The Cool!

Today, I got my pre-order of Lupe Fiasco's new album entitled Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. This album is incredible! There is not a single rapper out right now that's coming close to Lupe as far as lyrics are concerned. The themes of this album are really dark and the beats really help shape that almost gothic picture that Lupe paints.

The album features a few songs that tell a story that continues from several songs off of his first album, Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor. The story revolves around a character named Michael Young History (aka The Cool or My Cool Young History). He grows up fatherless and falls to the temptation of the world. He is tempted by a temptress like character named The Streets. The Streets is married to an evil villain named The Game. The Game and The Streets use The Cool to accomplish their sinister plans and in the end The Cool dies but comes back to life and is tormented by his past mistakes.

Lupe also addresses social topics such as violence in video games, child soldiers in Africa, unhealthy food, and the war in Iraq. No other rapper is addressing these topics with the intellect and lyrical skills that Lupe provides. Please go listen to this album! Here's the video for "Dumb it Down":

The Future

We had an interesting discussion today in Sports Marketing Class on the future of the field. My group was assigned the WNBA. LAME! Their outlook is not so good. Their major opportunities would be to expand to new markets but several teams have folded recently, including the Charlotte Sting.

College football is another interesting one. To me they have the best product, but until they have a playoff system (even if it was just a 4 team playoff) they will not be as successful as they could be. It'll never happen though. The conferences make way too much money off of the bowl games. Maybe if the NCAA was more willing to share some of the profits they make off March Madness, then the conferences would be more willing to let go of the chokehold they have on the BCS System.

Another one we discussed with a not so positive outlook is the Olympics. They have the best media contracts and a worldwide audience but scandals and doping have tainted the achievements of the athletes. I feel like they've kind of oversaturated the Olympics with too many sports too. It seems like when I was a kid they only had half the sports they do now but maybe I was just less aware of the random, obscure sports like ice dancing, curling, rhythmic gymnastics, etc.

Well here's the future of basketball: Derrick Freakin' Rose!!! This guy is incredible!



How can you watch that and not believe that Memphis will be in the Final 4 this year?! Who cares that their Coach is John Callipari, one of the slimiest guys in the business. This kid is the real deal!

No Joke!

Devin Hester is the man. He makes a living returning punts and kicks. It seems like every week we're seeing him on the highlight reel. This week was no exception. He returned not one but two kicks for touchdowns. Here's the first:

I love how he just jumped over the punter. It was almost as if the punter knew how fast Hester is and he decided he'd have to jump early in order to make a play on him but he jumped way too early and Hester just leaped over him.

That Steelers - Dolphins Monday Night game was so ugly! I was proud of John Beck though. Like me, Beck served a two-year mission for the Latter-Day Saint Church. I thought he played as well as he could've considering the poor field conditions. I sure hope he leads the Dolphins to their first win this season.

My First Blog

So I was pretty slow to catch on to this whole blogging thing. I've been reading enough other blogs though that I thought I was ready to jump on the bandwagon. I hope my posts will be enjoyable and insightful to all those who stumble across this.

So today, I've been listening to the new Radiohead album, "In Rainbows". I'm new to their music but after watching a Jay-Z interview online and hearing him rave about it, I figured I'd check it out. If you haven't already heard, "In Rainbows" is available only online and you decide how much you pay for it. Jay-Z said he paid $50 for it; I paid much less. The idea is a great one though. This revolutionary way of distributing music could put iTunes and Amazon out of business.

Jay-Z is probably my favorite musician. He's got the complete package: intricate lyrics, great delivery, business savvy, and he's an awesome performer. I was so impressed with "American Gangster. And to see how he performed it on VH-1 Storytellers was cool too.

Here's a clip of the Jay-Z interview with Charlie Rose on PBS: