, disaster comedy that follows best friends Tess and DeeDee, train stewardesses who must join forces with the snobby first class attendants and US President Judy Gagwell (RuPaul) to save the day when a catastrophic ‘Stormaganza’ threatens to derail the high-speed train,” Universal’s official synopsis reads.
Universal Pictures has a theater-to-streaming deal with Peacock and Netflix, in which both streaming services will be granted the rights to include the studio’s films in their libraries for a fixed period of time. The terms of the agreement state that a Universal film will stay in theaters for a maximum of 120 days before moving to Peacock’s streaming service for 4 months.
Once that period is over, Netflix picks up the license for the Universal film for 10 months. After those 10 months are complete, Peacock will have the streaming rights to said film once more, per What’s on Netflix’s report on the partnership.
However, just like how Stop! That! Train! isn’t your typical disaster movie, the film won’t have your typical streaming trajectory, and is facing a bit of a diversion. Normally, the film would be on Peacock by around Sunday, 10 October, based on its U.S. theatrical release date of June 12, the comedy is going full speed ahead and arriving straight on Netflix on September 20, way ahead of its original trajectory for streaming. The film may arrive at Peacock in the near future, but with RuPaul and co. at the helm, anything can happen.
