COT DAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!! (c) Clipse

This album would be the number 6 album of the year.

I've never been a huge Kanye album fan. I love his beats, but neither of his first two albums were amazing to me. "College Dropout" had a lot of great tracks... "Late Registration" had a few... but "Graduation"... daaamn! He finally made an album to match his arrogance.

I mean he made me like a T-Pain hook... and even made a dope dedication record to another rapper who ain't dead.

I won't even start on how dope it is to have Takashi Murakami as the art director.

He really does have reasons to talk the shit he talks.

"Party People... can y'all get funky" (c) Afrika Bambaataa

Shout out to Dom for hippin me to this dude. Amos is that shit! If you don't get it... well then you take music waaaaaaaaaaaay to seriously because this shit is simply funky. http://www.amos-music.com

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I can't believe New Era actually made these caps. Maybe it is because I've lived in Cali since the early '90s, but anytime I ever see red or blue rags in these shades... i AUTOMATICALLY think of nothing but Bloods and Crips. I can't believe that that never cross their minds. Certain ball caps become gang related simply by the sets claiming them, but they are usually this blatantly connected. To have caps pretty much rep B's, C's and Latin Kings... that is a little much. Maybe thats just me.



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Random photo... just for the hell of it

"Ain't no time to take a break... you gotta break the mold" (c) Blu

I can't believe I forgot about this album. This would be the 5th best album released this year... in my opinion. Blu & Exile's "Below The Heavens In Hell Happy With Your New Imaginary Friend." Not only are Exile's beats fresh, but Blu has a dope flow. Plus that is one of the greatest album titles ever.

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Bob Saget is fuckin insane! For evidence, please watch his HBO comedy special "Bob Saget: That Ain't Right" Seriously, the whole "I'm not as sqeaky clean as the characters I played on TV" can be a bit much, but he is seriously funny. And yes, most of the shit he says just ain't right, but it is fuckin funny.

"Ain't No Half-Steppin'" (c) Big Daddy Kane

THIS is a FRESH combination:

I really want these kicks. The Kane ones are fresh, but the Ed and Dre ones so dope. There are also MC Shan and Doug E Fresh combos, but I think these two are much better. I'm happy Yo! MTV Raps is getting some shine... people today don't understand how historically important this show was to pop culture. *Puts on "900 Number" by DJ Mark the 45 King*

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I need two of these! Okay, I really only need 1 cause I have some plans for it which will be stupiddumbfreshdope!

"I'm superbaaaaaaaaaad" (c) James Brown

Go see this........ now!

Very funny... Michael Cera and Jonah Hill are great. The humor is more similar to "40 Year Old Virgin" than "Knocked Up" but it is still dope. Seth Rogan might just be a comic genius.

"Soon to have an article in Rap Pages" (c) Raekwon

This is one of my favorite photographs. Obvious bite of the infamous Janet Rolling Stone cover, but it captured Dirty perfectly.

B+, Rap Pages - 1995

I miss Rap Pages... mostly because they had great photo layouts. They really started to develop a great magazine close to the end. Can't knock Larry Flynt for trying to get some rap music money.

I also miss Ego Trip, Stress, and On The Go... oh well.

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For real, drugs have often played a huge role in creating dope music (just look at the '60s and '70s), but I think Ms. Winehouse is going a little too far with the "cocktail of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, the horse tranquillizer ketamine and liquor." i mean... daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!

"So f*ckin' soulful" (c) Jay-Z

I'm not sure what this list says about me, but these are my 4 favorite Hip Hop albums released this year... so far. They are all very different, but there is a soul vibe in all of them that is undeniable.

There is one more, which if I didn't mention it there are some people who might want to kick my ass. Since it was actually released years ago, but re-issued this year, I consider it to be an honorable mention.

"Everyboooooody wants to rule the world" (c) Tears for Fear

Everytime I listen to pop records from the '80s, such as "When Doves Cry," "Don't Lose My Number," "Maneater," "Maniac," "Eye Of The Tiger," etc, I get random montages of images in my brain set to the music.


Basically, I have seen waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to many movies and videos from the 80's. hahahaha.

"Don't sweat the technique" (c) Rakim

I think I have heard everything... well almost.

Che'Nelle - "I Fell In Love With A DJ"

She is Malaysian. Was raised in Perth, Australia. And is making music with a dancehall vibe. Thanks Cham.

... I have nothing left to say.

"A CEO's mind... that marketing plan was me." (c) Jay-Z

One of the main reasons I majored in business with a marketing concentration is because i love advertising... especially print ads. there is just something about the combination of images and typefaces that always caught my attention. I'm very interested in international ads... to me, due to different cultural standards, there is more freedom and creativity in other countries. So here are some recent ads that I think are fresh for various reasons.

The Economist has created a lot of great ads recently. Intelligent and humorous at the same time.

Competition is good:

Fresh, simple concept:

Always interesting... UCOB have always created ads that can be shocking, but they make you remember the brand name.

Simply a great concept... they are others that reference other types of news stories:

This is a great ad placement:

DHL has some very creative ads... they're very interesting:

Nice concept and execution:

Very creative concept:

Makes perfect sense... you've got to love it.

Why I love Nikon cameras:

Nike has mastered print, commercials and guerrilla marketing:

Another great concept:

Coffee is coffee, so you have to do something different. The colors are fresh:

Nice play off of a very popular subject:

I think Jeru's record should be played with this ad campaign:

Very inventive idea:

Fresh idea:

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If you are at work... think twice before scrolling down.

Thought i would warn you... it's really just bare breasts and some suggestive images.

I mean it is called "Sex Wax"... so this ad isn't really surprising, but it is still a great idea, especially the tag line.

This is one way to get a potential candidates to apply:

Yes, it is an easy route to get attention, but it is still a fresh idea for something like tape:

This is one in a series of ads from a Turkish clothing company. I have absolutely no idea what the name of the company is. The entire campaign features models in various positions from the Kama Sutra. I don't think it is the greatest concept for a campaign, but it does work to gain the attention of the audience.

There are more great ads here: http://sandeepmakam.blogspot.com/

"Can't keep running awaaaaaay" (c) The Pharcyde

I don't know how to feel about this....

Today I saw a movie poster for "The Kite Runner." There is potential for this to be a great movie, but then again movie adaptations rarely live up to the books they are based on. I'm interested in seeing what they did with it because there are some heavy issues in the book that i don't know if they can really cover in a movie. It should be interesting... although the imdb profile is making me question things already: http://imdb.com/title/tt0419887/

http://www.kiterunnermovie.com/

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"Wake up, god damnit!" (c) Petey Greene.

"Talk To Me" is a great movie. Don Cheadle is great in this role. This is a story that everyone needs to know about.

"And all that talk about it won't help it out, now will it?" (c) Naughty By Nature

There are many, many things I want to yell about right now (trust me, i have many reasons to do so), but honestly yelling won't do anything... kind of like what the Treacherous one from Dirty Jersey said. I'm just trying to maintain and hope that something changes with a quickness.

So instead of all that... lets talk about some records i'm feeling right now:

Armand van Helden - "I Want Your Soul" - I'm not the biggest fan of techno/dance music, but this track is dope. It has an electro funk vibe to it, which is fresh. It's not for everyone, but just something different for now.

Ben Westbeech - "Get Silly" - Ben Westbeech is a UK singer... he's got an R&B vibe to his music. This track has some nice piano work, and is a light-hearted track about drinking too much.

Saigon - "Homegirl" - I'll save you the "Saigon needs to release an album already" stuff. That isn't my concern right now. As for this track, I'm not even a huge fan of the lyrics... it is bascially about him dating girls but really wanting to fuck their friends... what's dope about this track is the beat... he took and old Al B. Sure joint and flipped it up a little. So it has the early 90's New Jack/Dance type vibe to it. I think that if the right rapper did an album like this it would be dope.

Some older tracks I'm feeling:

Jay-Z - "It's the Sample" - This is a freestyle verse from his pre-Reasonable Doubt days. What's dope about this track is Jay's faster flow... he just sounded like he was having fun rhyming. Plus the sample he is rhyming over is dope... nice little piano.

Onyx - "Shifftee" - What can I say... Onyx used to be one of my favorite groups. Okay, yes they did basically just yell at you for three + minutes, but the beats were dope. "Shifftee" just has a dope beat and it basically sums up what Onyx was: "low down, gritty and grimey... shifftee!" I still like the debate that we used to have as to whether or not they were as rugged as they claimed, but they still made dope music.