Laura Bentley

Lockout This: 10 Awesome Sports That Could Replace The NBA [With Leather]

Michael Jackson’s Jacket to Go on World Tour [Spinner]

Top 10 “Entourage” Babes [Ask Men]

Two Men Arrested For Pretending To Be Arrested [Vibe] Read the rest of this entry »

After first seeing the trailer for this during my freshman year in college in 2004, Pharrell and the powers that be decided to let loose of his short film Ecology Of Love. Read the rest of this entry »

Who would have thought that Toto, of all groups, would be the key to ending Jeezy’s wolf cries? Of all the illegitimate TM103 lead singles we’ve heard, “Shake Life” seems poised to actually make some noise outside the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Clark Kent may be the first name that comes to mind when referencing the strongest superheros, but when he’s pitted up against Batman, Green Lantern, the uncanny X-Men, Spider-Man, Thor and Captain America, he doesn’t stand a chance in Tinseltown. Due to alleged creative conflicts in the script, director Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel has been pushed back from its holiday ’12 slot to the summer of 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

The shot heard round the internet was fired late yesterday evening when the second leak from Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album, the highly-anticipated Watch the Throne, hit whatever passes for the “streets” these days. I was genuinely excited. All willpower in relation to my thoughts of waiting until the album’s release before listening to any of the songs were dashed when I saw that the leak was “Otis,” the track I was most interested in hearing after reading the various reports that came back from Jay’s impromptu listening session.

I put on my recently acquired Sennheiser (Thanks for the birthday gift, mom!) headphones, and settled in. When Otis Redding’s pained baritone wailed into my ears, immediately followed by an Easter Sunday organ stab and piano loop, a sense of relief washed over me. The Roc Boys were in the building and did not plan to disappoint.

The duo weaved between and around Redding’s voice, manipulated into a series of grunts and howls, in a display of back and forth rhyming that I’m sure put a smile on the faces of Jadakiss and Styles P as they began attempts to leap over the recently raised bar. Jay was at his charismatic best with lines like “photoshoot fresh/looking like wealth/I might call the paparazzi on my self.” He calmly rattled off boasts about private jets, multiple passports and Hublot watches, like you or I might talk about finding a route to work that saves ten minutes. Kanye was incorrigible. Couture level flow? His other-other Benz? The whole scene-stealing play on customer/accustomed? Murder. The pair of kings did not seem to be playing around, and the Hip-Hop world stood to benefit.

As I ran Jay-Z and Kanye’s foot-stomping soul swagger showcase back for the tenth time, I scrolled through my Twitter feed to capture the reactions of the people I follow. As expected, the responses orbiting around the Twitterverse ranged from blatant fanboyisms (to which I may have contributed), to arguments about who outshined who, to reasonable criticism and, of course, unbridled hate. Nothing in particular stood out until I saw this tweet from dream hampton, a writer for whom I have immense respect, and who I’ve read since I was a teen

Damn. Why’d you have to go and do that?

For the three minute running time of “Otis” I almost believed I was a multi-millionaire jet-setter. I could feel the coolness and weight of that Rolex on my wrist. I could smell the smoke from Cuban cigars as it wafted throughout my beachside cabana. Now I have to think about real life. I think about being an underemployed, wannabe writer, and how my ends are about as far away from meeting as The NBA owners and players. I remember that even with my own problems, I’m still doing a hell of a lot better than the nearly 10 percent of Americans that don’t have a job at all. Hampton’s tweet made me wonder: Is it irresponsible for rappers to flaunt wealth to such a degree during such harsh economic times?

Make no mistake; Jay-Z and Kanye were not the first rappers to flaunt their material wealth. Many of us remember The Sugar Hill Gang’s rhymes about Lincoln Continentals and sunroof Cadillacs. However, over the past decade, it seems as if the ante keeps being raised to a level where very few, if any, of us will ever be able to have a seat at the table. Watch the Throne’s golden cover art looks like something Indiana Jones would kill 50 natives to have, not like something that belongs in Best Buy. The aforementioned cover art was designed by Givenchy’s Creative Director Riccardo Tisci for god’s sake. I’m still not 100% sure how to pronounce Givenchy or Tisci. Bentley became the new Benz and Bugatti the new Bentley. Private jets are the new limos. Islands are the new mansions. How can we stand to listen to this when so many of us don’t have two nickels to rub together? Why do we let so many rappers get away with these braggadocios lyrics?

The recession is far from over, but it’s been three years since Young Jeezy became the first major label emcee to talk about the recession without mentioning being too rich for it to affect him. I looked for more to follow his lead, but most didn’t. Are Hip-Hop listeners like the poor tea party voters who vote for legislation that helps the richest people in the country, despite their own humble circumstances? Have we succumbed to some delusion that we can ascend to the rarefied air occupied by our favorite rap stars, and like to listen to them as they keep our seats warm in anticipation of our arrival? Is it just an escape, like Bond films and HBO’s Entourage? Are we tuning out the content, and concentrating solely on well put together verses and/or ear-pleasing production?

The truth is I don’t know why boasts like the ones in “Otis” and countless other Hip-Hop songs don’t bother me, but I do wish that more mainstream artists spoke for the people who are its biggest consumers. In the meantime, I’ll keep listening to Jay, Kanye and others ball out better than everyone else in the business, but hope to hear a rounder version of the country’s economic story more frequently.

Music and sports merge for Nike Sportswear’s “Always On” campaign and uptown’s own Vado sets the series off with an original title track. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear STS Newcomer,

As a literary scholar, gentleman and soul mic controller, Sugar Tongue Slim wants you know exactly who you are dealing with. This kind of geniality doesn’t come too often in Hip-Hop, seeing the bigger the facade, the bigger the payoff rule stays in effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Undeniably popular with fans and critics alike, Afro Samurai fans can let out an excited “banzai!” as The Indomina Group, GONZO KK and Samuel L. Jackson announce they are teaming up for a live action film of the beautifully violent series. Studio Gonzo was responsible for 2007′s initial Afro Samurai series as well as 2009′s movie sequel, Afro Samurai: Resurrection which also featured music from The RZA. Read the rest of this entry »

While it’s unclear if this move is a testament to their greatness or testament to the lack of living legends in today’s NBA, the fine folks over at 2K Sports opt to go with faces that people trust and slap Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as the visual selling points for the next installment of NBA 2K. Read the rest of this entry »

The upcoming Roy Ayers Project seeks provide the answer through the medium of film and show that the legendary jazz composer Roy Ayers’ scope of influence goes beyond his most popular tune, “Everybody Loves The Sunshine.” Read the rest of this entry »

When he’s not knocking artists’ albums via Twitter, Flying Lotus is putting out odd, completely unique product. To the casual fan, FlyLo’s particular brand of cacophony comes across as pure madness. Read the rest of this entry »

Nominations for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards were announced yesterday, on the off chance that your thing is watching music videos on TV instead of YouTube and find the associated award shows interesting. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, look who’s back. Trying once again to state his case for most-well-rounded is Outasight, who uses an everlasting “Setting Sun” to combine barbershop quartet harmonies with his Lupe-Fiasco-like-flow and Bono-esque baritone. Read the rest of this entry »

Skillz makes those Willie Loman raps geared to the average cat but the song “Regular Guy” is everything but mundane. Video directed by Cristopher Schafer. Read the rest of this entry »

Need something to do in NYC next Wednesday? Here’s a strong suggestion for a dope show that won’t break your budget. Read the rest of this entry »