AniManga: Darker Than Black

This post is for my Otaku's and Anime addicts. I just finished this series Darker than Black and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

An uncharted area called Hell's gate appears in Tokyo and all the stars disappear and are replaced by artificial stars.  During this time people started gaining superhuman abilities. These humans are known as Contractors. They are cold blooded murderers, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationale.

Contractors are given the name because of an involuntary compulsion to "pay the price" each time their power is used, which can range from eating particular foods and completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and having their bodies change in peculiar ways. Various nations and organizations around the world train and utilize Contractors as spies and assassins, resulting in violent battles for valuable objects and information.

The story revolves around a Chinese contractor codenamed Hei who has the ability to use electricity. He undertakes various espionage and assassination missions in Tokyo under the direction of a secret organization known as the Syndicate. 

The show is fast paced and has enough action and betrayals to make you wanna watch the sequel. I posted a clip below of Hei fighting another powerful contractor named Wei. Check it out and if you like it, tell a friend to tell a friend.

New Muzik

Happy Holidays People,

In the festive spirit of the Yule tide season I come bearing gifts. New Muzik from industry veterans and fresh faces. I call new muzik songs that have a strong beat, good lyrics, catchy chorus and  the artists image and appearance is congruent to whatever he's relaying in the song. 

First up is Pace Won. He was a member of the group "Outsidaz,” back in the 90's which included members Eminem and Bizarre before they created D12. He also did collabo’s with Flipmode Squad and the Fugees. He’s back with a hot track with Mr. Green and Rival called “My Song.”

Next is Murs and 9^th Wonder with a melodic Ode to Hip-Hop called “I used to love her again." 9th is one of the go to producers for hit records. Murs is a conscious rapper and part of groups Living Legends and Mystik Journeymen. 

Followed by Saigon, dropping conscious poems with depth on his track "Together Dear Black America." Saigon has been around for awhile steadily building a buzz over the years but due to label problems has yet to release his long anticipated album "The Greatest story never told."  Perhaps on the strength of this track and other buzz worthy singles the album will be released in the new year.

Finally Drag-On former member of heavyweight label the Ruff Ryders, along with The Lox, DMX, Eve, and Cassidy. Drag took a brief hiatus from the game after dropping his last project in 2004 and now is back bringing the heat for the winter. The track "Swine Flu" featuring Jadakiss and Trish Barnes is a return to 90's Hip-Hop with hard rhymes, beats, and delivery. Enjoy!

Canadian Hip-Hop

This post is dedicated to spitters coming from the cold. Canadian Hip-Hip started in the eighties and gradually expanded taking influences from the U.S. and Europe. 

The first Canadian rappers I heard were  Kardinal Offishall and Choclair back in the nineties. Since then I've met Maestro Wes and numerous artists from all over the country at the Midem conferences in Cannes, France. Most of the acts being represented were R & B but there were a few Hip-Hop acts that inspired me to look'em up.

Below I posted music from the Rascalz, Swollen Members, K-OS, and Rochester a.k.a Juice all talented artists coming from the cold.

Electronic Pick Pockets

Technology is moving at a frightening speed and to keep up thieves and criminals must find new and innovative ways to steal. Back in the day when you would ride the subway or bus you had to watch out for pick-pockets. Now you have to worry about electronic pick-pockets, guys that steal all your credit card information without ever taking it out of your wallet. Check out the clip below. 

Conscious Rap

I consider Conscious Rap, music made to illicit change in ones social situation, city, state or surrounding environment. Its considered a underground, sub-genre of hip hop that focuses on social issues. It is not necessarily political, but it does discuss social issues and conflicts. Themes of conscious hip hop include religion, economy,stopping violence, Black, Latino, and Asian American cultural advancement.

Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" was one of the first successful political and conscious hip hop tracks, describing the poverty, violence, and dead-end lives of the black youth of the time. Hip-Hop was once full of groups that delivered a strong message without sounding preachy. 

Groups like A Tribe Called Quest, and Blackstar (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) had mainstream success while promoting a positive message about education and change received less media attention as Hip-Hop became mainstream. 

This post is a tribute to artists and groups who have used their freedom of expression to educate and enlighten others. Below are Immortal Technique, Visionaries, The Roots, Sage Francis, and Paris check 'em out.

Wiki Leaks

For those of you who haven't been following the news. Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange have been under global attack. WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. They provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to journalists. 

They publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of the sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for revealing suppressed and censored social injustice.

WikiLeaks released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. 

The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

This video and the Wikileak of the Afghanistan War Logs over the summer has made the US contact its ally countries and attempt to shutdown and block the website. Here is a link to the video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0  do to its sensitive nature I can't post it below. 

Read more about Wikileaks and what YOU can do to insure information stays free by clicking on the link and taking action.

Album Reviews

Since there's allot of new albums being released and I'm an opinionated bastard I thought it only fitting I did an album review post. If you're familiar with my previous posts you know how I grade music. If you're unfamiliar here's the scoop. I rate in a five star system 5 being the highest 1 the lowest.  

The elements of a good album are production, dope rhymes, delivery, and overall message. That's four points and the last is a combination of the minor details. For example, If the album has to many interludes, to many features and not enough solo tracks, or if the artists image and music aren't congruent then the album loses value. With that said lets get it in. 

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy **** (4.5)

Say what you want about Kanye and his ridiculously tight jeans, but that is one talented dude. His 5th album shows artistic range mixing elements of Hip-Hop, funk, soul, and jazz with industry heavyweights like Jay-Z, RZA, Rick Ross, Pusha -T, and many others. I've been listening to Kanye's albums since the "College Dropout" and I gotta say this is one of his best.  

Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday *** (3.5)

There's been allot of hype over Nicki Minaj and anticipation for this album release. After a thorough listen I feel some of the tracks like Roman's Revenge" ft. Eminem and "Massive Attack." While others are heavily dance music influenced with allot of synthesizer,  auto-tune and not my taste. 

For a first album this is definitely a worthy offering and if you're a Nicky fan support your artist and buy a copy. While you're at it go buy a copy of Home Street Home by Misstrezz. She's coming from Europe but I would put her in the ring with any MC.

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon vol:2 Mr. Rager ** (2)

The first song I heard from  Kid Cudi was his single smash "Day 'n' Nite" which reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. Since then he has moved away from his Hip-Hop roots to the hard rock genre. The majority of the album is rock and dance influenced, which is nothing like the first Man on the Moon. 

I can't say if the album is good or bad cuz this is just MY opinion. What I can say is Kid Cudi doesn't display enough of his rhyme skills on this album. If you're looking for Hip-Hop this isn't it, if you want to hear Kid Cudi as a rocker go buy a copy. 

Hardcore Hip-Hop

I've been listening to mixtapes lately cuz i'm not feeling allot of peoples albums. There's always five or six dope tracks and the rest are just fillers. I miss the days of Hardcore Hip-Hop! When I use the term "hardcore," I mean a hard beat, hard rhymes and hard delivery like classic tunes "Ante-Up," by M.O.P. or "Slam,"by Onyx.

Below are songs "60 second Assassins" DJ Kay Slay ft. Busta Rhymes, Layzie Bone, Jaz-O, and Twista. "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks ft. RA The Rugged Man, "Ego Trippin," from Tech N9ne, and "Perception" by my homie NLZ. A MC and producer whose been making hardcore tracks for a minute. He produced the song "Young and Hungry" off my last album Sinister Ambitionz.  

Check out the tunes below and if you want to know more about the artists, click on their name.