May 2009 Archives

IT HURTS ME TO SEE THE OLD AND VERY WRONG VERSION OF THE PARANOID VIDEO GET LEAKED ALL OVER THE NET WHILE I WAS ON AN 11 HR FLIGHT AND COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. IT'S JUST FRUSTRATING WHEN THIS STUFF HAPPENS BECAUSE I REALLY CARE ABOUT THE PRODUCT AND SINCE VIDEOS NEVER GET PLAYED ANY WAY YOU MIGHT AS WELL TWEAK THEM AND MAKE THEM AS SPECIAL AS POSSIBLE. THE VERSION THAT GOT LEAKED FROM THE CAMERA PHONE LAST WEEK IS AT LEAST A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE FINAL PRODUCT. THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR YOUR SUPPORT BUT THAT VIDEO WAS NOT UP TO MY STANDARDS. HERE'S SOME SCREEN SHOTS FROM THE REAL VIDEO

Dude does his thing for real. Check him out. And scoop the mixtape.

Care of the future wifey, Va$htie.

• Polarizing force, M.I.A., swung by Bill Maher's desk to talk Sri Lankan politics on Friday night's "Real Time" broadcast.
• T.I. performed a righteous and emotional hometown show in Atlanta last night before reporting to prison this morning.
  
• Beastie Boys announced their new album's title via an email to their fanclub. It's called Hot Sauce Committee and will be available with plenty of lead time to consume and memorize its highlights before you're ultimately disappointed with their lackluster gig at ACL.
  
• That kinda wack but colorful pamphlet we all got at "Glow in the Dark" is set to become a full-fledged, hard cover book.
• Charles Hamilton got punched in the face mid-battle.
  
• Scientology faces fraud charges in French court.
• Jose Conseco got his ass handed to him.
• Despite pivotal losses in historically series-sealing games one and three, Mo Williams guaranteed a Cleveland victory; in other NBA news, the Phoenix Suns announced plans for preseason games in Mexico.
• Peyton Manning kinda ticked off at all the Colts coaching changes.
• One of Reggie's favorite bands, Wilco, is mourning the loss of a longtime bandmember, Jay Bennett. He was in the group from 1994-2001 and said multi-instrumentalist is credited with forging the sonic shift in sound that spurned Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
• President Obama nominated a rational, sane, progressive judge for the Supreme Court.
  

Check out another behind the scenes video from the shoot by Hot97's Miss Info after the jump...

"Now, finally, his first official album is finished - and Attention Deficit might be the most sonically adventurous major-label hip-hop debut ever. With production from Ronson, Cool & Dre, and even Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, the upbeat album has tribal go-go drums, throwback horns, walls of sound from Sitek, and a live-band feel developed over countless club dates. And like a young Jay-Z or Kanye, Wale has a crystal-clear jocular flow... that puts him leaps ahead of his freshman competitors."

 "I feel exactly the same way by it and stick by everything, but I think it's one of those things where it becomes that it's not really that big of a deal, you know?... I never even considered it as beef. It's not beef. It's just, Hey, I heard the record. I said what I had to say."

• Eminem premiers promotional satire clip for MTV Movie Awards, airing May 31st on MTV.
  
• It's official: Jay-Z has split with Def Jam, ending one of the most fruitful partnerships in hip-hop history, his brief tenure as president notwithstanding.
• Sri Lankan street party ends decades-long civil war.
• Nas does not want to pay spousal support to Kelis.
• Eminem confirms cameo in Judd Apatow's "Funny People."
• The "world's oldest blogger" has passed away. She was a 97-year old Spanish grandmother.
• A contagious new cancer has pushed the Tasmanian Devil on the brink of extinction.
• Dr. Dre protege speaks to working on Relapse

4.0 out of 5

No seriously, you look great.

One means this every time, but it means "great" relative to age and wrinkles and gravity.

Method Man and Redman's new album sounds great. Perfect production; the sort of rabble-rousing, "Double Dragon" chemistry most rappers bunking together in crews can't formulate: mature pacing and minimal bullshit.

I love Method Man and Redman, and I maintain Blackout 2's predecessor stands up as one of the 20th Century's last classic LPs; right up with 2001's Apocalyptic g-funk, Em's come-up and The Roots' most song-focused effort (all '99 releases). It's so good that it narrowly excuses the last decade's worth of career missteps. Narrowly.

• Rae the Chef announces Cuban Linx II will drop August 11, hates on Joe Budden.
• Michael Vick is a free man.
• England launches aggressive, transparent bid for 2018 World Cup.
• Asher Roth is a fan of Relapse. Unlike Reggie.
• Billboard runs down behind the scenes gaffes from "American Idol" finale. I watch the show regularly. Adam Lambert, an openly (if not publicly) gay former understudy in "Wicked" singing Sam Cooke's civil rights masterpiece was such a focused, real moment I had to text "vote" to 5701.
• Green Day admire hip-hop albums.
  

"I'm not even griping; I'm just letting it be known that what's fair is fair, and I haven't been treated fairly. I've been fighting for a year and a half. I'm prepared to weather the storm. So they could kiss my ass, and let's go to court."

• Danger Mouse's long-anticipated collaborative LP with Sparklehorse has been trashed by its shareholders and will never see the light of day. Or you can get it here, totally your call.
  
• Violence ensues after a Drake concert in Chicago. One confirmed buttox shooting.
• India's Prime Minister has resigned.
  
• I always wondered what was up with those shirts at SXSW and why press contacts were emailing me funny pictures of Rihanna. Thanks for the clarification, Chris.
• Only a matter of time before bloodshed in Texas leads to federal intervention by U.S. force. It'll be a Natalie Holloway-like tipping point: Mexican drug lords kill an innocent, light-skinned American teenager and an outraged country spurns a heavy hammer on Mexico.
• DMX is a free man today.
  
• France faces tough, new illegal downloading legislation: so if you're reading this in France, think twice before sneaking that new Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse album, you may get your service cut off.
  

• Eminem was on "Family Guy" last night. I'm sure the episode is available somewhere on Hulu. I was watching Game 7.
  
• Eminem set to perform free Detroit concert.
• Eminem (finally) asked about his annoying new voice by Tim Westwood.
• Busta Rhymes wants Eminem to leave Mariah and Nick alone.
• Eminem's Relapse scathingly reviewed by the Chicago Tribune.
  

• Eminem will rep for Michigan and perform on Jimmy Kimmel with over 200 laid off autoworkers backing him up. I also appreciate that he raps about his Tahoe, and not foreign cars.
• Kanye West wants an R2-D2 backpack.
• "Motherlover" co-creator speaks about the life-changing experience.
• Danny Granger voted NBA's "Most Improved" player. If you haven't heard of him, it's because he plays for the Indiana Pacers. He's also been invited to workout with the 2012 Olympic team; Granger is already a fantasy hoops monster.
• Spencer Pratt calls himself the "white Jay-Z," confirms and boasts about his upcoming rap album.
• Drew Money talks about producing stupid rock songs for Lil Wayne.
• John Legend's brother also makes music, apparently.
• Big Baby is sorry for bumping an Orlando Magic fan.
• Microsoft confirms Windows 7 is dropping this year. Oh snap, son, the streets are goin' nuts over this one. ATG already on this shit; what ya'll know about the beta version?
  

• [Ed.: Rolling Stone has given every single Eminem album since The Slim Shady LP exactly 4 stars. Why? Because they want him in the pantheon and are wholly uninterested in criticizing his music. Obvs.] Rob Sheffield gushes in Rolling Stone's signature, intelligent-outsider-lamely-breaking- down-fringe-genres-for-baby-boomers syntax. He's one of the great rock writers, but here he chooses some of the album's weakest lines to quote.
• Jon Dolan is properly pessimistic and has much better quotes. 
• I predict Pitchfork will go between 2-5.
  

He's one of the greatest rappers of all time. His new album, "Born Like This" (Lex), is incredible. He references Charles Bukowski and I'm a big Bukowski fan. It would be like if Miles Davis was born in another time and didn't play horn but he rhymed, and if Miles Davis wasn't handsome and he rhymed. Doom's a bit gnarly, it's not friendly music. It's really funny. Doom is an experience, he's an incredible M.C. I'll put money on him against any of these rappers. He's so raw, very clever, socially maladjusted. I like those guys that make you mildly uncomfortable. The danger is real with him.

I'm telling you, this is the year of reunions and emergences of mythical albums from the holy inner circle of hip-hop talent.

From Saturday's performance at The Loft in Atlanta.