Friday, June 13, 2008

What's New In Dart's iPod #34 AKA The Paul Pierce Edition

Last night my beloved Boston Celtics came back from being down 24 points at one point and 18 down at halftime of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The Celtics were down by a big margin on the road in a hostile arena where the home team hadn’t lost all postseason and the other team has the NBA MVP and arguably the best player on the planet leading them.

At halftime, Paul Pierce manned up and told his team that he wanted to take on the task of guarding the greatest player on the planet and the best closer in the game (no Johnathan Papelbon). The Celtics never gave up. They trusted in their teammates and they kept scrapping, fighting, clawing and playing tight defense. They more they saw success and invincible glow that the Lakers had at the beginning of the game began to dissipate more and more as the game went on.

The Celtics and Lakers traded baskets for the the first half of the 4th quarter but time and again they failed to climb the mountain and take the lead. They even fell down by 4 and it looked like Paul Pierce was injured again. Oh hell!

Headband P got up, brushed his shoulders off like Obama and he and the Celtics climbed right back into the game. They were down by one when they got the ball and came down the court to set up the offense. Paul Pierce drove to the top of the key and drew the defense.

He then kicked a pass to a wide open Eddie House who hit the shot that gave the Celtics a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game with 4:07 left in the game. Paul Pierce also hit Ray Allen with the pass that he took to the hole for a three point lead and he made the entry pass to Kevin Garnett when he scored the basket to go up 88-83 with 2:10 left in the game.


The Truth, Jesus and The Big Ticket made big play after big play with some help from Eddie House and James Posey. When James Posey sank that corner three with 1:13 left in the game it was almost like everyone in the Staples Center lost their voices. The Truth pushed the lead back up to 5 with two free throws at 46.8 remaining in the contest.

Those free throws and a clutch play by Ray Allen and some huge free throws by Eddie House gave the Boston Celtics a huge 3-1 lead in the best of seven series that decides basketball supremacy in the NBA once and for all.

After ten long years of ups and downs in a Celtics uniform, Paul Pierce is on the cusp of becoming one of the immortals and reaching the heights of the basketball elite that only NBA champions reach. Paul Pierce is the player and the man who made Ray Allen accept the idea of being traded there and Kevin Garnett warmed to the idea of being traded to Boston when he saw that both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were there.

It all begins and ends with the night of the 1998 NBA Draft when the Boston Celtics selected Paul Pierce, 6’6” SG/SF from Kansas with the 10th pick in the NBA Draft.

The three projects I'm reviewing today are as follows and will be reviewed in order of listing: Green Lantern & Nas "The Nigger Tape", DJ Whoo Kid & Bishop Lamont "The Confessional" and Little Brother's revamped mixtape/LP "And Justus For All..". For those of you new to the party, 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 "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


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.

Momentum is a strange girl...© Phil Jackson


Nas and Green Lantern put their heads together to find a creative way to help promote the upcoming Nas project. They came up with a brilliant concept and now the question is did they execute? Let’s see:

Best Joints: Gangsta Rap (Remix), Cops Keep Firing, Hero, Black President, Legendary (Mike Tyson), Ghetto (Remix), Seen It All (Green Mix), Esco Let’s Go!, N.I.G.G.E.R. (Slave And Master), Be A Nigger Too (Remix) and Nas Timeline
Hot Garbage: I didn’t like Association and Surviving The Times (Original Cool and Dre version). Thank God for that remix.

Dart’s Take: This was a well executed mixtape from beginning to end, they picked the perfect movie segments and clips and the remixes and refixes of previous Nas verses were tight. If anyone didn’t understand the focus of Nas’ project before then Green Lantern and company did an admirable job of tying it all together for the listener. I give it a highly recommended maybe. Download it now here



Whoo Kid and Bishop Lamont’s highly anticipated mixtape “The Confessional” is finally upon us. Since it looks like we won’t be seeing “Detox” in ‘08 either this might be the closest we get to it. How does this mixtape measure up? Find out below:

Best Joints: Donkey Kong Savage, Send A Nigga Home, Money, Kissing The Curb, Get Off My Dick, City Lights, Feelin’ Like Chaka, Why, It Hurts, Be Cool, Better Than You, 2 Much Godfather and Oh My God!!!

Hot Garbage: The only track I wasn’t feeling was Guerilla Pimpin’

Dart’s Take: I’ve been hearing tracks like “Get Off My Dick”, “City Lights” and “Be Cool” online and it made anticipation for this mixtape higher. After finally hearing the finished product it’s well worth the wait. Bishop Lamont spits that raw West Coast intelligent gangsta shit that many have been fiendin’ for. While it isn’t on par with efforts like Wale’s “The Mixtape About Nothing” it’s a no brainer download if you love Hip Hop. I also give it a highly recommended maybe. Download it here now.




Little Brother has a limited release of this mixtape to promote their excellent “Getback” LP. The crew went back and added some more tracks to it and re-released it for the long hot summer that will be 2008. Is it actually worth copping? Find out below:

Best Joints: Can’t Stop Us, Delusional, Life Of The Party (Remix), Best Kept Secret, Do It To Death, A Word From Our Sponsors, Too Late For Us, Cool As A Fan, Never Leave, The Pressure, Lose It, Fan Mail, Stylin’,Cross That Line, Back At It (Remix), Time Of Your Life

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart’s Take: This project serves as a kind of companion disc to “Getback”. It contains all of the songs that should’ve made the album in the first place and all of them bang. If you’re a fan of Hip Hop with ill beats and ill lyrics and/or the Justus League this is a definite purchase. I can’t give “And Justus For All...” anything but a mos def. Go cop it now on iTunes or in your local record store because it's available now.



Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):



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


Albums I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop:

Dwele-Sketches Of A Man
Skillz-Million Dollar Backpack
Joe Budden-Padded Room
Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Immortal Technique-The 3rd World
Blu-God Is Good
Termanology-Politics As Usual
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Platinum Pied Pipers-Abundance
Method Man & Redman-Blackout 2
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
The Alchemist-Chemical Warfare
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Common-Invincible Summer
Omen-Be The Judge
Capone-N-Noreaga-Reporting The War
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
Heltah Skeltah-D.I.R.T (Da Incredible Rap Team)
Royce Da 5'9"-The Bar Exam 2
Elzhi-The Preface


Dart's Fat Tape/CD-R (as of June 13th, 2008):

Hero-Nas f/Keri Hilson (prod. by Polow Da Don)
Some Superfly Shit-Opio
Savages-Billy Danze (prod. by Fizzy Womack)
That's What FT Stands For-FT (prod. by DJ Scratch)
Judge Me-Rosco P. Coldchain f/Pharrell Williams (prod. by The Neptunes)
Glass Everywhere-Jay Electronica (prod. by J Dilla)
November 10th-Charles Hamilton
Why-Bishop Lamont
Fried Chicken-Nas f/Busta Rhymes (prod. by Mark Ronson)
Do It To Death-Little Brother f/Supastition & Rhymefest
Final Frontier-Elucid (prod. by Imported Goodz)
Classic Rap-Buff1 (prod. by Lab Techs)
Better Than You-Bishop Lamont
Legendary (Mike Tyson)-Nas (prod. by Salaam Remi)
Once In A Lifetime-Raekwon f/Mika
They Roll-Nipsey Hussle f/The Game
Lazer Gun-N.E.R.D (prod. by The Neptunes)
Machine Gun-Mickey Factz f/Beth Gibbons (prod. by Portishead)
Coka Moshiach-Ill Bill f/Raekwon
Esco Let's Go!-Nas (prod. by DJ Khalil)
Golpe De Estado-Immortal Technique f/Temperamento
9mm-DJ Muggs & Planet Asia f/B Real (prod. by DJ Muggs)
Jets-Currensy
Play It Cool-Ayah
Delusional-Little Brother f/Bilal & Oddisee (prod. by Oddisee)



Kobe to Kevin Garnett: "So you think Danny could swing a trade to get ME in Boston? Don't worry, Kev...Spike can't hear us. Just swap Pierce for me and throw in Tony Allen and Leon Powe or Big Baby cuz they need some heart and toughness to accept the trade. At least think about it, these cats is softer than wet toilet paper over here!

You seen Sasha was crying on the bench like there ain't cameras everywhere! You know what me and Diddy both don't go for? Bitchassness! Hook it up, Kev! I've been looking at some nice cribs in Jamaica Plain right near a high school. Boston got a lot of them fly ass Latina and Cape Verdean jawns, son! I know you know!...Please don't tell Vanessa!"


Keep your eyes on the prize, KG. Your dreams are almost within reach.


Ray Allen has officially raised his Ki so high that he's gone Super Saiyan and transformed into his alter ego, Jesus Shuttlesworth. Homie blew by the Lakers D like he didn't wanna go to Big State and save his father Jake (yes, I'm getting at the Lakers AND Spike Lee at the same damn time. Fuck you and your Yankees jersey, Spike!).




Ubuntu! © Boston Celtics


One.

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