Hanukkah Radio- 2010

In case you missed it (which for your sake I hope you did), here is the 2010 installment of Hanukkah Radio from Sirius XM's Shade45. This year myself and Reef the Streets along with Shady Records' own Dro Grindstein brought for another horrible program celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the intersection of hip-hop and Judaism.
This year, we nominated a new Jew of the Year, played the famous game Jew or Not a Jew?, interviewed the esteemed author of The Big Payback, Dan Charnas, and had a call-in from none other than Warner Music Group's head honcho Lyor Cohen.
Sit back, grab a sack of latkes, and sip some fine Manishewitz as the poor quality 2-hour program unfolds below. We promise to bring you another installment in 2011. If they let us. Happy Hanukkah!

DJ AM Vinyl Sale

In support of DJ AM's Memorial Fund, his close friends and family have organized a sale of some of his personal vinyl collection. AM's charity is designed to continue his life work and passion of helping people find sobriety and get them into recovery programs. It's a great cause in honor of our greatly missed friend. See below.

Gangrene- "The Sickness" (Video)

The Alchemist and Oh No are Gangrene. Gangrene's Sawblade EP comes out this coming Tuesday November 2nd with 4 new songs not available on Gangrene's debut album Gutter Water, which drops on Nov. 22nd. Confused? You wont be after you watch the clip for "The Sickness" below...




OK, maybe you will be. Visit their site or the good folks at Decon for more info. Which may confuse you. More.

Eminem- "Despicable" Unnoficial Video

Here is an impressive fan generated video for Eminem's "Despicable" freestyle which came out earlier this year. Quite clever and entertaining at the same time, guys.

More Marshall & Anderson- 60 Minutes Overtime

Here's some extras from the 60 Minutes segment last weekend, including Em's rhyme for Anderson and a trip to Burger King. Spot the Rosenblog...

Marshall & Anderson- 60 Minutes

Eminem chops it up with Anderson Cooper this weekend on CBS's 60 Minutes at 7:00PM EST or whenever the 2nd football game ends.
In the clip above, Em shows you how he can rhyme words that you can't. As if you didn't know he could do that already. Because you should have.

Travis Barker w/The Cool Kids - "Jump Down" (Music)

The first official warmer from Travis Barker's forthcoming Interscope LP Give the Drummer Some is here... and you can get it for FREE! Follow the link below and get involved.

Rude Jude's Punishment

On Sirius XM's Shade45 today, I took Rude Jude to task for his unscrupulous and disrespectful behavior at Detroit's Comerica Park backstage at the Home and Home Tour. Check out the 3 clips below to learn what Jude's punishment is for the shit he pulled...



P.S. Results of Jude's punishment will be presented next week.

Eminem's 2010 VMA Promo

We filmed this in The D a few weeks back to promote Em's appearance on the 2010 VMA's this Sunday, Spetember 12th. Em gets his Marlon Brando/James Dean combo character on and escapes from a flipped car to make his way to the VMA's via a surreal walk-of-fame with witnesses. Check it out below. :60 version on the way shortly...

2010 MTV Video Music Awards

Bonus: The inspiration... the final scene of "On the Waterfront".

With a little bit of THIS.

DJ AM Remembered- NYC

Come celebrate the life and music of our friend Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein tonight in New York City at Santos with music supplied by some of AM's favorite DJ's, including DJ Premier, Stretch Armstrong and Mark Ronson. It's going to be a great time to remember, rejoice and reminisce. Proceeds will benefit the DJ AM Memorial Fund.

Love the Way You Cover

There have been a lot of covers of Em & Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie" popping up on Youtube. Here's one of the most interesting and clever versions from twins Helena and Maria... Em can now be big amongst the Lilith Fair contingent. Word.

Lenny Kravitz: Only Half-A-Jew

A couple of weeks ago Lenny Kravitz, one of the coolest jews ever, was on HBO's Entourage in a cameo scene. He appeared in a temple, wearing a tallit and yarmulke, geared up for a bat-mitzvah. The Entourage dudes shot some behind-the-scenes footage and put it up on YouTube. Check it out.

Thanks to Scott Vener for the link. Get a razor.

Mark Hoppus- A Different Spin

Our most congenial client Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 is starting a weekly talk-show on Fuse entitled A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus. The show will feature panel style discussions focused around music and entertainment, celebrity interviews and special music performances exclusive for the show. Check out Mark's practice interview with, um, "Lil Wayne" below.

Video removed because people kept complaining about the auto-start. See it HERE.

A Different Spin debuts on Fuse September 16th at 7pm.

Kuniva- Midwest Marauders

D 12's own Kuniva is back with another mixtape. Our guy is spittin' something fierce here. Click here for the link, and be sure to check out the clever artwork flip on the Quest classic.

Rude Jude & Lord Sear Banter

We have this radio station on Sirius XM called Shade45. On the station we have these afternoon hosts named Rude Jude & Lord Sear who have a show called The All-Out Show. Jude and Sear like to mess with people, and they really like to talk shit to each other... Today was no exception. Check out this break with the guys goin at eachother as usual- but this one was really funny. Stick around until after the female caller and the, um, catfish...

Recovery Album Shoot- Behind the Scenes Pt. 2

And here's Part 2. Em talks more about being cold... And we shoot him on the road. To "Recovery." Get it!?!?!

Recovery Album Shoot- Behind the Scenes Pt. 1

Below, check out Part 1 of the "behind the scenes" video from the packaging shoot for Eminem's Recovery album. See how Em felt about being outside in the unseasonable cold with Nigel Parry and the concept behind the glass box... And what Em is "really trying to say."

Eli Porter- The Documentary

A couple, maybe three years ago, the legendary "Iron Mic" freestyle battle from a high school local access television program involving one Eli Porter made waves around the internet. Now, somebody found enough time to go back, seven years after the battles occurred, and make a documentary on it. It's an appropriately absurd follow-up to a bizarre phenomenon... Check it out.

We sent out a few advance copies of Eminem's new Recovery album this past week to some folks. Below is what one of them had to say after they heard it.

Vince for EmWow!: Recovery Commercial

Yep... We got Vince from ShamWow and Slapchop for this. He's the truth... Check out the :30 UNCENSORED version below... NSFW.

Call of Duty- Black Opps : "Won't Back Down"

Check out the :60 commercial below for Activision's new Call of Duty Black Ops with Eminem's "Won't Back Down" Featuring P!nk. "Shootin' from the hip, yeah boy I shoot to kill..." This spot will air on TV this week. The game is out this fall (Nov. 9th).

Eminem on EmSee

Check out Em's interview with the folks at Red Bull about his days in the trenches as a battle rapper and how he's going to come out and see what's what at their Red Bull EmSee battle series: The Road to 8 Mile. Details will be revealed soon HERE.

Tim Westwood Freestyles- Round 3 (Video)

Here is the last and final round of the sessions with Westwood from last week in London. I may put up the interview later, but Westie is always trying to sling "deez nuts" jokes so it's a bit crazy... Enjoy 'em.

Tim Westwood Freestyles- Round 1 (Video)

Here is Round 1 of the BBC sessions with Westie. Round 3, my favorite, will be up tomorrow.


BONUS: Me and Tim, hollerin'.

Tim Westwood Freestyles- Round 2 (Video)

Last week whilst in jolly London we stopped by the BBC's famous Mada Vale studios for an instantly classic freestyle session with Tim Westwood. I was there to capture it on video, and so I'll show it to you. Before the BBC does. Because I can. Here is the 2nd round. I'll put the others up later.

Eminem- "Not Afraid" Video

Took long enough, right? Well here it is. Up, up and away my friends.
We'll have some cool "making of" footage for everyone to check out next week.

Eminem- "Not Afraid"

Em's new single "Not Afraid" produced by Boi 1da. Album is 6/22.

One In Each State?

I really don't need to say much about this photo, but it raises a lot of questions. Does the owner really love the brand? Or is it some kind of ironic joke about the brand, like ultimate sarcasm (i.e. is it s smart statement on the fact that Ed Hardy has sold out so much and made so many products that this dude was like 'Oh yeah? Well I have an Ed Hardy license plate')? The car is obviously a beater, so I'd like to think the latter, but who knows? And finally, is there one of these in every state? How lucky was I that I was fortunate enough to end up behind THE Ed Hardy license plated car in New York City? I could go on for days...

Proof & Dilla

A lot of people don't know how close Proof and J. Dilla were. Back in the early-to-mid-90's these two Detroit favorites started working together closely on various projects ranging from Proof solo material to songs for Proof's group 5 Ela to the hush-hush never to see the light of day due-group they had together, F.C. ("Funky Cowboys"). Seeing these two guys in a room together was always quite a treat, they communicated with very few words but always seemed like they knew something that you didn't- like they were in on some kind of joke or secret that you would never find out about...
Jaydee, as Dilla was then known, began working as a producer with the likes of The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul while continuing as a member of Slum Village. During the same period, Proof continued his hosting duties as the reigning battle champion of The Hip-Hop Shop while recording with 5 Ela and hatching the plans for D 12. Because they all had so much other stuff going on, a lot of the material that they created together never saw the light of day.
I was such a huge fan of Slum Village, Dilla and Proof/5 Ela that any time I could get my hands on it I would dub cassettes of their material. Fortunately, I saved it all. A couple of years back I began digitizing it, and have just kept it close for personal listening pleasure. The sound quality varies, but the quality of the actual material remains high. A sign of what could have been had Dilla and Proof ever had the opportunity to create a full-length project together.
I've decided that the world needs to hear some of this stuff. So, what better time to share it then now, on the anniversary of the loss of our dear friend, inspiration and the unofficial Mayor of Detroit: Big Proof. My current plan is to release a song every year around this time. Below, check out Proof's "On The Go" produced by and featuring J. Dilla. We miss you, P.

Passover Cheer for Kids

Things have come a long way since I was a kid and all we really had for fun on Pesach was finding the Afikomen at my Grandparent's house and fighting over the lousy $5 cash reward. It was always on top of the lamp, anyway...
Now, kids have all kinds of Passover fun. My daughter has finger puppets of the 10 Plagues of Egypt. Yeah, a "boils" finger puppet. Gross. Also, there's the video and song below about a rogue matzoh ball that Dart found for me. Wash it off and put it in your soup and eat it. Pause. Show it to the kidees while they play with their locust and lice puppets. Good Pesach everyone!

Shoot The Knux!

Get yer cameras out. Stack yer (photo) paper up. READY, aim, shoot.

Top 10 Most Underrated MC's

Earlier this week, I started blabbering on Twitter about this list that I've been conjuring up in my head over the last few months. Everyone always talks about who's in their Top 10 MC's of all time, or the ever-popular Top 5 Dead or Alive list. Well, I've been thinking about something different.
Ever since I started listening to rap and hip-hop when I was 11 or 12 years old (1982 or 1983 to be exact, I know, old guy), I've always been drawn to exceptional lyrics and lyricists. The art of emceeing is something that grabbed my ear and never let go, from buying every album that came out on cassette (there were only a few a month back then) to making a career out of it.
We all know about the greats that make most peoples lists (Biggie, Jay, 'Pac, Nas, Rakim, KRS and YES Em), but this isn't about them. This list is about the guys that haven't quite got their proper due or recognition as spectacular rappers, in my opinion. So, while I love Redman and Ghostface, guys like that aren't on this list because I think most people hold them in very high regard amongst the best. This list is about the other guys that often aren't mentioned in that discussion, but probably should be. The guys that on their best day could probably tear a New One in some of your Top 10'ers.

So without further ado, here is my Top 10 Most Underrated MC's list.

10. Black Rob: To me, this guy is one of the best street story tellers of the post-gold age rap era. Anyone that disagrees just take a listen to his verses on "I Love You Baby" from No Way Out for a reminder. Rob's dead pan flow packs a casual power that has been often overlooked. I think label issues and legal issues have really held this special artist back from where he deserves to be.

9. Nature: This one might cause some grumbling, but I feel strongly about it. Nature is one of the most gifted Queens MC's to never get his full shine. His simple but extremely poignant flow paired with wit and depth makes him really special. His debut album For All Seasons is an overlooked gem, and his verses from The Firm album are stand-out classics. Check out "We Ain't Friends" and holla back.

8. Brother J.: The X-Clan's main flow came courtesy of none other than Brother J., one of the smoothest but aggresive voices in the history of rap music. J. kicked X-Clan's brand of pro-black, militant rhetoric with such force and talent that even if you took issue with some of their views, you had to give it up to him. Although there were only two original X-Clan albums before the original members of the group disbanded (To the East, Blackwards and Xodus), J.'s delivery was so memorable that his style is imitated and his lyrics are quoted to this day. Check out the title track from the second LP "Xodus" for proof. Brother J. says YUCK!

7. Wiae Intelligent: Hailing from Trenton, N.J., the lead rapper from Poor Righteous Teachers was hands-down the best reggae/rap toaster ever. His melodies and intricate lyrics were simply incredible. P.R.T. had 4 albums out of the gate in the early-to-mid 90's and Wise never slipped for a second across all of those discs, even when there wasn't commercial success. Take a listen to "Easy Star" to hear Wise at his freshest.

6. The D.O.C.: Unfortunately for us, this guy was only able to make one (classic) album No One Can Do It Better before his vocal chords were severely damaged in an auto accident shortly after the album's release. Yeah, there's really only one album, but put it on today and it still stands up. That Dre guy has always been good at finding great rappers. Imagine what he would have done with The Doc if his full voice was still rockin'. The D.O.C. still remains a frequent Dre collaborator, penning several classics on 2001. Anyone needing a reference, check "Whirlwind Pyramid".

5. Del the Funkee Homosapien: Aa you may or may not know, D-E-L is Ice Cube's cousin. But their blood relation is where the similarities end. We first heard Del's voice on Cube's classic Amerikkka's Most Wanted, and he dropped a couple of classic albums and seriously complex and deep verses along the way after wards. This pioneering lead MC from the Hieroglyphics crew is one of my personal faves. Peep his twisty and flavorful verses on "Wrongplace" (Casual Remix) to remember.

4. Big L.: There's not much to argue with here. Right before L.'s untimely passing in 1999 he had blossomed into one of the best rappers in the game and was in his absolute prime. While he hadn't hit his stride quite yet on his major label debut, the world learned just how ill he was when his posthumous Rawkus album The Big Picture dropped. The classic "Ebonics" is all you need to know.

3. Royce Da 5'9": It has always amazed me just how many incredible rappers have come out of Detroit, and in particular the storied Hip-Hop Shop scene. Royce arrived on the scene in it's later stages, and quickly gained a reputation as one of Detroit's nastiest MC's. Personal bias and history aside, the fact that Royce still rhymes at the level that he does after all these years is simply incredible. If you don't know, give a listen to "Boom" for a reminder where he was and check out "Street Hop 2010" to see where he's at.

2. Big Pun: Another unfortunate early loss for hip-hop fans worldwide occurred when Pun passed away at an early age in 2000. Simply the illest Latin rapper of all time happens to also be one of the most underrated rappers ever. Pun was so nasty and quick on the mic that his verses commanded rewind buttons everywhere for years. "Dead in the middle of Little Italy..." is one of the most memorable lines ever. Listen to "Leatherface" loudly. Now.

1. Kurupt: A personal favorite of mine ever since the Death Row Dogg Pound days, Kurupt Young Gotti is still rapping at a level above most. Hailing from Philadelphia but spending his adult years on the West Coast caused Kurupt to develop a unique East Coast flow with that Cali twang that is one of a kind. Kurupt's solo album Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha and Space Boogie are both extremely overlooked gems that still get play in my rotation to this day. Check out the hard rhyming on "I Call Shots" to see where he was and listen to the sublime "Yes Sir" with Pete Rock to see where he's at.

So, there it is. I hope that this list causes anger, elation, frustration, memories and most importantly debate. Let us know who's on your Underrated list... the greatest thing about the list is that it's yours and thus nobody can be wrong.

Em on Howard '99

Here is a hilarious (for more reasons than one) video of Eminem's only Howard Stern appearance back in the day when he was terrestrial-bound at NY's KROQ circa 1999.

Howard Stern on Demand @ Yahoo! Video

Props to 2Dopeboyz for unearthing this.

Twitter Presents: Jewish Rap Names

Last night, Twitter became ablaze out of nowhere with a topic called #jewishrapnames. I think most people caught the drift, and it quickly became a game of who can think of the best name alteration first. Some people just didn't get it, and they wrote things that were either unclever, uncouth, or unfunny. Most of you did though, and the homie A-Trak went through and collected the best of the best. I added a few as well. Have a (good) sense of humor and check it out.

Kiddush Cudi
Daven The Dude
Schvitzmaster Mike
Oy Vey Da Jewman
Jerusalem The Damaja
Dr. Dreidel
Ludabris
Latke Flocka
The Ghetto Goys
The Cool Yids
Moses Def
The Lox...
Jew Tang Clan
Too Schwartz
Soulja Boychick
Talis Kweli
Sephardic-Cyde "Passover Me By"
The Lost Tribe Called Quest / Kvetch
Star of David Banner
Matzah P
De La Shul (feat. Trugoy)
Purim Righteous Teachers
Sir Mix-A-Latke / Sir Shiksa-Lot / Sir Schvitz-A-Lot / Sir Mitzvah-Lot
Big Punim
Lord Schmear
Shabbat X
Shalom Village
Leaders of the New Schul
Bris Markie
Menoraeaga
Slim Zadie
Bubbie Sparxxx
Limp Brisket
Afrika Bam-schmata
Kvetch Armstrong
Invisibl Skratch Shekels
Young Berg...
Schticky Fingaz
Fat Jew aka Don Cartahebrew
Jewvenile, Jewnior Mafia, Jewpac
Souls of Mitzvah
Meshugah Hill Gang "Rabbi's Delight"
Rick Reuben
Kugel Keith
Chai'rogrlyphics
Nicki Mi-nosh
Kid Shiksa
Foxy Braun
Sunz of Manichevitz
Lil Knish
Ko$ha
Jay Elec-Hanukkah
Boyz II Mensch
Hasheminem
Eric B. & Hashem
Young Schmuck

Thanks to everyone on Twitter who contributed. Except for those of you who made WWII references that were idiotic and in bad taste. Shame, shame.

Rachel Goodrich- "Lightbulb" (Video)

Check out this clip from South Florida's own Rachel Goodrich. The contrast here is fantastic. Good show, Gluck.

Executive Remix

Check out this clip spoofing the A&R remix process. It's pretty much the same scheme for producers. Most of this is sad but true, although I'd say it would take more than just a FEW calls and e-mails to get paid. Welcome to the biz, kidees!

Props to Mikey for the link.

Lebron Spits "Forever"

Last night when the Cavs BEAT the Lakers (HA!) Lebron caught a little extra curricular action rapping Em's verse to "Forever". Not bad, Lebron. I've seen Marshall on the basketball court, though...