Sunday, May 31, 2009

Check it ... Marco Polo & Torae

Torae stopped by the Underground Railroad show last night with the homie J Smooth. He and Marco Polo have an album, "Double Barrel", dropping on Tuesday, June 2. He definitely does his thing on the show. Shout to J Smooth [www.illdoctrine.com / www.hiphopmusic.com]. Check below for the album release events on June 2 in New York.

Check out more from Marco Polo & Torae [www.myspace.com/doublebarrel08]



In-Store & Live Performance
Fat Beats NYC, Tuesday, June 2, 6pm-8pm

Album Release Party
Sutra Lounge, Tuesday, June 2, Doors at 10pm


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What's Next for James?

Imagine: “Sorry LeBron,” says the Kobe puppet, while looking at a moving truck. “I’ll send you post cards from the finals.” I wonder if Nike has this commercial ready to go? Or perhaps they have one where Dwight is evicting LeBron from the house.

R.I.P. LeBron Puppet.

Hey, I’m a LeBron fan and really hoped that this year was his year! Think about it … great season, coach of the year, MVP and the Cavs were moving easily through the playoffs. It all made sense. But Cleveland just didn’t show up during the series against Orlando and definitely didn’t show up in game six. Game six provided the least impressive game for LeBron and had us all yelling out at our television sets "take it to the hole!" Now LeBron and the Cavs will be watching the finals from home. I guess the NBA conspiracy theory went out the window when the final buzzer sounded in the Eastern Conference finals.

And as that final buzzer sounded, the talk of what’s next for King James grew louder and louder. Knicks? Hmmm... New York fans would surely welcome the King and that talk has been long rumored around the way. It’s really early to know what the off-season will hold. The Cavs will definitely try to sign James to an extension during the off-season but James just might wait it out looking to see if more help will arrive in Cleveland. Whether LeBron will re-sign now or ever will remain a mystery and like I said, it's definitely too early to say.

This picture has been floating around for a bit, but I thought that it was funny for right now and felt like sharing. Too soon? Nah. Chill Cleveland fans, got love for you!



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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Can't Touch This: Hammertime!

When in doubt (or need a few extra bucks) and looking to get your career back on track, do a reality television show. Shoot, that’s what I would do. Families love having camera crews in their homes and every moment being tapped. Right? Well, MC Hammer (yes, that MC Hammer) comes to A&E with Hammertime. I bet they worked really hard on that title. It was probably a very short meeting that started with, “how about ‘can’t touch this’” and continued to “what about ‘hammertime’”. Meeting adjourned. Done.  

Hammer says in one of the promo videos for the show, “I never left, you just didn’t know where to find me.” Were you looking? Last time I saw dude he was doing one of those ‘Cash for Gold’ commercials. Guess that was part of the comeback strategy.

According to A&E “Hammertime is a reality series that focuses on the Hammer family as they live their not-so-simple lives in Tracy, California. Having a family and re-launching the Hammer empire is not an easy task, but with wisdom, faith and a relentless tenacity to strive through adversity, this family is stronger than ever.”

 Oh, this should be entertaining to watch. If we’re lucky, we’ll even go into the studio and witness MC Hammer blessing the microphone creating another timeless classic (riiiight). Nah, I have respect for dude. As long as he’s not doing a dating show, I’ll see what’s up with it. You can catch the first episode, Sunday June 14 on A&E at 10pm.

More info about A&E's Hammertime

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What I'm Watching ... J. Tait "Just My Imagination"


Oh, YouTube and it's ability to get you wrapped up looking at video after video. I stumbled across this joint from J. Tait on Dwele's page. The Detroit R&B singer, J. Tait kills this remix to "Just My Imagination". What's wild about this video is that the dude is obviously incredibly talented but only a couple thousand views on the video. Spread the love on this joint! Enjoy.

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Check It ... Misnomer(s)


Caught this video of Knewdles (MC and producer) and Sos (violinist and co-producer). Sound is dope and they are definitely talented. Together the Korean sisters make up the crew, Misnomer(s). The video includes Chesney on beat box. As always, figured I’d share. 

Check out more of their music at
www.myspace.com/hiphopmisnomers



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Friday, May 29, 2009

Tha Lady Blogga on Fashion: The Recession Hits the Runway…


Many people are being wiped off the economic map by the recession, but I had no idea that Haute Couture designers were feeling it as well. Yes, Tha Lady Blogga is a bit of a label whore so this news is making me tear up as I type.

Christian LaCroix, has officially declared insolvency after not being able to negotiate a revamp of the label through this grueling recession. As people started to reduce their spending on luxury fashions, the label started to tumble. LaCroix is a creative designer who had great collections over time. But let’s face it... Who can afford to spend $1500 on a pair of slacks?

The label was started 22 years ago and was a huge hit in France and then filtered over into the States. Two of my favorite women Patsy and Edina, of the British Comedy (BBC TV) “Absolutely Fabulous”, were huge fans of the designer. Both he and his designs were often featured on the show. Aw heck... Even Lil’ Kim referenced him in “Crush on You” – Hardcore Album “You gotta hit me off. Buy this girl gifts of course. So I look slick, in my six, with my Christian LaCroix.” Despite her plastic appearance, the girl knows fashion... LOL. Hopefully one of the more stable designer labels can pick him up and he can get back on his feet from there.

People really are going broke. I guess $500 really is too much to spend on a T-Shirt. Designers should probably take note and think about how they are going to survive this Recession. The prices have to match the economy or else folks can’t keep up. That’s the bottom line. Let me just say that I am sure Christian LaCroix won’t be the last designer to feel the effects of this faltering economy. Hmmmmm... Wonder who’s next??

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Which Nike Commercial Is The Best?

Over the years, Nike has put together some classic commercials. After catching the new LeBron and Kobe series of commercials, I'd decided to throw up some of the other commercials from over the years. You have Michael Jordan and Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). You have Penny Hardaway and Little Penny (Chris Rock's voice... yes, that's a big ass cordless phone in his hand). Then you have the LeBron James and Kobe Bryant commercial. Which one do you think is the best? 






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Thursday, May 28, 2009

What I'm Listening to Right Now ... Glenn Lewis




Track is called Storm. It's an older track. Don't know if most have heard of it. I'm guilty of being late on this. Especially being an R&B fanatic as I claim to be. Seriously wish it was my job to just listen to music and let the world know of it. But I digress. Take a listen to the Canadian born Glenn Lewis, aka Glenn Ricketts, singing Storm. It's on repeat for me.

Glenn Lewis - Storm


For more info:
www.myspace.com/wwwglennlewismusiccom


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What I'm Listening to Right Now...Scratch



According to his MySpace profile, SCRATCH is a GRAMMY-winning Camden, New Jersey native who's upcoming album entitled "Loss 4 Wordz features artists Kanye West, Musiq, The Gorillaz, Peedi-Peedi and many more.During and after touring with the world famous Roots since 1998, Scratch has shared stages alongside Ludacris, Jay-Z, Eminem, James Brown, Usher, and Kanye West to name a few. Scratch has also appeared on various mixtapes and has guest appeared on numerous platinum albums.

I've been zonin' out to some of the cuts off his upcoming album Loss 4 Words which is set to be released in June of this year. It's a mix of R&B, Pop, Hip Hop and a Reggae influenced track. I'm liking what I'm hearing. Check out these three tracks!

"Let's Go featuring Peedi Crakk"



"Tonite featuring Musiq Soulchild"



"Ready To Go featuring Kanye West and Consequence"


For more info:
www.scratch-loss4wordz.com/

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Playing for Change: Songs Around The World


I saw this older video on a friend's site and quickly found myself exploring Playing For Change.com. I love music and this amazing project uses music as the universal language through many Countries and people. It's like the ultimate mash-up. Many of these folks are every day people with an amazing gift, and using music in an incredible way. You should check it out because they have older and newer episodes on their site.

More info from the project: "The Playing for Change organization recorded musicians outdoors in cities and townships worldwide. They traveled from post-Katrina New Orleans to post-apartheid South Africa, from the remote beauty of the Himalayas to the religiously diverse dwellings of Jerusalem."





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Star x Buc Wild: T.I., Informant?


O and I have definitely talked offline about our opinions on this TI thing. He's locked up now, but you have to wonder how you can get a year and a day on federal gun charges. Hey, I won't claim to know everything about this TI case or federal gun charges but you think about the type of time other folks get for what you would probably say are lesser charges, and then you might question TI's sentence. He said during his reality show when asked by Sway on the reunion episode, that if he was an informant you could easily figure that out by doing a little bit of investigation. I don't know, but Star and Buc Wild raise points in this video on VladTV.com. Check it out.




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“unfollowdiddy because 112 isn’t just their name, it’s their account balance.”


Dear Sean,

Here’s the irony, the folks that are twittering unfollowdiddy comments for the most part never followed you on twitter. They never locked in homie. I’d imagine that many however at some point were fans of artists signed to Bad Boy. You can tell, because they know most of your artists and are concerned with their whereabouts. Do you even remember most of the artists that have been mentioned? The truth is they’ve stopped following you Sean in the non-twitter world a long, long time ago and the last 24 hours has provided them the opportunity to vent some of the frustrations with you Mr. Ciroc Obama (I hope that there is some bill that President Obama is preparing to sign to end the use of this ignorant nickname by the way).

Their tweets, while funny hold some truths. Sure, careers fade and artists come and go, but they seem to do so in record numbers over at Bad Boy. What happened to Total? Where is Stevie J? Why wasn’t Mario Winans more successful? Where the hell is Carl Thomas? Where’s that girl group Dream? And, damn that was wrong what went down with Shyne. Sean, this is real talk.

Are you locked in? Because we damn sure know your twitter profile is locked down. A celebrity with a private profile? Must be plotting behind the scenes. I’d imagine that you wish Charles Hamilton would get punched in the face again so that the tide could shift away from you in the land of twitter.

By the way, “they’re haters” isn’t going to work. Can’t shrug your shoulders and think that using the over used term is going to make it all right. Why are they haters because they think folks should unfollow you? Sean, stop being so narcissistic and thinking everything is about you. Be humble for a moment and consider it a wake up call. A realization that you once had very talented artists on your roster and when you became the number one client, we all found that a bit suspect. They’re not haters, just folks with strong opinions. Come back down to earth brother.

Sure you’re a brilliant businessman but so is a pimp. And we’ve watched you Sean, pimp artist after artist. Most recently we’ve watched you create a male and female group on reality television. Then we watched Danity Kane fall apart, and that was really no surprise. One because creating a group on television and expecting them to stay together is like having a successful relationship from a dating reality show. But also because Bad Boy is the alleged label where artist go if they want to disappear forever like they’re in the witness protection program.

Sean, instead of calling folk haters, you could have acknowledged them. Let them know you hear their concerns, and then tell us where Black Rob and others are. Not acknowledging them and trying to discount them by calling them haters is a real case of bitchassness. This unfollowdiddy thing was just showing you that folks would like to remove the situation from the situation (even if your numbers are rising). Wake up. Are you locked in to that?

 

I’d like to leave you with one of my favorite unfollowdiddy comments: “Unfollowdiddy because his fine print reads, bullets, bars, set-ups, disappearing, snitching and fading careers”

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