Royal Magazine

2005-02-02T01:22:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone.

This is my final post here at Royal Magazine. From now on, I will be posting at my new site Fifteen Minutes To Live. I want to thank everyone who ever visited here and I hope you'll all follow me over to Fifteen Minutes To Live. I think you'll enjoy it. It's been a pleasure.

2004-12-09T02:04:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that this site is not dead yet; it's just on hiatus. I'm working on a new design with (probably) a new name. However, I probably won't finish until late January, so there will definitely be nothing going on around here for the next couple of months. So until that next post check out any of the fine blogs that I list over at the right or check out my mp3 blog, Royal Music, which I actually do post at much more often. So until the next time, take care.

2004-11-24T17:56:00.000-05:00

Mind Playing Tricks On Me video starring Star Wars figures

MF Doom interview from New York Press

Stuck On Dirty will still air

A Buckethead tribute to ODB

Sage Francis - Slow Down Gandhi acapella

2004-11-21T04:42:00.000-05:00

MF Doom article from Spin Magazine

According to Lex Records, the long time rumored MF Doom/Danger Mouse collabo is a reality. The album is titled DangerDoom and should be released some time in 2005 on Lex Records in Europe and on Epitaph in the US.

M.O.P. talking about SpongeBob from the Soul Strut boards

It looks like DJ Kno is remixing Streets Disciple

Def Jux is sponsoring an Aesop Rock remix contest, but you have to actually buy the acapella album from them to participate.

The Grey Video: it was just a matter of time before someone mashed up some video to go with the songs.

Mos Def is on the cover of the Fader plus it has articles on Jim Jones and David Gordon Green.

Mos Def - Ghetto Rock video (windows media)
Mos Def - Sex, Love and Money video (windows media)

2004-11-15T13:41:00.000-05:00

Rest In Peace ODB

Some new tracks from Freddie Foxx

Colin Powell resigns

2004-11-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

This will be the actual cover for MF Doom's MM..Leftovers, the promotional cd that is being included with MM..Food at select retailers. The cover that I showed previously will be included as artwork in the MM..Food album.

Peanut Butter Wolf set on BBC's Radio One (real media)

Oh No - Stomp
Not only can you listen to this one, you can remix it as well. Open the track in your favorite audio editing program and you will find that the instrumental is in the left channel and the acapella is in the right channel.

Here's an interesting theory on Eminem's Encore from the All Hip Hop message board.

Can I Bring My Gat?
This is a new mp3 blog from Noixe of the Underground Post that is worth checking out.

2004-11-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the cover to MF Doom's MM..Leftovers, which is being included as a free promotional item when ordering MM..Food from Hip Hop Site. There currently is no official tracklisting, but early internet rumors say it might look something like this:

1.one beer-mf doom remix
2.hamhocks-feat. mf grimm
3.fruitcocktail-feat. mc paul barman
4.doper skiller-original version
5.strawberry hoecakes-feat. too short
6.who stole my last piece of chicken part.2 feat organized konfusion

Nas - Streets Disciple snippets

Immortal Technique interview from All Hip Hop

Neptunes article from Scratch magazine

2004-11-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

Four More Years. Kerry has conceded; Bush wins.

Not that it matters now, but the rest of the world wouldn't have voted for Bush.

The next four years is probably going to suck, but I'll have to put it behind me and get back to the music. So here's a couple of tracks from Spine Magazine:
Nas featuring AZ - Serious
Eminem - Toy Soldiers

2004-11-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

Hey!! Stop what you're doing! You're not going to find that new Nas song here today. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important election of our lives. Figure out where your nearest polling place is and make sure you are registered. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote.

Worried that you're not informed enough to vote? You're on the internet - the information is out there waiting for you. Not a U.S. citizen? Then please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Many artists/organizations are stepping up and helping with the Get Out the Vote campaign, and now so are many of us in the music blogging community. Below are some links but please continue to add your own.

Moveon.com
RockTheVote.com
JohnKerry.com
GeorgeWBush.com
MusicForAmerica.org
DeclareYourself
JustVote
MyPollingPlace
GetEducated

And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
Vote by Chris Stamey w/Yo La Tengo

Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.

Thanks,

Music Bloggers For Democracy
and everyone that has agreed to post
the big ticket :
songs:illinois :
last sound of summer
moerex

2004-10-27T13:19:00.000-04:00

Antonio Davis is not to be messed with (mpg)

Rob Sonic interview from Urban Smarts

Bush and Kerry stencils for your pumpkins

Jon Stewart on C-Span

2004-10-26T07:54:00.000-04:00

Eminem Mosh video

Interview with DJ Z-Trip from Downhill Battle

Interview with Madlib from Urban Smarts

Stones Throw records has offered up some new songs in mp3 format:
DJ Rels - Sunset
Toushik - One In A Day
Madlib - Theme For Fergus (Galt McDermot remix)

George W. Bush is really a Terminator robot, just like Arnold.

Eric Idle tells Bush and just about every other douchebag to fuck off

2004-10-25T03:27:00.000-04:00

Sage Francis - A Healthy Distrust track listing
1.The Buzz Kill
2.Sea Lion
3.Gunz Yo
4.Escape Artist
5.Product Placement
6.Voice Mail Bomb Threat
7.Dance Monkey
8.Sun Vs Moon
9.Agony In Her Body
10.Crumble
11.Ground Control
12.Lie Detector Test
13.Bridle
14.Slow Down Gandhi
15.Jah Didn't Kill Johnny

Eminem - One Last Time
Yesterday's link went down really quick, but luckily I found another one.

Trailer for Fade To Black

Check out Royal Music this week for the Fuck Bush campaign.

2004-10-24T03:48:00.000-04:00

Eminem - One Last Time (featuring Dr Dre and 50 Cent)
Perhaps an attempt at crunk. Also for Dre fans, there is another Detox mention at the end of this song. Eminem says, "And don't worry about that Detox album, it's coming. We gonna make Dre do it."

Binary Star - Masters of the Universe download

Dave Chappelle interview from 60 Minutes

21 Different Reasons We Were Given For the War in Iraq

The Case Against Bush

2004-10-22T13:53:00.000-04:00

The New York Times compared the campaign designs for both the Bush and Kerry campaigns. Some of the words used to describe the Bush design were strength, integrity, masculinity, and supremacy. Some of the words used to describe the Kerry design were weakness, confusion, indecision, and inexperience.

Here's what might happen if Bush and Kerry lived together.

Blood is thinner than oil.

Kerry lies about his penis size, while Bush vows to veto any anti hat legislation.

Rolling Stone interviews John Kerry

2004-10-21T13:34:00.000-04:00

Did Michael invent the Moonwalk?
According to sister Latoya, Michael was taught the moonwalk by some dancer on Soul Train.

Lloyd Banks addresses the gay porn rumor
It is nice to know that Banks is at least involved in some type of porn. Lloyd Banks was quoted as saying, "If you'd like to check out the porn I'm producing, get my ‘Groupie Love DVD, It's wild!"

Obie Trice over "Breathe"

Preview American Dictators: Documenting The Staged Election of 2004

Want to get a call from a famous author?
Writers including Tobias Wolff, Dave Eggers, Neal Pollack, Michael Chabon, and more will be calling registered voters in swing states on election day reminding them to vote.

McSweeney's presents Daily Reasons To Dispatch Bush
It's been a while since I've checked their site and I wish would've sooner. They're up to day 140.

Trailer for Ocean's Twelve

A clip from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2004-10-20T03:55:00.000-04:00

Maria Gave Arnold the Cold Shoulder After RNC Speech
Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying, "Well, there was no sex for 14 days." For those of you who don't know Arnold is a Republican and his wife Maria Shriver is a Democrat.

Stuff like this is what really scares me.
Three Medford school teachers were threatened with arrest and escorted from the event after they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our civil liberties." All three said they applied for and received valid tickets from Republican headquarters in Medford.

If you live in Texas, don't wear your Cowboys shirts on Nov 2
Voters in Arlington, Texas will not be able to cast a vote in the upcoming presidential election if they are wearing any Dallas Cowboys gear because of a bill on Arlington ballot that asks whether taxpayers should help pay for a $650 million Cowboys stadium in their city.

This is one of the weirder stories I've come across.
You can place this in the category of things that I didn't need to know.

A cartoon starring President Bush, Gary Busey and a couple of ferrets

2004-10-19T03:11:00.000-04:00

Nas featuring Olu Dara - Bridging The Gap video

Nas featuring Olu Dara from VH1's Hip Hop Honors

Eminem "Mosh" (courtesy of Rap Basement)
This is an interesting track from Eminem. It's much slower than most of his other stuff and is very political.

Rap Basement is also coming strong with another political banger: Immortal Technique and Mos Def - Bin Laden

2004-10-18T16:30:00.000-04:00

Jim Sheridan pegged for Locked and Loaded
Irish filmmaker and director of such films as My Left Foot, The Boxer and In America, Jim Sheridan has been brought on to direct Locked and Loaded. The film which stars 50 Cent as an inner city drug dealer who pursues a career as a rapper will be released by Paramount Pictures/MTV Films.

VH1 Still Interested in Celebrities
VH1 is bringing a new show about fat celebrities to television this winter. The show is called Celebrity Fit Club and features two teams of overweight celebrities trying to lose the most weight over a fourteen week period. Everybody on the show is a b-lister, but Biz Markie is on it, so it'll probably be worth checking for.

KRS-One was sounding crazy until I read his rebuttal, in which we learn that his words were taken out of context.

Lloyd Banks isn't gay
It was fun while it lasted, but porn actor Ty Lattimore has come forward and squelched all rumors that Lloyd Banks has appeared in a gay porn movies.

Some videos from last week's Hip Hop Honors

New Jin single "So Afraid" produced by Kwame

2004-10-13T03:22:00.000-04:00

MF Doom - MM Food

This appears to be the official track listing for the album.
1. "Beef Rapp"
2. "Hoe Cakes"
3. "Potholderz" (feat. Count Bass-D; prod. Count Bass-D)
4. "One Beer" (prod. Madlib)
5. "Frendz"
6. "Poo-Putt Platter"
7. "Fillet"
8. "Bi-Carbonate Of Figleaf"
9. "Con Carne"
10. "Guinnessez (feat. Angelika & 4ize)"
11. "Con Queso" (prod. PNS (Of The Molemen))
12. "Rapp Snitch Knishez" (feat. Mr. Fantastik)
13. "Vomitspit"
14. "Kookiez"

One noticeable absence is the track featuring MC Paul Barman that was supposedly produced by Prince Paul and was given the name "Holy Guacomole" by internet people. I recall that song stirring up a lot of buzz on the message boards.

In other Doom news check him out as a featured guest on the song "Impending Doom" on Daedelus's upcoming album Exquisite Corpse on Mush Records. You can currently check out the track at Nuclear Beef.

2004-10-13T02:45:00.000-04:00

Nelly wants politics out of hip hop
“If you want to do the politics thing, be more involved personally, but you could talk about that and then tomorrow wake up and you’re not selling records. So now you protested the war…and your broke!”

Did Lloyd Banks do gay porn?
This probably isn't Banks, but someone who resembles him. But it sure would be funny if it was. (By the way the link above is safe, just words, no pics).

Michael Jackson going after Eminem
Michael Jackson is enfuriated at the way he was depicted in Eminem's new video "Just Lose It." The rumors going around include that Jackson may sue and that he has asked all networks to remove the video. So far, only BET has removed the video from the air.

A mix of samples used by Timbaland

A whole bunch of rap videos

Ant Banks mix (courtesy of Vanguard Squad)

Customize your own Vans sneakers (link via Crown Dozen)

A Perfect Circle - Imagine video
I'm not really a fan of A Perfect Circle, but it's a cover/reworking of a great Lennon song and it's political, so check it out. The band's album, eMOTIVe, will be released on election day November 2.

2004-10-12T01:07:00.000-04:00

New Quasimoto
From Gilles Peterson's BBC Worldwide comes "Greenery" and "Rappcats."

Kanye West - Workout Plan video

Beanie Sigel to serve one year in Prison.

Fabolous - Breathe video

Universal plans on buying out Rocafella
And guess who they want to make president of Def Jam

Fahrenheit 9/11 to be played on Pay Per View
I don't foresee this as having much of an effect on the results of the election. I highly doubt that anyone who is unsure of who they are going to vote for is likely to drop 10 bucks to watch Michael Moore's documentary.

Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater is being sued.
Former high school classmates of Richard Linklater are filing claims that they have been humiliated due to likenesses of them that appeared in his film Dazed and Confused.

2004-10-09T13:25:00.000-04:00

This is the cover to Eminem's upcoming album Encore. It's time for a new cover design. This one's a bit too close to the Eminem Show. I'm no photoshop expert or anything, but I think that a major artist could hire someone who could do a better job at making the audience on the cover appear as if they are actually there.

De La Soul on Letterman (10/8) (streaming real video)

Camron Purple Haze snippets

Subtle "FKO" video

2004-10-07T03:53:00.000-04:00

Sage Francis - Slow Down Gandhi
Sage has been kind enough to release this political song early because of the election. This track is off of his upcoming album A Healthy Distrust to be released on Epitaph Records in February 2005.

Big L audio archive

Mos Def will be playing Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday October 12

Handsome Boy Modeling School featuring RZA, AG, and the Mars Volta (real audio courtesy of artofrhyme.com)

LoDeck - Star Cast Still produced by Cryptic One (windows media)

UKHH interviews Tonedeff, Kno, PackFM

2004-10-06T01:34:00.000-04:00

All Hip Hop interviews MF Doom

Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell - Drop It Like It's Hot video

Talib Kweli featuring Mary J. Blige - I Try video

Listen to all of Mos Def's A New Danger

I'm also looking for a new free host to host my images for this site. The last couple that I've been using have been taking my pictures down.

2004-10-04T02:12:00.000-04:00

As much as I've enjoyed some of the solo material from the members of Typical Cats, I must say that this is what I've really been waiting for. Qwel, Denizen Kane, and Qwazaar just flow so much better when they're working off of each other. And that's just what they're doing on their new single "Easy Cause It Is." This is the lead single from the upcoming full length album Civil Service which should be in stores on October 26. Check out some samples of the songs: Easy Cause It Is, Justice Coming, and Butterfly Knives.

You can also catch Typical Cats live on the Civil Service Tour. The dates are as follows:
Chicago IL - Friday October 22 2004
@ Logan Square Auditorium - 2539 N. Kedzie Blvd
also featuring: Offwhyte w/ Dr. Jones, Robust
18 & up / 10pm / $10

Minneapolis, MN - Sunday October 24 2004
@ 7th Street Entry - 29 N 7th St.
also featuring: DJ Nikoless
2 shows!!
All ages - 5pm-9pm
21 & up - 9pm-1:30pm
$6 advance / $8 door

Kansas City, MO - Tuesday October 26 2004
@ The Hurricane - 4048 Broadway
also featuring: The Guild
21 & up / 10pm / $5

Austin, TX - Friday October 29 2004
@ Emo's
also featuring: MURS

San Antonio, TX - Saturday October 30 2004
@ Sanktuary - 1818 N. Main (behind Hogwild)
also featuring: Mic Dagger & Jusdis w/DJ Scuba
plus b-boy showcase & costume contest
All ages / $8

Fort Collins, CO - Wednesday November 3 2004
@ Starlight Theater - 167 N College

Boulder, CO - Thursday November 4 2004
@ Club 156 - CU campus
All ages / $10 / 8pm

Nov. 6-8 - Bay Area CA - TBA

Los Angeles, CA - Tuesday November 9 2004
@ Knitting Factory - 7021 Hollywood Blvd
All ages / $12 / 8pm

San Diego CA - Wednesday November 10 2004 @ The Epicentre also featuring CMA & LMNO

Nov 11-15 - Southwest & Denver CO w/CMA - TBA

Portland, OR - Wednesday November 17 2004
@ Meow Meow - 527 SE Pine
All ages / 8pm / $10
also featuring Blue Scholars

Olympia, WA - Thursday November 18 2004
@ The Clipper - 402 4th Ave
21+ / 8pm / $7
also featuring Blue Scholars

Seattle, WA - Saturday November 20 2004
@ Vera Project
also featuring Blue Scholars

2004-10-04T01:47:00.000-04:00

Win a dinner with MF Doom
You can bid on this Ebay auction to win a meal with the masked villain himself on November 16th in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
You can also catch Doom on his upcoming Release Party Food Drive Tour with Brother Ali. The dates are as follows, and please bring non-perishable food items if you're going to attend.
* Nov 15- Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub (w/Psalm One & DJ Spontaneous)
* Nov 16- Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue (w/Psalm One & DJ Spontaneous)
* Nov 18- San Francisco, CA @ Slim's (w/John Robinson)
* Nov 19- Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory (w/John Robinson)
* Nov 20- Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theater (w/inka one of Basementalism)
* Nov 21- Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater (w/inka one of Basmentalism)
* Nov 22- Philadelphia, PA @ TLA (w/Chief Kamachi)
* Nov 24- New York, NY @ BB Kings (w/ Hangar 18)

Verbalisms is the first magazine about women in hip hop. The website has been providing online content for the past two years, but Verbalisms is going big time when they hit the shelves with the print edition in early 2005.

Check out some new Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz. Lil Jon's new album Crunk Juice will be in on stores on November 16. The album features guest appearances by R. Kelly, Ludacris, TI, Bun B, Snoop Dogg, Eightball and MJG, Bad Brains, Nas and more. The album will also feature guest production from Rick Rubin and Pharrell. The lead single is called "What You Gon Do" and features Lil Scrappy. You can download it here. You can also watch the world premiere of the video on Wednesday, October 6th on BET.

DJ Signify is touring Europe. Here are the dates:
1/10/04 Spitz London, United Kingdom
3/10/04 Social, Nottingham, United Kingdom
4/10/04 Thekla, Bristol, United Kingdom
6/10/04 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
7/10/04 Stuc, Leuven, Brussels, Belgium
10/10/04 Club Bastard, Berlin, Germany
11/10/04 PMK, Innsbruck, Austria
13/10/04 Magazzini Generali, Milan, Italy
14/10/04 L'Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
15/10/04 Dachstock, Bern, Switzerland
16/10/04 Nancy Jazz Festival, Nancy, France
18/10/04 Marquise, Lyon, France
19/10/04 Point Ephemere, Paris, France
20/10/04 Po Na Na, Brighton, United Kingdom

You can catch Lex recording artists Subtle and The Fog performing live at the CMJ Night. It's October 15th on Suffolk Street in New York between 8 and 10:30 pm.

2004-09-28T01:23:00.000-04:00

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is finally available on DVD

Also: Supersize Me, Crank Yankers season one, and In Living Color season 2

Walmart is offering an online dvd rental service. And, yes, you can get a free trial month.

Daily Show viewers are smarter than Factor viewers
On a recent episode of the Factor with Jon Stewart as a guest, host Bill O'Reilly referred numerous times to the viewing audience of The Daily Show as "stoned slackers." Comedy Central didn't appreciate those comments, so they did some research to see how much truth was in it. And according to Nielsen Media Research, viewers of the Daily Show are more likely to have completed 4 years of college than viewers of The Factor. I know that completing college doesn't equal being smart, but I doubt that the majority of people who watch the Daily Show are stoned or slackers. But don't worry. There's no hard feelings. Bill O'Reilly will show that it's all fun and games when he is a guest on The Daily Show on October 7.

Conan O'Brien will get his big break...in five years.
Jay Leno has announced that he will retire as host of the Tonight Show in 2009 and NBC announced that Conan will be his successor. 2009 is gonna be so sweet.

Check out the new Roots video, Star

More free Outfoxed
This time it's the DVD and you can get it for free. You must be a college student and be willing to do a screen at your campus. More details are at the webpage.

2004-09-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

Pacman to take a bite out of Lil' Flip
Namco America has filed a lawsuit against Lil' Flip and Sony Music Entertainment for copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of sounds sampled from Pacman on Flip's "Game Over." I think that this is one of those cases where the record company should've known better. The sounds from Pacman aren't an obscure sample that you can slip into a record without clearing them. Just about anybody who has played the game can probably recognize some of the Pacman sounds. So, the lesson learned is that record companies should probably clear recognizable samples, especially for singles from artists who are going to put out videos that get a ton of play from MTV.

Game - Higher
This is the lead single from the G-Unit's west coast member Game and is produced by Dr. Dre. Listen all the way to the end and you'll hear Dre tell you to look out for Detox.

Fingerprint Records presents Inked Impressions
Nobs' crew has more indie hip hop ties than I thought. This compilation features some very good music from this overlooked crew with guest appearances from LoDeck, Mac Lethal, and Joey Beats.

2004-09-27T01:31:00.000-04:00

I previously linked to the One Simple Question blog, which offers $2330 to anyone who asks George W. Bush "How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?" Well now another $6000 has been offered up by the $6000 Answer Bounty blog. So, if somehow you get the chance to ask the president that question and get it answered and covered by a major national media outlet, you can rake in an easy 8000 plus bucks. Good luck to all.

Open The Mics was kind enough to offer up Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism for download.

2004-09-25T15:07:00.000-04:00

De La Soul - Shopping Bags video

Eminem's new single Just Lose It

Talib Kweli - Broken Glass

Boost Mobile commercial with Kanye West, Ludacris, and The Game

Paintcans and Politics

2004-09-24T16:14:00.000-04:00

Damon Albarn teaming up with Danger Mouse for new Gorillaz album
According to MTV News, Damon Albarn and Danger Mouse are deep into production on the next Gorillaz album. The last time around Gorillaz featured production from Dan The Automator and had a smash hit with "Clint Eastwood" featuring Del The Funky Homosapien. So far the only confirmed guest vocalists are De La Soul, but the album is expected to have many more. The new Gorillaz album should be out in the spring.

We've all heard that Dr. Dre has been working with Burt Bacharach, but is there any truth to the rumor that Dre has gone back to work on Detox? Several articles about the Dre/Bacharach collabo (including the above link) have mentioned that Dre is currentlyworking on Detox. (EDIT: I was listening to the song, "Higher" by The Game and Dre chimes in near the end saying, "Look out for Detox.")

Get over to Spine Magazine. They have some radio shows from Marley Marl/Pete Rock with Run DMC and EPMD from '89 and some De La Soul from '96.

If you have 150 grand you can buy HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. (link via Pixel Surgeon)

In need of Gmail help

2004-09-23T17:22:00.000-04:00

I need some help with my gmail account. After I enter my username and password and hit enter, the page begins to load and says Loading in the upper left corner. It then switches to a page that says Redirecting to http://gmail.google.com/gmail in the upper left corner and continues to switch between these two pages. I originally thought that perhaps Gmail has a problem, since it is in a trial stage. However, I have found that I've been able to log into my Gmail account on just about any other computer. Is anyone familiar with this? Please help.

2004-09-23T01:12:00.000-04:00

Google loves Ray.

2004-09-22T23:01:00.000-04:00

Anticon has put together a new website and it's pretty good looking. They also have some new MP3s on the site including:
Dosh - Naoise
The Arrest The President All Stars - Arrest The President
Circus and Odd Nosdam - Pick Me For President

Dosh and Odd Nosdam are playing a show at the Cinematexas festival on Thursday 9/23

Former Live Poet, JD Walker has a myspace webpage with a few songs on it.

Nas and Olu Daru - Bridging The Gap (it'll probably be down soon). Or you can get it from Spine Magazine, who also have Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz featuring Ice Cube - Role Call.

Better Than Yours has a link to Eminem's new single or snippets pieced together or something like that. Either way it's low quality.

Mos Def is all over tv in the upcoming weeks. Mos is joining Jamie Foxx, Quincy Jones, Norah Jones and others in Genius: A Night For Ray Charles on October 8 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event will be taped and aired on CBS at a later date. Mos Def will also be hosting VH1's Hip Honors with Vivica Fox. The show will be taped on October 3 in New York and air on October 12. If you can't wait for those two events, then check out Mos Def on Late Night with David Letterman this Thursday, September 23.

New Releases

2004-09-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

Nerds everywhere rejoice as Star Wars comes to DVD.
And it's pretty cheap too.

But I can't let Star Wars overshadow these other fine releases: Cigarettes and Coffee, and Mr. Show season 4

This week's music releases:
Diplo - Florida
Galt MacDermot - In Film 1969-1973
Gary Wilson - Mary Had Brown Hair
Jean Grae - This Week
Jedi Mind Tricks - Legacy of Blood
MF Doom - Special Herbs volumes 7&8
Money Mark - Demo or Demolition
The Alchemist - 1st Infantry

Overload

2004-09-16T14:07:00.000-04:00

I recently saw Overload in the store and had to try it. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a peanut butter cup (not a Reese's) with other candies mixed in. The one that I purchased featured Butterfinger chunks in one, Nestle Crunch in another one, and an M&M like candy in the final one. The Butterfinger one was awful, the Crunch one was good, and the M&M like one was okay. The candy wasn't that bad, but I had high hopes for it. It looked so appealing on the package that I was let down when it was only okay.

2004-09-15T01:04:00.000-04:00

This should be the cover for the lead single off of MF Doom's upcoming album MM Food. The single features the songs Hoecakes and Potholders.

Nas - Lost Tapes 2 track listing

Pharaohe Monch and Prince Po reuniting? Maybe not, but they're at least playing a show together.

Beck's album has been pushed back to early 2005.

Apathy rapping over some White Stripes and Depeche Mode

Zack de la Rocha - We Want It All (produced Trent Reznor)

Beans - Diamond, Halo, Grenade

Q-Tip - Closer

De La Soul - Shopping Bags (produced by Madlib)

TI - 99 Problems

Check out the following blogs: One Simple Question, a site that's collecting money to the person that will ask the President that question and Tommy Corn, a blog written by a character from I Heart Huckabees.

Subtle

2004-09-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

Lex Records is gearing up for the release of the new Subtle record A New White in October. For those who don't know Subtle is a six piece band featuring vocals from Dose One of Anticon fame. The first single, F.K.O., is out now and is an ode to some girl named Kelly.

The single currently has a video that was made by animators SSSR that is supposedly getting some play on MTV and MTV2 and should be available soon online at Lex Records.

I've had A New White for about a month now and I've been listening to it quite a bit. I have to admit that it's a difficult cd to listen to, but it's the type of album that grows as you give it time. One of my main gripes about the album is Dose One. I find Dose One to be an excellent vocalist when served in small doses. I've enjoyed him adding guest vocals to other peoples' songs, the couple of Themselves songs that have been on the Anticon compilations, and his collaborations with Why? as cLOUDDEAD. But I've never been able to listen all the way through to any of his solo projects/Themselves records. But then again I haven't always been the most patient of people. Then last year along comes "Enerby Kurs," the Subtle song that was featured on the Lexoleum compilation and I just loved it. I thought that Dose sounds wonderful over an actual band, which is why I anticipated the Subtle album. When I finally received it I found it to be a bit too weird to swallow up right away, so I listened to it a few times and then shelved it for a few weeks. Each time I listened to it after that I would enjoy it a little more. So, my advice is to try out some Subtle, but take it in small doses.

And here are some small doses that you can start off with:
Subtle "Enerby Kurs" from Lexoleum
Subtle "F.K.O." from A New White

2004-09-10T13:00:00.000-04:00

Royal Magazine is back on the regular. My computer is good and everything is set to go. I'll start posting all of the CD reviews that've been backed up beginning on Monday. So, if you sent me a CD expect to see the review sometime next week. Now on to the news.

In my couple of weeks away from regular internet surfing there have been some really good movie trailers posted on the web. Most importantly The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou's trailer is up. I've heard that alot of people are hating and saying that Wes Anderson has probably lost it, but I'm still greatly looking forward to this one. Another very good looking film is I ♥ Huckabees. This is the latest film from Three Kings director David O. Russell. It is being billed as an existential comedy and stars Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Naomi Watts, and Mark Wahlberg.

Futurama may be returning to Fox.
DVD may once again save another show that was ignored by the public in it's initial run. High DVD sales of Futurama may help get the show back for one more season on Fox. When the show was cancelled it was rumored that the producers of the show were almost halfway done with the next season and it may be worked on some more. This is good news because I was one of those people who ignored Futurama when it was on Fox, but have become a big fan because of it's nightly Adult Swim airings.

Dave Chapelle and Michel Gondry are teaming up.
Dave Chapelle has pegged Michel Gondry to direct his upcoming film, which is a concert film, sort of. The Variety article describes it as having a documentary feel to it and that it blends music, live comedy, and scripted comedy.

Michael Moore haters can now rejoice.
Two new "anti-Moore" documentaries are set to debut at the American Film Renaissance Festival in Dallas, Texas. The festival screens conservative and patriotic films that have "pride, humility, and appreciation" for the USA.

Liberals don't have to worry though. Howard Stern's page has a ton of Bush bashing links.Also check out this mosaic of John Ashcroft made out of porn.

2004-09-08T18:57:00.000-04:00

I'm getting closer to a fixed computer, so hopefully I'll be back more regularly soon and with much more content. For now enjoy these links.

Galapagos 4 has hooked us up with some mp3 samples from the upcoming Typical Cats album: Easy Cause It Is, Justice Coming, and Butterfly Knives

Make a De La Soul mixtape and win prizes and a De La Soul interview.

2004-09-01T12:50:00.000-04:00

I had some extra time today, so I figured I do some computer lab blogging.

New Handsome Boy Modeling School Album
Handsome Boy Modeling School, the production duo of Prince Paul and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura along with a slew of guest performers, are releasing their second album White People on November 9 on Atlantic Records. White People one ups their last album as far as diverse guests go featuring Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Jack Johnson, Cat Power, Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez from the Mars Volta, John Oates from Hall & Oates and Mike Patton. The album also features more traditional hip hop artists such as The RZA, Pharrell Williams, Lord Finesse, Jazzy Jay, Grand Wizard Theodore, The Hieroglyphics, and De La Soul. A track listing for White People can be found at XFM.

TD3 Productions provides us with an interview with Scribble Jam champ Illmaculate as well as audio from is battle with Swann.

David Drake (aka I'm So Sinsurr) interviews Joe Beats for Stylus Magazine.

Joe Beats is also collaborating with Nobs on an upcoming album. Here are a couple of tracks: Eye of the Beholder and Doing The Nothing. For those of you not familiar with Nobs, also check out Radio from his album Workin on Fingerprint Records. We'll have a review of the album up as soon as I can get back on my own computer.

Speaking of reviews that I still need to publish, Galapagos 4 has been putting out some really good music lately including stuff from Mestizo, Robust, and Qwel & Maker. They currently are offering Patriot Act by Denizen Kane for download. I'm not quite sure what it's from, but I hear that there is a Typical Cats album coming out sometime this fall.

Stones Throw 101
Stones Throw has announced that November 19 will be the release date for Stones Throw 101, the label's comprehensive dvd featuring videos and live performances.
In other Stones Throw news, you can check out an interview with Madlib from Tokion and an article on Gary Wilson from Dazed Confused.

Eminem Encore to be released in November

Clerks 2
Director/writer Kevin Smith has announced that he is working on a sequel to Clerks. The film, which is currently titled The Passion of the Clerks, should begin shooting in January with a budget somewhere between 250,000 and 5 million dollars. The main actors from the original Clerks film have all signed on to work on this film.

2004-08-29T16:52:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. It's nice to see people still visiting the site regularly, even though we haven't been posting. We're currently having some internet connection problems combined with computer problems. But as soon as we get it fixed we'll be back with regular postings. We've got some good stuff lined up, including tons of links and a whole bunch of CD reviews. So keep checking back and one of these days we'll be all new.

The Right Kind of Stimuli

2004-08-22T17:56:00.000-04:00

I just finished seeing Coffee and Cigarettes. Jim Jarmusch made a good movie that really made me, for lack of a better word, happy. This film was musicians and actors talking over, you guessed it, coffee and cigarettes. Each seperate conversation had its own humor to it. Meg and Jack White's conversation showed the scientific side to the White Stripes. Now some may think, "I never knew that the White Stripes were so scientific!" The fun part about this film is that it was obviously staged. Each conversation could not have been so spontaneous. If they were real conversations between two people it would have consisted of slip-ups. I don't recollect seeing any true discomforts between Iggy Pop or Tom Waits. One coversation between two people related to another conversation with two different people. That's how it really didn't seem like a spontaneous act of just talking. Besides that shit, my favorite conversation was between Taylor Mead and Bill Rice. I have no idea who these men are but they seem so wise and cute that I can't help but want to be involved in the conversation with them. Too bad I'm not cool enough. Towards the end of their conversation, one of the men falls asleep while the other tries to wake him up. I laughed because the man falling asleep was definitely the most fun. Seconds laterI wondered if he died and I thought... what a wonderful way of dying. It's so peaceful and comfortable around a friend's side. If he did die, it would be mighty weird for the other man to tell his family about what happened, "I was drinking coffee with ENTER NAME and he died while I was talking to him". I didn't really know what to expect when I saw this movie and you leave feeling like you have only used up your time trying to understand the people in each conversation, but ultimately it was good because you feel good leaving the theatre knowing that you have learned a little something more about yourself through their conversations.

2004-08-17T04:17:00.000-04:00

Bjork - Medulla
No, I'm not helping you download it, but here's the streaming media player from her site where you can check out the tracks off of the album as well as watch the video for the lead single Oceania.

Here's some Nas stuff: pics from that live concert in Central Park and a short documentary on the making of Illmatic (real media).

Buck 65 is touring the USA.
Buck is good stuff. Touring the US is better stuff. Here's the dates:
10.02.04 - Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub
10.04.04 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
10.06.04 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
10.08.04 - Bend, OR - The Grove
10.09.04 - Portland, OR - Bossa Nova
10.10.04 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
10.11.04 - Eugene, OR - W.O.W. Hall
10.13.04 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
10.14.04 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
10.16.04 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
10.27.04 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10.29.04 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10.30.04 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
10.31.04 - Cambridge, CA - T.T. The Bear's
11.01.04 - Portland, ME - SPACE
11.02.04 - Burlington, VT - Nectar's

2004-08-16T00:51:00.004-04:00

ODB gets a reality show.
This fall Spike TV will be presenting a new show called Stuck On ODB. The premise of the show is that a regular person has to stay within 10 feet of Ol Dirty for five days straight. If he is successful, he will be rewarded with 25,000 dollars. The show debuts Tuesday September 14th at 10 pm.

Food and the Beasties.
In the spirit of my recent food mix, here is a photo thread from the Beastie Boys message board displaying the foods mentioned in some of their song lyrics.

Jay-Z is now part owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Some live footage of Sage Francis

Kanye West interview from the New York Post.

Oh No - The Ride. Here's a new one from Madlib's brother. Also check out Stones Throw for a chance to win a copy of Oh No's Disrupt Chronicles cd. All you have to do is be one of the first fifteen people to guess the video game that is sampled on the song.

Trick Daddy - Let's Go (featuring Twista and Lil Jon). Here's a new one from Trick Daddy featuring a sample from a very popular rock tune.

Nezbeat featuring Mac Lethal and Murs - The Women of Scribble Jam

2004-08-15T21:14:00.000-04:00

Scribble Jam 2004 took place this weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio. I didn't go, but I'm always interested in this festival. The big winner of the weekend was Illmaculate, an 18 year old kid from Portland, Oregon, who won the MC battle. Other winners included Scratch Bastard in the DJ competition, Motion Disorder in the b-boy competition, and A-Train in the beatbox competition.

Here are some photos from Scibble Jam (via Scribble Magazine forums.)

I wasn't familiar with Illmaculate (pictured above), so I googled him and found his Soundclick page. He sounds a bit like Eyedea.

2004-08-15T18:52:00.000-04:00

Craig Kilborn calls it quits.
Craig Kilborn, host of the Late Late Show on CBS, has decided not to continue his contract. Sources say the host and the network were having disagreements on the amount of his new salary during negotiations, but ultimately Kilborn left because he wanted time to work on writing and producing other television projects. The show is scheduled to be on a two week hiatus at the beginning of September, so the shows at the end of August will most likely be the last for Kilborn.

Since I am a Conan fan, this news hardly fazes me. But I do have to admit that Craig Kilborn made for a much more interesting show than his predecessor, Tom Snyder. This news also brings about the possibility of new and interesting talk shows. Some people think that CBS may lure Conan O'Brian to take over the Late Late Show when his contract with NBC expires in December. This seems unlikely. But there is a chance. Conan O'Brian would have to wait at least six years on NBC to get the coveted 11:30 timeslot since Jay Leno is signed through 2010. However, at CBS there is a chance that he could get David Letterman's show when he retires. But Conan would be unlikely to go for that deal unless there was some guarantee on Letterman retiring soon.

So if not Conan, then who? The New York Daily News has made a few recommendations. They include Sarah Silverman, Vince Vaughn, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, and Bonnie Hunt. Any of the first three would be okay with me.

2004-08-15T18:32:00.000-04:00

The complete first season of Arrested Development is coming to dvd on October 19th. It's affordable at 27.99 from Amazon for the three disc set. This is much better than other shows like South Park, whose dvd offerings have gone for nearly 40 dollars for a similar number of episodes or Curb Your Enthusiasm, whose dvd offerings went for around 30 dollars with half the number of episodes.

According to sources, the show should be slightly different when it starts it's second season on November 7. The producers of the show say it will be less serialized and that each episode will be more self contained. I guess that's good for casual viewers and probably for ratings, but many of the jokes/story lines that ran throughout the first season were some of the things that made the show special.

Randomness from the past

2004-08-15T03:10:00.000-04:00

I was reading through some of my older sent emails from the last couple years and I came across some of my earlier writings which just seem so random. Here are some excerpts:

From an email to my sister:
"And I also had Writing For Television and Radio, which looks hard. I eventually have to create my own drama television show, create and develop the characters, and write synopsises and plots for six episodes and then write an actual shooting script for one of the episodes. It sounds tough, but if I really put some effort into it I believe that I may actually be able to make something worthwhile. But if I don't feel like working hard, I'll just write something trashy that you would probably see on Fox."

As it happened, the class in question turned out to be a joke. It was one of the easiest classes I've ever taken. I didn't put much effort into it, so I didn't end up with anything worthwhile. The writing was done in groups, so we had to collaborate to create our television drama. Our drama was called "Tina's Diary," which is an awful title. It was a college drama using every stereotype to help us get through six episodes. I remember we wrote about alcohol abuse, a jock using steroids, suite mates sleeping around, the possility of std's, and just about everything else. Oddly enough, we also wrote an episode where the main character (Tina) doesn't like to party and she has an intervention about it with one of her female suitemates (we made the suites co-ed for some reason). And what was the reason why she didn't like to party? It was that she was self concious about her enormous breasts. It was such a horrible show.

totally random stuff from emails:
"I'm going bowling tonight. Bowling is a good way to absorb the experience of townie culture, where mullets and missing teeth are the norm."
"I'm going to keep on drinking green kool aid until it kills me."
"anyhow stay cool and take showers so you don't stink up the whole universe."
"How are you smelling today? Smell ya later,Mike"
"Watching sharks on TLC…boy, do I ever hate sharks."
"I got on the elevator today and a girl got on right after me. We were on our way up to the sixth floor and we were about half way up and I heard a fart. I looked over to her, our eyes locked, and I wrinkled my nose at her like she was stinky. She quickly turned her head to the other side and then the elevator stopped and the doors opened to the sixth floor. I got off and went to my room and the girl that farted went on to some other floor."

Lesson learned: Saving sent emails is sweet. It can be fun to remember your own stupidity from the past.

2004-08-13T04:08:00.000-04:00

If you've never been there before then you wouldn't know that they were gone, but Spine Magazine is back with great links including:
RZA - The Cure mixtape
Mobb Deep - We Don't Love Em, an unreleased track that didn't make the cut for the new album.
Translated Biggie lyrics
And pictures to the Biz Markie doll that is partially shown above. Thank you Spine Magazine. We missed you.

All Hip Hop interviews Nas.

Hip Hop DX interviews Masta Ace

Cryptic One remixes. This track features Cryptic One of Atoms Family putting his own spin on some MF Grimm, Vast Aire, Vordul, Breezly Brewin, Jay-Z and more. The song is at Soundclick, so you have to be signed in to check it out.

I'm not quite sure what this is from, but here'sKanye West, The Game, and Ludacris - Boost Mobile.

I'm not a fan of property damage, but this could keep us from some new Black Eyed Peas material for a while (hopefully). You've got to blow out them candles.

You don't here about them often, but here are some Soundscan numbers for some indie hip hop artists. I'm very surprised with Atmosphere's numbers. They must've reached the rock/punk crowd from the last couple Warped Tours that they did. They're nearly 50k ahead of the next highest selling act (Hieroglyphics).

2004-08-11T00:31:00.000-04:00

New Sage Francis album
Sage has reported that his new album A Healthy Distrust should be out around February. The album will be 14 or 15 tracks long and feature collaborations with Reanimator, Alias, Dangermouse, Will Oldham, Daddy Kev, Sixtoo, Joe Beats, Controller 7, and Lazarus Devine.

2004-08-10T15:47:00.000-04:00

This film came to my attention because it was directed by Bob Odenkirk. That's right, the president of freakin' beers, Mr. Show, Bob Odenkirk. That is the reason that I checked out Melvin Goes To Dinner, but that's not the reason you should be checking it out. It's the writing and acting that carry this film. The plot is as bare bones as they come; four people meet up for dinner and they talk. Occasionally, there is a flashback scene to coincide with the story that they're telling. This may not sound like much of an idea for a movie, but it works.
The film is based on the play "Phyro-Giants!" which was written by Michael Blieden, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. The original cast of the play is intact for the film which includes Blieden playing Melvin, along with Annabelle Gurwitch, Matt Price, and Stephanie Courtney. If you're into big stars (or even minor celebrities) you're basically out of luck, except for a few choice cameos. The cameos include appearnces by my favorite leather daddy David Cross, that guy who looks like me Jack Black, that Newsradio woman Maura Tierney, and that Magnolia cokehead Melora Walters. Still, there are a couple more interesting points that may draw people to this film. One is the Adrian Tomine drawings used in the title sequence (as shown above), but they didn't capitalize on it and used some other picture for the cover of the DVD. Another interesting thing about the film is that the original music was done by Michael Penn. He's done a couple of PT Anderson films, so he probably has somewhat of a following.
Overall, it's probably going to be the Mr. Show fans who go pick up this movie and many of them may be disappointed. This movie is funny, but it's also very touching and personal. The humor in this film is much more subtler than the in your face humor of Mr. Show. When I was checking the reviews for this from Amazon and IMDB, I could see that many people who watched Melvin were expecting something completely different. I recommend renting this movie, but not buying it. This is something that you will probably like, but the replay value on it isn't going to be very high.

2004-08-08T05:14:00.000-04:00

Young Buck Don't Want No Beef.
Young Buck has taken Stomp off his upcoming album Straight Outta Cashville and replaced it with a remix featuring D-Tay. Stomp gained attention for having T.I. and Ludacris on the same track dissing each other. On the track TI said, "Real niggas see the difference between you and this. Me gettin beat down? That's Ludacris." While Ludacris said, "So, pimpin be easy, quit catchin feelings. Cuz you worth a couple hundred grand, and I'm worth meelyons. Nobody's thinkin about you, plus your beats ain't legit. So please stay off the T.I.P. of my dick."
Young Buck may be into stomping out beef, but not me. I want all of you to hear these southern rappers go at it, so here's Stomp with TI and Ludacris. (courtesy of Moscow Finest)

You can now get you very own Usher Mastercard.

Peanut Butter Wolf interview from the Giant Peach.

Crate Diggin' with Madlib, MF Doom, and Peanut Butter Wolf.

2004-08-07T04:04:00.000-04:00

The Fog (Andrew Broder) has announced dates for a mini tour.

8/25 Madison, WI- Nottingham.Org
8/26 Chicago, IL- Bottom Lounge
8/27 Toronto, ON- TBA
8/28 Montreal, QB- Casa Del Popolo
9/2 New York, NY- Piano's

2004-08-06T19:31:00.000-04:00

A couple of tracks from Bjork's Medulla were recently played on BBC's Breezeblock. All I can say is that this is some weird shit. Medulla will be in stores on August 31st.

Bjork - Pleasure Is All Mine
Bjork - Mouth's Cradle

I wonder if Slug has seen the cover yet?

2004-08-05T17:37:00.000-04:00

Prince Po - The Slickness

With The Slickness, Lex Records is stepping into the position of the number one indie hip hop label. Prince Po has created an album that can be appreciated by hip hop fans of all sorts from the streets, to the hip hop nerds, and maybe even the pop chart lovers. Even if you don't like Prince Po's lyrical styles, which won't happen, this album boasts an all star crew of underground producers giving some of the best, funkiest beats to flow through these headphones in some time.
The Slickness works well as an album. Much of the music that I've listened to lately I've had to cherry pick around to find the good stuff. But the Slickness comes with no filler (well except maybe the unneeded Hold That remix) with thirteen mostly solid tracks. This is the type of album that you can put in your cd player, lay down, and listen to all the way through.
Throughout the course of the album Prince Po flexes his lyrical muscles on a variety ofsubjects. He namedrops various musical groups on Hello, talks about loves on Love Thang, gets political on It's Going Down, and even parties with J-Zone and an alkaholik on Meet Me At The Bar. Prince Po's The Slickness has something for everyone.

Buy the Slickness from: Amazon, Sandbox Automatic, Boomkat

The Food Mix

2004-08-04T05:07:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back Allison and I listened to a bunch of songs that all shared the common theme of being food based. In between the songs I fired up the Cool Edit and mic and recorded our comments for each song. We rated each song on the "eatability" scale, which is totally meaningless, since there was no standard. Often times the things we said had nothing to do with food or even the song mentioned, so I had to try my hardest to piece this into something comprehendible. I hope you enjoy.

Aesop Rock - Appleseed
Allison: That was like the shortest rap song ever made.
Michael: I don't eat apple seeds and it really wasn't about apple seeds.
A: Maybe it related to a whole knowing people beforehand and a growing kind of experience with people, but it has nothing to do with eating stuff. And I don't eat people. They taste like shit I hear.
M: One- Like I said I don't eat apple seeds. I only eat to the core and then I throw it away.
A: .5 - because it had the word 'apple' in the title.

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
A: I'll give it a one. This is stupid. It has nothing to do with food.
M: I beg to differ, I'm sure Mick Jagger loves to eat the brown sugar. I'll give this song a three because when I cook up a bowl of Cream of Wheat I don't go for the regular sugar, I put brown sugar in it.

Beck - Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)
M: As far as I can tell, he didn't say Mountain Dew or reference any other food in this song.
A: Michael is correct. As far as eatability, I have to give it a five. I'm being nice here because I was thinking Mountain Dew the whole time and I was wondering do mountains actually get dew on them? I know grass does in the morning and flowers do.
M: I'll give it a two. I don't really care about the message behind Mountain Dew and whatnot, but Mountain Dew is probably my favorite soda. Even though the song never actually mentions Mountain Dew, except in the title, I am still a big Mountain Dew fan, so it gets a two.

The Beatles - Glass Onion
A: I'll give it a one. The song was talking about looking through a glass onion and I'm just thinking how incredibly high he is for saying something like that. Although if they are high, then they'd have the munchies and they'd probably be wanting food, so that could increase the eatability to something like a three.
M: I give it a zero. I don't eat onions and I don't eat glass. That's all there is to it. You combine them, I'm sure as hell not eating that.

Madvillain - Meat Grinder
M: Speaking of the munchies, as Allison was on that last track, Madlib and MF Doom combined probably smoke enough weed to (INSERT ANALOGY LATER). The food that they mention during this song includes meat dripping from a meat grinder, which doesn't appeal to me. They did say wine and I heard the word cinnamon. I'll give it a three.
A: I'm curious if it's cooked meat or if it's raw meat coming from the meat grinder. But if it is raw meat then this gets a negative one because that's just gross.

Sole - Salt On Everything
M: This song is called salt on everything, but Sole puts it on nothing (according to the song), so this song gets a zero.
A: Could you imagine salt on cake? That would be disgusting. I guess you could eat salt on cake though. It would be edible, so this song gets a one.

Beastie Boys - Eggman
M: A very tasty, tasty track. What can I say? I like eggs. I'll give it a six.
A: I enjoy eggs also. I like green eggs and ham. I'll give it a four.

The Beatles - Wild Honey Pie
A: If anybody's actually served a pie for somebody they'd realize that it's incredibly hard to make the piece whole when you put it on a plate. It always
drips off the side. I'm thinking if there really was a honey pie that it wouldn't even look like a pie when you gave it to someone. I'll give it a two.
M: Basically all the lyrics in the song are about this food, honey pie. But that sounds fucking disgusting. I'll give it a one.

Beck - Peaches and Cream
A: One line in this song goes: "Peaches and cream, you make a garbageman scream." Well, if I was a garbageman I would be pretty happy picking up a bag of peaches and cream instead of a bag of baby diapers or used porno. I'll give it a seven because a bag full of peaches and cream sounds pretty good to me.
M: I like peaches, but I don't even know what cream is. Is this like whipped cream or that stuff that you put in your coffee? I'll play it safe and give it a five because peaches and cream could taste like shit.

Beck - Milk and Honey
A: Milk and honey do not mix together well if you're trying to make tea or something like that. And pouring this combination over your body would look like a shower,
but whiter. And the honey would probably get stuck in your hair. So, I give this a zero because nobody wants to wash honey out of their hairs.
M: It's a little more edible than the wild honey pie a few tracks ago. I would probably take a glass of milk and honey over a piece of honey pie if I was forced to eat one. I'll give it a two.

Outkast - Spaghetti Junction
M: They said spaghetti in the chorus, but other than that it didn't really have anything to do with food. Spaghetti's okay. I'm not an Italian, so I'm not a huge fan of that kind of stuff, but every once in a while a box of spaghetti with a cheap can of Hunt's sauce is alright. Spaghetti is a common food, unlike the crazy combination of milk and honey, so i'll give it a five.
A: I'll give it a zero because I wasn't really excited about the song and I don't know what else to give them. (makes some sort of noise).

Sage Francis - Respect The Broccoli Cock
A: I don't remember him saying broccoli, but I could be wrong. I said cherries, but he was referring to busting girls' cherries. I've seen a picture of this dude and he's not hot, so I'll give this a one.
M: Correction for Allison, he says broccoli cock in the first line of the song. There is nothing I can give this song except a zero. I like brocolli, but the other half cancels out any higher rating I could give it.

Ween - Bananas and Blow
A: I'm not a big fan of bananas. They're okay every once in a while and I hear they help out the muscles or something like that. As for the blow, I can't say I've ever had that experience, but I hear it's intense. If you're inhaling bananas AND blow, it's gotta be pretty crazy. I'll give it a three.
M: I like bananas a lot. They're one of my favorite fruits. They are the number one selling fruit in America. As for the combination of the two, all I can say is don't do drugs. I'll give it a four.

System of A Down - Sugar
A: Pretty intense shit. He says sugar and I'm a big fan of sugar. It goes in everything well. Even if Toni Braxton or somebody else lame (Michael Bolton) sang about sugar I'd be estatic about it. Therefore I'll give this a five.
M: I don't think I like sugar as much as Allison does. I'm more into the salty snacks, but this song sounds like sugar. This guy must eat tons of sugar. He sounds crazy and talks really fast like he ate a bunch of sugar. So I'll give it a seven.

Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
M: I don't smoke cigarettes, so I wouldn't eat them either. You drink chocolate milk, but I'll still count it as a food. I don't really drink it now. Actually I barely drink any type of milk now. I should, but milk costs more than soda or (free) water. While in school I usually chose chocolate milk over skim, 2 percent, or vitamin D milk, so I'll give it a five.
A: When I bought chocolate milk when I was in high school, it was too thick for me and I never got enough in that little container. I always thirst afterwards. I'll give it a six because the song was amazing. Also, when you make chocolate milk at home it's way better than at school.
M: What do you use? Nesquick? Ovaltine? Hersheys?
A: Nesquick.
M: Powder or syrup?
M: Powder, definitely powder.

Harry Nilsson - Coconut
A: You put the lime in the coconut? What the fuck does that mean? But I do have great respect for coconuts and great respect for limes seperately, and the song is pretty kick ass, so I'll give it a rockin seven.
M: I remember one time at work I had to open a coconut for this couple and I didn't know how to. So I just threw it at the ground, picked up the pieces and gave it to them. Anyhow, coconut is good. I don't like the coconut milk, but I like the meat. I also like that fake ass coconut, the kind that comes in shavings. You can also get bavarian cream donuts with coconut on them. Those are pretty good. Lime in the coconut? I don't get it. Maybe it's a drinking reference. I'll also give it a seven.

Beck - Satan Gave Me A Taco
A: The lyrics in this song were about gross, rotting food. It was gross and Satan's a kinda bad dude. Why would you want a taco from him? I guess all people get hungry. I'll give this a three.
M: If Satan offers you a taco, don't take it. Don't be down with Satan. Remember that episode of Futurama where Fry switched hands with Satan. That wasn't cool. Tacos are cool, but not Satan tacos. I give this a zero.

A Tribe Called Quest - Ham N Eggs
M: This is the first song we heard tonight that was truly about food. Basically most of the guys in Tribe don't eat ham and eggs because they're high in cholesterol. They do mention other foods that they do like. I believe Phife enjoys beef jerky, slim jims, lemons, limes, and salad. This is great. I give this a nine.
A: I was surprised by how foodalicious this track was. It's too bad for them, because ham and eggs is pretty damn tasty in the morning. I'll also give this a nine.

Buck 65 - "Food"
A: This song is apparently about every single food that you've ever heard of. This song just makes me hungry. This gets a ten. This song is just food after food after food after food.
M: I also give this a ten. The tribe song was just complaining about what they don't want to eat, but Buck 65 is telling you what he does want to eat. And apparently it's everything. So you could invite this guy over to dinner and it doesn't matter what you make, he'll eat it. You would expect this guy to be a pig, but he's a surprisingly skinny man. I need to find the lyrics to this and post them because he mentions so many foods such as yucca, strawberries, kiwi, coldcuts, brick cheese, chick peas, and chicken enchiladas. I give this a ten. This is the ultimate food song.

So, that's it. If you know of any other relevant food songs drop us a line.

2004-08-04T03:53:00.000-04:00

Jim Jones thinks Nas is a homo.
Jim Jones knows which buttons to push with his album release date coming up. Here's what he had to say about Nas: "Nas is a homo." That's great, I read that in the headline. I would like to see Jones expand on his feelings for Nas, so we can know why he feels that Nas is a homo. Jones also spoke on becoming political: "I ain't a rapper first of all. I'm in it for more than just the money. When you get a bit of money then you're able to get power and with power, we'd probably be able to change the minds of our people and be political, which is one of my goals." I don't know what's more laughable: Jim Jones talking about going political or G-Unit talking about going political.

2004-08-03T16:56:00.000-04:00

Check out the pilot of American Dad (streaming), the new show from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. (You can also download the pilot from the show's website.) Also with the return of new episodes of Family Guy just around the corner in 2005, Fox will be playing two hour blocks of some of the best episodes of the previous seasons on August 18th and August 25th. Not that anyone with cable cares since the show is on every night on Cartoon Network.

2004-08-03T16:44:00.000-04:00

New Saul Williams Interview.
According to the interview Saul's new album will be much more song driven than Amethyst Rock Star. The new album will feature production from Saul, Serj Tankian from System of a Down and Thavius Beck. The album will also feature a song with Zack de la Rocha. The self titled album should be in stores some time in September.

2004-08-03T05:04:00.000-04:00

Dave Chapelle signs a huge deal.
According to Reuters, Dave Chapelle has signed a deal with Comedy Central to keep Chapelle's Show going for another two seasons. The deal is supposedly worth around 50 million dollars. That is a serious, Friends-like, salary. Congratulations Dave.

People in Minneapolis are smart; people in El Paso are stupid.
A recent study by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has ranked the most literate cities in the US. The study used the 79 most populated cities. The complete list can be found here.

2004-08-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

The Beta Band are breaking up.
According to the band's webpage they decided to give it up because of lack of commercial success. The band will have a final UK tour this fall and a possible DVD of music videos in 2005.

50 Cent records a verse for the Simpsons.
According to SOHH, 50 Cent recorded some material with Bart Simpson (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) that will appear in a fall episode of the series.

Blockhead, DJ Signify, and Sixtoo are hitting the road.
This sounds pretty cool since they aren't doing three seperate sets. According to Pitchfork, the show will start with Blockhead doing a solo set, and then DJ Signify and Sixtoo will perform together with P-Love (Sixtoo's previous touring partner) and Matt Kelly (the man responsible for much of the instrumentation on Sixtoo's latest album). Ninja Tune claims the show will be much more than guys on turntables; they say it will include, "decks, samplers, Rhodes, bass, stylophone, various effect units/pedals, megaphone, and last but not least, the shaker egg."
This is especially cool (for me) because for once I'm reporting a tour that I actually might go to. Usually, I report these tours so the city folk will know what's up, but this one is actually stopping in Vermont.

Kid Rock disses Nas.
I guess this started when Nas said, "It's the return of the Prince, the boss / This is real hardcore, Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit's soft" on "Got U'rself A Gun." Kid Rock is now responding with, "...still these rappers jock these nuts / hey Nas I heard what you had to say / motherf#@$er, I got your album and threw it away." I hope Nas can handle it.

2004-07-31T06:39:00.000-04:00

Boondocks coming to Cartoon Network. The show, which is based on Aaron McGruder's Boondocks comic strip was originally developed for Fox, who passed on it. Now it looks like Cartoon Network is going to pick it up and add it to their Adult Swim lineup.

Hulk Hogan's daughter to be next big pop star? Apparently Hulk Hogan has a daughter named Brooke who fits the mold for pop music success. The Hulkster hooked his daughter up musically with Lou Pearlman, the fat guy who helped the Backstreet Boys and NSync, so it's pretty certain this crap will be shoved down our throats this fall. Hopefully Macho Man Randy Savage will bring it to Brooke Hogan with a nasty diss track, finally forcing Hulk on the mic to respond.

Batman Begins teaser. It's not quite a trailer, so you really don't get to see much of anything from the film, but it's still fun.

Jude Law to play Joy Division's Ian Curtis in new biopic.

Vincent Gallo and Sean Lennon to perform in New York. The two have scheduled two live shows for August 25th. Also, the purchase of a ticket for this show will include a free ticket to see Gallo's new film The Brown Bunny. If I lived in New York I would go.

Michael Moore cheats a little bit. The Bloomington Pantagraph from Illinois claims that Moore used a doctored front page of their newspaper in Fahrenheit 9/11. They want an apology from Moore and compensatory damages of one dollar. I wonder if that's a misprint or if they actually only want one dollar.

Who will be the new Bond?

2004-07-29T18:00:00.000-04:00

According to Dark Horizons several actors have been in talks to star as James Bond in the next film, slated to begin production in January 2005. The actors mentioned include:

Clive Owen
The only movies that I've actually seen him in are Gosford Park and The Bourne Identity, but I really think this dude could do it. He looks like Bond in that tuxedo and he's British.

Ioan Gruffudd
This is an actor that I'm not familiar with at all. Apparently he's been in Titanic, Black Hawk Down, and King Arthur. He's also playing Reed Richards in the new Fantastic Four. I don't think you're allowed to be both Mr. Fantastic and James Bond.

Colin Firth
Colin Firth has been in a lot of "British" movies like The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, and Bridget Jones' Diary, but the man is no James Bond.

Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant as James Bond? I don't think I even need to make a joke about this one.

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler is a Scottish actor that I'm not familiar with. He was in one of the Tomb Raider movies and is playing the Phantom in the upcoming Phantom of the Opera and Beowulf in the upcoming Beowulf & Grendel. I don't know enough about him to know if he is Bond material.

Jude Law
Jude Law could probably make the most money for the Bond franchise, since he's the biggest star mentioned in this list. But he might be a bit young. He's in his early thirties while Pierce Brosnan is in his early fifties. I'm not sure, but I don't think it's right for James Bond to suddenly decrease his age by twenty years.

Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor looks nothing like James Bond and he's not nearly smooth enough. Plus he's a Jedi Knight. I don't think you can be a Jedi Knight and a secret agent.

Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman/Wolverine is Australian. Anyhow, he'll probably be too busy making romantic comedies to play James Bond.

Eric Bana
Eric Bana is another Australian. He sort of looks like he could be Bond and he's not too big yet. Maybe.

My picks:
1.Clive Owen: I really think it's the picture that I posted up there. He just looks like freakin' Bond.
2.Eric Bana: I think it's because I really dislike many of the others/I'm not familiar with them.
3.Jude Law: He may be young and doesn't look anything like Bond, but I bet he'd make a good Bond anyhow.

2004-07-29T17:52:00.000-04:00

An interview with Spike Lee from Dark Horizons.

Brosnan is done as Bond.

Anthony Anderson charged with rape.

J.Lo is entering phase two. Everything before this just didn't matter.

2004-07-29T15:35:00.000-04:00

Beck and Jack White.
Jack White of the White Stripes will be making an appearance on Beck's upcoming album. The album is currently untitled and should be in stores in late October and features production from the Dust Brothers.

Dipset vs. Mase
Sounds like some good publicity for Dipset. Dipset's probably mad because Mase came back to the game and gets to be as big as he was before just with one new song under his belt.

50 Cent wears makeup?

Russell Simmons' wife arrested. Kimora Lee Simmons was charged with eluding a police officer, possessing marijuana, careless driving, operating a vehicle while possessing a controlled substance, tail-gating and having a taillight out. She also claims that the punk ass police used excessive force.

2004-07-28T16:04:00.000-04:00

De La Soul signs a record deal with Sanctuary Urban Records. The company will release De La's next record, "The Grind Date" on September 28.

New Chris Rock video and album. Rock's lead single from his new album Never Scared is "Crackers," a song which jacks the melody and video concept from Outkast's "Hey Ya." Never Scared will be in stores on August 31 and is produced by Prince Paul.

2004-07-27T18:11:00.000-04:00

Moby - Make Love, Fuck War (featuring Chuck D and Flavor Flav) video

Outkast choose Prototype for next video. Andre describes the video as "If M. Night Shyamalan had a wife who wrote romance novels, this would be it."

MTV has also announced the nominees for this year's VMAs.

2004-07-26T17:14:00.000-04:00

I recently saw Chocodiles on the Food Network or something like that and now I want some. The problem is they aren't available on the east coast. I did a Google search on them and it seems that they have cult-like status for being incredibly hard to find. So, if anyone out west somewhere wants to help me out, let me know. Until that happens it will be stupid, plain Twinkies for me.

2004-07-26T15:50:00.000-04:00

Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind is just the type of book that you movie/gossip whores will like. This book is basically about how much of an asshole Harvey Weinstein is. Of course you also get insight into how many different films were made and who made how much on each film. The book is a bit long, coming in at nearly 500 pages, but most of it is laced with enough gossipy dirt to keep the reader interested. I found the parts about Harvey Weinstein to be the most interesting. The book details his many "death threats" to various people from lowly assistants to big name directors. Women should especially enjoy this book as Harvey constantly refers to them as "bitches" throughout the book. Overall this book showed that Harvey Weinstein is a complete asshole, despite some of the wonderful films that he has helped bring to life through Miramax.

2004-07-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

Stream this new De La Soul song, courtesy of Spitkickers. The song is called "Rock Kokaine Flow" and features MF Doom.

Watch the new Beastie Boys video, "Triple Trouble."

Eightball and MJG "Straight Cadillac Pimpin" video

Shyne dissing 50 Cent on "For The Record"

2004-07-23T15:11:00.000-04:00

Lean Back remix to feature Eminem and Mase

Franz Ferdinand want the Automator for their next album. The band has been talking with producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura about working on their second album. It looks promising since lead singer Alex Kapranos contributed vocals to Automator's upcoming Handsome Boy Modeling School project.

Jay-Z is looking to Warner Bros. to back new label. According to the story, he plans on calling the label Shawn Carter.

Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out (Just Blaze remix) video. I'm not sure if they'll actually play this on tv or if this will be one of those things that just floats around the internet (ie: Kanye's Two Words video).

2004-07-23T02:40:00.000-04:00

Jerry Goldsmith passed away recently at the age of 75. Goldsmith scored over 200 films including Chinatown, The Planet of the Apes, and The Omen. Goldsmith won an academy award for his Omen score in 1976. Here is a song from that film: Ave Satani.

2004-07-21T16:23:00.000-04:00

Oooh baby, that's hot.

Allison reviews some pop

2004-07-21T00:32:00.000-04:00

The Killers - Somebody Told Me - I really like his voice but this song sucks. "Somebody told me that you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February or last year..." Those are some pretty bad lyrics. Yeah right, like this guy can't remember when he had a relationship with someone. It sounds like he is having some weird jealousy problems. The only thing going for this band is how ridiculously catchy this song is. That's all......well, his voice is good too.

MICHAEL: Yeah, I'm not feeling this one. I prefer the Strokes and some Franz Ferdinand when it comes to the retroish sounding bands.

Fat Joe and Terror Squad - Lean Back - It's a really stupid intro to the song, but the beat with the strings is really intresting. Besides the chorus saying "Now lean back", the lyrics aren't anything memorable. It sounds like Lil' Kim is in this but I could be wrong. I can't help but want to dance my ghetto booty to this but it's just like the rest of the rap that's around.

MICHAEL: Wow. Scott Storch laced Terror Squad with a killer beat. Fat Joe comes proper, but after his verse I just don't care. The verse by the female rapper is awful. It sounds like she recorded a verse without even hearing the beat that it would be on.

Modest Mouse - Float On - I've heard this song many times on the radio and before it got insanely played, I really liked it. I remember seeing it on MTV and thinking that this would be the next overly played song this summer. Wow....I was completely correct. Despite that it is played a lot, I still like it. I think that the guitar and the singer's high pitched yodeling voice mesh really well together.

MICHAEL: Did Modest Mouse sell out? Because if so I'm still feeling their material. And the video for this is unfuckwitable.

Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out- I really like that one guy who has a coarse voice. It makes my vagina wanna' scream....well, not really, but I just like it. I can't stand that repetitive explosive noise though. It just sounds like they couldn't think of anything better to add to their beat so they just repeated the same thing over again. Whenever this one comes on the radio, I feel like doing the running man. It just reminds me of old school rap.

MICHAEL: If the Beastie Boys released crap like this every couple of years it wouldn't be so bad. But it's not like that. I had to wait six years for this, so my expectations kept getting higher as time passed. I'll be nice and not call it a letdown, but this ain't rockin my cd player like Intergalactic did in 98.

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out - Who is this? The Strokes? Oooooh, I really like it when the tempo slows down. Then some guitar steps in and everything is good. Arms flinging in the air good. Pretty clever with the "I know I won't be leaving here......with you" Oh, you crazy kidders! The drums aren't memorable at all. The ending is pretty plain and it doesn't leave my stomach feeling happy.

MICHAEL: Is this the only single FF has released? This is pretty cool, but I want to hear that "so much better on holiday" song on the radio and the MTV or maybe "Michael."

Juvenile - Slow Motion (featuring Soulja Slim) - Whatever happened to a good love song? "I'm tryin' to grab that ass..." Oh well. There are just some really bad lyrics. The guitar is soothing eventhough it is quite repetitive. I really can't say much about this song. I'm not impressed. When the song was over, I felt like being wooed by a man.

MICHAEL: Juvenile has done it again. He's made a song with a chorus that stays embedded in my brain and verses that I can't remember right after I listen to the song.

Loretta Lynn - Portland, Oregon (featuring Jack White) - Awwwww damn. This is incredible. I dont' know why, but this song reminds me of the sunrise, bright colors, and strange things. I can't tell how old she is (not that that matters) with a voice like hers, but it's really good. His is the same way, it just sounds honest and uncomplicated. I might just end up loving this song.

MICHAEL: It doesn't seem like I should be writing about Loretta Lynn, but Jack White took an interest in her, so now she's relevant. I guess that's cool, but folks who listen to popular country music aren't going to be replacing their shit with good stuff like this any time soon.

Jadakiss - Why (featuring Anthony Hamilton) - Wow, he starts the song with a cough. Nasty. I like it when they actually sing rather than rap. He's got a good question: Why do things happen the way they do? Eh, the song is growing on me a little. The bell noise is pretty good.

MICHAEL: It's nice to see Jadakiss has found a way to market his album and his name to a larger audience.

Christina Milian - Dip It Low - This is catchy. I saw the video to this song when I first heard it and this chick really made me think of how sex driven our society is getting. Images of her scantily clad are everywhere and if I was a mother, I would really hate this video. I wouldn't want my child to see a crazy muse like her. Don't get me wrong - I love sex like the next girl, but I really worry about showing it on tv. As for this song - it just seems like the next pop song that will be forgotten in a few months. I dance to this song with my friends but it doesn't make me truly happy.

MICHAEL: I'll be honest, I haven't actually listened to this song. I just put it on the mix for Allison because it was on MTV's playlist.

Lloyd Banks - On Fire - This has a really good beat. The same typical lyrics though. Did I hear something about your bling? Perhaps your ride? Yeah normal shit. The only thing that stood out for me was the piano during the ending. It was really good and they should have had that throughout the song also. Some piano would have convinced me that this song would be more worth while.

MICHAEL: I'm not a G-Unit fan, but if I had to pick one of em to listen to, it'd be Banks. He's got a nice flow, but he's a little light on content. Not that I care that much, but other than at a party, I probably wouldn't be listening to this.

Coheed and Cambria - A Favor House Atlantic - Is this a little girl singing or an unfortunate dude? This group will probably stay popular because of his voice. The drums are really basic, but I like the guitar. It isn't anything special. Blegh.

MICHAEL: I don't know why this is popular. This song is just stupid.

Mase - Welcome Back - Now this is good rap. I can't honestly tell you why this is any better than another rap song but maybe it's the even mixture of men's, women's, and children's voices which wins my heart. I know that the song is relatively more positive than the other rap songs that I've just heard but they just say how I feel about the song: "You know you like that". I do.

MICHAEL: This isn't nearly as bad as it could've been. The gimmicky sample is a bit fresher than I thought it would be when I first heard about it. So, Mase made a hit single, but what is he gonna fill an album with now that he doesn't drink, smoke, or do women?

Hoobastank - The Reason - He holds his whole notes really well. This sounds like one of those songs that makes you feel better after you break up with your loved one......only if you are 13 years old though. The lyrics are a little too dramatic for real life, but good try. I like the strings.

MICHAEL: I think this is what wusses that like mainstream rock listen to.

Gift of Gab - Rat Race - I like this, but something feels like it is missing. It sounds like they made this song up by accident and wanted to make it a joke for their future selves. Not impressed.

MICHAEL: I'm a big fan of Blackalicious, but I'm not feeling this new Gift of Gab single. Lyrics Born is so much hotter on the mic right now.

Jet - Cold Hard Bitch - Ohhh a dramatic beginning. I love it when guys scream. The guitar is pretty good but the lyrics are blah. Man, can't somebody make a good song that is relatively new and on the radio?

MICHAEL: The guitar riffs sound like they stole them from an ACDC song.

Ashlee Simpson - Pieces of Me - Well, apparently they can't make a good song. This is shit. Large excrement piles.

MICHAEL: I am choosing not to listen to this one.

Nelly - Flap Your Wings - I know who the hell this is. Nelly's songs all sound the same. "Drop down and get your eagle on, girl" = "It's hot in here so take off all your clothes". It sounds like the same beat too. I kind of like the organ during the second half of the song.

MICHAEL: I enjoy this song for the random "Bling" Nelly throws in. Contrary to what Allison wrote, I think that this beat sounds much different from Nelly's other beats.

Iron and Wine - Each Coming Night - I don't know if it is two men singing or the power of technology which creates the harmony, but it's really soothing. The guitar is equally soothing. I like the banjo a lot. It adds the goodness of feet dipped in a lake.

MICHAEL: This might be too acoustic and wussy to ever be played on MTV or the radio. I just added it to the mix because it's good stuff.

Ghostface - Save Me Dear - His voice seems rushed with the tempo at times, but other than that this is a prime cut song. Everything melts together well and all I can do is bop my head to the beat.

MICHAEL: I know this one was the latest 12" single, but is this gonna be a video? Because that would be sweet. Ghostface is getting all emo on us.

2004-07-20T14:38:00.000-04:00

Nelly Investing In Charlotte Bobcats

Brand Nubian over "Slow Motion"

New Dirt McGirt "Lift Ya Skirt"

LL Cool J "Headsprung" video

New MC Shan tracks: If Ya Still Care and Muthafucka

Check out these Declare Yourself PSAs. They're weird and one of them has Planet Asia in it.

2004-07-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

P.Diddy recently met with the Young Republicans and the best part was his threatening t-shirt.

Avril Lavigne is also into voting.
Can this even count as a crazy rockin' the vote t-shirt? Her shirt says "vote" only when you include collar as a letter. This shirt has nothing on Diddy.

Bill O'Reilly hates Jadakiss.

Nelly set to drop two albums at once. By doing this he joins Bruce Springsteen and Guns N Roses as the only other acts to do so. I can understand recording a ton of material and dropping two albums within a year, but two albums on one day? Just do a double album, so the critics and internet message boarders can forever talk about which tracks could've been trimmed to make it a "classic." But I guess this is a good way for press and maybe more money.

Mos Def was nominated for an Emmy. I totally missed this. I admit I didn't actually read the emmy nominations; I just checked to see who was nominated for best comedy series. Anyhow, congratulations go out to the mighty Mos Def.

What does Spike Lee think of R. Kelly and 50 Cent? Not too much.

2004-07-16T13:38:00.000-04:00

The Quarterwit comes through with a great, time consuming link: Hero Machine. I'm gonna be on this site all day and maybe I'll post my creations later.

Large Hearted Boy has provided us with a link to a collection of Radiohead videos.

Check out some live Roots concerts.

2004-07-16T02:42:00.000-04:00

Watch the trailer for Ray.

Picture Post

2004-07-15T15:43:00.000-04:00

Royal Magazine is.......

2004-07-15T14:50:00.000-04:00

Emmy nominations are out. Arrested Development better get best comedy series; other than that, I don't care.

Andre 3000 and Alicia Silverstone voted world's sexiest vegetarians.

P Diddy says If you don't have Ready to Die, your portfolio on hip-hop ain't really on point. For once, I think Diddy might be right.

2004-07-14T14:09:00.000-04:00

Just like every other fresh faced youngster, Lindsay Lohan is making an album. Lohan has recently signed a long term recording contract with Casablanca Records.

Bye Bye Master P. Percy "Master P" Miller has been cut from the Denver Nuggets summer league team.

Listen to a Beastie Boys interview from the BBC.

If you like reality tv you're in luck because Fox is launching an all reality tv cable channel. The Fox Reality Channel will debut in early 2005. "The Fox broadcast network has yet to comment on criticism from rivals that it has stolen their ideas for new reality shows, mounting a boxing show after NBC decided to do so and debuting "Trading Spouses," a show about parents from different families switching places, ahead of "Wife Swap" on ABC, which first came up with the idea." This is just stupid, since everyone knows that neither ABC nor Fox came up with the idea for a Wifeswap/Trading Spouses type of show, but Dave Chappelle did when he took a jab at reality tv with a skit about a show called Trading Spouses.

Me Read More...

2004-07-14T01:20:00.000-04:00

I'm a big fan of fiction. I always thought that if I was going to write a book, I'd want to write a children's fiction book because I have the same colorful mentality to that of a snot-faced kid. I still read children's fiction and sometimes, I can't get out of the groove of reading it. The past two books that I've read are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling and The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 10) by Lemony Snicket.
I was really hesitant about reading one of the Harry Potter books because every single stupid kid or stupid soccer mom has gotten hooked on reading the first of the series. I didn't want to become one of "them", I guess. I don't know why I chose to read The Sorcerer's Stone. I just gave in and read it.
I started reading it as if I would have hated it. It wasn't really fair to the book, but I did end up enjoying the quidditch game (a wizard sport) and the wizard language that Rowling made up. I didn't love it, to be honest, but sadly it was cute.
As for Lemony Snicket's series, I started to read his books before they began to be "cool". These, unlike Harry Potter, are promising because they are the total opposite of what children's fiction usually is: happy. It's a total turn-off to read books that always end with the bad guy losing. Of the ten books that I've read the villan, Count Olaf, always wins. I'm not even giving away the ending of the novel because Snicket makes it a point that the reader know this before reading any further than the first chapter. There will be a movie coming out on December 17. I've seen the trailor and it looks as if they smush three books into one movie. There will probably be four movies made to finish the series. I definitely recommend his books to anyone of any age but I would really start from the first book and go through. It probably seems confusing to those who havn't read along with the other books to start on the tenth book. Go to www.apple.com to check out the trailor.

Mike finally reviews a mix!

2004-07-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

Several times now I've given Allison a mix to review without a tracklisting, so she would go into the reviewing process (hopefully) without any knowledge of what she was listening to, giving her a more open minded chance at review. Now the tables have turned. Allison gave me a mix titled "Allison's Flava," and I was the one who had to do the "blind" review. So here it is. The track names will be posted later when she gets back from work. Hopefully, she'll give us some insight into the songs as well.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Tick
This song ticks along like the Baby Ben that I keep at the side of my bed. This rocks hard and fast. At under two minutes, I was interested in this song the whole time.

Chevelle - The Red
I've heard this song before, which means it's some modern rock radio type bullshit. This type of stuff all sounds the same to me. I guess it's considered rock, but it doesn't rock like the previous track did. The vocals are all slow and the guitar riffs don't grab me. This track reminds me of that episode of Chappelle where that guy is pitching Dave a movie idea and Dave's mind drifts off and thinks of random things while the guy is talking. That's what my mind is doing while I listen to this; I want an Arnold Palmer. I should really listen to that new Roots cd. Are we going to the movies tonight? Should I make hamburger helper for dinner....

Los Trios - The Gossip and The Gossiper
This song might be okay, but it's mixed poorly. It has the lowest vocals I've heard in quite some time. The guitar is kinda nice though. Okay, I'm getting something,"All this regret, sit and reflect." I'm about halfway through this song, and I'm bored. It's nice and light, but I'm just not feeling this. I guess it's the singer's voice or lyrics or something.

The White Stripes - Hello Operator
Hmmm, a bluesy sounding rock band with simple drumming, guitar riffs, and no bass. It must be the White Stripes. This isn't the best sounding stuff I've heard from them, but I'm feeling this track. This song is quite simplistic, but it works. It's much better than that modern rock crap on the second track. The White Stripes are probably my favorite out of all of the popular rock bands right now. And at about two and a half minutes, you don't get bored of this.

Billie Holliday - Strange Fruit
Yeah, I know this song. A classic jazz song that I've been hearing on my sister's mixtapes for a few years now. This is a bit creepy though. I'm not down with comparing dead bodies to fruit. It's probably because I eat fruit, but I don't eat dead bodies. I guess I just don't like to think about bulging eyes and the smell of burning flesh when I'm eating a plum.

Los Lonely Boys - Heaven
Is this Christian rock? For some reason, I can imagine my Dad listening to something like this.

Clipse - Ma, I Don't Love Her
Allison hooking it up with a rap song. The beat sounds Neptunish. I think this might be the Clipse, so it might actually be a Neptunes beat. Either way, I don't care. This song is blah.

Cake or Death - Panda Bear
Nice, short, and folky. I'm liking this. It's just some dude and an acoustic guitar with some double tracking on his voice. He seems to like panda bears. I like bears, but I'm more into the standard brown bear variety.

The Streets - The Irony of It All
I think this is the Streets. This song has a good concept: pot smoker vs. alcohol drinker. I haven't liked most of the stuff I've heard from him, but this song is interesting enough to listen to every once in a while. The beat is kinda corny and the vocals take some getting used to, but this is pretty good. In the end, it seems like the Streets prefer the pot to the booze.

Danny Elfman - Psycho Theme
This song feels dark and menacing. I'm having trouble making out the vocals, so I'm not really sure what this one is all about, but it is long. This one's coming in at over six minutes. This sounds like it could work in a film.

The Power Puff Girls - Love Makes The World Go Round
This is some children's song, but it has pretty wild drums. The corny, "Love makes the world go round" chorus makes me think of Fraggle Rock, but I don't think this is from that.

The Boons - Lies
This starts with a wicked bassline reminiscent of the one at the start of "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots. But the coolness ends there as this track goes all eighties sounding on me. This sounds like something that could've been in Donnie Darko.

Bjork - I've Seen It All
This song is from that movie where Bjork wears nerd glasses and sings a lot. I don't like much Bjork, but this one is solid. If I remember correctly the music was started by sounds made by trains and crap like that.

2004-07-13T10:44:00.000-04:00

An article on graphic novels from New York Times magazine

2004-07-13T02:42:00.000-04:00

Eminem radio

Win DJ Shadow's In Tune and On Time dvd from Pixel Surgeon. Watch the trailer for In Tune and On Time.

Murs "Bad Man" video

Jaylib, Mos Def, and Peanut Butter Wolf at Montruex Festival (video in real media)

Tom Waits reveals more about new album, including release date and tracklisting. Real Gone will be released on Anti Records on October 4th. The tracklisting is as follows:
01 Top of the Hill
02 Hoist That Rag
03 Sins of My Father
04 Shake It
05 Don't Go Into That Barn
06 How's It Gonna End
07 Metropolitan Glide
08 Dead and Lovely
09 Circus
10 Trampled Rose
11 Green Grass
12 Baby Gonna Leave Me
13 Clang Boom Steam
14 Make It Rain
15 Day After Tomorrow

No Anti-War billboards

Also, check out the new look over at All Music

2004-07-12T15:23:00.000-04:00

"It looks like we're gonna get pissed on." These were the words that the proprietor of my local corner store chose to describe today's weather forecast.
I went there to pick up a newspaper and a drink, which brings me to my next point: my new drink of choice, an Arnold Palmer. An Arnold Palmer is half iced tea and half lemonade and it is delicious. I'm not particularly a fan of either iced tea or lemonade, but the taste of this drink is just slamming.
On the topic of foodstuff, check out Phoood, a food blog that I found a link to on somebody's blog (probably someone over there to the right).

2004-07-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

?uestlove interview in the New York Post. "Hip hop culture is totally mainstream right now."

Speaking of the Roots, their new album, Tipping Point is in stores tommorow and they are appearing on Late Night With Conan O'Brian on Wednesday.

2004-07-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

Qwel - The Siren of Staten Island
My favorite of the Galapagos 4 artists has a new one coming out August 17th: Qwel and Maker The Harvest. Check out this track and then check for the album in August.

2004-07-10T18:39:00.000-04:00

Check out Viktor Vaughn "Mr. Clean" video

2004-07-09T18:34:00.000-04:00

10 Things You Should Know about the Beastie Boys from Blender

SOHH breaks us off with some news including: Mos Def's The New Danger set to drop on September 28, Camron's Purple Haze is being pushed back to August, and A Tribe Called Quest might be reuniting.

2004-07-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

Check out some old school hip hop videos here. This link was found on Soul Strut.

2004-07-08T16:25:00.000-04:00

New Madlib article from Filter Magazine

MTV's Hard Rock Live: Kanye West performance part 1, part 2, part 3 (streaming windows media found on Okay Player boards).

DJ Z-Trip Motown Breakdown part one (found on Okay Player boards).

I am quoted in this article on MP3 blogs from USA Today.

2004-07-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

There's going to be a Die Hard 4 according to Moviehole. The film is currently in the script writing stage and is slated for a summer 2006 release.

According to Comingsoon.net, Jay Chandrasekhar, member of Broken Lizard and director of Super Troopers, will be directing the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard movie.

The trailer is up for the film Finding Neverland. The film stars Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie and is about the experiences that lead him to write Peter Pan.

The trailer for She Hate Me is also availabe online. The film is the latest from Spike Lee and is apparently about a former executive who impregnates lesbians for profit. The film stars Anthony Mackie, best known as Poppa Doc in Eight Mile, along with Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Woody Harrelson, Monica Bellucci, Jim Brown, John Turturro, and Q-Tip. This sounds interesting.

2004-07-05T14:55:00.000-04:00

Here's some crazy gossip from Best Week Ever:
Johnny Depp bought his own island.
Macy Gray is peforming nude for charity.
Jennifer Lopez used to vomit to get out of sex.

2004-07-03T15:42:00.000-04:00

Allison and I went to check out Spiderman 2 last night. Overall, this movie is about as good as the first one, but with more of Spiderman bitching. The action sequences were well done, the story was basically the same, and the acting was pretty okay. I also noticed that the story by credit was given to one of my favorite authors, Michael Chabon, author of Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. If you're into comic books or action films, then you'll probably enjoy this film.

If you don't want to pay the eight bucks or whatever your theater charges for Spiderman 2, then check out this Spiderman 2 video made out of Legos.

2004-07-01T14:14:00.000-04:00

DJ Shadow interview from React Magazine.

2004-06-30T17:49:00.000-04:00

It's time for your Lex news.

Check out the video for Dangermouse and Jemini's What U Sittin' On 26" remix featuring Cee Lo and Tha Alkaholiks. It is currently up at Up The Resolution. Once there click on Work and then on Dangermouse and Jemini.

Dangermouse is like mainstream hot right now. Check him as he ranks number 20 on Entertainment Weekly's Must List. And here's the full list. He's also 91 on Q Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the Music Industry.

2004-06-30T16:18:00.000-04:00

For you NYC heads out there, Def Jux and Virgin Megastores are bringing you Independent's Week: A Celebration of Independent Hip Hop. But looking at the flyer it appears as if they're bringing you a Celebration of Definitive Jux, as all of the live acts are Def Jux artists. The events will be running from Tuesday July 6th - Thursday July 8th at Virgin Megastore Union Square. The events will feature panel discussions, workshops, and live performances from RJD2, Aesop Rock, Hangar 18, Rob Sonic, SA Smash, C-Rayz Walz, and others. Check out the link for more details.

Also, Maxim has written an article on SA Smash.

2004-06-30T14:57:00.000-04:00

The Beatnuts have beef with J.Lo. It's for the obvious reason, which is that J.Lo straight up stole from "Watch Out Now" for her song "Jenny From The Block." Psycho Les and Juju will take aim at Lopez on their single "Confused Rappers," from their upcoming album Milk Me. My big question is why is this in the news now? We all knew that J.Lo stole the song from the Beatnuts, but why are the Beatnuts just now doing something about it. And why didn't they get a lawyer and try to get some royalties. J-Lo royalties probably equal big bucks.