If I were JAY-Z (spoiler: I am not), there are a few things I'd want to see in the first year of my music and social-justice partnership with the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. I'd want to see COLIN KAEPERNICK in an NFL uniform. I'd want to see JANET JACKSON performing music at an NFL game. And I'd want to see a person of color headlining the SUPER BOWL halftime show. I'll leave the Colin K part of this discussion to the sports pundits, though I'll note that Jay-Z reportedly tried to get TRAVIS SCOTT to decline a guest spot at MAROON 5's Super Bowl halftime performance this year to protest the league's treatment of Kaepernick, who was blacklisted from the league shortly after he began kneeling during a song, "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." There are people who like to pretend that various forms of entertainment and public engagement—music, sports, TV punditry, politics—are completely different things and that participants in each should stay in their respective lanes. But they aren't. Those lanes intersect nearly every step of the way, and no amount of yelling at a musician to shut up and sing or at an athlete to shut up and play will change that. I'd like to think the NFL's Jay-Z/ROC NATION deal is an acknowledgment of that reality, and good for the league for pursuing it. Janet Jackson has been effectively blacklisted from the NFL, too, for 15 years, for an accidental slip that lasted less than one second. The man who shared that moment with her escaped official blame and was welcomed back as the Super Bowl halftime headliner in 2018. The NFL is under no obligation to give Jackson an entire halftime show, or any show. But it could go a long way toward making up for its slight by booking her as a Super Bowl special guest, or giving her a featured slot in any national broadcast—all of which appears to be part of Jay-Z's new job. As for the Super Bowl headliner, it's possible the league has had a hard time booking a nonwhite performer the past few years because the best ones haven't wanted to have anything to do with it. It was Jay-Z himself who rapped, just over a year ago, "I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don't need you." Respect to both him and the league for crossing the lines that stood between them. Jay-Z told the WASHINGTON POST, "You can either go home, you can pack your bag and sit in the house, or you can choose to take it head-on." NFL commissioner ROGER GOODELL told the NEW YORK TIMES, "We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better." If Jay-Z can get Goodell and his league to fully engage the rhythm nation in all its forms, on the field and off, behind center and behind a microphone, that would be a hell of a start... Speaking of Janet, in case you've somehow missed it, this is every kind of adorable... ASCAP and BMI consent decrees: "cornerstones of contemporary music licensing practices" or "an edifice whose foundation has eroded"?... The verdict in A$AP ROCKY's assault trial will be announced today in Sweden. He won't be there. If he's found guilty and sentenced to prison time, things could get complicated again... RIP ANNER BYLSMA, TOKO TASI and DJ ARAFAT.