YesJulz, Social Activist and Frequent Rager

Via @YesJulz Instagram

YesJulz, or Julienna Goddard, a 26 year-old Cuban-Caucasian, Miami, Fla. resident has quickly risen to an influential platform. She is a social scene entrepreneur with the ability to bridge gaps between a conscious message and fun environment to promote that message.

Many who have met Julz or view her SnapChat Story would describe her as a "people person." She herself says that she feeds off of people's energy.

The "Director of Vibes" got her start in high school. She found herself as a friend to many different groups of people, and always torn with how to divide her time with them. Rather than separate, she brought all of her friends together senior year by throwing a prom after party. After hosting 200 people and profiting $2,000, Julz knew she had a talent and proceeded to duplicate her promotion and party-throwing skills throughout Miami's club scene. 

SnapChat, the photo and video messaging app, works as Julz's main promotion platform, which visually captures her contagious aura and contemporary lifestyle. Viewers of her Snap saw new Champion garments when she visited Agenda trade show in Miami, fans felt a part of the group when she vacationed with Ronnie Fieg of Kith and New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, hearts warm when she delivers lunch to an under funded local elementary school as part of #HashtagLunchbag, and people experienced Travi$ Scott's Rodeo album release party or Art Basel or any of the ragers with rappers Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty all from the screen of their mobile device. "My SnapChat is kind of my therapist at this point," Julz said to Mass Appeal in an interview. Her SnapChat audience gives her visibility, her content makes her relatable, and that is why she is an asset to companies like Sprite, Beats, and EA Sports.

Along with her Snaps, her personal brand, YesJulz Agency, an all-female squad, helps businesses connect their products and messages to the movers and shakers that value them.

"I feel like we as a generation are more collaborative... I'm like, 'Oh, you got this and I got this, let's eat together. I'd rather eat with you than by myself,'" Julz said to The Durrty Boyz of Hot 107.9 in Atlanta, Ga.

Bringing people together in positive environments to have fun is Julz's best talent.

Moreover, Julz is vital to the culture because she represents the youth and understands their power. She recognizes her white skin is preferential to club honors, American people, and corporations. Some people love black culture, so long as it does not come with its Afro-American creators. In supporting musicians like Scott and Wiz Khalifa, in hiring black, Latina, and white females, and in throwing parties for free, Julz stands up for the disenfranchised minority. She is evidence of the goodness that flows in a fair and equal opportunity world.

Evidence lies in her, "#1AM" party, which travelled to Toronto, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn, and saw a diverse range of attendees because anyone is welcomed around Julz. The event is described as, "no gimmicks, no dress code, no frills. 1 AM was merely created to bring the most memorable, authentic vibes to every city unapologetically." Her last “#1AM” event in Miami was shut down by Police due to a "permit discrepancy," code for “too many people of color attending," Julz Tweeted. Rather than let blatant racism tarnish her mood and event, Julz moved the party to a different venue night-of and still had a packed crowd.

Honestly, the mistreatment and prejudices of urban youths at nightclubs, along with expensive table service, bottle fees, and the desire for dance floors, has created a scene for underground parties and intimate ragers that Julz gladly capitalizes on.

You can watch the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of Julz's #1AM Miami party below.

Prince Curry

Is Stephen Curry the greatest basketball player on the planet? 

The slender kid from Davidson College who absolutely electrified the 2008 NCAA Tournament, joining Clyde Louellette, Jerry Chambers, and Glen Robinson as the only college players to score over 30 points in their first four career tournament games, while leading his team to the Elite Eight, is not just a kid anymore.  

Five years later, Stephen Curry has amassed an NBA Championship, MVP, and multiple three-point shooting records--collegiate and professional.  His game and body, for that matter, took time to adjust to NBA rigors, but Curry has emerged from his first journey to the pinnacle as the NBA's deadliest weapon. 

He saunters up the court, ready to pull the trigger at any point.  He knows no range.  His step-backs, runners, and side-steps all fluid and natural.  Give him a sliver of space and he's either a blur or the deadliest shooter the world has ever seen.  When the three point line was adopted in the 1979-80 season, I don't think the rule makers imagined the evolution of a game-wrecker like Stephen Curry.  In the month of January alone, he and the Golden State Warriors managed to beat King James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (at Cleveland for the first time since winning the championship last June) AND the San Antonio Spurs, who are 45-8, by a combined 64 points. The Warriors' games have become so laughably one-side that Curry will sometimes sit in the fourth quarter, while still leading the league in points per game with 29.8.  Golden State is an unbelievably well-coached, highly skilled unit that is rivaling Michael Jordan's 1997 Bulls team, but when Curry is not in the lineup Golden State looks like a spitting image of themselves. Like Jordan and James, he is a basketball anomaly; a once-in-a-lifetime player who's skill, style and popularity will transform the game of basketball into a new modernity.

***

After a Game 5 defeat in the 2015 NBA Finals, Lebron James responded to a question of his comfortability performing on the game's biggest stage by simply proclaiming, "I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world.  It's that simple."  Despite the King's adamant belief in himself, his response raised some eyebrows as it is rare you hear an athlete elevate him/herself to such a high pedestal.  In context though, you kind of believed him; I mean averaging 35 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists dragging along a tattered Cavaliers lineup is the epitome of hero-ball.  Having seen the outcome of the Finals and having witnessed the relentless rampage of Stephen Curry, should we still believe Lebron James? 

Over time, one's achievements elevate a player to such a platform, but who ascends to the throne and for how long are only questions reserved for the basketball gods.  There is no defined criteria for becoming the world's best basketball player.  However, the curriculum vitae of past athletes who were regarded as the globe's best--I'm talking Kareem, Magic, Larry, MJ, Kobe, and Lebron--provides a conceptual framework of the road left to travel for Stephen Curry.

To be the GOAT, the Greatest of All Time, or a "once-in-a-generation" player, winning is everything and it is the only thing.  Championships, yes that is multiple, are vital as well as Most Valuable Player awards in the regular season and in NBA Finals appearances.  Perhaps the most important element of this journey is the ability to put together successive seasons of championships and awards; legends have to continue to prove their greatness and defeat those who are just as hungry as they are for that transcendent tag.   

The sustained dominance of these eight legends is the reason why some of basketball's greatest players and hall-of-famers have not been able to achieve their own dreams of winning an NBA championship (e.g. Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Kevin Durant).  Each legend ruled over the NBA for a given period of time, some simultaneously, accumulating championships and post-season honors along their quest.  

No other basketball player has as many championships as Bill Russell with 11! In the 1960s, the Boston Celtics, the team he played center for, failed to win the championship just once.  The Celtics owned that decade and Russell was their anchor.  With five MVP awards during that span, King Russell ruled from 1959-1969.  

Before there was an Air Jordan, Kareem set the standard.  Winning Rookie of the Year in 1970 and back-to-back MVP awards in the two years following, Jabbar's twenty-year career included the highest amount of Most Valuable Player awards given to a player with six.  Besides Kareem's lone title with the Milwaukee Bucks, who drafted him in 1970, his championships came with the flash of the Showtime Lakers, but his unprecedented skill set ran rampant across the NBA for the better part of the 1970s.  

The 1980s saw better league parity compared to the NBA's early years; however, two players and their teams, the Celtics and the Lakers battled repeatedly for supremacy.  Larry Bird and Magic Johnson collided early in their careers during the 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship that would foreshadow the dominance and control they wielded in their respective conferences--Larry in the East and Magic in the West.  Three times (1984, '85, and '87) did they meet in the NBA Finals to settle who would reign supreme.  Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers got the better of Birds' Celtics, winning the lifetime series 2-1.

Then there was Michael Jordan, who came and went and came again just to make sure we didn't forget what Air Jordan meant.  From his off-court personality, the man with the shoes and movie deals, to his on-court demeanor--the killer and ultimate trash-talker--Michael Jordan ushered the league into its modern-era by defining what it meant to be a superstar.

The exodus of the league's highest exalted left a void of entertainment and power.  Imitating Jordan's style and flare, Kobe Bryant, a child prodigy emerging straight out of Lower Merion high school, traversed a twenty-year NBA career to mature as the "HeroVillain."  It wasn't all sunshine in Hollywood under the Black Mamba's reign, as the consummate power forward, Tim Duncan, and the San Antonio Spurs became a constant territorial enemy in the West. 

If you have Lebron James on your team, you have an immediate opportunity to win a championship.  For five straight seasons, Lebron has ended his year fighting for the right to call himself and his team the best.  After twelve years in the league, King James is still stuffing the stat sheet, playing the game as the Jack-of-all-trades.  His engine, though he'll deny it, is starting to deteriorate.  All of those games played well into the summer--Finals series and Olympic games--as well as the grueling minutes are starting to take a toll on James, sighting lower back and hamstring issues as chronic injuries.  Time waits for no man and the mortality of Lebron James has been particularly evident watching a more spritely individual wow and amaze us just like the kid from Akron did before he blazed his NBA path just some years ago.

I don't think it's a question of if Stephen Curry becomes the most dominant basketball player rather a matter of when that time comes, if it hasn't already.

He has the number one selling jersey in the NBA and he was second in All-Star votes behind Kobe Bryant, who made his final All-Star Game appearance just yesterday.  It is evident that the tide of popularity has shifted in Curry's favor.

Wardell Stephen Curry II is not just running away with his second MVP award, but he's doing it while embarrassing great teams with great players.  It gets harder and harder to refute his on-court dominion and notion that this league is his when he's running circles around the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, in Kawhi Leonard, making him look silly and making King James question the possibility of winning another NBA championship.  At twenty-seven years old, Prince Curry has entered the prime of his NBA career.  If he wishes to join the esteemed list of all-time greats he must continue to dominate and continue to win.  It is time for him to build his legend.

Supreme Spring/Summer 2016 Lookbook

Some may be under the impression that Supreme, a skate-centered lifestyle clothing brand, is for the cool kids. The hype and exclusivity behind the brand lead to exorbitant resale prices and celebrity endorsements make Supreme more attractive to the fortunate.

However, individuality, pride, and youth is what drives Supreme and promotes it as a cool entity. People can be themselves and express their emotion in Supreme clothing; Supreme adorns the extraordinary who dare be unabashedly authentic.

Now, Supreme impresses its followers with a spring/summer 2016 collection. Along with branded T-shirts, headwear, and pants, a number of jackets feature in Supreme's new range. Prints and fabrics like snakeskin, leopard, camouflage, leather, denim, fleece and nylon fit the various outerwear pieces, like varsity jackets and car coats.

The simply worthless advertising gimmick collectibles also continue in Supreme's latest offering. A red Supreme x Everlast punching bag highlights the spring/summer 2016 preview page here.

View the lookbook for Supreme spring/summer 2016 above. Shop the delivery on Feb. 18 at Supreme's New York, Los Angeles, and London stores and in Japan on Feb. 20. The online shop will re-open on Feb. 25.

'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee' featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Will Ferrell

Jerry Seinfeld and Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Road Runner

Entertainer Jerry Seinfeld returns for a cool ride and some coffee with a friend in the latest episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.

Seinfeld drives a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner SuperBird originally designed for NASCAR driver Richard Petty, and creatively inspired by Looney Tunes cartoon The Road Runner. He and the, self-described, "happy silly" car appropriately pickup funnyman Will Ferrell.

Together, Seinfeld and Ferrell stop for regular and decaf coffee at a Los Angeles café, and chit-chat about the pretentious nature of the film industry, body image, Ferrell's iconic cat bit SNL audition, as well as marital qualms. 

Watch the newest episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee here in full.

Basketball Inequity

It'd be like Superman chasing after common criminals with no Lex Luther to battle.  No one wants that shit. 

In approximately 4 months, at the end of the 2015-2016 NBA season, Kevin Durant will be a free agent able to sign with whichever team he deems fit.  Seeing that there is much more of the current NBA season to be played, I bet the 2014 MVP has yet to definitively nail-down what team he's headed for should he choose to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder.  However, some insiders are pegging the Golden State Warriors as a potential destination for the 6'9" 240 lbs., eight-year veteran.  The Warriors have structured the contracts of their stars--Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green--in such a way that they would have enough salary cap leeway to make a run at signing highly-touted Durant.  

Yes, you read that correctly.  The 2015 NBA champions who are currently challenging the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record for best record in an NBA regular season (72-10), would add yet another extraordinary talent to an already dangerous, self-less team. 

Here's a hypothetical scenario:

The Warriors go 73-9 and win back-to-back titles.

Stephen Curry is awarded his second MVP trophy.

And the cherry on-top, Kevin Durant heads for the Bay area. 

How is a starting lineup featuring Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes (you could even replace Barnes with center Andrew Bogut for a bigger lineup), and Kevin Durant promoting equitable basketball?  You might as well handover the Larry O'brien trophy right now because it would not be fair.  If the NBA vetoed the trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, boosting Kobe Bryant's chances at a sixth title in an instant, I have no idea what kind of antics commissioner Adam Silver would try to utilize to keep this super-team from forming.  Could he even stop it if he wanted to? given the freedom of free agency, probably not. 

If you think watching the Warriors plow through their opponents now is boring, imagine how uncompetitive games would be with KD.  That team would have the best scorers on the planet. 

My biggest grievance with this would-be-tectonic-shift of power in the NBA goes beyond the deterioration of parity in the league, but rather the perceived selfishness of some of the NBA's stars.  Everybody wants to form a super-team, a trend that was re-popularized when Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett headed to the Boston Celtics to play with Paul Pierce in 2007, or when Lebron James and Chris Bosh packed their bags for warmer weather and headed to Wade County to wrack up two championships with the Miami Heat. 

Are players that caught up with their place in NBA history that they are willing to leave their roles as building blocks--cornerstones--to join teams with the best shot at winning titles?  Regardless of a superstar's prerogative, what happened to the days where players took pride in the organization that drafted them and wanting to become the team that overthrows the victors?  It's not like Kevin Durant is playing with D-League call-ups.  He has got the most violent point guard in basketball in Russell Westbrook feeding him the ball and a Thunder team that is a legitimate contender to win the Western Conference.  

Championships are not easily attainable, we know that.  Some of the greats have never experienced the elation that comes with winning a title, a-la Charles Barkley and Karl Malone. But isn't that why we play and passionately watch?  Titles are not bought, they are earned, and the beauty of basketball, of sports for that matter, is the ability for organizations to come together for better or for worse and chase greatness.