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Lil' Wayne, The Leak (Cash Money, 2007)
Also last week, Lil' Wayne just kinda released this download-only EP out of nowhere. I guess the label just realized they had to actually release an album by Lil' Wayne in order to write it off as a loss. Those mixtapes don't count.
Weeks go by with hardly anything worth writing about and then the one week I decide to take off all sorts of shit happens. Here's my thoughts on a few of last week's top news stories.
-Was it ever confirmed that this (pictured above) is the cover of the forthcoming Nas album? If it is, I'd have to say it's pretty gully and, dare I say it, classy for what it is. Though I'm sure I could have come up with something much more amusing.
-I was in a barbecue joint last week when it was announced that Benazir Bhutto, the President (or whatever) of Pakistan had been assassinated. Was I the only one who thought she looked kinda good for a middle-aged broad from the Middle East? (You know I like girls with glasses.) Makes you wonder what was under that bee keeper suit.
-So Jay-Z was finally canned from Def Jam. Did I not predict this would happen, or what? Granted, I called this one like five times over the last three years, but whatever. Sometimes you gotta take accomplishment where you can find it. Also, I wonder who's next in line for the fake CEO position: Dame Dash? Blood Diamond Rush?
-Raz B claimed in a YouTube video that Chris Stokes and Marques Houston used to eff him in the a, then turned around and retracted it. My guess: someone finally cut him a check. Either way, I broke the news that he was a fruit here a long time ago. Nullus, just in case.
-I'll probably have more on this Will Smith is a Nazi story at XXL today. First I gotta figure out what actually happened. I only heard about it in passing the other day.
According to Last Week's Poll
Would anyone mind explaining to me what happened to last week's poll? I leave the Internets for one week - to get drunk every night of the week and spend hours on end playing video games; and to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the man who made all this (misery) possible - and I come back to find that motherfucking 8 Diagrams has won last week's rap albums of the year poll.
That can't be right, can it?
Last week I took 20 of the year's best rap albums and pit them against one another in a poll to see which was the best rap album of the year. Then I left it up for another week while I was off doing my thing. Here's how it turned out.
Rap album of the year?
(Keep in mind that this list shouldn't be viewed so much as a composite list of everyone's favorite albums, like the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop poll, since in this poll you could only vote for your one favorite album of the year. Not that anyone gives a shit anyway.)
Thoughts on the results:
Additionally, I'll be putting together my own list of the top 10 rap albums of the year as part of the annual year-end rap albums poll published by The Rap Up, but it's not ready yet. Anyway, you can probably imagine how it's going to turn out.
Remember that Stop Snitching DVD from a couple of years ago, where Carmelo Anthony was kicking it in the streets with drug dealers and talking about how he threw his Olympic bronze medal in a lake?
It was one of the main things that kick started the discussion of the stop snitching movement and witness intimidation in the media. Which of course led to Cam'ron's hilarious appearance on 60 minutes earlier this year, talking about how he wouldn't call the cops if there was a serial killer living in his building.
Well apparently there's a new DVD, called Stop Snitching II, which just hit the streets of Baltimore. As far as I know, there's no celebrity cameos. But there are some hilarious scenes, like cats busting their guns in the air right there in the middle of the street; and a kid who looks like he can't be any older than 8 or 9 smoking weed and waving a gun around.
Perhaps in response to the media frenzy surrounding the original Stop Snitching DVD, the guy who produced it, Rodney Bethea, makes an appearances and attempts to explain what actually constitutes snitching. According to him, a grandmother who calls the police on kids selling crack in front of her house wouldn't be considered snitching, since she's not involved in the deal herself.
Fair enough, though I doubt that would inspire confidence in me to call the cops on these mofos if I was unfortunate enough to live in one of these areas. I've been watching the Wire for years now. I know how it works.
Prosecutors are looking into the DVD to see if they can't charge Bethea with a crime. In one scene, a guy actually makes threats against local politicians - who were behind the political movement against the first DVD - by name. For his part though, Bethea claims that the footage contained in Stop Snitching II was delivered to him anonymously. All he did was put together a documentary.
Stop Snitching II: ‘It’s Like Part One on Steroids’ [Breitbart.tv]
I always did think that women don't have much of a sense of humor, but I thought it was my own subjective opinion based on the fact that I'm a sexist. (I think women are different from men. Aww dang!)
Come to find out, there's a medical explanation. (Isn't there always?) Women aren't as funny as men, because humor comes from testosterone, and men have more testosterone than women.
This is based on a study by a doctor in England, who observed people's reaction to himself on a unicycle.
According to the BBC:
Almost half of people responded verbally - more being men. Very few of the women made comic or snide remarks, while 75% of the men attempted comedy - mostly shouting out "Lost your wheel?", for example.
The idea being that men develop a sense of humor to compete against other men for the attention of women, and obviously most women have no such use for it.
And there may be a correlation to hip-hop, in that there's so very few worthwhile female rappers and so many female rappers, just like so many female comedians (think about it) tend to be lesbians.
Lesson to be learned here: If you're a woman, the next time you're thinking about telling me something I said or wrote isn't funny, fall back for a second and think: Maybe I know more about this than you. After all, I'm a guy, and you aren't.
A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran a story about how kids out in Queens have begun mounting huge-ass car stereos on bicycles. (It was only a matter of time, right?) I expanded on it in a post at XXL today called Niggas putting systems on bicycles.
This post is an added A/V bonus to that post. (I know, sweet!) After the jump are the pictures from the Times story; and then after that is the video for the Outfield's "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love Tonight," which is the kind of shit these kids listen to. Weird, right?
Continue reading "Niggas putting systems on bicycles: A slideshow" »
If you're into lots of obscure hipster bullshit.
Was out last night looking for ways to rip off the recording industry by helping to promote music, and I came across these zip files of every song on Pitchfork's list of the top 100 tracks of 2007. I downloaded it last night and started flipping through it.
As was the case with the top 50 albums of 2007, there's definitely some really, really good stuff on this. And I'll admit that some of this shit I've just chosen to reflexively hate on, because I've never heard of it before. But some of this shit I have heard, and it's just plain teh ghey.
Have fun digging through it.
Download Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks Of '07 [Panda Toes]
I'll admit, I found last week's episode rather amusing, with the shit between Dunbar and Ashli. Like when Dunbar was all like, "Oh, I forgot I live with girls who don't use ration and logic."
Hopefully, there's more of that this week.
As the episode begins, there's something wrong with the coffee machine. Of course Dunbar blames it on the fact that one of the girls - I think KellyAnne - drinks too much coffee. But it's Ashli who takes it all personally, maybe because she's sticking up for her BFF in the house or maybe because she's still pissed at Dunbar going around telling people he banged her. Maybe both. So the two of them go at it for a bit.
Parisa, who hardly has anything to do with this, is none the less all up in it, obviously because she feeds on bad feelings. I thought she couldn't stand Ashli and KellyAnne (well, white girls in general, for that matter), but I guess she'll side with them over Dunbar.
Dunbar goes out for drinks, and to comiserate, with Isaac and Cohutta. He bitches to the two of them about the girls in the house. But of course it's not like Cohutta can agree - or claim to, anyway. He once almost got KellyAnne pregnant. So he just kinda stands there with that confused redneck look on his face and then attempts to explain his position on the issue in a confessional. Weak!
Continue reading "The Real World: Sydney - Episode 21: Episode Summary" »
Got this in my email from a guy whose mother works on the board for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Supposedly, some kid who's dying of cancer's last wish was to spend half an hour with Jay-Z, but Jay-Z stiffed him.
Hey not sure you're really interested in terminally ill children, but I know you all about calling fools out when they need to be; case in point - my mom is on the make-a-wish foundation board and a 14 year old kid dying of lymphoma's last wish is to spend 30 minutes with Jay-Z. The motherfucker (or his people, either way - doesn't matter) denies him. WTF right? The least he could of done is hooked the kid up with some backstage passes at his show that'll be in town on the 29th. But I guess not. Thought you could maybe do drop on this "rumor" floating around the interwebs, but if not tis all good.
Of course I would be more than happy to help out a little kid with cancer. Unlike some people. To think, this kid might be dead soon (god forbid), and Jay-Z can't even hook him up with a concert ticket.
The blog Brooklyn Vegan has this series where comedians list their best of 2007. In David Cross' entry, he goes in on Soulja Boy.
To wit:
Soulja Boy, "Crank Dat" - I fucking love it! Not the song, but the fact that this Grammy nominated piece of shit is a full fledged phenomenon sung and emulated by children and pre-teens all across America. Why? Because it advocates cumming on a “ho’s” back and then putting the bed sheet on her so that when it dries it resembles a cape. And for extra giggles look up "supersoak" in the urban dictionary. You go (eight year old) girl!! Almost as great as middle aged white people gleefully singing a song celebrating a place to go for anonymous gay sex during the 7th inning stretch at Yankee stadium.
Checkit: Best of 2007 by David Cross [Brooklyn Vegan]
We have tickets to all the top 2007 Concerts. Check out these seats to The Cure, and the Dave Matthews Band. Don't miss the hot Smashing Pumpkins tour, or Linkin Park. We also have seats to Dallas Cowboys games, and Indianapolis Colts. Check out our amazing NFL selection.
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