Classic: Leaders of the New School – Sobb Story

Reasons why this video is a classic:

• Busta weighed 150 lbs, not 250 lbs.
• They weren’t too cool to ride a tandem bike.
• They weren’t too proud to ask “anybody got money for gas?”
• They weren’t too proud to hang out in their parents backyard.

How must Busta feel going from this:

to

Caution! Always Turn The Bottle Around!

I hit the corner store pretty much everyday, and I am all about trying different drinks from the big fridge – and they have TONS of them.  All  kinds of crazy stuff.  Some hits, some misses.   For the most part, they are all in the $3-$5 range.    A couple of days ago, I stumble upon this Goji berry drink that looked interesting.  I had other Goji drinks in the past that were great.  I did not think twice.  I just grabbed it and threw it in my bag.

At the register, the guy says “Tell me what you think about that drink.”   He is a chatty fella, so I really did not think much of it.   They ring up all my goods, I pay, etc.

Then I get home…   I guzzle the very tasty drink down, and at some point, I casually check the ingredients.  Everything looks good, until my eye gets to the price tag.  See below.  Enough said.

Q Da Kid – Untouchable

With his first single just a couple of weeks away from dropping, a huge VMA kick-off party performance, an album in the works, an 11 city national tour, and all kinds of other shit… Q still finds time to drop some heat with DJ Envy.  Keep any eye out for an Envy produced mixtape in the coming weeks.

As this track alludes to…  Q is a pioneer in the world of new model record deals.   He has been on the scene for years now, waiting to bubble up.  With his vision, relentless work-ethic, keen industry-savvy and pure talent, there is no other emerging artist better suited to seize the opportunity that his new deal provides.

Check the new track below:

Tattoo of the Year: E.T.

Part of me wants to rip into this dude for this hilarious tattoo. Then I think: E.T. is pegged at the top of my favorite movies of all time. Always stumped when it comes to tattoo selection, I think, maybe we are on to something. As fickle as I am with EVERYTHING, E.T. has kinda been a constant.

People get way worse tattoos that have no significance whatsoever. Remember the Looney Toons tattoo phase back in the early 90s? Back when people would pick the Looney Tunes character that best represented their personality, then have it tatted to their ankle, right above their ankle socks and shell toe adidas. You know, Marvin the Martian looking tough.

No blog post is complete without a Google Image search on the subject. Jesus Christ:

and

And then the downward spiral begins. Remember that big Goonies tattoo phase? Yeah, neither do I?

and

and

That last one is a classic. I mean… Chunk? Look at that smile!

Polow Da Don

This guy is single-handedly responsible for my love of a number of ultra-poppy R&B songs that I would otherwise be embarrassed to admit loving. I know he has a pretty serious hip-hop pedigree, but the dude has obviously spent some time at an Ibiza foam party. Here are these songs that are just undeniable:

and

Download Now: F.A.M.E. – Hard Work

For the few hundred or so people that read my blog daily, I am most pleased to introduce you to F.A.M.E. and his latest album called ‘Hard Work’.

Things are a bit fuzzy, but I am pretty sure I met F.A.M.E. (digitally) through something work-related. We get music sent to us constantly, and due to dozens of different reasons – none of which are related to music quality – there is not a lot we can do with it. We do our best to give the good ones some shine somehow, some way, and when we do, the kids go nuts. It typically causes some rather aggressive tactics on the part of kids on their grind trying to get some shine from us too. “Listen to my music!”, “Sign me”, “Get at me”, “We are taking over!” These kids are loud, utilize highly annoying tactics on MySpace and are definitely persistent, but at the same time, I could not imagine it any other way. I love every bit of it. These kids are our future, and if they don’t find hip-hop success, they will no doubt take their determination to an unsuspecting boardroom full of lazy privileged kids and run shit.

F.A.M.E. is an intelligent dude. He is definitely on his grind, but it is clear he is a deeper individual than most. Instead of making tons of obnoxious noise on our MySpace page, he let’s his music speak for him. Likely because he knows it is capable of doing so. He is a designer, and if you download his album, each song comes with a corresponding piece of art that complements the song. I am guessing he did his own album cover (above) as well – which is tight. Much like that big rapper from Chicago, F.A.M.E. is a multi-disciplined artist with an insane attention to detail and work ethic that has enabled him to put out an album that rivals any release (indie or major) that I have heard all year. It is not too hard to outshine the major label releases. Indie is where the action is. A month ago, I was allover Kid Cudi. F.A.M.E. knocked Cudi off the I-Pod playlist quite effectively. I am almost embarrassed about how much I talked up Cudi, only to forget about to him a few weeks later – all thanks to F.A.M.E.

The subject matter is solid: not tons of talk about boring streetwear brands and the drug references are purely metaphorical. And it was not until the last lyric of the last track – there are 17 tracks – that I learned his perspective on the n-word. A nice little ’see what I just did’ to finish up the album. Very impressive.

My fingers are crossed for this dude. Not because I want him to get a major label deal where he will only be disappointed. I am simply hopeful that he finds the lane that is right for him. F.A.M.E. is the type of artist that keeps me interested in hip-hop. He gives me hope. He keeps it fresh. He outshines the rest without an army of label people to help. That already makes him more viable than anyone else. We should all hope that he never stops doing what he does.

And I cannot hit the ‘publish’ without mentioning the high-quality production on this album. But you will have to download the album to find out who is responsible.

Download HARD WORK here.

One Cool Intern: Ernestine, aka EB, aka Tina, aka The Diva

Ernestine is our awesome intern at ACME who returned to school upstate this week. She was amazing and did an exceptional job. She was also cool as hell and is destined for stardom at whatever she chooses. Right now she is thinking entertainment law. She is off to a great start after having to deal with David and I. Her final assignment was to write a blog post (how appropriate) providing her thoughts on her internship. Check out what she wrote below. She called it:

Dedicated to My First Love: Hip-Hop

“…Told her if she got an image and a gimmick
That she could make money, and she did it …
Now I see her in commercials, she’s universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the ’burbs lookin’ rock and dressin’ hip
…who I’m talkin bout y’all is hip-hop”
– Common

Loving hip hop, in the past, meant following the newest trends, as well as to perform acapella renditions of classic hip hop songs with my friends. It meant observing and sometimes following urban fashion trends. It meant religiously listening to Hot 97 to be up on the newest songs, and avidly watching Free and AJ host BET’s 106th and Park to learn the latest dances. It meant disobeying my mother’s wishes to switch to a musical genre that didn’t frequently use offensive language. I loved hip-hop so much I fantasized of acquiring an internship and eventually landing a job at a major record label such as Def Jam or Atlantic Records. The internship I got instead exceeded any daydream I had, let alone any expectations I had for the internship. So like Common, I took loving hip-hop to the next level the summer of ’08; I committed to her.

Road Tested: Vans Half Cab Syndicate Bulletproof

I have been slippin’ on my Road Tests of late. Of all of the Half Cabs that I own, the Syndicate Bulletproof are by far my faves. They are some solid-ass shoes. Obviously, I love faux reptile print – mainly because it is a-faux-dable, not really for any animal rights type shit. But I do like the animals too. Anyways… I have long professed my love for Half Cabs and the Bulletproofs have just enough of that air of exclusivity coupled with straight up durability. I would not exactly call them waterproof, but they are definitely water resistant. I even had the hoodest of hood rats in my neighborhood complement me on the grey ones below. I felt a little Brooklyn validation, which was cool, until I noticed the guy was luggin’ around size 16 feet. I hated to have to break it to the dude that Vans don’t go there.

New York City Rednecks – Obsessed with Bigfoot!

That list is from the NY Times today. Now I know why so many idiot NY’ers think all Texan’s actually own horses. The same NY’ers apparently believe in fucking Big Foot too. I am done with this battle. Big Foot??? Or is it Bigfoot? Can a New Yorker answer that one for me?

Texans – at least on Sundays – are too preoccupied with sports to care about Sasquatch

Hollywood Holt – Hollywood

Another killer low-budget video. This one is from Chicago rapper Hollywood Holt.  Check that handshake.  Whaaaaa?