Stadium Status

That's Kanye's new shyt I see. All of his songs so far from this Graduation album have that large and emcompassing sound that sounds great in stadiums (like the Wembley joint in England). And he seems to have that sound shyt down (Can't Tell Me Nothing, Good Life, Big Brother, etc). Not that I have heard the whole thing or anything. The sound of these songs would definitely would make me go to a Kanye concert though. But then again, I'm probably a closet Kanye STAN just like a I'm a closet (not so much in the closet) Jay-Z STAN.

The more I think of it, it's kind of an ingenious plan by Kanye (if that is part of his plan) considering how nobody is making money off record sales anymore (or moving units like they used to for that matter). But artists will always make decent money off of tours. So if his music sounds like it's conducive to stadium listening, then his concerts will (probably) attract more people and he'll make more dough. He's probably got enough of a following for record sales to not be an issue but this may provide a blueprint for other artists.

Good Life (feat. T-Pain)

"Imma get on this TV mama!" The track is hot! I know lots of people complain about T-Pain but I can take T-Pain a little better when he's on someone else's song and not doing an entire joint by himself ("Buy You a Drink" notwithstanding).

Oh yeah, watch how many people (including me) start using "apeshyt" to describe someone that's doing something crazy/wild/silly. "Go ahead go nuts, go apeshyt".

If hip-hop is dead, they must have forgot to tell Common...

and Kanye...



In case you're wondering why I posted that, it's because it's really this (shot out to John Mayer on the vocals)...

WebNerd Alert: Coffee Table Computer

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, I think.



You can play on it. Your kids can "paint" on it. Both at the same time. This is pretty cool and I actually posted a video to YouTube a minute ago about a similar product that researchers were developing. I found out about this video at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference back in 2006.

At the very least this device would be a great conversation piece in your home that you could use to show pictures, use the InterWeb, and do all other sorts of techie-yet-useful stuff with. I can only imagine how much something like this would cost once it hit the consumer market.

Think of all the possibilities. You could use this combined with Bluetooth connections to the electronic devices in your home to control your television sets, blinds, lights, ceiling fans, stereo, dvd players, etc. The list could go on and on.

In case you're not familiar with Bluetooth other than via your cellphone, PDA, or labtop, it can potentially be used as a communications protocol for every electronic device in your home that has Bluetooth capability. Meaning, devices can communicate with one-another if they're both Bluetooth enabled. And I'm sure that in the near future Bluetooth adapters for your electronic devices (they already exist for USB-enabled devices) will be sold in places like Radio Shack, Best Buy, and Circuit City. Thus, enabling you to take your level of technologically connected devices to an all-time high. So if you can - and it should not be difficult at this point - imagine your stereo, dvd player, ceiling fan, etc. with USB ports (or some other port) that allows you to plug in a Bluetooth adapter. Yeah, there you have it.

The Bluetooth protocol has a range of about 10 meters which is approximately 31-32 feet. So unless you live in a mansion, you should not have much of a problem with your electronic devices being located close enough to a "techie-table" like the one in the video. Thereby giving yourself the freedom to control all types of stuff from your living room.

Technology, gotta love it!

Even if it's going to make us all sedentary and obese.

---

Of course, some people are cynics

Looking back on my weekend

The only notable thing I did this weekend was attending K's Going Away Party on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday I sat at home and did nothing but wash clothes and watch TV. I did make a couple trips to the library and I also made one trip to the gas station (whoopie). But aside from that, the going away party was most definitely the highlight of my weekend.

Even if...

I got put on grill duty for about the first hour.

I didn't have a cigar to smoke.

I had to drink Miller Lites and not Heinekens (I sound like a brat I guess).

I drove back from D.C. to Bmore at 3am on Saturday.

Yet-and-still, there was so much greatness that took place that it was a wonderful night. I am still upset I didn't get a picture of the guy who had a craptastic comb-over that looked just like this one.





Dane probably hates this picture, but whatever. That's Dane, me, and L posing for the obligatory crew shot.

Is Miami the new Atlanta?

Or is DJ Khaled the Swizz Beatz of the South?

I'm just wondering because I remember a few years back when all the ATL artists would be on each others songs or doing crew tracks, and now it seems like that's what the Miami/Florida rappers are doing.

And I'm not saying that DJ Khaled makes hot beats or rocks a party like Swizz (Khaled does NOT do the former but he may be able to do the latter). But I am saying that everyone in that region (Miami) seems to love him and do songs with him just like everybody in NYC seems to love Swizzy and do songs with him.

DJ Khaled has even taken it a step further by somehow developing relationships with most (if not all) the relevant ATL hip-hop artists (i.e. - Young Jeezy, T.I., etc.). Think about it, he has (what is probably) the two hottest regions in rap right now showing him love and doing colloborative records for his albums. Nevermind the fact that he doesn't even do the production on these albums (that I know of) and that the albums are on Koch Records (an independent label). Not to knock Koch because they're a VERY strong independent label in hip-hop right now. But for a guy who does not rap and only does voice-overs on songs, Khaled is bringing together not only Florida artists, but bringing Florida artists together with ATL artists and other popular southern artists like Lil Wayne. Kudos to Khaled for bringing these guys together!

The latest from DJ Khaled (and various artists): I'm So Hood/Brown Paper Bag



I enjoy all of these crew tracks that end up being hood anthems and/or club bangers. I think collaboration is great for hip-hop in general because a lot of these artists seem to step their lyrical games up when they're on a track with a lot of other rappers. That competitive spirit in all of them seems to come out but not outweigh the love they have for their regions and the other artists in their regions. That's good ish!

So hopefully there's more southern collaborations to come and maybe Swizzy can help make performances like this a regular occurrence.

Kanye West = G.O.O.D. Music

So far I've heard about 5 tracks that are allegedly going to appear on Kanye's upcoming release, Graduation. The album drops on Sept. 11 and I'm sure that unless you've been in Peru recovering from the earthquake or in Jamaica/Mexico getting prepared to be hit by Hurricane Dean, you know that Kanye's album drops on the same date as 50 Cent's Curtis album.

I fully expect both albums to sell very well (the first week) when they are released but I have to admit that a big part of me is rooting real hard for Kanye to outsell 50, although it probably won't happen on a worldwide level. 50 has a huge amount of popularity outside the U.S. and will probably crush Kanye. But I think Kanye has a shot at beating him in sales in the U.S. Perhaps 50's huge status overseas is why Kanye has been in the U.K. for a minute now doing performances of songs off the upcoming album and dropping new exclusive ish on Tim Westwood. Trying to get some market exposure perhaps?

That BAPE hoodie is pretty sick.
The main reason I am rooting for Kanye is because Kanye (IMO) makes better music on a more consistent basis than 50 Cent does. In fact, if you compare the overall quality of the albums they've released up to this point, I think Kanye wins in a landslide. Both College Dropout and Get Rich or Die Trying are classics. But The Massacre is craptastic whereas Late Registration was almost as good as College Dropout (some say it was better).

Another reason I'm rooting for Kanye is that Kanye's passion for his music is pretty amazing. From "Through the Wire" to snippets from the Fade to Black DVD where he's in the studio with Jay-Z, to the way he bops his head just like you would even though he's listening to a song he's probably heard a million times over already while mixing/recording it. Yet he still feels his music and his words like it's the first time, every time. 50 Cent only shows passion when he's dissin' someone. And he's only entertaining when he's dissing someone or cracking jokes and doing that hilarious laugh of his. Aside from that, his songs pretty much follow a specific formula: mediocre/average lyrics + good beat + melodic hook = 50's formula for a radio single.

Kanye might not be as funny as 50 or incite as much controversy, but he does bring the heat when it comes to his production and (more noticeable in recent songs) lyrics. So while he is confident and perhaps vain, he is releasing some G.O.O.D. Music.


VICIOUS! I know whose album I'm copping on September 11th.

A few more Kanye songs:

Bittersweet (featuring John Mayer)

Barry Bonds (featuring Lil Weeziana)

And I'm sure you've already heard "Stronger" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing". I guess hip-hop isn't dead:

I think I have a new favorite song

Talib Kweli - Hot Thing



This joint just overtook "The People" as my favorite song of the moment. Or maybe it's a tie, I dunno. And check out the "Latino" video by Joell Ortiz.

"How are you gonna explain to your child why mommy's azz was in the air?"

That's a quote from D.L. Hughley from the Kings of Comedy movie that I immediately thought of when I saw the picture to the left. This picture is from a blogpost I just ran across at Accelerated Decreptitude about a sex themed amusement park in South Korea. Yes, you read it correctly, a sex themed amusement park. Isn't that an overstatement though? You know, sex and amusement? They should just call this place the "Pleasure Park" or however you say that in Korean (that's "쾌락 공원" for all you anal folks out there). And in case you were a bit skeptical about the actual existence of this place (like I was), you can check out this article.

I couldn't help but find some of the pictures completely hilarious and since that was the case I posted some of them below (LOL). There's something about non-sadomasochistic yet kinky sex that just makes me laugh. And I KNOW it's not just me! LOL.

One interesting thing to note is that even though this park is in Korea, the figures (for the most part) appear to not be Korean. The guy in the first picture looks like John F. Kennedy if you ask me. So maybe that's supposed to be Marilyn Monroe on the other side. LOL. Or is my assessment just a result of me and my ignorance? I'm no stickler for ethnically typical facial features or anything ("wide nose having..."), but those statues sure don't look Korean to me. Then again, some of the faces people make during intercourse...Hmmmmnnnn, I'll stop there. Nevertheless, I found these pictures pretty daggon funny:







Just when I thought I'd never be interested in going to South Korea because of the ever-present danger that North Korea poses, I might have to think it over again because if you're going to go out, you might as well go out like this:



That's an amazing view isn't it? LOL. I think I'd probably be laughing way too hard (if I ever went to this place) to enjoy it...Yeah, sure.

---

All pictures taken from (courtesy of) Accelerated Decreptitude.

Random Miscellaneousness

If this actually happens, it's going to be CRA.ZEE. I actually cannot fathom how much recklessly disrespectful stuff 50 might say to Kanye. I definitely think this would be one of the more entertaining things they could do to promote both of their albums. But the key is if they'll actually stick to the topic:

"If Kanye were to accept the challenge posed by the hosts, the two colorful, outspoken rappers would appear live on the show to debate who has the better produced album."

"Four young friends shot execution-style in a schoolyard just days before they were to head to college" in Newark, NJ. Newark has one of the most charismatic mayors in our country. But charisma doesn't seem to stop murders.

I did not know Jermaine Jackson named one of his children JERMAJESTY. And on top of that, he (allegedly) has his kids sleep in the same bedroom with he and his girlfriend. Mr. Jackson, if you're nasty ;-)

Finally something that Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is doing that I like the sound of, GunStat. But let's just see how they really use these statistics. I hope it's not a way to make the numbers sound good without any real crime prevention or arrests going on.

Maybe this is why R. Kelly doesn't seem to have been very worried about this whole sex tape situation.

Busta Rhymes neck is larger than my thigh. I'm gonna have to check with Barry Bonds on this, but he might be on "the cream" and "the clear".

pRon at work: Not as fun as I thought it would be

Let me first say that this post is not going to go the way you'd probably expect so don't get your hopes up AND don't think that you'll have to be disappointed in me for doing something that's gross.

Anyway, I work for a publishing company and we publish all kinds of materials (journals, books, references materials, etc.) and it just so happens that we've got some journal content about to launch online as a part of our database of scholarly journals, that has some pRonographic content.

Needless to say this caused quite the stir of witty remarks throughout the office. The pRono content actually hit the office last week and the "joke train" took off pretty quickly. It's really just a collection of pics that will supplement the content of scholarly literature. But needless to say, once the joking began, so did the level of curiosity for most of the people who work in my department (including me). Not that anyone wanted to seriously look at this stuff like they do may at home, but if you worked in a publishing environment (of course) you'd be a little curious to see what kind of pRonographic content was going to be published as part of scholarly literature.

This curiosity was quickly squelched when one of my co-workers decided to use her iMac to create a slideshow of the content for in-house viewing. Yes, a slide show! What ensued was a mass-gathering of people at her cube to watch what I would call one of the most tasteless displays of pictures I've seen in quite some time. They should have titled this crap "Hot pRono Mess!" Though the pics were a little more direct than this ad...



... you can trust me when I say that the pics are not going to win anyone an AVN award, that's for sure!

Needless to say, scholarly pRon is probably what you'd expect it to be... Pictures of the genitalia of scholars! Which by the way, is quite gross. Who would have guessed that scholarly genitalia is even more difficult to look at than the genitalia of people of average or little intelligence? Okay, I'm joking. But it was some shiddy pRon by pRonographic standards. You know, if you have any pRon standards. Not that I do.

I was pretty disgusted with most of the images because there's something about hardcore pRonography that's just gross and seems unnecessary to film/photo. Then again, all that West Coast Production ish I *used to watch* did get kinda over-the-top as well.

Anyway, the point of this post is to let you know that you might think it's funny/humorous to be allowed to view pRon at work until you realize that looking at pRon with your co-workers while at work is like...Ehhhh, watching pRon with people that you work with. I mean who watches pRon with someone other than his/herself or a *significant other* anyway? Don't answer that. Please!

Nevertheless, it'll be interesting to see how many hits this pRonographic content gets when it is launched online.

Disclaimer: This post was not Ron Jeremy approved.

Let me hear ya say....