Playoff Weekend

1.18.21

Lil Wayne @ Green Bay

The long weekend has been pretty active for sports, and sport culture. After 2020 being a sad year of little sports available to watch on the television, it brought a lot of excitement to fans, and to entertainers to be able to watch their favorite sports in action again. The UFC debuted it’s 2021 season on ABC, the NFL and NBA are back in full force, and of course, playoff football is here. When it comes to sports there are three major things we look at. The athletes performance during the game or match, what they wore before hand, and what they listened to during.

First, let’s get into the music trends that made its way into sports culture over the weekend. Eminem has told us on many occasions that he has always been a sports fan, especially when it comes to boxing or MMA. He has done interviews with Mike Tyson, he made the soundtrack for Southpaw, and actually almost starred in the film. His latest tie to the sport, is that his song Higher from his latest album, Music To Be Murdered By, is the official track for the Conor McGregor versus Dustin Poirier fight that will air this upcoming Saturday on ESPN+. The commercial may be view on Eminem’s Instagram page, along with another post that asks fans to send in their own submissions of themselves singing the chorus to the song. Eminem’s website gives details for fans on how their video should be recorded, but does not go into detail about what the request is for. It would be pretty cool if there was some sort of montage when the fighters walk out on Saturday evening, but we will have to stay tuned and see where this goes.

Next up, we have plenty of hip-hop artists whom are huge and of the NFL. Buffalo’s finest, Griselda, were especially excited to see their Bills Mafia headed off to the AFC Championship, after defeating Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. That one was not even close. Bleacher Report posted an image of Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen from the Buffalo Bills. In the image, there was a grainy texture, and white bars over each players eyes. The bottom right hand corner includes the black and white bars typically seen on an album cover to note explicit content, though here reading “The Bills AFC Championship Are Comping.” This image of Diggs and Allen represents exactly the image Benny the Butcher uses on his album The Plugs I Met from 2019, but serves as a style he has used across the boards in his works. Benny reposted the image from Bleacher Report, tagging them and saying “Let’s go!” Two weeks ago, upon Buffalo’s securing their spot in the playoffs, Benny dropped a song titled Bills Mafia Anthem. Just over a minute long, the song pays great homage and support of his hometown team.

“We say mafia that means family to me, staying with the team, the best fans in the leauge.”

Benny the Butcher is not the only one creating new songs for his team, however. Lil Wayne came through with a Black and Yellow Remix, of course, supporting his Green Bay Packers, entitled Green and Yellow. The song starts off with Lil Wayne’s own flow and pays homage to several different sports, the town of Green Bay, and some legends they have had on their squad throughout the years. The chorus then picks up to sound quick familiar to the original Black and Yellow and shares some positive encouragement for his squad.

“All my Packers ready, ooh you try to count us out, count your mathematics.”

The Packers were also able to pull out a win against the LA Rams, and will now face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week in the NFC Championship. Brady beat Drew Brees last night in a match that was painfully close all the way down to the wire.

It is cool to see several legends going head to head over in the NFC. Interestingly enough, with a ton of young quarterbacks in the AFC. Drew Brees has addressed the rumors about his retirement, stating that he needs time to reflect, prior to making a formal decision for himself. He has had a great comeback year after recovering for a horrible injury of eleven broken ribs. Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes both suffered concussions during their games this weekend, so we wish them both a speedy recovery.

Next, let’s talk about what happened during the comeback of the UFC this weekend. The UFC was one sport, that you may have just gotten into over the pandemic. Where it seems like each and every league was canceling their seasons, pushing them back, or struggling to make ends meet, the UFC was able to hold it together. Dana White and his team actually made a bubble on an island that had been shut down due to Covid. While there were no fans in attendance, they were able to keep the shows coming each Saturday night. This past Saturday was their first night back since the holidays. What was so special about this night, is that it aired on ABC, so anyone could watch it. Typically you would need to stream or buy payper view. The fighters, and Dana himself were very emotional, since only few greats, such as Muhammed Ali had been able to fight on a network where anyone with cable could see.

Bruce Buffer is the legendary commentator with a voice you’ll want to recite on your own. Each and every week he comes prepared in a gorgeous new blazer, and this past weekend he did not disappoint. Bruce wore black pants and a black undershirt, with a statement piece jacket. The jacket has a grey and light brown distressed pattern, as if the scratching of different types of trees became a painting. The lapel and pockets are lined with a black velvet material, with matching black buttons on each cuff. Buffer could not have looked better, until someone came to steel his shine. If you watched live, you would know that the one who really stole the show, was a fly who came right up to the face of Buffer during his infamous announcement, causing him to aggressively shake his head back and forth during the announcement. What a night to remember, on so many different aspects.

Besides the different ways that music and sports culture have come to one, fashion has done the same thing. Everyone wants to know what sneakers or cleats players are wearing on court, and the “Tunnel Walk” has become a place where players love to flex their style. Basketball has definitely taken over the tunnel walk with the most stylish athletes to date, but really, athletes everywhere take their pre-game look very seriously. In addition Bruce Buffer’s outfit of the night, here are a few other favorite pre-game looks from this weekend.