Wu Tang Clan Legendary Weapons

I don't know if anyone has ever made this comparison before, but the Wu-Tang Clan is a lot like The Simpsons, both have been around seemingly forever, both were major parts of my childhood and continue to be part of my adult life, and both have so much material out that you can almost go mad trying to catch up. At one time The Simpsons had just 13 episodes out, and people were going nuts for more episodes, little did anyone know we would get about 400 and counting. At one time The Wu had just one amazing and brilliant album out "Enter the 36 Chambers" but now with almost every member having their own side project or solo gig, and so many Wu albums out it's easy to feel like you've missed something. Me being the nerd I am, I would definitely call my self a " Completists" it's hard for me to really like something if I haven't seen everything or listened to every song by one artist, and if I miss any regular season Lakers games I always feel like a fair-weather fan, so I kind of feel funny about doing a review of the new Wu Album, having not listened to there past efforts like Wu-Massacare or the most recent Rakwon album. Having said that, I was in the mood for some Wu-Tang, and noticed they had a new album out, sounds like a good enough excuse to me to get back on the Wu-Tang Bandwagon.

After jumping back on the Wu-Tang Bandwagon or Wu-Wagon for short I can say this about the new album, it's a mixed bag at best, there are some really good songs even a couple of great ones, but they are few and far between, most of the songs range from just ok to poor, it hardly felt like I was listening to a Wu album. The production is rather poor as well, RZA a long time member and producer had very little to do with this album and it shows, the beats are very generic and as a result it's hard to tell one song from another. But as good as the production has been in the past that wasn't the reason people listened to Wu-Tang, they listened because at one time Wu was lyrically unmatched, the lyrics were always clever, funny and thought-provoking and only a few times on this new album did I feel that way.

The album isn't bad though, it's just average, but normally with The Wu you expect greater, the tracks that shine are really good, "Start the Show" is an excellent opener, "Laced Cheeba" and "Meteor Hammer" are very quality tracks, and "Black Diamonds" and the title track "Legendary Weapons" are really excellent. It's no surprise to me that 4 of the 5 contain Ghostface Killah, in my opinion the best rapper in the Wu-Tang Clan. But that is only 5 of the 14 tracks, there are 3 skits which don't add anything, and 6 other tracks that range from average to poor, but maybe it's not that they are poor tracks, they are just boring, one thing I don't usually associate with the Wu is boring.

I suppose an average Wu-Tang album is still better than most other Hip-Hop efforts, and maybe my expectations were just a little high since this was the first Wu affiliated album I've listened to since Ghostface's 2009  "Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City" which was brilliant, so maybe I was expecting the Wu-Tang Clan of old, but if The Simpsons has taught us anything it's that sometimes it's hard to age gracefully, after 20 years it's hard to be just as clever and witty, Wu-Tang seems to be entering this stage of their career, hopefully this is just in minor hiccup in an other wise brilliant catalog, and not the start of things to come.

Throwback Thursday [Ruff Ryders Anthem and Latrell Sprewell]

I don't think anyone will forget the first time they heard a DMX song, which ever song that may have been, he has one of the most unique voices and sounds of any performer in Hip-Hops history. He had a style and energy that was unmatched by any artist before or since. My first exposure to DMX was his first colossal hit "Ruff Ryders Anthem", he had several singles before that one, including the mild hit "Stop Being Greedy", but for many people "Ruff Ryders Anthem" was his big debut, and it was fitting debut, the song was in many ways an introduction to DMX, you kind of felt like you knew what he was about just after that one song. At one time DMX was the biggest name in Hip-Hop, bigger than Jay-Z even, but after peaking with his third album "...And then there was X" it has been a sad and steady decline for such an interesting rap star. 

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Latrell Sprewell was one of the most explosive players in NBA History, with an explosive temper to match. Sprewell is most famous for chocking his coach PJ Carlesimo as a member of the Warriors. Sprewell would serve a one and a half year suspension as a result, and maybe more than that it tainted his name his entire time in the league, which is a great shame because he was an immensely talented player. Sprewell was a born scorer, he never saw a shot he didn't like, the problem so many players have is confidence, and Sprewell never lacked for confidence, he always felt like every shot was going in. Sprewell had really solid range when shooting jumpers, but he was always at his best when taking the ball to the rim. Sprewell was a multiple All-Star, he helped lead the 1999 Knicks team to the NBA Finals, at time taking many of those Finals games over, and carrying the offense, and he was also part of the 2004 Timberwolves team with Kevin Garnett that went to the Conference Finals vs. the Lakers, that was the furthest the T' Wolves have been before or since. The NBA is full of great shooters, but it takes a special player to be a great scorer, and Sprewell was that, an amazing scorer, and hopefully that's what he'll be remembered for.

Shameless Self Promotion

From time to time I will look at other blogs, just to see what other people are doing, and I discovered one thing...I'm the Best, I'm ever so humble, but if I had to rate my own blog I would say it was something like Ali in his prime. So after looking at several blogs most which are long winded or boring I visited a blog I go to often, a friend of mine's I Too Am From Earth which I highly recommend everyone check out, its quality stuff, and thats when I noticed, one of his blog entries was just a listing of Googles Top 10 Searches of the Day, his way of driving traffic to his blog, so since I've given due credit to the creator of this idea I believe that I will pay homage (a fancy french way of saying Stealing) to Matt and do the same thing. I'm very curious actually if this will work at all.

Todays Hot Trends (USA)

1. David Wu

2. amzn

3. Tarvaris Jackson

4. Doug

5. Gene Simmons Family Jewels

6. Dallas Cowboys

7. Betty Broderick

8. Belize

9. Kat Von D 

10. Chicago Bears

Top 10 US Searches According to Google Trends

Since I brought up Self Promotion, Hey Who Wants a 300 Thoughts and Running T-Shirt, or I guess the better question is, who doesn't? I've ordered several for myself as a self promoting tool, and have already had several people order them, they really are great looking shirts (whoever designed them is just wonderful) and you can have one of your very own for just $10! What a steal, if your interested just email me and I'll send you pictures of the designs I currently have available.

Ok, enough about me, I'm done self promoting at least for the moment and back to talking about other people's work, next up The Wu, the new Wu-Tang album came out today, I bought it, and gave it a quick listen, I'll listen to it again, and write up my review for that, and that will probably be up tomorrow, so be on the look out for that.

DJ Khaled We The Best Forever

I always feel like DJ Khaled's albums should be called something like "DJ Khaled's All-Star Collaborations" because essentially that's what his albums are. The tracks start with a brief intro from Khaled and he handles a large portion of the production, but what he does best is get the biggest stars in Hip-Hop to appear on his albums. The one thing about listening to a Khaled album is that it kinda feels like listening to a Top 40 Rap Station, it's one top hip-hop artist after another Lil Wayne, Drake, Rick Ross, Cee-Lo, The Game, Chris Brown and thats just naming a few of the major stars on this album.

So Khaled stacked the deck full of all-stars but is the music any good? For the most part yes, the singles are really good "I'm on One" and both the original and the remix of "Welcome to my Hood" are quality tracks. A big surprise is even though the song came out over a year or so ago, there is no "All I do is Win" that was Khaled's biggest hit to date, however, it may have been excluded because at this point everyone has heard it so much they might be sick of it.

The singles are quality, but what about the rest of the album. One thing about most of the Khaled albums of the past is once you get past the singles the rest of the album isn't too special, this album however, has some pretty good songs outside of the singles. "Sleep When I'm Done" which has The Game, Cee-Lo, and Busta Rhymes is a great track, and there are plenty of quality tracks, like "Money" which has Ludacris and Jeezy, "I'm Thuggin" which has Ace Hood and Waka Flaka, "My Life" with Akon and B.O.B. and another real standout track is "Future" which has some of hip-hops best young stars on the track like Big Sean, Ace Hood, Meek Mills, and Wale, all of whom kill their verses on the track. The only track on the album which I would say is just terrible is "Legendary" which has some talented artists on it, Ne-Yo, Keisha Cole, and Chris Brown who is arguably the biggest Pop/R&B star right now and it just doesn't work, and not to mention by comparison to the rest of the album this song sounds out of place.

Overall the album is pretty quality, but it's not anything new, basically you could turn your radio to any Top 40 Hip-Hop Station and get the same effect this album delivers, but two really great songs "Sleep When I'm Done" and "I'm On One" are able to elevate this album from somewhat forgettable to really strong, and that's not bad for DJ Khaled and this current group of All-Stars he assembled.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse 1983-2011

I loved Amy Winehouse, she was the type of artist that made you realize just how great music could be, she was one of the very best singer/songwriters of recent years. When she first rose to fame and popularity she was a breath of fresh air at a time when most female artist were doing essentially the same thing, she came out with a throwback sound all her own, with an unique voice that hadn't been heard before, and a style that hadn't been heard in many years. After years of drug and alcohol abuse her life was cut short, at the Age of 27, and like several of other extremely talented artist that died at the age of 27, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix, we are left wondering what could have been if she hadn't had the drug or alcohol problems she had, or if she were able to clean up her act.

I first came to know her music like most others with the popular song "Rehab" the sadly ironic song about refusal to go to rehab. Soon after hearing that song I bought the CD, it was 11 tracks of utter brilliance, I hadn't heard anything that sounded like her before. Every track was so honest, gut-wrenching, painful, but ultimately sensational. After hearing the incredible "Back to Black" album, I sought out her other music, I was able to get ahold of her debut album "Frank" which at the time was unavailable in the states, and in my opinion  it was somehow able to be better than her second album "Back to Black" which I was amazed by, her debut was definitely her finding her voice, but it was an amazing album that once again was so honest, it was bluesy, jazzy and the type of music that hadn't been heard since the 1940's, let alone popular. After hearing her first two albums in the span of two days, and falling in love with them, it was official, I was hooked, I was a huge fan of not just her amazing music, but her style and her uniqueness.

She would go on to win a ton of awards, and Grammy's, for a too brief period of time took the music world by storm. The usual self promoting Kanye West at that Grammy ceremony, said that if Amy Winehouse didn't win a slew of awards that year, then the Grammy's loses credibility. It should be noted that Kanye was nominated for several awards himself that year. It goes to show that if the super egotistical Kanye West is able to humble himself because of an artist, that artist must be talented, Amy Winehouse was just that talented. 

It was around that time that it started to come out that Winehouse's hit song "Rehab" wasn't just a song, and more honest than anyone ever thought. It was found out that she battled many different drugs, the drug addiction started to become more of a focus than her music, and it became very clear that she wouldn't give us new music any time soon.

In the past couple years Winehouse had become better known for showing up on US and British tabloids than she was for being a gifted singer/songwriter, it was sad to watch to say the least. Sad as her death may be, it should come as no surprise to anyone, she was walking a slippery slope for a long time, and her lifestyle finally caught up with her. Her death or personal turmoil should not distract from her music however, although she only released the two albums, they are both great albums and both are among the best albums to be released in the past 10 years.

Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs

10. Rehab

9. Fuck Me Pumps

8. In My Bed

7. Wake Up Alone

6. I Heard Love is Blind

5. Back to Black

4. Best Friends

3. Stronger Than Me

2. You Know I'm No Good

1. You Sent Me Flying

For Those wondering, why in my Top 10 List of Amy Winehouse songs I included so many live performances, it was to show, that her amazing and talented voice was not produced in the studio, it was not because of auto-tune, she could actually sing, she was actually talented.

Captain America The First Avenger

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I'm not Mr. Comicbook, to be honest until very recently I didn't even know how to read a comic book, what do the bubbles mean, what do rectangles mean, ones the character talking aloud, the other is a thought, but which is which? I have however really enjoyed some comic book movies, the first 2 X-Men, the first 2 Spider-Man, but more than any of the comic book based movies I've really enjoyed the recent Marvel movies, Iron Man 1 and 2, Thor, and most recently Captain America, I like the way all of these movies take place in the same universe, each movie telling its own story, all leading up to the glorious Nerd-Gasim of "The Avengers" coming out next summer, the new Batman may be the movie everyone is waiting to see next summer, but for me its all about "The Avengers"

Going into Captain America I knew very little about him, but this movie does an excellent job of telling the Captain America origin story. The long and short of it is Steve Rogers is a Brooklyn born everyman with a heart bigger than he is, after several attempts at trying to sign up for combat duty and getting rejected because of his small size, he is given a chance by the German Dr. Erskine and given a serum which turns him into a Super Solider. Rogers first assignment however is an Uncle Sam type character named Captain America, an Extreme Patriot, who sings and dances about fighting Nazi's, eventually Captain America sees battle, and despite being heavily outnumbered rescues a group of US Soldiers, Captain America is then deemed ready for the Front Lines and begins to help (but mostly dominate) the fight against Nazi Germany, mainly the sinister Red Skull. 

The movie is really good, it excelled highly in explaining the Captain America story as well as tying itself to this current "Avengers" series. One area I felt the movie let me down was with the villain Red Skull, maybe I missed something, or I should have known more about him going in to the movie, but there was no clear explanation of who Red Skull was, just that he dabbled in the occult, and we are left to connect the dots that this is were his power and ability come from. Overall this is an excellent movie, most of the characters are well defined, and I absolutely love the way the movie captured the 1940's America feel, it was a sharply directed and very good looking movie.

There was a plethora of outstanding performances, Tommy Lee Jones was great as a Military Colonel, I liked what Chris Evans did as Captain America and the same can be said of Hayley Atwell who played Peggy Carter, Captain America's love interest, who herself in many ways is a female Captain America. Stanley Tucci was great as Dr. Erskine, and Sam Jackson was back as Nick Fury, playing the part with his usual gusto. Two performances that stood out were Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, he took a character that as I said earlier was under developed, and still made him very menacing, and the best performance of the entire movie for me was Dominic Cooper, playing Howard Stark, it was a great performance because he used a lot of the same mannerisms and quirks Robert Downey Jr. brought to Tony Stark (Howard's Son) but played these mannerisms in a different way, it wasn't like he was just doing an impression of Robert Downey Jr. You can tell just based off of his performance that he is Tony Stark's father, it was really incredible.

Obviously as in the other Marvel movies, you have to stay until after the credits. This time instead of a cut scene we get the first trailer for the "Avengers" movie, and if you ever wanted to hear an entire room full of comic book fans climax at the same time the trailer for this movie made that happen. Summer 2012 can't come fast enough!

Throwback Thursday [California Love and Muggsy Bogues]

2Pac was released from jail in 1995, at the time he was a well-known rapper, but not huge. Soon after getting out 2Pac signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records and utilized one of the biggest stars on that label Dr. Dre to produce and feature in his comeback single "California Love", and 2Pac definitely came back after everyone heard the song. It was a Game Changer. It was the lead single off of Pac's masterpiece album "All Eyez on Me" which is an album loaded with huge hits and great non-radio singles, the 2-Disc set is brilliant and contains no filler material, the album is one of the greatest rappers ever at his peak.

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Muggsy Bogues is the shortest player in NBA History standing at just 5 Foot 3 Inches, he overcame all the naysayers and fought the odds to be an NBA Player at all, but during his era he was one of the best Point Guards in the league. And yet, his height maybe overshadows just how good he really was, Muggsy's height is always the first thing brought up when people have a conversation about him, but he was an incredible true point guard, he was a brilliant play maker, handled the ball better than anyone, could get to the paint and score and had a solid jump shot. Bogues was also one of the toughest most tenacious defenders ever, his size gave him an advantage he was able to steal the ball easily as a result, and led the league in steals a couple of seasons. Bogues played on the 1986 USA National Team, he never made an NBA All-Star game or won a ton of awards, but he was a key part of the very good Charlotte Hornets teams of the 90's.

Throwback Thursday [Don't Curse and John Starks]

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In 1987, Luke Campbell the frontman of 2 Live Crew came under heavy fire from the national media for his music being filthy, degrading and misogynistic. It was such a big deal that Luke Campbell had to go to Congress to address these matters. After the trial the end result was record labels would put a sticker on tapes and cds which contained obscene or vulgar content, and not sell these albums to minors, we now know these as the "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content" stickers that we find on albums. As a result Heavy D along with  Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip released a song aimed right at the controversy called "Don't Curse". The song itself is brilliant, it featured some of the greatest rappers of their time on the track and at their peak form.

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John Starks was an unlikely NBA Superstar, he played for four different colleges in four different years, and wasn't expected to be much of a factor in the league, but Starks got his big break with the New York Knicks in 1993 when he became the starting shooting guard and was the 2nd leading scorer on the team to Patrick Ewing. Starks was one of the most dangerous of all the streaky shooters to ever play the game, he was capable of scoring 36 on 12 for 16 shooting one night and the next night score 5 points on 2 for 25 shooting. However, in the bigger games Starks almost always showed up (Game 6 of the NBA Finals vs. Houston was one very notable case of him not showing up).. As brilliant a scorer John Starks was he built his greatest reputation as a defensive stopper, guarding some of the best players ever like Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, and several others. Starks would make the 1994 NBA All-Star Team, was a member of several playoff Knicks teams, and also in 1994 went to the NBA Finals for the first and only time, the Knicks would eventually lose to the Houston Rockets.

Lil Wayne "Sorry 4 The Wait"

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Albums get pushed back all the time, so it's not really that big of a deal, more times than not it just builds anticipation for the album. However in the case of Lil Wayne his "Tha Carter 4" was delayed once again, so what does he do, releases a mixtape as an apology...if only every artist apologized in that way.

I have a very love/hate relationship with Lil Wayne, its hard to argue that the dude is an unbelievably artist, but everytime I'm buying in to the hype that he is the Best Rapper in the game, he'll release a rock album meant for tweens that hang out at the mall. Then he'll release a track like "6'7" and follow it with an acoustic track once again me aimed at tweens. 

So with that in mind I was curious which Weezy we were gonna get on his "Sorry 4 the Wait" mixtape, and thankfully we got the 6'7 Wayne. Traditionally Wayne is at his best on his mixtapes, the acclaimed "No Ceilings", "Da Drought" series The "Dedication" series, and so on. So it almost shouldn't be a surprise that Wayne killed on his mixtape, this is the type of thing that makes me once again think he is the best rapper in the game, lets just hope that "Tha Carter 4" doesn't disprove that again. 

For those that don't know, on Lil Wayne's mixtapes, he uses other artist popular beats and raps over them. You may ask, how can he legally do that, well, because he gives it away for free, and if you give something away there are no copyright laws, its the same principal of how a band can perform any song live without having to pay for it.

Wayne uses a wide assortment of other artist beats, everyone from Big Sean's "My Last", Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" Drake's "Marvin's Room" Waka Flocka's "Grove Street Party" and the list goes on and on. It is a wide assortment, I think anytime you have and Adele beat and a Waka Flocka Flame beat on the same mixtape you are either doing something very right or very wrong, Wayne did this mixtape right.

The mixtape has 12 tracks, all of them are solid, and there are no real misses. My favorites are "Grove St. Party" which features one of my new favorite artist Lil B, "Hands Up" which uses a Big Sean beat and the title track "Sorry 4 the Wait". Favorite tracks aside, all 12 songs are quality, which isn't bad, especially for free music.

It seems like everytime Wayne does something brilliant as in the case of "Sorry 4 the Wait" he follows it up with something that leaves you asking "why", however, the next thing he is planning on releasing is his much hyped, much talked about "Tha Carter 4", with that in mind hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Derek Jeter's 3000th Hit

Derek Jeter watches hit number 3000 (a homerun) leave the ballpark

When you think about the wonderful and glorious history of the New York Yankees, a lot of things come to mind, Ruth's homeruns, Gehrig's ironman streak of games played, Joe D's incredible hitting streak, Reggie Jackson as Mr. October, Maris and Mantel's quest to pass Babe Ruth's single season homerun record, Mariano Rivera's postseason saves record, the list of amazing feats from Yankee players literally goes on and on, and on. However, there is one thing no player had ever done in a Yankee uniform, which was get their 3,000th hit as a Yankee, that was until this past Saturday, when Mr. November, Mr. 3000 himself, Derek Jeter became the first player in the amazing history of the New York Yankees to get hit number 3000 as a Yankee, and how fitting. Derek Jeter for the Yankees is the modern day Ruth, the modern day Mantle, he is the face of this Yankees franchise, so it was only fitting if there would be a player to finally reach this major milestone as a Yankee it would be him, and how amazing is it that Jeter's 3000 hit was a no-doubt homerun in front of the Yankee Stadium crowd.

Afterall, it was when the shortstop first came up from the minor leagues that the Yankees once again became relevant, the Yankees won a World Series in 1981 and nothing else until Jeter's first full year in 1996 when they beat the Braves. Since then Jeter has been to 7 World Series, won 5 of them including a World Series MVP in the 2000 series against the Mets, he's also won countless other awards with the exception of a regular season MVP, however he did come in 2nd twice, but I'm sure he'd rather have 5 World Series over a MVP.

So congratulations to Derek Jeter on accomplishing just one more amazing and unbelievable feat as a Yankee. Dick Vitale recently tweeted about a Yankee version of Mount Rushmore, I think that would look something like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, and you can now offically say Captain Intangibles, Mr. November, Mr. 3000 or whatever other nickname Derek Jeter has. 

Fun Fact: The nickname of Mr. November is of course a play on Reggie Jackson's infamous nickname Mr. October. Jeter got the nickname in the 2001 World Series, the Series that year was pushed back due to the 9/11 attacks. The Yankees had made a miracle comeback against the Arizona Diamondbacks late in the 9th inning, on Halloween night. The game would go in to extra innings and soon after the stroke of midnight Derek Jeter would hit a walkoff homerun, thusly becoming Mr. November.

The MLB All-Star Game

My favorite sport is definitely basketball, I say all the time that I feel the way about the NBA that most Americans feel about the NFL (how ironic that both are now locked-out) For those that don't know, I am a Huge Yankee fan, I was a Yankee fan before I could walk, my father was also a huge Yankee fan, so despite my love for basketball and the NBA, baseball will always have a special place in my heart and when it comes to All-Star Games, its not even close, the MLB Summer Classic is by far, hands-down, the Best of all the All-Star Showcases around, and there are several reasons.

For starters, Baseball, more than any other sport pays proper respect to the games tradition, and players from the past, each year during the All-Star game, Major League Baseball pays homage to the game of the past, while at the same time enjoying the current players. The All-Star games of recent years have been ways for the casual fan to learn more about the history of the game, showing highlights of All-Star games from years past, and catching up with those same players now. The All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium a few years ago was one of the greatest moments in sports for me, not only was the game itself riveting, a 1-Run, extra innings affair with the American League winning, but the broadcast on FOX was wonderful, the 4-Hour game was filled with highlights and memories from the historic Yankee Stadium.

Then there is the other reason the MLB All-Star game is far superior...the game itself doesn't really change. The NHL All-Star game is vastly different than a regular season game, it is understood there will be no hard checking and certainly no fighting, in the NBA, defense is not played at all, except for maybe late in the 4th quarter, and the NFL, well, enough has been made about how terrible the NFL's all-star game (called the Pro Bowl) is, in place of tackling, players hug, the Pro Bowl in recent years has become a joke, so much so there is talk of eliminating it.

The festivities start tonight, with everyone's favorite event, the Homerun Derby, then Tuesday night is the actual All-Star Game this year being played in Arizona. Last year the National League snapped the long winning streak of the American League, which gave the Giants Homefield in the World Series and thusly a huge advantage (another reason I enjoy the MLB over the others, is something is actually at stake). This year there are plenty of returning players, but several newcomers, and most importantly, plenty of Yankees, the player I'm happiest for is "The Grandy Man" Curtis Granderson, making his second all-star appearance, this year starting in the outfield, Granderson, unlikely as it may be, has been the Yankees best hitter this season, and deserves his spot on the team.

While some old-timers may claim that in fact the All-Star game is different from the game that is played during the regular season, they have a point. While in the past it wasn't uncommon to watch Roger Clemens go out and pitch 6 innings in an All-Star Game, those days are long gone, with the modern worry about pitch-counts and rest between starts, each pitcher goes 1 inning...2 max, and while I'll agree, it's definitely different than a regular season game, its close, and when compared to the other major sports version of the All-Star game, close is good enough.

Lil B "I'm Gay"

A few months ago when rapper Lil B announced that he was going to call his forth coming album "I'm Gay" he began receiving around the clock death threats. The death threats were enough to make him change the album cover and put a subtitle under "I'm Gay" (which says I'm Happy) but they weren't enough to make him change the actual album title. Lil B (also known as The BasedGod) was adamant about keeping the name of the album, for several reasons, for starters it was to draw attention to himself, and of course once a person starts receiving death threats thats going to get some attention, it was the most major-press publicity Lil B got, so from that end the album title worked. The other however won't be changed quiet as easy, Lil B wanted to highlight a concern for many in the Hip-Hop community, and that is the homophobia. There is no question that homophobia is a concern in the hip-hop community, and by shinning a light on it Lil B was hoping to at least start a conversation about how to start healing the homophobic wounds. Lil B himself it should be mentioned is himself straight.

The album itself is very good, to be completely honest before this album I wasn't too familiar with Lil B's work before this album, however I've decided to take a look back after listening to this album. Lil B for those unfamiliar with his work is a conscience rapper, his music delivers a message, something really cool about B's lyrics however is that he is not so heavy handed, he has his point of views, delivers it, but its not so over the top where there is no fun to be had. B mixes his conscienceness with a fun and eccentric side.

Lil B has a good flow which has a unique sound, and works well with his lyrical content. The majority of the album is produced by BigBoyTraks, and it is very quality production, its a good mix of indie and alternative rap production and major label rap production, which wouldn't sound like it should work, and yet does.

The album doesn't really miss at all, each of the 12 tracks is very quality, "Trapped in Prison" is a very quality opening song, the two tracks that follow are great, "Game" and "Open Thunder Eternal Slumber". The only song I had any kind of issue with at all is "Gon Be Okay" which kind of sounded like a song from a couple of years ago with the Obama opening and lyrical content about Change, but even so, its still a really good song, thats just a minor complaint. From start to finish this is a great album, if it took a shocking album title and some death threats to finally get some mainstream attention I would say it was worth it, and its Mainstream Hip-Hops gain to have Lil B officially on the Hip-Hop Map, and if he enlightens people at the same time then we are all better for it.

Throwback Thursday [Check the Rhime and Toni Kukoc]

Click Here to Learn Even More About Toni Kukoc

A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low End Theory" is widely considered to be one of the best Hip-Hop albums of all-time, and for good reason, with its jazz-influenced production, clever rhymes, and great back and forth between Q-Tip and Phife along with Q-Tip's very unique rhyme style it definitely sets it self apart from most hip-hop albums. The album is full of great songs, and several hits, "Scenario" was another favorite of mine, but "Check the Rhime" was the standout track, it typifies the album in the one song, the laid back jazz beat, and fun back and forth .

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Scottie Pippen is considered to be the best "Robin" in NBA History, he practically invented the role, but during the Bulls second three-peat they had a very capable, very good third option an "Alfred" if you will with Croatian born Toni Kukoc. Kukoc came to the Bulls the year after Jordan left to play baseball, and was comfortable playing the "Robin" role to Pippen's "Batman". But when Jordan came out of retirement to rejoin the Bulls Kukoc accepted a smaller role, coming off the bench. Kukoc would go on to win the 6th Man of the Year in 1996, and was 3rd in Scoring on a Bulls team that won 3 Straight NBA Titles, and set the record for most wins in one season. Kukoc was a great closer, so much so that there were several times during the Bull's second 3-Peat that coach Phil Jackson chose to go to Kukoc to finish the game over Pippen and even Jordan.

Fun Fact: I got "The Low End Theory" Tape from BMG Music, in one of those ads were you pick 6 tapes (or CDs, if you had a CD Player at the time) and tape a penny on the ad and mail it in. 

Big Brother 13

I would say that CBS's Big Brother reality show is my guilty pleasure however, I don't believe in guilty pleasures, so I have to accept that I love this trashy TV show, and wow! Is it trashy, seemingly more and more so each year.

The best say to describe the show to people that have never seen it, is imagine if someone put cameras in a mental hospital, if you did so, I'm pretty sure the results would look something like Big Brother. There is something about watching complete strangers yell at each other for petty things, that really makes me happy (for some reason).

This year the big twist is going to be that there is 8 brand new houseguest, and 4 returning couples from Big Brother past. I'm sure that will add something great to this years addition of the show, but if there's one thing I've learned, it doesn't really matter who is on the show as long as there is drama...and there is always drama in the Big Brother house.

Big Brother has been a Summer institution (and one time in Winter) for about 12 years. Each year I watch every episode, rooting for my favorite people and getting angry at the people I Hate. Big Brother isn't so much a show to me as much as it is a sport judging by the way I root for people. Throw in the drama and I guess you could call Big Brother "Sports Entertainment" 

So, in honor of a new season of the greatest reality show of all-time I give you not 1, but 2 Top 10 Lists. I have a feeling this will not be the last time I post something about Big Brother on the Blog.




Top 10 Big Brother Houseguest of All-Time

1. Dr. Will (Season 2 and Big Brother All-Stars)

Early on in Big Brother All-Stars The Evil Doctor actually told the other houseguest to vote him out, he stood and pleaded with the house that they needed to vote him out. Not a single person cast a vote to kick him out of the house, he would end up making it to the final four of that season, he also won Big Brother 2 by lying and cheating the entire time. He took a Survivor mentality to Big Brother by forming alliances, and using them to get further in the game, until they were of no more use to him.

2. Kaysar (Season 6 and Big Brother All-Stars)

Kaysar was attacked early in Season 6, and with the entire house against him it looked like he would have an early exit. Kaysar formed a relationship with the other outcast Janelle, and together they turned the house upside down. Season 6 was the season everyone came in as a pair, the twist was each team thought they were the only pair, Kaysar exposed that, and would form one of the strongest alliances in Big Brother history. 

3, Janelle (Season 6 and Big Brother All-Stars)

At first look, Janelle was another dumb blonde, the show has a history of those, however as everyone would find out in Season 6, she was one of the smartest people to every play the game. She was smart and athletic and won almost every challenge she participated in. She made it to the final 3 in both Season 6 and Big Brother All-Stars.

4. Jessie (Season 10 and 11)

Jessie wasn't one of the best players, but he was one of the most fun to watch. A big reason I love the show the way I do is the drama, Jessie was great at creating drama and causing many a loud shouting match. Because of his nature to stir things up he was kicked out early in Season 10, he came back again the next year and actually played the game, he still didn't win, but was good at playing the game.

5. Nakomis (Season 5 and Big Brother All-Stars)

The term "back-door" is used often on Big Brother, it is basically a way to kick somebody out of the house without them having a chance to defend themselves. That idea had never been done before until Season 5 when Nakomis came up with it by herself. Since then it is one of the most used ways to get people out of the house, and houseguest live in fear of it all the time. Nakomis never won, but she changed the show forever.

6. Evel Dick (Season 8)

Evel Dick couldn't win competitions, he wasn't well liked by the other houseguests, but he played the best psychological game in Big Brother history, he shouted at the other houseguest nonstop, he had his son write him letters containing clues on who he could trust and who not too (houseguest are allowed letters, but they can not contain anything about the show, he and his son worked out a code though). Dick also reconciled with his daughter who was also on the show, and the two of them made it to the final 2, and Dick would win the show.

7. Dan (Season 10)

Dan was one of the best winners the show has had, he played the game the entire time, he won competitions, played the psychological game well, and was well liked by most of the houseguest with the exception of Jerry of course. Dan won the show as America's Player, which means he had to do stuff at the request of America, which made his win even that more impressive.

8. Jase (Season 5 and Big Brother All-Stars)

Jase was the guy Nakomis "back-doored" in Season 5, he was one of the strongest competitors in the show's history, strong, athletic and smart, Jase won several competitions, and was a threat from day 1. However, he never really had a chance to play, he was back-doored in Big Brother All-Stars as well.

9. Russell (Season 11)

Russell like Jessie liked to stir things up, and create drama. Unlike Jessie who didn't want to fight, Russell had no problem fighting, in fact he liked it. Russell created drama and fights with almost everyone in the house in Season 11, including a couple of great confrontations with Jeff, who was the most popular person on the show.

10. Adam (Season 9)

Big Brother 9 could be looked at like the bobo season, it is the only season to take place during the winter instead of summer (because of the writers strike) but Season 9 Winner Adam still played a great game, a likable guy in the house he busted many of the houseguest balls, and yet he was well liked. Since however, he has got into many legal and financial problems. First he was fired from the school he taught at for his use of the word "retard" when he said on the show that he was a special needs teacher, and that "I love those little retards" and later got into tax troubles for not claiming all the money he won on the show. Still, if they have another All-Star edition, hopefully he'll be there.

Top 10 Foxiest Houseguest in Big Brother History

1. Jen (Season 8)

2. Erika (Season 4 and Big Brother All-Stars)

3. Janelle (Season 6 and Big Brother All-Stars)

4. Rachel (Season 12)

5. Diane (Season 5 and Big Brother All-Stars)

6. Jennifer (Season 6)

7. Britney (Season 12)

8. Laura (Season 11)

9. Michele (Season 8)

10. Michelle (Season 4)