Machination

Machination

A crafty scheme.

Listen to the cultural references in Stay Schemin’ by Rick Ross and you’ll be transported back to the moment the song debuted. Rap music is a time capsule, with specific bars like pins affixing the song to a date on a calendar. Drake’s bar about Kobe’s impending divorce and French Montana’s brag about the post presence of Dwight Howard reek of Stay Schemin’s birth year, 2012, with the Orlando big man coming off career numbers and Black Mamba both chasing and erasing a ring from his left hand. Although dating a song can limit its longevity, specificity weaves the most powerful mental associations and molds a record into just that—a record of the time when it was crafted.

Machination

A diabolical plot.

Russia is in the midst of curating the perfect World Cup, offering a suite of matches each day united by a common theme. Day one was all about Russia, a sweeping 5-0 victory punctuated like a Spanish exclamation by an domineering pre-match speech from Vladimir Putin. The second installment of the Mondial promised late drama in each match, going so far as to use an unwitting Moroccan forehead to ensure a goal in each contest. It was hard not to spot day three’s theme—spot kicks, with a whopping five taken in just four matches. And today offered the reminder of an open field, with two previous semifinalists failing to win their opener.