Championship Diamonds Part 2 - Jason of Beverly Hills

The second part of my interview with NBA and celebrity jeweller Jason of BH. In this part, we discussed meeting Michael Jackson and making him custom pendants, Drake's basketball league and Steph Curry dropping his Championship ring. Fun fact: Both of Jason's children's names are Jason.

Jewellery is weighed by carat – it’s also weighted by memory. Take LaMelo’s new chain. Basketball’s most anticipated rookie celebrated draft day with a diamond “number one” necklace. For better or worse, Melo’s purchase is embedded with expectation. The item will represent failed potential or a showy pitstop on the path to glory. 

A lifelong hoops fan, Jason relishes these moments. He’s been commemorating player milestones for two decades. In 2016, the NBA asked him to surprise the late Kobe Bryant for his retirement. Jason crafted a set of rings lavish enough to impress someone worth $600 million. 

The dazzling gift, also given to Vanessa, is set with five large diamonds – one for each championship. It holds an additional 20 rocks for every year in the league. Both sides contain Kobe’s jersey numbers and key career dates. The ring also contains snakeskin in tribute to his Black Mamba alias.

“It was amazing for me to have the opportunity to do that,” Jason reflects. “And it’s funny because I saw for the first time the video of him getting the ring just two days ago. I guess there is a video that exists out there on YouTube or somewhere that shows him opening the box, getting the ring and seeing his reaction. That was really cool.”  

Yes, the footage exists. Kobe seems genuinely taken by the gift. He gasps, and barely sits down before standing to tear the box open. Bryant recites “wow” several times as Lakers owner Jeanie Buss looks on, close to tears.

Keep reading here.

Dj Khaled - No New Friends ft. Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Future

By Jimmy Ness and originally written for Passionweiss

DJ Khaled should worry about new ideas, instead of new friends. He needs a crew that brings creative criticism to the studio rather than codeine. The “DJ” has used the same technique to make music for seven records- cram a bunch of relevant artists on a track with a “cinematic hook” and let the power of their popularity sell the record. Khaled’s first release Listennn…the album had an intro with over 24 guest features in less than two minutes. Who really needed to hear a song featuring Pitbull, Nas and Bone Thugs N Harmony performing together?

Seven years later, Khaled bin Abdul Khaled still hasn’t learnt his lesson. “No New Friends” sounds like a b-side to “Bitches Love Me,” and was probably made during the same session. Drake sings the melodramatic hook over traditional understated production from BFFs “Boi-1da” and Noah “40” Shebib. He mentions “Bitches Love Me” specifically during his bland raps and tries to drop a hot line by saying “If I had a baby momma she would probably be richer than a lot of you.” This line falls flat because a) It’s not very good and b) Drizzy would never just have a “baby momma.” I bet five Birdman handrubs he would be shopping for maternity underwear in the blink of an eye.

Rozay comes along secondly and grunts a tepid verse, which only women’s rights groups will bother paying attention to. Weezy also appears to drop a few throwaway verses and the cycle of mediocrity is complete. Just in case there wasn’t enough star power, an unaccredited Future pops up during the last few seconds of the track. If Khaled is so concerned with keeping old friends, he should have thrown T-Pain a scrap and let him sing the Gucci astronaut’s part. It’s not as if this song could get any less memorable.

Four of the most popular current artists, and still not a single reason to replay this track? Blame Khaled. The true reason he has “No new friends” is because he’s always shouting WETHEBEST and no one likes a braggart, especially if their claims are blatantly untrue. If all of Khaled’s music is a movie like he claims, this is definitely the Baby Geniuses 2 of rap.