slaughterhouse - move on (remix)

in rotation: blueprint - sign language

new slaughterhouse video for the remix of joell ortiz's move on. damn i hope an album actually drops. 'nuff said. check it out.


slaughterhouse - move on (remix)

grind time bars for beats week 5 entry

in rotation - eligh and jo wilkinson - on sacred ground

grind time has been holding a weekly competition where producers provide beats for emcees to do their thing. each week there is a different beat from a different producer. after voting, the winner of bars for beats in the given week wins the actual beat itself. this week the producer is ken i produce a.k.a. 2 pieces, and the beat is just plain filthy. this is my second submission so i hope it's a bit of an improvement from the last. i used the lyrics from my verse on 'if i should lose you'. nevertheless, here is my week 5 entry for grind time's bars for beats.


nix - grind time bars for beats week 5 entry

anecdote vs 360 melbourne street battle

in rotation: the alchemist - the alchemist's cookbook ep

i've been a fan of both dote and 60 since before their fame as the dynamic duo which represented australia in the 2007 wrc. seeing them compete together in the melbourne division in 2007 was such a treat, especially their battles against prime and purpose. to see them go up against each other face to face, is an even bigger treat. with that being said, here is the video of the anecdote vs. 360 battle which was held recently in melbourne. anecdote is so dope off the top of the dome but 360 is just such a funny cunt. dote's schemes are so ill. 60 absolutely beasted it. it's nice to see that they got personal and that they both came correct but i give the w to 60. check it out and see for yourself. props to the heads who filmed, edited and put this all together, and of course to both anecdote and 360. hopefully this is a good precursor to the establishment of grind time australia. shit was real proper.

here are some of my favourite lines from this battle:

anecdote:
"in this town there's no one as hopeless as sixty,
so all these people had me flown in from sydney to get rid of the biggest joke in their city,
he's getting tough like he's going to hit me,
but you're too boney and skinny 'cause you smoke cones like a chimney and snort coke like you're whitney"

"when we went to new york, he had a wet dream on the plane deck,
woke up with his cock in his hand, screaming the name pez"

"you've got no job, you can't rap, and you live in your parents garage.
it's safe to say your adult life is off to a terrible start"

"i hit you to death with right hands and end your lifespan,
the only time you find him next to mic stands is as pez's hypeman"

360:
"you a puss mate, say something,
i'll climb your family tree and start face-fucking your late cousin"

"i'd love to know how many copies of his cd's sold,
when i sold fifteen hundred when it was three weeks old,
and when we play in sydney, he doesn't get to see me roll,
'cause he's backstage keeping my fucking vb's cold"

"his mum's fat as fuck, since her birth she only ate burgers,
she's an overweight version of an overweight person,
and each one of her titties look like beanbags dude,
i'd give that bitch respect but she'd probably eat that too"

360's entire round about lyric's born's albino slip slop slap campaign was absolute murder. that round was domination. if i could be bothered quoting that entire round, i would. holy crap, that shit was bananas.

my favourite moment of the battle however was owned by 360:

"look at his fucking head, look at it!"


anecdote vs 360 battle


anecdote vs 360 post-battle interview

royce da 5'9 - part of me video

in rotation: flying lotus - shhh! ep

royce is one of my favourites but i think he damn near outdid himself on this track/video. y'all need to watch this shit through. the ending is pretty rough. i cannot wait for street hop to drop!

nix one - if i should lose you (produced by kas3)

in rotation: joe budden - the padded room

my mate kas3, who is one of the most talented beatsmiths i know, recently got some life breathed into him which resulted in his triumphant return to the beatmaking world. two nights ago, he put together this crazy, nice beat which in turn breathed light into me. with that being said, i took it upon myself to come up with some fitting rhymes to compliment it. download the finished product here. the appropriate information for this short track can be found below. props to kas3 for bringing that dope shit. welcome back homie.

samples:
aretha franklin - this bitter earth
bill evans trio - how deep is the ocean

lyrics:
yo, i'm just sitting here thinking about how much i fucking love you and hate at the same time. it's doing my fucking head in so just hear me out...

yo it seems that i've gone from i love you to take five,
to unmoved and dazed like i must move and aim high,
to fuck you i hate life! to trust proves it's pain right?
i'm stuck boo, if i don't suck you, i ain't high,
once you displayed light, i'd take a deep breath,
from krush groove to stage-fright, our fate was preset,
and your taste was deepened when i craved your sweet scent,
it just proved my brain's site was stained with each step,
my flame, the reason i lived life - enjoyed it,
when lit right, shit you were just like some poison,
i spent mad cash so you'd live like a spoilt bitch,
plus i loved how you always did like your joints licked,
this time my point is - yeah we're possibly through,
although you claim you always did what i wanted to do,
but honest to kool herc, that was the problem with you,
when i wanted to move, you were psychologically cruel,
pompous and rude, dominant too,
so tell me, is it responsible to even bother with you?
what do i do? should i just swallow the truth?
or abolish my youth like what a shotty'd do?
honestly boo, you've been playing with my soul,
by following you i thought i was taking the high road,
not saying we're dipoles or as stable as time's flow,
but because of your fumes, i'm unable to side-scroll,
changing all my goals is the way to disengage,
i hate to think and say our relationship was fake,
you were often seedless but still laced with different strains,
just a crazy chick to date that created disarray,
so take it as you may past the jaws of your kind,
even though i miss the laughs and stories we scribed,
so i'm sorry that i said my heart was yours when it's mine,
and that if i should lose you, the stars'd fall from the skies...

...and that's it. you know, i feel like i've gotten everything i wanted to get off my chest, and i guess that means that it's time for me to make some sacrifices if i want to get somewhere in life and i can't do it with you by my side, so i guess this is goodbye. i'm sorry. goodbye...

my week 3 grind time bars for beats entry

in rotation: nems - super marvelous mixtape

grind time has been holding a weekly competition where producers provide beats for emcees to do their thing. each week there is a different beat from a different producer. after voting, the winner wins the beat itself as well as promotion. this week the producer was the talented phillip drummond. i decided to give it a go and have some fun with it so here is my week 3 entry for grind time's bars for beats.


nix - grind time bars for beats week 3 entry

sweet potatoes! granger and paul are awesome!

in rotation: pharrell - out of this world

amazing.


hornets vs. pacers finale

andrea bargnani has arrived

in rotation: platinum pied pipers - abundance

in light of andrea bargnani's awesome play as of late, here is a fitting article i found by trevor smith on hoopsaddict.com. click here for the original link.

"“There’s never a band of people pushing and inspiring you. Most will never believe your potential until you literally prove it to them.” – Shelby Lohr

I am, and will forever be, an Andrea Bargnani apologist. I acknowledge this candidly and wholly, as it surely skews my arguments that follow. I do not present this fact reluctantly. It is not a confession of wrongdoing or an error in judgment. I simply concede it as the open truth.

I admit this because it influences how I understand the factors around Bargnani’s development and the Raptors in general. One always aims to remain completely objective and free from bias, but the idea that I could remove my partiality when discussing for the third-year forward is overly idealistic. My beliefs do not exist in a vacuum. They influence my understanding of everything around me, including the NBA.

That clarified, allow me to present my point: Bargnani has arrived. This arrival was certainly stalled, delayed, and at times awkward, but it has come.

When the adjective “potential” is used in relation to professional athletes, it has a number of interesting, and conflicting, connotations. It is at once both a blessing and a curse. On the surface, it suggests merely that the player might become great, but beneath its surface, the term implies something more subjective about how that greatness may never be reached.

At times, the label provides the player a safety net to make mistakes in the name of growing their talent in a safe, controlled environment. Yet paradoxically, it also creates extreme pressure. Being assessed as a potential future standout infinitely increases others expectations. Should those great expectations not be met soon, all the potential is the world will not save them from the wrath of scorn sports writers and casual fans.

Andrea Bargnani has dealt his entire life with the complexity that having “potential” brings. Nothing has ever been simple when it concerns the No. 1 pick from 2006 NBA Draft.

A good deal of this has been his own doing: for the last season and a half his play has been maddeningly inconsistent and he has at times appeared aloof.

Yet there have been other factors at play that made his progress a complex subject. These include life tribulations (ex. the language barrier and cultural divide between Canada and Italy) and basketball specific harms (ex. two coaching staffs that have never defined his role or provided consistent playing time at one position).

The argument about his potential seemed to reach a tipping point in December; Bargnani was playing some of the worst basketball of his career after Jay Triano took control of the team. Many declared that if he would he ever realize his would-be greatness and that the “Bargnani Experiment” needed to end.

The last two weeks has seen the pendulum swing completely: he is now playing his best basketball ever. Since taking over for the injured Jermaine O’Neal, he has started every game and is putting up numbers that point to his ability, not his capability, numbers that point to his game now and not to possibility.

Seven Games. 21 points a night. 6.57 rebounds a game. 1.71 blocks. 52 per cent shooting.

He has been given an opportunity and has responded by performing. He has long deserved this chance for serious, consistent minutes in the rotation and he has thrived since receiving them. His development is critical to the Raptors future, not just this season, but as a franchise.

In his typical stoic, minimalist way he has dismissed any suggestions that something larger has clicked, that pieces have now fallen into place. He has instead said that playing more minutes is what has allowed for this level of play. He may not be wrong. For any player (and specifically for a 23-year old) it is easier to gain confidence in your game and abilities if you remain on the court.

Over the last seven games he is playing 33 minutes a night. His career average hovers just above 25 minutes a contest. Given this increase, it is understandable why results have begun to flow in so steadily.

Under Sam Mitchell, Bargnani made an abundance of mistakes. Due to his tough-love attitude to coaching and the pressure he had to win immediately, Mitchell never allowed Bargnani to play through those mistakes. Recently, Triano has allowed that to happen (even if it is only a result of their depleted depth) and the results speak for themselves.

His detractors always point to the other players Toronto might have drafted in 2006 over the Italian standout. The most obvious example thanks to hindsight is Brandon Roy, who has already been an All-Star and presently scores 25 points a game along with over 5 assists. Roy is unquestionably already a star however he also plays 37.1 minutes a night. For his career, Roy has played 36.8 a contest compared to Bargnani’s 25. I am not suggesting Andrea would be an All-Star were he to play 10 more minutes a game, I am merely highlighting that the number six pick from 2006 came into a very different situation and had very different opportunities compared to his counterpart in Toronto.

The same argument can be made against comparing Bargnani to LaMarcus Aldridge. While Aldridge’s numbers are slightly better for his career than Andrea’s, he also plays over 35 minutes a night (over 30 for his entire career) and has started every game he has played in this year. Even with that extra court time, Aldridge’s averages do not greatly trump Bargani’s.

As for the rest of the lottery picks from 2006, Bargnani’s development is leaps and bounds ahead of his contemporaries such as Mouhamed Sene, Shelden Williams, Tyrus Thomas, Adam Morrison or Randy Foye. Admittedly, Rajon Rondo was also in the 2006 Draft, but was taken 21st overall and therefore was not an option ever considered by Toronto or others in the lottery.

Behind the man dubbed “Il Mago”, Toronto has won four of their last six games. The team is winning thanks to its young star rolling in all elements of his game. Once a defensive liability, Bargnani has become grasping the team’s most complex defensive concepts. His foot speed has improved when drawn out to defend on the wing, while as his post positioning in the paint has also leaped forward. This season his blocks per game have increased to 1.33 a contest compared to .77 for his career, and he recently had a five block performance. While he will never be mistaken for Bruce Bowen or make the All-Defensive team, he has shored up what was previously his greatest weakness.

The other complaint has been of his rebounding. This too has shot up this season, from 3.9 for his career to 4.5 a night. While protesters would point to his seven-foot frame and ask for more, the fact remains that he is playing fewer than 28 minutes a night and has two double-digit rebounders (O’Neal and Chris Bosh) on his own team to contend for boards with.

The Italian’s greatest asset has long been his considerable shooting touch and range. Few, if any, seven-footers possess the sort of long-range shooting capability Bargnani does, which is why it is so convenient to unfairly compare his development to that experienced by Dirk Nowitzki.

While he will not convert 62 per-cent of his three-pointers for the rest of the season, as he has since becoming a starter, he is still shooting 41 per-cent on threes for the year compared to his career average of just 36 per-cent. That improvement is seen elsewhere too: he is hitting 87 per-cent of his free-throws (up from 84 per-cent) and 44 per-cent from the floor in general (compared to 41 per-cent).

The boost in his shooting is not a result of changed mechanics. It is merely a by-product of confidence. He has always demonstrated this kind of ability; he is just now receiving a showcase to present it without feat of being pulled or rejected when he struggles. When his potential did not translate into immediate production, he sat. Now he starts, and flourishes.

This brings up the final point about Bargnani’s sudden ascension: his consistency. I concede that seven games does not a career make. This level of excellence must (and I believe will) continue going forward if we are to say definitively that he has turned the proverbial corner and finally arrived. The only way to discern if that is really the case though is to continue to play him.

He must continue to receive the same looks in the offense, the same responsibilities defensively, and the same amount of playing time, once O’Neal returns. That is the only way to know for certain that he has shook off the dreaded tag of having “potential”.

He can rebound, he can defend, he can score.

Now he needs to play.

That is how his confidence will grow and, incidentally, that is how Toronto will win.

As I already remarked, I am an Andrea Bargnani apologist. Only now I have a clearer certainly that I have nothing to apologize for. Instead, I merely have complete support for a developing young star. I was not always sure that it would reach that point, and depending on how the team handles his progress and playing time once O’Neal returns, it still may not.

But I believe the forward’s progress, not his inconsistency. I believe in what he represents about how a player can mature and grow into their game.

I believe in Andrea Bargnani."

danny granger is the man

still in rotation: dumbfoundead - dumburger with no cheese ep

danny granger is the shit. fuck yeah.


danny g's game-winner

how odd?

in rotation: dumbfoundead - dumburger with no cheese ep

here's a play featuring two of my most hated nba players - manu ginobili swatting dwyane wade. i figured it was just a little strange and warranted a little attention.

oh and for the record, manu and wade both share honours on my most hated list with the likes of roger mason jr., tony parker and rajon rondo.

eurgh.


manu blocks wade

okwerdz vs jaze juce

in rotation: okwerdz - the rush hour ep

i was anticipating this battle as much as that tantrum vs dumbfoundead battle. after all the internet squabbling between these two cats, you knew it was going to be a hype battle. i have to admit that prior to this showdown, i was not a big jaze juce fan at all but he really impressed me this battle. nevertheless, okwerdz took this shit. dope battle. 'nuff said. check it out.

jaze juce vs okwerdz part 1

jaze juce vs okwerdz part 2

the fatal consequences of masturbation

in rotation: aesop rock - bazooka tooth

i thought this was rather interesting - an extract from le livre sans titre (the book with no title), 2nd ed. (Paris, 1844). some of you motherfuckers are lucky to be alive. click to enlarge the image and find out why. oh yeah, happy new year suckers!