Archive for the ‘The Guest Room’ Category

SNEAKER FIENDS UNITE!

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

pimps

Editor’s note: S.F.U. director of West Coast operations, Meka Soul from HipHopDX dot com, gives us an oh, so crispy drop on the Sneaker Pimps jumpoff in the City of Angels.

MEKA SOUL @ Sneaker Pimps Los Angeles 2007

pimps

First off, I’d like to take the time to thank Mr.Penn for blessing me with this opportunity, so I’ll try my best to maintain the integrity of this site and keep the random-ass jibba jabba I spew on my own shit down to a minimum.

If there’s one thing I love as much as my moms, hip-hop and cola bottle-shaped women, it’d have to be my unequivocal appreciation for the glorified feet covers I wrap my ankles in almost every single day. While I don’t have the extensive collection as my East Coast blogging brethren, the respect I share for the sneaker culture is unparalleled. So attending the Sneaker Pimps event was a major thing for me, as I had missed last year’s incarnation while I was on vacation in the Rotten Apple.

Pulling into the parking lot around 8:30 pm, I noticed that the line was already beginning to stretch around the block since parties in Los Angeles shut down way too early. While I waited to get into the venue I shot a couple flicks of the kicks that were also being displayed on the line.

pimps

pimps

pimps

pimps
Once I got inside, I avoided the bar, and instead made a bee line straight for the shoes that lined the walls, tables, booths and even the broads that were there. I fell in love a little bit with this chick rocking the De La Soul Dunks, but I had to mask my inner emotions because, you know, I’m a cynic like that.

While the host tried to egg on the partygoers to smack the shit out of anyone who had on fakes, I played it cool, snapping away shots of the painters creating masterpieces everywhere. It was also around this time I caught the attention of some other photographers wanting to shoot me, since I was freshly dipped in an ice cold pair of Storm Dunks, not to mention I had the Cal on me a Lucky Seven Dunk on my hip. True story, I was straight styling on these fools.

pimps

pimps

pimps

pimps

I then walked into the Dunk Xchange, where a DJ spun classics like Raekwon’s “Verbal Intercourse,” Channel Live’s “Mad Izm” and Jay-Z’s “So Ghetto,” among others. Any other time I might have been thrilled by the fact that duke gave the joints I blast in my iPod some burn, but I was more or less bummed out that half the crowd just stood around like retarded second-graders, not knowing the catalog being played belonged to the rappers whose knobs they shine on the daily. It also didn’t help that when the DJ threw on Lil Wayne, they all went apeshit. Hip-hop died a little bit at that moment.

pimps

pimps

All that changed when Redman jumped on the stage, ripping through his entire catalog and spraying the fans with beer at the same time. I would have stayed to see Paul Wall and Swizz Beatz, but I left after Funk Doc left because a) I don’t like Paul Wall and Swizz Beatz like that, and b) I positioned myself next to a set of speakers during Red’s performance to get good shots and was totally deaf after 20 minutes.

red gone wild

red gone wild

All in all, Sneaker Pimps was an interesting experience. While it didn’t fully meet my expectations, the love that this once-unknown sub-genre received more than made up for it. My only qualm for next year is that they don’t allow any grown-ass dudes inside if they’re rocking their sister’s skinny jeans and a young-ass, V-neck muscle shirt, as if that shit ain’t sideways soft. I saw way too many of thosebattybwoys.

Big ups again, DP Dot fam.

MEKA SOUL

The Hi-Top Fade = The Negro Mullet

Monday, August 6th, 2007

40 steps

Editor’s note: A 40 DAWG homage to the greatest jig hairstyle. Evar.

The hi-top fade hit the black community like everything else in the 80’s – HARD. Seeking a reprieve from the chemically processed curls, and with the shag/ducktail going the way of “The Smurf” dance, young black males sought out a new defining coif. The classic fade cut was nothing new, I got pics of my Uncle Chappie attending a Harlem Rens game with his era’s interpretation of “close on the sides and leave some on top”. For the most part the fade in previous manifestations had been more military than militant. Flash forward to 1986, the year it seemed everything changed.

The lore of the era was that the hi-top was an homage to the way we rocked our wigs in the motherland and with everything based in something African at this cultural crossroads I figured it made some sense. However I think we need to give more credit to the codpiece clad funkonaut Larry Blackmon who’s band became the names sake of this cut. Other early names I knew for the cut bore regional names like “The Philly” or “The Jersey”. Discrepancy of origin aside we all skinned off the sides and let the top run amok. The hi-top fade was my first real foray into “affordable style” for the kid. Moms wasn’t coming off the loot for fashions of the day, and the cautionary tales of friends and relatives caught in the crack game didn’t push me into that form of employ for financial gain. However I had my man Junior Black who was holding it down with the clippers in his mom’s basement. He had all the pics from the legendary Kinapps in Brooklyn which had intricate designs like “Ashanti Warrior” and “The Sudan”, so if my gear was subpar I was gonna keep my wig game proper. J.Black knocked out some classics out of that basement, slopes, Gumbies, bleached out fronts, parts, designs, steps*, etc.

Like everything else that goes mainstream there is the good and the bad. Christopher “Kid” Martin made a whole career largely on that do, on the flip no one singlehandedly did more to destroy the hi-top fade than R&B supergroup TROOP. I’m glad the music industry was not as visual oriented as it is today because their career would have been submarined by letting
LeatherFace be their barber. (Actually I think it caught up to them eventually!). I think we can all say by 1991 the hi-top fade was replaced by brothers who dreaded theirs out or deaded it all together. I think I speak for the masses when we spend the last 15 years of our life ridiculing some of those high school photos and shiver when “House Party” comes on and have to explain to the babies that “Yes I actually had my hair like that.”

“But I don’t party and shake my butt, I leave that to the brothers with the funny haircuts!” – (c)Ice Cube, “Jackin’ 4 Beats”.

Man that line pissed me off when I first heard it, Coming from a cat who was still sleeping with a shower cap on and could make any community pool seem like the Exxon Valdez accident by merely jumping in. But as time has gone on maybe O’Shea Jackson was actually right. White folks had their cut – THE MULLET, and Billy Ray Cyrus got by on his hair as much as Kid did. Plus if you see that Mullet Family pic in the drop Dallas had a little while back you need no more further evidence on its hilarity. Well I’d like to put The Hi-Top Fade into that same pool. Yeah we were all cool as fuck when it we rocked it, but we also gotta let the past stay the past and enjoy the historical humor that it currently provides.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m hella proud of some of the dynamic fades I rocked, (in fact I’m trying to find one to put on my passport pictures) but somethings just need to stay in the past like smallpox and swine flu. I hear hipsters trying to promote the return of the hi-top, and if you ask me all these Williamsburg emigrants can all go somewhere with that. It was great while it lasted and while we lived it, and just because companies have “retroed” all types of nostalgia so people can get a second chance, I think this one just needs to be preserved in the annals of Hip-Hop History…

*Regarding “The Steps” – my mother so hated that haircut in the picture that after having it for that one day she marched me to the barbershop to get me a full fledged scalping. In regards to the level of pain inflicted, it still ranks on the top 10 punishments. EVAR.

‘YE TUDDA Says “WHAT DOES IT SMELL LIKE!?!”

Friday, July 27th, 2007

kanghey

To wrap up our week with guest editor, rapper KANYAYZE WEST, we thought we’d ask him one of the most important questions concerning Hip-Hop right now. It’s not about politics, or sales figures, or even who has the sickest rhyme flow of all time. The question is so much realer than that. In the words of DP Dot Com sponsor and award winning blogger ZILLZ from Zilla Says, the ultimate questions is “What Does It Smell Like!?!”(click on icon)

zillz

WDISL!?! gets to the core of the human condition. If we are nothing more than animals walking upright (most times) then why don’t we give the proper credit to that sense which conveys our emotional state? Smell is as, if not more important than sight, and WDISL!?! proves this without a doubt. Let’s take a look at some images along with ‘YE TUDDA and find out what his nose knows…

serena

SERENA WILLIAMS a/k/a CHOCOLATE SHE-HULK

serena

‘YE TUDDA says, “Serena boonkey is thick, but the streets say that she smell like a wrestler on Andro. Plus I imagine that she has played with her share of dirty, sweaty tennis balls. I wouldn’t trust it until I see a picture from the front side. Serena might could be one of those chicks who got a ‘surprise’ for you.”

nahh mayne

deelishus

DEELISHUS

deelishus

‘YE TUDDA says, “Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger… Flav gave her that little taste of Hollywood, but deep inside she is still a hoodrat that you drink 40’s and smoke blunts with. Wasn’t she the Flav chick that shitted on herself?”

nahh mayne

buffie

BUFFIE The BODY

buffie

‘YE TUDDA says, “First off, homegirl’s booty is wild retarded. Shit is just stupid big. I know she can’t wipe her ass right so you best believe there is still some doodee caked up in the crack. And I smell burning latex from all the niggas that done smashed that. Play at your own risk homey.”

hell nahh

longwhoria

EVA LONGWHORIA

longwhoria

‘YE TUDDA says, “I smell mangos, stinky ass French cheese and used gym socks. Every Mexican chick I ever fucked with loved mangos, and because of her man you know she already got that crazy French people b.o. from the shit they eat. I might would still hit it though.”

meh

myspace shawty

SEXY YOUNG MYSPACE HONEY

myspace shawty

‘YE TUDDA says, “Ba’ygirl smell like potpourri, paby bowder and a hot, sweet cinnamon roll. She was only seventeen, but she was sexy. I love when these young girls get onto MySpace and act like this was the first time that they did a striptease. Chick please stop frontin’!”

ye says yay

40 DAWG KNOWS… FUNKY HOT PANTS

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007

40 deez

Editor’s note: Anybody remember the ‘Bo Knows’ NIKE commercials? Well, let DP Dot Commenter and iNternets Celebrity cohort 40 DAWG tell you what he knows…

I remember my first trip to the “gentleman’s club” it was ’92 and I was a 17 year old freshman in college. My man from Florida JJ (RIP) put us on to this spot and since all the boys from The Bottom were all about Luke records I figured they knew what was up. Video hoes hadn’t become a phenomenon and “stripper anthems” didn’t even exist. See it was still the end of the Afrocentric era of hip-hop and after years of hailing up your queens I figured that the objectification of women wasn’t right by that movement. Alas it was college and we hung out in the dorm drinking 64’s of Old Gold and killing time before we skated. Our destination – the notorious (and now defunct) Fox Valley in North Philly. See “The Fox” as we called it didn’t open until 1 am, and it was a huge warehouse space that doubled as a place where the ladies of the formal strip spots could work overtime and do more raunch for the crowds that they weren’t allowed to do in places with liquor licenses. Lets just say there was a reason why these broads were working overtime, the collection of scar tissue in there was overwhelming on these broads but as the night progressed and the Cisco kicked in the siren song that is a strip club began to work its magic. I was in.

For the better part of my college years after that we explored any environment that had a pole on an elevated dance area with mirrored background. We roamed the corners of North Philly, West Philly, South Philly, Camden, South Jersey, and even Delaware always on the come up for some new flesh den where Heineken bottles were used for more than just holding beer. Like any hobby as your exposure increases so does your standards. I had moved on to the after hours barber shops that turned into booty and BBQ and started moving on to the higher end spots where the dancers worked out but the physical interaction declined. These better joints were better visually and also put me on to the past-time of just building with these gals. See before at the more “grimy” spots its just flesh and business and the personal aspect of it is kept to a minimum. However these spots these were women you’d actually holler at in public and the fact you could see their sweater meat just elevated it all.

My ace cuzzo Panama was in Philly with me and we’d regularly hit up spots like Delilah’s Den at lunch for chicken fingers and tee-tays. Panama was that guy and knew people everywhere including a gang of these strippers so they’d invite us out and we’d just soak it all in. I guess knowing these chicks off the clock caused me to be a little more respectful to these women when they were on the clock. Along with that came the occasional discovery of the girl you knew in Math 255 was working a pole like a bell curve. I have to say I enjoyed the “Oh shit someone else knows” look they’d shoot you from the main stage and then try and go back to dancing. Just make sure you hang it up when tuition is paid!

Time went by and my man hooked me up with a bouncing job at this little strip spot by UPENN’s campus and it exposed me even more to the life of a stripper. One of the best tidbits was the multiple layers of names these chicks would have to throw their scent off. Her stage name could be something based off an alcoholic drink, then she’d tell the custie her real name was some generic porn/sexy type name like “Amber” or “Monique”, then she’d tell her other stripper friends that her name is really “Joan”, and then I’d be in class seeing the same broad getting a test back with the name “Isabel”. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Time moved on and I left college but still got to experience some of the best strip spots on the East Coast, like Coco’s and the RoleXXX in Miami. In fact its safe to say “The LeXXX” is hip-hop’s first strip club and one of the first institutions that turned the MIA into the playground for rap stars. In fact I was blessed enough to hang out at RoleXXX with Trick Daddy and some other cats that were former “The U” royalty. Nelly’s “Tip Drill” ain’t have sh*t on a “get that bottle” contest. I also have to give a shout out to “38th & 8th” (aka Club Passion aka Club “Assion” – he “p” fell off the door) where you could get the best pat & frisk on your way in possible (they have girls do it). I missed the infamous “Brain Fest” underground circuit that existed in NYC during the late 90’s but I heard those were pretty ill in their own right. Shouts to Nights on Broadway in North Philly which has taken over for “The Fox” and at 3:00 they announce “LOCK DOOR!” and if you got the money – anything goes. Last time I was there I was getting lappies and drinking yak with comedian Michael Colyar. Ah the times.

The strip club to me has waned in my later years, I think because I spent so much time in them in my early 20’s. Also with the sanitization of NYC and your boys cohabiting with their wifey’s and real wives, its kinda difficult to get out of the house for that purpose let alone coming back home smelling like booty, sweat, strawberry, cocoa butter, and incense. Also like everything else in society hip-hop and the internets has killed off the allure these places once had. Now you got “strip club anthems”, shoot outs from “making it rain”, the abundance of video hoes, and all the downloadable porn in the world makes seeing such lusciousness and lewdness so easily accessible. Gone are the days of grainy VHS porn dubs and hoping the bouncer lets you in to the titty bar so you can maximize the $16 in singles you got. Now strip clubs for me are more of a lark, something you do on vacations, bachelor parties, or when an outta town college buddy comes to visit. But every once in a while I get out there and re-live that old nostalgia. Whether its Sue’s Rendezvous, Strokers in Atlanta, or it was the chick I bagged at the Spearmint Rhino in Vegas, or Amateur Night at Uptown Cabaret in Charlotte, you can catch me clockin’ the clear heels every so often. However if you catch me in there I’m more likely to be found chatting up the ladies more than slappin’ ’em with singles but hey, they’re people to right? But that don’t mean I forgot what to do when I’m there…

40’s Total Experience:
Stripper Type: Well scented, well proportioned (no deformedly huge body parts, even the good ones), 5’8″ or better with out heels, and interesting (just don’t stare at the sky!).
Song: Prince’s “Darling Nikki” (or some other classic piff). Dancing to stripper “anthems” is too easy for them.
Accoutrement: Baseball hat (if you can wear one in, I love a chick dancing in my fitted) & Charms Blow Pop so you can salaciously eat it while giving her eye mojo.

Everything else is up to you… Plus remember the $5-7 per song ratio when calculating the value of a lapdance. None of this $40 for 3 mins shit! (Eh hem – SCORES!)

hell yeah ‘YE TUDDA: “Locked Door parties is what’s up!”
I actually travel with my own pr0n though, because it’s hard to find a club with that good interracial bestiality bondage type shit.

Don’t H8 KIM KARDASHIAN’s Booty…

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007

dont h8

Editor’s note: We are happy to introduce a new feature on this blog held down by one of Kansas City’s most gully bloggers. H8TORADE is exactly where dude is coming from. Peep his picture album *NSFW*, but only if you work from home, or you have the coolest job. Evar.

Don’t H8 KIM KARDASHIAN:

One thing you can always count on is me bringing you the latest pictures of Kim Kardashian. If you don’t think she is fine then feel free to shove your dick in a blender for about 30 seconds, since chances are that you don’t use it much anyways.

kim k

kim k

hell nahh ‘YE TUDDA says “HELLL NO PIMPIN’!”
First off, little KIM K has put in so much work lately that her little cootie cat stays on swole. Secondly, ‘YE TUDDA is not fucking behind the boy BRANDY. There’s way too many brand new young model ho’s in the game to keep him from effin’ with this piece. This is some regular nigga exotic pussy.