Cool As a Milkshake in a Snowstorm...

Barry's School Daze... by the way holla at ya boy boy if you need an address during inauguration week... if you've got 10K to drop that is... seriously.

Because you care...

It's the second (and last) day of report card conferences so I'm chilling extra hard at school right now and have come to the conclusion that the music on my laptop is sooooo much weirder than the music on my desktop back at home. So much weirder. I mean, for real. I have albums whose album covers look like this:



And yes, the last one is a group called Cold Cave and the name of their EP is The Trees Grew Emotions And Died, which is a dope ass title cuz it's poetic as the eff word, but yo, it's equally as weird. And look at their faces! I'm not even sure if these 2 folks are even in the group. But if your interested in at least knowing what the Cold Cave album sounds like, click this.

I guess the strange music is all due to the fact that I spend a lotta time on the laptop looking up weird ish. (Where else do you think I find French neo-soul/electronica from?) All that to say, I'm not your favorite blogger's favorite blogger for nothing. Just imagine the kinda ish my favorite bloggers be on.

I Know What You Like

Mick Boogie Presents... Adele: 1988. Click the album cover to download. Cuz I said so.

Tracklisting
1) Chasing 1988: The Intro (f/ 6th Sense)
2) Day Dreams (nVMe Remix)
3) Tired (6th Sense Remix)
4) First Love (Remot Remix f/ Naledge)
5) My Same (Garbs Infinite Remix)
6) Melt My Heart To Stone (Kickdrums Remix f/ Big Pooh)
7) Cold Shoulder (Garbs Infinite Remix)
8) Right As Rain (nVMe Remix)
9) Make You Feel My Love (Remot Remix)

EDIT: It looks like the link is down. I tried to play nice and direct link the actual source but all the trendsters have crashed the link. When I get back home I'll re-up personally to a different link. Until then, keep the Naledge remix on repeat. And expect me to stunt hard when all these late-comers start acting like they been on Adele. Check my pedigree.

Believe the Hype

Adele - First Love (Remix) Ft. Naledge

I've quieted the whole mp3 game lately, but I had to drop this one. Regulars should already know that I think Adele is the only white girl that matters. We put yall onto her album, 19, back during Black History Month, and we even dropped the deluxe edition in June for good measure. Unfortunately, the download counter let me know that many of yall slept on this chick, prolly cuz she doesn't suffer from a drug-induced delirium like her contralto "Just say no to rehab" counterpart, Amy Winehouse. I caught her show in Philly back in June and the chick put on one of the best performances I've been to. Either way, 19 is a bonafide classic, and the girl can sing her plump behind off.

Mick Boogie's releasing an entire mixtape of remixes off her last album tomorrow. This single leaked today. She's also nominated for a few Grammies and is up against artists like Jazmine Sullivan, Coldplay, Leona Lewis, M.I.A., and the over-rated Duffy. I personally think she should win every category for which she was nominated. I also think they shoulda nominated 19 over Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman for Album of the Year.

What Drake said...

"With me, women be building these skeptical walls/ But once you slept with one dime, man, you've slept with them all."
-Drake

Hip-hop, where would I be without you?

This is my attitude toward women who behave as though white, black, and Mexican Jesus personally placed the holy grail between their vaginal walls, equipped them with anaconda-like constricting muscle control, and laced it with 8 different forms of crack cocaine for extra security.

Ladies, grow up and "act like an adult for once." Trix are for kids.

I've been fortunate to have had a number of quality females in my life, which then makes it evermore difficult to deal with chicks who treat their pum pum as the carrot at the end of a stick and my penis as the horse. To put it frankly: If you act like that, then the cooter must not be that good. My honest opinion is that any chick who has to behave in such a manner does so because the chase is more exciting than the actual catch. And I'll be damned if I'm out fishing, feel something heavy on the line and put in work to get it in the boat, only to find out it's a friggin seaweed infested boot.

Either that, or you just don't know what you want in life.

But a big part of the fault lies with the dudes who encourage said behaviors. Then these females come around me and think I'm gonna give them attention because

1. They think I have limited experience with females, especially attractive ones. (The gift and the curse of keeping ur personal life personal.) So they truly believe that I will fall for them simply because they give me attention. (Sorry, I don't have mommy and daddy issues--that trick won't work.)
2. They are unaware that I have stellar references. (same gift. same curse.) The strong move quiet. The weak start riots.
   
3. The other weak niggas they've been with let them get away with that bulldiddy and allowed them to think it was acceptable.

This is usually what happens next:

• Female becomes perplexed that my interest level has diminished, wherein casual encounters are devoid of any previous flirtation, but still ripe with charm.
• Female then becomes interested in my disinterest, usually much to her own chagrin, as she feels the locus of control moving from her hands into mine.
• At some point, such interest is made apparent, via drunken encounter or chance text message.
• I respond flatly with mild indifference, further frustrating said female.
• This continues indefinitely until:
  
• An offer is made to meet some point after where, desperate for attention, said female willingly places herself in a compromising situation. (e.g. any request to hang out at a person's place of residence any time when one should be sleeping, especially if one is already sleepy. Extra desperation if the female travels to the guy's crib despite her own claims of drowsiness.)
  
• Gotcha bitch!

Now, I've borne witness to this phenomenon and seen the baddest females fall, and sometimes I pity them. Though it may not seem as such, I'm not tryna play games here. I genuinely lose interest in any female who is playing coy because she thinks she's God's gift to reproductive organs. I've often moved on to somebody else more worthy of my efforts and with a more secure sense of who they are and what they want, which in turn, bruises the pride of the girl who thinks she's got the golden chalice cooter. At this point, it's just about seizing an opportunity with minimal cost and optimal benefit.

But the best way to avoid all of this is to be clear. Know what you want, and be clear about it. Most men do this instinctively. Some too much so. Women, however, have been conditioned to believe that such behavior is unlady-like and even whorish. It's not. Now, if you wanna boink every man you see, you may need to seek psychiatric attention and work out some personal issues, but if a dude strikes your fancy and you think it might be interesting to let him push you on the swings, say something and kill the tomfoolery. If you like what you get, cool. If not, it's not like you're tied to the nigga forever. Be real, say it wasn't what I'd hoped for and move on. It saves both of you time just in case 1.) it's a great combination so you get to skip all the pre-shenanigan shenanigans, or 2.) it's not great, so you don't have to spend time with someone only to find out it wasn't worth your time.

Maybe I'm weird, but this all makes sense to me. And I honestly feel that the world would be a much better place if dudes took the attitude of Drake. Thoughts?

I Believe The Children Are The Future :(

Once I again I stand by my assertion that there is nothing in B-More for me other than the occasional show at Bedrock, or a White Sox visit to Camden Yards...

Hangin On

So far, the Monta Ellis experiment aint going half bad... Bad thing is it aint winning either. Considering that my comp was loaded with the likes of Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Shaq, Kevin "Ugliest Shoe Ever" Durant, Shawn Marion & Deron Williams, my motley crew of bammas starring Marquis Daniels could've fared a lot worse. Maybe I am an evil genius with the fantasy b-ball after all.

By the way Philly fans... now that this is freshly removed from your mind's recesses, I'll gladly bring it back.


And they wonder why Mo Cheeks got fired!

Buy Matches

As is usual, I began working on the fourth edition of Real Niggas Light Candles almost immediately after releasing the third jawn. I will humbly admit that the last one was a tough act to follow, and I don't even think I'm gonna try to eclipse it. The randomness of it could only be explained by the fact that it was an amalgamation of 7 months' work. My steez is very different right now, but who knows what could happen by the time I'm done with this one? All I can say is, I spent much of last night and this morning wittling down the RNLC4 playlist down to a dedicated core of songs and, so far, me likey. Stock up on candles. You'll be burning em come 2009.

Recession Special

This was the first free Saturday I've had in over 2 months. It was also the first time I had a little bit of expendable income. I would call it luck, but since I'm a water sign and the moon was at its perigee, maybe it was written. Either way, I made it downtown to do some Christmas shopping for the fam and of course only bought things for myself.

Ubiq released its Holiday line today with a rack of kicks, tees, hoodies, and fitteds. Plus they've got the entire store on friggin sale with everything from the stockroom out on the floor. Practicing some financial restraint, I picked up a fitted and something else that's like 2 seasons old, but was on a steep discount (shoutouts to Andy.) But if you're not like me and have dough to squander, make ur way down to Walnut St. or holler at that Ubiq link and make it rain.

Aesop's Fables

FINALLY got to go see Slumdog Millionaire today, which if you haven't seen, u must have been as busy as I've been the past month. The joint was crazy good.

As usual, I'm not much for summaries cuz I don't like to ruin good movies, but if you've seen it, then you know Freida Pinto is well worth an arranged marriage:


And also, if you stayed through the credits, you remember hearing this joint.

M.I.A. - O... Saya

Damn, nothing subpar bout that subcontinent.

Welcome To Hartbreak

Get to know Fred Hart... this guy might be a Kanye-stan, but at least he puts it to better use than some of the psychopaths that comment on Ye's blog. At least if 808's doesn't sell he can rest assured that there's a legitamate market for a rubber mold of his johnson. Pause. But back to the lecture at hand... Mr. Hart created a series of covers for each track from 808's as a tribute of sorts.


























By the way... I've figured out why I dig this cd so much despite the icebox where my heart used to be. It's like Tears for Fears greatest hits on steroids and set in 2008! And a majorly dig Tears for Fears. Pause. Peep and you'll understand.

Names change, but the game remains the same

WTHN Philadelphia is now Alife Rivington Club Philly. One of my peeps in the "industry" hipped me to this back when I had money to spend (aka last summer). He also told me that they were planning on moving up the block to a vacant space with a killer facade. My thoughts at the time were:

• how?
• when?
• really?

I haven't been over there yet, but word is it's still at the same location. This is a good look because it affords Philly with a viable alternative to the streetwear superstore that is Ubiq Walnut. When Ubiq closed temporarily for renovations, it was a boon to all the other smaller shops in Philly like Deep Sleep, Pedestrian, and WTHN, along with other pure skate shops like Exit and Nocturnal. It was also crucial to their development, as most of them opened up around the time Ubiq was preparing to shut down. The newer stores carried more real heat than Ubiq did, which at the time was tryna pass off Franco Shade gear as though it were the hottest thing on the streets. :|

Meanwhile, the smaller shops were carrying all the stuff ppl really wanted--and they profited accordingly. Wanted the hottest in Japanese denim or some of that stuff that even streetkids think is weird? Holler at Phil over at Deep Sleep. Some fresh tees? Pedestrian on South St had 'em on hold for you. And those new Nike's? By the time they were up on Mason's WTHN blog, there were prolly only 3 sizes left. When The Hundreds released their Adam Bomb 59/50's at 5 stores nationwide, WTHN was one of them.

But once Ubiq reopened, the game changed. And how could it not? They already had a brand, a prime location in Philadelphia's downtown shopping district, and a layout that was purely bananas. Once they started signing on Vans and then Stussy to occupy the second floor of their literal mansion, it was a wrap for the small guy. I know for a fact that every small shop took a hit when Ubiq Walnut reopened, and continued to as Ubiq first grabbed esoteric brands like Perks and Mini and Supreme, and later got all the streetwear staples like Crooks, The Hundreds, Mishka, 10Deep, et al. Not to mention they revamped their sneaker accounts as well.

Personally, I realized it when I noticed that I stopped going down to 2nd St. to shop like I used to on the weekends. Along with having connects at Ubiq already, they pretty much carried what I wanted if I wanted it, and the old shops were obviously not getting the exclusives they had been while Ubiq was closed.

The only exception was that Deep Sleep still had some great denim and some good left-of-left-of-center brands, and WTHN was the only place to cop ALIFE stuff due to his relationship with their ppl. For that reason, it wasn't much of a surprise when I heard this last summer, but I still felt some type of way about losing a small, young Philadelphia institution to a quasi-conglomerate. It's the cappuccino-crowd's equivalent to walking into you favorite local coffee shop to find out it's now a Starbucks. (Well, not entirely, but still, you get my drift.)

I'm gonna try and get down there this weekend. Hopefully the change will help Mason get some more goods to the level that the Alife store in NYC has.

I say this like I actually have money to buy any of it, which I don't, but hey, it's the season of giving. Any of you folks interested in providing apparel or footwear for a hardworking young man such as myself, you know how to contact me.

Royalty Checks for KP & Envyi

Remember this dude? One XXL Cover and a Soulja Boy Beef via Youtube later, Dr. Robotnik himself is officialy on autopilot. Peep the Brooklyn Girls vid (a joint we put you onto an entire calendar ago...) and keep your eyes peeled for one of my favorite professional busdowns, Lacey Duvalle at the magazine rack at the end

Charles Hamilton - New Music - More Music Videos

It really is a circus

T-Pain - Chop N Skrewed (Remix)

Got this from T-Pain's ppl today. Have no idea how new or old it is. I do know, however, that it features everybody except your mother--well, on second thought, your mom may be on here if she's from Houston. It's got Bun B, C-Note, Big Pokey, ESG, Lil Keke, Trae & Z-Ro all on it. (H-Town stand up.) I've declined from posting single mp3's lately cuz blogger's been deleting them like incriminating text messages, so if it's not here for long, you know why.

Thank God for Half-Days

I'm sure you noticed the lack of updates from yours truly. The classroom hustle is killing me right now. Thankfully, the other half has come through in the clutch to fulfill the cravings of you internet fiends.

The Paxtons are also on the grizzy like a recording contract depends on it... mostly cuz it does. Members Only is still burning up the internets, the Uptown Roamers party was a stunning success, and the Windy City Brethren have been parked in the DMV working on their next mixtape, to be released on the most important day in Black American History, 1.20.09, aka Barack Hussein Obama's Innauguration Day. They just touched North Philly at the Shoeseum over by Temple and faced down the toughest crowd possible: Philadelphia sneakerheads. As we did for the last mixtape, I'm dropping off a single that's been making its way around the internets for a couple weeks. Disfruta, dingbats.

The Paxtons - Free My Mind '09

Guns & Butter

The Paxtons linked up with DC legend, Judah, on the new track Japanese Denim! Featured on the new DJ Mick Boogie X Hypebeast X Hypetrak-helmed HYPE CLUB Mixtape. Yeah, this hypebeast. Your boys are on the comeup.

The Paxtons - Japanese Denim (produced by JUDAH)

^ Click the album cover to download the whole mixtape. ^

Worst Shoe Ever

Ok, so everyone knows that the Starbury Shoe & Head Tattoo are actually tied for the worst anything of all time, but the Kevin Durant is a close second... also referred to as "dumpster juice" or basura in several Spanish-speaking countries.

All We Got Is Sports & Entertainment

Apparently Joey B. and David Axelrod were in fulleffectmode at the United Center last night watching Barack's Bulls beat the sleeves off the Knicks. Too bad Rowdy Roddy Blagojevich had to sit this one out...


During that same game... this homolarious (word to Cara the OG-RMB) pic was taken.


I miss my city.

I Heart Niggas

For those of y'all that follow "the league" (as I affectionately refer to the NBA), you should be familiar with the LA Clippers newest 20/10 scoring machine with little to no defensive awareness, a slovenly eating habits and chronic shiftlessness... Zach Randolph. My east coast heads should know him from his last 10 months in Knickerbocker Blue and Orange. Regardless, this clip is from his days as Portland Trailblazer... this past February... yep 3 teams in less than one calendar... sigh.


If you missed any of the nigrosity, I took notes.

0:24 that big dumbass large palm holding a bible for which he explains "God blessed me to have this nice house"
2:01 the bassinet and rocking chair in the corner of his bedroom (in lieu of a baby room) with nothing but a pair of gucci print shoes for which he explains "she gotta be ready for when she get here, gucci"
2:42 there's nothing wrong with jail pics... lord knows I got plenty incarcerated fam but the blownup jostens backdrop is hilarious
2:45 the "free larry hoover" poster to compliment...
2:51 ... that huge six point star in the center of that blue table. this nigga is gd folks til the world blow up and wants all of america to know it
2:58 back to the "free larry hoover" poster over a pic of randolph and mandela who he describes as a "real powerful man"
3:42 mike vick's dogs

For cooning yourself on MTV, Randolph rightfully deserved this week's poster courtesy of Superman

Our Word Is Bond

See, we really waited a whole 24 hours before hitting you with that disfruta special! Real talk tho, after Punch Drunk Love, Gladiator and Announcement there's not much to really gush over. Not that men should really gush, but dammit Be and Finding Forever were dope albums! Normally, Rashid's 40 minute ventures are instant repeating playlist material but honestly, the 38 minutes of space-age thundercat rap on UMC leave a lot to be desired.


Download

This is Such a Dope Idea , We Wont Even Leak It Til Tomorrow...

Today only, DTLR's around the country are carrying Common's Universal Mind Control for .99. Way to inflate them numbers with a lil integrity Rashid. Now, go cop that jawn!

Risk v. Reward

So I'm not exactly back to championship form but I'm getting there. As usual I missed my fantasy draft and got fresh-squeezed glass of dumpster juice for a team, but I try not to let that stop me. Week 6's loss dropped me from 3rd to 5th, but being that I'm only 2.5 games out of first I can't trip.

I'm betting all the church's money on Monta Ellis... yep, this bamma. He became a nightly 20/10 threat last season and seeing as how we're 20 games into the season, what better time to sacrifice a scoreless spot on my rotation to lock him down before he returns in January and the scavengers lose it. Remember this is a grown man's game!

In the meantime between time, I'll have to rough it with this motley crew...


PS Fantasy Basketball is that dill pickle.

Jon-B is Probably Beating His Black Girlfriend Right Now...

and Colin Munroe's Unsung Hero mixtape is the soundtrack. Don't get it twisted, he probably does lines to Robin Thicke's Something Else first.


Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero (Mixtape)

These Streets

At YH!SN... we do not directly promote the creep, but as resident real ass niggas that happen to blog we refuse to block anybody's layup. As with most things, if you see fit to travel down that path... educate yourself first!


The COMPLEX Guide To Cheating

Shamelessness is a Virtue

From the Play Cloths event @ C'monwealth DC...

21

"Every Given Sunday" - Raheem DeVaughn ft. Almost every DC music personality except Tabi Bonney

Was listening to the radio when EZ Street premiered this tribute to the late Sean Taylor Thanksgiving weekend back in DC. Definitely deserved. RIP.

This Aint A Shoe Song

Back in October, Wale shot the vid for Nike Boots during HU Homecoming Weekend in DC. Though we no longer document this nigga's every move as the seven internets are doing a bang up job of that, we stay in the know. Below are some pics I took at the video shoot at Mirrors nightclub... sorry no flicks of Mr. Folarin tho.






Chris Robinson's clip came out totally different than I expected (in a good way...) but its pretty dope nonetheless. Goes to show you how ill of a director he is. Enjoy.


Official Wale "Nike Boots" video (Directed by Chris Robinson) from Elitaste on Vimeo.

Mixtape Titles for Dummies

No treatment intended by that tagline but yo... if I had no idea that the Clipse' new album is called Til the Casket Drops, I do now. Nomenclature aside, I had the chance to hear this joint live last night at the Play Cloths launch party and it does not dissapoint.


Hopefully this Columbia budget can do what Jive couldnt 'cuz Lord knows these brothers deserve the shine.


Clipse - Road to Til' the Casket Drops

On My Block

I've decided that I'm gonna start chain smoking and drinking hot sauce and hennessy until my voice is as tough as 'Face. Dont even for a moment think about faking on this joint if you heard the track bearing the same name. You know the routine.

Scarface - Emeritus