For the unfamiliar, the title is actually a quote by Pablo Picasso and has to do with drawing inspiration from something while putting your touch on it. There’s a thin line between blatantly jacking someone’s idea and flipping it enough to make it your own. It’s not an unfamiliar concept to Hip-Hop, with sampling and copyright infringement banging heads since Biz Markie’s “I Need A Haircut.” I’ve never been a fan of copyright laws because of the sheer amount of Hip-Hop songs that have never seen the light of day because some forgotten artist hates the genre and doesn’t clear the sample. Shepard Fairey, the creator of the now iconic image above, is being sued by the AP for not getting proper permission to use the image in his design. Read the rest of this entry »

Killing some time today before the big game? Why not play a few rounds of Super Obama World, where Read the rest of this entry »

…wonder no more. That Terrible Towel he’s waving should be enough of a clue.

Since his Bears are not on the field, Obama shifted his support to Pittsburgh but he’s doing so based on another allegiance. Read the rest of this entry »

TSS never steers you wrong, fam.

How many of you listened and bought the Obama issue of Amazing Spider-Man? If you did, give yourself a high five because these issues are going for upwards of $85 on eBay. There are currently four versions of the book floating around with any variation making some money online. Read the rest of this entry »

We posted Part One of that dude Neil’s Inauguration Recap. Here’s a bit from Part Two, found in the inbox… Read the rest of this entry »

Basically.

You can click to enlarge it so Read the rest of this entry »

I’m no genius, but “spy-proof” seems like too obvious an oxymoron to me.

That’s the word they’re using to describe the monstrosity of a phone, pictured below, that Obeezy gets to keep. Read the rest of this entry »

For every Dennis Miller & Bill O’Reilly trying to knock Hip-Hop’s newfound connection to politics, there’s a Neil Armstrong.

You can pretty much ask anyone (literally) who’s encountered him in some way & they’ll tell you that through it all, Neil is one “grounded” dude to say the very least. And to watch his rise from the dude politely asking me to take down his catalog…then granting us our inaugural Smoking Session. Since then homie’s progressed to DJ’ing for Hov, to working Obama’s Inauguration and, still, nothing’s changed.

He sent out this email blast yesterday & posted it on his blog. It’s his recap of the Inauguration Day events. It was so moving, I told him I’d be reprinting it in full.

“You need to grow up…Djing will get you no where.”

I’ve actually been told those exact words. Years ago when I was maybe three years into DJ’ing, by an ex-girlfriend. She was Korean. (ohh yeah u know I was gonna mention that – its called being salty….).

Actually that sentiment has been expressed to me by many a person at times in my life, even myself. Ask my boy Vinroc; at one point he had to pretty much convince me with his hippy lollypop land mentality to keep at it.

Hmm, well let’s fastforward to what I did for the last 3 days shall we ;)

The people of the United States inaugurated the 44th President – Barrack Obama. 1st time in history, we have a black president – actually as Jay drops in the new remix – “Our president is black , in fact he’s half white – so even in a racist’s mind he’s half right…”

That’s a line from one of Jay-z’ new remixes – You can download the “My President is Black” song right here. It’s dope, give it a listen…

On this grand occasion, I actually got to contribute a bit of my craft to the celebration at the neighborhood inauguration ball, and also for the 1st time in history 2 turntables and a mic were there on this grand stage to welcome the President to his new office. Read the rest of this entry »

According to the David Letterman show. The clips write themselves people. And to add to the embarrassment… Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine putting “professional Lego-er, trick!” on your resume. Click to enlarge the pic.

Lego Obama Presidential Inauguration Brings Hope to Bricks Too [Gizmodo]

With the inauguration still lingering, it would be foolish of us post-whores not to take advantage of it. If you want to see the pic in full justice, click to enlarge to the full-sized version.

Props to Glacactus for snapping it.

…Made their presence felt with dignified subtlety in D.C. this last few days.

Last night definitely belonged to the Obamas, but one can’t help to notice that Rap & R&B’s power couple contributed their respective talents to become a part of “History.” Check it out. Read the rest of this entry »

Pretty fitting this drops on this historic Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

Illustration by Frank Harris

Last week, Black Canseco suggested that today have theme music. Yet, that’s much easier said than done. Today is going to mean many things to many people. And for each, it will be a distinctly different set of thoughts & emotions associated with this grand occasion. Words…there are no words that haven’t already been said.

Therefore, I give you my song and leave it that. Feel free to drop a link for yours and share why it if you’re inclined.

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Boogie Down Productions – We In There