Points on the Board The Shadow League

Not every performer can make a hit, let alone land a few that make waves on the charts.

In an era where music heads consume, create, and demand quality music all the time, it's difficult to let songs that could stand on its own, time to grow. 

Singer-songwriter Elle Varner's never had that problem. Debuting in 2012 with a pair of R&B hits that were a breath of fresh air for the genre, the LA native is back with Ellevation, an EP project that was made on her own terms. 

Varner stopped by the POTB set to chop it up about her approach to crafting a hit, and what's required to be consistent. 

"It doesn't matter if you have all these co-signs, or if someone 'hands it to you', it doesn't matter. You can't cheat the hard work," Varner said about staying loyal to your craft.

"So the ones that will last, the ones that will stand the test of time, they must ride peaks and the valleys. There's no way around it." 

Highlights
How has her writing process evolved over her career

Adopting Kobe's winning mindset to her live shows
The state of women in R&B
Serena Williams' impact on Compton
What's required for her to get into her "Flow state" 
Crafting songs for your core audience, b side tracks
Defining success as an artist on her own terms
The first hip hop, r&b albums you give your kids
The greatest songwriters to study
Her musical family

Versus: The greatest 90s movies soundtrack of all time.  

And more. 

On The Points On The Board podcast, we interview the closers and finishers from every discipline. Each week, digital producer, journalist Kyle Harvey sitdowns with rising athletes, sportswriters and creatives to breakdown the lessons they learned from the field of competition and how they applied to dominate it their crafts. Subscribe here for the latest episodes.

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On The Points On The Board podcast, we interview the closers and finishers from every discipline. Each week, digital producer, journalist Kyle Harvey sitdowns with rising athletes, sportswriters and creatives to breakdown the lessons they learned from the field of competition and how they applied to dominate it their crafts. Subscribe here for the latest episodes. 

Since Colin Kaepernick took a knee, the terms "stick to sports" and "shut up and play" are often regurgitated by those who are willfully ignorant or want to remain in the dark about the undeniable and current connection between politics and athletics.

Coming off the heels of last week's twitter meltdown directed towards the World Cup-winning US Women's National Soccer Team and his latest rant against 4 congresswomen of color, there was no better person to talk about Trump and his historic insecurities against the "other" than MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid.

A consistent MSNBC on-air presence since the killing of Trayvon Martin, Reid puts points on the board for challenging, debating and exposing the hypocrisy of those who profit off spreading fake news.

In an hour-long discussion at the Shadow League office with host Kyle Harvey, The Man Who Stole America author, compared 45's warped brand of American demagoguery to an 80s villain among other things, specifically the Batman's eternal nemesis the Joker.

"The reason why I open the book up by calling him the Joker is because most of the time, the Joker is this really rich guy, who's angry about the existence of Batman," Reid begins at 15:15 min mark. "The two are both rich, both angry, and what Batman decides to do with his anger is to fight criminals.

"He doesn't like the fact that people are abusing the 'little guy'. And what the Joker decides to do is fight Batman. In fact, doesn't really kind of doesn't exist without Batman. There's no real purpose for the Joker other than messing with Batman. He hates the fact that Batman is popular, that people love him, he just hates him".

Every villain needs a foil. If Trump is just a clown with an agenda, its not hard to figure out who Bruce Wayne is. 

"Obama could be his Batman, the culture could be his Batman...like all these things he wanted for himself, like growing up in Queens and wanting to be respected by the Anna Wintours of the world, they never let him in," Reid elaborated on Trump's view of fame.

"So now he hates that. He started hating the thing he wanted the most." 

Do you agree? Check out full podcast here and let us know what you think in the comments below

Highlights

Reid's time as the managing editor at theGrio

Trump's WWE Bravado

Covering every major black death (Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Jordan Davis) as a black mother for cable news

The art of politely eviscerating ill-prepared political talking heads

The greatest hip hop activists of this generation

Why Heath Ledger is the greatest Joker of all time

The first hip hop, r&b albums you give your kids

Versus: Dru Hill vs 112



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On this episode of POTB, No Limit's own Master P stopped by to put some points on the board.

With "I Got The Hook Up 2" dropping this month, P came through to talk hoops, Toronto Raptors, his time in the NBA, and why building a record label/business is like coaching a team.

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Check out more from the League at:
www.TheShadowLeague.com
twitter.com/ShadowLeague
www.facebook.com/TheShadowLeague.TSL
www.instagram.com/theshadowleague