Vans Del Barco LX Chukkas

It's no secret that I hate Vans. I really hate Vans. In fact here is my hierarchy of things I hate:

1. People who are too cocky & just beg to be knocked down a peg
2. Lil' Wayne (& his dickriders)
3. Vans
4. Preachers who aren't actually Preachers
5. Pathmarks (aka ghetto Shoprite)

-but I digress. As much as I hate Vans, since they are just popular, becuase the hipster/skater thing is popular, I must say I really like these shoes. Seriously I need these like yesterday. Both colorways are super cool.

*pics spotted on http://nicekicks.com

Gravedancing (Yes...Actual Grave Dancing, not Figurative a la Diddy & Al Sharpton)

I really don't know how to respond to this. I'm disgusted, but entertained and ashamed, yet still willing to watch it again. It's like BET in it's purest symbolic form...Yes I just pressed replay...

*rule number one keep your fazers on stun*

New Music Tue...Wednesday

Yeah kiddies, I'm late... here's whats interesting this week

Clipse - "Popular Demand (Popeyes)" (Feat. Pharrell & Cam'ron)


It's all the coke puns you like about Clipse and Cam at his most fun sounding, over Pharrell with an appropriately toned down beat. Besides, who doesn't love a song about drama at Popeye's? If I had a nickel...

Mr. Hudson - "Knew We Were Trouble"


I reviewed the cd last week. It's one of the songs that doesn't remind you of 808's & Heartbreak. I could see this being a hit in the UK.

Lil Wayne - "Run This Town"


Lil Wayne never lets a moderately popular song fade into obscurity without free styling over it. It's one of his better ones. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Lil Wayne, you could even call me a hater, but like the late great "Star" of "Star & Buckwild" (He's not dead, just his career), the hate is all objective. Honestly, I've heard worse (especially today)

Kanye-Proof!! Donnis is Officially My Favorite New Rapper!!!!

"Don’t say I lucked up, call it perfect timing". Look what happens to new-rapper, Donnis, a week after I listen/reviewed his mixtape. Watch when some random dude tries to Kanye up Donnis’s moment, he not only goes berserk, but has the stage presence to build up dramatic tension before. Let’s see Drake do that, all while rocking a pair of skinny man jeans.

Donnis – Diary of an ATL Brave mixtape review

So when the mixtape originally came out in August and I found out 10 Deep (the hipster NY clothing brand that brought you hipster rap mixtape classics such as; Wale’s “100 Miles and Running” and “The Mixtape About Nothing” and Kid Cudi’s “A Kid Named Cudi”) presented the tape, I figured it would be like listening to T.I. talk about skinny jeans. So when I heard the opening “It’s 10 Deep shawty!” drop, I quickly deleted the tape. Fast forward to earlier this week. (Kanye’s DJ) A-trak, whom I like his remixes, blog and brother’s duo “Chromeo”, singed Donnis to Fold’s Goold Records, I was interested. A-trak is known for techno, so in an attempt to look for something to hold me over before Wale’s Attention: Deficit album on November 10th (no thanks necessary Daniel Wiesman), I decided to see what this mixtape was about; and honestly I am impressed.
The intro “Beginnings” properly introduces who he is, the challenges of being a “hipster rapper” and making it in the industry. Not to mention, he really is lyrically talented. When Donnis raps, it does sound like he is channeling some of his fellow hipster labeled contemporaries; “Beginnings” sounds like Drake with a southern accent, while other times he adds his southern twang to songs I wouldn’t be surprised if Wale made in a different world (using Go-Go, rather than southern influences, of course) like “Underdog” and “Country Cool”. Donnis even works with some of Wale’s frequent collaborators; Bun B (Country Cool) and Colin Monroe (I Am Me). However, Donnis really shines when it seems the hipster mentality and southern swagger form a unique identity; like the pump-upper anthem “Gone” and the smooth “Sexytime”. Also, it helps that the force behind Rick Ross’s longevity, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, provide their usual triumphant production for many of the songs. Honestly, none of the songs are flat out awful. Maybe “Song For Every Ex” may e the cliché “I did my lady wrong song” and “Here to Stay” isn’t Marsha Ambrosius’s best hook ever, while :Over Do It” is more or less just okay. In all the mixtape more than holds its weight and I look forward to more from Donnis.

7.5/10: Listen to: “Gone”, “Sexytime”, and “Pop Them Thangs”
Avoid; “Over Do It” and “Here to Stay”

Mr. Hudson – Straight No Chaser album review

So if you couldn’t get enough of Kanye West’s 808’s & Heartbreak the first time and you found yourself craving even more borderline-suicidal sounding “singing” after 808’s Part II (Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of the Day), then don’t hesitate to cop part 3 of the trilogy (unless Common screws up what he has with Serena Williams and decides to go emo as well), Mr. Hudson’s Straight No Chaser. Hudson, along with Kid Cudi were both instrumental pieces to Kanye’s 808’s & Heartbreak, so when Cudi’s cd came out, it was easy to see what he brought to the table. Mr. Hudson’s G.O.O.D. music debut also makes it clear what he brought on 808’s as well, however, a lot of people did not like it the first time, more did not like it the second time, so a third helping may not be the best thing.
That being said, it’s obvious the cd isn’t going to be the most danceable thing in the world. Like 808’s and Man on the Moon, this album’s strength is in the amazing choruses. The (UK) smash “Supernova”(Feat. Kanye West) is a prime example. The chorus fits the 80’s synths and it is guaranteed to get stuck in your head. Along with “Stiff Upper Lip” and “Time”, these are uplifting moments of the album manage to be catchy, without the melodrama that can make the rest of the cd easier to listen to an a bad day. “There Will Be Tears” and “Knew We Were Trouble” has chorus and production combinations as well as “Supernova”, but at the wrong time, the songs can come off as grating and annoying, more-so “There Will Be Tears”. Then, some of the songs are, to be blunt; boring. “Instant Messenger” and “Central Park” really are what you would expect when one (from an American point of view) thinks of as boring British music. Then, the two Kanye guess spots “Supernova” and “Anyone But Him” make the songs seem like it’s Kanye’s album all over again, while Mr. Hudson plays back-up. The cd wasn’t bad and it definitely proves “Paranoid” and “Street Lights” on Kanye’s 808’s & Heartbreak were not just catchy flukes. Mr Hudson, as well as West and Cudi are all doing well with the alterna-pop route, it’s just Hudson isn’t doing as good a job as the other two.

6/10: Listen to: “Supernova”, “Time”, and “Knew We Were Trouble”
Avoid: “Anyone But Him”, “Instant Messenger”, and “Central Park”

THIS IS THE REASON I BLOG: I can't believe I am so late to this

This is too good... I really don't know where to start. There's the first dude, sounds like he's Gucci Mane's cousin, he's as Bama (country) as a ketchup sandwich. Then, I don't even know what was up with the judges. There were the two guys who were waaayy uncomfortably close. I'm sorry, but the day I let a man get up on me like that is the day I completely lose all hope for finding love & am realdy to bite the big one (no homo) shortly afterwards. Then, Eli Porter... Is he mentally challenged, is he on lean (cough syrup + some type of fruity soda), is he a crack baby or just acting stupid. I don't know or care. Finally, they had the nerve to do all of this over one of my favorite songs ever (Cam'ron - "I Really Mean It"). That's it. I'm officially not listening to anymore rap tonight. Off to listen to Lady Gaga...or whatever the pop audience thinks is cool for the night.

-N