Remember the second after the 4th quarter in last year's Finals, when you first relished in winning the NBA Championship? Do you remember getting your ring at the beginning of this season? Great, because you should definitely hold on to that feeling. Kobe, I will say it, since no one else is saying it: The torch has been passed. Not only has LeBron beaten you three times this season, but he's also taken over the scoring lead from you. Kobe, you're 31. In basketball years, that's still relatively young, and you'll most likely be able to dominate based solely off your skills. That's all well and good. But do realize, the torch has been passed.
LeBron is averaging just over 30 in January, while you've been having trouble with those fingers. Yeah, you willed yourself to two wins, but how much can you do? Pau, Ron and Lamar have been pretty ordinary this year, so it's looking like you'll be carrying most of the load. Not to say you'll crumble, but you're looking just a bit more mortal this year. Let's face it, no one is meant to play basketball forever, and if there's someone to carry on tradition as the best player in basketball, LeBron is the one to do it. He's been doing this all year, and has the wins and stats to prove it:
If Anthony Parker didn't get in the way, LeBron would have eaten that shot alive...
You Banksy fans out there should be in for a treat. He's releasing a movie at the Sundance Film Festival this year, chronicling his newest works and the trouble he gets into along the way. The film, entitled Exit Through the Gift Shop, is billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie". Whatever that means, you know the cinematography is going to be great. Check the trailer...
If you follow Ludacris on Twitter, in addition to his Battle of the Sexes Question, you know that he's coming out with an album called 'Battle of the Sexes'. Before we get treated to that, Luda hit the blogosphere with the mixtape, 'Conjure: A Hustler's Spirit'. Along with going in over every top 20 rap song today, he does a lot of shameless promotion for his new cognac, Conjure. Can't say that I've had a sip of the potion, but from the mixtape, I just might have to. Luda shows that he needs to be on your top 10 list with a bunch of vicious punchlines & flows. The one thing I'd say about the tape is that it reminds me a lot of No Ceilings. Luda pulled a Weezy and put himself on every track out so you automatically want to listen to it. Not saying much more than that. Judge the tape for yourself after you check the tracklist, my #dopetracks, loosies and videos...
#dopetracks
Don't Trust Her
Sex Therapy
Addicted to Money
ATL, GA
Pennies (this is a bonus track that he did with the Cool Kids)
Rawse the bawse is cooking up another album entitled 'The Teflon Don,' and popped up at DJ Envy's radio show to promote, dropping off this track. Ricky's become one of my favorites in the past 2 years, with his lyrics getting a lot more refined and the music behind the words smoother than ever. I'd go as far as to say *gasp* Ross may be easy listening for hip-hop. Whatever the case, the man has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Check the new track out...
A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome. The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team. "Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.
Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism. Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
White Men Can't Jump is one of my favorite movies. Along with the regular aspects of sports movies, the Snipes & Harrelson masterpiece stirs up the everlasting dialogue of the changing (or already changed) racial dynamic in basketball. It's no secret that over the past 30 years, the NBA has been dominated by African-American players. There's no real reason for that other than the players in the NBA being better. It's not racial makeup or an inherent racial advantage. That said, AABA (All-American Basketball Alliance), what is the deal with starting a racially-exclusive basketball league?? Or better yet, since when has being black been the impetus for one's affinity for 'street-ball' (as you call it)? While it does stand to say that the NBA has had a few legal issues coming from black players, you're trying to highlight a different issue instead of just being honest.
You're saying that you want to emphasize the fundamental aspect of the game. Since when has the NBA not been fundamental?? It's not as if these players are coming from Rucker Park or the Cage and doing Hot Sauce crossovers while a man in an afro is screaming 'OOOOOHHHH BAYBEEEE!!'. It's not as if there are egregious travels and random stops in play. You're making a drastic generalization between the streetball that everyone watches in the summer, and the NBA, where the BEST players in the world play, regardless of race or nationality. Saying that you want to eradicate the NBA-esque play that isn't fundamental is an oxymoron. That's like going to Taco Bell and asking for, a low-calorie meal: IMPOSSIBLE. So to the AABA and your leader Don Lewis I'd say take a look at yourselves and figure out why it is you have such a hatred for the 'black' way of playing basketball. Maybe that's the reason you've been getting dunked on...
If obscenity isn't your thing, scroll down or click next post..
Yes, this French sex education commercial is a bit on the lewd side. Regardless, the commercial gets a very simple point across to everyone. Protection is a necessity in today's world of loosened sexual boundaries. It's really no wonder European countries have a lesser STD (and HIV) rate than the United States, with how open and frank the dialogue on sex is. Not to say that Americans are prude (we're probably the most lewd country, actually), but we shirk at talking about and dealing with sex. If we took a less reserved attitude about it, there's no telling how many lives can be saved from better sexual education. Pass the video on, if you agree...
Got this from the homie Deadstock Ric. The good people at 21-7 Magazine are relaunching their magazine after a nice little absence and are having a shindig to celebrate. For those of you who don't know, 21-7 is an online magazine dedicated to urban culture. If you're in NYC on Wednesday the 27th, you should check out the party (complete with goodies & giveaways). The jawn (yeah, I said jawn) is at 55 East 21 Street between 5th and 6th. Take pictures if you go...
For those of you unfortunate lucky enough to have an iPhone, the apps that you have at your disposal are phenomenal. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend who likes to snoop on your phone for text messages, then this is the app for you. iTrust simulates the iPhone welcome screen so that it looks like everything is peachy. However, while iTrust is open, the app is actually recording everything that the snooper does on the phone. Hopefully you don't have any sneaky hands on your iPhone, but if you do, here's the chance to catch them red-handed. Check the video...
'And on the right, you'll see a drive-by at a corner store... And if you look to your left, check out the weed spot being heavily surveyed by the police!" What the hell? That doesn't sound like your a typical tour, until now. LA Gang Tours, you might be the most controversial business idea I've ever heard. Your premise is taking people from Bumblef*ck, Idaho to what they think is 'da hood', squeezing $65 out of them and then showing them the Cholos, Locs, Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings and whatever other Californian hood phenomenon that can fit in 3 hours. Something about that sounds wrong. You guys are more or less commercializing the sight of black and Hispanic people in a 'controlled environment'. So what if you guys are 'giving back' or donating whatever minuscule percentage of your profits to providing former gang members jobs? The fact of the matter is that you guys are making South Central into a zoo tour. And if you want to really help people by exposing their quality of life, why not go to Haiti, or Detroit, or Africa and do a documentary? Why be so conspicuously elitist and place it under the guise of charity? I mean damn, nobody does a tour of Bumblef*ck, Idaho and takes pictures of its white more affluent inhabitants, as if they were a lion in a cage. Why should South Central be any different???
I love that the Clipse have embraced the art of releasing their material to the blogosphere, because videos like this are undeniably dope. I suppose when an artist or group gets older, like the Clipse, its harder to release videos that not only embody the music, but also the artists and the aesthetic they're going for. "Freedom" does that perfectly. In fact, it reminds me a lot of 'On to the Next One' in terms of the avant-garde black and white hip-hop video (how many of those are there??). Whatever the case, check out the video for 'Freedom'...
Anderson Cooper has always been one of my favorite news personalities. He's never afraid to jump into live action, and this video was no different. Mr. Cooper sees a bunch of looters in an earthquake-ravaged Haiti throwing rocks at onlookers, including a young boy. The boy gets pelted in the head with a rock and like the action hero he is, Anderson Cooper races to the scene, picks the little boy up amid the raucous, and carries him to safety. I wonder what would happen if Bill O'Reilly was in the same situation. 9 times out of 10, I think he'd be two blocks away on a roof filming it, and shaking his head at the 'crazy black people'...
Videos like this make me not as worried and disillusioned for our youth, most notably the New York City public school system. PS 22 (check their blog here) has been cleaning up in NYC, performing for everyone from Mayor Mike Bloomberg, to local radio stations, to being featured in New York Magazine. With voices like this, you have to be hopeful for our youth. Lord knows I didn't get to do this when I was in 3rd grade. Check out some more videos of these kids KILLING your favorite pop songs...
Everyone remembers the letter. Most don't remember why you were in jail in the first place...
Writing letters to the dead... Clearly losing it. Regardless, here goes.
Dr. King, it's been over 40 years since the fateful day you were murdered. In 1986, Ronald Reagan (oh, the irony) signed the bill to make your namesake into a holiday, and since then we've had the 3rd Monday in January off. There are three issues that I have with your holiday, never to take anything away from you. The first is the fact that your holiday is watered-down. Everywhere I look, instead of reverence, thoughts of action and new levels of racial equality, I see commercials for McDonalds, jokes on Twitter, and vapid school assemblies about your name. The 'I Have a Dream' and 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' are played, posted and quoted everywhere. It's not that the attention isn't deserved, it's that the holiday is a misdirected attempt at respect that's ended up as a day off for most people. We supplement that day with ceremonial (more so than sincere) reverence so that people don't think we're 'anti-MLK' or the one kid in the class who never memorized your speeches.
The second issue with your holiday is that it more or less overshadows every other black person ever associated with any type of freedom-fighting or liberal agenda. Guys like John Lewis (#shoutout to Sojourn to the Past; no, seriously) Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Medgar Evars, Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton who all helped drive the Civil Rights movement that you are crowned king of, all get reduced to random names in a history book. Dr. King, with this holiday, your namesake has taken on a Messiah-like aura to it. You're seen as THE Civil Rights hero, rather than A Civil Rights hero. My forefathers will probably balk at this, but I don't think one person should be above a movement, especially when that movement is for an entire race. Is it your fault that you were assassinated and cast as a martyr? Probably not. That said, I don't think you'd be that hyped to have this day if you were still alive.
My last issue is the fact that literally minutes after MLK Day is over, we all pretty much just go back to living, rather than take any lessons from today. Your holiday feels like New Year's Eve all over again, with people coming up with aspirations they won't or can't hold up. Today, your name is to black people what Gasundheit is to a sneeze. For the minute, the saying and the feeling will suffice, but after the moment has passed, we don't remember the sentiment until the next time we sneeze. Dr. King, I linked the Boondocks video for the simple reason that before you died, you were telling everyone else the truth about racism. In that video, you're telling US the truth about our own race, which is ironic. Maybe it's that black people back then had enough KOS (knowledge of self) to know what was good for us. Nowadays it takes a holiday for us to remember. I can't wait till February when I get my yearly dose of Black History...
Things like this make me wonder if acoustic and manual EVERYTHING is going to be replaced by touchscreens and synthesized motion. Misa Digital, an Australian manufacturer developed this guitar from a MIDI touchscreen, activated by tapping the screen where you want the note. Damn shame they haven't done a collab with Guitar Hero...
Now, I would never rock the Nike Kobe IV's, but with marketing like this, I can see why anyone would roll with these. Nike's been putting out more MVPuppet commercials (I've been late on the ones from this season) and they've been getting more and more ridiculous. These things are what I would expect Kobe and LeBron to say in my own hyperbole-laced mind, complete with random forays into rap and flaming-hot sneakers. Check out the latest two...
Okay, I'm fully aware that in Christianity, God has shown himself to speak to certain individuals, in an effort to get His word out there. Now that's all well and good if what you're spewing is not only uplifting to God, but a message of love, not hatred or borderline racism. CBN, if this is your idea of uplifting, then I would hate to see anything else on your network. Pat Robertson has long been a mainstay on your channel, most notably the 700 Club (700 what?), a Christian talk show. I want to know how he's been on the air since 1966 with all of the crap he spews on the regular. From saying that 1982 was going to be the year of judgment, to claiming to be able to deflect hurricanes, to his call to assassinate Hugo Chavez, to his constant comments about other religions, homosexuality and feminism, Robertson has IDIOT and BIGOT (both in capital letters) written on his forehead.
I mean, seriously. When has natural disaster been the impetus for a human (not God, a human) to pass judgment on the spiritual sanctity of an entire country?? Or better yet, when was it ever cool to claim that black slaves couldn't defeat the French army without the help of the devil? I've always hated televangelists because they purport so many falsities while having a ton of dirty laundry themselves. Pat Robertson takes the cake though, CBN. And what's worse is the fact that you are defending his comments. My mother always said that in the End of Days (yeah, we're getting liturgical) that there would be 'false' prophets and entities spewing out iniquity under the guise of Christianity. She couldn't be more correct when it comes to the comments of Robertson or how readily you purport his idiocy. In fact, when it comes to idiocy, Pat Robertson may have written the book. Maybe you guys have forgotten. Take a look at some of Pat's other 'great' ideas, and you might see what I'm getting at...
Since when does condemning other religions show God's love??
Ignorance will never be eradicated if religion continues to blind people...
Remember the Lexus LF-A I had posted up from October?? Well, Toyota (Lexus's owner) isn't stopping at the luxury brands. At the Tokyo Auto Salon (I need to make a trip out to that show at least once in my lifetime) Toyota revealed the concept for their next sports car, the G Sports Series. They were pretty tight lipped about the specs, but hinted at a RWD 2.0-liter engine and a six-speed manual tranny. The car looks like sex on hot pavement, too. Check some still pictures from the show...
What's up people?? Haven't done a Freestyle Friday post in a while, so here y'all go. The first one is from Nipsey Hussle. He does a verse over Nas' 'One Love' then gives a visual of him recording a track called 'Chillin on the Scene'. Props to AKZionz for putting me on to the track. The second one is by Trey Songz over Rihanna's 'Hard'. Trey honestly has a knack for doing a number over other people's beats. If he was a rapper, I really think he'd be better than a lot of heads out here. Check both videos and keep it locked to Dear Whoever...
Gilbert Arenas was charged Thursday with a single count of carrying a pistol without a licence, a felony that carries a five-year sentence, but the Washington Wizards guard has reached a plea agreement that would result in much less or even no jail time, several sources close to the case said.
Arenas is scheduled to enter his plea on Friday afternoon before D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin. Even if prosecutors agree not to seek prison for Arenas, it will be up to Morin whether to sentence Arenas to probation, community service, a fine or some combination. The judge, a former defense attorney, also could send Arenas to jail.
Regardless of whether Arenas goes to jail, the star's future in the city that once embraced his jocular personality and his ability to hit clutch jump shots is in doubt. The 28-year-old former all star, whose birthday parties made the television news, has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA, and it is unclear whether a felony conviction would give the Wizards the right to void the remaining four years of his six-year, $111 million contract.
There are certain moments when the direction of the law makes absolutely no sense. It's a sad day when the justice system completely overshoots it's boundaries and makes a move to severe for it's own good. That said, Wizards, it's an even sadder day knowing that you threw your player under the bus for something that turned out to be a joke (by some accounts). Yes, Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton (who should be kissing Gilbert's ass for the rest of his life) were in the wrong for both having guns in a locker room, and for making light of it afterward. Gilbert is getting charged with an unlicensed pistol (funny, because Dick Cheney can ACTUALLY shoot some one, and not even be arrested), facing 5 years of a felony, and you guys decide to turn your back on him.
Not only is that foul ethically, but Gilbert has done soooo much more for the Wizards that Caron Butler or Antawn Jamison. Antawn is too scared to take the big shots, and Caron Butler has been playing terribly this year. In fact, the first player you should be cutting ties with is Caron. At least Gilbert is playing like a shell of himself. We could just blame it on the government's knack for knocking black athletes harder than anyone. At the end of the day, had you guys just stuck by Arenas, you might not have won a 'ship, but you wouldn't be poised to take a nosedive in the East. Too bad Javaris didn't get the long arm of the law.
