In the exclusive environment of skilled basketball, where the powerful and zeitgeist stretch their legs because the motion gallops, the cover T-shirt is becoming an increasingly common sight, seen on everyone from Teyana Taylor to Rich Paul. And yes, the players donned the duds.

Shirts are guided by business realities. But nobody could turn a soppy magazine run by a handful of dedicated, sarcastic people right into a cultural shorthand, a secret handshake for basketball fans. Allen Iverson on the cover was not the identical as AI on the cover in a retro Sixers jersey and impressive style.

covers all the time hit in a different way.

Even of their sorry state, long-established print magazines tend toward a dignity that has never been ascribed to “The Basketball Bible.” This can be a key reason why it continues to be so popular.

“I always considered myself your friends.” said basketball photographer Jon Lopezwho took photos for the cover of the magazine. “Someone from the neighborhood you grew up with who speaks your language and understands your game language, as opposed to this overachieving character you’ll never get to be around, and you’ll be lucky if I ever get a call from them.”

Long before eighth-graders had highlight tapes and ladies’s basketball hoops began gaining respectability, the publication didn’t stick with the NBA and men’s college hoops, staples of most major sports magazines. Attention was paid to playgrounds and the highschool. Chamique Holdsclaw, then a superstar on the University of Tennessee, was featured on the cover in October 1998. , Dawn Staley said, “truly understands the game and the culture of our game – not just Black culture.”

It began before you broke your back. Dennis Page, founder and publisher of , told journalist Alex Wong that he desired to do for athletes what the cover did for musicians.

When access to player photos was finally granted, he was joyful to relinquish control, said Russ Bengtson, the magazine’s editor-in-chief from 1999 to 2004.

“I think a big part of what makes us great and what makes us great is the trust in the players themselves,” he said. “They are the arbiters of what’s cool, not us. We are the delivery system for this. When I used to be an editor, I won’t think I knew what was cool any higher than Allen Iverson. This meant players didn’t must resort to stiff poses and ‘it’s over’ smiles during official NBA and team photo shoots. They could wear headbands or chains they even swap shirts with their teammates.

Lopez didn’t mention anything in regards to the cover, which does not feel corporate. Former editor-in-chief Tony Gervino told Wong that the turning point was: May 1995 cover with Latrell Sprewell and Tim Hardaway Golden State Warriors, neither of them were smiling.

“They were little-known players to the national audience and we wanted to plant our flag as an anti-establishment basketball magazine,” Gervino said. The goal, Bengtson added, was to make the players seem like rap stars.

“It was one of those things that you wanted, no matter what you achieved as a player… you wanted to have a cover,” said Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who granted his wish January 2000 issue. (He was also a part of that iconic 1996 rookie class.) It was greater than just being considered an excellent player. It instilled a certain street authority, “a certain kind of swagger, a coolness in you,” the 2002 All-Star said.

wasn’t your father’s basketball magazine. “My dad read,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I was reading.” Likewise his son. Abdur-Rahim, who serves as president of the G League, said his cover “makes me think I’m the older guy” amongst players.

Staley, who won three NCAA championships while coaching the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team, was the primary coach to land the job solo cover. “We have a pretty big ego,” said Staley, a Hall of Fame shortstop, “but you never think you’re big enough to be on the cover.”

Swagger only sells a certain variety of magazines. Even though, as Lopez said, it has adapted to the amusement park hall of cracked mirrors that’s the digital age – “They’re doing a great job of combining print with digital” – magazines must always reinvent themselves. So when Page was visited by Lynn Bloom, director of authentications and archives at Mitchell & Ness, he had an idea: “Don’t you think people would wear T-shirts with covers?”

The partnership made sense. “Their covers are spectacular,” Bloom wrote in an email. “They use the best photographers in the industry, ensuring that the photos are always striking and memorable.” And there may be synergy. “In many cases, the athletes on the cover are wearing jerseys that we now make, so it’s a natural fit.”

The jerseys allow people to “represent both their favorite players and them,” noted Adam Figman, CEO of . But it is a revenue stream and a cross-promotion bonanza. “It’s great that we have found a new way to grow our business,” Figman said in an email. “Media is a tough business and these T-shirt covers have helped us grow significantly.” He notes that the T-shirts have been illegal for years.

When Staley visited her hometown of Philadelphia, the neighborhood boys wore her T-shirt. “It’s such a cool, cultural element,” she said, “that connects or reconnects people who really know you.”

When Bengtson worked on the magazine, the cover was “a very ephemeral thing.” Yes, staff will sweat reading covers and other details, but “those things will disappear after a month or a month and a half.” Although he sells T-shirts featuring today’s stars, “the cover has become part of the player nostalgia” – Vince Carter, Shaquille O’Neal and so forth. Bengtson adds that lots of the photos became “the definitive images of these guys.”

The cover, Figman said, “remains one of the most coveted media properties in the sports and basketball world, and the cover T-shirts are another opportunity for us to show how moving the cover is.”

Does this translate into people buying the difficulty of the magazine?

“It’s possible, but probably not common,” Figman admits. “I feel it’s more likely that somebody will see another person wearing the shirt on the cover and either think, ‘I want that shirt,’ or ‘I hope my favorite player is on a future cover so I can get that shirt when it is going to occur.”

Although he recently celebrated his thirtieth birthday^vol anniversary and was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, “is still a humble operation,” Bengtson said. “It’s still The Wizard of Oz. You pull away the screen of this extremely professional-looking, glossy magazine, and there’s still only a few people doing it.” Figman stated that the power to remain relevant on the cover is partly attributed to the staff’s “elite understanding of both who’s hot at the moment and who’s next.”

In the everlasting temporary industry, an influential magazine enjoys greater importance. There is one other profit for some former employees. “It’s cool to see that the story lives on in a different format now,” Bengtson said. “It’s cool to see.”

Premiering in theaters on Friday, November 8, the film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama “The Piano Lesson” is a real family affair. Denzel Washington and oldest daughter Katia Washington are executive producers of the film, which was directed by his youngest son Malcolm, in addition to oldest son John David Washington. The matriarch of the family, Pauletta Washington, and Malcolm’s twin, Olivia, also appear as younger and older versions of the same character.

IN recent interview with “Additional” correspondent Mona Kosar Abdi, Denzel discussed working with family and specifically learn how to do it his son Malcolm did this in his first foray as a feature film director.

“When he started, you know, calling it ‘Action,’ and here we go, here we go. We’ll see what he does, you know,” said the patriarch and legend of cinema. As it turned out, Malcolm was up to the challenge. “He was so prepared that there was no reason to be nervous on the first day,” Denzel added.

John David, star of “The Piano Lesson,” agreed, saying, “I couldn’t have picked a better leader to do this. I was excited to see how (Malcolm) saw the work, how he saw the words. He is a brilliant man, my brother, and yet he is very open and susceptible to ideas and cooperation. So I love that quality of his, and he definitely applied it to our work environment, so it was easy,” he continued. “I didn’t think of him as a brother, I thought of him more as who he is, which is a phenomenal director. So in that respect it was easy because I’m just a fan of his work.”

However, it was the influence of one other member of the Washington family that dominated the film; Denzel’s wife, actress and mother of 4 children Pauletta Washington.

“She was on set with us and Denzel always said she was the producer,” said the co-executive producer. Todd Black, noting that the veteran actress plays “a huge part of all four children’s lives” and guides them “with such care, guidance and a strong hand.”

Denzel had a rather different opinion about his wife’s influence on his son Malcolm, who dedicated the film “The Piano Lesson” to her.

“Where’s Dad?” the Oscar winner joked about the dedication, adding, “I’ve been waiting — it’ll keep scrolling, something else will come up.”

He added: “He – and I say this with all love and he’ll let you know – (Malcolm) is a mama’s boy. He will now be sitting on his mother’s lap.

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For John David, the experience of working along with his parents and siblings — together with Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, Corey Hawkins, Ray Fisher, Stephan James, Erykah Badu and more — was helpful as they worked to further his artistic legacy.

“We were all in the trenches together,” he said. “Likewise, we understand the traditions here, we understand the importance and importance and how relevant August (Wilson) continues to be, and it is our job to lead and uphold that message.”

Thanks to this production, the legacy of the Washington family continues to grow. “I understand, respect and take with me the artists that both my parents are, the people they were before they met, the artists they are, and I try to maintain it and instill it in every project” Jan Dawid continued. “I come to art humble, hungry and longing for knowledge. I just wish to proceed to learn, grow and expand who I will be.

“I think if I do that and attack with urgency, ferocity and ruthlessness, I think that’s how I can maintain or sustain the legacy.”

“The Piano Lesson” is now available in select U.S. theaters and might be streaming on Netflix on November 22.

Before the most important night of music, official list of nominees The 2025 annual GRAMMY Awards were announced today. The most decorated Grammy winner in history with 32 nods, none aside from Beyoncé, leads with 11 nominations. This season Super Bowl performer and 16-time winner Kendrick Lamar has a shot at two more. Cardi B has the potential so as to add a tenth trophy to her mantle.

To highlight their success, artists exhibit their most historic looks of the 12 months on the Grammy Awards. In 2004, Beyoncé wore smoky purple eyeshadow that faded on her cheeks as she clutched five awards between her ring-clad fingers. Erykah Badu, nominated this 12 months for Best Melodic Rap Performance from Rhapsody, posed Angela Davis-style with metallic lips when she won in 2003.

Endorsed by Kendrick Lamar rapper Doechii attended her first Grammys of 2022 in a red ponytail with extensions and a black and metallic stiletto. Meanwhile, Cardi B 2019 Dressed Like a Flower Stem with Pearls Wrapped Around Her Updo, Afro Accessory Beats the Artist Tems lent to her 2023 buns with matching gold metallic eyeshadow.

To have a good time a few of our favourite 2025 GRAMMY nominees and get enthusiastic about their 2025 awards show looks, take a have a look at their best GRAMMY beauty moments.

Beyoncé, forty sixth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Beyoncé – nominated for 11 2025 GRAMMY Awards – opted for purple eyeshadow and a sleek hairstyle on the forty sixth Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Brandy and Monica, forty first Annual GRAMMY Awards

Brandy and Monica – nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in Ariana Grande’s “The Boy Is My” – arrived in metallic lipstick and glitter eye shadow on the forty first Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Cardi B, 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards

This 12 months’s Best Rap Performance nominee Cardi B attended the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards in a pearl hairstyle and daring eye shadow.

Erykah Badu, forty fifth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Erykah Badu, nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance, attended the forty fifth Annual GRAMMY Awards with an Angela Davis-esque hairstyle and henna on her biceps.

Alicia Keys, fiftieth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Composer and lyricist Alicia Keys was nominated for best musical theater album, years after she showed off her wins with pink lipstick and a straight, raw haircut.

Tems, sixty fifth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Tems was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards: Best R&B Song, Best World Music Album and Best African Music Performance, and attended the sixty fifth Awards in gold eyeshadow and chocolate lipstick.

SZA, sixtieth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Nominated for best R&B performance and best R&B song, SZA showed up in a voluminous wig and eyelashes to match the sixtieth annual GRAMMY Awards.

A$AP Rocky, 2019 GRAMMY Gala

A$AP Rocky – nominated on this 12 months’s Best Music Video category – wore his signature braids and a neat manicure through the 2019 GRAMMY gala.

Coco Jones, sixty fifth GRAMMY Awards

Coco Jones, nominated for best R&B song and best R&B performance, showed as much as the sixty fifth GRAMMY Awards in matte lips that contrasted along with her glitter eyeshadow.

Jon Batiste, 66th GRAMMY Awards

Jon Batiste – nominated for ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’ and ‘Best Musical Film’ – showed off clean skins and places ultimately 12 months’s awards.

Doechii, sixty fourth Annual GRAMMY Awards

Doechii – nominated for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Remixed Recording – sported a straightforward red ponytail on the sixty fourth Annual GRAMMY Awards.