NEWS | REVIEWS | FEATURES | ABOUT US | EVENTS

Jay-Z to headline Bonnaroo

jay-z-all-points-west.jpg

Fringe attendees debating festivals have another conundrum: Jay-Z is double dipping and set to top the bill of another staple festival: June's traditionally hippie-heavy, Tennessee held, three-day camp out, Bonnaroo.

For hip-hoppers debating between Roo and Coachella, the scales shift favorably to Bonnaroo with newly confirmed artists:

  • Jay Electronica
  • Wale
  • Kid Cudi
  • Nas & Damian Marley
  • Mayer Hawthorne

Can't wait for summer.
| 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

New Wale video featuring Gucci Mane - 'Pretty Girls'




Wale stopped by BET Monday afternoon to premier this bad boy.

It would be cool if this song became a big hit.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Drake announces Spring tour

20100208-DRAKE1.jpg

Solid choice of interesting, expansive openers make an otherwise run of the mill college tour worth checking out. Hit the jump for dates.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Cookin Soul - Big Dilla (Mixtape)

Big-Dilla-Cover-web.jpg

Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of Big Pun's death, was J Dilla's born date.

To commemorate the legacy of the best Hispanic rapper ever and Detroit's forward-thinking beatmaker, the Cookin Soul dudes and the popular beacon, 2 Dope Boyz, made an ill mash up. Get it.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Lil Wayne to be sentenced in New York City gun case

lil-wayne-5.jpg

Lil Wayne will be sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in a gun possession case. His plea deal hints at a year in prison with an eventual shortened, eight month sentence for good behavior.

Super Bowl weekend meant a star-studded farewell party, the rest of 2010 leaves the offputting flavors of Rebirth, no output from the most consistent, hardest-recording rapper of the 21st Century.

Tough to imagine browsing the RSS feeds and not looking forward to "new Lil Wayne featuring nondescript cronies from Young Money" MP3 posts.

Free Weezy.

Update: Lil Wayne sentencing postponed for dental reasons.

Update II: Lil Wayne shot NINE music videos over the weekend. 

| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Stimulus - Bounce For Relief: The Best Of New Orleans Bounce Vol. 2

saints.jpg

One of our favorite resources for smartass white guys intellectually discerning American underground gangsta rap, Cocaine Blunts, just dropped a brilliant compilation of timely, overlooked and historic New Orleans rap.

Explains Blunts' Andrew Noz:

Today seems like an appropriate day to drop the long delayed follow up to this, one of the more popular compilations in the site's history. The first volume dropped in the wake of Katrina and was a general primer on the very slept on New Orleans bounce sound. Here we veer into the gangsta bounce of early Cash Money and another of the stronger labels from that era - Pack. It's also bookended by two proto-bounce tracks Gregory D & Mannie Fresh's "Buck Jump Time" and the J Ro J's brass band "Buck Jump" knock off "Let's Jump." Like the first the song selection consists of mostly classics with a few lesser known titles sprinkled in. Sorry about the crackle and fuzz on some tracks, you know how it goes. Please continue to support New Orleans in any way you can. Track listing after the second line jump.

Tracklist + download link after the jump.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Endorsement: Super Bowl XLIV

shockey.jpg

We called the Super Bowl back in August and I reaffirmed finale two weeks ago. The interim meant fawning over the delectable, high scoring, hate-free matchup in front of us, an outpouring of legacy love for Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, and Tony Romo ending one last 2009 campaign game with a game-clinching interception in an otherwise meaningless Pro Bowl. Also prop bets.

Alas, it's time for another ATG decision. I'll cut to the quick. The pick is New Orleans, 35-31. Here's why:

1.    Every champion needs a stinker loss
a.    Lost during Indianapolis' forfeited pursuit of a perfect season were an alarming number of close calls and last minute Manning drives. The Colts let the Jacksonville Jaguars score 31 points and spotted the Houston Texans a 17-point cushion. There's heroism and then there's bailing your little brother out of jail in the early morning for disorderly conduct. Human nature stresses that champions -- and just look to 42 of the last 43 NFL seasons -- must experience an uncomfortable, revealing defeat. A trap game for humility, to learn from.
b.    Even the '72 Dolphins, the Super Bowl era's only undefeated champion, spring-boarded their run following a humiliating 24-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI.
c.    New Orleans, coincidentally, was down 24-3 to the Miami Dolphins before rallying in Miami (site of Sunday's game) to win back on October 17. This is of no consequence to this particular argument, but it's a fun fact.
d.    Thus, New Orleans looked flat and inflated in primetime against the Cowboys, blew an embarrassing game to a hapless division foe at home (Tampa Bay, week 16). The bandwagon lost steam, they looked...exposed.
e.    Following an end run of stink bomb losses, the Saints rallied and destroyed the Arizona Cardinals to open up their postseason campaign, 45-17.


2. The best defense against Peyton Manning is a good offense
a.    The consensus for playing Manning's perfect scheme (dude's been in the same system, with the same coordinator, since 1998, an unreal tenure given NFL's flimsy job market) is to come up with two to three blitz packages you save for the fourth quarter, throw pressure at him early, disrupt the timing with his weapons.
b.    This strategy was implemented by Indy's previous playoff opponents, to fair success. The Ravens held Indy to under 300 yards of total offense, the Jets took an early 17-6 lead.
c.    However, Peyton Manning will figure out what you're throwing at him and eventually score at will. It's a given. Unfortunately for New York and Baltimore, they couldn't match momentum with touchdowns.
d.    In addition to leading the NFL in forced turnovers and counting on the health of cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, the Saints defense has one remarkable, overlooked edge: the NFL's top statistical offense has their back. That's 403 yards a game, 510 points, 64 touchdowns for New Orleans this season. Tops across three key categories.
e.    As a corollary, much has been made of Peyton Manning's cerebral approach. It's true: he has an enormous forehead, but lest we forget the equally brainy tendencies of overachiever, Drew Brees, and guru Saints head coach/offensive whiz kid, Sean Payton. Two heads are better than one.

3. Personnel
a.    This game will be about points, schemes, who scores last. Here, in a one game, winner-take-all format, I love what the Saints can do. More options, more weapons.
b.    They have a more versatile, explosive backfield in Reggie Bush (a game-changing flex player you can plug in anywhere - the return game, slot receiver, an occasional Wildcat formation, reverses) and Pierre Thomas (a durable, steady, quick, traditional touchdown machine that recalls the steady hands of vertical runners like Terrell Davis). They have the luxury of a clock-controlling running game. Indy has neither talent as explosive, hasn't developed or committed to the running game ever and if they find themselves needing a running attack to, say, keep a relentless Saints offense off the field, the Super Bowl isn't the best time to rely on this facet of the game.
c.    The Saints have better deep threat, big play receivers. They'll stretch the field early, loosen up Indy's reliable, bland cover 2 secondary which opens up the middle of the field for all sorts of zany slants, curls, Reggie Bush screens. The big play aces (in effect three stretching, burning playmakers in Colston, Meachem, Henderson) are the agents of chaos and linchpins for this mechanical juggernaut.
d.    If these Saints were meant to be stopped, the superior, relentless Vikings pass rush would have done so two weeks ago. In the NFC Championship, Minnesota statistically crushed New Orleans in passing yards, rushing yards, time of possession, completions, but all of a sudden it's the fourth quarter and it's a 28-28 tie. I haven't seen a more opportunistic and versatile offensive unit since the '99 Rams.

 
4. Intangibles

a.    First and foremost, there's no question New Orleans is the healthier team going into the Super Bowl. Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney is a sharp terror on the outside because of his footwork and hustle and how quickly he gets around tackles, at quarterbacks. His ankle renders him so ineffective and sluggish that Vegas had to go and move the game line from 5 ½ to 5.
b.    Freeney lines up on the right side, the Saints love to run to the right side and score most of their rushing touchdowns to the right.
c.    And how about common opponents? These would be the Dolphins, Patriots, Bills and Jets. Let's take a look:
  • New Orleans outscored them a combined 137-68, fielded a perfect 4-0 record.
  • Indianapolis (not counting the forfeited, ugly losses to the Bills and Jets) outscored the Patriots, Dolphins and Jets (when it counted in the playoffs) 92-74, with a 3-2 record.
Interesting but hardly concrete, so what about comparing their playoff resumes?

  • New Orleans beat two hall of fame quarterbacks.
  • Indianapolis beat a rookie quarterback and a second-year quarterback who managed offenses and partly lost games because they couldn't produce points.

CORRECTION: The Cardinals also lost to both teams this year. My bad. Doesn't change much, except that Cardinals coach Ken Wisenhunt likes Indy.

d.    The mental edge is complicated. When the Colts won it all in 2007, the game was in Miami. Sunday's game is in Miami. Veterans on talk radio love to emphasize comfort with the moment: advantage Colts.
e.    However, the short-term memory of media has, simply put, disrespected New Orleans: they've been compared to the 2006 Chicago Bears, the 1994 San Diego Chargers and the hapless Elway Broncos of the '80s that were destroyed in one-sided Super Bowls. Expectations are low, Peyton Manning is the gridiron Stephen Hawking, the best quarterback of all-time, bigger than a ravaged city's dream season, playing to be inducted into the holy order of NFL signal callers. Just like Tom Brady a few seasons ago.
| 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Chamillionaire releases new mixtape, reunites with Paul Wall

chamillionaire-major-pain.jpg

With the backdrop of industry perils pushing back Chamillionaire's third major label album, Venom, the Houston rapper delivers on a December promise to bring "major pain" via a mixtape dubbed, um, Major Pain. Like his classically underrated and excellent Mixtape Messiah volumes, Pain is set to be an ongoing series available through his website.

"If you happen to take a trip to New York, and you happen to bump into anybody, anybody in Manhattan that's walking out of the Universal building -- you know, anybody that you see in a suit and a funny looking bow tie, you deliver this message, you tell them this, February 2 here comes the pain, they don't push us back"

In an ironic twist, Venom finally gets a March 16 street date.

And in related, welcome news to fans of their seminal 2002 classic, Get Ya Mind Correct, Cham is reuniting with longtime cohort and brief beef buddy, Paul Wall, for a nationwide tour that jump starts next month during South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
| 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Streets Is Talking: Rebirth

Lil_Wayne_Rebirth.jpg
Taking their temperature.

We'll weigh in tomorrow, but on the eve of Lil Wayne's Rebirth -- the rock album outlets have been reporting about for well over a year -- critical reception is scathing, we've gone through scrapped Fall Out Boy, Lenny Kravitz duets, three covers (the above is one of the tossed inceptions), two other official releases (We Are Young Money, No Ceilings), two Grammy gigs, and with jail pending, this may be the last meaty bit of media we get from the game's most interesting voice.

Yeah bro, it kinda sucks. 


Rolling Stone:

"He splutters and wails over tracks stuffed with aggro stomp and bland riffage; it sounds like he's been holing up with a bunch of Spymob and Incubus records."


The Guardian:

"Artistically, at least, rap-metal seems to be pop's own Red Bull Flugtag: the best you can hope for is an inglorious plummet."


Chicago Tribune:

"The lyrics are crushingly banal. Wayne revels in his cartoonish persona, but some of his lines wouldn't get a laugh in a high school locker room."


London Times:

"The New Orleans rapper can't sing a note so the Auto Tune is set to 'Annoy.'"


Entertainment Weekly:

"A nimble, almost balletic rapper on countless mixtapes, singles, and Billboard-topping collaborations, the 27-year-old comes across both muddled and belligerent on the much-delayed, extensively leaked Rebirth."
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

D'Angelo - 1000 Deaths




It sounds like D'Angelo. Seven crisp minutes with all sorts of builds and breaks feels about right. Exceptional jam, whether or not it turns out this is, in fact, a leaked and unmixed D'Angelo demo.

Spotted at FWMJ and the comments section swears this recording dates back to 2007.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Pages.

Personnel.

Co-founder/Executive Editor: Ramon Ramirez
Co-founder/Executive Editor: Reggie Ugwu

Senior Writers
Cass Luskin
Jerod Couch
Evan Daniels
Natalia Ciolko

Web Design
Jeremy Hurd