What Had Happened Was Trending stories on the intersections of race, sports & culture
Lisa Borders WNBA
WNBA president Lisa Borders addresses media members before Game 1 of the WNBA basketball finals between the Seattle Storm and the Washington Mystics in Seattle. The league announced Oct. 2 that she will become the first president and CEO of Time’s Up, an organization dedicated to safe, fair and dignified work for women. Elaine Thompson/Associated Press file photo

WNBA president Lisa Borders leaves post to become president and CEO of Time’s Up

Borders will continue to lead the charge for equality and justice for working women

Maya A. Jones By @mjay615

1:55 PMWNBA president Lisa Borders is stepping down from her current post to become the first president and CEO of Time’s Up.

Borders’ decision to step down as WNBA president comes after three seasons of continuous growth in the league. Since announcing Borders as its new president in 2016, the WNBA has seen its highest regular-season attendance in years, and 2018 was the most watched season in four years. Borders helped to establish player recognition and engagement by livestreaming games on social media platforms such as Twitter, and, for the first time, the popular NBA Live 18 video game included a full roster of WNBA players and teams, according to a press release.

Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum will step in on an interim basis to oversee WNBA operations as the league searches for a new president.

“It has been an honor and my absolute privilege leading the WNBA and being part of what it stands for,” Borders said in a statement. “I want to thank [NBA commissioner] Adam [Silver] for giving me the opportunity and support to help grow this league. I am most proud of the W players for their amazing talents on the court and their dedication to making an impact in their communities. I look forward to continuing my support for the W in my new role with Time’s Up. I will always be the W’s biggest advocate and fan.”

Before joining the WNBA, Borders was vice president of global community affairs at The Coca-Cola Co. and managed and maintained relationships in Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration during her time as vice mayor of Atlanta. Borders continues to serve on the advisory board of the Association of National Advertisers’ #SeeHer initiative, which was created to eliminate bias against all women from advertising and media. The campaign seeks to increase the accurate portrayals of women and girls in U.S. advertising and media by 20 percent by 2020.

Borders’ new role will allow her to continue the fight for the equality of working women on an even larger platform.

The Time’s Up organization, created in January by women in the entertainment industry to address systemic inequality, sexual assault and harassment in the workplace, has gained traction from celebrity supporters and has raised more than $20 million for its legal defense fund. Since February, more than 20,000 donors and 200 lawyers have volunteered their services to support the movement. And now, with Borders leading the efforts to ensure equality for women in the workplace, the organization is establishing its longevity and proving its dedication to the cause.

“The pursuit of safe, dignified and equal treatment in the workplace as a solution to the abuse of power is a mission that can be fulfilled. With Lisa’s skills and leadership, Time’s Up is now in the best position to achieve what we all started — to create a more positive future for workplace culture and a more powerful network for working women of all kinds,” said television producer and Time’s Up seed funder Shonda Rhimes.

Lil Wayne 36th Birthday Party/Carter V Release Party Hip-Hop
Lil Wayne attends his 36th birthday party and “Tha Carter V” release at Hubble on Sept. 28 in Los Angeles. Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Young Money Records

Let’s celebrate Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter V’ like it’s our birthday

23 tracks, but so much more to bump to on his much-anticipated fifth album

Zachary Bragg By

8:18 PMRap legend Weezy F. Baby (the F stands for “finally”) celebrated his birthday by giving his fans the best gift ever. He dropped his fifth and much-coveted album, Tha Carter V (C5), at midnight Thursday and folks were hype.

The artist, also known as Lil Wayne, Lil Tunechi or, formally, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., finally broke a three-year album drought, and he didn’t disappoint. Lil Wayne showed off the wide range of his artistry throughout the 23-song album, successfully appealing to the varying tastes of his fan base.

Want a song to get your shoulders moving, shoot right to track four for “Uproar” with the classic Swizz Beatz production, guaranteed to get your head bobbing. Need motivation to reclaim your worth or “get back into your bag,” jump right to track three, “Dedicate.” Longing for love or a sense of family, then tracks one and 11 will satisfy you. For something more romantic, check track nine, “What About Me.” For the culture followers who are into gossip blogs, yes, he included his daughter, Reginae, on track 11, “Famous.”

From a man who has dominated rap with mixtapes with only his voice, C5 had a wide variety of features, as well as samples on almost every song. His last mixtape, Dedication 6: Reloaded, was released in January.

“You can’t spell fame without me, and may my hall of fame speech be short and sweet, like thank God, f— fame, and thank me,” said by Weezy on “Famous.”

Lil Tunechi definitely threw his name into the hat as one of the greatest lyricists regardless of era, after jumping into a sparring battle with current rap king Kendrick Lamar on the song “Mona Lisa.”

If you ask me, he cemented his title as the Best Rapper Alive. He not only reminded fans of his classic storytelling skills, but in an era that is now dominated by mumble rap, he also showed his style isn’t changing for anyone.

Tha Carter V isn’t flawless. I gave it a B-plus because some of the songs on the album don’t have the best replay value. Also, contrary to popular opinion, I think Nicki Minaj ruined his song on “Dark Side of the Moon” with her vocals. I’m not the only critic. Some tweets called the album “just mediocre.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoPU6o6nMPm/?utm_source=ig_embed

However, Lil Wayne still flows effortlessly, and his style of lyricism is still uncanny and unmatched, even when rappers are biting each other’s flows constantly (Desiigner being a carbon copy of Future.) Wayne has carved out his own space among the legends, from his double and triple entendres to his corny yet tasteful metaphors. Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. showed he can compete with not only your favorite rapper in this generation but your father’s favorite rapper too.

The icing on the cake was the shoutout to former President Barack Obama. You can hear No. 44 saying, “They might think they got a pretty good jump shot, or a pretty good flow, but our kids can all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne,” on the track “Dedicate.” Wayne took this from Obama’s speech at the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. Brilliant.

Let us know what you think. Contact me on Twitter @ReyZach_

Squawk Box – Season 20 Business
Richard “Dick” Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup and former chairman and CEO of Time Warner, in Squawk Box interview. David A. Grogan/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Dick Parsons, a brother who has rescued companies before, is now head of CBS

He’s worked with Obama and helped save the Apollo Theater and start the NMAAHC

John X. Miller By @xman1955

7:02 AMIf you don’t know, you’d better ask somebody who Dick Parsons is.

Parsons, just named interim chairman of the board for CBS in the wake of the resignation of longtime chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves, was once called Captain Emergency.

His name doesn’t ring a bell yet? Then you might remember Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, whose offensive racial remarks caused him to lose the NBA franchise. Before Steve Ballmer bought the team, Parsons was appointed the interim CEO.

The 70-year-old Parsons was one of the first black men to lead a Fortune 500 company in 2002, when he became president of Time Warner. He started his career as a lawyer, then became president of Dime Savings Bank of New York, all this without even having a college degree, having left the University of Hawaii seven credits short.

He dropped Dime and headed to Time Warner, where he became president and helped save one of the first megamergers in history when he helped orchestrate a $165 billion mashup with America Online in 2000. He became CEO in 2002. After leaving there, he joined Citigroup as chairman from 2009-12. He helped stabilize both companies after fragile situations.

At one point in the early 2000s, he was one of only three black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, including Kenneth Chenault at American Express and Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae.

Parsons was dubbed “Captain Emergency” in a Bloomberg Businessweek article in 2011 because of his ability to navigate the troubled waters of complex negotiations and soothe the contentious infighting that goes on in corporate offices and boardrooms. He appeared on Black Enterprise‘s Most Powerful African Americans in Business list several times.

He was also on President Barack Obama’s team in 2008-09, among the group of economists and business leaders who helped stabilize the economy after the Great Recession.

He grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, with a love of jazz, and one of the places he helped revive was Minton’s Playhouse, the famous jazz club where greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Count Basie once played.

Parsons’ grandfather had been head groundskeeper at the John D. Rockefeller estate, and Parsons would later go on to work for Rockefeller’s grandson, Nelson, who became governor of New York and vice president of the United States. He also worked for President Gerald Ford while at the White House.

Although Parsons is touted as a titan of industry, he helped save the Apollo Theater when it was on shaky financial ground, chairing the board of the Apollo Theater Foundation. He also chaired the Jazz Foundation of America and was co-chairman of the advisory board of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

So, before Jay-Z, P. Diddy and Russell Simmons and even Oprah were running things, Parsons was holding it down.

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