2008 Year in Review

2008 has been a crazy year. I graduated from college. My wife and I moved into a new apartment (which is nice but we're now trying to get out of it). My wife got a great job and I got hired by a professional sports team.

Here is my list of favorites of 2008:

Favorite New Artist: Wale - This dude is incredible. I love his lyrics and his style. I really enjoyed his Seinfeld-themed mixtape called "The Mixtape About Nothing." I'm really looking forward to his first official album release in March 09.

Favorite Album: Rising Down by The Roots - The Roots are seriously the only group that consistently lives up to my expectations. As I stated in my review of the album, Rising Down was the perfect continuation of 2007's Game Theory and restored my faith in hip-hop.

Favorite Athlete: Kevin Garnett - The way that he willed the Boston Celtics to their 17th NBA Title was so fun to watch. KG is one of those guys who deserves to win more than anyone else because he cares more than anyone else. He has been the leader of the Celtics' Title Defense this season as well. I love his intensity.

Favorite Team: Alabama Crimson Tide Football - I've always been a big Crimson Tide fan. This year was a dream season until the SEC title game. I know everyone on this planet except for me hates Nick Saban but I think he's done a great job guiding Alabama back into the national spotlight.

Favorite Movie: Traitor - I LOVED this movie. Great acting by Don Cheadle. This movie was also extremely relevant to our current events. I know everyone else is going to scream that Dark Knight was way better but Traitor gets my vote. My dad calls it "The Black Bourne."

Favorite TV Show: The Office - Still the best sitcom on TV. I can't wait to see how the rest of Season 5 plays out. What a great cast! A close second was ESPN's E:60 which had some great stories this year.

Post some of your favorites in the comments section.

Sooner or Later - Behind the Scenes

This video is behind the scenes footage from N*E*R*D's new video for "Sooner or Later."  The song is one of my favorites off "Seeing Sounds."  Normally, I love Pharrell's style but I'm not feeling those camo pants he's wearing at the end.  

Sooner Or Later - Behind The Scenes

Kanye West Samples

I saw this video at hypetrak.com (great website by the way) and it is so interesting.  It will play a couple of seconds of an old song and then a couple of seconds of the Kanye West song that samples that particular song.  If you're a Kanye fan or hip-hop fan in general, it's an interesting listen.  Sampling plays a huge role in hip-hop music.  A lot of people use that to discredit hip-hop value as a genre, but if you listen to the creativity behind these sample, it's incredible.  I listened to a lecture by The Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and 9th Wonder (from Little Brother) that they did at Duke University.  It was unbelievable to hear how much skill is actually involved in sampling a song and making it into a new song by looping just one part of the original over and over again.  Anyway, enough of my hip-hop nerd ranting.  Here's the video:

This is so awesome!

This is a video that demo's the new "Google Mobile App" for the iPhone.  I'm a huge fan of the iPhone even though I don't have one yet (that was a huge hint!!!).  This app alone makes the iPhone worth buying.  Check it out:

Plaxico Burress

Here's breaking footage of the Plaxico Burress incident:




Okay so that's not Plax, but it is hilarious and kinda disturbing at the same time.

Nike Boots Video

Most of y'all know I'm a huge fan of DC rapper, Wale (pronounced wah-lay). His last two mixtapes, 100 Miles and Running & the Mixtape About Nothing, are better than most hip-hop albums. Here is his new video for the song that made him famous. It's called Nike Boots and it might sound like your typical rap song about a popular shoe, but listen to the lyrics, especially the last verse. He is talking about some really deep stuff. Insecurities and whatnot.

Record Review

Album: 808's & Heartbreak

Artist: Kanye West

Record Label: Roc-a-fella/DefJam

Rating: 3.5/5

Kanye West recently followed up his first three critically acclaimed hip-hop albums by venturing into a new world of music. Kanye has often proclaimed himself to be an international pop star and not just a rapper. This new album reflects that vision and direction. West recently dealt with the loss of his mother and a rough break up with his fiancee. 808's & Heartbreak, named for the drum machine used to make the beats, is a glimpse into the mind of a superstar who is reeling from these emotional times in his life.

The main difference between this album and other Kanye albums is the obvious lack of "rapping." West sings on every track using the autotune software popularized by T-Pain. While this software does give West's voice an eery tone that fits the subject matter, I get tired of it by the end of the album.

Another difference is that in the past, Kanye's albums have been quite diverse, featuring a wide variety of sounds and moods. 808's & Heartbreak is brooding and dark throughout. Fortunately, this works to West's advantage because it allows the listener to connect emotionally with West's experiences. This is quite possibly one of the most personal albums I've listened to in a while. The soundscapes of each song are supported by the simplistic 808 drums.

Overall, 808's & Heartbreak is an exciting trip into the mind of a broken-hearted superstar. West tries things that haven't been tried in pop music before and breaks through boundaries that separate genres of music. Despite all this, I still miss the old Kanye. I miss the more soulful tracks and quit-witted rhymes. Hopefully, this album has given Kanye to get all the pop out of his system and when he drops the rumored follow-up to Graduation in June we will get a real hip-hop classic.

My favorite songs are Street Lights:

and Amazing:

My 1st Podcast

Ok guys. I think I've worked out all the kinks. Here it is. My first podcast. Enjoy.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

This cartoon is one of my all-time favorites. It's an interpretation of Rudyard Kipling's short story from "The Jungle Books." The video is in 3 parts below. Total running time is about 25 minutes.

What The.......????

Bruce Lee was obviously the man. See below.

Most Ridiculous Soccer Moves EVER!!!!

There's no way this can be real. Absolutely no way. I want to believe in it but I can't. Common sense will not allow it. Nor will the url at the end of the video advertising for fifa street 3 (video game).

Réinvente ton jeu
by ElectronicArts

Hope vs. Hype

I am so glad this election is over. I'm so sick of all the political banter especially from people that don't know what they're talking about or from people that don't normally care at all about politics but now that it's the "cool/trendy" thing to do, they're all about it. I voted, but I really didn't feel that either candidate was a good choice for our country. Watching the returns with Ashley last night, I realized that a lot of people don't know anything about the issues and are all just falling for the hype. When a reporter asked why two young women were happy to be at the park in Chicago for Obama's victory speech, they responded "We're just so happy to be a part of history!" Really?!?!?! That's all you've got? No mention of what issues Obama brought to the table that you hope he will address now that he's president or what changes you hope to see? I had a better reason when I stormed the field after NC State beat FSU for the first time back in 1998. Come on people! Anyway, here's a video of my favorite actor/rapper, Mos Def with some of the things he would do as president... notice that not everything he says (tax policy) matches up with what Obama is going to do.

If Mos Def Were President by GOOD Magazine

JJ Hickson

This morning I was watching SportsCenter and eating my daily bowl of Apple Cinnamon Cheerio's, when all of the sudden, I see this nasty dunk by a rookie on the Cleavland Cavs. He dunked all over the Charlotte Bobcats' big defensive stopper, Emeka Okafor, who by the way just got an absurd contract extension for being so mediocre. Anyway, I then realized that this fearless, high-flying rookie was none other than JJ Hickson who stayed for one year at NC State. It just made me realize that State is going to be horrible in basketball this year and that Sydney Low didn't get nearly enough out of this guy. Kind of sad.

Artist Profile: Little Brother

Little Brother is a 3-man hip-hop group that started in 1998 at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. I've been a huge fan since I picked up their debut album "The Listening" in 2003 when I was a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. "The Listening" was a true throwback to early 90's hip-hop. Little Brother chose their name because they said they felt like they were the younger brothers of groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Public Enemy. "The Listening" featured sample heavy soul beats provided by producer 9th Wonder and rhymes about everyday struggles by Phonte and Big Pooh.

Before releasing their next album in 2005, Phonte worked on a side project with a producer from the Netherlands named Nicolay. Together as The Foreign Exchange, they released their collaborative effort called "Connected." During this time Big Pooh also released a solo mixtape entitled "Sleepers" and producer 9th Wonder worked with world-famous artists like Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Memphis Bleek. The group released a mixtape called "The Chitlin Circuit 1.5" which featured unreleased tracks that had been recorded during 2003-2004.

The 2005, release was called "The Minstrel Show" and once again featured soul samples provided by 9th Wonder along with contemplative rhymes. This album received a large amount of critical acclaim including 4.5 out of 5 microphone rating from The Source magazine. The album would turn out to be the groups last album as a 3-man team. Soon after the release of "The Minstrel Show," 9th Wonder left the group. Both sides maintain that there was no animosity but simply creative differences. 9th Wonder teaches a hip-hop history class at NCCU and continues to produce for a wide variety of hip-hop artist.

Little Brother continued to tour in 2006 and 2007 and in late 2007, the now duo released their third album, "Getback." This album featured production from a wider variety of producers including Illmind and Denaun Porter but still featured one track from 9th Wonder. I really enjoyed "Getback" and the expansion of Little Brother's new sound but at the same time I missed the congruency of the albums that were produced entirely by 9th.

Last week Phonte released a second Foreign Exchange album entitled "Leave It All Behind" with producer Nicolay. This album features no rapping, but instead Phonte sings on every track. In November, Little Brother will re-release their 2007 mixtape "Separate but Equal," on iTunes but this time without the annoying yelling of DJ Drama over every track and the DJ scratches and replaying of the first 3 lines of the song.

Little Brother has proven that they are one of the most skillful duos on the microphone in all of hip-hop, but my favorite thing about them is their ability to relate to the average person. Their songs are about things that normal people go through unlike most of today's rap groups that talk about their ridiculous cars, weapons, and girls. Little Brother talks about the struggles of maintaining a relationship while working a full-time job, missing their children while on tour, and voicing their political opinions.

Old School Kicks

I know y'all remember Penny Hardaway. He was my favorite basketball player as a kid and I literally obsessed over his signature Nike Basketball shoes, the Air Penny's. This video gives a brief history of the shoes and Penny's impact. Enjoy:

Canada and The Hockey Theory

What's the US' biggest problem right now? A failing economy? Two complete idiots running for president? Terrorism? Rising gas prices?

ALL WRONG!!! It's CANADA!!!!

That's right folks. Canada has been slowly infiltrating American Territory with the use of a secret weapon: HOCKEY.

Hockey is a beloved sport by millions of Americans. But beware sports fans; hockey is just one way that Canada is slowly gaining power over the United States.

How does hockey give Canada an advantage over the United States. Well it is widely known that Canadians are the only one's who play hockey. Hockey also involves ice and fist-fights, two things that Canada is good at. Ever wonder why the NHL has teams in places like Los Angeles, Anaheim, Florida, Atlanta, Nashville, and your beloved Raleigh?

Canada is just trying to get us used to all the cold weather. When they take over, they will ship all the Americans to the the Yukon and all the Canadians will move to Florida and California. The main soldiers for the Canadian army are these so called "hockey players." A few other things that hockey does for Canada is makes Americans less suspicious of people with gross Mullets, strange French names that only SportsCenter anchors can pronounce, and people with ugly broken noses.

We all need to join in the petition to remove hockey from the South. It must be done now before it's too late.

The Week of Theories

Everyday of this coming week I will presenting one of my famous "theories" (you can probably hear Ashley groaning in the background). While my "theories" don't exactly fall under dictionary.com's definition 1 of a theory (a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena: Einstein's theory of relativity) they do fall under definition 6 (contemplation or speculation). I hope everyone enjoys.

Theory Number 1: The Cheesecake Factory was designed for women.


I've been saying this ever since my first visit to a Cheesecake Factory which took place on a trip to Arizona in 2005. I was reminded of this theory last night as my family and I enjoyed a combined birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory for me and my sister. There are several elements to this theory. Interestingly enough, at least one female or another has argued against each point of this theory. The first is easy enough: the name of the darn restaurant is "The Cheesecake Factory" for crying out loud! What woman is going to turn away from a restaurant named after every woman's favorite desert? Especially when the afore mentioned restaurant specializes in that very desert? Seriously try to name a woman you know that doesn't like some form of cheesecake.

Time's up! Couldn't think of one? Me neither. But even if you did, the Cheesecake Factory has so many flavors of cheescake that even if you don't like cheesecake, they still have a flavor of cheescake that you will like, whether it's Chocolate Oreo Mudslide, Brownie Sundae, or the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake.

The next element is the gigantic portions served at the Cheesecake Factory. You might be scratching your head wondering, "Why do large portions appeal to women? Don't women usually prefer small salads, soups, sandwiches, and pastas?" While that may be what Panera Bread wants you to think, I believe the Cheesecake Factory has found a more effective way to bring in female patrons. You see, the large portions make women feel good because no matter how much they eat, they're not going to be able to finish their meal. I mean I can't even finish a meal at Cheesecake Factory, so how is the average female going to be able to finish it? The fact that when women get up from the table, there's still food on their plates makes them feel like they did a good job of watching what they ate even though they've probably gorged (that word's for you Laurie) themselves.

Another element of the Cheesecake Factory that is appealing to women is the aesthetics. See below:

Seriously, if you take a woman to a restaurant that looks like this on the inside, she is like putty in your hands. Women just love the sculptured cielings, the soft lighting, the fancy artwork, the wierd Egyptian faces on the tops of the columns, even the waiters wearing all white. If you don't think that all of that was done to please women, ask a guy what he likes most about the Cheesecake Factory. I guarantee he's not going to say, "It just has the most ambience of any restaurant!"

Well that's my theory on the Cheesecake Factory and I didn't even get into the super long menus with ads for diamond rings or so many food options that no matter what you'll find something you like. Ladies, you just need to admit that you were suckered in by a great marketing scheme. Gentlemen, you just need to suck it up and take your wife/girlfriend there the next chance you get.

Tomorrow's theory: The NHL and Canada's Attempt to Takeover America

Nike Sportswear

Nike has recently released a new high-fashion, boutique line called Nike Sportswear. The items in this exclusive line can only be purchased online or at specialty boutiques in New York and Los Angeles.

The line features retro shoes and clothing that has been updated with the newest Nike technologies. For example, the Nike Air Max 90 running shoe has been updated into the Nike Air Max 90 Current which uses the Nike Free technology in the forefoot. See below:

Other products featured by the new line are the Nike Dunk basketball shoe and the Nike Windrunner track jacket both seen here:

Another great feature of the Nike Sportswear line is that almost all of the products in their line are available for customization on NikeID.com. Even if you're not going to buy anything, it's a lot of fun to play around with the different colors and materials for each shoe.

Fantasy Football

Many of you have probably already caught the fantasy football bug. For those of you who haven't, I don't recommend it. It's not worth it.

While this is not my first season "playing" fantasy football (I "played" last year but never kept up with it and thus finished in last place), it may be my last. I was on the fence about "playing" this year because I wasn't sure that I would have the time to keep up with it and being a huge sports fan and a sport management major, I did not want my friends to think I was completely stupid.

So I agreed to play in my friend, Jeremy's league. I did tons of research before the season began to decide who I would draft. When the draft rolled around, I felt very confident about my chances. Then I ended up with the first overall pick and selected the consensus #1 LaDanian Tomlinson. I also picked up Drew Brees and David Garrard as my QB's, Steve Smith, Donald Driver, and Santana Moss at WR, and Willie Parker and LDT at RB with a steal of Matt Forte as a back up RB. I thought I was set.

Well Tomlinson hurt his big toe in week one and Steve Smith was suspended for punching his own teammate but I was able to still eek out a win. Weeks 2 and 3 I've had to face the two highest scoring teams in our league and I've gotten destroyed because LDT's still not playing, David Garrard has been horrible, and everyone else with the exception of Santana Moss has underperformed.

The bad thing about fantasy football though, is that it's so addictive. I can't go to bed on Saturday with out checking injury reports and making sure that my roster is set for Sunday. Then on Sunday I can't rest until I see how my guys performed that day. I wouldn't even mind spending this much time following my fantasy team if I was winning but having all my players sit out is killing me and I can't take it anymore.

What are your feeling on Fantasy Football? Try and see if you can convince me to play again next year.

Slamball Is Back!!!

Slamball is quite possibly the greatest sport ever invented... ever. It combines basketball with trampolines. Who didn't do that as a kid in your driveway? I know I did. Well Slamball had a good run on Spike TV back in 2002-2004 but it went away for a while. Well no need to worry, my friends. Slamball is back and it's on tv! Tune into the Vs. Network Saturday afternoons to catch high flying hard hitting action. The championship game will be played on CBS too! Me and my good friend Zach are doing a project for our sports finance class on Slamball. For those of you not as familiar with Slamball, I encourage you to watch the following video:

Good News!!!

So today we were given some great news!!! The Foreign Exchange will be dropping their second album "Leave It All Behind" next month. For those of you who don't know, Foreign Exchange is the combination of rapper, Phonte from Little Brother (out of Durham, NC) and producer Nicolay (of the Netherlands). The two first collaborated with the classic 2004 album Connected. They are well-known for being one of the first groups to make an album without actually ever seeing each other. Connected was made by sending files back and forth over instant messenger. "Leave It All Behind" is scheduled to drop Oct 7 on iTunes and Oct 14 in stores as a double album with disc 2 featuring full instrumentals. Below is what the cover will look like. I love it. I can't wait.

Step Brothers

2 of my favorite NBA point guards, Steve Nash & Baron Davis, goofing off together in LA. Enjoy!

Sesame Street Gangsta's

I found this on YouTube and had to post it! This is a hilarious edit of the classic rap song "Ante Up" by M.O.P. from Brooklyn. You just have to watch it. Hilarious!

New Common Video - Announcement feat. Pharrell

This song has been out for a minute but this video just hit the web today. I've been a fan of Common for a while and really enjoyed all of his recent colaborations with Kanye West for his last two albums: Be and Finding Forever. I am really excited for his new album though which drops later this fall. The new album, entitled Invicible Summer, features production by Pharrell and Chad of N*E*R*D. This song and Universal Mind Control are two great examples of Pharrell and Chad's space aged sound and fit perfectly to Common's smooth lyrics. Common and N*E*R*D are going on tour this fall and making a stop at NC State to perform at the Pack Howl Homecoming Concert Friday, October 3rd. I got my tickets and I'm very excited. What a great birthday present! Enjoy the video!

Artist Profile: Wale

My new favorite artist is Washington D.C. rapper, Wale (pronounced Wha-lay). He recently signed a joint venture record deal with British DJ Mark Ronson's Allido Records and Interscope. He and his manager have put together a great website called elitaste.com (see link to the right) through which they release free songs and mixtapes as well as sell retro sneakers.

Wale also has a clothing deal with boutique clothier 10 Deep who produces signature Wale T-shirts that when purchased come with a hard copy of his mixtapes.

His most recent mixtapes are 100 Miles and Running and The Mixtape About Nothing. The former blends hip-hop with go-go music. Go-go music is a style of funk music using live instrumentation that was popular in the DC Area during the 70's & 80's. On 100 Miles and Running, Wale also remixes Lily Allen's Smile, Amy Winehouse's Rehab, and French Disco artists Justice's D.A.N.C.E. (see video below).

His other mixtape is A Mixtape About Nothing. It's a tribute to long-running tv sitcom Seinfeld. The mixtape features samples of scenes from Seinfeld in between in each song. Wale also had a featured "Single of the Week" on iTunes with the smash hit Nike Boots.

If you're not up on Wale, you need to be. This guy is the future of hip-hop. I'm a huge fan. He's also been co-signed by Mark Ronson, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, and others. Check out elitaste.com to download A Mixtape About Nothing for free.

ROC Boys in Da Building Tonight!!!

If you missed the USA Men's Basketball Team take on China in the 2008 Beijing Olympics two days ago, then you missed a ridiculous dunk by LeBron James off an alley-oop from Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately, NBC is really stingy and all the Olympic highlight videos are copyright protected. I was inspired by the LeBron Dunk though, so here's a great highlight video of his best plays from the past year. The song is one of my favorites too, Jay-Z's "Roc Boys." A fitting track since Jay-Z and LeBron are tight friends.

And speaking of Jay-Z... there's been a ton of rumors floating around the internet about him working on a new album to be called "The Blueprint 3." At first, hip-hop/pop producer Timbaland said in an MTV article that he was producing the entire album. Then Jay-Z came out and said that wasn't entirely true. Recently, Kanye West brought out Jay-Z as a guest for the last show of the Glow in the Dark Tour and the two performed a song entitled "Jockin' Jay-Z" produced by Kanye that is rumored to be the lead single for the new album. The latest rumor is that Kanye West will be producing the entire album. That would basically be my dream album but I'm not getting my hopes up just yet. To tide us all over though, here's an clip of "Jockin' Jay-Z" was aired on Funk Master Flex's radio show this morning. Just click the link below and then click "free user". This will start your download. Your Welcome!!!!

Jay-Z "Jockin' Jay-Z" (produced by Kanye West)

2008 Honda Civic Si

I have an awesome Dad. He decided long ago that upon graduation of college he would buy me and my sisters cars so that we wouldn't have to start out with a car payment right out of college. He held good on his end of the deal last May when my sister, Lindsay graduated from ECU. I graduate from NC State in December so I was expecting to get a new car sometime around the new year but about a month ago Dad came up to me and said it would be better to go ahead and do it now. You see, the 2009 models all come out in September so you can usually get a better deal on the 2008 models in July and August.

I did a lot of research on what kind of car I wanted. My beautiful wife, Ashley drives a 2006 Honda Accord that her parents helped us get when she graduated from ECU back in December. We've really enjoyed her car, so getting a Honda was definitely in the forefront of my mind. I've had an SUV (see below) for the past 3 years and with the current gas prices, I was sure I wanted a car. I also knew that I wanted something with 4 doors because Ashley and I hope to have kids in the future. I also wanted something that was a little bit sporty though. I wanted to have fun while I drive. This led me to 3 cars: Lexus IS 350, Volkswagon GLI, and Honda Civic Si Sedan.

I've loved the Lexus IS for years but it was out of my price range. A lot out of my price range. So it was down to the GLI and the Civic Si. I test drove both. I read a ton of reviews and consumer reports. I decided to go with the Honda for several reasons. First, I heard a lot of people had problems with the GLI's engine, mainly that the fan makes too much noise and can cause problems. Second, I liked that the Civic was a manual transmission. My dad drives a Wrangler with a manual transmission and I always had fun driving his car. Finally, the Civic had a sportier look to it that I really fell in love with.

So I got the Civic Si. Here's a history of the car courtesy Wikipedia. I've really enjoyed it so far. It has racing style pedals and seats, 17" rims with low profile tires, navigation system (awesome!!!!), digital speedometer, "Si" detailing in the seats and on the grill, sunroof, and one of my favorite features: a digital input for my iPod. See below for the pics.

I would be remiss if I didn't pay tribute to my car for the past 3 years, the 2001 Jeep Cherokee, also known as "The Silver Bullet." What a great car! Although it guzzled gas similar to an elephant at a waterhole in the middle of Kenya, I had some really great times with that car. It was my mom's car when I was in high school. She took me to get my wisdom teeth out in that car. My parents used that car to help me move in and out of my dorm at UNC my freshman year. My parents picked me up from the airport when I came home from my mission in that car. I drove it to Greensboro countless times to hang out with my best friend, Greg and see him play basketball for UNCG. I took Ashley on our first date in that car. I also drove from Raleigh to Greenville and back to go see Ashley so many times it's unfathomable (half the time, I was probably half asleep and the Silver Bullet drove me itself). The best gift Ashley ever gave me was a sports rack for the top of the Cherokee. It brought home our first Christmas Tree. It's gotten me to and from the beach and the mountains. As a courier at my dad's law firm, it took me all over the Triangle for work. It never complained about the music I played, the jokes I made, or the prayers I've uttered while inside. For that, I'm forever in debt to you, Silver Bullet. I hope you find your new (well old actually, my dad took it back and plans to keep using it until it's last breath) home just as comforting, adventurous, and enjoyable as our past 3 years together have been.

Good NIght Sweet Prince!

Leprechaun Video

My boss showed me this video today at work. I can't stop laughing...

My favorite parts:

-"Say YEAH!!!"

-The "Say YEAH!!!" Guy's teeth

-"Could be some crack head!"

-The amateur sketch

-Lookin for the gold

-The guy with the flute passed down from his "Irish great, great grandfather."

Classic.

New Mr. Bentley, Andre 3000, & Kanye West Video

I saw this on Okayplayer. It's hilarious but I think I actually like the song.

N*E*R*D Video - SPAZ

This video is soooooo awesome!!! This is my favorite song from their new album and it might be one of my favorite songs all time. The live performance aspect is sick!

Enjoy:

Can't Get Enough of This!

Another vid from the Jay-Z Glastonbury show. This one features him performing one of my favorite songs, "Heart of the City" over U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday". This is some classic Jay right here.

Jay-Z Live @ Glastonbury

So this past weekend most of Europe's attention was on the Euro 2008 Soccer Final between Spain & Germany. For those of you who are less informed, Spain won 1-0. The European Cup only happens every 4 years and it's second only to the World Cup in importance to the soccer world. This year there was one country that failed to qualify that shocked everyone... England. England is known for being home to the best professional soccer leagues in the world and it was a huge disappointment for them to miss out on participating in Euro 2008. For some reason, though, I don't think they missed it that much.

You see, each year in a small town in South West England, there's a huge concert called the Glastonbury Festival. It's basically like the English version of Woodstock or Bonnaroo. We're talking hundreds of thousands of people for 3 days watching the best live entertainers the world has to offer. Well this year, the headlining guest was none other than this blogger's favorite artist, Jay-Z. Some other hip-hop acts like Lupe Fiasco, Dizzee Rascal, and soul singer Estelle were also invited to perform. This caused a little bit of controversy. Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame (great name by the way!!) came out and said that he didn't feel hip-hop had a place at Glasto. He said specifically that he felt that Jay-Z being the headlining performer ruins the tradition of the festival.

Now I can understand that everyone has a right to their opinions, but dude, you can't clown Jay-Z like that. Didn't y'all see what happened to Nas, Mobb Deep, Jaz-O, and countless others? This following video contains the highlights of Jay's performance. It is incredible!!! He even starts out by giving Mr. Gallagher (we'll no longer refer to him by his really cool first name so as not to taint it) a little jab, because that's all he's really worth to Jay. Jay opens the concert by performing Wonderwall. It's great! Also peep the freestyle over Estelle's American Boy! Just when I think Jay-Z has done all he can do, he performs a show like this! I mean just watch how he commands the crowd! You think Oasis could rock 200,000 people like that?!?!?!?! Even in their own country? No way!

Anyway, here's the video courtesy BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2008/artists/jayz/

It's long (38 mins) so only watch if you have time for lots of awesome Jay-Z performing!

NBA Finals Game 6 Diary

First off, I gotta give my boy Greg a big 25th birthday shoutout!!! Happy birthday bro!

Now to the game. I started watching a little late. We're about half way through the 2nd Quarter. Let's get into it.

9:47 - Powe just scored after a horrible turnover by LA. Isn't this Celtics crowd 100x better than LA's crowd? I mean seriously, did it ever seem like LA's crowd was into any game at all? I don't think so.

9:49 - What the heck are these stupid commercials with the "couch surfer" for T-Mobile? I do not understand these. Is the guy a professional loafer or is his hobby being a hobo? Either way it does not make me want to change my wireless service to T-Mobile.

9:52 - Poor Ray Allen can't catch a break. First, is kid is sick in the hospital, now he's stuck in the locker room because goofy Lamar Odom hit him in the eye. They do not want him to enjoy this, even if he wins do they?

9:55 - Great rebounding by the Celtics leads to a Posey 3. But why is Garnett chilling out at the 3 point line?

9:56 - 3 by Eddie House. The Human Microwave is what I like to call him.

9:58 - Notice that when the NBA commercial comes on and they talk about fear, they show Kevin Garnett. I'm telling you, I love KG but dude has faded into obscurity in the Finals.

10:00 - I never want a pick to be set on me by Big Baby Davis! Ever!

10:01 - Ray comes out of the tunnel. We've seen this before.

10:02 - Posey with another 3 and the Celtics are up 14. Why did it take Doc Rivers the entire series to decide to put Posey on Kobe. Really, I should put my toughest, best defender on the other team's best player? Really, that works?!

10:05 - KG shoots a turnaround fade away jumper over Kobe. Why not go right at him?

10:08 - Mike Breen tells us that Kobe said that Paul Pierce was his favorite player in the NBA. I wonder if that was a compliment or a backhanded remark in the direction of his teammates?

10:14 - The Celtics are one of the only NBA teams that OVER pass. Completely unrelated side note: Jordan Farmar is my least favorite point guard in the NBA.

10:17 - KG with a ridiculous and 1. Marc Jackson refers to it as a "kiss" off the glass. I would say more like a punch to the face off the glass.

10:18 - Boston up by 23 at halftime. Kobe has 14 but only 3 in the 2nd Quarter. I just hope the Celtics didn't spend all their energy on this run. I hope they got some left for the second half.

10:31 - I'm kind of tired of hearing about how great these finals are just because it's a Celtics/Lakers match up. There's been several times in this series that I turned off the tv because the basketball was so bad. Bill Simmons even got an email from a reader talking about how there were times in this series that the 10 players on the court were probably the 10 worst players to ever appear in the NBA Finals. These sound bytes from Doc and Phil are hilarious. They aren't saying anything meaningful.

10:35 - Let's show Kobe being a good dad to his daughters so everyone will forget what a jerk he is to his teammates. Dwayne Wade should stick to commentating. I've said this over and over again lately, D-Wade is the new Penny Hardaway. Ridiculous in his first 3 years in the league, successful because he played with Shaq, compared to Jordan, gets injured a ton, ends up hardly playing for the rest of his injury plagued career. It's gonna happen. You watch!

10:44 - I could watch Ray Allen shoot all day, and I wouldn't mind if I never saw Radmonovic shoot again.

10:45 - I'm not a fan of the huge NBA Finals Trophy painted on midcourt. It looks stupid.

10:47 - Danny Ainge won NBA executive of the year because Kevin McHale is his friend and David Stern needed to take attention off the Donnaghy Scandal.

10:49 - Wow, I actually liked a comment Jeff VanGundy made. He told Mike Breen that the ball wasn't bouncing the Celtics' way but that they were pursuing it.

10:52 - If they say something about the 17th title on the 17th of June one more time, I'm going to throw my computer at my tv.

10:53 - Marc Jackson just called Ray Allen "Jesus Shuttlesworth" his character's name from the Spike Lee directed "He Got Game." haha. I agree with Bill Simmons that the LA jumbotron operator really messed up by not showing the scene from that movie where Denzel puts it on Jesus Shuttlesworth in their one-on-one pick up game. Denzel is a huge Laker fan. The crowd would've gone nuts... oh wait, the game was in LA, the crowd there never goes nuts.

10:56 - I wonder what Kobe just whispered to Lamar Odom, I'm gonna kick your tail after this game if we lose. Maybe he desperately apologized for being a bad teammate in hopes of getting Odom to play hard... Nah I wouldn't count on that.

11:01 - Are the Celtics really up 31 points? This is crazy.

11:03 - I almost wonder if all the talk about the Western Conference being so much better than the Eastern Conference will be silenced if the Celtics win. Especially since it took 7 games for the the Celtics to get through both of the first two rounds. Obviously teams in the east are more physical and more defensively oriented (with the Spurs being an exception and it was mainly injuries that killed them). I wonder if the Lakers would have breezed through the Eastern Conference Playoffs the way they did in the West. I'm thinking maybe not.

11:08 - Right before Rondo strips the ball away from Kobe, I was asking myself why the Lakers aren't giving Kobe the ball every time down the court. But I guess that would be the obvious thing to do.

11:10 - And now we're all aware of VanGundy's man crush on John Havlicek.

11:12 - Someone needs to show Vuya-dork or whatever his name is, the video of an ancient Ray Allen blowing right by him at the end of game 4 to remind him that he's a horrible defender and encourage him to stop acting like a fool on defense. Please do it NOW!!!!

11:14 - I want this last quarter to fly by so I can watch the trophy presentation and get to bed at a reasonable hour.

11:20 - Farmar commits a stupid flagrant foul on Rondo. Why foul there? Why? sometimes I wonder what's going through these guys' heads when they play basketball.

11:22 - Phil Jackson looks like someone just tried to pluck the hairs in his soul patch.

11:23 - I hope everyone realizes that Andrew Bynum is going to comeback next year and be horrible!!!!

11:24 - Vujacic is going to have nightmares of Ray Allen for years to come.

11:25 - Phil Jackson calls a timeout after another Ray Allen 3-pointer. This gives me a chance to say: Please stop with the Kobe - MJ comparisons!!!!! It's not even close! Would His Airness ever let his team get beat by 30 points in the Finals?! Would he ever let his team blow a huge lead at home in the Finals? NOOOOOOO!!!!! All you're doing by comparing the two is tainting Jordan's legacy and ruining Kobe's chance of ever living up to expectations. Please stop!

11:31 - Doc and Rondo embrace each other as Rondo comes out of the game. One thing you gotta hand to Doc Rivers is that these guys love playing for him. He's not the most overwhelming pre-game speaker, but his players do love him. That says a lot about a coach.

11:35 - David Stern obviously allowed this game to go un-fixed if you will in order to dispel all the accusations made by Donnaghy. If these things hadn't come out when they did then you better believe a series of this historical magnitude would find a way to go 7 games.

11:40 - My favorite stat of the night: 25 All-Star appearances between KG, Pierce and Allen, 1 Championship won together by sacrificing individual glory. I love team sports!!!

11:42 - I love that they just showed that Kobe has 1 assist.

11:45 - I'm sorry but I'm the guy that would say all those things about the WNBA.

11:47 - Turiaf = 6 Fouls

11:49 - 40 point lead? This is crazy? I know I already said that but really I did not expect this at all.

11:51 - Gatorade shower on the basketball court? This celebration is getting out of hand! But when you're up by 40 points for the whole second half, you just have too much time to think about it.

11:54 - Ball game. Celtics are Champs and the Lakers look like they didn't even deserve to be there. I'm happy for the Big 3 though. They're all good guys and hard players. What a great team.

Thanks for reading this if you stuck with it and read the whole thing. It's the first time I've tried a long post like this. Let me know what you think.

Peace. Congrats Celtics.

Record Review

N*E*R*D - Seeing Sounds

2008 Star Trak/Interscope Records

Noel's Rating: 4/5

N*E*R*D is by no means new to musical success and critical acclaim. The band was formed by super producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (collectively known as the Neptunes) and their childhood friend Shay Haley. In 2002 they released the cult classic, In Search Of... which fused hip-hop beats with hard rock instrumentation. This effort was followed up by the more eclectic Fly or Die in 2004. Fly or Die featured tracks influenced by almost every popular musical genre. Seeing Sounds shows the band's continued growth and their new focus on live performance and does it in short but really fun album.

The album opens with a monologue by Pharrell explaining the album title. Apparently, at the age of 7, Pharrell started "seeing sounds," which I still don't completely understand but he said in a recent interview that it is in reference to a scientific field of study called synesthesia. The intro leads into the opening track, Time for Some Action which is a hard rock tune with vocals from Pharrell, Shay and the lead singer of the Hives. The second track is the lead single Everyone Nose (note: I know that the spelling is funny, I'm not an idiot, listen to the song). This song is a bouncy fun track warning young females against a life of partying and club hopping. This one is followed up by the poppy Window which makes Pharrell sound like a somewhat creepy "peeping Tom," but I think it's really his inner 13-year old boy self coming out. After Window, comes one of my favorite tracks from the album the hard rock/hip hop fusion track, Anti Matter. This track brings the heat that the Neptunes are famous for, banging beats and catchy hooks. The next track, Spaz rounds out the head banging hard and fast first 5 songs. By now you've probably heard this song a few times as it is on the Zune commercials and on the MTV new music week commercials. This was my favorite song that N*E*R*D performed at the Glow in The Dark Tour.

After Spaz, you can finally catch your breath with the smooth and jazzy, Yeah You which features Pharrell and Shay trading verses about psycho groupie stalkers (something we all can relate to right?). Sooner or Later is next and it is being hailed by many critics as the best song on the album. It features the Pharrell crooning that we've all come to know and love over a simple beat and piano solo before a crazy guitar solo at the end. Happy and Kill Joy are sandwiched between Sooner or Later and the politically charged Love Bomb. You Know What, another jazzy disco type track, and Laugh About It, a punky dance jam, close out the album's official track list. There's one bonus track, a real gem for fans, the Everyone Nose Remix featuring Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pusha T. This hip hop track makes everyone hope that those rumors about a CRS (Kanye, Pharrell, & Lupe) album will one day come to fruition.

Overall this album is a ton of fun to listen to. The great thing about N*E*R*D is that you know what you're going to get: futuristic sounding space-age production, corny (but fun) lyrics, and a good time. Seeing Sounds picks right up where Fly or Die and In Search Of... left off.

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Tonight I think I'm going to try a running diary of Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Ashley's away at girls camp so I'll be here by myself watching the game. We'll see how it goes.

NBA Finals Update

So the most anticipated NBA Finals in recent history are in full swing. By now you've already heard all the Celtics vs. Lakers hype and you've had time to digest the first two wins by the Celtics. The first game had the drama of Paul Pierce coming back from what seemed to be a season ending knee injury only to nail 2 huge three-pointers and lead the Celtics to a 10-point win. It seemed almost magical. A writer couldn't have written a better story. Well that was until game two.

Game two, Leon Powe bursts onto the scene. The Celtics' reserve forward who was buried on the Boston bench during the Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons, exploded for 21 points thanks to some super helpful calls by the officiating crew. This didn't really bother me because I'm not exactly the biggest Lakers fan (or Kobe fan for that matter), but it made me wonder about the integrity of the game, especially when the halftime special was on none other than Leon Powe! Did anyone else find that a little suspicious? I know my NBA conspiracy theories are widely known and mostly disagreed with, but come on. The first time this dude has gotten serious minutes since March and he blows up for 21 against Kobe and the Lakers, and he also just happens to be the focus of the halftime heart-wrenching story. Hmmm. I just don't know. I'm hoping that ABC has already filmed all of the halftime specials and that they just pick the one that involves the player that is playing the best at halftime of that particular game.

Basically all of this boils down to money. The NBA is interested is making as much money as possible. If you think the most hyped series in Finals history is not going 7 games, then you got something else coming. Can you imagine how many people will be tuning in to ABC for that final game!?!?! David Stern is seeing nothing but dollar signs right now. Don't be surprised to see the Lakers win at least two now that the series shifts to L.A.

Tomorrow: N*E*R*D "Seeing Sounds" Record Review

Do You Remember?

So I was thinking about getting some lunch yesterday, and I remembered this restaurant that we used to have on Kildaire Farm Road in Cary. It wasn't far from where the Goodberry's is now. It was called PD Quix and it was basically Cook Out before Cook Out ever existed. It was glorious. They had awesome burgers that were super juicy. PD Quix also provided me with my first taste of onion rings. Theirs were the best! You top off that meal with one of their hand spun milkshakes and you're set. Whatever happened to that place? As I was listening to the new Wale mixtape this morning, I decided to "google" PD Quix and I found that they still have a couple in some smaller towns down between Fayetteville and Wilmington. This led me to wonder what happened to other great restaurants that we had here in Cary that all of us loved like Coyote Cafe. That place was the BOMB!!! Authentic Mexican food, live music on the weekends, outdoor seating, and TV's showing sports. Can you really beat that? My answer is no. If y'all have other restaurants you miss, post them in the comments section. Let's reminisce like Pete Rock.

There's Hope

I saw this on okayplayer and it gave me hope that good musicians can be successful. Congrats to Lupe Fiasco. I'm a huge fan!

Glow In The Dark Tour

On Friday May 9th, my buddy Zach and I went to Walnut Creek to see the Glow in the Dark Tour. It was a great show. The line up featured Lupe Fiasco, N*E*R*D, Rhianna, and Kanye West. With the exception of Rhianna these are some of my favorite musicians so my expectations were huge, and I was not disappointed.

The show was set to start at 7 but we wanted to get there early. It's a good thing we did. We got to our seats at 6:20 and Lupe was already a few songs into his set. We were confused why he would start so early until we found out that the City of Raleigh has a noise ordinance for outdoor concerts. They have to be over by 11pm. Lupe's set was good. He performed some of my favorite songs like Kick, Push, Superstar, Hip Hop Saved My Life, and Streets on Fire. The only thing I was disappointed about with Lupe's set was that he seemed to be going through the motions. He didn's seem to get into it as much as I expected and I can understand to some degree because he was playing to a mostly empty arena.

Next up were rap/rockers N*E*R*D. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, N*E*R*D is headed by super producers the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) and their long time friend Shay. Pharrell did a great job getting the crowd that was slowly filling in involved and excited. He even asked everyone on the lawn to come right up front and to ignore the security people in the yellow jackets. He went into the crowd himself and passed 30-40 feet from me and Zach. He also brought some fans on stage to dance with him which was hilarious. They performed some of their classic songs like Rock Star and She Wants To Move and they also performed some of their new material like Everyone Nose and Spazz. I loved their performance.

After a 20 minute intermission for a set change, R&B singer Rhianna was on next. I'm not a huge Rhianna fan but her performance was entertaining. She performed all of her major hits and I'm sure every teenage girl that was there knew every word. She had some good back-up dancers and it seemed like she's really improved her singing ability since she was first signed. My favorite part of her performance was probably Breakin' Dishes or Please Don't Stop the Music, but I also thought it was super cool when she performed the smash single Umbrella because every person in the stadium was singing along to every word.

Finally after a really long (45 minutes) intermission for another set change, Kanye took the stage. His set was set up like the surface of the moon. There were rocks all around the sides and the stage was sloped to the front. There was a huge screen behind him. The entire band (back-up singers and dj included) were out of view underneath the set. His performance followed a story line of him being crashed on a foreign planet and trying to find his way home. The lighting was OUT OF CONTROL (see picture above)!!! It was breath taking! He had amazing command over the crowd too. My favorite parts of his performance were Through the Wire, Get 'Em High, Can't Tell Me Nothin', Stronger, and Homecoming. The only glitch in the performance was near the end when he performed Touch the Sky featuring Lupe Fiasco. Kanye performed his two verses and then threw it to Lupe to finish the song and Lupe never came out. You could see Kanye looking at one of the stage managers off to the side like "what's going on?!" and then he just finished the song himself. I guess Lupe was sick or not feeling like coming out. This didn't ruin Kanye's set though. I thought the whole thing was awesome!

I really enjoyed this concert and it was definitely worth the money I spent. I'm glad I got their early enough to catch Lupe. N*E*R*D was so much fun and I was impressed with Rhianna. Kanye of course closed it out perfectly. I really thing big time artists should do more big tours like this.

On a side note, one awesome treat that Kanye, Pharrell, and Lupe hooked up their fans with is a remix that they made available online. It's a remix to the N*E*R*D song "Everyone Nose" and it features verses by Kanye, Pharrell, Lupe and Pusha T (Clipse). You can find it if you look hard enough.

RailHawks Update

A quick update for all you soccer fans. The Carolina RailHawks ended the month of May with a huge win Wednesday night against defending USL-1 champions, the Seattle Sounders, winning 2-1. That puts the RailHawks tied for 3rd in the league with 13 points and a 3-0-4 record. They're the only undefeated team in the league. Excellent play by new comers Matt Watson and Martin Nunez have helped a good defensive team become more offensive minded. The next home game is June 10th (first round of the US Open Cup). The game will be played on field 2 at WakeMed Soccer Park and tickets will all be $10 and parking will be free. This is because the main stadium field will be replaced this month. If you have any questions about the team or want to come out to see them play, let me know!

Record Review

THE ROOTS - RISING DOWN

Def Jam Records - 2008

Noel's Rating:

4.5 / 5.0

Review: This is the Philadelphia based hip-hop band's 10th studio album and it's probably their most heavy, dense, and political album. Each track is charged with emotion and most of the songs up until the very last song are extremely dark. The album starts out with a sound bite of an argument the group had with some record label people back in '94. This heated argument makes the listener slightly uncomfortable but it's the perfect intro to the album.

The next two songs are two of my favorites on the disc, the title track featuring Mos Def and Styles P and Get Busy featuring Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw. The title track touches upon almost every social ill that Americans face from global warming to prescription drug abuse. The thing I love about this song though is that none of these things are glorified like you would see on most "rap" songs, but these conscious MC's show what is wrong with our country. Get Busy is a classic Boom Bap track with dope verses by each MC.

Other tracks that stood out to me are the bouncy I Will Not Apologize and the closing song Rising Up. Apologize's infectious beat and hook left me putting that song on repeat. I also liked the Talib Kweli cameo on the hook. Rising Up is a go-go inspired conclusion to the album and keeps the ending of the album lighter in mood than the rest. My favorite part of that song is Wale's guest verse. This up-and-coming DC hip-hopper drops some sick lines including "you other rappers ain't eatin'/ you're Olsen twinin'." You gotta love it!

The only knock I have against Rising Down is that it's too short. I really wish that there had been 2 or 3 more songs. That's a good sign for the Roots though. Although they may never see commercial success, they've perfected the craft of putting together hip-hop albums that have a message.