Some context: James was born on December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio to a 16-year-old mother, Gloria Marie James, who raised him on her own. When James was growing up, life was often a struggle for the family, as they moved from apartment to apartment in the seedier neighborhoods of Akron while Gloria struggled to find steady work. Realizing that her son would be better off in a more stable family environment, Gloria allowed him to move in with the family of Frank Walker, a local youth football coach, who introduced James to basketball when he was nine years old. As a youth, James played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars.
At the conclusion of the 2008-09 season, James finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting and made his first NBA All-Defensive Team, posting 23 chase-down blocks and a career-high 93 total blocks. He also became only the fourth postmerger player to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in a single season. Behind his play and the acquisition of All-Star guard Mo Williams, Cleveland went a franchise record 66-16 and fell just one game short of matching the best home record in league history. With final averages of 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game, James became the first Cavalier to win the MVP Award. Reflecting on James's performance for ESPN, John Hollinger later wrote, "He's having what is arguably the greatest individual season in history, and it's time we gave him his due for it." In the playoffs, Cleveland swept the Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks to earn a matchup with the Orlando Magic in the Conference Finals. In Game 1 of the series, James scored 49 points on 66 percent shooting in a losing effort for the Cavaliers. In Game 2, he hit a game-winner to tie the series at 1-1. Cleveland would lose the series in six games, and following the loss in Game 6, James immediately left the floor without shaking hands with his opponents, which was an act that many media members viewed as unsportsmanlike. For the series, he averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 8 assists per game, finishing the postseason with a career playoff-high 35.3 points per game. In February of the 2009-10 season, James was forced into a temporary point guard role following a series of injuries to the Cavaliers' backcourt. Behind his leadership, Cleveland lost no momentum, finishing the year with the best record in the league for the second consecutive season. Due in part to his increased minutes as the Cavaliers' primary ball handler, James increased his statistical production, averaging 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1 block per game on 50 percent shooting en route to another MVP Award. To open the playoffs, Cleveland advanced past the Bulls to earn a matchup with the Celtics in the second round. James was heavily criticized for not playing well in Game 5 of the series, shooting only 20 percent on 14 shots and scoring 15 points. The team suffered its worst loss in franchise history, and at the conclusion of the game, James walked off the court to a smattering of boos from Cleveland's home crowd. The Cavaliers were officially eliminated from the postseason in Game 6, with James posting 27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, and nine turnovers in the losing effort.
How was the reception from the press?
A: ESPN, John Hollinger later wrote, "He's having what is arguably the greatest individual season in history, and it's time we gave him his due for it."
Some context: Kelis Rogers was born and raised in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in the Frederick Douglass Houses. Her first name is a portmanteau of her father's name, Kenneth (1944-2000), and her mother's name, Eveliss. Her father Kenneth was an African American jazz musician and Pentecostal minister, and was formerly a professor at Wesleyan University. Her mother Eveliss is a Chinese-Puerto Rican fashion designer who inspired Kelis to pursue her singing career.
Kelis contributed a track titled "80's Joint" to the soundtrack of the 2006 dance film Step Up. She collaborated with Busta Rhymes and will.i.am on the track "I Love My Bitch", the second single from Rhymes's 2006 album The Big Bang. This was the second time Kelis teamed up with Rhymes, the first being his 2001 song "What It Is". Kelis's fourth studio album, Kelis Was Here, was released in August 2006, and debuted and peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200. Despite the career-high debut, the album has sold only 157,000 copies in the United States as of 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Its lead single, "Bossy" (featuring Too Short), achieved frequent airplay on urban radio and was a moderate hit in the U.S., peaking at number 16. "Bossy" went multi-platinum as a mobile phone ringtone, according to the RIAA. Kelis Was Here was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards. The second single released from the album by her American label, Jive, was a collaboration with Nas, "Blindfold Me". The song missed the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 91 on the R&B chart. Her European label, Virgin, instead released the Cee-Lo-featuring "Lil Star", which was another hit for Kelis in the United Kingdom, peaking at number three. In the UK, Kelis Was Here charted at number 41 and has sold 60,000 copies, earning a silver certification from the BPI. In Australia, the album reached number 96 on the ARIA Albums Chart and the track "I Don't Think So" was used in promotion for the 2008 season of the reality series Big Brother Australia. The song subsequently peaked at number 27 on the ARIA chart and became a top ten urban hit. During mid 2007, Kelis toured in Europe, appearing in numerous festivals across the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, such as Wireless, Rise and Gurtenfestival. Ford chose Kelis to help advertise the 2007 Ford Edge, and she recorded a theme song for the commercial, entitled "Push It to the Edge", with help from producer Scott Storch. According to Kelis, she received no support from Jive Records for Kelis Was Here, and the label dropped her in late 2007. Her manager at the time said that the singer was working with Cee-Lo Green on an alternative dance album and would be shopping a pop album produced by songwriter Guy Chambers, who co-wrote hits such as Robbie Williams's "Angels". Scottish electronica producer Calvin Harris was also said to be collaborating with her. Kelis later said of this period, "I was like, 'I will never put out another record again, I hate this business, I hate all these people.' I was in this race that I didn't even realise that I was in. I woke up and ten years had passed. That was never my plan". She subsequently took a hiatus from music. After Kelis left Jive, the label released a fourteen-track greatest hits album entitled The Hits in March 2008. The album does not contain any previously unreleased songs; Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money", N.E.R.D's "Truth or Dare", and Richard X's "Finest Dreams" appear on the album alongside every charted Kelis single to that date, with the exception of "Blindfold Me".
was there a number one single on the album?
A:
the track "I Don't Think So" was used in promotion for the 2008 season of the reality series Big Brother Australia.