Approx 5 minute read:

📔 Happy 7-11 day to all who celebrate

💰 They’ll know the name Haaland

🎵 Cohen’s funniest character is coming back

🎴 Some tech stuff pour vous

I’m back in my hiphop bag this week - I just couldn’t take it, I had to go back. Even when I try to play non-hiphop stuff that I like, somehow I get fed a track that just ropes me back in.

The other day I was on my way to pick up my kid and What You Know by TI came on…it was over. My mind switched over to that TI vs TIP, King, Paper Trail run TI had in the mid 2000’s.

So yeah, this week you’re getting a bunch of that. Also this playlist will SLAP in the gym, I promise you.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you have now learned a bit of the more common things about soccer:

#1 - It’s called football.

#2 - Argentina gets all the calls.

#3 - Zlatan doesn’t like Alexi.

And you might have also discovered this guy

He is Erling Haaland, one of the greatest athletes in the world, who you probably didn’t know existed until a few weeks ago.

Note to self (I’m speaking on behalf of you, the reader): Don’t miss any more of this man’s games.

Erling was well known around the world already (because well, football is a global sport) except for in the US for the most part. So it’s very fascinating to see what happens when you introduce a global phenom to the US - kinda like what happened or is currently happening with Lisa from Blackpink in the US as well.

I’m not gonna sit here and lie to you and act like I was the biggest Haaland fan prior to the WC. I watched him play and knew he was an insane goal scorer but firstly, I’m a Man United supporter, not a City guy (he plays for Manchester City in England).

And secondly, I don’t even know where one watches soccer on TV on our side of the world?

I’ve been watching Erling’s vlogs though and it’s obvious the US exposure has propelled his internet presence into the next stratosphere - especially his YouTube channel.

Generally pro athlete’s channels tend to suck. I’m not a Tom Brady fan, so yes, his YouTube is boring, don’t @ me. Erling’s is actually a lot of fun, it’s got the typical vlog style you expect from a YouTuber, not from a superstar athlete.

The only downside is dude has lead his country to the quarterfinals so the vlogs aren’t as frequent and not as long as they were before. Either way this is so good 👇 - highly recommend adding him to your algo.

We live in a world now where when you walk down the street if someone approaches you acting weird, the almost immediate reaction is either they’re homeless or they’re trying to prank you.

Roman Atwood is the YouTube OG although I always found his pranks so vanilla. It wasn’t until the Nelk Boys started taking off around 2015 that prank videos had a whole new stature on YouTube.

As prank videos became more of a thing, it became harder to actually pull something off in public that was actually entertaining. It’s gotten to the point now where if someone’s wearing Meta RayBans you immediately get skeptical about whether they’re filming or not.

So this why I have no idea how Sacha Baron Cohen just wrapped filming an Ali G movie in secrecy, one of his most popular characters ever. Back in the late 90’s/early 2000s Cohen could get away filming Da Ali G Show and confusing people he interviewed because there wasn’t any widespread internet coverage of who he was or what he was.

If you don’t know who Ali G is, he was this urban gangster track suit wearing persona Sasha Baron Cohen made up, where he pretends to be from the hood, and then goes and has serious conversations while sounding like a road man from east London. Because these people didn’t know they were being pranked, they’d try really hard to answer his ridiculous questions seriously.

Like when he interviewed Trump!

Eventually around 2004 the character became way too popular and it became too hard to fool people so Cohen had to retire Ali G altogether.

It’s been 20+ years and a new generation has no clue who Ali G is now.

It seems like enough time has passed that a whole new set of people wouldn’t be able to figure out who Ali G really is. But still, who knows how he was able to film an entire movie in character - I can’t wait to find out.

No word on the film’s official release yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ali G popped up in everyone’s algo later this year.

The best tech of 2026 list (so far) was just released and it has a list of a good 21 things that are gadget of the year contenders. But I’m not about to take you through 21 products.

I’ll give you 3 - these 3 are the most interesting out of the entire list and if you were going to buy one, I’d probably go with #3 given the season we’re in a the moment.

This thing plays cassette tapes…and yes I realize you don’t have any. So go start a collection and get your retro on. Charge this thing in less than 2 hours and then play your music wirelessly or wired depending on how Gen Z you are. This thing is dope.

These sensor-packed 2x4 pieces bring LEGO playsets to life with real-time lights, sounds, and motion. Technically you can do that all yourself with regular Lego and your imagination, but when you’re flying your Lego TIE Fighter around and it’s making all the sounds and lights for you, it’s actually pretty damn cool.

The one thing I like about Dyson is they always design their products very intentionally, with a lot of use behind the physical form factor - like how you old the thing tends to blend in with how the thing gets used so seamlessly. In the case of this fan, the thing blows at 65K RPM’s which will FOR SURE cool you down on the hottest day. And you can clip this to your clothes, wear it around your neck, or have it stand up straight on your desk to just BLOW at you.