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Archive for June, 2010

The Roots Are Doing It Again…

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

?uestlove

I remember when Game Theory dropped a few years back and I was sleeping as I usually did on Roots albums. I eventually took the advice of Rafi Kam who suggested the album after we had wrapped our shoot of the Ghetto Big Mac video.

Game Theory was the first Roots album where I felt like I could fux with the studio album. It’s not like I didn’t fux with the Roots tho’ who I have followed in NYC for years. Something in the paradigm shifted tho’. Maybe my palate became more advanced? In any case I found myself having a new appreciation for the Roots and the efforts they released on compact disk.

The latest Roots album titled ‘How I Got Over’ has been cooking up nice and slow in the studio. The album was purported to be released at several dates last year but the Roots revised schedule of non-stop work didn’t have them recording as often. The wait was totally worthwhile in that this album is their best richest compilation of music I have ever listened to. The album is nails.

I feel extra lucky too in that as I listen to the album I recognize some songs from their residency at the Highline Ballroom. The Roots remain on that ‘constant elevation causes expansion’ Rakim vibe. This album has such a Grown Man Rap sound. I think that is coming from the keys which are prominent throughout. This could be the James Poyser influence on the band. This track sounds like something from the Chronic 3000.

The Roots featuring Dice Raw, Truck North and P.O.R.N. – ‘Walk Alone’

This album should be all over the dial on the radio. It’s not like the Roots were unfocused either. They have a song on here for every occasion, or radio station format. I like that they took their time to put out this disk because there are no rushed filler tracks on the album. The features are all on point too. The tracks with John Legend are incredible. Also the rappers are all visionaries, Phonte, Blu and most definitely the Money Makin’ Jam Boys – Dice Raw, Truck North, P.O.R.N. and STS.

The Roots featuring John Legend – ‘The Fire’

Black Thought is Black Thought. That is to say that Black Thought is the greatest emcee of all time. The verses on this track give me chills down my spine. I have told y’all one million times that the essence of Hip-Hop is the sound of the drum and the voice. ?uestLove and Black Thought are the drum and the voice. The Roots are the essence of Hip-Hop. And they are doing it again.

The Roots featuring John Legend – ‘Doin’ It Again’

thought

pics via Kwadwo Kwarte

Posted in 5 Elements, Crappers, Fanboy Ish, Ghetto Celebs, Pirate Radio Podcast, Straight Laced, Wig Owners | 14 Comments »

WIG OWNERS > WIG BRUSHERS:The Kobe Report…

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

wigcats

I’m not a Kobe stan by any stretch of the imagination, but I will tell you this…

KOBE > LeBRON

Okay, my bad. That was stannish. Slightly lightly. Riddle me this tho’ hoopsheads…

Kobe > Jordan?

In a few more years some of you may have to admit that Kobe Bryant was better than Michael Jordan.

The above statement looks like multi-tiered blasphemy today, but I’m asking some of you to consider a future where Kobe Bryant has won more than six championships and scored more points, and given more assists, and won more big games.

It will be ever so close tho’ and decided by percentage points. I don’t know math too tough so I’ma have to take out my crayons and the what not. Let’s use what we got to see what we see true believers. -(c)Stan Lee x George Clinton

Kobe is becoming the Showbee we always knew he could be.

However, Michael Jordan remains the generational standard bearer because you can’t count anyone who played in the tight pants era(Russell, Chamberlain, Magic, Bird). Kobe would have been just like Jerry West if he played in that era, but Kobe is in the Long Shorts era. In the Long Shorts era the team game is supplanted by the megastar. His journey has to be spectacularly singular. That’s what the marketing division said.

Jordan was able to develop the ego to fit the Stern School of Athletic Business model. Kobe doesn’t have the ego to match Michael Jordan’s. Kobe walks alone off the court, but plays the team game when on it. Jordan takes a greater percentage of his team’s shots and then buys everyone beer and hoo ers after the game. I could go and on with anecdotal facts about both players but I know why you fux with DP.com anyhoo.

The pictures and graphical shit.

Just know that one of these days you gonna have to give Kobe some of Jordan’s wigs.

kobe

G.O.A.T. Longshortsmen Graphical Shit

Jordan edges Kobe FG percentagewise and also takes more shots per minutes of playing time. Jordan is the one who ISN’T passing the ball.

3pt fg

For the average of 3-pointers attempted per minute of playing time Kobe goes in from deep [ll] more than Jordan does. Kobe is slightly more accurate also.

Kobe better FT shooter and averages more attempts per game.

misc

Push on the rebounds. Kobe on the assists. Jordan edges on the steals. Push on the blocks.

ad men

Jordan is a better corporate chump.

dbaggery

Jordan is also a major D-bag. I’ma let Chamillionaire tell it.

prspin

Kobe has better advisors. Michael loses a record amount to alimony and he wears a nazi moustache.

analover

Kobe likes to stuff it in the poophoop [ll].

glsoat

At the end of the day who cares about these assholes?

I’ve got a fux’n headache.

Posted in 5 Elements, iNternets Celebrities, No Boutros Boutros... Ghali, Sports are Gay, Straight Laced, The Association, When I Reminisce..., Wig Owners | 20 Comments »

MEYHEM LAUREN YACHT CLUB…

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

yacht club

Meyhem Lauren drops gemstones.

Hardbody in the streets.

“Ay yo ain’t shit changed
Its still crime on the mind.
We got fiends killing nicks
like Reggie Miller in his prime.”

Meyhem Lauren – ‘Another Hustle’

Meyhem goes hard on this J-Love track from the ‘Unstoppable‘ tape.

Meyhem got the young Grown Man Rap rhymes.

That doing your thing in your 20’s stacking paper living life not using punctuation type shit.

But always repping the lifestyle for real.

Peep this Meyhem Lauren bootleg mixtape that is killing the internets!

yacht club

2 L’s up 2 mehdi

Posted in 5 Elements, Black Bullshit, Crappers, Fanboy Ish, Ghetto Celebs, iNternets Celebrities, LOVE x LOYALTY, Ninjas, Sneaker Fiends United, Wig Owners | 5 Comments »

SNEAKER FIENDS UNITE!

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

One of my favorite basketball teams of all-time is the Harlem Globetrotters. Don’t laugh out loud when I tell you that I thought they were actually a REAL team, too good to play in the league with the other teams because they always won.

The truth about the Globetrotters is that they were actually a professional team in their beginnings during a time in America when Black athletes had to exist within the separate and unequal parameters of this country’s fringe. Just like baseball’s Negro League barnstormers would have exhibitions against players from the majors, the Globetrotters would match up against NBA teams like the great Minneapolis Lakers and they would triumph more often than not.

Team owners and league officials realized that Black athletes were the perfect exotic draw to their flagging businesses so as white professional leagues pushed towards integration it meant that the pro teams and clubs that weren’t within their jurisdiction would end up going out of business. Not so much for the Harlem Globetrotters who incorporated entertainment elements within their athletic exhibitions. They mixed their basketball skills with a touch of Vaudeville.

Nike’s putting out some Dunk Lo’s for kids this summer they are calling the ‘Independence Day’. If I had a kid I would copp these kicks for him or her as a testament to the independent spirit of Abe Saperstein and all of the Harlem Globetrotters past and present.

As a kid I never knew the backstory of this team and what it meant to my dad to watch them play. I just thought they were good. And funny. And what else does a child need but to be happy? The realities of the world will find him soon enough.