Torture Chambers

The mere idea of this is really fucked up. Listening to anything for 24-hours straight is a really bad idea, but this article claims that one individual was forced to listen to Eminem's The Eminem Show album, loudly, 24 hours a day for at least a MONTH. I guess that's better than listening to an individual song as it appears that others were forced to do over and over and over but it would still really suck. A month of "Rain Man". Oh no.

Ridiculous Rap Lyrics

These guys started this site called Snacks & Shit that simply posts ridiculous rap lyrics and has funny analysis's of them. Out of context some of this stuff is just plain hilarious. Check it out. Thanks to the one and only Dart Parker for the link.

Senior Choir Hip-Hop

Not quite sure what to say about this masterpiece. I mean, WOW. I can't believe nobody told me about it sooner. It already has over 600,000 views. It's really pretty genius actually. I know they weren't serious and someone put this project together as a big goof, but to think about teaching those old ladies some of the lyrics that they said is hilarious. Wish we could see more of the choir leader, he's gangsta.

CNN on Shade45- Part 2

Here is the rest of the hilarious CNN on Angela Yee's Morning Show on Shade45 from yesterday. Enjoy.

Eminem.com

New splash page up at 8a.m. EST/5a.m. PST.
Wow that was a lot more like a Twitter message. Twittering is real A.D.D. I'm a lawyer by trade originally, so we really like to dig in on stuff. Get to the heart of matters, use many words but stil drill our point home. Pause.
Anyway I'm going to start to try to Twitter so if you want to follow me, I'm bunyan71. I'm not sure I am going to like it though. So much to say...

CNN on Shade45

Capone-n-Noreaga were on Angela Yee's Morning Show on Shade45 this morning. N.O.R.E. is one of the funniest dudes on the radio in my opinion, every time he's on. This stuff is classic. Check it out below, broken into 3 parts. They sat through the news and everything. HA! Get Sirius or XM, you are missing out. I'll post the rest tomorrow.

How to Rob a Hipster

Saw this on Nah Right today and figured I needed to post it since a. it's a 50 cover and b. The Knux are name-checked. Clever and funny stuff from Big City Philadelphia. Some guys mentioned may not think so though... A little dose of humor is good.

Rap Radar Launching 3/9/09

I have partnered with Elliott Wilson to launch RapRadar.com... See below!

LEGENDARY MAGAZINE EDITOR, AUTHOR AND
TV PRODUCER ELLIOTT WILSON LAUNCHES ULTIMATE
ONLINE HIP-HOP WEBSITE, RAPRADAR.COM

(New York, NY—February 24, 2009) Magazine editor, content creator, blogger, published author, and television producer Elliott Wilson announced today the launch of RapRadar.com, a new, groundbreaking online website focused on delivering urban music, entertainment and lifestyle news.

As a popular commentator whose takes on hip hop, culture and race are notoriously impassioned and heavy handed, Wilson is the legendary former editor-in-chief of XXL magazine and founding editor of xxlmag.com, as well as the executive producer of VH-1's highly-controversial ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme and its equally provocative predecessor, ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show. Wilson's work has been published in XXL, VIBE and Rolling Stone among other publications since 1992 and he has remained one of the most influential voices in music and entertainment media for nearly two decades.

Created to fill a necessary void in the way hip hop news, feature stories and content is covered and delivered online, Rap Radar will feature a continuously updated blog which showcases Wilson's infamous hard hitting, fresh and thought provoking point of view on the most buzz worthy topics in urban entertainment. The site will include exclusive Rap Radar interviews and videos as well as aggregation with attitude as Wilson provides biting, no-holds barred commentary on news. Whether it's behind the scenes flip cam footage from high profile events, audio from local radio interviews with artists, informed insight into the most scandalous celebrity controversy, or posting and reviewing the latest records and music videos first, Wilson will stay on the pulse of documenting hip-hop culture at the tireless pace that today's music fan demands.

"You have to adapt to the times if you still want to be a music journalist in this climate," Wilson asserts. "With Rap Radar, I'll be able to create some of my finest work. No one is as dedicated to documenting this culture as I am. This is not a job. It's not even really a career. It's my life."
On Wilson's boisterous blog roll, he will also cover R&B music, gossip talk, paparazzi scenes, and sports. Rap Radar claims all things that are connected and related to hip-hop culture. With more wit and punch than Perez Hilton and as many connections as the Huffington Post can muster, Rap Radar is poised to become hip-hop's defining destination.

Currently in beta, RapRadar.com will officially launch online on March 9th.

"Crack A Bottle"- Video Coming

Here is a still from the "Crack A Bottle" video which will be ready for the world within a couple of weeks. The video is directed by Syndrome and it's going to be bananas.

Drapes & Carpet

This product is now on the shelves in drugstores everywhere. I never knew that people would go to this length for beauty improvement. I don't understand whether women would use this to make their hair on their head match their hair down there or whether they would want some unique coloring down there or whether it's for graying or what. Also, why a special product for this? Wouldn't any old hair dye work or are there some special properties of this particular dye that make it more suitable for this purpose? Discuss.

Crack A Record

The Eminem/Dr.Dre/50 Cent song "Crack A Bottle" has shot from #78 to #1 on Billboard's Hot100 and has broken an Itunes record. "Bottle" has the fastest selling digital single first week ever with 418,00 sales. Check out this Billboard article all about it.

Blink-182 Reunites

I know I'm not breaking any news here, but I'm glad to report for those who haven't heard that Blink-182 has reunited following their 4 year hiatus! At the 51st Grammy Awards Travis, Tom and Mark took the stage to present Best Rock Album (Coldplay won) and announced the big news. I had a chance to snap this photo of the three before they took the stage to make it official to the world...
We'll be managing the group as a continuation of represnting Travis and Mark (individually and as +44) along with Rick Devoe Management and couldn't be more proud and excited about the possibilities. Click here for the official Blink website and here for their Myspace page. Therein you'll find their official statement and be sure to check out the recession special $10 t-shirt prices, lasting through Feb. 22nd. More info on the way as it becomes available.

The Knux- MTVU House Band

Check out this link for The Knux on MTVU.com for their Artist of the week feature, a/k/a House Band or just click to watch below. It includes videos for "Bang! Bang!" and "Cappuccino" as we as an exclusive interview. Krispy explains his affinity for cullinary arts and Al talks about s'mores and cereal.

"Fire" video coming soon... real soon.

Sicker Than Your Average

I had to take a trip out west, and was super crazed while out there with work (and DD's wedding). Somewhere in the City of Angels I met my match. A martian virulent flu strain that knocked me on my ass for a full week.
Now, I'm not saying that I've actually been to hell, but I'm pretty sure I can describe what the gates look like. Last week Tuesday when I got to the airport I started feeling that wooziness that you feel when you are coming down with something. Lucky for me (or so I thought at the time) I ended up starting to feel O.K. towards the second-half of the flight. Came home late, watched some television, everything seemed cool. Then I woke up.
This thing kicks in hard with a searing 104 degree fever complemented by a perpetual, intensely sharp and constantly relocating headache. I'm talking about the kind of headache where you actually end up holding your head with your eyes closed and a pain so intense that you kind of can't believe it because it's so impressive. Note, this headache, and the fever, continue STRAIGHT NON-STOP FOR 4 FULL DAYS.
There is no such thing as an appetite. All you can do is drink water and juice and take Tylenol and Motrin. You are so miserable that you aren't even interested in watching television or reading or anything you would normally enjoy doing when you are ill. Around day three the spontaneous vomiting begins (what I actually threw-up I have no idea because I hadn't eaten any food) along with an extremely sore neck which you can never get comfortable.
When the fever finally breaks, you feel better for sure, but the headache remains along with the non-existent appetite and soreness. Then you spend the next three days walking around with a general state of malaise and discontent feeling like you may have been permanently damaged by this thing.
Tomorrow will be the ninth day since I started feeling sick, and I think I should be back to normal, or around 95%. I really feel bad for anyone that stumbles across this virus, it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. If you get it, just write the next week off and stay home and pray. Anyway since I'm almost better and I've had the last few days to catch up with my professional life, the blogging shall continue.

50 Cent- "I Get It In"

After last week's leak, here is a fully mixed and mastered dirty version of 50's new single "I Get It In" from the forthcoming LP Before I Self Destruct, produced by Dr. Dre. Dre really killed this mix!

Paul The Lionhearted

I haven't written any posts about pro-football at all this season. At first I thought I was just being lazy, since all-original posts like this obviously take the most time. But as the season progressed, I realized it was because I was searching. Searching for an identity, searching for the truth, searching for a purpose.
Contrary to what non-fans would think, there is plenty of manly emotion in football. We've seen it in the recent press conferences of Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan and especially in the post-game win on-field interview with Philly's Brian Dawkins. While we don't have our careers hanging in the balance on the NFL (unless we've literally bet the house), a lot of us have invested a great deal of time and belief in the game- and our team. It's a game, sure, but it's more than just that.
I grew up in suburban Detroit, MI. Both my grandfather and my father before me spent most of their lives as Detroit Lions fans. I was, quite literally, born into being a Lions fan. I could go on and on about the Sundays spent on the couch with my father and brother yelling at the television or waving our hands in disgust at the more often than not hapless Lions. It was my late grandfather Marvin Rosenberg, however, who said something to me probably 25 years ago that really took me a long time to grasp: "As long as Ford owns that team, they ain't never gonna be no good". While the phrase stuck with me and haunted me for years, it took a while to sink in. How could it be that a team's owner has that much to do with whether the players play well and whether the team is competitive?
As a child, you think that your team can win, plain and simple. Those guys on the field in the Lions' logo helmets were my heroes, and I'd be damned if I didn't support them. I believed in the Honolulu blue and silver for 35 years or so. Even 10 years after moving to New York, my allegiance didn't waiver. I'd be constantly made fun of by Giants or Jets fans, but I didn't care- I was a Detroit Lions fan. Period.
I'm not sure exactly what put me over the edge. There isn't one specific thing that I can point to (other than the obvious losing seasons year after year, the lamest draft picks over the last several seasons, the maddening decision by the front office to keep Matt Millen as the team's GM for 8 seasons), I think I just got sick of rooting for an organization that frankly were losers.
Millen's tenure as GM led to the worst eight-year record in the NFL (31-97) since World War II. The Lions have never been in a Super Bowl. In fact, the Lions have made it into the playoffs only nine times in the 50-plus years since winning the 1957 championship. Back in November of 1963, William Clay Ford, Sr. bought the team which began the 43-year period that continues today, during which the Lions have won just one playoff game. Turns out that Grandpa Marvin was right.
Now, I've been very clear in the past on where I stand on what team's people should be allowed to root for. For the sake of clarity, allow me to repeat from my October 2007 post entitled The Cowgirls:
In my opinion, you root for the team from where either a) you grew up, b) where you currently live (for at least a couple of years), c) if there is no team where you are from or where you currently live, you can pick one near by, or d) if the team where you currently live packed-up and bounced to some "expansion" city or otherwise, you can continue to root for that team (shouts out to the Los Angeles Raiders, Anaheim Rams, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Baltimore Colts). Sure, you can prefer one team win over another. You can even cheer for that team playing against a team that you despise. But to passionately root for a team that doesn't fit into any of the categories above, to the point that you wear their gear, sing their praises, and have "sports arguments" about that team is complete BULLSHIT. You know who you are. Stop it.
I moved to New York City full-time in June of 1996. That's almost 13 years ago. Since then, I've watched a lot of New York Jets and New York Giants games- mostly due to the fact that I didn't (and still don't) have DirectTV and the NFL Sunday Ticket, and the Jets and Giants games are always shown locally. I don't know exactly why, but I've always leaned more towards the Giants. I know there are some unwritten rules about where you live in the NY area which dictate who you should be a fan of (for the record, I've lived in New Jersey, Queens and New York City), but I mostly just went with my gut. It took a while, but around 5 or 6 years ago the Giants became my "second team".
In first position, up until this season, I always remained true to The Lions. Bad habits are hard to break, but I always just figured that it's what I was, and that's that. During the course of last season, while the Lions crashed and burned (they started the season 6-2 and ended the season at 7-9), I paid really close attention to the rising Giants. I'd say the point at which I really turned the corner was on November 18, 2007 when the Lions lost to the Giants 10-16. I was still rooting for the Lions at that point, but when they lost to my second team, I wasn't that mad. In fact, I vividly remember telling the friends I had that were over at my house to watch the game that I thought that when the Giants play at their best, they can beat anyone. And beat anyone they did.
So, I continued the rest of the '07 season caring less about Detroit and more about Big Blue. Sure, you can say I jumped on the proverbial bandwagon. And maybe I did. But when you have drank mud for so long and you get the opportunity to taste some champagne, it's easy to want more. That taste of winning, of being a winner, and having real hope is really something to behold.
Before the 2008 NFL season began, I sent an e-mail to a group of friends from The D that were also born Lions fans and had since dispersed around the country. The e-mail was as follows:

From: paulXXXX@XXXX.com
To: Group
CC:
Subject: RE: ROAR 2008
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:57:05 -0400

Save this e-mail: THE LIONS WILL HAVE THE WORST RECORD IN THE NFL IN THE '08 SEASON.
They spent the off-season creating a new slogan "BELIEVE IN NOW". I believe that now we seriously don't have a defense. At all. The only semi-decent linebacker we have is Ernie Sims and he's hurt forever. It will be a catastrophe the likes of which we are accustomed to, but maybe worse. Their draft picks were the laughing stock of the league. We still have no offensive line.
GO GIANTS

At the point I sent that e-mail, I was still trying on the idea of being a second team convert. Could I really have a fully changed heart? Could I actually care about the Giants as much or more than I cared about the Lions for 35 years?
Well, after the Lions obviously went on to a record-breaking 0-16 season (the first team to go winless in the era of 16-game seasons), it wasn't all that hard. But it wasn't until this past Sunday, after a season of rooting for the Giants and doing my best to ignore Detroit (I even went to a game this season at Ford Field though), when I went to the Giants playoff game against the Eagles that I learned the truth- I have become a Giants fan. I wasn't just casually bummed that the Giants lost, I was very upset. When you feel that kind of emotion, the conversion is real. I am a New York Giants fan.
Having said all of that, there will always be a place in my heart for The Detroit Lions, hence the title of this blog entry. Should the team get sold, or the Fords miraculously decide that they want to own a team that competes in the league and prove themselves as real winners, I'll be happy. I just refuse to spend the next 35 years (or depending on how you look at it, the second half of my life) rooting for and investing myself in a team that doesn't care. If the Fords don't care enough to win, why should I?
So, Grandpa Rosenberg, there you have it. I can see you crack a smile now and say in your gruff, old-school way "well, what took ya so long, boy?" It was hard, grandpa. But I've made the move, and I'm comfortable with it. If some of you out there aren't, try walking in my shoes for 35 years, then you can judge. Until then, GO BIG BLUE!

P.S. I hope I haven't offended any of the people at the Detroit Lions organization with whom I have become acquainted over the years. I had to get this off of my chest.
P.P.S. My fortunate 5 and-a-half month old daughter will grow up a Giants fan, and not have to endure the pain that I have. Plus, she can go to games in a shiny new stadium!

B.o.B- "I'll Be In The Sky" (Video)

The long awaited video from B.o.B for "I'll Be In the Sky".
B.o.B - "I'll Be In The Sky"

No Direction, Period.

New and fascinating information about legendary folk singer Bob Dylan.

Thanks to Marquis for the link!

Bromance?!?!

I'm a bit late on the uptake, but this show has to be one of the most homo-erotic programs I've ever seen. I don't know Brody Jenner personally, but I hear he's a nice enough guy. I just don't understand why nobody has figured out the amount of pausible moments on this show. For example, see below.

The elimination round on the first episode was all of the contestants in a jacuzzi tub. "Bro... you're OUT OF THE TUB!!!"

Shade45 Top 30 Songs 2008

I didn't have time to write any "year in review" or "things I'm looking forward to" '08 and '09 stuff. So here as a substitute is our most played songs of 2008 on Sirius XM's Shade45... Take note to the diversity, hits, non-hits, Shady, non-Shady and all around scope of what we play.
I took a week off but I'm back in effect. It's called a vacation.