Metal Lungies

For April it looks like MTV will be reliving some classic moments from the greatest show to ever appear on their network, Yo! MTV Raps. So, before they come with theirs I have decided to post some of my favorite segments ever filmed for a show that probably would be canceled after its first week in 2008.

I have to say that this list was heavily shortened due to the fact that I was unable to post most of my favorite moments. Its not like I have old tapes of episodes of Yo! (If a genie gave me three wishes…..) and YouTube is an awful resource.

They did save the best for last. For the final episode of Yo! they took some of the superstars who had appeared on the show over the years and gathered them together for a cipher of epic proportions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Released commercially about a month ago, AudioSurf is a rhythm based puzzle game that has become the darling of the gaming scene. In the game, you ride on a track and accumulate and arrange colored blocks to get the highest score possible. While there’s a lot more to the game’s mechanics than that, that’s the fundamental concept. The fun part? Each track is unique to a song of your choice. The speed, shape and overall arrangement of each track is generated based on the tempo, rhythm and sound of the song. Hence the game’s tagline, “Ride your music.”

There’s a wide variety of different modes to keep things interesting and there’s even online scoreboards for each song. I had the high score on 93 ’til Infinity until some punk topped me. But half the fun is finding songs (any CD, mp3, m4a, wma, ogg or flac file will do) that make for good tracks, especially for those of us with daunting music collections. Big, loud beats and blaring vocals work the best while weirder stuff will give you tracks that feel broken. Saigon’s Come on Baby works like a charm, but Careful (Click, Click) feels clunky and awkward.

AudioSurf is a great distraction, but the novelty wears off after you’ve run out of songs to put in it. There’s a free demo and the full version is $10.

More dope tracks: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put a Spell on You, J Dilla – Nothing Like This, Johnny “Guitar” Watson – Lovin’ You, Styles P – U Ain’t Ready (feat. Beanie Sigel)

Funny thing is, she still probably wants a photo with him.

I’m Knobbz and I’m the newest addition to the ML team. My eagerness to tell anyone who will listen about the album they’ve never heard of or the song that just leaked has landed me here. I’m very glad to be here and I hope I can contribute something worthwhile to this already great site.

‘Knobbz’ is a nickname I picked up in high school that I took to more kindly than my other nickname, ‘Pussy Willow’. Yeah, you can tell I sat with the cool kids at lunch. I’m just as friendly as I look in my picture and yes, those big black caterpillars over my eyes are real.

Here’s to playing Akinyele’s Put it in Your Mouth when the girl from downstairs comes to tell me to turn my music down.

I’ve been slacking on posting these joints, which is sorta like a crime against humanity.

Coolio is a Pirate that cooks shrimp:

Westside Tilapia:

To commemorate his latest The Elephant In The Room, which dropped 2 weeks ago, Fat Joe hooked up with New Era to created a limited edition cap. Well, guess what? ML was able to pry a hat out of the hands of Cornerstone’s Roberto to giveaway.

If you would like a shot to win a cap (size 7 1/2), do the drill, hit up   with ‘Fat Joe Contest’ in the subject. Winner picked at the end of the week.

Watch a video of the creation of the hat:

P.S. We are still trying to get an entrant to respond to us with an address for this, check your spam boxes people!

If you’re a hip hop aficionado/casual soul music listener like myself, then it’s inevitable that your tastes in these respective genres have overlapped at some point. I, for one, can’t listen to the Isley Brothers’ “Between The Sheets” without subconsciously hearing “Big Poppa” (and, to a lesser extent, Jay-Z’s “Ignorant Shit”), nor can I listen to “Footsteps In The Dark” without subconsciously hearing Ice Cube’s “Today Was A Good Day” (and, to a lesser extent, J Dilla’s “Won’t Do”).

Though the aforementioned songs are no doubt classic, my favorite Isley Brothers song has to be “Voyage To Atlantis”. It’s just perfect in so many ways — the heart-felt lyrics, the tender delivery of Ron Isley (a.k.a. Mr. Biggs), his brother Ernie’s guitar (which I’d only be selling short if I were to attach it to a single adjective). “Voyage To Atlantis” is the type of song that you’d want to sign to the woman you plan to marry, no matter how terrible horrible godawful your singing voice may be. I was surprised that, despite the popularity of the Isleys’ catalog amongst so many sample-heavy hip hop producers, “Voyage To Atlantis” had never really been utilized (at least, not to my knowledge)… then, last week happened.

First, after finally getting around to checking out Snoop’s latest, Ego Trippin’ (I know, I know… I’ll have my late pass on your desk tomorrow morning), I was pleasantly surprised to hear the opener “Press Play”, produced by DJ Quik (who is underrated even when he gets props). I couldn’t have imagined “Voyage To Atlantis” being freaked so perfectly — the way Quik chops up Ron’s vocals would’ve made the late Dilla proud. It set quite a high bar that the rest of Ego Trippin’, unfortunately, only reached a couple of times. (Though, I must give credit where it’s due — Snoop may be the only rapper still putting out 20-song albums, even though the “quality over quantity” approach has been the norm in hip hop for several years now. Either Snoop’s the last of a dying breed, or just too stubborn to see that his albums could be that much better if only about 5 tracks shorter.)

Then, the new Outkast/Raekwon collabo came out (of nowhere), which also samples “Voyage To Atlantis”, though to a much smaller, and totally different, degree. You wouldn’t have expected to hear the snippet of Ron’s vocals until they actually pop up in the song, but, what would Outkast be if they weren’t doing something completely out of left-field, like, say, randomly throwing Ron Isley vocals in between verses? My point exactly.

Now that I’ve paid my appreciation to “Voyage To Atlantis”, it’s your turn to do the same…

Download: The Isley Brothers – “Voyage To Atlantis”

Download: Snoop Dogg – “Press Play”

Bonus Download: Snoop Dogg – “Buss’n Rocks” (also produced by DJ Quik)

Bonus Download: The Isley Brothers – “Between The Sheets”

Bonus Download: The Isley Brothers – “Footsteps In The Dark”

Props to Shake who hooked me up with a CD quality version of the new Outkast joint.

It’s billed as ‘Big Boi featuring Andre 3000 & Raekwon’ but fuck it, let’s be nostalgic for a second. Least we can do in these crazy times.

“You do the hokey-pokey until you turn your life around/that’s what it’s all about.” – Andre 3000

Outkast– Royal Flush (ft.Raekwon)

Outkast-Skew It On The Bar-B (ft.Raekwon)

I’ve never seen the original from last year before, and boy was I missing out. Eskay with the find like always. By the way, if Duke wins the championship ML will be shut down forever.

Pt.2

Pt.1

Via Bang The Box

How many magazines must get dissed? Duck Down Records, making light of the whole Maxim/Nas/Black Crowes review controversy, has volunteered two of their upcoming albums to be reviewed without actually being heard. A little more info:

Disclaimer:
In light of the recent allegations made against Maxim Magazine by the Black Crowes and Nas for printing LP reviews of their respective forthcoming albums without actually hearing either of them, Buckshot/9th Wonder and Kidz In the Hall gladly volunteered their upcoming albums to receive the same treatment. We would also like to invite Maxim to attend any Kidz In The Hall and Buckshot and 9th Wonder show, or any of our artists in general– attendance is of course only optional!!
These mock-ups are by in no way intended to attack Maxim Magazine’s credibility, or incriminate them in any manner; it’s all in good fun!
Kidz In the Hall and Buckshot/9th Wonder Plead With Maxim Magazine To Review Their Respective LP’s Without Hearing Them!

The mockups are too huge to embed, so I’ll give you links. Spoiler: there’s a lot of jokes about how intimidating Sean P is. This is classic material; feel free to save it for April Fools.

“The Formula” Maxim Mock Review/ “The In Crowd” Mock Review

How about previewing the albums yourself and forming your own opinion?

Buckshot & 9th Wonder ft Talib Kweli & Tyler Woods – Hold It Down

Kidz In The Hall – The Blackout