R.I.P White Chocolate

1998-2008
I know this may be several days late, but i'd like to acknowledge the retirement of the famous-or infamous depending on what era- Jason Williams. With tendonitis troubling him over the past few years, he has finally decided to leave the game which in my opinion, he revitalized during the early portion of his career. From running the show alongside the likes of C-Webb, Peja, and Vlade(!), to being the main attraction down in Memphis, I pretty much worshipped the dude as a youngin'. He was arguably the most "entertaining" baller to watch both on (and off) the court, and helped bring some flavor back to the hardwood in the late '90s. J-Will will always be remembered for the flash and the off the elbow dime, but I'll always remember him as a key piece to bringing home the 'chip to the MIA. You will be missed...by me at least.

To console you from the loss of my favorite baller of my era, I give you this:

Let's Invite Q-Tip to the Party

Now, if you saw the Blueprint 3 post I made yesterday, you'd know that November and December will be huge in terms of music with Hova, Yeezy and Common all coming out with new albums in the course of a month.

But behold, we have another person to invite to the end of the year festivities, and his name is Q-Tip. Q's new record, The Renaissance, is dropping on Election Day (or Novemeber 4th for those of you who don't pay much attention). So when you're out and about, dropping your vote for whomever you please, go out and pick up The Renaissance while you're at it.

I think I may OD by the time Christmas rolls around.

New Feature: Complete Your Collection

I've been wanting to begin something like this for the longest time. I am going to try and share some of my musical taste with you, the readers (though I'm not quite sure how many we have out there), every other week by posting a new album for you to check out. Although The Boogie is a primarily rap oriented blog, I'm going to try to broaden your horizons, if it isn't that big to begin with.

My first choice for this bi-weekly feature, is an album from 2001, by a duo from Harlem: Cannibal Ox, which consists of MCs Vast Aire and Vordul Mega. This was CanOx's debut album, entitled The Cold Vein and has gone under-the-radar since its drop.

Produced by El-P (who has also headed projects by Murs, Del, Atmosphere and Aesop Rock), this album is dripping with eeire beats and haunting synth tones.

The dark feel of this album may not be for everyone, but after a few listens it tends to grow on you.


Listing:

1. Iron Galaxy
2. Ox Out of the Cage
3. Atom
4. A B-Boys Alpha
5. Raspberry Fields
6. Straight Off the D.I.C.
7. Vein
8. The F-Word
9. Stress Rap
10. Battle for Asgard
11. Real Earth
12. Ridiculoid
13. Painkillers
14. Pigeon
15. Scream Phoenix

Linkage:

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

Enjoy. And lemme know what you think.

Fonzworth Bentley- A-Track Streets

Peep the first track that we've heard that features Fonzworth Bentley. I mean, strictly features Fonzsworth Bentley. C.O.L.O.U.R.S. was about Lil Wayne and Pimp C (R.I.P.), Everybody was about Andre 3000. But this track, A-Track Streets, is all Fonzworth.

I wasn't sure how I'd receive music by Bentley, but I was pleasantly surprised. As always, let me know what you think.

Circle December 2nd on Your Calendars

Why you ask? Because it has been confirmed as the release date for The Blueprint 3. It has also been confirmed that one of the singles for this album will be a remix of Swagger Like Us featuring Jeezy, Andre 3000 and Nas (shout to Hypetrak for the info).

This means that in a course of a month, Ye, Common and Jay will all be releasing new albums. 2008 can't get much better.

Update: I think my man Atari is referring to December 2nd, that's what I've heard and, seeing that the 2nd is a Tuesday, I am 99.4571% sure that is when Blueprint 3 will drop. Oh, and Atari is right, 08 can't end any better than the trifecta- Yeezy, Common, Jay. That's gorgeous.

Good lookin' out, Mr. F. Hypetrak said the 3rd, but everyone else has it down for the 2nd.

Janelle Monáe provides the freshness

Not a whole lot to say about this, except that it's mad dope. She joins J Davey in the category of up-and-coming female musicians who have mohawks. She's like the femal version of Andre 3000, so I guess she's like Erykah Badu, hopefully minus the crazy. She's been associated with Big Boi and 3-stacks since '05, so I guess that makes since. Again, she's dope so you should like her. If not, you're gay.

'Ye is Infatuated With Puppets

So I'm sure all you avid bloggers are now well aware of the most prevalent and suprising news to leak today. No, it wasn't McCain taking a temporary leave of absence from his campaign and further prolonging the 1st Presidential Debate (scheduled to air Friday) in order to help "save" our economy from what may very well be our era's Great Depression. The most ground-breaking news to grace the media has to be this, (which my man fresh has just adressed) and it doesn't stop there. I recently found this clip and I am in a state of disbelief as of now. Check it out

This could be good or bad

Read the news here.

Like I've said before, I want Kanye to make a groundbreaking album every time he goes in the studio. It's 5 mics or bust for Mr. West. This is why I'm worried about the seemingly rushed released of 808 & Heartbreak. We first heard about it like two, three weeks ago. Now he is saying he is already done. Really? How long did you work on this, Yeezy? Plus, the picture on his blog feature him and Young Jeezy. It used to be only the great artists that were featured on his albums- Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z- then he compromised himself with a T-Pain sighting on Graduation. Now Jeezy? I wish Kanye would feature some up-and-comers on his album. Wale, Kid Cudi, Naledge, Blu, Travis McCoy. Take your pick. They all have amazing flow and would love to work with 'Ye, so why waist your time with radio-friendly rappers like Jeezy?

Notorious (Trailer for '09)

A movie was confirmed to be in production a few months ago, that will chronicle the life of Biggie, and they just released the first trailer:



Not a star-studded cast, aside from Angela Bassett. Jamal Woolard stars as BIG in what will be his feature film debut (some big shoes to fill,pun intended), Derek Luke is playing the artist formally known as Sean 'Puffy' Combs (if the name sounds familiar, Luke played Boobie in Friday Night Lights and Bobbie Joe in Glory Road, and is also in that new Spike Lee joint Miracle at St. Anna), and in the role of Tupac is Anthony Mackie (who's been in We Are Marshall, Half Nelson and Million Dollar Baby).

The flick doesn't look too bad, but I won't have to high of hopes after 50's Get Rich or Die Trying.

Kanye Is the Don of Sampling

This is dope. Good looks to whoever conceived this video. I haven't even seen half the artwork showed here that 'Ye composed for his singles.


Steely Dan is my ish!

Why didnt my football coach give me this advice

That man is Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, known for inventing the pass-first, run-never offense. The man is an inovator, and apparently he's a lady's man as well. When is Eric Mangino going to give out advice like this. I mean, my man Lou Holtz gave out some pretty swell advice, too.

It's About Damn Time

Q-Tip, Pharrell, Lupe. But you want to know who steals the show? That girl Sarah Green. Don't believe me, check it here.

BYAHHHHHHH!

Ok, so I'm not so knowledgable in politics-let alone interested in it- and it surely isn't something i've thought on talking about. I will say, though, the race between Barack (and Roll) Obama and McCain has been agruably the most intriguing campaigning ever... at least since this guy:


Dude messed up the whole campaign with his mouth

Howard in '08!

Now Josh Howard hasn't made the smartest choices throughout his career. He's publicly admitted to smoking weed, on a live radio show nonetheless, and now he's disrespecting the national anthem and Barack Obama:



Even his boss, the notoriously loud-mouthed Mark Cuban, has said that he will sit down with Josh and give him some public speaking training.

We can't all be winners, I guess.

Honkey? That's Racist.

Basically, Judd Apatow rules the world and his possee enjoys the benefits. This one stars Paul Rudd and Sean Williams Scott (Stifler), along with that crazy old lady who tried to take Steve Carrell's virginity, except this time she is on coke. That's beside the point. This preview (which is Red-Band, meaning little kids should stay away) is filled with some of the funniest lines I've heard in a long time. This pleases me becaue Pineapple Express kind of left me unsatisfied. This movie doesn't even have Apatow on the roster, but he deserves a bunch of credit since pretty much every actor on his roster is on it.

John Legend and Kanye and Pharrell and Chad

Supposed to be on John Legend's new album Evolver. I've been so focused on Common, T.I., Kanye, and Ryan Leslie that I forgot about my man John. This just a radio rip, but it's got me excited. Legend is keeping with his trend of teaming with lyrical masterminds by putting Kanye in rotation. Beautiful.

Love Lockdown No. 3

Is this the final version? Who knows, but it does sound better than the previous ones. It's still not on the Kanye-level I have come to expect. Shout out to BlindI for this.

Nikelodeon is like a rap factory

Ok, this started as a joke for me. If anyone has seen the teeny bop-soup Degrassi, they know how ridiculous the storylines and characters are. My personal favorite is the episode where some scrub is self-conscious about his penis-size so he buys a penis-pump, only for his girlfriend to walk in on him using it. I swear I didn't make that up. But I digress. There was one character (the only black kid in the school, maybe the only black kid in Canada) who was a baller until he got shot. The other day my boy emailed me a link to that kid's myspace. It turns out he goes by Drake and was recently signed to Lil Wayne label. And here's the kicker: the kid is not bad. I'll never be able to take him seriously because he was on the aforementioned TV show, but maybe you can.

It's The Delivery Man

New vid from Das Cool Kids:



For some reason this reminded me of some of Busta's old vids.

Greg Oden Loves "Nsync, Barack Obama

Here is everyone's favorite well-dressed big man working the kareokee bar.... ur party. Even though he has played only one half of a season over the last two years (including college), we consider him to be one of the most talented players in the league. Well, if nothing else, at least he isn't afraid to embrace his love of 'N Sync, which was the hottest band when he was in middle school. Oden's passionate rendition of It's Gonna Be Me is a little shocking because
A) He's a famous black man
B) He's in a business that is not exactly embracing of going against the grain (see Amaechi, John)

If you watched the video, I'm sure you noticed the trendy Obama 08 shirt. Oden said he was a little apprehensive about Barack Obama until he met him and found out Barack was a hooper himself (but it was in Hawaii, so I don't know how much that counts. Now, that Sarah Palin girl, she can ball). It isn't surprsing that Oden backed Obama because
A) He's a famous black man
B) He's in a business that is not exactly embracing of going against the grain (see Amaechi, John)

Common and Skateboard P- There's Nothing You Can Do

Courtesy of BlindI (which, if you visit this site semi-frequently, you know I have a man-crush on). I'm not a huge fan of live-recordings being my first listen of the song. If you don't already know the lyrics of a track, it's real difficult to understand a song live, especially a rap song. But for what I did take in, the beat is on point- of course- and Common is going hard, and not the DJ- Khaled type of "going hard." Common is as pura a rapper is there is, and he shows rap fans what should be demanded from talented emcees. Invincible Summer due out September 22nd.

If this doesn't win him the Heisman, I don't know what will

Your eyes aren't deceiving you. Knowshon Moreno is that good. He literally jumps over a defender, a la Sam McGuffie. Georgia coach Mark Richt was apparently livid when he turned on SportsCenter later that day and this run was not in the highlight package. He has a pretty legitimate reason for his beef. A lot of Gerogia fans are accusing the Evil Sports Programming Network of trying to hold Moreno down so Tim Tebow, God's favorite quarterback, can win his second heisman. Then again, ESPN did put Knowshon on the cover of their college football preview edition.

@$@!#%!$ Dope!

Kanye West - Love Lockdown [2008 MTV VMAs]
by soopah256

Last nite 'Ye was the savior to the wack VMA's, closing the show with a crazyyy performance. A lot of people haven't given a verdict to this joint yet, but this could be Kanye's most impelling song yet and i haven't even heard the offish studio version. Yeezy continues to grow as an artist and producer, and is def gettin his grown man on (peep the suit...dope). At first i thought that Kanye couldn't match the success of his previous 3 records, but this joint right here has me thinking otherwise. December can't come soon enough...

*Also, there is a rumored Kanye and Jigga showdown to go on in December, similar to the Kanye Vs. Curtis Bi*** (The Game said it) feud. If this should be proven true, this too would be great for hip-hop but sorry HOV... the new king of Rocafella will prevail

F*** the VMA's

Wack nominees and giving Lupe a 20-second spot... need I say more?

I don't know if you've heard of this Timbaland guy...

But he is fantastic at music production. On a serious note, the beat on this song is beautiful, which is what we have all come to expect from Mr. Timothy Mosley. Unfortunately, this song also features The Boogie's public enemy number 2: T-Pain (behind DJ "We The Best" Khaled). The man who has caused everyone from Lil Wayne to Rihanna to ruin their reputation with auto tune does his best to murder* this track. Get the track here, although I suggest waiting for an instrumental or remix sans T-Pain to drop.

* Note: when I use the word "murder," I'm typically using it in a positive way. For instance, "Kanye murdered Swagger Like Us with his opening verse." However, for this song I am using the alternative definition of murder. As in, "I would not be upset if someone murdered DJ Khaled."

So,This Is What Heaven Sounds Like...

I didn't think it was possible for me to love these two bands anymore than I already do, but it has happened. Those Nerdy guys brought one of the original hardcore punk bands, Bad Brains, on stage to contribute to Spaz (jump to the 5 min. mark to bypass the setup, before the song):



If heaven does indeed exist, I want this to be the first song I hear when I get up there.

Kanye no. 4??

I got this from illroots, which got it from DJ Semtex, for whatever this is worth. Apparently, Kanye is working on a fourth album which will drop in December. This would be a much quicker release for album number 4 since the first 3 came out a couple years apart.

I'm a little nervous about Kanye dropping another album so soon for a few reasons. 1) It is clear that his first three albums took a considerable amount of time. The result of all his time in the studio was a great body of work. 2) He's been working with the likes of Lil Wayne and Dj Khaled lately. No disrespect to Weezy, but he gives off a sense of "quantity over quality." As for Khaled, he just plain sucks. Bad company corrupts good people and I'm afraid this will happen to Mr. West. I want every Kanye album to be spectacular, and I fear an album in December will be rushed and, consequently, mediocre.

Do I think there is truth to this rumor? I don't really know, but there will be evidence within the next few weeks. On his blog, Kanye has started making posts refuting erroneous rumors. If he is not making the album so soon, he will surely let his fans know quickly. Another form of evidence could potentially surface in the form of a leaked single entitled, "Love Lockdown." DJ Semtex said that will be the first single leaked off the album.

I don't think there is truth to these rumors. At least, in some twisted way, I hope their is no truth to them.

This is THE Backpack

I showed a Burton/Chuck Anderson collabo bag a couple weeks ago. That one was a little to crazy for me, but I definitely want one of these bags. To put it simply, they're ill. The only drawback is they aren't available on the Mishka website, which, by the way, is the brand who made this backpack that God himself would wear if he was going to school. They are available where Mishka is sold.

I hope everyone had a nice labor day

Now let's get back down to business. This is a fan made video of Swagger Like Us done very well. My favorite part? When Kanye spits, "I slaved my whole life, now I'm the master." That's when you see a Kanye teddy bear whipping George Bush. I kind of think making fun of our incompetent president has gotten kind of stale, but it was funny nonetheless.

The Voice that Launched 5,000 Flicks

Most of you may know this man from a Geico Insurance commercial, but he is also the man that has helped us get excited for just about every film we've watched for the last 30 years. Dan Lafontaine, the movie trailer voice guy, passed away yesterday, and has changed Hollywood forever. Here's his story:



RIP The Voice