Drake’s “Headlines” is his 3rd track off of Take Care. He told Billboard he picked this song as his pre-released single but, “By no means is it the best song on my album, it’s really just the song for this moment, right now. I always try to put forth a song with a message. A lot of people pick their single by what’s the strongest song. I don’t really do that. I like to make sure that the content is very relevant to right now.” It came out on August 9, ‘11 and it hit #13 on US Billboard Hot 100 & #2 on US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. I just remember this song being played on Hot 97 & Power 105.1 every time you would turn on their station and it was right around the time I got my license so of course this song is nostalgic.
Haven’t thought about this before, but most news headlines start with if it bleeds it leads which makes sense with the opening 2 lines. If you flip on any channel, you’re far more likely to hear about overdoses than you would a firefighter saving a cat from a tree. I too was at one point drinking every night, but not for any accomplishments, more so just to try and grow the brand around #GuinnessChallengeSeason. Also compliments, confidence, consequence, accomplishments, and consciousness all rhyme.
It’s pretty funny to think somebody would tell Drake when he was just starting off his music career that he had already fallen off. It sounds like he needed to hear that as motivation.
Here a girl is telling Drake that he has to deliver on this Take Care album or else they’ll be done with his music. Uses a bit of wordplay by saying his new music is late (overdue).
His hypothetical response is to question why is all of this expected of him, while also admitting that he understands why this is. He hears the wishes and criticisms, plus has high expectations for himself.
He’s worried the more compliments he receives from his fans will hype up him to where it gets to his head. In addition, other rappers will get jealous of the acclaim he is receiving so “catching a body” in this case means he will have to eventually get into a few rap feuds. As mentioned before on Week to Week Notes, when Drake’s music career first started off he was coming off being a teenage actor on Degrassi and some just thought of his rap as just a hobby. When his fans get his new music and play they know he’s going to deliver.
This chorus just brings me back to being a kid driving around with a junior license. Fun times.
Dorian Singer is from Saint Paul, Minnesota but has always played college ball out west. The junior pass catcher transferred from Arizona to USC this past spring after having a breakout season with the Wildcats in ‘22. As a freshman at Arizona, Singer played in their final 5 games averaging 60.2 receiving yards per game. He entered his sophomore season as a starter and took off last year for 1,105 yards on 66 receptions with 6 touchdowns. USC has quite a few stud WRs for their Heisman-winning QB, Caleb Williams, but expectations are high on Singer as he has chosen to wear #15 for the Trojans. The past two USC WRs to wear that number were All-American future NFL pros Nelson Agholor and Drake London. Singer against USC last season had 7 catches for 141 yards with not 1, but 2 one-handed catch TDs. Clearly, the former Wildcat WR possesses good hands, body control, and can make acrobatic catches in traffic.
Nate Wiggins is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. After a ‘21 freshman season where he played special teams and made the ACC Honor Roll, Wiggins played the most snaps out of the entire Clemson secondary as a sophomore. In 11 starts in ‘22, Wiggins was credited with 22 tackles (2.0 for loss), a team-high 12 pass breakups, a blocked field goal, and an interception on Drake Maye which he returned for a 98-yard TD. His pick-6 was the longest play in ACC Championship history. This earned Wiggins a 1st-team All-ACC selection. At 6’2”, Wiggins will have the ideal size and speed to guard big WRs in the pros. Lastly, he has changed his number from #20 to #2, which is pretty bold for a DB and he now shares the digit with former Clemson All-Americans Mackensie Alexander, DeAndre McDaniel, and Brian Mance.
Jaheim Bell’s hometown is Lake City, Florida, but by the time he was in high school had moved to Valdosta, Georgia. The junior redshirt played transferred from South Carolina to Florida State this past spring. As a freshman in ‘20, Bell was limited in playing time after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. In ‘21, Bell saw action in 13 games where he had 30 catches for 497 receiving yards and 5 receiving TDs in a traditional TE role. PFF named him 2nd-Team All-SEC in ‘21. Last season, Bell took on more of a Swiss Army type of role for the Gamecocks as they lined him up as a TE, a WR, and even in the backfield. In ‘22 he had 25 catches for 231 receiving yards and 2 receiving TDs combined with 73 rush attempts for 261 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs. South Carolina used him as a short-yardage RB, or fullback if you will. I would expect Jaheim Bell to still be used as a Swiss Army type of player as a Seminole and the versatile football player should be even more effective because he is now joining a loaded offense of WR Johnny Wilson and RB Trey Benson.
Amarius Mims is originally from Cochran, Georgia, which is about 2 hours south of his University. Mims is 6’7” and 330 lbs. with a 7-foot wingspan. The only reason I’ve been hesitant to put him on the list is because he has yet to start a college football game. It is not his fault that the Bulldogs have had stud tackles his senior and the SEC already sees the talent in him as they have named him to the Preseason Media All-SEC First Team. Mims saw 61 snaps in the College Football Semifinal against the Ohio State Buckeyes and had the second-highest PFF grade for the UGA offense with 81.2 grade. With more seasoning, expect Mims to move up the Week to Week Notes rankings in due time.
Tyleik Williams is from Manassas, Virginia, and will enter the ‘23 College Football season on an already loaded Ohio State defensive line. As a freshman in ‘21, Williams in 12 games had 16 tackles - 6.5 of which were tackles for a loss. That may not seem like much but he flashed enough for ESPN to name him to the Freshman All-American team. As a sophomore last year, Williams was named to the All-Big Ten Honorable Mention for the 2nd year in a row. Clearly, the 6’2” and 290 lbs. defensive tackle has impressed in spurts but now in ‘23, he expects to dominate. Williams cryptically has been Tweeting out “Free 91” for the past two seasons and Buckeye fans have been worried that he was upset at his lack of opportunity on a stacked defensive line. He addressed the press saying, “I lost, like, a lot of weight. It was baby fat. Now I’m in college shape, I think. Last year, I was just playing. Now I got my strength up, Speed, Football IQ, things like that.” As you can see from the GIF above, if Williams was just playing around last year, I would not want to be Big Ten QB going up against a freed 91.
With Rick Pitino now at the helm of St. John’s Basketball, expect the Johnnies to start stealing some Headlines in The City. Their roster has seen quite a bit of turnover since Pitino took over, here is a bit of a feature on 5 guys you can expect to watch at MSG this winter…
Joel Soriano is one of only 2 St. John’s players from last year returning. The redshirt senior center grew up in Yonkers and led Archbishop Stepinac to its first CHSAA “AA” City Championship since 1960 and the school’s first-ever New York State Federation Title. He began his college career at Fordham University where in 44 games as a Ram from ‘19 to ‘21 he averaged 6.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game with 13 double-doubles in that span. Soriano transferred after his sophomore season to the Red Storm and immediately started in 26 games in ‘21-’22 where he averaged 6.4 points and 5.5 rebounds with 7 double-doubles. Last year with St. John’s, Soriano took his game to a whole other level. He was named the Big East Most Improved Player and was selected to the All-Big East 2nd Team. He put up 15.2 points and 11.9 boards per game, with 25 double-doubles, good for 2nd in the Nation and 5 more in one season than he had in the previous 3 seasons combined. When asked about the difference between this St. John’s team and others from the years past Soriano said, “It’s definitely different, definitely got a different aura around it. Everything is a lot more, I would say, demanding. We’re way more focused.”
Jordan Dingle is from Out East on Valley Stream, Long Island. The senior guard may be the most sought after player the Rick Pitino and St. John’s were able to nab in the transfer portal. Dingle was ranked #14 out of the 247 players who entered the portal and his past 3 seasons Dingle played for Penn University. In ‘19-’20, Dingle was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year averaging 13.5 points per game. The IVY League completed cancelled hoops for the ‘20-’21 season, so Dingle’s 2nd collegiate year came in ‘21-’22 where he was unanimously selected to the All-Ivy League First Team while averaging 20.8 points per game. Dingle made more leap last season at Penn, finishing 2nd in the nation with 23.4 points per game and becoming the Ivy League Player of the Year. The shooting guard shot 35% from 3 and 86% from the free throw line. An Ivy League coach told The NY Post, “He’s just able to score from everywhere. Catch-and-shoot, he makes 3s. He makes 3s off the dribble. His mid-range game is elite and he’s athletic enough to drive in and dunk it. We’ve been pretty convinced he’s an NBA player.”
The next St. John’s newcomer transfer is also from the Ivy League. Chris Ledlum grew up in Brooklyn, NY, before transferring to a high school in Massachusetts. Ledlum the last 3 seasons has played against his new teammate Jordan Dingle at this University called Harvard. Ever heard of it? At Harvard, Ledlum increased his scoring every year, starting off at 7.3 points per game as a freshman, 16.7 as a sophomore, and 18.8 last year. His ‘22-’23 season, earned him unanimous All-Ivy First Team honors and he won the Raymond P. Lavietes ’36 Award (Harvard’s Team MVP). Ledlum at 6’6” may be a bit undersized to play the 4 spot in the NBA, but he certainly knows how to rebound in college averaging 8.8 boards the past two seasons in the Ivy League. Rick Pitino is thrilled to have the former Crimson star on board, earlier this week Slick Rick said, “He gives us another experienced front court player. We were a little thin at that spot and this reinforces what we need to have a complete roster.”
Daniss Jenkins is originally from Dallas, Texas. His path to Queens, New York has been quite an interesting one. He started his collegiate career as a Pacific Tiger in ‘19. As a freshman and sophomore in the West Coast Conference, Jenkins made 41 starts and averaged 8.4 points per game. He decided to transfer to Odessa College in Texas, a junior college a bit closer to home. At Odessa, Jenkins averaged 15 points on 40% shooting from 3 with 5.3 assists per game. This caught the eye of Rick Pitino at Iona. Pitino convinced Jenkins to become a Gael where in the MAAC, the point guard averaged 15.6 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. As soon as Pitino landed the job at St. John’s he immediately pitched Jenkins on his 4th college program. "Daniss Jenkins is a lightning-quick guard who is a tremendous leader on and off the court. He is someone we will rely on heavily to lead us into next season." - Rick Pitino
Simeon Wilcher is another local Tri-State hooper, the only difference between him and the 4 others mentioned is he will be a freshman with no college experience. Wilcher is from Plainfield, N.J. In his high school days, Wilcher played for Roselle Catholic where he scored more than 1,200 points and dished out nearly 500 assists in four seasons. The 6’4” guard helped Roselle Catholic win back-to-back NJ state titles in ‘22 and ‘23, plus was named the ‘22 Player of the Year by NJ.com. Wilcher was actually committed to playing at UNC before deciding to stay home. ESPN ranks the 4-star standout as the 28th-best freshman in the country and he is the highest-rated incoming freshman to join St. John’s in the past decade.