Thursday, September 29, 2011

THROWBACK! Aha, ok, wassup....


"Shut Up" was off one of Trick's better albums, "Book of Thugs: Chapter AK, Verse 47", which was an album I used to play quite a bit, especially the track below. I'm not sure what happened to Trick Daddy as far as him falling off. Rumors were that he got sick or had some disease and Rick Ross indirectly hinted at him having AIDS in "Valley of Death" but regardless, Trick had a nice lil run more than a decade ago. I remember meeting him in King of Diamonds in Miami one time and I went up to him and told him I liked some of his music and he seemed real humble and like a regular dude which is more than I can say for a lot of these rappers, let alone D- and F-list rappers nowadays that act like they are all that and a bag of chips. Back to the reason I used to play the Book of Thugs album. The song "America".


You know you like how Trick turned the phrase "Tis of thee" into "tissidee".

Friday, September 23, 2011

NFL Picks - Week 3


This week, it's time for everyone to sip a little bit of that Cammy Cam Juice. Cam has been putting up good numbers so far and I don't expect those 300+ yard games to keep coming but he does have the Jags this week. Not to mention the Jags will have a rookie QB starting just like the Panthers. I'm gonna predict that Cam gets his first win this week. It's not a very courageous pick but still. As for the rest of my picks...

Pats over Buffalo: Buffalo's good this year, but not good enough to beat New England with the way Tom Brady is playing. I think this is gonna be a high scoring game but Belicheck's defensive mind > Fitzpatrick in crunch time.

Bengals over Niners: I really want to pick San Francisco in this one. I like their coach, they've got the best run defense in the league, and Cincy is starting a rookie. But I just can't take the Niners, not on the road.

Cleveland over Miami: Miami played well on the road last year but I don't think they'll be able to stop Cleveland from running the ball. Lots of Peyton Hillis and few well-timed play-action passes from Colt McCoy should do the trick in this one.

Titans over Denver: The Titans beat the Ravens last week but that's not why I'm picking them. I'm picking them because they play well at home, Chris Johnson is due for a break-out game, and Denver's QB is bound to make a few mistakes. And Kenny Britt is playing pretty freakin' good so far this year. Let's see if he can stay out of trouble off the field and keep producing on it.

Detroit over Minnesota: McNabb's washed up, Detroit's defensive line can crowd the run and rush the passer. Detroit's offense has too many weapons. Detroit in possibly a rout.

New Orleans over Houston: Houston's a trendy pick this year but in case you haven't noticed, New Orleans is still good. They could have won in Week 1 against GB and probably should have. They won last week, and now they get the Texans in the dome. I'm not betting against Drew "Did I Get the Mole Completely Removed" Brees in this one. Too many weapons and I think he will be able to expose the fact that the defense in Houston is a new one.

Philly over Giants: The Giants are injured all over the place and Philly has too many weapons.

Carolina over Jacksonville: Cam gets his first win!

Oakland over Jets: This is a pick I went back-and-forth about but I'm going out on a limb and taking a chance on Oakland here. They have been playing really well so far this year and Darren McFadden is looking really good running the ball. Of course, if anyone can stop him from running well it's probably the Jets, Steelers, or Ravens but I have a feeling that he'll be ok in this one. If Jason Campbell outplays Mark Sanchez the Raiders win this one.

Baltimore over St. Louis: After losing to Tennessee I'm expecting the Ravens to pulverize the Rams.

San Diego over Kansas City: Jamaal Charles is out, their defense stinks. What more do I need to say?

Green Bay over Chicago: Green Bay is simply a better team. Chicago can't protect Cutler very well and Aaron Rodgers will play well as long as they keep two guys blocking Julius Peppers. Much like New Orleans verses Houston, I think that Green Bay has too many weapons and too good of a QB to lose this one.

Arizona over Seattle: Arizona is slightly better than Seattle. I'm expecting Larry Fitzgerald to have a really good game.

Atlanta over Tampa Bay: How Atlanta is the underdog in this game when they won against the Eagles last week is beyond me.

Pittsburgh over Indy: Tougher team overall and Peyton's not coming back any time soon.

Washington over Dallas: This is going to be a fun game to watch. I think Romo's going to play well and I'm hoping Rex plays well also. I know it's going to be tough for the Skins to go into Dallas and win this game but I think that they will stick to running the ball and controlling the clock and allowing Rex to take a few shots downfield. A hurt Romo is still pretty dangerous but without Dez, Miles, and probably Felix Jones (if he plays I don't think he'll be in there long), I think the Redskins can pull this one off.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Name This Tune

More specifically, name the album/mixtape that the track below came from. It's hidden in the track now that I think about it, lol.


I'm sure a lot of you will know this one. It's old, 2003.

Throwback! Bobby Blue Bland - Ain't No Love In The Heart of the City


I probably heard this before Kanye sampled and sped-up a snippet of this song but I'm sure the reason I like it so much now is because of that sample. Lots of times people complain about the use of samples and how it shows a lack of creativity from today's producers, but I actually think that the use of samples can help those of us who didn't grow up on the music get introduced to it and gain an appreciation for it. It just takes a little effort from the fans of this relatively new genre of music called hip-hop to go and do the research to find out where the samples come from and investigate the artists that created the originals.

And just in case you were under a rock from September 2001 until about February of 2002, here's the Kanye-produced "Heart of a City (Ain't No Love)" off Jay-Z's "Blueprint" album:

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Edition


It seems like these two punches were the most polarizing issue on Twitter Saturday night. I don't get it though. Before every fight the referee says those age-old words: "Protect yourself at all times." We all hear it and evidently, some of us don't pay attention. Aside from that fact, f I head-butted you during a fight and/or boxing match and then tried to profusely apologize for it, even going so far as to kiss you on the cheek, I'd STILL be expecting you to punch me in the face. That's just the way things work.

Victor Ortiz was losing this fight and unless something miraculous happened, he was going to LOSE this fight. Let's make that clear. Floyd had him figured out in the 3rd round and was doing his usual "chill until he gets tired, try to knock him out and if I can, do it but if I can't just win on points routine". Anyone that follows Floyd has seen this before. Victor Ortiz thought he had an opening and that he was hurting Floyd and he got caught up in the moment and head-butted Floyd. Not even a disguised head-butt but a straight-up, reckless lunge of a head-butt, lol.

Sidebar: Didn't they say he might have been on the juice? Well 'roid rage makes people so super-aggressive stuff, right? I'm just saying.

Moving right along. That head-butt was a desperation move from Ortiz as far as I'm concerned. He knew he was not making any headway in figuring Floyd out, let alone landing clean punches. So when he finally felt like he was connecting and getting clean shots (even though most of them weren't clean), he got over-zealous and head-butted Floyd. What happened after that is one of the most hilarious things I've seen in boxing since Mike Tyson bit Holyfield's ear and Kostya Tsyzu had Zab Judah sleep-walking in the ring, lol.

Mr. Ortiz apologized profusely, hugged Floyd, sort of kissed him ("you make me wanna kiss you like baby kissed wayne" - 50 Cent), and then the ref brought them back together to tap gloves and made a HUGE mistake... He looked away, probably to tell the judges to deduct a point.

Anybody that follows boxing knows that once those gloves get tapped, that's equivalent to saying "FIGHT!". Floyd (who I'm sure was pissed about the head-butt and had blood in his eyes like most of us would), took full advantage of the situation and punched Ortiz in the face. Ortiz had his hands down and was paying more attention to either the ref and/or continuing his profuse display of sorry-ness and caught a left hook that appears to have left him with a serious eye-jammy. When I saw Floyd hit him with the first punch, as it was taking place I thought to myself: "Hold up, was that legal?" By that time Floyd had already landed the right handed shot and put Ortiz on the canvas. Then I thought: "Damn, he caught him but he's gonna get up". Then I realize that Ortiz wasn't gonna make it up and everyone watching the fight where I was erupted into either confusion, laughter, or admiration of Floyd (really, it was a mixed reaction for sure. I don't think half of the people really knew what was going on and whether those punches were legal). But after the replays showed that the ref brought them back together and basically gave the "FIGHT" to them both, it was clear to me that Ortiz simply got caught slipping trying to play nice. And you know what happens to nice guys (or at least what people say happens to them).

The moral of the story is, when you play dirty, you also tend to get done dirty. Though I don't think Floyd's punch was illegal I do think he took the quickest pot-shot at Ortiz he could when given the chance. Fortunately for him it was in fact, legal (even if by happenstance).

Floyd was going to win this fight regardless. Let's get over it, stop bashing the man for doing what boxers do and move on to that PacMan/PrettyBoy fight we all want to see.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Video: Bei Maejor feat. J. Cole - In Trouble


I'm not sure if this has hit radio yet but considering that I first heard this way back in April and immediately thought "this should be a radio hit pretty soon" not to mention a real good look for Bei Maejor and Col, I'd be shocked if this isn't on full rotation on some XM station or FM stations by now. If it isn't, that's a failure of one (or both) of these guys' record label(s).