Metal Lungies

At Metal Lungies, we eat, sleep and poop hip-hop. But sometimes, we get tired of the violence, drugs and stupidity. When that happens, we listen to Kid Cudi, Kanye West and other more lighthearted musical fare. But then we eventually get tired of the inane lyrics, ephemeral dance tracks and stupidity. And when that happens, we find other stuff to do, like attending New York Comic Con this weekend!

Here is my itinerary for Friday and Saturday. I have very little planned for Sunday, so I’ll probably just browse the booths for free stuff something cool. And feel free to recommend anything from the this list.

Friday

2:00 – Electronic Arts

3:30 – Atari

5:30 – Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder, screening

7:00 – Prototype: The Video Game, presentation

Saturday

11:00 – Watchmen, Terminator Salvation, and Friday the 13th (Warner), panel

12:30 – Gabe and Tycho Spotlight, panel

1:00 – Star Wars Decade: Where Were You in ’99? panel

2:30 – Disney Presents Up and Surrogates, panel

3:30 – SouthPeak

5:30 – Up Preview Screening

Sunday

1:30 – Watchmen: Portrait of A Movie, panel

Other

Sega probably has the strongest showing in terms of games, so I’m definitely checking them out. And THQ might have something cool too.

As you can see, there’s very little that’s hip-hop related, but I think we can all use a break. And if it makes you feel better, someone told me the next Beat Drop is coming real soon.

I can’t tell if Run and the kids are really having fun or if they’re just damn good at pretending. Reviews of Wii Music suggest the latter. Run and fam are always entertaining though.

Sidebar: I haven’t played it yet, but I’m giving Wii Music the benefit of the doubt for now, just because Shigeru Miyamoto’s games (get to know) have changed my life four like times.

via Kotaku

Q-Tip is going on tour with a full band as well as DJ Scratch, The Cool Kids, The Knux and on some dates Pacific Division. Before Tribe’s set at Rock The Bells, Q-Tip rocked it solo for a minute and it was amazing. Dates/info:

Date	City/State	Venue	Info/Opener
11/05/08	Chicago, IL	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux
11/07/08	Aspen, CO	Belly Up	also feat. The Knux
11/08/08	Denver, CO	Cervantes Ballroom	also feat. The Knux
11/11/08	Seattle, WA	Showbox Sodo	also feat. The Knux
11/13/08	San Francisco, CA	Mezzanine	also feat. The Knux & Pacific Division
11/15/08	Los Angeles, CA	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux & Pacific Division
11/16/08	Las Vegas, NV	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux
11/17/08	Phoenix, AZ	Marquee	also feat. The Knux
11/19/08	Dallas, TX	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux
11/20/08	Austin, TX	Stubbs	also feat. The Knux
11/21/08	Houston, TX	Warehouse Live	also feat. The Knux
11/22/08	New Orleans, LA	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux
11/24/08	Atlanta, GA	Centerstage	also feat. The Knux & Janelle Monae
11/26/08	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Revolution	also feat. The Knux
11/28/08	Orlando, FL	House Of Blues	also feat. The Knux
11/29/08	Charlotte, NC	Amos’ Southend	also feat. The Knux
11/30/08	Washington, DC	Nightclub 9:30	also feat. The Knux & Pacific Division
12/02/08	New York, NY	Nokia Times Square	also feat. The Knux & Pacific Division
12/03/08	Philadelphia, PA	Trocadero	also feat. The Knux & Pacific Division

Some striking similarities between game characters and rappers. Charles Hamilton is going to be pissed they didn’t put him with Sonic (you’re going to be pissed when you see who they did put).

The -Minus World via GoNintendo

I just got around to listening to the latest from New Orleans’ Curren$y, Super Tecmo Bowl. His beat selection is on point as always and he stays dropping nice punch-lines. Better than the his last, which I thought was a little weak.

Dude’s got good timing too. The folks at Tecmo are reviving the series with Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff next year on DS and Wii. How about some cross-promotion?

Download: Curren$y – Super Tecmo Bowl

via OnSMASH

It’s always funny when people get really worked up about Pokémon. Oh, and if you don’t think Pokémon is hip hop, look no further than the permanently gun-toting Blastoise.
via Kotaku
Bonus:  a quick search for "gangsta pokemon" brought me this.

My most anticipated game at the moment is by far MadWorld for Wii. Announced last week at a Sega press event, Madworld is an action game noted for its over-the-top comic violence, stylized graphics (mostly black and white with red blood ala Sin City) and the incredible talent behind it. Developer Platinum Games consists of a group of designers that were responsible for some of the most original games of last generation, like Atsushi Inaba (Viewtiful Joe, Okami), Shinji Mikami (killer7, Resident Evil 4) and Hideki Kamiya (Okami, creator of Devil May Cry). Here’s the first trailer for MadWorld:

Sure to be excellent, bloody stuff, but one detail caught my eye at the end of an interview that I almost didn’t bother to read. Designer Shigenori Nishikawa mentioned to MTV that the game’s score will be primarily hip-hop and named Kanye and Jay-Z as his personal favorites. Damn! But what kind of hip-hop would befit MadWorld? Rap music is right at home in the urban setting of Grand Theft Auto IV and in any basketball game, but is there anything that wouldn’t feel totally out of place in a stylized Japanese action game? Something tells me RZA would be down; just tell him chess is involved.

via MTV Multiplayer

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)

Let me begin by saying if you haven’t got Swat 4, this is a MUST COP. This game has ruled my life to the point where I completely forgot about posting, schoolwork, and pimping. I make no exaggeration when I say, THIS GAME IS COOKED CRACK ON THE PC!!! This doesn’t mean I change my stance on the cops, Snitches still get Stitches!

I don’t need to tell you to watch that new Juelz Video. Do I? This shit is probably his best solo video. I would definately rank this among one of the best dip-associated videos of all time. Young Mohammed Atta brought it hard in this cut. Hot Track, Great Production, *Classic* Metal Lungies Approved.

Huge News!!! The Ruff Ryders are looking to release their fourth compilation album, Ryde or Die Vol. 4: The Redemption. DMX is coming back from his *cough* retirement *cough* to appear on the first single off the album, Get Wild produced by Scott Storch and also featuring Jada, Kartoon, and Flashy. The Lox will have a big presence on this album which makes it an insta-cop for me. The album will also feature big name folks like Cassidy, and Nore, and smaller names like Jin (who I hope has perfected studio rapping to the point where he can deliver a performance on par with his freestlye battles.) Keep a look out for this.

Dropping yet another good video, Game has released the video for the Kanye-produced Dreams. This was a great track on the album and this video has exactly what the Hate it or Love it vid had, a lot of editing. But seriously its a good video, watch it.

So while Jackie-O is busy dropping diss tracks. Foxy is busy denying it. Damn, this is not a good legal move for Jackie-O. She needs to shut up or she will go away like Queen Bee. Oh yeah, and that shit about the Lil’ kim ghostwriters, I don’t care.

Will you be copping the Xbox 360 when it drops? I won’t. I’m dead broke!!!!!!!!!!!

On the other hand I will sell rock cocaine to get my hands on the three possible Ghostface albums that will drop this year. Pretty Toney still gets constant rotation, and Theodore is still THE Unit. Ghost with MF Doom, if that doesn’t excite you nothing will.
Also, try and get last month’s issue of XXL it has a great article on the making of the classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I know, I know why buy when I post a link? For the classic pics, of course.

Track of the Day: Common- Corners Remix featuring Scarface and Mos Def

I’m out, too sick with allergies.

I’m gonna take off from the usual hip-hop grind for a moment to spread the word about a special something which has recently occupied a corner of my heart. That something is the SWAT 4 single player demo. When I first tried a multiplayer demo of the new first person shooter I was blown away by the amazing graphics (based on the doom 3 engine) and gripping gameplay which would leave me entertained for hours on end, yes, It was good…….But something was missing. While performing one of my regular sweeps of fileplanet it came to my attention that a new demo for the game had been released, a single player version at that. I played through the unedited level the demo offered and was satisfied by the great bot control and accuracy when it came to rules of engagement (i.e. if he busts a cap you do too). All this was fine and well but when I came to the custom level editor I fell in love. Now don’t get me wrong, neutralizing 14 car jackers with a group of 6 guys is great but when you take on 30, on your own, well my friends that is the height of gaming ectasy. So, if your like me and tired of spending your weekends running from the police (word to White Flint Park, protect your neck) then head over to fileplanet.com and download the new SWAT 4 single player demo. And remember, it doesn’t matter if your electronic suspects are guilty or not. Your the Po-Lice and King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on you.

Just look at these Before and Afters!!!!

Before SWAT 4:

After SWAT 4: