What's New In Dart's iPod #80 AKA Dart Stay Unpaid

This was quite an eventful week coming off of the Memorial Day weekend. In the NBA those Nike LeBron & Kobe puppet commercials were in danger of repeating the 1992 Reebok Dan & Dave campaign. I got hella backed up writing this week hanging out with my brothers and friends rather than living the focused get up every morning and write lifestyle I've become accustomed to (Cublunk, it's coming this weekend, I promise!). Drake set the internet, bloggerverse and Twitter on fire...as did my boy Chris Foxx by spearheading the whole #unfollowDiddy movement. Also, some hellbound asshole stole Houseshoes Macbook out of his truck during the Dilla show in Detroit a while back. I hope they catch Swine Flu.

I spent yesterday yelling at the TV during the Scripps National Spelling Bee as well as the Cavs/Magic game. Now the series is 3-2 Magic with Game 6 coming up in Orlando. Hopefully the Denver Nuggets can tie the series with the Lakers as well. Quite a few highly anticipated projects hit the 'net and are hitting stores and iTunes come June 2nd. Judging by the amount of ill promos I've recieved lately it's gonna be a hot summer! Also, to all you cats working in the music industry and at music magazines that I'm making look bad every week please sleep well knowing that I'm doing your jobs for you for free.

This week I'll be reviewing six new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: J Dilla "Jay Stay Paid", Nadsroic & Hudson Mohawke "Room Mist EP", Roc C & IMAKEMADBEATS Are The Transcontinental, Snowgoons "A Fist In The Thought", Tiye Phoenix "Half Woman Half Amazin'" and Torae & Marco Polo "Double Barrel". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

Me fallin' off ain't never happenin'/I could win the Pulitzer Prize for some shit I scribbled on a napkin! © Chino XL


Best Joints: King, I Told Y'all, Lazer Gunne Funke, In The Night/While You Slept (I Crept), Smoke, Blood Sport, CaDILLAc, Expensive Whip, Kaklow (Jump On It), Digi Dirt, Dilla Bot Vs. The Hybrid, Milk Money, Spacecowboy Vs. Bobble Head. Reality TV, On Stilts, Fire Wood Drumstix, Glamour Sho75 (09), 10,000 Watts, 9th Caller, Make It Fast (Unadulterated Mix), 24K Rap, Big City, Pay Day, See That Boy Fly, Coming Back. Mythsysizer and KJay & We Out

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: The final (not including the many beats that friends of Dilla still have on their hard drives and the unreleased MCA LP "Pay Jay") Dilla album will be out June 2nd via Nature Sounds. It's overseen by Pete Rock & Ma Dukes with assists from DJ Premier. The lineup of guest emcees is impressive, boasting a collection of the illest emcees around: Black Thought, Raekwon, Havoc, DOOM, Blu, Lil' Fame, Phat Kat, Danny Brown, Illa J, Que D, Frank Nitt & Diz Gibran. All of them spit over top flight Dilla! Dilla! Beats! Beats! Beats!.

If you're already a beathead, Dilla fan or just a Hip Hop fan in general this album will have your head nodding like crazy. Hopefully one day the remaining beats or "treats" CD's can see a proper release and his estate will be resolved and his little girls and Ma Dukes will see the monies they should. Go out and cop "Jay Stay Paid" June 2nd and stop bootleggin' his shit!




Best Joints: Room Mist, All Hot, Leopards, Step Back, Chemical and Step Back Instrumental

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Let me tell you first off that this isn't for everybody. If you aren't already a fan of Hudson Mohawke's production (yet another alumni of my 100 Producers You Need To Hear Right Now) or atmospheric Pop music like Nadsroic makes then this will be an enjoyable listen to you. If not, it'll merely sound like some chick trying to imitate/emulate Uffie. This jawn first dropped on LuckyMe Records back on May 11th but I didn't get it for review purposes until Memorial Day weekend. I give the Room Mist EP a recommended maybe. Check it out on Nadsroic's MySpace to see if it's something you can rock with or not first as it drops worldwide on June 29th.






Best Joints: Still Here, Just A Man, Warrior, Ox To Ozone, The Official Smash Mouf, Imagine That, All I'm Asking, By Any Means, Struggle, Whisper Music, Won't Fall, Hit The Floor, The One You Love and Imagine That (Punpee Remix)

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Roc C is familiar to those of you that cop Stone's Throw releases and rock with those from The Ox (Oxnard, CA) like Madlib, Oh No or Kan Kick. Roc C teamed up with New York producer IMAKEMADBEATS AKA Nemo to make a collaboration called "The Transcontinental". Roc C steps up his bars significantly from his previous releases on this project and on the sonic side of things your neck will be hurting halfway through due to the on point production. Add to that guest appearances from Rapper Big Pooh, Chino XL, Oh No, Rakaa Iriscience, Prince Po and Wildchild amongst others raise the stakes that much more.

This is one of the first releases on the former Koch Records and it's damn good one. I give "The Transcontinental" a highly recommended maybe. If you see it in stores don't hesitate to cop it. *Scrolls back to "The Transcontinental" on iTunes*




Best Joints: Who Are You, Get Down, Platoon Goons, At War, Knuckle Up, One Shot, Pray Hard, South Carolina Struggle, Planetary Takeover and Been Fighting Devilz

Hot Garbage: Michael Nobody aka Poetic Death, All in Your Mind, Capital City Streetz and Snakes were all meh to me

Dart's Take: I don't exactly know why but the Snowgoons LP's have gotten progressively more predictable and the beats are starting to all sound the same. I understand that they're on Babygrande but their tracks all sound like outtakes from Jedi Mind Tricks/Army Of The Pharaohs after a while. Lord Lhus and Savage Brothers carry this album and it's pretty underwhelming. It's just OK and if you played this album in the background it could pretty much get ignored due to the fact it all sounds like the same track.

Even guest appearances from Sean Price and Reef The Lost Cauze can't overcome the mehness or the boredom of some of these tracks. Nothing really caught me or screamed for a rewind and as far as the bars were concerned the only memorable quotables were provided by Sean P & Reef even though Lord Lhus certainly tried his hardest. I give "A Fist In The Thought" a maybe and hope they can get back the the form they exhibited on their 2007 debut "German Lugers" soon.




Best Joints: TIYEtanium, The Award, Stop Right There, Just Go, Master Plan, Half Woman Half Amazin', Bless Me, Revolving Door, Killin' Everybody, Go Even Harder, Shinin' Star and Too Late For Us

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This album opens with high energy in the form of "TIYEtanium" and never lets up. I often get frustrated by albums that are hit and miss or up and down where the artist doesn't grab and hold your attention and keep it. I also get pissed off when production doesn't match up with lyrical content and vice versa. I am glad to report that NONE of those things happened on this project.

You want beats and bars that make you wanna rewind the track or verse back? Tiye got it. You want enough variety in the album so that you don't get bored? Tiye got it. You want a concise, tight album that you don't feel like you got shortchanged or gyped for buying it? Don't worry! Tiye got you! There really isn't a weak moment on this project as I spent a lot of time making the stinkface and getting my headnod on. This has been a damn good week so far because I have no other option but to give Tiye Phoenix (also another alumni of my 100 Producers You Need To Hear Right Now List) a mos def.




Best Joints: Double Barrel, Party Crashers, Smoke, Lifetime, But Wait, Rah Rah Shit, Danger, Stomp, Coney Island, Word Play, Hold Up, Get It and Crashing Down

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This album grabs you by the throat and never lets go. This album is loaded from beginning to end with bangers courtesy of Marco Polo (ever heard "Port Authority"?) and Torae (ever heard "Daily Conversation"?). This album also features Lil' Fame, Rock, Guilty Simpson, Masta Ace, Sean Price & Saukrates killin' shit like they had the spread gun in NES Contra. This album also opens with DJ Premier giving the co-sign so you know it's that official headnod, smashmouth, Timberland boots on pavement shit.

This album will dominate the plays on your iPod or Zune once you put it on there. This album doesn't have a weak moment on it and it keeps with the theme of this being a great week for Hip Hop albums. This album will go on sale June 2nd so go out and support that live quality Hip Hop when it drops. This album also gets a no brainer mos def from me. This album is STILL getting played by me as I type the final line of this review blog!




Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):


Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:

Rhymefest-El Che
Fashawan-Boy Meets World
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Drake- Thank Me Later
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover


There's a bidding war raging right now over which logos get to be splashed across Drake's "Thank Me Later" LP due 4th quarter 2009...that's when labels actually drop albums. Stay tuned, readers!

One.

Dart Adams presents Vandalyzm "Megatron Majorz" (Free Album)

I picked St. Louis emcee/producer Vandalyzm's 2008 LP "Megatron Majorz" as one of my 50 favorite LP's last year. I'm on record as saying that if I was an A&R at a label I would've signed this cat already (along w/ Danny Swain, Has Lo, Ill Poetic, Small Pro and the list goes on...if anyone wants to give myself, Travis @ WYDU & Eric @ WTR a label and financial backing that'd be great!). With all that said, Van is currently making a brand new album and he's offered this LP for free download.

For those of those that've slept on my boys beats and bars here's your chance to get familiar (no Clinton Sparks). Download Vandalyzm's "Megatron Majorz" featuring production by the artist, Khrysis, 14 KT, Flying Lotus, FlyamSam, Black Spade & Swiff D and guest appearances by Rapper Big Pooh, Finale, Wafeek, Sean Boog, Gotta Be Karim, Rockwell Knuckles & D-Hendrix HERE. You won't be disappointed.

One.

Dart's Rant Of The Day: Drake: Hip Hop's Swiss Army Knife

When Drake did his New York show @ "Who's Next?" all of Twitter was alight with comments from concertgoers, bloggers, music journalists and industry insiders in relation to the show. It cracked me up to see how Drakemania had ensued seemingly after his successful "So Far Gone" mixtape exploded onto the scene just months ago. It's all the more interesting to me to see the critical acclaim and hate he's recieved simultaneously while labels are rumored to be engaged in a bidding war for his services at the writing of this blog. I laugh because I was telling people about this dude back in 2006 and no one was trying to listen to me. What do I know, right?

The first time I heard that Aubrey Graham was recording music I was like "Jimmy Brooks just got a proper haircut and lineup not too long ago and now he wanna rhyme?". There was a Degrassi special about each of the individual cast members back in 2005 and it showed him in the studio in Toronto laying down some demo tracks. I thought absolutely nothing of it. Damn near half of the Degrassi kids were making albums, I doubted if any of them were actually any good (Jake Epstein and Cassie Steele included). It wasn't until about 6 months later that I heard any Drake tracks via Hip Hop Canada & and Canadian users on Okayplayer. I raised the people's eyebrow...this kid is kinda nice with it!

Individual tracks would leak here are there until his 2006 mixtape "Room For Improvement" finally dropped. The effort was pretty eye opening considering he had essentially no buzz in the States and he was only known as the dude that got shot in the back and put into a wheelchair on some show on Noggin's The N. When I listed him as an emcee to watch out for from Toronto on All Hip Hop I was shot down. I told 'em all that he was a teenager and in a few years time he could be a serious problem. Still about 90% of them doubted even after I provided them links to individual tracks and the "Room For Improvement" mixtape. Ah well.

Fast forward to 2007, out of nowhere I see Drake in a video with Trey Songz just chillin'. Next I hear that they've recorded a gang of collaborations together and he's about to get signed in the States. Shortly afterwards, Drake pops up with a single & a video for "Replacement Girl" featuring Trey Songz. I wanted to go back to AllHipHop.com and gloat but it was down or something or other. Whatever. It turns out that the deal fell through for whatever reason and Drake was back to the mixtape and features circuit. He made a couple changes in order to position himself to make more noise in the industry. Then he dropped "Comeback Season" in November 2007, it gained steady momentum all throughout 2008 and in February of that year I picked him as one of 12 Emcees To Watch In '08. I clearly don't know shit.

The reason Drake was so intriguing to labels and industry folks is because he does it all. He's an actor, he's a ghostwriter, he can spit, he can carry a tune, he can rhyme in several different ways and he can grab the female audience while carrying a male following as well. He'd created quite a buzz and had many of the most influential blogs in his corner before he even got down with Lil' Wayne and his Young Money crew. It's rare to get an artist in Hip Hop that could fit in to so many different niches. Then came Lil' Wayne shouting Drake out and spitting his verses during live TV performances. Then came the "news" that Drake reportedly ghostwrote Dre verses for "Detox". The buzz backlash was eminent. Once Drake dropped his highly anticipated "So Far Gone" mixtape on Valentine's Day the buzz and heat it generated was ridiculous.

Three short months later, numerous thousands of downloads later, thousands of spins on the radio later and a disgusting amount of shows later Drake has become arguably the biggest thing on the Hip Hop landscape present day. Why? Because he can potentially move some units for a change and the industry sees him as a savior of sorts. Asher Roth flopped and every other new artist the industry tried to hype up and push have all underperformed (the established artists have failed for the most part as well). Not only is Drake an emcee, he can do the R&B thing, too. He appeals to both heads and casual fans. Hood dudes can get behind his flow and hipsters can jump on the bandwagon alongside 'em. He's Canadian. He's Southern. He's Jewish. He's Black. His dad was a Soul/R&B drummer that went to jail for drug trafficking and his uncle wrote several R&B hits back in the days. You couldn't write his back story any better!

He appeals equally to Southern, Midwestern, West Coast and East Coast heads. He's mixed like the President of the United States. He also gives you plenty of reasons to hate his fuckin' guts and the constant Drake talk and hype doesn't help with that at all. He has stans, supporters and haters. He does it all. That's why so many people watch his movements so carefully...they all have a reason to follow his career from here on in. Will he actually be able to deliver an album that moves units as well as satisfies the heads? Will he become the first Canadian emcee the really blow up in the States? Will he be the one emcee I picked that XXL didn't put on their cover to succeed? We'll have to wait and see. To think...all of this shit happened from a mixtape and dude has an album coming at the end of the year called "Thank Me Later" and he still doesn't even have a nailed down deal yet!

One.

Dart Adams presents The Further Adventures Of Nowhere Man

The past few days have been fairly interesting. I've been asked to write a piece for a friend that was due on Monday which I haven't yet written. Why? I forgot that it was Memorial Day weekend and I'm still recovering from it today. I've also been contacted by more than a few fellow music journalists and bloggers that feel like they don't know if they can continue in the game anymore. More than a few of them have said that the passion is gone for them and things aren't what they thought they'd be like. You have bloggers on one side and people that are in the journalism industry on the other side thinking that the grass is greener where they aren't.

I often get asked for advice about the blogging game and music journalism in regards to how to break into it. What to do, what not to do and how do I manage to keep the passion that I have for blogging about Hip Hop, film or writing in general? Let me first say that I'm not immune to losing my passion for this from time to time and I've "quit" more times than I can count just to show up a couple of days later to write more blogs. Did I get in this too late to capitalize off of my blogging to get a job in music journalism seeing as how the print media is dying and journalism is a dying art in itself? It's sure looking that way! Will I stop? I doubt it, but don't think I don't wake up wondering if I'm even getting anywhere with all of this.

It's bad enough that some of my peers are still on that bullshit thinking that "blogger" is a blanket statement that automatically refers to hack writers that don't fact check and post content irresponsibly in the hopes of being first and getting the most traffic to their site. Bloggers are as different and varied as writers and journalists are. Don't think that just become you have a degree or have a desk or cubicle of your own that there aren't bloggers that could write you out of a job (myself included). If anything the blogger is a by product of readers being disallusioned with the traditional media's lack of objectivity and the deteriorating quality of journalism and not the other way around. Thank God for bloggers, they fill a void that the news and music print and television media haven't been able to fill.

In conclusion, I still write/blog. There may be a time when I either will be forced to choose whether or not to give this up and do something else or I finally get the opportunity to write professionally in some capacity. It may be comic books or graphic novels. It might be screenplays , movie scripts or film treatments. It may even be a novel or perhaps an editorial page of my own, who knows? The bottom line is I 'll be forced to make a decision as well one day. It's frustrating that I get props from so many people and I get my brain picked by folks in the industry so often and people know my name yet and still I have nothing solid or tangible to really show for it yet.

It's all well and good that I have a g-mail account full of messages from peers and writers @ music magazines give me props...I can't take that to the Apple Store down the street and cop an iPhone with it. Respect doesn't pay my bills, either. Trust me, I'm only human and I'm not above frustration. I won't quit but it's important to do what's best for YOU in each of your respective situations. Don't do what I do. I've turned down many a job just so I could have the freedom to say "fuck Cam'ron!". Meanwhile, I'm living off of Maruchan & Ramen Pride noodles...I should try to get them to add a banner! I mean, I'm sure I'm the ONLY blogger in history who got fired from eMusic for complaining about them not giving me more work/money via Twitter. I'm clearly not a good role model for fellow Hip Hop bloggers!

One.

Dart Adams presents The Marvel Guide To The Hip Hop Universe (Part One)

My dude Dallas Penn did a comic book drop with Hip Hop groups in it a few days back and I decided to piggyback it and do my own version. Since Dallas based his on the works on one of the GOAT's of the comic book industry I decided to keep my theme at Marvel Comics and Hip Hop groups. If I don't limit myself this jawn will possibly go on forever so I'll stop short, do another part and add on to it later on. Enough already, let's go in:

Dart Adams presents The Marvel Guide To The Hip Hop Universe (Part One):

Lessondary (Tanya Morgan (Donwill, Ilyas & Von Pea), Che Grand, Aeon, Elucid, Jermiside, Aeon, Suhburb, Spec Boogie, etc.) as The Crew

I'm pretty sure that anyone that regularly reads this blog knows that I'm as close to a Lessondary Crew stan as you can get without taking my fandom too goddamn far (although based on some people's reactions to my insistance on having Che Grand's "Everything's Good Ugly" so high on my anticipated albums list and my overly positive review of "Brooklynati" I already have taken my fandom too goddamn far). The bottom line is as a collective they've made nothing but heat for the past three plus years. Whether it be mixtapes, free albums, EP's or LP's from anyone of the crew they've never failed to hit the mark so my praises are justified. Wait until Donwill drops "Don Cusack in High Fidelity"...the sleepers will awaken.



Random Axe (Black Milk, Sean Price, & Guilty Simpson) as Team X

These muthafuckas are going to completely destroy shit near the end of the year when the Random Axe project is 100% finished. Production will be handled entirely by Detroit own's Black Milk with Sean Price and Guilty Simpson also trading bars with the talented beatmaker as well. This album could very well be sonic destruction in it's highest form. An audio Apocalypse, if you will. I can't fathom how ridiculous this jawn will turn out to be with Hex Murda on executive production duty. It's gonna be sick!



Chaundon, Skyzoo, Donny Goines, Outasight, Print, Fresh Daily, Danny Brown & Vandalyzm as The New Warriors

These young emcees are all going to make some serious noise in the Hip Hop game in 2009, bank on it. All of them have new projects that heads are eager to hear and they have a variety of skills and talents that will appeal to a wide audience and a cross section of music and Hip Hop fans alike. If you might be unfamiliar with any of these names feel free to use that Google bar to the right of this page and fully experience the wonder that is the Information Age. You won't be disappointed in the least. Trust me!



Pac Div, U-N-I, Blu, Shawn Jackson, TiRon, Fashawn & Jay Rock as The Champions Of Los Angeles

Based off of Pac Div's previous material (including their 3 song EP), Blu's back catalog (download his "Her Favorite Colour" mixtape), Shawn Jackson's remarkable 2008 ("First Of All.." & New Jack Hustle "Soundcheck"), TiRon's "Ketchup" mixtape, Fashawn's upcoming project and Jay Rock's recent output (including his new "Gudda Muzik" mixtape) it wasn't a tough choice as to whom I was going to pick as the young Hip Hop champions of Los Angeles. The future of West Coast Hip Hop is in more than capable hands.


Marco Polo & Torae as Power Man & Iron Fist

I was playing the Double Barrel album and making the stinkface when it hit me that these dudes were about to drop yet another monster underground Hip Hop LP on the masses that's well worth your hard earned money. Provided that we're in a recession right now people are even more hesitant to dig into their pockets to cop new music but trust me...this jawn BANGS! Torae spits lava over some of beatsmith Marco Polo's top shelf production. My official review will go up on Friday afternoon but I'm not exaggerating when I saw this is one of the best releases of the year so far. Be prepared to cop it on June 2nd!

Dart Adams presents The Marvel Guide To The Hip Hop Universe (Part Two) coming soon!

One.

What's New In Dart's iPod #79 AKA 9 More Reviews For Me To Do

This week was much different from the previous ones. In the NBA both the Nuggets and Magic managed to steal games away from the Cavs and Lakers on their home courts. I missed both games as I was busy doing other shit...if the Celtics ain't playin' homie I ain't concerned. Mike Vick got released from prison after a far too long incareration and he's under house arrest for 2 more months.

Rumors are the New England Patriots are thinking about offering him a deal. The blogosphere is on fire since Jay-Z executed a buyout of his Def Jam contract and his next LP will come out on his Roc Nation label. He reportedly signed the homie Mickey Factz as well. Then a few highly anticipated "no..I'm serious) projects leaked during the week. Oh..and "Terminator: Salvation" reportedly sucks more than Sara Jay and Lacey Duvalle combined. That brings us up to today.

This week I'll be reviewing nine new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Cage "Depart From Me", Donny Goines "The Breakfast Club", Elektrik Red "How To Be A Lady Vol. 1", Freeway "Philadelphia Freeway 2", Georgia Anne Muldrow presents Ms. One & The Gang", Muhsinah "The Oscillations: Triangle", Sandpeople "Long Story Short EP", Scratch "Loss 4 Words" and Sheek Louch "Life On D-Block". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

Don't you... forget about me! © Simple Minds


Best Joints: Nothing Left To Say, Beat Kids, Dr. Strong, Found My Mind In Connecticut, I Lost It In Haverton, Teenage Hands (WTF? @ the chorus), Katie's Song (this could be an indie rock/college radio hit...I don't know how to feel about that), Strain, Look At What You Did, Transmission, Depart From Me and I Never Knew You

Hot Garbage: Eating It's Way Out Of Me, Kick Rocks and Fat Kids Need An Anthem

Dart's Take: I was a huge Cage fan going back more than 15 years ago when his name was Benz and he was in the same circle as Kurious, MF Grimm (AKA Grim Reaper) and Count Bass D during the Hoppoh Records days. When Cage started dropping ill ass records on Bobbito Garcia's Fondle 'Em Records he immediately became an underground sensation. He built an impressive resume throughout the late 90's & 00's by recording on various labels (Fondle' Em, Bad Magic, Eastern Conference, etc.) before he switched over to El-P's Def Jux machine.

He released the impressive "Hell's Winter" LP in 2005 which was a departure from his previous sound but still steeped in Hip Hop. This album is as much a change from his previous LP ("Hell's Winter") as his previous LP was from his earlier material (if that makes any sense). I was taken aback by the lead video to this project (which was the impressive directorial debut of Shia LaBeouf) as well as the "I Never Knew You EP". I had no idea what to think.

Less than 3 hours after seeing the video and hearing the EP I heard the album. Needless to say I felt as if I was hit by a bus. I told someone on Twitter it was like being a little kid watching a pregnant cat give birth to a litter of baby ducks. I'm still confused about what I heard on "Depart From Me" and it's been damn near a week since I first heard it. It doesn't suck but I don't see myself ever putting it in my iPod Touch.

It sounds too Emo Rock mixed with Hip Hop and mashed up elements of other musical styles for my tastes. I need some consistency in my lostening experience. It goes from spoken word to Rap to Rock in under 90 seconds sometimes. Then you realize that Cage is singing (?) about Vampires or some shit. I dunno. I kinda felt like Chris Palko, El-P, Shia La Beouf & Ashton Kutcher were gonna come through my front door with a camera crew and scream "Dart Adams, you've been Punk'd!" "THIS isn't the real Cage album!" "Aww...if you could've seen your face!".

Above when I use the word "best" I meant as in "most tolerable to ME". I'm gonna cop out and give this one a maybe as in "decide for yourselves" as it clearly isn't for me. *Plays "Porn Again", "Weatherproof", "Movies For The Blind", "Nighthawks", "Waterworld" & "Hell's Winter"*




Best Joints: Don't You, Bring it Forward (New York, New York), Whatever it Is, Money, Don't Mess With A Woman, Sublime, She Likes, Make Me Feel, What U Expected Remix, A Love Song, Closer, Digital Genocide, Grateful, Can't Get It Right and These Times

Hot Garbage: Oh No (perfect title) and Party Apple

Dart's Take: Donny Goines is one of the hardest working men in Hip Hop right now. He's done a gang of guest appearances, done a gang of shows, dropped a gang of mixtapes and he's raised the stakes and his profile with the passage of time. Anticipation for his next project raises every time he drops another project. His "Minute After Midnight" album was critically acclaimed and it has all led to this..."The Breakfast Club".

I thought was going to be a project you find in stores but no, it's another free project available for download. The thing is that just like an overwhelming amount of free album to come out so far this year, they're blowing the major label releases out of the water as far as quality and listening satisfaction goes. Back in April when I did my Top 50 of the year so far, 26 of those releases were either free LP's or mixtapes. Donny Goines excellent LP "The Breakfast Club" falls into that same category.

The standout tracks "Whatever It Is (What up, Mela?)", "Money", "Sublime", "Make Me Feel", "What U Expected Remix", "Digital Genocide", "Grateful" and "These Times" will have your head nodding extra hard (as opposed to just regularly). Production by Buckwild, Dame Grease, Kwame, Digga, Statik Selektah, The Apple Juice Kid, Cook Classics, Cookin' Soul, Versatile, DJ Static, DJ Snips and Dub Z. make the album flow together lovely.

Guest appearances by Tanya Morgan, Naledge, Amanda Diva, Skyzoo, Rain, Termanology, Reks, Planet Asia, Poison Pen & Big Lou among other underground luminaries make this a must cop album. Donny Goines spit fire over these tracks and he's managed to up the ante once again. What can Donny do to top this one? I can't wait to see. "The Breakfast Club" earns a mos def. Get it here




Best Joints: Muah, So Good, Devotion, Freaky Freaky, Bed Rest, Friend Lover, P Is For Power, W.F.Y, 9 To 5, Go Shawty,

Hot Garbage: On Point (?), Drink In My Cup, Kill Bill (THIS is the song they're concerned about radio not playing? Are they fuckin' serious?) and So Good (Remix) (Lil' Wayne ruined a good thing...again)

Dart's Take: I only heard the edited version of "So Good" but I rally should've realized what I was gonna get into when I saw the video for said track. I press play and I was like Say whaaaaaaaaaaat? © Stewie Griffin. I heard more swearing in the first minute of the opening track then I did on most of the Rap albums I'd played previously that week. The album is called "How To Be A Lady Vol. 1" but I'm sure if their parents heard this album they'd be in shock at what they heard coming out of their daughter's mouths.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart did the majority of this album and it sounds like it can make some headway in today's R&B world where even the girls make tracks that make you go "What did they say in the hook again?". They clearly held off on giving some of these tracks to other competing groups and female artists in favor of Elektrik Red (read: they gave Ciara, etc. some of their fromunda/throwaway shit and kept most of the heat for themselves.

Given that Jodeci opened the floodgates for raunchy R&B and TLC and Missy Elliott did it for women, Elektrik Red have taken up that baton and run with it ("P Is For Power" & "W.F.Y" had me a little shook LOL). That being said it's a pretty good album even though you really wish they'd tone all of the overly sexual stuff the fuck down and just let the music and their vocals speak for themselves. I'll give this album a recommended maybe although this album kinda beat me over the head a lil' too much with the aggressiveness.




Best Joints: Finally Free, Gotz 2 Be Tha Bomb, Hands Up, Crack Rap, Murda Muzic, Around The World, Streetz Won't Miss 'Em, It's A Good Day and Keep Yo Handz Up

Hot Garbage: Finding out that 3 of the 13 tracks are interludes and two songs are the same except for a guest verse from Sheek Louch sucked ("Hands Up" & "Keep Yo Handz Up"). This is an EP essentially marketed as a full album. SMH

Dart's Take: This "album" was cool. Nothing wack but nothing that really stood out. The bars were solid. Production was solid. If you 're a big Freeway fan then by all means pick it up. If you wanna know if it's "better" than his last album I'd say no because that album had 3 or 4 certified bangers that I still play to this very day and this project lack those type of jawns. I pretty much forgot half of these tracks after I heard 'em, too.

The eight tracks collected here are just as good as the songs Freeway distributed to Nah Right last year...nothing mind blowing, just some typical, solid Freeway material. I give "Phialdelphia Freeway 2" a maybe for it's short length and a lack of bangers/standout tracks.




Best Joints: Return, Hiphop, Mr. President, Divinely Free, 2 MC's, Sundaze, Motivation, My Life, 80's Freestyle Skit, Dearest Daddy, Near & Far, Turiya's Smile, Far Behind, Long Gone, Funny (Hiphop), Drunken, Million Man, Try Your Best and To Dance

Hot Garbage: Magic Walk was meh

Dart's Take: This album was bananas from beginning to end. The beats knocked and Georgia's vocals and rhymes over her tracks are ridiculous. Her "gang is comprised of her inner circle (Dudley Perkins, AKA Declaime, D-Moe, Stacy Epps, Jimetta Rose & Illicit Child) as well as several of her associates (Black Milk & Rapper Big Pooh appear on 2 MC's). She also appears herself as Eagle Nubula & Ms. One. Dudley's little sister Ms. Dezy even gets to freestyle over a couple of Georgia Anne's beats (she'll get better...she's just a kid).

If you like beats and vocals or you're already a fan of Georgia Anne Muldrow's previous work then this is a no brainer. How people still sleep on this woman is completely beyond me. The sleepers must awaken on the real. "Georgia Anne Muldrow presents....Ms. One & The Gang" gets a mos def. Go forth and cop it now.




Best Joints: Before, Two Three, Always, Lose My Fuse, Stay Here, Windoors, Something Nice or Nothing At All, Gogh Again, Do I?, That Day, Re: Outsource, Siz and After

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: After years and years of building a solid scene and nurturing more and more talented artists it seems that 2009 might become the year that the DMV finally explodes onto the scene and takes it's rightful place next to other regions regarded as the most talented in Hip Hop & R&B. Muhsinah is a producer/singer/songwriter that I've featured several times in the past on Poisonous Paragraphs.

Her new release "The Oscillations: Triangle" is more of the excellent vocals we've come to expect from Muhsinah over the same ridiculous production we've come to expect from her and her peoples (Oddisee, Exile, Flying Lotus, Bilal Salaam & Mike Slott). There isn't a weak moment on this entire project so I'm forced to give it a mos def as well. Find it and cop it.




Best Joints: Strands, Hate Aside, Oh My God, Beyond Us, Control Panel, Money Is On Their Minds, Goodbye World, Left and The Dapper Mob

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Last year, it was Doomtree. A huge collective of emcees and producers from the Northwest that came out and made an impression with their release. This year it's Sandpeople. I played this album several times looking for a flaw or a reason to not like it. I couldn't find anything glringly wrong about it. It's dark and foreboding while at the same time dense and lyrcial enough to draw the listener in and keep them hooked throughout to entire project.

Several of Sandpeople's members were also involved in last year's supergroup project The Gigantics "Die Already" LP. I'll just say this in closing "Long Story Short" was what I hoped Cage's "Depart From Me" would be. That's why it occupies a space in my iPod Touch. I give it a highly recommended maybe. Check it out.




Best Joints: Let's Go, If Our Love Was A Song, Ready To Go, Get The F Outta Here (the hook is hella corny), Everytime, Too Late, Midnight Hour, I'll Be There For You, Fade Away, So Hard To Find My Way and Untitled

Hot Garbage: Tonite and Girl I'm Gonna Make You

Dart's Take: This project was really hit or miss with me. Even the tracks that I liked I didn't like all that much. Everything floated slightly above the "meh" level. Some tracks worked but nothing really grabbed you and made you say "I'd be willing to buy this entire album". Overall it was a solid project but there is too much good shit out there that I'd be willing to pay for over Scratch's "Loss 4 Words", especially with the way May's panned out for new music releases. I can only give this album a maybe.




Best Joints: It's On, Life On D-Block, Give That Up, Pimp Shit, That Nigga and Not Livin' It

Hot Garbage: Time 2 Get Paid, In The Rain, The Boyz From NY, My Guns Go and Time 2 Get Paid (Alternate Version)

Dart's Take: I wish I never heard this album. It's actually better than his last album which isn't saying much because that LP was fuckin' turrible, jus' turrible (no Charles Barkley speeding on the highway @ 3 AM to get a blowjob). Sheek is convinced that he's killin' shit on this album...all he did was kill my faith in humanity as whole by making me listen to this piece of ass album. Production was handled by some dude name Hollis and it's hit or miss just like Sheek and his right hand man Bully's bars. I wish that the Men In Black really existed so they could erase my memory of this aborted Hip Hop baby called "Life On D-Block". It gets an oh no.




Dart, we'll erase JUST your memory of the Sheek Louch album for you...OK , buddy? Now look directly at the nueralyzer! *Fwooosh!*

Thanks fellas. I appreciate that more than you'll ever know...really. Where was I again? Oh yeah...

Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):


Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:

Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Mos Def-The Ecstatic LP
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover

Who is this? Cage? © Eminem

One.

Dart Adams presents A Tale Of Ten Trailers 16 AKA Once Again It's On! © Ice Cube

I had to relax and let there be enough new trailers and films out there before I went back to my "A Tale Of Ten Trailers" drops. Back in February I did my last one and I had trailers for "G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra". "Transformers 2: Rise Of The Fallen" & "Inglorious Basterds" on it....those films aren't due until the Summer! I think it's time that I starting these up again seeing as I've given the film studios enough breathing room. It's time for me to go in again. Let's go!:







































One.

Dart Adams presents FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

I decided that it's about time I addressed some of the questions I get emailed to myself or asked in Gchats, iChats or Facebook chats over the past 28 months of blogging on Poisonous Paragraphs (32 in total including my run on AllHipHop.com). Here are just 10 frequently asked questions (of about 50) that I've recieved over the years that I finally decided to address. I'll probably be doing a few of these throughout the Summer as well to clear up many of the rising questions people have about myself and my blog. Enough of this bullshit, let's get on to the questions.


1. How did you get your name/What inspired your name/Why did you name your blog "Poisonous Paragraphs"?

My old emcee names were Invincible Swordsman, Dart Champion and occasionally Millions Knives (pictured below). Invincible Swordsman was a character in the Jademan Kung Fu comic book "The Force Of Buddha's Palm", Millions Knives is a hugely popular anime character from the "Trigun" graphic novels and anime series. Darts are fuckin' HUGE in Europe. When I went to get an email address on Hotmail all of those names were taken (even the numbers afterwards). I input "poisonousdart75" and it took it. In order to avoid confusion every site I joined from 2003 on was as Poisonous Dart (even though it's a generic ass name).

When I stopped writing on AllHipHop.com I figured that I couldn't write as Poisonous Dart anymore. Since my name started with Poisonous then and I wrote so much I had to break my long ass posts down the smaller paragraphs so the users in The Reason would actually read them (no pictures, just text!). It made sense to name my blog "Poisonous Paragraphs" after the famous classic Inspectah Deck verse.

I finally dropped the "Poisonous" off of my name and used my real life last name Adams. My name was inspired partly by my favorite cartoon character as a kid, Jesse Dart, the legendary comic book artist/creator from Holyoke, MA Art Adams as well as former producer turned A&R/manager Dart La AKA Dart Parker.


2.Why do you use so many damn pictures on your blog?

I used them beacause I felt the reason people were turned off by my blog was that I had too many words and nothing visual to draw you in. I didn't learn how to upload pictures to my blog until I started using Firefox instead of Safari when I used Blogger and all of these options appeared and/or actually worked. That was March/April 2007. I just got folder full of images and went to work.

I usually try to have one picture per paragraph. That adds up after a while. I didn't realize how many computers had trouble viewing my site because of it because I was using a brand new superfast G5 Mac Tower when I started the site. I added the pictures from many of my favorite albums to show new visitors/readers that my taste encompasses Hip Hop from every region and all over the world as well.


3. Why haven't you ever written about your graf career or your Rap career in detail?

The main reason I haven't is because my graf "career" was filled with disappointment because I wasn't especially as good at it as I'd hoped I'd be. I sucked picking colors, I was only really good at picking locations, hand styles and throwups. I could talk about legendary graf artist 'til I was blue in the face and the history of the artform going back to 1968/9 but I was just not good at it in my opinion. Any stories I write would be about me being disappointed that my artistic talents didn't evolve the way I hoped they would.

As far as emceeing goes, my whole philosophy on emceeing and why I got into it was to murder the game lyrically. By the time I became of age to actually get in the game it wasn't about lyrics anymore and on the underground even though it was I wasn't willing to leave guaranteed money when my same friends and associates who were underground kings that got mobbed overseas weren't getting paid by their labels and did shows @ the Middle East or Western Front nonstop.

I'd rather work constantly at something I was good at and never have to worry about money like they did. Eventually, it tuned 2001 and 9/11 happened. By 2002 it was a wrap for any viable Rap career for myself. I'll probably tackle that aspect of my life in another medium rather than this blog. Maybe in a book. Who knows, I might feel different about it in the future.


4. You claim to have a library of VHS tapes going back to the early 90's and a huge magazine collection, why haven't you uploaded any of your videos or scanned any of the magazines as of yet?

I've been so busy with writing that I never got around to it but I've talked to my brother and a couple of my Twitter peoples (What up, Frank Lanzkie!) and I've decided to begin digitizing and uploading a lot of the footage I recorded on VHS from 1991-2008 to either my YouTube profile/channel or to Poisonous Paragraphs. I got shit that'll make all of your heads explode on the real. As far as the magazines go, I should really invest in a scanner. I have a gang of old Hip Hop & graf mags from 1997-2004 still fresh in Adidas shoe boxes.

5. Is Poisonous Paragraphs really a team blog/Why haven't you shown your face yet?

Nope. Poisonous Paragraphs is completely written, conceived and planned by myself. No help. I don't use any contributors and I don't post any content provided by other parties. This pisses a lot of people off but I say if it's my blog then it should be ALL me. Every other blog on the planet can use content from the big sites but I do what I want when I want.

As far as showing my face, that'll happen when I'm forced to have to be seen. If I had a job or steady income from writing or whatever I definitely would've been seen by now. I honestly don't know the answer to that question but some local people that have supported me for years should finally get to see what the hell I look like. The whole anonymity angle seeped over from my unremarklable graf career writing as STRYKE/SAGE/SOBER between 1992-2002 and my short lived ghostwriting stint. I loved the whole Da Ghetto Communicator from The Source/Ghostface Killah/MF Doom aspect where you could only be judged by your body of work and nothing else. Just like graf.


6. Why do you introduce new features and then suddenly stop doing them (i.e. Revenge Of The 80's, Lost In Translation, Journey Into Mystery & That's Kinda Racist)?

I have an idea to do something and then I don't want to get pigeonholed so I switch it up and do something else. I don't wan't anyone to read my blog and dare tell me there's something I don't or can't do. I don't believe in being narrowcast or painted into a corner. I'm a writer. I can write about whatever the hell I feel like writing about when I wake up in the morning. That's why I created all of the different features in the first place. I also have had trouble finding online pics or footage to aid many blog subjects. I have the materials myself and I guess I'll upload them so I can do 'em.

I stopped doing my "That's Kinda Racist" blogs because I used them as a coping mechanism during Barack Obama's presidential campaign when I was hearing and seeing some stuff that depressed and disappointed the fuck outta me. I felt that I had to address the situation somehow so I did a self parody of my own "What's New In Dart's iPod" posts in relation to recent happenings that could be construed as racist to open up dialogue with my readers about race. It began taking on a life of it's own so I shut it down after the election. A special edition will appear in the future, trust me on that (a few almost did recently).


7. What is the significance of the "Civil War" Marvel images you always used in relationship to the Hip Hop blogging world?

In Marvel Comics, they had an event where heroes had to choose a side. They could either register themselves, reveal their identities and work with the government. The others decided to stay underground and keep their identities hidden. They wew constantly at odds with one another afterwards resulting in the Civil War. In the Hip Hop blogosphere, we have the sites that get a ton of traffic that industry types often frequent and you have the content/writing based blogs that are considered middle to lower tier. I simply used that parallel in relation to the Hip Hop blogosphere.

I continued with the analogy in detail with my series "The Marvel Guide To The Bloggerverse" where I made the bigger blogs all Initiative and the smaller ones part of the Anti Registration movement/The Resistance. Very few people caught my elaborate analogy but they did a great job of letting it go over everyone's heads. I've done quite a few posts that were elaborate analogies or tounge in cheek sarcasm that people still haven't caught yet. *Shrugs*


8. Do you ever run out of ideas of what to write about/get writer's block?

I have a clipboard where I have planned out a series of projects and posts throughout the Summer as well as a list of 100 blogs/posts I didn't do or have pushed back indefinitely for lack of resources about each subject can't currently be found online as of yet. I get up in the morning with a gang of ideas and write them down. Part of the reason I started my Twitter account was to prove that I just don't seem to run out of shit to write about. The longest bout of writer's block I've ever had was four days long and I wrote four blogs to make up for it in an 18 hour span following it.

9. Why don't you ever do any interviews on your blog/Why won't you do interviews yourself?

I write enough and I'm not interesting in transcribing a bunch of questions and answers without being paid for it. I don't think I'm that interesting of an interview subject (Cuz I'm ME *facepalm*) but I've caved in and allowed my boy Travis Glave, my girl M. Dot and a couple of other heads have requested interviews with me on Twitter lately. The whole "mystery of Dart Adams" aspect does get a little tiresome after so many years of online writing/blogging.


10. You always seem ready to quit in order to take a job that keeps falling through, how long can you continue blogging without pay before you finally give it up?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I will admit that my blogging is a means to an end. I fully started this blog in the hopes that it would lead to a job/jobs and bigger things. All of those opportunities have fallen through for various reasons and I can't tell the future. I can promise that for the amount of time I'm blogging no one will match my output and/or production. When I didn't get in that Vibe list I spazzed out a little because I felt like I was busting my ass for nothing. A gang of people let me know that wasn't the case and I thank each of them for that, especially my numerous blogging brethren and sisteren that made the list and didn't make it.

Have any questions that you have about this blog or myself answered? Ask them in the comments section and I'll answer them in the next edition of "Dart Adams presents FAQ" in June.

One.

Boldly Going Where No Films Have Gone Before AKA Dartflix Edition #57

I saw J.J. Abrams reboot of "Star Trek" and I have to say that it was extremely well done. He did something that I always chide other screenwriters that adapt other well known source materials with rabid/die hard fans...he pleased both them and moviegoers that weren't even Star Trek fans to begin with. The first thing he did was he went through the entire history of Star Trek and pulled out pieces of information, key events and references that would appease them (and not just piss them off) while updating certain other things while adding his own vision. He was able to cull together different aspects of Roddenberry's original vision and created a mashup of the entire run of the series/films all at once succesfully. Why couldn't the people that made "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" do the same?

In any event, "Star Trek" had earned $147 million at the US box office after only 10 days of release and it's cleared it's $150 million production budget as of yesterday (numbers aren't final). Including it's take overseas "Star Trek" has grossed more than $225 million dollars worldwide as of this morning. It has received glowing reviews from theatergoers, critics, diehard Trekkies and casual fans alike.

That's the difference that good writing and direction affords you screenwriters/adapters out there. The key word is "alternate realities". This Friday "Terminator: Salvation" finally opens, I have hopes that it's good but there's a lot of CGI and McG's directing it. On the plus side, it's been rewritten due to actors and producers claiming the strory wasn't substantial enough and it's supposed to be plot & character driven. I hope it doesn't suck. Also Sam Raimi's return to horror "Drag Me Down To Hell" opens as well...I hope that one doesn't suck either. Anyways, on to my film recommendations for the rest of May.

Films I recommend in theaters (5.15.09-5.31.09) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:

Terminator: Salvation
The Girlfriend Experience
Angels & Demons
Drag Me To Hell
True Blood: The Complete First Season (series)
24: Season Seven (series)
30 Rock: Seasons 1& 2 (series)
8 Simple Rules: The Complete Second Season (series)
House: Seasons One/Two/Three/Four (series)
Psych: The Complete First & Second Seasons (series)
Heroes: Seasons 1 & 2 (series)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0 & 2.5 (series)
The Office: Seasons Three & Four (series)
The Closer: The Complete Fourth Season (series)
Law & Order: SVU-The Ninth Year (series)
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves [Blu-Ray]
3 Days Of The Condor [Blu-Ray]
Enemy At The Gates [Blu-Ray]
T2: Judgment Day (Skynet Edition) [Blu-Ray]
Batman (1989) [Blu-Ray]
The Machinist [Blu-Ray]
Spy Game [Blu-Ray]
True Romance [Blu-Ray]
Changing Lanes [Blu-Ray]
Falling Down [Blu-Ray]
Children Of Men [Blu-Ray]
Inside Man [Blu-Ray]
Field Of Dreams [Blu-Ray]
Seabiscuit [Blu-Ray]
Cinderella Man [Blu-Ray]
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn/Wrath Of The Dragon [Blu-Ray] (anime)
Dragon Ball Z: Season Nine (Majin Buu Saga) (anime)
Claymore: Volume Five, Sisters In Arms (anime)
Gundam Seed Destiny, Vol. 2 (anime)
Fist Of The North Star: The Movie (anime)
Naruto Box Set 4 (anime)
Gad Guard: The Complete Series (anime)
Lady Ninja Kasumi Volume 4 (anime)
Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960's & 1970's Vol. 1 (animated)
Crips & Bloods: Made In America (documentary)
We Feed The World (documentary)
Eric Clapton-Live From Madison Square Garden (music documentary)
Russell Brand In New York City (comedy)
Jo Koy: Don't Make Him Angry (comedy)
Valkyrie (2 Disc Special Edition)
Fanboys
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
Manhunt
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Paramount Centennial Collection)
Billy Jack
Falling Down (Deluxe Edition)
My Blood Valentine/3D
Eden Log
The Last Horror Film (Uncut Special Edition)
Lions For Lambs
Bane
Killshot
Powder Blue
The Sky Crawlers
Wandering Ginza Butterfly
Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler
The Legend Of Fong Sai Yuk
Ten Tigers Of Kwangtung
Star Trek
The Brothers Bloom
Angels & Demons
Next Day Air
The Limits Of Control
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Twilight
Incendiary
Taken
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale
Geisha Assassin
Under The Bombs
State Of Play
Sleep Dealer
American Violet
The Soloist
Tyson
Lymelife
The Informers
Caprica
The Wrestler
Frost/Nixon
Martyrs (Unrated)
As The Technics Spin
Fast & Furious
Observe And Report
Adventureland
The Escapist
Gigantic
Duplicity
I Love You, Man
Quantum Of Solace
Slumdog Millionaire
Seven Pounds
Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter & Under The Hood
Elegy
Special
Timecrimes
Watchmen
Tokyo!
The Horsemen
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Battle In Seattle
Cadillac Records
Rachel Getting Married
Milk
Sunshine Cleaning
50 Dead Men Walking
Transporter 3
B13: Ultimatum
Synecdoche, New York
Let The Right One In
Quarantine
Changeling
Religulous
Choke
Body Of Lies
Flash Of Genius
Sex Drive
Protege
The International
Friday The 13th
Gomorrah
Zach And Miri Make A Porno
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Afro Samurai: Resurrection-Director's Cut
W.
Blindness
Chocolate
A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy
The Class
RocknRolla
Henry Poole Is Here
Defiance
Appaloosa
Valkyrie
Revolutionary Road
Waltz With Bashir
Burn After Reading
Towel Head
Baby
Gonzo: The Life & Work Of Hunter S. Thompson
Sukiyaki Western Django
DJ Dusk's Root Down Soundclash
DJ Spooky's Rebirth Of A Nation
Decon presents Fresh Rhymes And Videotape
Fear(s) Of The Dark
Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith
Hell Ride
Elite Squad
Ballast
Boy A

Dart's Movie Recommendations (I personally cosign all of these joints):

Terminator: Salvation
The Girlfriend Experience
Angels & Demons
Drag Me To Hell
True Blood: The Complete First Season (series)
24: Season Seven (series)
30 Rock: Seasons 1 & 2 (series)
Enemy At The Gates [Blu-Ray]
T2: Judgment Day (Skynet Edition) [Blu-Ray]
Batman (1989) [Blu-Ray]
The Machinist [Blu-Ray]
Spy Game [Blu-Ray]
True Romance [Blu-Ray]
Changing Lanes [Blu-Ray]
Falling Down [Blu-Ray]
Children Of Men [Blu-Ray]
Inside Man [Blu-Ray]
Fist Of The North Star: The Movie (anime)
Crips & Bloods: Made In America (documentary)
Valkyrie (2 Disc Special Edition)
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
Manhunt
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Paramount Centennial Collection)
Billy Jack
Falling Down (Deluxe Edition)
Eden Log
Lions For Lambs
Bane
Killshot
The Legend Of Fong Sai Yuk
Ten Tigers Of Kwangtung

Rent/Watch these movies at your own risk:

Dance Flick: Dear Wayans Brothers, I am not going to enable your unfunny movie makin' asses anymore. Please sit the fuck down and don't come back until you make s parody film as good or original as "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka". Sincerely, The Management

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Dear Kevin James, unless This Is "King Of Queens: The Movie" I just don't give a fuck (no Eminem). Sincerely, The Management

Outlander: Dear shitty movie producers, I saw "Highlander" before and this isn't it. Stop trying to make it with a different name. Sincerely, The Management

Kobe Doin' Work: Dear Spike Lee, you shot the entire NBA Finals but decided to cut your hundreds of hours of footage down to the clinching game vs. San Antonio? You're a little fuckin' bitch. Sincerely, The Management

Driven To Kill: Dear assholes who made this bullshit movie, this flick is so bad that I too am driven to kill...each one of YOU. Sincerely, The Management

Paycheck [Blu-Ray]: Dear John Woo, what the fuck was that wack shit? Sincerely, The Management

Circle Of Iron [Blu-Ray]: Dear asshats who made this film from Bruce Lee's personal notes, way to rape Bruce Lee's corpse! You even cast John Carradine in multiple roles? I sure hope all of you are dead and Bruce is beating the shit out of you in the afterlife for this piece of ass flick. Sincerely, The Management

New In Town: Dear Renee Zellweger, I liked you better when I thought you were Joey Lauren Adams. You, madam are NO Joey Lauren Adams. Sincerely, The Management

The Devil's Tomb: Dear Cuba Gooding Jr, you should be locked underneath Alcatraz or just shot into space for this bullshit ass flick. In space no one can hear you coon. Sincerely, The Management


Coming (relatively) Soon To A Theater (or computer) Near You:


One.

Is This The End? © New Edition

Last Sunday, the inconceivable happened. The Boston Celtics, who were up 3-2 on the Orlando Magic lost a Game 7 on the storied parquet floor we call Red Auerbach Memorial Court. The Celtics had a 32-0 record in series where they went up 3-2 previously and a commanding record in Game 7's at home in their history. None of that mattered on Sunday as the Boston Celtics were never in the lead and they couldn't climb the ladder out of Hell in an embarrassing 101-82 loss. They came out flat and they had nothing more to give in the end. They were clearly playing on fumes in these final two contests. Sunday marked the Celtics' 40th playoff game in the past two seasons alone. They've played 202 total games in the past two seasons (128-36 reg. season & 23-17 playoffs).

Kendrick "The Hulk" Perkins did an admirable job this postseason by averaging 12 ppg 11.6 rpg 2.6 bpg and shooting 58% from the field. He also prevented Dwight Howard from scoring on the low block against him for 7 games as the one they call "Superman" only managed to score on Perkins 8 total times in the entire 7 game series when they went one on one. Perkins backed Howard down and dropped hooks and jumpers in his face almost at will. Dwight Howard was still able to dominate the offensive boards and catch passes from penetration for easy catch and slams due to weak help defense and the Celtics tired legs repeatedly. Game 6 was Dwight Howard stepping up and becoming the dominant player he was touted as being. The Celtics simply had no answer for him as Big Baby Davis often ended up in foul trouble guarding Rashard Lewis and Scalabrine offered NO help whatsoever.

Rajon Rondo proved to the entire world that he was an elite NBA point guard in his eye opening 14 playoff games in '09 (17 ppg 10 rpg 10 apg 2.5 spg on 42% FG's). The problem is that he simply had to do too much. If he wasn't constantly attacking the Orlando defense and making plays to compensate for the ailing Ray Allen and Paul Pierce or the largely ineffective bench, then things weren't going to happen for the C's. The Celtics could not play championship perimeter defense nor could they properly help Hulk Perkins defend the paint. This lead to them ultimately losing this series. They did, however play with the heart of champions seeing as how so many key players were injured and how short handed they were.

Paul Pierce (21 ppg 6 rpg 3 ast 1.1 spg on 43% FG 33% 3pt) , Ray Allen (18.3 ppg 4 rpg 2.6 apg on 40% FG 35% 3pt) and Hulk Perkins were all injured during the playoff run. Paul Pierce may have to have surgery on his bone spurs, Kendrick Perkins may need yet another procedure done on his shoulder and Ray Allen's hamstring all limited the C's effectiveness. All that being said EVERYONE who's still playing now has some kind of injury so it's not an excuse. If you stepped on the court, then you're considered healthy enough to play. Itr was apparent from the beginning that this postseason was not going to be a feel good story like "Hoosiers"...nah, it was gonna be like "300" if anything. Here's why.

The first red flag was when the Celtics couldn't convince James Posey to stick around and help them defend the title. This was a major blow to the Celtics bench that was downplayed. The second red flag went up when then couldn't convince Antonio McDyess to come to Boston after he was first released. The third red flag was how long it took for Stephon Marbury and the Knicks to come to a buyout agreement so he could join the Boston Celtics. Big Baby Davis (16 ppg 6 rpg on 49% FG's in the '09 playoffs) was also underperforming earlier in the season but he and Eddie House eventually stepped it up to help Tony Allen and Scalabrine bolster the bench as they rode out a few bad stretches (until Tony Allen and Scalabrine BOTH went down with injuries).


The fourth red flag was when Joe Smith decided to wait so long to get his buyout because it meant he was going to join the Cleveland Cavaliers and NOT the Boston Celtics. I would include Alonzo Mourning retiring but it was for the best that he stayed away from the game. When Tony Allen and Brain Scalabrine went down the C's had a rusty Stephon Marbury and a defensively deficient Mikki Moore as bench reinforcements. Not good. When Kevin Garnett went down the season was already in question and when KG wasn't healing the Celtics were pretty much written off. No wonder Danny Ainge had a damn heart attack!


Doc Rivers did a fantastic job of coaching considering this team was nothing but a MASH unit comprised of the walking wounded. Near the end the still injured Tony Allen and Mikki Moore hardly ever saw the court. Eddie House couldn't get it get going and Stephon Marbury struggled to get the team into any offensive sets. The key players were overworked and tired legs led to defensive lapses that got them into constant foul trouble. Without Kevin Garnett to aid Hulk in the paint or key bigs to rebound & defend at a high level the Celtics had to chance to win or advance any further anyways. The C's are a mentally tough team with a bunch of heart. They still outrebounded their opponents in Game 6 & 7...they just couldn't defend the three point shot for shit. They shot a miserable 42% and 39% from the floor in Games 6 & 7 respectively.

This offeseason is up in the air. Several key players will be getting surgeries or ecovering from them. It's a pricey free agent market and they have to retain coaches and key players. It's a weak draft coming up and it'll be even harder to convince free agents to play in Boston with some aging, ailing stars even with their young talent. The Celtics need to finally jettison Brian Scalabrine and let Mikki Moore go. Decisions need to be made with other players as well. Can the Celtics once again ascednd to the top of the NBA? That's anyone's guess. Given all of the question marks surrounding this offseason and the uncertainty behind how they'll get back on top, can we Boston sports fans begin wondering if this is the end of our championship run in the sports world? I sure hope not.

One.

What's New In Dart's iPod #78 AKA Yes You May! © Lord Finesse & Big L

This week was ALSO action packed. The Celtics failed to close out the Orlando Magic due to Dwight Howard actually showing up so on Sunday they'll be yet another Game 7 in Boston. The Red Sox lost 2 out of 3 in Anaheim, then the Bruins got bounced outta the playoffs in sudden death overtine in a Game 7 in TD Banknorth Garden by Carolina. On the music front, a gang of things happened this week as well. Busta Rhymes and Method Man & Redman's LP's both hit the 'net. Then Joe Budden's comments about Vibe.com's Greatest Rapper Ever brackets and him beating Method Man in a battle led to actual beef between the two (battle it out!). "Star Trek" also opeaned and took over the box office while Tanya Morgan's "Brooklynati" entered the iTunes albums Top 10 in sales in it's first day of release.

This week I'll be reviewing six new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Busta Rhymes "Back On My B.S.", DJ Drama "Gangsta Grillz Vol. 2", Fabio Musta "Passport", Method Man & Redman "Blackout! 2", Superstar Quamallah "Invisible Man" and Tanya Morgan "Brooklynati". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

It's just not true! They said they're better than us? They said they're better than who? Well, it's just not true! © Tanya Morgan


Best Joints: Wheel Of Fortune, Give 'Em What They Askin' For, Respect My Conglomerate, Shoot for the Moon, Kill Dem (borderline), We Want In, We Miss You, Sugar and Decision

Hot Garbage: Hustler's Anthem '09 (T-Pain?), Arab Money, I'm A Go and Get My... (Mike Epps ruined it), Don't Believe Em (Akon?) and World Go Round

Dart's Take: Busta Rhymes wants to bring you the authentic, official, gutter, brash, punch you in the face, brass knuckles, bullyfoot, street corner Hip Hop. Just one problem with that...he can't do that on a major label and be expected to actually move units. He has to save THAT shit for his mixtapes "I Bullshit You Not" & "Feeding The Streets". His last album @ Aftermath/Interscope failed to move the desired amount of units even after 4 or 5 singles and before Busta could complete his album "Blessed" he was let go of his Aftermath/Interscope obligation. That means that "Don't Touch Me" was a wash and that horrid ass Linkin Park collabo never happened. Thank you God!

The lead single from this project was the ill concieved "Arab Money" which I will go to my grave thinking was a fail in every sense. This idea, concept and single should have been shot down WAY before the public ever even heard it. The album is a mix of Busta and crew (Spliff, Reek & Show Money...Labba & Papoose ain't Flipmode no more?) rhyming over heat rocks and then a bunch of obvious single attempts and club jawns.

You'll go from nodding your head furiously one minute (no Kitten) to making confused faces like "what the fuck is going on here?" (no Keanu). In the end, I give this album a recommended maybe and maybe some of the songs I hated (i.e. "Hustler's Anthem '09, "World Go Round" & "Don't Believe 'Em") might work for you. Maybe Mike Epic Fail won't ruin "I'm A Go and Get My" for you. I say give it a listen...but I'd rather rock the mixtapes instead. Real talk.




Best Joints: A Town, We Must Be Heard, Sweat, Come Up Boys, Yacht Music, Pimpin' Ain't Easy and Gotta Get It

Hot Garbage: Love For Money, I'm Fresh, Day Dreaming, Ridiculous, Tipper Love and Smoke

Dart's Take: DJ Drama don't champion my favorite type or brands of Hip Hop. I'll admit that it was a chore for me to listen to this album from beginning to end because the sonic aesthetic was sorely lacking to me (read: I hated the production/beats). Not only that but I felt most of the featured artists had less than superior mic skills as well (read: Too many of these n*ggas on this album can't fuckin' rap).

With that being the case, Drama brings in former Wu affiliate La The Darkman and his brother Willie The Kid to even out the album as well as a few veteran emcees that actually know how to spit (Nas, Busta Rhymes, Scarface, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, Styles P, B.G. & Juvenile) but they can't save this shitstorm of ear bleed inducing beats and "rhymes" that make you wanna off yourself with a broken beer bottle.

In the end only 7 of the 13 assembled track were tolerable in my opinion...forget about good/dope/ill. TOLERABLE. This album gets an oh no from me. I gave it numerous listens and it never grew on me. It still was nowhere as bad as that Guru album, though. *shudders*




Best Joints: Intro, Piste 2, Hassa, Do It, I Still Want More, Keep It Tight, Famous Type, Across The Map, I'm Ready, Italian Roots, Crossroads, Real Rap Music, Hands Of Time, Feel It, Antiopinionisti and Senza Di Te

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Fabio Musta has pretty much come out of nowhere to most people. He's yet another Hip Hop producer from overseas in the vein of Clutch Player, Snowgoons, Dela, Beat Butcha and Cadik he drops a producer album compilation for the heads stateside. This album is surprisingly solid from beginning to end as Italian producer Fabio Musta's jazzy, laid back style of beats are a refereshing change from the corporate sounding production on most major label projects today.

Fabio Musta's production works well with guest appearances from underground luminaries such as Jeru Tha Damaja, T3 (Slum Village), Guilty Simpson, Copywrite, Termanology, Reks, Akrobatik, Strong Arm Steady, Substantial, etc. There wasn't anything on this album I could say was wack or lacking in any way, either. 16 tracks of solid Hip Hop production with nice emcees spittin' over it equals a nice album. "Passport" may end up becoming the Cadik "Basic" of 2009. I give it another recommended maybe.




Best Joints: BO2 Intro, I'm Dope Nigga, A-Yo, Dangerous Mcees, Errbody Scream, Hey Zulu (I hate the chorus), City Lights, Father's Day, Mrs International, How Bout Dat, Dis Iz 4 All My Smokers, Four Minutes To Lock Down, Neva Herd Dis B4, I Know Sumptn and A Lil' Bit

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Luckily for Redman & Method Man they are no longer priorities on Island Def Jam. This means all they have to do is have two potential singles for the label to work @ radio and 2 songs for them to hand out to blogs and they'll leave them the hell alone. Thank God! This album avoided all the issues that plagued Busta Rhymes' album as there was nothing on this album that was glaringly bad or made you wanna one yourself while listening (no The Happening).

If you were a fan of the previous "Blackout!" LP then you'll be presently surprised by the sequel. The production even sounds like the original album did as much of the production is Rockwilder/Erick Sermon and Meth & Red spazz out over the tracks. Bangers like "I'm A Dope Nigga", "Dangerous Mcees", Dis Iz 4 All My Smokers", "Four Minutes To Lock Down"and "Neva Herd Dis B4" will keep your head nodding and the rest of the album works as well. I give "Blackout! 2" yet another recommended maybe.




Best Joints: You Need Knowledge, 88 Soul, Black Shakespeare, Lonely At The Top, Just Listen, California Dreamin', Purity, Kunta Kente, 1993 Shit, Do-Win Dis and

Hot Garbage: For My People...It's Spiritual, We Got Plots and I Hope She Remembers Me are all meh to me

Dart's Take: Production wise this is an excellent album but Superstar Quamallah waxes and wanes throughout it. He's solid lyricist but he'll give you nothing rewind worthy or quotable in the bars department. He sort of coasts over the top flight production and blends into it...sometimes you even forget he's there sad to say. While Quamallah spits about that old school Hip Hop , how shit is wack now and he's gonna bring it back I kept thinking to myself that I wished someone gave homie a Red Bull so he could put some energy into his delivery.

I'd love to have the instrumental version of this album and if you're one of those people that can look past average bars and tune them out then this album is for you. If you're a Superstar Quamallah diehard fan/stan you'll think this is one of the best albums of '09. If not you'll just thing that as a complete package it's a maybe. Brick Records, holla when the instrumentals become available for "Invisible Man", that deserves a spot in my iPod Touch on the real. It'll be available for purcahse on May 19th, check it out.




Best Joints: On Our Way, Alleye Need, So Damn Down, Bang N Boogie, Don't U Holla, Hardcore Gentlemen, Plan B, Intermission, Without U (She's Gone), Never Secondary, Just Not True, Morgan Blu, Never Enough, We're Fly, Just Arrived and Forgot To Say

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Tanya Morgan is one of my favorite groups in Hip Hop today and Lessondary is one of my favorite crews. I have every mixtape, EP and LP they've ever made starting with "Moonlighting", the limited edition EP's, the Beat Thieves mixtapes, Subhurban Sprawl, etc. Last year's "The Bridge EP" was a precursor to this album "Brooklynati". "Brooklynati" is in essence a concept album that has everything, skits, songs about different aspects of life, and any type of track you can imagine short of selling crack or shooting someone...or cooking crack, chopping it, bagging it THEN selling it and shooting people that don't pay. None of that on here. Sorry!

There isn't a weak moment on this album, you remember back when groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Public Enemy, EPMD, etc. used to be expected to make classic albums and they went to the lab, came back and actually succeeded? Well, Tanya Morgan has done what those kind of groups used to do year in and year out. Sure, they've only been around since 2006 and it'll be another good 7 years before we can truly consider them great (while Little Brother is much closer to getting that distinction) I have no reservations in saying that Tanya Morgan is among the best that Hip Hop has to offer in the 00's. Years from now, heads will still be talking about "Brooklynati" and they may even use the "c word" that Hip Hop dreads. I give "Brooklynati" the lone mos def of the week. BUY IT NOW!





Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):

Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:

Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Mos Def-The Ecstatic LP
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Skepta-Microphone Champion
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover

The Hulk vs. Superman is going to a round 7 in Boston @ The Jungle on Sunday. Hopefully, Jesus will show up and the Truth will be revealed as well. Go Celtics! *Throws threes*

One.

Dart's Rant Of The Day: Method Man vs. Joe Budden...Why Not Just Battle It Out?

This seemingly harmless footage may end up being the "shot heard 'round the 'net". A visibly heated Joe Budden (alongside an equally annoyed Joell Ortiz) broke down the Vibe.com brackets for their Best Rapper Ever tournament and were really disappointed in the seeding as well as their places in said brackets (Joey was seeded super low and Joell Ortiz was included at all). In the ensuing rant, Joe claimed that he didn't know who Cowboy of the Furious Five was *raises the People's Eyebrow*, doesn't think Grandmaster Melle Mel can rhyme as of right now and the star of the show...that he could beat Method Man in a straight up rhyme battle. I have NO problem with Joe saying that whatsoever. I'd expect him too, actually. The thing is, Method Man didn't appreciate it very much at all.


Of course, Method Man is in the process of promoting his new album with Redman "Blackout! 2" and he said that he didn't appreciate Joey baiting him. Especially, after Budden came on to Power 105 and claimed that in 32 bars a piece on a record he'd cut Method Man's head off before Meth called in to the same show later on. Method Man was extremely pissed off and started out by saying that he was uninterested in the whole situation. That then escalated to "let's do a track , go 32 bars a piece then let the people decide" to wanting to have a face to face battle with Joe Budden. I personally feel that any nice emcee should feel that no one could handle them in a rhyme battle so none of this is problematic for me. I just think this battle NEEDS to happen and soon.

In this money gettin' era, there are few established emcees willing to just battle it out rather than go back and forth on wax after the whole "subliminal diss" round is over and everyone knows who's being addressed. In situations like this (one that can only happen in our current "Flip Cam Rap Era" (the intellectual property of Elliott Wilson)), The best thing to do is get it all out in the open then with as little interference from execs, record labels, corporate sponsors, or hype as humanly possible get these two together in a nuetral location and have them have a face to face rhyme battle like the ones emcees used to have back in the days (or the ones they used to have before they got on).

This younger generation of Hip Hop/Rap fans NEED to see/hear what we oldheads saw and heard all the damn time. The game has so much money at stake now that no one is willing to risk anything or engage in any of the activities that they did as they came up in the culture. This is a rare opportunity to prove to everyone that Hip Hop isn't dead after all and the industry does not trump the culture. C'mon fellas, tell your people to get in touch with his people. Pick a location, get both your asses there and do it for Hip Hop (no Ludacris, Jay-Z & Nas)

One.

Dart Adams presents I Respect The Shooter © Jay-Z

Last Summer, my boy Zilla Rocca made a post about great NBA shooters and I was supposed to make a reply to it the next day but I never posted it up. He then posted up a part 2 to the blog last month that solidified the case for considering Ray Allen the greatest shooter in NBA history. I saw this post and realized that I never posted up my answer blog "I Respect The Shooter © Jay-Z". It's only about 10 months late but it's still good. Since Zilla already used Mark Price, Mitch Ritchmond, and Glen Rice I'm gonna take it from there. Here goes:


Dale Ellis AKA The Silent Assassin 6'7 205 Years Active: 1983-2000 Career Averages: 15.7 ppg 48% FG 40% 3PT FG

If you love excitement, flashy play and boisterous or emotional players then changes are you hated Dale Ellis. He was called Lamar Mundane for a reason. If you watched this dude in hopes of seeing anything smacking of highlight material you'll end up being more bored than a lesbian at a Drake concert. What the man did was put the ball in the hole. A lot. He stayed under control, he was extremely efficient, and he had one of the deadly mid and long range games of the 80's & 90's. He was a scoring machine during his days as a Supersonic and a long range threat for the rest of his long & storied career.


Chuck Person AKA The Rifleman 6'8 230 Years Active: 1986-2000 Career Averages: 14.7 ppg 46% FG 36% 3PT FG

Chuck Person was a dead eye shooter with range out to 25 feet. You couldn't give him any type of space or leave him alone for fear he'll get hot. How dangerous was the Rifleman? He and his Indiana Pacers used to give the Boston Celtics heart attacks in the playoffs during the later years when the Celtics were trying to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals and challenge the Pistons. Chuck Person and his mentee, a young Reggie Miller softened up the C's so much that they usually got handled by Cleveland Cavaliers in the next round. Chuck passed on his shooting touch to his younger brother Wesley as well. This cat was unstoppable when he got on.



Larry Bird AKA Larry Legend 6'9 230 Years Active: 1979-1992 Career Averages: 24.3 ppg 50% FG 38% 3PT FG

What can I say about Larry Bird that Bill Simmons, Bob Ryan, Jackie McMullan, Michael Holley, Peter May, Bill Shaughnessy, Tommy Heinsohn, Mike Gorman or Johnny Most hasn't already better? I know. He was the muthafuckin' man! Larry Bird grew up dead ass broke with his multiple siblings with a single mother and a father that committed suicide when he was a boy. Larry Bird was focused on supporting his family through basketball so he busted his ass perfecting his skills in French Lick, Indiana. He dreamed of money every night and woke up early to put shots up.

He went to Indiana University to play ball, but he hated it there and dropped out. He got a job back home before he was convinced to go to Indiana State University and the rest is history. I learned one key thing from Larry Bird as a kid. Nothing is given to you, you have to work for it. Once you get it, you work even harder to maintain it/stay on point. Salute to one of the greatest pure shooters, all around players and hard workers in NBA history.


Reggie Miller 6'7 185 Years Active: 1987-2005 Career Averages: 18.2 ppg 47% FG 40% 3PT FG

Reggie Miller is a machine. He is all about competition. He was the younger brother of one of the greatest basketball players of any era, Cheryl Miller. She constantly broke records and got attention and little brother Reggie wanted to attain the very same accolade that she did. He was puttin up shots at an early age perfecting his stroke and he worked on being able to get free and put up his shot with only 3 inches of space between himself and his defender.

Once he made it to the NBA, he was under the tutelage of several coaches and players like Vern Fleming and Chuck Person that helped him along even more. At one point in time, Reggie Miller became the most feared long range threat in the NBA. He was the star of the Indiana Pacers when they were the class of the Eastern Conference and now he's a Gold medalist and a sure fire Hall Of Famer. He was also damn close to rocking kelly green.



Peja Stojakovich 6'9 220 Years Active: 1998- Career Averages: 17.7 ppg 45% FG 40% 3PT FG

Peja is a deadly long range shooter in the tradition of Drazen Petrovic. Since he's a big guy, he can often wander of away from the basket but once he gets space and the ball? Swish! The best and worst thing about him is once he put down two in a row, he smells blood. If Peja goes a streak and gets hot, just tackle his ass because he'll use a ball fake or a step back to create space and use his height to see over his defender. The result? Three points. He was a nightmare matchup during his days as a Sacramento King and he was immortalized in song by N.O.R.E. when he said "My shooters don't miss like Stojakovich". In order for a Euro dude to get name dropped in a Rap song they gotta be nice!



Paul Pierce AKA The Truth 6'7 230 Years Active: 1998- Career Averages: 22.9 ppg 44% FG 37% 3PT FG

Paul Pierce is possibly the greatest offensive talent the Boston Celtics franchise has ever had. Even moreso than Larry Bird. Paul Pierce is the perfect storm, he's competitive, driven, focused, emotional, a leader, and he's a worker. He isn't afraid to take the big shot and he takes responsibility for his entire team. Paul Pierce works tirelessly on his game every Summer and stays focused during the season. At one point, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce were one of the deadliest duos in the NBA. Paul Pierce learned about leadership and how to handle the media and the burden of being the team captain from him. He also learned where he was most effective on the court from him as well as Walker would feed him the ball where he could do the most damage.

Paul Pierce's athleticism, strength, speed, ball handling, passing and driving ability make him a nightmare matchup. He can step back, up fake you, ball fake then use his dribbling ability to go around you and spilt defenders. This is why you have to give him some space...problem is, if you give him space he can just pull up and J you right in your grill or step back from three point land and splash! His jumping ability makes it so that even if you stay close and keep a hand in his face he'll still knock it down. There's a reason Shaquille O' Neal called the man "The Truth".


Dirk Nowitzki 7'0 240 Years Active: 1998- Career Averages: 22.7 ppg 47% FG 38% 3PT FG

The first time I ever saw footage of Dirk Nowitzki he was a 17 year old German pro that was about 6'9 or 6'10 at the time. He had an automatic jumper out to 25 feet, excellent footwork and he was pretty quick and athletic for a European player. I thought nothing of it because I heard that spiel before. Those players usually came to the NBA and got splinters in their ass or went to college and were just OK and never got drafted to the L. The next time I saw Dirk Nowitzki was at the Nike Hoop Summit the next Summer before the 1998 NBA Draft...he was even better than advertised. The top draft prospect couldn't stop him no matter what they tried. The Celtics wanted him but they had to settle for Paul Pierce instead.

Imagine if Dirk Nowitzki would've come to Boston and played with Antoine Walker instead of Paul Pierce. Imagine if Dallas drafted Paul Pierce instead how different the NBA or the dynamics of those two cities would be now. A 7'0 shooter that can drive, shoot fadeaways, create his own shot off the dribble and finish at the rim even with contact? Sometimes I watch him drop 40 and he looks like he's not even working all that hard even after the jab steps, spin moves and ball fakes. What nickname would Shaq have given him?


Ray Allen AKA Jesus Shuttlesworth 6'5 205 Years Active: 1996- Career Averages: 20.9 ppg 45% FG 40% 3PT FG

Ray Allen is the end all be all of NBA shooters. When he catches the ball behind the line people either hold their breaths in anticipation, close their eyes or through their arms up to signify a three point goal. Some throw their arms up in exasperation because he was left open. In reality, Ray Allen can create his own shot off the dribble just as well as run through screens and picks to catch and shoot. To make things worse, Ray Allen can shoot threes in transition...it's his specialty! His point guard Rajon Rondo specializes in transition basketball...kerosene meet match, match meet kerosene. Fwoosh!

The man also known as Sugar Ray [II] and Jesus Shuttlesworth needs only a few inches to get his shot off and with his perfect shooting forms he can be leaning backwards or forwards and/or get hit while shooting and still hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Put him on the court with Paul Pierce and Eddie House and you might rather play Russian Roulette with half the chambers full instead.

Also receiving votes: Chris Mullin, Danny Ainge, Dan Majerle, Eddie Johnson, Ricky Pierce, Jeff Hornacek, World B. Free, Dana Barros, Craig Hodges, Jim Paxson, Steve Smith, Robert Horry, Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Mario Elie, Derek Harper, Mark Aguirre, Kelly Tripucka, Kiki Vanderweghe and Drazen Petrovic

One.

Dart's Rant Of The Day: Hype, Lies & Corporate Co-signs* (Re-Up)

As many of you already know, the promo copies of Asher Roth's album have been in the hands of the media for a while. Since I'm at the bottom of the media pile, I got mine recently. If you've been following me on Twitter I've been shittin' on Asher Roth for a while now. It's not without good reason, either. Let me break down how I went from being totally receptive of Asher Roth back when "The Greenhouse Effect" first dropped to being completely pissed off with his mediocrity on the mic and his entire situation, promotional push and team for varied reasons. Let's go back, shall we?

It all started back in June 2008 when Don Cannon and DJ Drama (the gateway to the South) presented Asher Roth's The Greenhouse Effect (AKA The Greatest Mixtape Ever). Since he was being co-signed by Don Cannon and DJ Drama I figured why not give it a listen (I paid the tag "Greatest Mixtape Ever" no mind whatsoever). I came away pretty impressed with the mixtape, not exactly my cup of tea but I dug it enough that I included on my Halftime Show list. Not too long afterwards the Obama shirt rockin' Asher Roth's "Roth Boys" video came out and I was still on board. I noticed how many huge blogs had this video up and I figured his people were taking full advantage of the blogosphere. I found out he signed with SRC (Steve Rifkind Company/Corporation) and Scooter Braun was managing him. Aroo? © Scooby Doo

I didn't go to the website, The Daily Kush. I did start noticing the way he was being branded and marketed very early on, though. I was a little put off once I realized that Asher Roth's YouTube video channel was full of videos with testimonials and co-signs by more established artists. The bigger sites kept putting up these Asher Roth videos so often that eyebrows began to raise. Even compared to the other blog favorites, it seemed that the internets were becoming overloaded with footage of Asher Roth performing, video of his doing iffy freestyles and the obvious push at the college crowd and weed heads. He was often on the bill with established hardcore acts like Heltah Skeltah. Being on the same bill together makes it seem like they'd be "people".

Things really came to a head when XXL picked their Leaders Of The New School in October 2008, among them being Asher Roth (who no one had even heard of before June...a short four months ago!). Several bloggers gave their personal take on the selections but it wasn't until Brandon Soderberg @ No Trivia dropped his thoughts that the shit truly hit the fan(s). Considering that Asher Roth after only 120 days on the blogs was on the front cover with B.o.B. (who sounded a lot like Andre 3000), Charles Hamilton (who it turns out is a liar and a thief) and Wale (who had been killin' shit for years) people got heated.

I was more than amused with this bullshit ass list XXL dropped (Ace Hood? Really?) since I previously made a much better one by my goddamn self that February. The thing was if the issue of Asher Roth coverage/features that appeared on the bigger blogs (Nah Right, The Rap Up, The Smoking Section, etc. ) versus the smaller writer based Hip Hop blogs (The ones Alexa doesn't recognize and Technorati barely does) was ALREADY enough to have us argue and complain about it in October '08 it would only get worse in the near future nearing the album's release date.

The whole Animal House/Van Wilder/Frat Boy/Weed Head schtick was getting hella old already to me. I had also seen a few live freestyle sessions where Asher was looking straight up ass. On some songs I heard he did his thing but other times he was just meh. Meanwhile, the hype machine was working overtime and the guest appearances and corporate co-signs were piling up. Back in the days when Eminem was signed by Aftermath he had already destroyed the fuckin' underground and had spit next to all of the sickest lyricists of the day for the past 3 or more years so his co-signs came strictly from his talent and not from Dr. Dre or Jimmy Iovine's influence. Asher can't say the same thing for himself. I've never come away from an Asher Roth verse sayin' "He killed it!". "He did his thing on that one"? Yes. He hasn't merked shit yet. Not even a capella.

The next issue I had with Asher Roth was when he was dissed by a couple of rappers, notably Stan Ipcus and underground veteran Copywrite for biting Eminem. Ipcus was meh but Copywrite really went at him. What was Asher's response? An underwhelming response with a pauseworthy title ("Silly Boy") and a terrible hook. He has a terrible ass super formulaic single that's everywhere you look. It's the moment I feared, Asher Roth is being marketed to the exact demographic I feared he would while he's being shown in videos posted on Nah Right and other Hip Hop blogs chilling with established acts like Cee-Lo Green, Ludacris and emcee/producer Nottz. See the difference here? Then the album release date was scheduled for 4.20...We first heard from dude last June. His album dropped in 10 months without ONCE ever getting pushed back? That took perfect planning...that NEVER happens! Ruh roh! © Scooby Doo

The further manipulation of the internet/blogs and digital media and viral marketing campaigns were all to be expected. The issue lies in those little things that result in your album coming out in 2 years...never 10 months between your first mixtape, a huge successful push and the album actually dropping. The big slap in the face was when industry veteran and former head of Loud/RCA Records Steve Rifkind said the Asher Roth's LP "Asleep In The Bread Aisle" would be a classic album that would change the face of Hip Hop. I've heard the aforementioned album. It's OK. It doesn't suck, but it's FAR from being a classic LP. What the fuck is the matter with Steve Rifkind? Why would he make such a statement? If Asher Roth were really the game changing emcee he claimed he was his album probably would've been pushed back or shelved by now.

In conclusion, the overwhelming hype over Asher Roth, an emcee of slightly better than mediocre skills that has his shining moments every now and then is offputting. As a blogger that's exposed to a gang of different emcees through my inbox, the blogosphere, Twitter and my actual mailbox (CD's...they're old school now) it's ridiculous how you can't go anywhere without seeing the insane Asher Roth push. There's a thin line between promotion and hype and this Asher Roth campaign has stepped WAY over the fuckin' line in my opinion. It's almost like Scooter Braun, Steve Rifkind or even DJ Drama and Don Cannon have done everything humanly possible and called in every marker they have to get this album made and rushed out and promoted. But WHY Asher and not one of the 50+ other more talented emcees that are currently on the scene today instead?

Back in 2007, Wale released the much heralded "100 Miles And Runnin'" mixtape. In May 2008, he followed it up with the certified classic "Mixtape About Nothing". It's going on 11 months since THAT mixtape dropped and he has the lead single for his debut album but no video out as of yet. It will more than likely be the summer before Wale's LP drops and he has Mark Ronson and Interscope Records behind him (provided the album doesn't get pushed back). Why isn't Wale a BIGGER priority than Asher Roth. He's been more consistent over the past 3 or 4 years, made more and better material and he's been signed longer...that being the case, what the fuck is up? B.o.B's "I'll Be In The Sky" was a huge hit on MTV...where's the follow up single? When's the LP coming? How is Asher Roth avoiding all of these pitfalls that are affecting everyone else it seems? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

* I originally posted this rant about SRC artist Asher Roth up on April 14th, 2009. It was subsequently linked by just about every prominent Hip Hop site on the internet in the following weeks once Asher Roth began experiencing negative reactions due to his "nappy headed hoes" comment on Twitter and his comments about Black rappers flaunting their wealth and not supporting Africa. On May 1st, 2009, Blogger hit me with a DMCA takedown notice for providing a DivShare link to "Silly Boy". It's NOW a YouTube link and everything about this post should now be in compliance with Blogger standards. If it gets taken down NOW we'll all know why.

One.

Dart Adams presents The "Real" 50 "Hottest" Rap Blogs List

If you'll notice in the subject line of this blog you'll see the words "real" and "hottest" are in quotations because let's face it, no list is perfect. That's why it makes sense to get the most knowledgeable person (or people) possible about a certain subject in order to make said lists. I'm convinced that whomever the fuck compiled the original Vibe list that heads are in uproar over doesn't really delve very deep into the bloggerverse past it's surface. That being said, I 've been immersed in it since about 2005 when it really popped off and I have about 200 + blogs I check regularly (some have since gone the way of the dinosaur). Also what constitutes a "hot" blog or even a "Rap" blog is up for debate (who am I kidding?...what even constitutes a "blog" is up for debate as well),

It's like Joe Budden said in his rant about the old Vibe.com rapper brackets (?), we don't know what the writer(s) said qualifications are for tackling certain subjects therefore we as readers or passionate fans can just dismiss lists/findings altogether as bullshit since the creator(s) clearly didn't know what the hell they were doing in the first place. That being said, I went and put together a list of the most used/visited/popular/respected Hip Hop or music related sites in the bloggerverse. There are "certain sites" you won't see on this particular list (read: ones that offer artist's albums for free download). Those of you that know me or are regular readers of Poisonous Paragraphs are well aware this list isn't gonna stop at just 50 blogs, right? By the way, one of the stipulations for this list is that you weren't previously mentioned in the Vibe Magazine/Vibe.com one. Well, here goes:

1. Amalgam Digital
2. Blackdown
3. Black Man With Blog
4. Blind I For The Kids
5. Brainfeeder
6. Butterz
7. Clap Cowards
8. Classic Drug References
9. Crate Kings
10. Daily Mathematics
11. Doorknockers
12. Fresh Selects
13. From Da Bricks
14. The Full Clip
15. Grand Good
16. Guerilla Busfare
17. Hip Hop DX Blogs
18. Hip Hop Isn't Dead
19. Ill Roots
20. The Incubator
21. It's The Real
22. Just A Moment
23. The Kaos Effect
24. Karen Civil
25. Kevin Nottingham
26. Know Good Music
27. Martini & Jopparelli's Music Selections
28. Model Minority
29. MOOVMNT
30. Nerd With Swag
31. Not A Blogger
32. No Trivia
33. Oh Word
34. Okayplayer blogs
35. Pardon Me Duke
36. Platform 8470
37. Potholes In My Blog
38. QN5
39. Rappers I Know
40. Renaissance Soul Detroit
41. Rock The Dub
42. Spine Magzine
43. THIMK
44. 33 Jones
45. Turbo City
46. Wake Your Daughter Up
47. Werner Van Wallenrod's Humble Little Hip Hop Blog
48. When They Reminisce
49. XXL blogs
50. Yellow Rebel

I decided to do another list featuring 25 more blogs that heads might peruse or check for as well. The nature of these blogs may vary from being writer based to an artists blog that features exclusives or other things of that nature. Some of the following blogs feature social commentary, writeups about classic material or just provide the means to download radio mixes or podcasts of rare music for the visitor. Either way, they all made the list...just deal with it.

25 More To Watch Out For

1. Aggregate Dope
2. Behind The Beats/Mastaplan
3. Chantelle Fiddy's World Of Whatever
4. Cold Rock Da Spot
5. Complex Magazine
6. Culture King
7. Dom Corleone's Hits From The Blog
8. Fresh Cherries From Yakima
9. From The Restless Mind
10. Gorilla Vs. Bear
11. MCDayJob
12. Mo Is Dead Serious
13. Patrick Swavy
14. Phalary State Of Mind
15. Praverb The Wyse
16. Ron Mexico City
17. Scritch & Scratch
18. Smugpolice
19. Snark Jacobs
20. The Somya Life
21. Soul Sides
22. That's Major
23. A Thousand Grams
24. The Winner Circles
25. Wonka Beats

Wait, what the hell is that? This list is bullshit! Where's Real Talk NY at? They NEVER make any lists! No Mikey McFly? How the fuck did you miss Boo Goo Doo Boom? Where's The S Ence's blog at, dummy? No Beat Society? Hello? I figured your nerd ass would've snuck Ich Luge Bullets onto one of these lists! All the time you spent on Passion Of The Weiss and Not A Blogger and you somehow missed mention of Pay Tray? I take it you've never seen or read Sketches Of My Soul before, either? I guess your own Boston people Honorable Media got tossed under the bus cuz they're not "Rap" enough or because they cover too many mainstream artists for your tastes, huh? So what if I Bootlegged Your Mum hasn't been around for a few months, it and Che Sing The Cool or From A Young H Perspective should've been included! These lists both suck and so do you! *And scene!* Please direct all criticism, hatred and/or death threats to the comments section, thank you.

One.

What's New In Dart's iPod #77 AKA Crime Pays Until You Relapse Back Into The Bullshit

This week was action packed. The Celtics bounced the Bulls then split the first two games in Boston, the Red Sox swept the Yanks in New York, then the Bruins went down 2-1 against Carolina. On the music front, a gang of things happened. Cam'ron and Eminem's LP's both hit the 'net, the Vibe 50 Hottest Rap Blogs List disappointed some and infuriated others and Cassie Ventura along with the female national Panamanian Cricket team caused a lot of computer screen across the country to fog up (is that even possible?). "Star Trek" opens in wide release tonight plus the Celtics play a Skipless Magic in Orlando. Busta Rhymes "Back On My Bullshit" is also expected to leak sometime this weekend as well.

This week I'll be reviewing eight new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Bobby Creekwater "B.C. Era Duece", Busta Rhymes & DJ Scratch "I Bullshit You Not", Cam'ron "Crime Pays", Don Cannon & Cool Kids "Gone Fishing", De La Soul "Are You In? (Nike + Original Run)", Eminem "Relapse", DJ Absolut & Raekwon "Blood On Chef's Apron" and Random "Mega Ran 9". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

Damn! It was all good just a week ago! © Jay-Z


Best Joints: Hey, Throw Da Deuce, Dreamin', Spaceship, Ridin' Muzik, Tryin' To Make It, B.C. Era and Make Believe

Hot Garbage: Winner was meh

Dart's Take: This was a nice free EP from Bobby Creekwater even though it was a little more low energy than what I'm used to regularly. Creekwater spits something nice on this collection of rider music over laid back soundscapes. Guest appearances from Bohagon, Sandman & Stat Quo also help add to the overall quality of the product. "Throw Da Deuce", "Ridin' Muzik" and "Tryin' To Make It" were the standout tracks to me. I give "The B.C. Era Deuce" a recommended maybe. Shady/Interscope needs to release some product from this dude and stop bullshittin'. Download it here





Best Joints: Fate Of The World, Director's Cut, Let's Do It, Foreign Currency, Piano Man, Death Wish, Try Your Hand, The Game Room, Victim, Give A Damn, Bounce Back and Feel My Pain

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: If you've been on Twitter following the interactions between Busta Rhymes and DJ Scratch during the creation of the mixtape (which incidentally was named by the fans on Twitter) you knew that it was gonna be bananas once it finally hit the internet & bloggerverse. DJ Scratch's production combined with Busta Rhymes' kinetic energy and bars results in a ridiculous mixtape from beginning to end.

There isn't a weak moment on this entire jawn...I bullshit you not. Even Uncle Muder and Maino didn't annoy me. Show Money, Reek and Spliff Star blended in seemlessly with Bussa Buss over excellent production that will have your head noodin' and your neck hurtin'. Hopefully, "Back On My Bullshit" is more like this than a somewhat watered down major label album. I give it a mos def, download it here





Best Joints: Crime Pays Intro, Cookin' Up, Curve, Who, Spend The Night (bordeline!), (I Hate) My Job, Homicide (bordeline), Got It For Cheap, Get It Get It and Bottom Of The Pussy

Hot Garbage: Where I Know You From, Never Ever, Silky (No Homo) (Is this even a beat?), Get It In Ohio, You Know What's Up, Woo Hoo, Chalupa and Cookies N Apple Juice

Dart's Take: I hate Cameron Giles...everybody knows that. I hate DipSet even more. At one point in time I used to be a Cam'ron fan but somewhere along the line Cam got lazy and started rapping like he didn't care any more. That's a sin to me. Then he started propagating the whole ignorant ass kufi smacker image and DipSet had kids across the country dressing like assholes and acting like 'em, too. Once I realized that Cam'ron and his cohorts were having a widespread negative effect on the youth as well as the culture it became real. The fact his bars completely regressed to being laughable compounded the situation.

"Purple Haze" was the final straw for me. It took forever to drop and when it finally did it was ass. Cameron Giles forgot what it was to be an emcee and was lost in his image/persona and DipSet drama. With each album it becomes more and more apparent he 'll never get it back or even attempt to. This album was full of laughable bars and even worse beats at times. Hooks ranged from mind numbingly juvenile to half assed. Some songs were so goddamn bad I can't believe they were passed into Asylum...I take that back. These are the same assholes that have Mike Jones (Who?) on their roster.

I wish I could've done every single "Fuck Cam" interlude on this album...they would've been 3-5 minute songs featuring me going in on how ass this album is. I'm offended this dude tried to pass this off as an album. Fuck Cam. Fuck "Crime Pays". Fuck me for even giving this album a chance so I could have my ears bleed and wake up out of my sleep over the memory of trash like "Woo Hoo", "Never Ever" and "Cookies N Apple Juice" *shudders*. Oh no. Do me a favor, Cam...go bungee jumping without a bungee cord. Killa! *Gives the middle finger*






Best Joints: Introduction to Ice Fishing, Hammer Bros., Champions, Gold Links, Cinnamon, Premium Blends, Jump Rope, The Last Stretch, The Art of Noise, The Light Company, Popcorn, Pennies (the updated rosters remix), Broadcasting Live, Takin' a Break (cut it up), Tune Up, Weekend Girls, Summer Vacations and Knocked Down

Hot Garbage: Step Back (yawn!)

Dart's Take: The Cool Kids previous efforts have all received maybes from me because they didn't vary their sound enough and their rhymes were downright boring and low energy to me. They usually lull me into a general state of malaise and ambivalence...then I just stop giving a fuck altogether. I was hella close to taking Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks and dragging them both to the iDon't Give A Fuck folder in my iBrain before Don Cannon laced them on this mixtape and saved them from ending up in Dart Limbo.

Tracks like "Gold Links", "Cinnamon", "Jump Rode", "The Light Company", "Popcorn" "Pennies", "Broadcasting Live", etc. all had me open enough to rewind them. Previously on "The Bake Sale" and their earlier mixtapes my favorite Cool Kids tracks was still "Black Mags". If these cats vary their sound up more, moke some higher energy tracks and step their bars up they won't bore the fuck outta me when they finally release an album. I give "Gone Fishing" a highly recommended maybe. Check it out here





Best Joints: Morning Rise, Good Morning, Big Mouf, Attack of 'The Stet' (borderline), Pick Up The Pace (Run), Poetic Greed (feat. Gina Loring), Greedy Man (feat. Greedy Man) and Forever

Hot Garbage: We O.D. and Victory Laps

Dart's Take: This is an iTunes only LP De La Soul made in association with Nike made specifically for going on runs/workouts with. A couple years ago Aesop Rock made one that was well received and since De La Soul haven't released any product in a minute a gang of people were thirsty for ANY new material they may have made. I decided to review it and it's a damn good 45 minute collection of upbeat, high energy material. I think they worked with the Flosstradamus cats as opposed to Supa Dave West for this project but it's still dope.

A few tracks were ear bleed material but this project was made for a much wider audience than just De La Soul fans so it's understandable. Tracks like "Morning Rise", "Good Morning", "Big Mouf", "Greedy Man" and "Forever" are more than enough to convince a De La Soul fan to cop this off of iTunes and make it your workout soundtrack. I give "Are You In?" a recommended maybe. Check it out here





Best Joints: 3 AM, My Mom, Insane [II], Bagpipes From Baghdad, Hello, Same Song & Dance, Medicine Ball, Stay Wide Awake (don't turn this into a single, Jimmy), Old Time Sake, Deja Vu, Beautiful (3 minutes too long) and Underground

Hot Garbage: We Made You, Must Be The Ganja and Crack A Bottle (yawn!)

Dart's Take: It about goddamn time Marshall showed up to the party. This album is everything I expected it to be given that it's a major label album engineered specifically to break the cycle of subpar sales numbers and move mad units. It's good to hear Em get back on that ridiculous spittin' shit like he did before he got complacent on "Encore" and dropped all of those steaming piles on the same project.

How did I feel about Em's usage of different accents and voices? Didn't bother me at all. I was an emcee for 25 years of my life and when I'd mastered my style and got my flow to where I wanted it to be I used to rhyme in different voices and personas in order to step up another level of difficulty to my bars. Eminem not only does this, but he NEVER breaks character and he manages to merk the track each and every time. That's even more impressive then him doing it in his normal voice in my expert opinion.

"3 AM" "My Mom", "Insane", "Hello", "Stay Wide Awake" and "Underground" are pretty much strictly for fans that wonder if homie still has it and can murder verses like he used to. He still can and that makes me smile. We lost Cam'ron but fuck him...we still have Shady! There were quite a few tracks I could've done without and beat choices that made me roll my eyes but I'm a backpacker so my opinion doesn't matter. If it were up to me Nas would be rhyming on Black Milk, Lab Techs ,9th Wonder, Illmind, Khrysis and Oddisee beats. Given all the obvious attempts at appealing to as wide an audiences as possible rather than just spittin' I give "Relapse" a recommended maybe.






Best Joints: Blood on Chef's Apron Freestyle, Cake Baking, Dedication Freestyle, Beauty, The General, Cocaine Blunts, Whips & Kicks, Stick Up Music, Fortune and Fame, A Bigger Gun, Bird Chirp, Gutterman Music, What Do I Do?, Trenchmen, On The Fly Note, Flashback Memories and R.I.P.

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: If you loved the Vatican mixtape series and you're anticipating "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2" dropping on August 11 then you definitely need to be rockin' this jawn right now. Some tracks are under 2 minutes and there are a few full length jawns like "Beauty", "A Bigger Gun", "What Do I Do?", "Flashback Memories" & " R.I.P. with guest appearances from Joell Ortiz, Busta Rhymes, B-Real & The Game. If you're feeling real Rap then you need this in your iPod or whatever music player you currently use. Find it and rock to it. I give it a highly recommended maybe. Download it here





Best Joints: The Opening, uKnowTheName, My Love, MegaLude 9, Run N Gun, Endless, Get Equipped, Outro

Hot Garbage: 8 Is Enough, Splash Woman, The Bailout, Boss Battle: Jewel Man and Splash Woman (Reprise) were all just meh to me

Dart's Take: I dig 8 Bit instrumentals and the DiBiase EP from earlier this year was one of my favorites of the so far. "The 8th Day" was a slept on piece of work but I could not really get into "Mega Ran 9". Maybe it was the love songs about video game characters and the repeated references to Mega Man characters...I dunno. I wasn't really feeling this project that much so maybe I wasn't the best cat to review this project. I give it a maybe because it was hit or miss to me although I love that new Random jawn he has on Okayplayer about supporting the artist's and their music. I'll review "TeacherRapperHero" when it drops, too.




Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):



Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:

Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Mos Def-The Ecstatic LP
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Skepta-Microphone Champion
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover

I know Doc said I was out for the playoffs, but if we can smack these Orlando fools and advance again I'm gon' try to suit up and help y'all against that futuristic cyborg LeBron. We shut homie down last year, Truth! We're like the Resistance...this whole shit is Terminator: Salvation for real! Let 'em be a witness to that shit!

One.

Dart Adams presents 28 Months Later: The Saga Continues

I was supposed to write a blog about how Jay-Z was a huge Nas fan and saw him as his main competition. He clearly was a huge fan of "Illmatic" as he put his whole heart and soul into the magnum opus of a debut LP "Reasonable Doubt" in an effort to top it. During his "Reasonable Doubt" sessions he had a standing invitation to Nas to come through...he never did. Afterwards, what was a friendly rivalry escalated into a legitimate beef over the years. They went back and forth writing verses for Foxy Brown, when Nas worked with an artist or producer, Jay worked with them as well (Timbaland, DJ Premier, Jermaine Dupri, Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, etc.), Jay often did things to spite Nas as well (Carmen, etc.). I would go in depth about that well planned out blog post but I could never bring myself to actually sit down and write it. I'm still too mad about this Vibe list bullshit.

Let's start from the beginning. Back in January 2007, I started Poisonous Paragraphs with the intent of filling a specific void in the blogosphere at the time. I did these writeups about rare uploaded albums that no one else had at the time because I needed to find a way to get/trick people to read my blog. I also had the Dartflix posts that I did weekly (that got to be too much) and I did my Hip Hop journalism bit by tossing in the occasional editorial here and there, My first "go in" session was in February '07 when I went at Byron Crawford & Billy X. Sunday (whom I didn't realize was Dallas Penn writing under a pseudonym @ the time!) for using the term "jig" or derivations of it in their blogs. It was an overall fail but I learned some important lessons from it. I also realized that I had to WRITE more and leave the uploads alone.

Eventually I discovered that if I used Firefox instead of Safari while I was posting it would make it much easier to post links, images and add much more functionality to my blog. I began to branch out and take chances more. I added features and specials like "5o Producers On MySpace You Should Hear Right Now", "Style Master Generals" where I did writeups for almost 100 slept on emcees/groups. The Boston Sports Reports, Special Comic Book Nerd Editions, Revenge Of The 80's, etc. all made some noise but it wasn't until I added "What's New In Dart's iPod" in August 2007 that things really went bananas. In 76 subsequent posts I've reviewed between 400-500 EP's, LP's & mixtapes over the last 21 months by myself. Add to that the "Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept) on the 100 Producers On MySpace list I compiled over two full years of listening to thousands of wack MySpace music pages and I think you get the picture by now.

I've gone nonstop for the past 28 months with 560+ posts to my credit (I took two absences from the blog, mind you). I've written about every possible facet of Hip Hop and I've incorporated my love of comic books, film and general shit we 70's & early 80's babies grew up with and put it all in a blog. I did fly off the handle at thinking I may be doing all of this for no reason since people I wasn't even aware had blogs were on that bullshit shit Vibe made. I do this blog for more than accolades and mentions in magazines so I need to refocus and stop trippin'. To rectify the situation, starting on Monday, May 11th I'll put up the REAL Top 50 Rap blogs. Expect some more surprises and blogs that should've made it the first time around.

Also, I'm not putting myself on the list. I spazzed out for no reason in regards to myself but I was REALLY pissed to see so many other deserving sites not get the shine they deserved. After I merk Vibe's list I can put this past me and get back to what I do best: continute to write minus the politics and bullshit I've purposely eschewed and avioded for the past 28 months. Thanks for letting me vent. Back to work now!

One.

Dart's Rant Of The Day: The Bullshit © Jeru Tha Damaja

I'm not in a good mood at all today. I was gonna go ahead and write something completely different before I got hit with some bad news...I didn't make the Vibe list. Since I don't show up on Alexa, I'm not high of Technorati and I don't even have a link on Rap Radar (but I DO on Nah Right!) that didn't surprise me. What DID surprise me were the blogs that made it ahead of me and many of my blogging brethren. A gang of them I had never heard of before or even knew they existed. A bunch of them were celebrity blogs that don't really post anything except for pictures of shit, news about a certain artist or content from other sites. Thun from T.R.O.Y blog said people shouldn't bitch or complain about not making the list...Fuck all that, son. I'm mad.

First off all, if content isn't the main criterion for determining what makes your blog list then it's a bunch of bullshit to start. Secondly, if you don't post often or have a voice, state an opinion or have a definite purpose or mission statement then why does your "blog" exist? That's not a blog in my opinion. Just posting up random shit and calling it "content" is garbage. Posting up the same shit that everyone else in the bloggerverse did isn't "blogging". If you're a celebrity and you didn't write anything yourself...then you're not a blogger. Also, if your blog is nothing but a promotional tool for a specific artist then why does it even count? Is the reader learning anything from seeing a Kyte video of your brand new Air Yeezy's or pics of all your Polos and Supras? Are they? NO. Write something!

I'm over here busting my ass trying to write or come up with new shit every weekday to combat the copycat bullshit that's all over the bloggerverse currently and so many of the blogs on Vibe's Top 50 list have the opposite philosophy on blogging that I do. How the fuck didn't Wake Your Daughter Up, When They Reminisce, Hip Hop Isn't Dead, Model Minority, Rappers I Know, It's The Real, etc. make this list? How did they manage to miss so many other stand out blogs as well? I think we all know the answer to that...this Alexa/Technorati bullshit trumps original content. That means that Kanye Universecity will make the list although it really isn't a blog in my opinion. Also sites full of bullshit like World Star Hip Hop and VladTV will make the list over actual blogs where people wrote about stuff. How did The Megatron Don even make the list? Dude posts once ot twice a month and when he does it's like two sentences. What the fuck is that?


In conclusion, I decided that rather than bitching about not making the list on Twitter (seriously, how fuckin' old am I?) or walking around my apartment looking exactly like my avi I should continue to do what I always do...bust everyone else's ass and outwork them at every turn by my goddamn self. I'm so magnamimous even as Vibe shits on me with their wack ass list that I'll go ahead and do their job for them and create my own Top 50 Rap blogs list. Since they don't seem to know what a blog actually is, I'll just go ahead and show 'em. Also, the list will be in alphabetical order...not that arbitrary ranking bullshit (how can you really rank that anyways?). Maybe now I can get back to what I was actually gonna do today before I got a Gmail on my iPod Touch this afternoon telling me "Son, you're gonna be MAD!". LMAO!

One

Where Mediocre Happens AKA Dartflix Edition #56

As I predicted about a month ago, the new clusterfuck of a film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" did extremely well at the box office by raking in $85 million dollars at the US box office and beating it's closest competition by $70 million dollars ("Ghosts Of Girlfriend's Past"). Sure, Fox Searchlight estimated that between 100-150K users downloaded the leaked workprint and millions saw it that still didn't affect the overall performance of the film. It did fall short of numbers put up by last year's blockbuster "Iron Man" but big deal. The main difference was that "Iron Man" was great and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" sucked in every way imaginable.


This Friday, J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" reboot seeks to knock Wolvie out of the top spot and win over both diehard Trekkies (I'm not one of 'em) and satisfy casual fans of the series and it's many incarnations (I'm somewhere in there). Hopefully he can find a happy medium in translating a franchise with a long and distinguished history plus rabid fans...Lord knows the makers of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" failed miserably and doing so. Enough of this shit, let's get to the recommendations, shall we?


Films I recommend in theaters (5.1.09-5.15.09) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:

Star Trek
The Brothers Bloom
Angels & Demons
Next Day Air
The Limits Of Control
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2 Disc Edition)
Twilight
Incendiary
Taken (2 Disc Extended Edition)
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
Wendy And Lucy
S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale
Geisha Assassin
Under The Bombs
Lying
Nenette & Boni
Holy Flame Of The Martial World
Ip Man [Blu-Ray]
Red Cliff II [Blu-Ray]
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly [Blu-Ray]
Fargo [Blu-Ray]
Ferris Bueller's Day Off [Blu-Ray]
Dog Soldiers [Blu-Ray]
Dexter: The Complete Second Season [Blu-Ray]
Gavin And Stacey: Season One (series)
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: Complete Sixth Season (series)
Two And A Half Men: The Complete Fifth Season (series)
Wolf's Rain-Perfect Collection (anime)
Gurren Lagann, Pt. 3 (anime)
Darker Than Black : Volume Four (anime)
Gigantor: The Collection, Vol. 1 (anime)
Ghost Slayers Ayashi, Pt. 2 (anime)
Bleach 16 (anime)
Murder Princess: The Complete Series (anime)
Ninja Resurrection (anime)
Blood Reign (anime)
Gilgamesh: Complete Collection (anime)
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade Of Cartoon Comedy: Uncensored! (animated)
The Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 1 (animated)
Legend Of The Yardbirds: 1964-1968 (music documentary)
Kill The Record Labels (music documentary)
Capturing Reality: The Art Of Documentary (documentary)
State Of Play
Sleep Dealer
American Violet
The Soloist
Tyson
Lymelife
The Informers
Caprica
The Wrestler
Frost/Nixon
Martyrs (Unrated)
As The Technics Spin (music documentary)
Fast & Furious
Observe And Report
Adventureland
The Escapist
Gigantic
Duplicity
I Love You, Man
Quantum Of Solace
Slumdog Millionaire
Seven Pounds
Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter & Under The Hood
Elegy
Special
Timecrimes
Watchmen
Tokyo!
The Horsemen
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Battle In Seattle
Cadillac Records
Rachel Getting Married
Milk
Sunshine Cleaning
50 Dead Men Walking
Transporter 3
B13: Ultimatum
Synecdoche, New York
Let The Right One In
Quarantine
Changeling
Religulous
Choke
Body Of Lies
Flash Of Genius
Sex Drive
Protege
The International
Friday The 13th
Gomorrah
Zach And Miri Make A Porno
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Afro Samurai: Resurrection-Director's Cut
W.
Blindness
Chocolate
A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy
Killshot
Taken
The Class
RocknRolla
Henry Poole Is Here
Defiance
Appaloosa
Valkyrie
Revolutionary Road
Waltz With Bashir
Burn After Reading
Towel Head
Baby
Gonzo: The Life & Work Of Hunter S. Thompson
Planet B-Boy
Sukiyaki Western Django
DJ Dusk's Root Down Soundclash
DJ Spooky's Rebirth Of A Nation
Decon presents Fresh Rhymes And Videotape
Fear(s) Of The Dark
Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith
Hell Ride
Elite Squad
Ballast
Boy A

Dart's Movie Recommendations (I personally cosign all of these joints):

Star Trek
The Brothers Bloom
The Limits Of Control
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2 Disc Edition)
Incendiary
Taken (2 Disc Extended Edition)
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
Ip Man [Blu-Ray]
Red Cliff II [Blu-Ray]
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly [Blu-Ray]
Fargo [Blu-Ray]
Ferris Bueller's Day Off [Blu-Ray]
Dog Soldiers [Blu-Ray]
Dexter: The Complete Second Season [Blu-Ray]
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade Of Cartoon Comedy: Uncensored! (animated)


Rent/Watch these movies at your own risk:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: This movie was gheyer than 6 dudes blowing 9 dudes dressed like Liberace with Luther Vandross playing in the background

Ghosts Of Girlfriend's Past: *Puts lamb's blood on door & door knob* This shit looks like it'll be worse than the Swine Flu

Chadni Chowk To China: Sure, it's made a lot of money worldwide...but so did Mr. Bean and Yahoo Serious. (Who?)


Coming (relatively) Soon To A Theater (or computer) Near You:


One.

Dart Adams presents The State Of The Celtics Address: The Hulk vs. Superman Edition

The Celtics finally dispatched their first round opponent Chicago in yet another Game 7 win in the Jungle by the score of 108-98. The worn and battle tested Celtics showed up for Game 1 of the 2nd Round of the NBA Playoffs to face a tough opponent in the Orlando Magic. They split the season series 2-2 and the key matchup problem for the Celtics is at the center position. Whereas the Orlando Magic boast one of the most dominant centers and the reigning NBA Defensive Player Of The Year in Dwight "Superman" Howard, the Celtics have Kendrick "The Hulk" Perkins in the middle for them. Hulk is currently 2nd in rebounding (12.1 rpg) and 1st in blocks (3.0 bpg) amongst all players in the NBA Playoffs and scoring 12.4 ppg while shooting 59% from the field so he's shown up to play so far.

Dwight Howard is the leading rebounder and 2nd in blocks during the NBA playoffs so far. Also keep in mind that Perkins and Howard used to battle each other all the time back at Adidas ABCD Camp and in the 5 Star Tourney as well as AAU matchups all the time during their younger years. Back then, Hulk was the leading center prospect in HS basketball and he dominated the younger and much less physical Howard. That was before he beefed up about 25 pounds and added muscle to his frame. At the same time Perkins lost about 30 pounds and added muscle to his frame. Howard was always more polished offensively but Perkins had the mindset and drive to be a defensive presence first and foremost. Now many years later the face off in the NBA trying to reach the brighest stage in Summer sports.

Rajon Rondo was the story of the opening series against the Bulls and he almost averaged a triple double (18.8 ppg 9.4 rpg 11.1 apg 3.0 spg) despite having a subpar 6th and 7th game of the series . Rondo is the barometer for the team, if he doesn't push the tempo, attack the basket and find open players in transition the team suffers. Whenever the Celtics play halfcourt offense, walk the ball up and hold it they are a mediocre team. When they push the ball, use motion and move the ball around to the open player effectively they're almost unstoppable. Rajon Rondo had a horrible first game of the game and so did the Boston Celtics.

Boston played lethargically and let the Orlando Magic dictate the pace of the game. They became stuck in the same quagmire that affected them in Game 1 of the last series. They didn't show up to play on their own home court...again. The Magic got open look after open look as the disjointed C's struggled on defense and had trouble sustaining a run due to the fact they couldn't buy a bucket. Orlando went Super Saiyan in the 2nd quarter and eventually pushed the lead all the way up to 28. They had trouble pulling away due to complacency and the Celtics managed to make it an 18 point lead by the half. The Celtics knew they had to suck it up and play with pride the next half.

That they did, Rajon Rondo stepped up his intensity as well as his agressiveness level. He began getting to the hole to make up for his atrocious performance from the field (2-12 from the field) and knocking down free throws. Paul Pierce (23 pts 5 rebs 2 asts 2 stls) was the lone stalwart who was able to consistently put the ball in the hole besides Glen "Big Baby" Davis (12 points on 6-10 shooting 5 rebs 1 blk 1 stl). Ray Allen had yet another nightmare outing to open a series with only 9 points on the night (2-12 from the field and 1 for 7 from deep) while Kendrick "The Hulk" Perkins did in admirable job in the paint he couldn't put the ball in the net either (6 pts (3-9 from the field) 16 rebs 3 ast 3 blk). The Celtics played slightly better than even in the 3rd but really come on in the 4th quarter.

The Celtics staged a furious comeback but couldn't climb the mountain due to terrible shooting (30-78 39% FG) and sloppy ball handling from the NBA Playoffs overall leader in assists Rajon Rondo (14 pts 10 rebs 8 ast 7 TO's 3 stl) the lead never got lower than 4 although a Ray Allen three was 3/4ths of the way down before it rattled out and that would've made it a 1 opint game. The Celtics turned the ball over repeatedly, missed free throws, shot 38% for the entire game, played shitty perimeter defense leading to wide open threes, played like zombies for 24 minutes out of 48 allowing them to go down by 28 in a game where Dwight Howard absolutely dominated (16 pts 22 rebs 4 blks) and they only lost by 5 points. These are ALL bad signs....for the Orlando Magic.

The Celtics dominated in the paint, dominated the boards (47-40), the benches played even (both scored 26 points), the Celtics had 23 assists on 30 made baskets so they even moved the ball better (ORL had 20 assists on 35 made field goals (ORL shot 35-81 for 43% FG). The Celtics also tightened up their 2nd half defense and outscored ORL 54-41 in the final 24 minutes including a whopping 28-17 in the 4th quarter alone. The Magic panicked late in the game and the Celtics inability to knock down a shot (Rondo/Allen went 4-24 combined) late led to the loss. The Celtics frontcourt could have a huge series and Perkins proved he can hold his own provided he can stay on the court. All they have to do is win Game 2 then take it one game at a time from there. Just win, baby © Al Davis

One.

What's New In Dart's iPod #76 AKA The May Day Edition

This will more than likely end up being the first post of the week that you all see, there's a reason for that...I been writing three blogs simultaneously and I changed the tone and direction of them leading to rewrites of each. Then last night I was hit with a DMCA takedown notification from Blogger for including a DivShare link to an unreleased song in my "Hype, Lies & Corporate Co-signs" blog. On top of that, this damn Celtics/Bulls series is gonna land me in the hospital. I'm so numb by now I wouldn't even celebrate a Game 7 win (provided they actually manage to win on Saturday). The big fight and the big game are on the same night so that's cool. I also heard an album this week that inspired me to tweak my rating system.

This week I'll be reviewing seven new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Chrisette Michelle "Epiphany", Ciara "Fantasy Ride", Guru "Guru 8.0 Lost & Found", Krumb Snatcha "Hidden Scriptures", Mr. J. Medeiros "The Art Of Broken Glass EP", Oddisee"Mental Liberation" and Rapper Big Pooh "The Delightful Bars (North American Pie Version)". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

Ay ay! Somebody email me a top list of the emcees that's doin' it right now so I can notify 'em about my takeover an' shit. I'll CC y'all! © Oddisee


Best Joints: Epiphany (I'm Leaving), Notebook, What You Do, Blame It On Me, All I Ever Think About, Another One, Mr. Right, Porcelain Doll and I'm Okay

Hot Garbage: Playing Our Song, On My Own and Fragile were kinda meh to me.

Dart's Take: I'm kinda sick of all the R&B albums coming out lately all sounding exactly alike except for a few things here and there. You can almost name the people that each song was written for and/or who passed on it. Everyone sounds like a mix of T-Pain/The-Dream/Keri Hilson/Tricky Stewart/Danjahandz/Timberland with space sound effects in the background and AutoTune everywhere. Chrisette Michelle's voice is untouched by any effects. The girl just sings over the track in the background.

The production doesn't overpower the vocals like it does with other artists and Chrisette sangs (not sings...sangs) on tracks like "Epiphany (I'm Leaving)", "Notebook", "What You Do", "Blame It On Me" and "All I Ever Think About". The thing about this LP is that it just doesn't reach the lofty heights that her debut did. Even though that's the case this is a pretty good album with solid production. I give it a recommended maybe.





Best Joints: Ciara To The Stage, Love Sex Magic, Like A Surgeon, Never Ever, Lover's Thing, Work, Tell Me What Your Name Is and I Don't Remember

Hot Garbage: High Price, Turntables (no Chris Brown jokes will be forthcoming), Pucker Up and G Is For Girl

Dart's Take: This Ciara album is completely overproduced and it sounds like the majority of these songs could've been written for any random R&B chick with a deal. With the exception of "Ciara To The Stage", "Like A Surgeon", "Lover's Thing" and "Tell Me What Youe Name Is" this album was hit or miss. I usually find more than only 4 songs that are worth playing again but this project bored me more than a conversation with Cassie would. Since 50 Cent is dating Ciara he has to lie to her about "Fantasy Ride" while I'm free to say that it's meh so I give it a maybe. Give it a listen first to make sure I'm not just hating on Ciara for no good reason.




Best Joints: Uhh...technically there are none.

Hot Garbage: The entire album. Every single track on this jawn is flaming basura.

Dart's Take: What's the best way for me to describe this project? Lemme think...Have you even smelled horseshit before? It's so damn pungent that it physically repels you before you could even step in it almost as if the stench itself were a forcefield. Problem is that I don't have the same luxury most other people do, whereas I KNOW this album is gonna suck I still have to listen to it. This album is beyond being bad or just missing the mark, it's an epic fail in every sense of the phrase. Keep in mind how many classic verses that Guru has spit, think of the classic albums he's made with Premier and the Jazzmatazz projects he helmed himself. You would figure that he'd develop an ear for beats and know when his bars were subpar...right? I dunno anymore.

The beats provided by "superproducer" Solar sound like tracks I used to fall out of my chair laughing at when I had the hellish job of scanning random MySpace music pages in search of hot producers. He'll take a sample and fail to flip it then throw some lame ass drums on it with a wack effect over it. We refer to these as stink beats because you make the stinkface minus the headnod...instead you have a confused look on your face that begs the question "Is the producer deaf?". Guru has rhymed over DJ Premier beats among other great producers in his career so why is he rapping over THIS bullshit? Keith, this started out as an album review but now? It's a fuckin' intervention!

I could understand if your bars were still tight and it was Solar dragging you down to Hell, but you're starting to sound worse than Gucci Mane after a gaping head wound on the mic. What the fuck was up with all the AutoTune? How dare you include Doo Wop in this shit sandwich on grilled cibatta bread with mayo? It's time to drop the mic and back away slowly, fam. You clearly have forgotten what Hip Hop is supposed to sound like. How is that possible considering that you have so much classic material under your belt, Mr. Elam? Have you gone senile?

In conclusion, this album is the Howard The Duck of 2009 Hip Hop releases. When something is this horrible there's only one fitting way to describe it: The Wackness. Avoid it like the Bubonic Plague mixed with the Swine Flu. Burn any copy you find so as not to infect anyone else Better safe than sorry.





Best Joints: The Way, Triumph, L.O.V.E., Hold It Down, Still Be Me, Secret, Feeling, Hidden Scriptures, The Light, Mind Power, Explanation, Heaven On Earth, Yesterday, East Is Back, Underground Ambassadors, Leavin' and Begins

Hot Garbage: Street Merchant and Garden Of Eden were just meh to me.

Dart's Take: Krumb Snatcha is a former affiliate of the Gangstarr Foundation that clearly has a better ear for beats than Guru does. The theme of this album is relating Biblical themes to everyday life. Krumb stays finding creative ways to make analogies and parallels between the concept of the album and what people expect from a Rap album. "Hidden Scriptures" boasts production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Mr. Walt Of Da Beatminerz, Statik Selektah, Nickel Plated & DJ Stress among others to provide Krumb Snatcha with lush sonic backdrops to help his paint the picture with his lyrics. I give "Hidden Scriptures" a recommended maybe.





Best Joints: Broken Windows, Love Is All, The Measure, Tower Of Cards and Umpire State

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: J. Medeiros is the lead emcee of The Procussions as well as a nice emcee with a rapid fire flow. When you add his ferocious lyricism to top flight production from Boonie Mayfield AKA Boon Doc (an alumnus of my 100 Producers On MySpace list) all you get is heat rock after heat rock. "The Art Of Broken Glass" consists of nothing but straight up head nod material occasional mixed with vocals. If you see this digital release and you're a fan of his previous material or his crew's music than don't hesitate to cop it. I give it a mos def.






Best Joints: Hip Hop's Cool Again, Let The Music, The Jungle, Get Up, Q & A, Rhymes Get Written, What's Crazy, Cold For That, Endure Remix, Don't Sleep Remix, Drugs Outside Remix and When Everything Changed

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: It started with Oddisee's tracks on other people's albums, then came the Diamond District "In The Ruff" album a couple of weeks ago which was easily one of the best projects of the year so far. Now comes Oddisee's "Mental Liberation" LP featuring other underground luminaries such as Black Milk, J-Live, Prince Po, Rapper Big Pooh, Invincible, Finale, Kenn Starr, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Declaime, LMNO, XO, Yu, Silent Knight, Hassaan Mackey & Bilal Salaam. They all have the opportunity to rhyme on Oddisee's beats as well spit next to him (don't sleep). This is a nonstop bangathon/riding music (or in my case walking & taking the train music) that will have your neck hurting after the first listen.

Go out and cop "Mental Liberation" on May 5th when it drops. There isn't a week moment on this project and let's face it, we owe homie money for that Diamond District LP already. I give the new Oddisee album a mos def. *Rewinds album to the beginning on iTunes then presses Play again*




Best Joints: The Comeback, It's A Go, Nothing Less, C.O.D, Move, Something Like Stars, Step Up, Reality Check, Problems, Roll Call, The Life and Rearview Mirror

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: I already gave the Candy Apple iTunes Version of this album a mos def last month so the only question is can this version be as good as the previous one? The answer: It's even better. The Candy Apple version featured "Radio", "Hands Up" & "On The Real" while this one has the bangers "It's A Go", "C.O.D", "Something Like Stars", "Step Up", "Reality Check" and "Problems". Rapper Big Pooh spit some nice bars on this jawn and production from Khrysis, Illmind, Jake One, 9th Wonder, Young RJ, Dae One, D.R., The Co-Op & Phonix this album will knock hard no matter what you play it on.

I already gave Rapper Big Pooh's LP a Top 5 first quarter spot but since this version is even more ridculous I guess you should have both versions, huh? The Belgian Chocolate is still coming up, don't forget! I give Big Pooh another mos def. Dayum!




Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):



Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:

Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Mos Def-The Ecstatic LP
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Skepta-Microphone Champion
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover

I really hope I make the 50 Hottest Rap Blogs list this year...then all the time I spent writing won't feel like me screaming at the sky @ night while a plane is flying overhead from Logan Airport. We'll see soon enough, I guess.

One.