Daily Dose of Dope... Blackstar - Thieves In The Night

I figured I might as well since I'm doing a "Daily Dose of Dilla". Any how, this is most definitely my absolute favorite song. Mos Def and Talib Kweli give verses that have such a vast depth while maintaining a precise perspective that can apply to anyone. I plan on having these words posted up in my house at some point as art.

Peep This... TagScanner

http://www.xdlab.ru/en/index.htm

I will be using this very soon!!!!! Hope it works as well as they say!

"Windows only: Rename the thousands of MP3 files in your digital music library and add or edit tags, lyrics, and album art in one fell swoop with free utility TagScanner. Not only can TagScanner clean up the artist, album, song title, and track number information for your digital music files, it can rename your songs based on a pattern you define (like %artist% - %title%), it can make music playlists, and search online databases like freedb and Amazon to automatically tag music missing information. It includes a built-in player as well so you can listen to tracks while you edit. We've recommended Media Monkey to whip your music's metadata into shape, but TagScanner looks like a solid alternative. TagScanner is a free download for Windows only."

courtesy of lifehacker.com

Peep This - "Second Lives" @ The Museum Of Arts and Design

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/26/arts/0926-LIVE_index.html

http://madmuseum.org/SEE/upcoming%20exhibitions/Second%20Lives%20Remixing%20the%20Ordinary.aspx

Dope exhibit over at The Museum Of Arts & Design over in New York. The artists are using or reusing everyday "manufactured articles, most originally made for another functional purpose.".

My favorites are the pieces made from old albums (you had to know that already though, right?) by Paul Villinski and Jean Shin. Peep...

courtesy of nytimes.com

Peep This... New Bansky piece in NYC's Soho

Dope.

"The refreshing onslaught of street art continues. Arriving on a wall near Grand street and Wooster in Manahattan’s Soho is Banksy’s latest work, a three-story high commisioned rat donning the iconic ‘I heart NY’ t-shirt. The piece was painted by professional sign painters Colossal, who must be fighting over the keeper rights to Banksy’s sketch for the piece."


courtesy of theworldsbestserver.com

Peep This... Elicser

http://www.elicser.com/

Site for Canadian graffiti artist Elicser. Peep...

courtesy of notcot.org

Peep This... D*face Makes Some Street Improvements in London

Street artist D*face has cement spray cans popping up out of the ground in London. Dope.

courtesy of notcot.org

Daily Dose Of Dilla....A Tribe Called Quest feat. Jay Dee - "That Shit"

This will be an ongoing entry onto the blog. I'll just be hitting you off with a Dilla song a day and introducing you to his history and influence on hip hop. I figured it fitting to start with the first song that I heard and was aware of Jay Dee's presence. I heard it on a "Funkmaster Flex Mixtape" back in 1997. It's called "That Shit". Listen Up!

For The Beat Heads... Can you hear above 17khz?

Yes! I have been slipping on the "For The Beat Heads" entries. I could try to come up with some sort of explanation as to why but, this has been sitting in my e-mail since July. Not to mention that I am only posting now because I just had a conversation with my boy from Two Three Productions (http://www.myspace.com/2ndand3rdproductions) about mixing. I just forwarded him about 12 e-mails Mau sent me about mixing and thought this would have been a whole lot easier had I just posted them when he sent them. So anyway here is the oldest (I think) e-mail Mau has sent. Peep...

"Can you hear above 17khz? Tip for bettering translation of your mixes.

Open a test tone generator, and run a pure sine wave all the way up to 17khz.
Can you still hear it? Well, the average adult can not hear above 13khz. That ringing in your ears sometimes, that is a frequency being lost :-( This is due to natural aging, loud concerts, clubs, car radios, headphones, etc.

For engineering, it is essential to know your frequency cut off, as you may be leaving in frequencies that may sound harsh that you just can't hear. You submit your mix to someone and they say "that is too sharp" or it may actually hurt their ears when played on large speakers.
Luckily, I can hear up to 18khz, for now at least, i'm sure this will be gone in a year :-(.

However, though this may make you doubt your ability to mix, remember that this is normal.


So to help the translation of my mixes, I slap on a good eq on the master fader (now I have PSP Neon Linear Phase EQ tasked for master bus eq) and do a 6 - 12db low pass filter at around 17.5khz. This is the point at which any lower affects the original signal, and any higher does not make a difference.


Good to do in practice, of course, trust your ears...


If you think this is a crock of sh*t, feel free to load up a mix you think is great, and look at the spectral analysis of it, I've seen cut offs as low as 15khz.

*NOTE the loudness or enhance button on a stereo system is usally a smiley face eq (low shelf raise at 170hz, high shelf raise at 5k or there abouts), so if you have artifacts above the frequency that you can hear, this stuff gets raised too. Not to mention if there is bus compression going on, it gets raised...
Just another tip, use it wisely.

Peep This... The Cool Kids - Delivery Man

Peep the vid...

Ya know... Stephen Hawking (In Lego Form)

This is jacked up... at first I didn't think it was funny... but the more I look at it....

Don't judge me!

Peep This... "Need Toilet Paper!!"

I hope someone gets the message.

Peep This...Macs Used To Help Make New Microsoft Ad

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9115120&intsrc=hm_list

Oh the irony.....

"Uh-oh. It's been discovered that some of the images used in Microsoft's new 'I'm a PC' commercial were created with Macs.
Four of the images that Microsoft made available on its PressPass site today display the designation "Adobe Photoshop C3 Macintosh" when their file properties are examined. The images appear to be frames from the television ads that Microsoft will launch later today.
One of the images is of a real Microsoft engineer, identified only as "Sean," who resembles John Hodgman, the actor who plays the PC character in Apple Inc.'s iconic ads.
Well seeing how Microsoft hired ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky to create the commercials, it's not surprising that they were using Macs since there wasn't a "no Macs" clause in the agreement. Probably should have been though. I told you to let me handle the law, Microsoft, I'm mad legal. Ha, well technically I'm 17, but I have a good fake."

courtesy of geekologie.com

Peep This... Cock Cock Train (Członkociuchcia)

Peep This... RJD2 - Work It Out

http://www.ghostrobot.com/spots/joey-garfield/work-it-out.html

http://www.rjd2site.com/

Dope video for 2007's "Work It Out" by RJD2. I've heard of this guy before but I never really took the time o seek any of his work out. I will most def be digging up his discography. Peep...

courtesy of kanyeuniversecity.com/blog

Peep This... Diesel: SFW XXX

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK IF YOUR JOB KEEPS TRACK OF YOUR ONLINE ACTIVITIES. EVEN THOUGH THE TITLE STATES THAT IT'S "SAFE FOR WORK", THE CLIP WALKS A FINE LINE BETWEEN "SFW" AND "NSFW"!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the folks over at Diesel have hired an advertising firm (Creativity) to handle a product release/anniversary party called The Dirty 30. Originally done by SFW Porn, Diesel borrows the motif for it's upcoming anniversary, making sure its XXX birthday invite stays Safe For Work.

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=349ffa2b

Peep This.... Notorious (Teaser Trailer)

www.notorious09.com

Teaser trailer for "Notorious" starring Derek Luke, Angela Bassett, Anthony Mackie and Jamal Woolard as Biggie Smalls. Release date 01/16/09.

Add'em... Janelle Monae

http://www.myspace.com/janellemonae

Okay. Here she is. One of the few artists that makes truly unique and quality music. Janelle Monae. It very rare that we get to hear a musical artist that creates art but that rarity is personified with this young lady. So here is her story as I know it...

She popped up out of Atlanta via her deal with independent with The Wondaland Arts Society. A label she helped found. Through her various performances she caught the ear of Big Boi (Outkast) and was signed to a venture deal with Purple Ribbon and was featured on the 2005 compilation "Purple Ribbon All-Star's: Got Purp? Volume 2" and on the "Idlewild" soundtrack. I don't know if it was lack of knowledge, experience or connections on Big Boi's part, but she somehow got signed into another venture deal with Bad Boy records. It seems like Puff is taking a backseat to her vision and just letting her do her thing (which is a good idea). Now she is set to release the follow up to her 2007 release.

One of the things she is doing is releasing her album in four parts or "Suites". The logic is that in the age of "Itunes" and "ringtones", consumers are not really buying entire albums. Rather just buying 5 or 6 songs out of the 12 - 15 songs in an entire album. By producing and releasing an album in four parts, the consumer gets a quality product with no filler. Interesting concept... but I'm not sure it'll work. The tech savvy will still just download each suite as it's released.

Either way, your going to get a good quality listen so support her and pay HER (not rapidshare, sendspace or any other one of those bammas) for some damn good music.

Peep This... Janelle Monae - Many Moons

Back when Outkast dropped the video for "Morris Brown" I could not get over how dope a producer 3 Stacks is, how dope the song is, how dope the visuals of the video are (big ups to Mr. Barber. I think that them sticking with him as a director has played a big role in Outkast's success.) and how pretty ol girl is in the backseat. Even doper than all those things combined is to later find out that ol girl is as talented as she is pretty.

I have been bumping Janelle Monae's Metropolis: The Chase Suite for a couple of months and even though it's only a few of songs long it stays on repeat. Peep some more info on her in the Add Em entry I'll be doing right after this one. Enjoy the video....





courtesy of worldstarhiphop.com

Peep This... Artist Spotlight - Halima Washington

A very good friend and a very, very good artist by the name of Halima Washington has just been featured on blackvisualartist (www.blackvisualartist.blogspot.com/). You can check her out and purchase her work at ...

http://halimawashington.com/home.html
http://halima-washington.fineartamerica.com/

Peep the interview and keep an eye out for her.
Artist Interview: Halima Washington

Tell us about your educational background. Do you have formal training in art? If so, who were your instructors and how did they influence you?

Though I was born with a natural talent for art, I still sought formal training because I was drawn to traditional methods of Fine Art. I received my B.A in Visual Arts and Art History from Occidental College (a small Liberal Arts college in Los Angeles) in 2000 and my M.F.A in Fine Art (Drawing/Painting) from the Academy of Art University-San Francisco in 2005.

Carolyn Meyer was one of my Instructor at AAU, she pushed me to use color and to pick up the palette knife.


Tell us about your early artistic influences and experiences. When did you decide to pursue art?

I was mostly influenced by my Grandmother, Dominica Bell. She painted as a hobby even though she did amazing work. Every summer I would take lessons from her…it was fun but not easy. She knew that I was serious about art and really pushed me. Even though I continued to draw and paint well into my teens, I decided to make art my career after my first art class during my Undergraduate studies. I decided my goal in life was to be an artist full time and teach art as well. When I told my family I got mixed reviews, I was studying Biology at the time. My Dad did not speak a word to me for several months! Everyone soon got over themselves, they saw how passionate I was.


How would you say that your work has advanced over time?

Over time my work has matured. My drawing abilities are much stronger, I have mastered the fundamentals of painting all subjects and I utilize my strengths. Once I was able to paint very realistic and traditional, the hard part was finding my style. With a lot of experimentation and wasted canvases and paint I have come into my own.


Can you go into detail about your artistic process? How do you begin a piece? When do you know that a piece is finished?

I study a photo or life reference of my subject for awhile. This way I have a plan of attack! I figure out the composition and color so there will be less guessing when I start applying the paint. My style is Impasto (thick paint) applied with a palette knife, in sort of a Post Impressionist feel. With this style I have the freedom of more contemporary paintings and exaggerated color. I sketch loosely with a brush to avoid over working it, block in color and then proceed to layer on the paint. When I take a huge step back and the painting has a sense of depth, light and emotion…I put down the knife.


How do current world events influence your work? In other words, how does contemporary life impact your creative practice?

The “everyday” impacts my paintings. I am recording more of my environmental surroundings than current events. My cityscape paintings show a perspective of our urban life while driving and my still life paintings bring attention to the little things in life.

Tell us more about the philosophy behind your art. What motivates you to create?

I paint what I see everyday. I take the ordinary and add a twist. The twist is inviting the viewer to see and feel my passion for painting.


Why did you choose to work in the medium(s) that you use?

I love oil paint because of its buttery texture and pure color. It works well with my current style of painting. I add Liquin and impasto gel to speed up drying time and preserve the texture.


What is your studio like? Can you go into detail about your studio routine? Do you work in silence-- listen to music?

I am used to working in my bedroom because of living in San Francisco with a load of roommates. My studio is currently in a small room in my home. I usually paint at night when it is the quietest. I paint from about 1am to 5:30am after a few glasses of wine! I put my headphones on and rock out to my Ipod mixes. If you were to open up the door while I am in my “office” you would crack up. I dance and sing. I like to be loose and happy when I paint. When I have to paint for a client or a gallery, I listen to jazz, drink water and paint in the afternoon and stop around dinner time.

What are you working on at this time?

I am preparing for the Atlanta Cityscape's show at Anne Irwin Fine Art where my work is housed.

In your opinion, what are some of the problems facing artists today?

For all artists I think knowing the business side of art needs to be stressed more. For professional artists I think getting stuck in a rut, recreating work that gets attention and sells often can become a problem. The “bread and butter paintings” are good for paying the bills, but your artistic soul has to move forward and change with you. Take a risk and try something new once in a while, take classes from fellow artists you admire and trust your gift.

The Internet is changing how we discover and view art. What sites have empowered you as an artist?

My own site that I created on http://www.otherpeoplespixels.com/ gives me the boost of confidence I needed to get my self out there. Being professional is key, updating my website every other day is needed, this is a business after all! It keeps me on my toes and in touch with people from all over the world.

What are your goals as an artist? What do you hope to accomplish with your work?

My goal is to keep learning and growing, I never want to become comfortable where I am. I love a challenge.

What is your website URL?

http://www.halimawashington.com/

Peep This... Bill Shrink

www.billshrink.com

For those of you shopping for a new credit card or cell phone carrier, Bill shrink is the site for you. When shopping for a new credit card, just plug in your estimated spending and payment habits. Do the same while shopping for a new wireless carrier or provide your cell phone number and online account password and it imports your cell phone pill. Providing you with a pie graph that displays your minute usage. I tried both the credit card and cell phone options and got five better suggestions for each in a few minutes. So even if your happy with your credit cards and cell phone carrier this site is worth a look. Tell a friend.

courtesy of lifehacker.com

Peep This... Anti Theft Lunch Bag

This is funny...but a guaranteed way to get your lunch thrown out by overzealous fridge cleaners at the office.

Peep This... Mixtube.com

For those of you who do not have little speakers for your MP3 players or work safe music. this may be a solution. www.mixtube.org allows you to create a play list using YouTube clips. Just drop a YouTube URL into mixtube to build your play list. Once you've named, created and saved your playlist, you can shuffle or repeat songs. Have fun.... http://mixtube.org/edit.php

courtesy of lifehacker.com

Peep This... Format Factory

Ran into this little bad boy over at lifehacker.com. This a program for windows that converts file formats. Say you have a flash file that you downloaded from Youtube. You want to put it on your MP3 player but you player does not support flash files. Now you can convert them to an appropriate format allowed by your player. Even ripping from DVD is simple. It does not give you many options outside of the file format which is a good thing for newbies or anyone who does not care compression rates. Best off all it's free!

Download here... http://www.formatoz.com/


courtesy of lifehacker.com

Peep This...Johnson & Jonson (Blu & Mainframe) - J&J

Peep This ... Q-Tip - Gettin Up

Dope song off of his upcoming album. Hopefully it doesn't get shelved or delayed. Peep...

Peep This... Taste - Pacific Division

New (well... from earlier this month) video from Pacific Division called "Taste". Dope song. Dope vid. Nuff said!

Peep This... Black Milk - Tronic (Press Release)

"(September 17, 2008) Brooklyn, NY- 25-year old Black Milk, the accomplished producer, MC, and vanguard of Detroit’s rising hip-hop scene will be releasing his third solo album TRONIC on October 28, 2008 through Fat Beats Records.

Produced entirely by Black Milk and featuring only three guest verses on the entire album (from Pharoahe Monch, Royce Da 5′9″, and Sean Price), TRONIC shows Black Milk flexing his solo production and emcee skills through tracks that are more expressive and daring than his previous works. The album is a departure from the soul-sample driven sounds of 2007’s Popular Demand, as Black employs more live instrumentation, embraces the use of both vintage and modern synthesizers, and explores more orchestral song structure. Without abandoning his trademark Detroit hip-hop sound, he shows growth as an artist while clearly attempting to raise the bar as a pioneer of future hip-hop music. The album also features a short list of diverse players and vocalists including Dwele, rising YouTube star and new Universal Motown signee Colin Munroe, and the legendary DJ Premier who each add their signature creative nuances and textures to Black Milk’s sound.

In only a few short years, Black Milk quickly has become one of underground hip-hop’s foremost ambassadors. Realizing his vast reservoir of talent, both independent and mainstream artists looked to Black to give their albums a raw underground sound. Black has since produced and appeared on tracks for an impressive roster of hip hop artists including Genius/GZA, Busta Rhymes, Pharoahe Monch, Kidz in the Hall, Kardinal Offishall, Guilty Simpson, and Strange Fruit Project, among others. Most recently, Black released two albums, The Set Up with Fat Ray, Black Milk Presents Caltroit with Bishop Lamont. Black also handed nearly all the production on elZhi’s The Preface, an album that is making many critics’ Top 10 lists for 2008 and bringing serious attention to Detroit’s music scene. Black also produces and rhymes as a member of the ground Random Axe with Sean Price and Guilty Simpson and will release a full-length album in early 2009. TRONIC will be released on CD, vinyl, and digitally on October 28, 2008.

TRONIC track listing and credits:

1. Long Story Short ft. Dwele

2. Bounce

3. Give The Drummer Su

4. Without U ft. Colin Munroe

5. Hold It Down

6. Losing Out ft. Royce da 5′9

7. Hell Yeah ft. Fat Ray

8. Overdose

9. Reppin For U ft. AB

10. The Matrix ft. Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price, & Dj Premier

11. Try

12. Tronic Summe

13. Bond 4 Life ft. Melanie Rutherford

14. Elec (OUTRO)"

Courtesy of - www.sp1200.net

Peep This... New Jay Smooth - Economics and Annoying Smart Guys

Stat!!!!

Add'em... Fly Union

http://www.myspace.com/flyunion

I had the pleasure of downloading this groups new mixtape, "Closed Doors, Open Windows" last week and I was pleasantly surprised. Out of the bajillion mixtapes to come out every week only a few stay in the rotation. This one is a little different because you get to now each of the members of Fly U and you also get glimpses of their story. The group is one of those home grown (Ohio) phenoms that has used the Internet to produce a fan base and grown from there. Pick up the mixtape, add them on Myspace, Peep them on youtube and enjoy.



Fly Union EPK (Electronic Press Kit)

Peep This... Microsoft Image Composite Editor

Any of you guys who have the pleasure of having my personal Myspace page, has seen the photo of my son at six months right next to his mom when she was a baby. Now in this age of technology you would think that putting two images side by side into one image would be a few left & right clicks away. Wrong... WRONG! (c) Charlie Murphy. It's only a simple task if you have the right software (Photoshop), which was not on my in laws computer. I bootlegged it some how, some way. It would have been a whole lot easier if I had this new FREE (yes FREE) software that Microsoft has just released. I have not downloaded it yet so I'll let Microsoft tell you the specifics....

"What is Image Composite Editor?

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. You shoot a set of overlapping photographs of a scene from a single location, and Image Composite Editor creates a high-resolution panorama incorporating all your images at full resolution. Then save your stitched panorama in a wide variety of formats, from common formats like JPEG and TIFF to multi-resolution tiled formats like HD View and Silverlight Deep Zoom."

Download here:

http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/ice.html

Listen Up... Paris, Tokyo (Remix) feat Pharell, Q-Tip & Sarah Green

http://www.zshare.net/audio/192301240eeb571f/

New goodness from the head of the FNF crew. Although I have been really unimpressed with Lupe's self inflicted atrophy of his talent (and the whole "Fiascogate" incident) he somehow comes up with one song that makes me appreciate the talent that he refuses to execute correctly. You already know who Q-Tip and Pharrell are (and if you don't you should). Unfortunately, I have no idea who Sarah Greene is. A quick Google search for her pic revealed that she is on Lupe's label, FNF. It's most definitely a solid song and a strong performance from all parties. So.... Listen Up !!!!!!!!

Peep This... New Jay Smooth - Hipster Rap

"I Hate Bloggers"

And everything else that was missed in my latest hiatus....

Ballad Of The Little Hater


"Topher asked me to describe my Little Hater, and Derek asked me to discuss beatboxing. But the beatboxing game is to be sold, not to be told. If you're not familiar with the Little Hater go here."



The Republican Hater's Ball


"Hateration in the GOP dancerie. I'm soooo glad you all asked for commentary on Sarah Palin and made me sit through the convention last night. [/sarcasm]"


Vlogging is Stupid


"Just a station announcement before we return to regular programming. Conversate is totally a word, by the way. Like I said in the video please keep hitting me back with ideas, comments, stuff you disagreed with in some other video.. here or on twitter or wherever. And if you can do it in a video response that's even better!"



A Beginner's Guide to "No Homo"


Another one by request.


Obama's Ludacris Issue


By request, although I don't have all that much to say on it.


How To Tell People They Sound Racist


You gotta use some strategery


The Wall-E Theory


"***MINOR SPOILER ALERT***
Uncovering the secret code hidden inside the year's best movie.
For real though Wall-E was a great film, and I don't expect this type of movie (or any movie) to comprehensively cover every sociopolitical issue.. but I did find it interesting how it approached environmental issues, in a way that basically left class -and race- off the table.. especially since race and class are so often left off the table when the environment is discussed.."


"Yes We Can" - The George Carlin Remix


"For the great one. One of the biggest influences on my understanding of everything, and his legendary "7 dirty words" court case happened at the radio station where I've spent half my life. One of the people I most most most wanted to meet/interview. You could always count on him to be on top of the now for however long he was here, and I know that he was a devoted blog reader, so I always fantasized about him visiting my site or seeing one of my vids.
this video contains adult language (like, duh!)"


How Not To Look Like A Sucker


references:
young buck wiretap
jim jones interview
bun b interview

Peep This...Screw Outsourcing Jobs! - Pruane2Forever

New Pruane!!!!!!!

"My mom doesn.t have a cock!!!!!"

Peep This...- Pharrell Williams producing Midnight Hour for Natasha Ramos

The finished product...



Since we already got Pharrel on the brain I might as well throw some of his work in. This clip is a couple of years old but it's always dope to see an artist in his/her element creating. Being able to witness the process of a song being born is awesome. Peep...

Peep This...It's The Cons TV "Premo & Pharell R Going In!!!"

This clip popped up on the internet last week but I just got to sit down and watch it last night. It's back stage footage (I think it's from the "Glow In The Dark Tour") of Consequence filming Pharrel telling the room (mainly Premier & Cons, but Chad, Chris Brown and as the story progresses random hip hop groupies) this story of a conversation between Busta Rhymes and himself.

If you have not watched the vid yet then stop reading and watch the vid before I drop the spoiler alert. If you have watched the vid and have no idea what P is talking about, ignore the spoiler alert and continue reading.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

Now in this conversation between Consequence, DJ Premier and Pharrel, Pharrel is telling Cons and Preem how excited he is to be working with Busta Rhymes on his new album and Busta return to his original over the top performances and videos (If you ain't knowing, go to youtube and search "Woo Ha", "Gimme Some More", and the classic "Scenario"). This leads to Pharrel reenacting an entire conversation about a rejected hook for a song. Pharel recites this hook for Busta and he deads it because of the last half bar of the hook in which Pharrel says "Gotta respect Jungle".

That line is regards to the Jungle Brothers who pioneered a new era of hip hop music back in the late 80's and pretty much helped to launch the careers of De La Soul, A Tribe CAlled Quest, Leaders Of The New School (who Busta Rhymes was member of), Black Sheep and Monie Love. Not only did this foundation (The Native Tongues) make way for artists like Common, Jay Dee & Mos Def, but it also opened up a new channel/groove of hip hop. If you not knowing then read up here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle_Brothers

... that being said, Busta says no to the hook because the line "Gotta respect Jungle". Of course Pharrel wants to know what the problem is because Busta Rhymes and The Jungle Brothers had a very close affiliation early on in there careers. Busta is so amped up that he can't even get it out so he calls Q-Tip (another artist who has an early career affiliation with The Jungle Brothers and Busta) on the phone so that he can tell Pharrel what the problem is.

Earlier this year, several pics of one of the members of the Jungle Brothers (Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam) popped up on the internet. The pics of Bam in full facial make up were coupled with allegations that he was living in the UK as a blatant homosexual. Now the fact that they showed up on Mediatakeout.com makes the whole story suspect, but the pics were him. There was no denying it.

Now with the blatant homophobia that runs rampant throughout the hip hop community (who Busta is really the forerunner of and does not try to hide it) once the pics showed up it was a wrap. He was automatically gay. It turns out that the pics were pulled from his public myspace photo album and that they have something to do with his practicing of pagan (google it!!!!)principles. They were not sexual at all.

Anyway.... back to the vid. Now Busta has Q-Tip on the phone and he is trying to get Q-Tip to explain to Pharrel why he has a problem with Bam. Q-Tip knows what Busta is talking about but he doesn't really want to say. Busta gets tired of waiting, references the pictures and how the raging homophobia in him does not want to have anything to do with him because of the pics. He goes on to explain how the two just happened to show up at that same music conference and how he refused to take a picture with Bam.

Spoiler alert over!!!!!!

Now this vid is funny not because of Bustas story, but because of how DEAD ON ACCURATE Pharrel's impressions of Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip are. Peep!!!

A few things before I go....

• I love the fact that Pharrel refers to DJ Premier as "Teacher". The amount of respect that shows is something rarely seen in hip hop.
• Why is that kid behind DJ Premier molesting his face?
• What the hell was Chris Brown doing in the background?
• Pharrels excitement about hip hop music in general is crazy. I can tell he is truely a fan because he sounds like me when i talk about hip hop.

Peep This... HowTo Make A Beat

Stumbled onto this vid during my hiatus. I'm sad that I don't have much more to say other than the fact that it's dope. This is the only video on that youtube channel and the myspace pages provided on that channel have not been used for over a year. Even if you are not a beat head or producer yourself you'll still be able to appreciate the creativity in the vid. Peep

Ya know....

Tonight I am going to premiere a new section of the blog entittled "Ya Know....?". As in "You know your not supposed to be doing that but...." or "You know your going to hell for laughing". The latter leads us to or very first video. I give you ...

"Backyard Slingshot Sends Squirrel Flying"

Backyard Slingshot Sends Squirrel Flying - Watch more free videos

Peep This... Dope DVD Cases

One of my favorite films and another that has managed to allude me all these years are going to be released this year as special collectors editions. I usually put the title of films I love in my entries but if you can't figure this out.... Dude! You are out of your element!