Atlanta, GA
Braves News: Reynaldo Lopez to the IL, disappearing offense, more
![Braves News: Reynaldo Lopez to the IL, disappearing offense, more Braves News: Reynaldo Lopez to the IL, disappearing offense, more](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NRa7CTnpm3nnaKE4RPTqEyPNG0k=/0x93:5622x3036/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25616956/2171419378.jpg)
Well the Braves are once again on the outside of the playoff bubble, which is about where they have been floating for the last week. The Mets are ahead of them by a game for the final wild-card spot and the Padres and Diamondbacks are both two games ahead of the Mets. The Mets and Braves do play one more three game series against eachother, as the penultimate series of the regular season in Atlanta, and that could be a decisive one. With that being said, both teams face tough opponents this weekend, with the Mets playing the Phillies in three games and the Braves playing the Dodgers in four. The Braves need to keep pace and that just keeps getting harder as the injuries continue to accumulate, now with Reynaldo Lopez out.
Braves News
Reynaldo Lopez hit the 15-day IL with shoulder inflammation (crucially, nothing more), as Daysbel Hernandez and Cavan Biggio were called up.
The Braves lost to the Nationals, as Max Fried was not at his maximum and the offense no-showed once again.
MLB News
The Dodgers have a slew of injury updates as the playoffs approach and they anticipate some potentially major returns.
The Pirates will retain their manager, Derek Shelton into the 2025 season, as they have a-had a non-disastrous season.
Edwin Uceta was suspended for two games for the Rays, after throwing a pitch at Nick Castellanos on Tuesday night.
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Atlanta, GA
Man shot, killed at northwest Atlanta apartment complex, police say
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A man is dead after being shot in northwest Atlanta, according to Atlanta police.
Police said officers responded to the Dwell @ Hollywood apartments at 1073 Hollywood Road NW just before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. There, they found a 26-year-old man with “an apparent gunshot wound.”
The man was pronounced dead on the scene. Officers are still investigating, according to police.
Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.
Atlanta, GA
Rich Homie Quan Is Gone. After So Much Loss, What's Next For Atlanta?
![Rich Homie Quan Is Gone. After So Much Loss, What's Next For Atlanta? Rich Homie Quan Is Gone. After So Much Loss, What's Next For Atlanta?](https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/rich-homie-quan-atlanta.jpg?crop=0px%2C37px%2C1800px%2C1014px&resize=1600%2C900)
The Atlanta rap scene, like the rest of the music world, is still mourning the loss of Rich Homie Quan. Last week, the 33-year-old artist was found unresponsive in his girlfriend’s Atlanta home, leaving behind five children and an immense musical legacy. With hits like 2013’s “Type of Way” and 2015’s “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh),” there was a period where he looked like the next star out of Atlanta. By the late 2010s, label woes had stalled his climb up toward the pop culture stratosphere, and those in the know lament that he didn’t get the chance to fulfill his superstar potential.
In 2013, Quan began collaborating with fellow rising Atlanta star Young Thug. Though Rich Gang was never a formal group signed to a label, Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1 — the project they released under that name in 2014 — showcased their generational chemistry on syrupy, infectious songs like “Lifestyle” and “Tell Em.” Many agree with writer Jeff Weiss, who theorized, “If Young Thug was the rocket ship bending time and space at the speed of light, Quan operated as ground control, offering a raspy gravity and indelible counterpoint.” Even before his passing, Quan’s bond with Young Thug continued to be discussed up to this day; his last interview featured journalist Alanah Story asking him about unreleased Rich Gang music.
But as incredible as he was in Rich Gang, Quan also excelled on his own. His solo catalog, buoyed by projects like Still Goin In: Reloaded and I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In (both from 2013), demonstrated a knack for melody; feel-good, relatable themes; and ever-malleable vocals. Thanks to him, anyone could feel like the man when they “Walk Thru.” And anyone who’s watched his interviews has noticed his jovial nature and star quality. It all could have added up to a winning combination for solo superstardom.
In an interview last week about Quan’s loss, Wicked — a member of the ’90s Atlanta group Ghetto Mafia — bemoaned that he’s also still reeling from the recent death of Organized Noize producer Rico Wade at age 52. He’s not alone in grieving. Quavo posted a highly circulated Instagram story featuring a picture of himself a few years back with his Migos partners Offset and the late Takeoff, Young Thug, and Rich Homie Quan. The emojis posted over each man’s head hinted at the loss of both Takeoff and Quan, Thug’s current incarceration, and Quavo being on the outs with Offset (though they’ve since talked). His post read, “May God be with US[,] never saw this being apart of our journey.” In a fairer world, these five men, none of them older than their early thirties, would all still be dominating the charts. Instead, pictures like these evoke memories of what could have been.
Atlanta has been rap’s mecca for the better part of three decades, but now the bridge to the next generation feels unsteady, in part because of losses like these. Young Thug and YFN Lucci are both facing uncertain jail stints. And, unfortunately, there’s a long list of artists who have died: Takeoff, Bankroll Fresh, Trouble, Lil Keed, Lil Marlo, Slim Dunkin, Shawty Lo, and now Rich Homie Quan. We’ve also lost Atlanta elders like Rico Wade who still had game and insight to offer. Gucci Mane, luckily, credits his mid-2010s prison stint with waking him up before his career came to an unfortunate ending. But he’s also had trouble getting the next generation of 1017 off the ground because jail or prison terms have befallen so many of his recent signees. Atlanta isn’t losing its artistic mojo — it’s losing its talents.
Atlanta’s solidarity has been one of hip-hop’s most nationally understood facts of life for many years. Even if you didn’t know much about the city’s hip-hop scene, you knew that for the most part, those Atlanta guys stuck together and put each other on. It’s not just that Atlanta had a high concentration of talent, it’s that the artists there were accessible and intent on taking it upon themselves to help the next artist. We remember the video of a hungry Lil Keed rapping for Young Thug before he was famous. We recall the stories of Young Thug paying Lil Baby to get out of the streets, or a young Future being around Outkast in the Dungeon, or Gucci Mane putting on anyone who pulled up to his Brick Factory studio. The city attracted transplants like French Montana and even the Buffalo-based crew Griselda, who made various inroads there during their formative years. In time, the city has become a music factory, like a neo-Motown with lustrous diamonds. It was the place to be for Black musicians, and it still is. But now, with fewer beacons, there are fewer chances for the city to find its next stars.
To consider where the city is going, one must retrace the social and political factors that inspired Atlanta’s trap generation in the first place. In September 1990, the city won its bid to host the 1996 Olympics, and spent the next few years on an “urban renewal” campaign of destroying public housing, displacing thousands of residents and widening the city’s economic disparity. The first generation of trap rappers depicted the gruff realities of Atlanta’s left-behind neighborhoods, and younger artists followed behind.
Years later, Atlanta’s politicians are on a new displacement mission that has had similarly damaging cultural effects. Devin Franklin, an attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, told Complex in 2022 that he feels the city brass is vying to gentrify many of the areas immortalized in Atlanta rap songs, noting, “There is absolutely a desire to rid Atlanta of this element that once upon a time is what made Atlanta cool in the first place. It’s like, ‘We used it, we got popular off of it, but now we got another level that we want to get to, so we need to get you all out of here.’” Fulton County’s district attorney, Fani Willis, has been relentless with RICO prosecutions that currently have Young Thug, YFN Lucci, and RX Peso incarcerated (with Hoodrich Pablo Juan doing five years from another RICO prosecution in nearby Upson County).
As in any “law and order” city, a focus on prosecution means the negligence of other institutions that make a city healthy. Structural racism breeds violent communities and the desire for escapism, whether that’s through doing the wrong thing in search of financial freedom or falling prey to addiction. These factors are nothing new for many communities of color, but seeing them decimate a beloved music community is sobering.
There are dire consequences looming over Atlanta’s cultural depletion. The rap industry is changing exponentially. In time, 2024’s “white boy summer” could turn into a “white boy year” or “white boy generation,” with more tone-deaf rappers like Ian doing their best impressions of Atlanta’s kings. We need the progenitors alive to bring the real, or at the least retell the stories to those looking to document this great movement. And the bridge from one generation of Atlanta rappers to another needs to stay stable. But with every city-shattering death like Quan’s, one more pillar is gone too soon.
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Falcons ‘Really Pleased’ with Bijan Robinson, Noncommittal to Heavy Workload
![Atlanta Falcons ‘Really Pleased’ with Bijan Robinson, Noncommittal to Heavy Workload Atlanta Falcons ‘Really Pleased’ with Bijan Robinson, Noncommittal to Heavy Workload](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3780,h_2126,x_0,y_123/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/falcon_report/01j7fxhn1qmga3qnvwns.jpg)
ATLANTA — The billboard towered high above Peachtree Road, facing traffic headed toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Atlanta Falcons’ season opener last Sunday.
“Bijan is ready,” the sign said, holding a picture of Falcons running back Bijan Robinson sporting his black No. 7 jersey. “Are you?”
That afternoon, Robinson proved the sign right. He had six touches on Atlanta’s 11-play opening drive. After 27 plays, he had 15 touches. And by the time the clock hit zero in the Falcons’ 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Robinson had 23 touches to his name — tied for the most in his young career.
The second-year runner finished the defeat with 18 carries for 68 yards while adding a team-best five receptions for 43 yards. He played 50 snaps, good for 89% of the offense’s total.
After the game, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said he thought Robinson had a few quality runs and executed well as a receiver on screen passes.
“He’s a guy,” Morris said. “I was really pleased with the way he played the game, just with the mental toughness and the ability to go out there and continue to try to make us win and putting us in a winning position, although we were not able to come out with it.”
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Atlanta’s offense struggled in the defeat. It had only three drives with seven or more plays, and just two series netted points — one of which came on the opening possession. The Falcons were shutout in the second half.
Robinson was a focal point in the Falcons’ gameplan, touching the ball on 46% of the offense’s snaps. But Morris, in a matter-of-fact manner, was noncommittal to Robinson maintaining such involvement moving forward, largely due to the game’s outcome.
“I like winning, and that wasn’t the result we got,” Morris said. “So, we’ve got to go back to the lab and figure out a way to win. And whatever that is, we’ll do.”
Robinson, the No. 8 overall pick in 2023, led the Falcons with 214 carries for 976 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie. He added 58 receptions for 487 yards and four more scores through the air. His 1,463-yards from scrimmage were good for 10th in the NFL.
This summer, Atlanta’s coaching staff spoke extensively about using Robinson in a role similar to that of San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey, who led the NFL in yards from scrimmage a season ago and is a multi-purpose playmaker.
The 22-year-old Robinson proved Sunday he can impact the game in multiple ways, to the extent he became Atlanta’s go-to option. Rather than sensing pressure, Robinson cherishes the opportunity.
“It’s a blessing to do that,” Robinson said. “I try to do what I can to make this offense explosive and try to get these wins. There are still points in the game when you can’t control everything. You have to control what you can control as an offense, individually or with each other.
“For me, I’m going to do whatever I can to get us rolling and help us try to be the offense we can be. But obviously, we need a win coming out of that.”
The Falcons’ next opportunity to snag their first win comes at 8:15 p.m. Monday, when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles inside Lincoln Financial Field.
And Robinson, as the billboard says, is ready.
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