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. 

Mix of Flavors

This post is a mix of flavors, first it's the return of Sir Mix a Lot. A old school rapper / producer from Seattle, Washington who reached iconic status with his 1992 hit single "baby got back." In 1986, Sir Mix-a-Lot and his DJ, Nasty Nes founded the Nastymix record label. His first hit released in 1987, was the single "Posse on Broadway," whose title referred to a street in Seattle's Capitol Hill district. 

Over the years he's released 6 albums the two most notable were Seminar and Mack Daddy. Sir Mix-a-lot has new tunes in 2010, he just released a new single titled "Cars" which I posted below. Along with a few of his older hits and new music from artists, Statik Selektah & Termanology featuring Xzibit and Cassidy.

Birth Control Lotion

For you people in the often considered fabled monogamous relationship. There's a new medical breakthrough that's going to make the need for condoms obsolete. 

Birth control lotion – contraception for women that’s not a pill, patch, but a gel. Women apply a small amount daily, rubbed anywhere on the body, like arms, legs, shoulders or abdomen. Similar to the contraceptive patch, the birth control "lotion" is said to release hormones directly into the skin. 

It has shown equal effectiveness as both patch and pill without the side effects of sickness, weight gain, or a muted sense of sexual desire. This is from a statement made by the manufacturer. If you want to know more check out the video below.

Gone but not forgotten

This post is a tribute to some of the many talented artists the industry has lost through the years. Gone but not forgotten O.D.B. (Old Dirty Bastard), J-Dilla, Big Pun, Jam Master Jay, Big L, Stack Bundles, Party Artie (aka P80), all lost talents who went before there time. Their legacy is immortalized by the memories of those left behind, and in the music below.

The New Breed

There's a whole New Breed of MC's hungry for recognition. The industry goes through phases every couple of years like fashion trends. There was the DMX, 50 Cent hardcore Hip-Hop era then it went to the Kanye West, Mickey Facts  pink clothes, tight jean wearing, stuff animal on the backpack phase. Now the winds of change are blowing it back towards the hardcore. 

Below are rappers Vado, Skyzoo, Black Milk, Q-Unique, and Ras Kass. They each have a different sound and style but the one thing the have in common is they're all spittin gangsta sh*t.

Artistic Vision

There are few photographers who make pictures like David La Chapelle. He has won numerous awards and is the Hollywood go to guy when it comes to taking unique shots covering themes of life. He likes to use bizarre imagery to show death, lust, love, hate and every emotion in between. 

LaChapelle has four published books of his photographs, including LaChapelle Land, Hotel LaChapelle, Heaven to Hell, and Artists and Prostitutes. All four books contain vivid portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Manson, Michael Jackson Naomi Campbell,  David Bowie,  Björk, Shakira,  Courtney Love, Lil' Kim,  Cher, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Hugh Hefner, Madonna, P!nk, Rihanna,  and recently Lady Gaga. I posted some of the photos I found entertaining below.