Mr. Commissioner,

I know you’re as excited for the NBA offseason as anyone. Typically July and August are dead zones for the NBA as the sports world is focused on baseball, the NFL preseason and whatever US Weekly style floater ESPN can drum up about A-Rod or Tiger Woods. Not this year though. Nope, we’re in for two months of LeBron getting his attention-whore on as he makes every franchise genuflect before him in hopes of wooing him to their franchise. With D-Wade, Bosh, Amare and all the other marquee free agents up for grabs as well, the league’s going year round. Read the rest of this entry »

Right on the heels of having just released the song itself, M.I.A. comes with a video for “Born Free.” Clocking in @ nine minutes, it’s explicit & graphic, the perfect embodiment of the raucous & rebellion of the song itself. Not only has the song grown on me, it’s given me dreadful feeling that the apocalypse is coming. Read the rest of this entry »

The headline reads that two detectives investigating a gang-related crime find themselves targeted by both gang members and crooked cops. Could it be the unveiling of Street Kings 2? Chris Klein sure looks and acts just as bad as Keanu Reeves. No, such hysteria could only be Caught In The Crossfire. 50 Cent’s soon-to-be-straight-to-DVD future Razzie. Read the rest of this entry »

Innocence

Five Best Music Discovery Services [Lifehacker]

10 Rock Songs Over 10 Minutes Long [Listverse]

Dame Dash, Marc Ecko Host Fundraiser For Kevin Powell’s Bid For Office [AHH]

Best Goal Celebration Ever [With Leather]

The Roots Announce New Features For How I Got Over [OkayPlayer] Read the rest of this entry »

Regardless on what side you took surrounding the events leading up to his declining health and ultimate demise, Hip-Hop shed their collective tears just five days ago when it lost a pillar of its storied foundation in Keith “Guru” Elam, due to cancer. He, along with the legendary DJ Premier, brought a sense of unity and harmony in their basic MC/DJ setup for over a decade strong. Read the rest of this entry »

Full update later but for now I wanted to post a few pics from Drake’s performance Friday @ Vanderbilt’s Rites of Passage festival. The good folks over there handling press access are always professional & completely accommodating so I was able to snag a handful of good shots (click here to see more of those). It’s always a pleasure to be close to the stage without having to elbow your way through the ruckus or getting trampled in the process, all for the sake of taking pictures for a crummy website. The only catch was that we weren’t allowed to capture video for some of the performers, which was a bummer but dah well. Read the rest of this entry »

My name is my name © Frank Lucas

Mick’s upbringing and lifestyle may be slightly different the Frank’s but they still share one important trait. Read the rest of this entry »

Being a stripper, in some weird parallel universe sense, is somewhat like being the President of the United States. For as many people who attend the “public appearances” of both, the negative stigma remains. The stripper’s propensity to remove articles of clothing for those in attendance in return for financial progress. And the President’s already determined logic of “telling the public what they want to hear.” Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, nobody really believed Brad was really retiring. And while we still struggle to pronounce the name of that last album, he’s doing his best Kingdom Come rendition by serenading the streets with something that’s been missing amongst all the swag and skinny jeans (c)rap: good ‘ol fashioned d-boy muzik. Read the rest of this entry »

Life in the fast line while taking it slow. That’s how The Kid Daytona rolls. As he prepares to raise his stock with his next LRG endorsed project The Interlude, the South Bronx bomber gives you several glimpses of how he conducts business throughout the industry through shows, interviews and just being fly in general. Read the rest of this entry »

Bunker mentality is what transformed me from a casual Wafeek listener to an outright Wafeek fan. The shared experience — in this case, the cocktail-infused haze of a Hip-Hop show — makes would-be strangers become fast friends in the blink of an eye. Or kick of a drum.

I couldn’t tell you for certain what terrain was covered in the time we b#llshitted with King B#llshitter himself, DJ Trackstar, but I know I walked away with the understanding that Wafeek is much sharper than your average rapper. His quick wit and approachable air are equally reflected in tracks like this, “The Meaning of Life.” His relaxed delivery and ear for beats are palatable like good conversation over cocktails. He makes Hip-Hop sound as easy and universal as the shared experience; where would-be strangers become fast friends over the kick of a drum.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download — Wafeek – “The Meaning of Life” (Prod. by Mr. Ish)

“The Meaning…” will be featured on Trackstar’s Boogie Bang 23, hosted by Tef Poe. The mixtape should be hittin’ the e-airwaves shortly.

Star links with Nashville radio DJ’s Dolewite & Scooby to release his Livin In The Past mixtape. Decidedly retro, the project finds homie jackin’ a host of vintage beats, updating each song with his own concepts and lyrics from his rhyme book. Roll one and let this roll. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, I was twittering via phone and saw Vado & Cam both buzzing about these two tracks debuting on radio. Therefore I knew we’d have treats for breakfast if I could get my hands on decent quality versions. Miss Info took care of that with her connection to Cam, procuring decent versions that are worthy of posting. “I Don’t…” is unmixed but its safe to say that Vado & Cam both left their mark on the track. “Speakin’ Tungs” has a party bounce to it, but the lyrics are catchy enough to keep it from appearing too sugary. The good thing? Looks like Harlem will be in the building this spring, infecting the world with Slime Flu and “stop it 5″ references. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll be honest, I might be the only crew member that still has Sex Packets tunes shuffle across my iPod. Even though it was released over two decades ago, there’s still a certain magic to the album that hasn’t faded. Digital Underground was just different than anything then or since, a West Coast cool that came easily and capable of putting together hits that were raunchy, funny and pretty damn sexy. Truth be told, that album still has some of the sexiest tracks ever put to wax, even if the girls they rhymed to were wearing spandex and shaving weird designs in their hair (Ok I guess that hasn’t changed). Read the rest of this entry »

Shteena

5 People You MUST Know In College [Coed]

Stacey Dash Must Have That “Good Good” [I Had Heard]

7 Celebrities That Are Fashionably Insane [Guyism]

Quincy Jones Talks Music, Life, Love At ASCAP Expo [AP]

Insane Two-Man Bicycle Kick [TRU] Read the rest of this entry »