Metal Lungies

Only in baseball would a team would be allowed to wear a hat that is the exactly same as one used by another team, even as a part of a “throwback” uniform, it looks pretty-pretty dumb.  But then again you know what they say about imitation.

The Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington:

Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals:

Once upon a time, Al Green taught the world how to treat a lady.  The silky grooves on “Lets Stay Together” are testements to the undying nature of true love, plus they are really bitchin tunes.  Back in the day, my father was clearly moved by the hopefulness of the title track.  He made it his ringtone as soon as he split with my mom.  I found this hilariously ironic; at the same time it made me lament for a record that could fill my heart with the love that my dad found in that song.  What the hell am I supposed to make babies too, huh?

Well my prayers are answered by the new Al Green Record, sort of.  Its an enjoyable listen and there are some standout tracks, but all in all its a little underwhelming.  Undoubtedly, the songs are still smothered in Al’s romantic goodness.  I mean every song is pretty much about his undying affection for a female or the lack there of.  So, in that respect I am satisfied (I give it a 8 out of 10 for babymaking potential).  But there isn’t the same “wow” factor that you saw in “Lets Stay Together” or “Tired of Being Alone.”  It seems that the soul vet has settled down a little, laying down tracks that are noticeably conservative.  

That being said I have been enjoying the record on repeat for the last few days.  ?uestlove nailed the production, and even added a little bit of hip-hop flavor without obstructing the soulful feel.  So, if your a fan of Al hit this up, no questions asked.  The record is released on May 27th. 

Download: Al Green-Standing in the Rain 

See Also: Al Green: Thought It Out 

So that’s why everyone is going bonkers over this.

Via sneakmove

Now, I’ve messed with FL Studio a few times, but I’ve always wanted to really bang out some beats on a proper Music Production Center, or MPC. These guys are living my dream of engaging in sampler-based combat, in this fantastic video for producer/DJ Egadz‘ song “What We Are Destined to Do”:

And here Egadz recreates the song live on an MPC:

And the video is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m a sucker for producers creating beats on the fly and the web is full of vids of them doing just that. Here’s a choice selection of videos of beatmakers producing with the MPC

Just Bleezy on the MPC:

Pete Rock plays with the MPC, and makes a beat out of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield”:

Damu the Fudgemunk (of Y Society) recreates DJ Premier’s beat for “Classic (Better Than I’ve Ever Been) on the MPC 2000:

Damu used to have several videos of him recreating beats by the likes of Pete Rock & Da Beatminerz but he seems to have taken them down. Anyone know the deal with this?

At the start of February I needed a small and affordable HDTV for my apartment  (because the ML HQ’s doesn’t need something fancy… in the shower). I saw a good price on a Vizio 20inch VX20L and bought it after seeing a few but positive comments on the internets. It looked fine out of the box when I first turned it on. Things looked even nicer after I tweaked the settings & colors. Then the problems started, first sometimes you would have to enter a channel twice for the tuner to get the signal (from cable), then it started randomly resetting it self. I was annoyed only to become furious when the TV started randomly freezing with about a 150 decibel squeal, which the first time it occurred had me reaching for my (non-existent) piece (and jumping up out of my chair). 

No worries though, Vizio would surely fix this, right? My first call to the non-toll-free number I was disconnected while being “transferred”. Then when I finally got through to some guy, I was told I would need a $500 hold on my credit card to get sent a replacement. I refused (I didn’t really have a trusting feeling of the company at this point) so I was told I would have to ship my TV in first to get a replacement. I was smitten, to get the process started I would have to be called back later in the day by someone! Some man called me back a few hours later to setup a box to be shipped out to me so I could send them my lemon. This was a 20 minute process, lengthened by me constantly having to yell “What??” because the guy was calling me from what seemed like a busy warehouse. In the end he said the box would arrive in about a week.

3 Weeks passed, no box, my ears ringing on the daily from that damn squeal. Needless to say, I was at rising blood pressure/rioting status when I called Vizio again, I talked to a guy, Jose (I think) he was nice and apologized for everything I’ve been through. He said it looked like I was entered into their system “wrong” or something and he would expedite me a box, he also provided a personal number to call him at if I had anymore issues. The box came in about a week, the next day came another box, then the day after than one more (too bad they weren’t with TVs), needless to say my UPS Lady was giving me suspicious looks. I shipped out the TV the day before I went off to Noise Pop (that feature is still coming, I swear!) to minimize a TV-less life. I got a new TV back about 3 weeks later, which hasn’t had any issues so far.

So you ask why I’m writing this now, well this e-mail reminded me of the whole ordeal:

(Yup, the Shipping Notification e-mail was sent about 3 weeks AFTER the actual ship date.)

Watch this thing break the day the warranty ends.

Jay-Z has closed a deal with Live Nation that will see the formation of Roc Nation, a joint venture between Live Nation and Hov. It’s a $150 million deal (baby on the way, mad bills to pay?) that includes Jay-Z’s touring and recordings for the next ten years. One of the most powerful people in music has opted to ditch the major labels. Is the antiquated record industry that nobody seems to like fading away?

via Billboard.com

E:60 did a very interesting piece on Iron Mike, who ML is endlessly intrigued by. In the roundtable Jeremy Schaap nails it when he says a good part of the appeal of Mike Tyson is how authentic he is. Watch this if you are interested in what Mike is up to these days.

Production Meeting:

Part 1:

The rest after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

To celebrate a month’s passing since our introductory Fun Facts post, here’s a second installment. Pat yourself on the back if you’ve noticed a trend here.

1. On “Stick 2 The Script” (off The Dynasty Roc La Familia), Jay-Z’s line “We gon’ run the streets/’til we reach Malik” is in reference to former NBA player Malik Sealy, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000.

2. MF Grimm was arrested en route to a studio where he would have recorded a verse for Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ”.

3. T.I. shortened his rap name from “T.I.P.” out of respect for his at-the-time Arista Records labelmate, Q-Tip.

Read the rest of this entry »