Obama By Versace!

Barak Obama's swagger is clicking on all cylinders right now, Obamania as some have dubbed has reached a new high as Versace just rolled out their new clothing line inspired by the presidential hopeful himself; affectionately titled Obama by Versace. I guess Obama can now add fashion icon to his extensive resume.

50 Cent Talkin Reckless On The Cocaine City DVD

This nigga 50 is on one on this shit. Feeling himself to the highest degree, the way he was talking you could almost forget that he was signed and dropped by Columbia records, and his career didnt take off until after he was stabbed up and shot 9 times over the span of a few months. And even then no one was really trying to hear what he had to say but once Eminem signed him and Dr.Dre co-signed him his career took off. If you listen to him tell it, he'd say it was all part of his plan but in actuality he got lucky in more ways than one and turned the worst thing that happened to him into the best thing that happened to him. Where would 50 be without Eminem, Dr. Dre and those 9 shots almost killed him? Still on the block hustlin.

Video: Shaq to Kobe "Tell Me How My Ass Taste"

Now we all know Kobe snitched on Shaq for cheating on his wife way back during Kobe's rape trail, Kobe even went as far as to tell the feds that Shaq pays women a million to keep quiet. But no one expected Shaq to retaliated 4 years later like this! And whats this whole "Tell me how my ass taste" line about? I don't know, that shit sounds mad homo to me. If Shaq had an issue with Kobe's snitching choke artist ass he should've called Kobe out on that shit back then, its kinda petty to wait all this time and then finally call the nigga Kobe out. Thats like putting R.Kelly on trial for child pornography 4 years after the sex tape surfaced.

Music: Sean Garret f/ Pharrell- Patron

This is a new track from singer/songwriter Sean Garrett called Patron featuring Pharrell. If you're not familiar with Sean Garrett he's no newcomer to the music industry he's been behind the scenes for a while writing hits for some of R&B biggest stars. Including Usher’s Grammy-winning “Yeah!,” Fergie’s “London Bridge,” Chris Brown’s “Run It”,"Gimme That," Ciara's "Goodies" and Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", "Upgrade U" & "Check On It".

This song goes hard! It's a smooth laid back summer song, if Sean Garrett drops this as a single I could see it taking over the airwaves all summer similar to the way Lloyd did with "You" and "Get It Shawty".

Listen: Sean Garret ft/ Pharrell- Patron

Barak Obama's Fatherhood Speech

This speech is the amazing, he touched on one of the biggest issues in the black community. I hope that the next generation of fathers and even this current generation are listening and taking notice. The epidemic of absentee fathers in black community has crippled us and impeded our progress for too long and hopefully with this speech and other speeches like this, we can move toward a day where more black fathers are taking their responsibilities seriously and raising their children. With as many high profile black people out there with the ability to speak on relevant issues to many waist their celebrity and influence talking about nonsense. What Obama is saying is an old truth that we've all been aware of for some time now and its something that should have been said a long long time ago. As proud as I am of Obama, I'm equally disappointed in all those black people that have come before Obama that have passed on numerous opportunities to say these types of things when they knew the whole world was listening. What Obama is saying takes a tremendous amount of courage and exposes many of our so-called heroes (in the publics eyes) as the self absorbed cowards that they are, too scared to address the real issues.

Video: The-Dream f/ Young Jezzy - I Luv Your Girl

Here is The-Dream's Video for his 3rd single "I Luv Your Girl" featuring Young Jeezy. The-Dream's album Love/Hate is without a doubt R&B's best kept secret. Its one of those rare R&B albums you can listen to from start to finish and you don't have to skip a song. Rumor is he wrote and recorded it in just 9 days, I don't know if thats true but the album is definitely my favorite R&B albums out right now. He took nigga's to school on this album.

Now when it comes to this video, I have to give The-Dream a big C- on this one. The video is like the rest of his videos thus far for the singles off this album BORING! I've been on this song for about 6 months now and I couldn't wait for him to drop a video for it. I was just sure he was going to come with and do a video that really compliments this massive song and he didn't. I'm pretty disappointed that this great song is going to be remember by such a mediocre video.

New Music: Nas f/ Keri Hilson - Hero

Nas new single Hero produced by Polo Da Don (Love In The Club, Throw Some D's) just hit the net. The song features R&B up and comer Keri Hilson who was first introduced to the masses on Timbo's Shock Value. I think this is a good single for nas and should start the album off on the right foot by really get peoples attention. If you feel otherwise, feel free to drop a line but from what I've been hearing from Nas lately, that nigga is comin wit it on this Album. The album formerly known as Nigger is set to drops July 15th.

Listen: Nas- Hero
Download: [Here]

http://www.nasindependenceday.com/

New Music: Nas- Black President

Check out Nas new song Black President. And you know Jay-Z is gonna do a freestyle over this beat or drop an Obama song himself, soon. But all that aside, this is song is only the beginning of what is expected to be an onslaught of Black President / Obama song's by artists around the nation, now that Sen. Barak Obama has rapped up the Democratic Party Nomination. And I say keep them coming, we're truly witnessing history today and hip-hop should definitely be a part of that history.

Chuck D said "Rap is black CNN", well today as we stand in the crossroads between the past and the present this is hip hop's opportunity and duty to live up to that title by documenting this historical moment in it's music, so that it may live on forever. In the same way that Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" even when you listen to it today still embodies the essence of the black experience during the 60's civil rights movement, Vietnam War and numerous assassinations. At this moment the black voice is louder than it has ever been in this country and if Barak is elected it will be prouder than ever. And wait till Barak gets elected, then (like Kanye Said) you niggas can't tell me nothing, right? Hah! Hah! (Jeezy Laugh)

Listen: Nas- Black President

Apple Celebrates Black Music Month w/ Live Performances!

This month apple stores across the nation will be celebrating black music month with live performances by various Hip Hop and R&B's acts. Artists scheduled to perform include E-40, Michelle Williams, Talib Kweli, Janelle Monae, Wyclef Jean and Goapele. The apple store locations for these performances include SoHo, Frisco, Lennox Square (Atlanta, GA), Lincoln Road (Miami, FL), North Michigan Road (Chi Town) and Third Street Promenade (Santa Monica, CA). Click the link below to view the full schedule of performances.

Apple Store Black Music Month Performance Schedule

Barack Obama wins the Democratic Party Nomination!

June 03, 2008
The political hegemony of people of European descent in America was dealt a crucial blow today as Barack Hussein Obama earned the Democratic Party’s Nomination for President of the United States. Obama shares this distinction with prominent names in American history such as William Jefferson Clinton, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and slaveowner Andrew Jackson. Mr. Obama’s nomination comes after a remarkable campaign that has inspired an unprecedented amount of voter involvement and setting records for campaign contributions.

Technicalities aside, Mr. Obama’s nomination marks the farthest a “black” person has gone up the symbolic power structure of America.


This is the same America where 40 years ago, the idea of inequality of the races was as prevalent as the idea of driving on the correct side of the street. However, despite the 300 year head start by European Americans, and violent, sadistic resistance to the humanity of “black” people, Barack Obama has been given the opportunity to appeal to the public for the privilege of being our country’s next political leader, and commander-in-chief of America’s armed forces.

Enough with the parades, though…

No matter what you feel about politics, this marks a change in the objective history of the racial power struggle . White people have been giving us shit all our lives about how we are lazy and stupid, how our cultures are “primitive”, and continue to degrade all people of color as if we aren’t human. Even though not all white people are explicitly racist, all white people benefit from the inhumane acts that have been perpetrated against truly innocent, good people worldwide whose only crime was not having white skin.

As we see from worldwide protests against Bush, the president of the USA is a visible symbol of power; a power which normally belongs to the racist white establishment. Obama winning this nomination is a major step in bringing the truth to the light, by breaking this myth that only white people can be considered for such a responsibility.

The ‘race’ now is for the votes of the American people, as opposed to non-white people facing violent opposition to being respected as citizens.

No matter what happens from this point on, we have clear evidence that this long standing idea of racial superiority or inferiority in society is a myth…a fucking myth! Wake up! WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FREE!

Black is not just beautiful…it’s American, it’s human, and today it’s
Barack Obama.

New Music: Ne-Yo - Don't Fall In Love!

This song is Fire!!!

When I first heard it I was like Oh Yeah Ne-Yo is on his shit. Usher just dropped and I figured the next couple months was gonna be all Usher but Ne-Yo is bringing it on this track. And if he keeps droppin' heat like this, its going to be a heavyweight slug fest this summer between him and Usher over which R&B crooner is going to own Summer '08. I'm looking forward to it, let the battle begin!

Listen: Ne-Yo -Don't Fall In Love

Michael Jackson Shows Up To UFC 84

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan and have blindly defended the man for years but his latest stunt has me saying what the fuck?

According to TMZ.....

“MJ rolled up to the event in a wheelchair, just in time to watch Tito Ortiz get smacked around ... that is, if he could see anything through those ridiculously blacked out shades.”

You mean to tell me that the King Of Pop rolled in to UFC 84 last Saturday night in a wheel chair and on top of that dressed in a damn ninja monk outfit??? Way to be inconspicuous Mike, I'm sure no one was suspicious when they seen a pale man in an all black ninja suit being pushed around the arena by a team of bodyguards. Mike is ridiculous for this one! and I would love to hear his rational behind the wheel chair. It was bad enough he was in a fuckin' ninja monk outfit but the wheel chair took it over the top for me.

Jay-Z & Kanye West Make History Once Agian

Jay-Z and Kanye West are helping rewrite the record books once again with their Heart of the City and Glow In The Dark tours. Pollister estimates that Jay-Z and Mary J’s Heart of the City Tour, which ends this month, will bring in $23 million. And Kanye West’s Glow In The Dark Tour is estimated to bring in $21 million when it ends this June.

These two concerts could replace 2005’s Anger Management Tour ($21 million) as the highest grossing hip hop tours of all time. And mark a turning point in hip hop, a turning point that many other genres have already made, where concert revues help replace the money lost from plummeting record sales.

It looks like Jay-Z & Ye were right when they said diamonds are forever, the ROC is definitely in the building.

Video: Colin Munroe - I Want Those Flashing Lights (Kanye West Remix)

Here's a youtube gem we ran across, enjoy.

Video: Kanye West Releases A Third Version Of The "Flashing Lights" Video

It seems like each video gets deeper , more symbolic and consequently more confusing to the average fan...LMAO thats right Kanye keep 'em thinking.

Kobe Jumps Over A Pool Of Snakes: Real Or Fake?

In Kobe's latest stunt video he appears to jump over a pool of snakes AND dunk a basketball. In a recent Nike Commercial he leaped over a moving Aston Martin and didn't dunk a basketball. Then shortly after he went on PTI (ESPN) and admitted (in not so many words) it wasn't real.

So the question is....Do you think this video is real? Personally I don't but you be the judge.

Enough With The Geriatric Action Heroes Already!

The newest installment in the Indian Jones series debuted last weekend in theaters and I have this to say is...

Who gives a fuck!

People like myself are not interested in these old ass action heroes flicks with geriatric actors trying to reprise roles they played in 3o years prior when they were in their late 20's. A true mid-life crisis if I ever seen one!

First they brought back Arnold who was 55 at time to do Terminator 3 (2003) 19 years after the first Terminator (1984).

Then it was Bruce Willis turn, 19 years after the first Die Hard to do Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard. Why was their a need to Die Hard again after Bruce Willis already Died Hard 3 times already.

And finally everyone favorite sterioded up action hero Sylvester Stallone did a series of tired ass movie franchise remakes. The first being Rocky Balboa (2006) or as I like to call it Rocky 10, 4 sequels and 30 years after the original Rocky (1976). Then just to put the icing on the cake and cement his place in the geriatric action hero hall of fame, he did a remake of his 1984 Blockbuster hit Rambo in 2008 and is currently working on "Rambo V". Now Harrison Ford has thrown his name in the hat for geriatric action hero of the century with Indian Jones 4: Escape From The Old Folks Home.

I mean you don't see Hollywood bigwigs trying to dust off Max Julien to do a sequel to the Mack, The Mack 2: Old Folks Home Pimpin'. I'm just saying whats next??

Are they going grab Brad Pitt in 2016 to do Fight Club 2: The Viagra League? This shits got to stop, get some young creative screenwriters to come up with some fresh concepts and stop trying to resurrect tired ass movie franchise hits in their twilight. Been there, Done that!

L.A. Concert Calender

If you're reading this blog then we are just going to assume you're a music fan and if you are out in L.A. (like us) and you're looking to catch a few concerts this summer we took that liberty of putting together a little Calendar to help you along on your journey.

Kanye West Glow In The Dark Tour @ Staples Center in Los Angeles 06/07

If you're like me and missed your opportunity to catch this concert the first time it was out here on the west coast, here's your chance to see the most talked about Concert of the Year.



Danity Kane & Day 26 @ The Wiltern in Los Angeles 06/09


I'm not interested in this concert one bit but I'm sure some of ya'll will be...I think.








Living Legends @ The Glass House in Pamona 06/07

For all my underground Hip Hop heads, the bay area hits pomona!







Erykah Badu with The Roots @ The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles 6/12



Snoop Dogg @ The Ventura Theatre in Ventura 6/14



















Playboy Jazz Vestival @ The Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood 6/14- 6/15







Lil Wayne @ Selland Arena at Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center in Fresno 6/20

Not exactly in L.A but the opportunity to so see Wayne Live in concert may be worth the 3 hour drive for some.





Dwele @ Crash Mansion (formerly The Grand Ave Club) in Los Angeles 6/21















Sisqo with Dru Hill @ The Nokia Theatre LA LIVE in Los Angeles 6/29

If you're some how still a Dru Hill fan or just wanna take a trip down memory lane, then this is the concert for you.






Missy Elliot @ San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in Highland, CA 07/10












Ying Yang Twins @ Key Club in Los Angeles 07/25

Hip Hop 1: The State Of Hip Hop Music Today: Awful & Disheartning!

As anyone who has been reading this blog or even remotely knows me, I am a connoisseur of music in general and especially first and foremost in my heart a hip-hopatarian. One of those hardcore die-hard hip-hop fans that was born into the hip hop era, and through out my upbringing hip hop has been one of many things that contributed to shaping the very fabric of my being. So consequently I have a lot feelings about hip hop from past to present, feelings about where it is today as an art form and what looms for hip hops future. I thought I would be able to write one great blog that would sum it all up but I as I set out to write this blog I realized that to truly write on the complex multi-dimensional medium that is hip hop it would take a series of blogs to truly get everything out that I had to say. And so we begin...

Rap music is sad at this point I must say! Nas may have proclaimed emphatically that “Hip Hop is Dead” most recently in 2006 but Common was already mourning Hip Hop's demise in 1994 with "I USED TO LOVE H.E.R"

“But once the man got you well he altered the native
Told her if she got an energetic gimmick
That she could make money, and she did it like a dummy
Now I see her in commercials, shes universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the burbs lickin rock and dressin hip
And on some dumb shit, when she comes to the city”

“Stressin how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz
I did her, not just to say that I did it
But Im committed, but so many niggaz hit it
That shes just not the same, lettin all these groupies do her”

From “selling out” to the “oversaturation of the industry” where everyone who can rhyme a few words feels like they're qualified to become a rapper. All of these things have contributed to propelling hip hop to where it is today, a sad shell of its former self. Oh how the rap game has fallen far from grace....

Jay also had something to say about the state of hip-hop as he explained perfectly in 2003’s Miss You(Remix)

"Big we missing you, Pac we missing you
We feel your presence just not in the physical
All across the world, blocks is miserable
Y'all left a void it's a lot of little you’s
But they not original and they not identical
They just studied your flows and they watched your interviews
That's when hip hop if it's not ten of you
Then it gotta be more, y'all left your paws
Footprints on the game, hood ain't been the same
Feeling ain't been in music, hooks ain't been the same
Pac they use your name in vein
But I guess that's the issue
And it proves how much, niggas really miss you"

I am beginning to wonder, if there some correlation between the demise of hip hop and sudden rise in the amount of black people wearing skinny jeans and dressing like Emo’s. Is yesterday’s throwback jersey wearing, fake chain sporting hip hop fan tomorrow’s skinny jean wearing, tight shirt sporting Emo????

I can say that I started to see this trend emerge about a year or so ago. I go to Up Against The Wall a hip hop clothing store out in Los Angeles pretty frequently and I started to notice that the clothing selection started to look more and more like something you would see in Hot Topic or like something from the wardrobe selections of a member of Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance.

But Hey, It could just be a coincidence that we got black people dressing like Emo’s and white kids in Milwaukee on myspace wearing dew rags and staking caps referring to themselves as “gansta ass niggas”…

But I have to say that the demise of rap is unquestionably in the hands of the artists themselves, rap music is so sad at this point that there is only a few rappers that are even kinda sorta making rap still remotely interesting…..






50 cent’s last album was exactly what he said it was on Hot 97 Radio earlier this week “A Dud” and with him busy counting his Vitamin Water money, I suspect that the “Get Rich Or Die Trying” 50 Cent is long gone.













Ludacris hasn’t been out in over a year and his last album which dropped in 2006, didn’t really make the usual Luda impact. It was nice but not the usual spectacular effort we’d come to expect from him.









Lil Wayne is dope and very creative, his mixtape songs and guest appearances are great but his last few singles have been lackluster. And the self proclaimed Best Rapper Alive hasn’t really put out a “great” album in since The Carter (2004)






Jay-Z is making this list merely due to the lack of available candidates, his last two albums really exposed to me that he isn’t the rapper that he once was, but still a better listen than Souljah Boy, Yung Joc, Rick Ross or Flo Rida. I don’t wanna bash Jay-Z because that’s my boy, I’m a huge fan but the material speaks for itself, his hearts just not in it the way it used to be.







Outkast is certainly keeping it interesting despite the fact that they haven’t dropped a full length album in I don’t know how long.








Kanye West has just dropped arguably the best rap album of the year and is constantly hitting us with classic records, he’s by far the “hottest” rapper out based on quality of full-length albums, hit songs and records sales (and really the only one in second hasn’t released a great full length album since 2004, Weezy). Kanye West himself is a great story considering how many labels played his rap skills to the left.







Common dropped “Finding Forever” last year which was great album though songs like “Party Like A Rock Star” by the gone never to be seen again boyz and “Pop Lock and Drop it” got twice as much radio and video airplay.








Lupe Fiasco just dropped his 2nd album with little promotion as usual, looks like his label is destined to let his sophomore album share the same fate as his debut album…400K and out.







Talib Kweli dropped one of his best albums in years last year but his label didn’t do much to help. I heard 1 or 2 singles, saw one video and that was it. Booooo Warner Bro’s for not giving Talib a chance to make it interesting by giving his music the necessary exposure to have the opportunity to breathe some life into a dying (better yet) Dead Rap Game.







And lastly we got Joe Budden, his Mood Muzik 3 mixtape is classic but his album got pushed back several times, now he’s not even on Def Jam anymore. So who knows when’s the next time we will see a full length Joey album.









Shit even Might Mos Def is singing now, WTF








And out of all these artists most of the so-called “Hit” records from last year were dominated not by Hip Hops heavy hitters, but by half-talent over produced no-rapping ass one hit wonders that struggles to move over 500,000 units even with 5000+ spins a week reaching an audience of 41 million listeners.

Examples: Shop Boyz, Souljah Boy, Mims, Lil Boosie, Hurricane Chris, Jim Jones, Huey, Rich Boy, DJ Unk & Plies....All sub-par and all secured Billboard Number #1 Hits and a place among the Top 15 most played songs of 2007.

In case your wondering, TI and Kanye West just missed the Top 15 Most Played but they were in the Top 25.

I think the failure of rap is a collective failure for everyone involved. The A&Rs for bringing these disgraceful artists to the labels, the Labels for signing and OKing the budgets to produce this nonsense, the Executive Producers and Label Heads for saying the music they are producing is satisfactory and putting it out. And lastly the rappers themselves for creating this transparent bullshit music. They don’t even deserve the title of an artist, there ain’t nothing artistic about saying “Its so hot in the club, I ain’t even got no shoes on” C’mon now, you have to have been able to think of something better to say than that. Rap is fucking wack, it’s a sad day. As a Hip-Hopatarian I am deeply saddened by the state of Rap music.