Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ivory sculpture in Germany could be world's oldest

BERLIN – A 35,000-year-old ivory carving of a busty woman found in a German cave was unveiled Wednesday by archaeologists who believe it is the oldest known sculpture of the human form. The carving found in six fragments in Germany's Hohle Fels cave depicts a woman with a swollen belly, wide-set thighs and large, protruding breasts.

"It's very sexually charged," said University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered the figure in September.

Carbon dating suggests it was carved at least 35,000 years ago, according to the researchers' findings, which are being published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature.

"It's the oldest known piece of figurative sculpture in the world," said Jill Cook, a curator of Paleolithic and Mesolithic material at the British Museum in London.

Stones in Israel and Africa almost twice as old are believed to have been collected by ancient humans because they resembled people, but they were not carved independently.

The Hohle Fels cave discovery suggests the humans, who are believed to have come to Europe around 40,000 years ago, had the intelligence to create symbols and think abstractly in a way that matches the modern human, Conard said.

"It's 100 percent certain that, by the time we get to 40,000 years ago in Swabia, we're dealing with people just like you and me," Conard told The Associated Press, referring to the southern German region where the sculpture was recovered along with other prehistoric artifacts.

Conard believes the 2.4-inch-tall (6-centimeter) figure may have been hung on the end of a string. The left arm is missing, but Conard said he hopes to find it by sifting through material from the cave.

The Hohle Fels sculpture is curvaceous and has neither feet nor a head, like some of the roughly 150 so-called Venus figurines found in a range from the Pyrenees mountains to southern Russia and dating back about 25,000-29,000 years.

But Cook warned against trying to draw any connections between the Venuses and the Hohle Fels figure, saying that would be like comparing Picasso to a classical sculptor — too much time had passed.

"I wonder whether at this point we're looking at figures which are unique within themselves and unique within the cultures that they're arising in," she said.

Archaeologist Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge, suggested a clearer continuum.

"We now have evidence of that sort of artistic tradition of Venus figurines going back 6,000 years earlier than anybody ever guessed," he said.

Neanderthals also lived in Europe around the time the sculpture was carved, and frequented the Hohle Fels cave. But Mellars said layered deposits left by both species over thousands of years prove the sculpture was crafted by humans.

"Nothing within a million miles of this has ever been found in a Neanderthal layer," Mellars said.

The archaeologists agreed the sculpture's age and features invite speculation about its purpose and the preoccupations of the culture that produced it.

Cook suggested it could be symbol of fertility, perhaps even portrayed in the act of giving birth.

Mellars suggested a more basic motivation for the carving: "These people were obsessed with sex."

Conard said the differing opinions reinforced the connection between the ancient artist and modern viewer.

"How we interpret it tells us just as much about ourselves as about people 40,000 years ago," he said.

DRIZZY FREESTYLE IN TORONTO

DRAKE-Say U Will Freestyle Toronto Show from Aaron A on Vimeo.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Quite Entertaining...Some online show by Talib Kweli I think

BlacksmithTV Episode 6: Grae Goose Pt. 1 from Blacksmith Music on Vimeo.

GTFOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This guy? a Rapper?! naaah





Complex: Ha, OK. So you made headlines yesterday talking about Asher Roth, saying he lacks swag. If you had to battle Asher Roth, what would you use against him? 
Spencer Pratt: I mean, the fact that I’m so paid, and he’s broke [laughs]. Simple as that. That’s my whole point, being that I’m fly with tons of money, and he doesn’t have that yet. I’m sure he’ll have a lot more swag in three years if he keeps selling.


Complex: You also said, “I’m like the white Jay-Z.” Would you consider Heidi the white Beyoncé? 
Spencer Pratt: A little bit more than the white Beyoncé. Beyoncé had to be built by a group like Destiny’s Child, but Heidi shines solo. I’ll actually give you an exclusive: I could guarantee you Speidi’s [Spencer and Heidi's] “Bonnie & Clyde” version is going to stunt on Jay and B’s version.

Complex: Who’s rapping career would you use as a blueprint for yourself?
Spencer Pratt:
 I think I’m the future of hip-hop. You know, I feel bad for saying that. That’s unfortunate, but that’s a fact. You can’t compare my model of hip-hop with what I’m about to come out with versus anything in the game. You know I’ll take the Diddy route. I’m not a lyrical MC, I’m just like Diddy. Look what it did for him? He is still balling.

Complex: I saw that you’re trying to reach out to OJ Da Juiceman for him to get a verse on a Morales-produced track.
Spencer Pratt:
 Yeah, I’m trying to get him on my first real single because “I’m A Celebrity” is not my single. That’s just my marketing tool for the show. My first single, I just want to have me, Gucci Mane, andOJ Da Juiceman. It’ll be the flyest song in the game. I’m going to track them down, that’s my priority today.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

WE GOT THE MUNCHIEEEES

Sometimes this fool is mad annoying...and sometimes he can be funny as fuck


Friday, May 8, 2009

Peace Magazine Article

drake-cropped-590x477-560x452.jpg



by Lissa Monet - lissamonet.com/blog

Born in Memphis, raised in Toronto, the 50,000+ who downloaded Aubrey “Drake” Graham’s new 2009 mixtape can’t be wrong…

What are you bringing to the table for 2009? I want to make music for people to listen to. But I also want them to believe in someone who is somewhat of an underdog, establishing a lane for myself, and getting to the point where other artists can be compared to me: “Oh, that sounds like a Drake type right there.” I want to get to the point where I’m a name that people use to describe something new.

How did you meet Lil’ Wayne? The connection was a gentleman named Jaz Prince, the son of the founder of Rap-A-Lot Records, J Prince. He just called Wayne on a day when Wayne felt like hearing some music. I was actually getting a haircut at the time, which worked for me, because Wayne called my cellphone and wondered if I could meet him in Houston the next day.

No other Canadian rapper has rocked a room of 20,000 like you did at the Air Canada Centre with Wayne.
 I was just proud of my city. And, to be completely honest with you, I was nervous. Not about forgetting my lyrics, or tripping, or anything like that. But up until that moment I could never be sure if I had any fans in my own city – 20,000 people is a lot of people to win over, and even if one-quarter don’t like me that’s still intimidating. But it ended up being a great night. Wayne definitely noticed the city was behind me, because I got the same reaction from the Toronto crowd that he would get from the audience in New Orleans.

Which place do you want to call home for the next few years? My heart is in Toronto, and this city definitely inspires me, but I enjoy L.A. and Atlanta. Once the music is out there, and I have a retail album that we can all profit from, I’ll probably get back into acting which means moving to Los Angeles.

Where did you get the idea to call your third mixtape So Far Gone? The title has many meanings. Toronto is struggling for an icon, but I feel the furthest out there of all my peers, where the only people I feel understand me are the ones close to me. I feel like we live with a very genuine, pure, elevated level. But there’s also a distance from others who aren’t in my circle. I feel like they don’t understand what’s going on.

How does it compare to the previous mixtapes? Well, people started hearing my music as soon as I started making it, so I really was growing. Southern Smoke was a very early project that reflected my interests at the time – I was into the Roots, Little Brother, Mos Def and other great hip-hop music. Then I started to understand the value of a hit record, and became more interested in melodies than a track of overwhelming lyrics. Comeback Season started leaning toward songs that were fun. Now I’m confident enough to convey a personal message, reflecting what’s going on in my mind, like a timeline of my personal life.

Which of the forthcoming collaborations stand out most for you? There’s an interlude with Lloyd that solidifies the fact that I’ll be singing more in the future, embracing the fact that people loved tracks like “Brand New” and “Sooner than Later.” Working with Lil’ Wayne is also a very humbling experience – he’s like my mentor. I know it’s the right combination because, no matter how many times we do something over, it always seems to come out the right way.

Who else have you worked with lately? My usual people: Boi-1da has a lot on there, and my engineer 40 really made the sound, painting the picture and creating a story for it. When I was unsure what kind of tape I wanted to make, it was 40 who kept cranking out those instrumentals that basically laid it out for me.

Are you planning to collaborate again with Trey Songz? Yeah, he’s actually on my mixtape, and one of the funniest people I know. We always have a great rapport, so we talk often, and just laugh and joke about life. At this point, he’s more a friend than a business colleague.

Do you think XXL slept on you by not putting you in their “Freshmen 10”? Nah, the guys they selected were great and had a phenomenal year. I don’t consider myself part of any group, because I have a completely different story, and a different approach to this whole thing. Being separate from the pack is actually a positive thing for me.

Are you signed to Cash Money, or Interscope? I’m actually not signed to either. I’m still an unsigned artist, and think I have a couple more bullets in my clip to let out before I really open my eyes and see what the aftermath of all my shots were.

And, speaking of Aftermath, how did your mixtape land on Dre’s desk? On whose desk?

Dre. Who’s that?

Dr. Dre. I didn’t know my mixtape landed on Dre’s desk.

Did you ever hear the mixtape by DJ Ill Will and Rampage called Best of Heartbreak Drake? I had no part in it, even though a lot of people have told me they liked hearing it – it’s my songs, after all, so … enjoy it.

How have the changes in your personal life been reflected in the lyrics? I’ve always been very honest about my emotions, but things haven’t drastically changed, since I have a new emotion to express in every song. “Every Girl” is just having fun and talking shit with a bunch of dudes; “Replacement Girl” is me giving a piece of myself to women that pay attention. I’m speaking to both genders: the guys who want to have fun and feel fly, and the women who want to know what we think.

The track “Get Over It” mentions that you’re Jewish. How did your bar mitzvah go down? Mine wasn’t as extravagant as the other kids. It was just at a restaurant, where I slow danced to “I Want It That Way” with Heidi Gold. That’s a little fact that you may not know about. But now you know.

For a free download of So Far Gone: www.octobersveryown.net/mixtapes/drake_sofargone.zip

www.myspace.com/thisisdrake


Asher Roth and the Racial Crossroads (Ill Doctrine)

Jay Smooth of Ill doctrine talking about the Asher Roth controversy..This is a very cool video and good for people to hear.


Thursday, May 7, 2009

FEATURE: Eminem, Hard To Kill (XXL Magazine) PICK IT UP!

Photography Perou

It’s felt sort of empty without him, hasn’t it? One of the biggest superstars on the planet, EMINEM has been on a three-year hiatus, dealing with some awfully heavy personal issues. He’s back now, though.

And up to his old tricks. Sick. But healthier than ever. Tucked away in the VIP room of Morton’s steak house in downtown Cleveland, Eminem sits at the head of a long, 12-seat dinner table, looking more like a high school baseball shortstop than a multimillionaire don of the hip-hop world. He’s rocking a white Jordan fitted cap to the back, with a platinum cross dangling atop a wrinkled white T-shirt, black sweats, and Nike Air Max on the feet. Along with his longtime manager and partner, Paul Rosenberg, D12 producer Denaun Porter, and an eight-member team of label support, assistants and security, the 36-year-old rap star is watching Michigan State handle Connecticut in an NCAA Final Four game, which is playing on a huge flat-screen hanging on the mahogany walls. Repping Detroit harder (and more successfully) than General Motors, the crew oohs and aahs and screams at every basket, urging the Spartans to victory. Em cracks jokes about his publicist peeing on people in a riot back in the days. (Never happened.) But just as everything seems dorm-roomish and festive, word comes down. “Let’s roll. Em has to be there now.”

That’s a sentiment no doubt shared by millions of fans worldwide. One of hip-hop’s biggest-selling artists ever (his 34 million total domestic album sales ranks second only to Tupac), Eminem has been mostly MIA for the past three years. After an aborted European tour in summer 2005, the troubled icon ducked out of the spotlight to deal with a growing drug problem—one exacerbated, the next year, by the failure of his second marriage to Kimberly Scott, and even more by the loss of his best friend and rap partner, Proof, who died in a tragic, and still somewhat hazy, shooting incident in a bar on the very 8 Mile Road that Em has made so famous.

But he’s back. This spring marks the release of his sixth solo album, Relapse, the first of two on tap for the year. Judging from a quick listen to the setup singles “Crack a Bottle” (with fellow Interscope Records pillars Dr. Dre and 50 Cent) and “We Made You,” and a few select unreleased tracks, it’s pretty clear that rap’s nimble-tongued clown prince wants to reclaim his throne. With an emphasis on the cartoony, TV-steeped ultraviolence that rocketed him to fame 10 years ago, Em’s rapping in his Slim Shady guise, with a nod to his favorite Marvel comic-book hero, the trigger-happy vigilante Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher. “The Punisher just seemed appropriate for my return to the scene,” he says. “Shady with a vengeance!” Everyone feels the wrath—from horror-flick serial killers, like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, to train-wreck starlets, like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, to failed vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. In the video for the first single, “We Made You,” Kim Kardashian gets the wood-chipper treatment.

But tonight there’s more serious business to attend to. It’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 24th annual induction ceremony, and the blue-eyed, formerly golden-haired god of hip-hop’s modern era will be introducing the greatest group from hip-hop’s early years, Run-DMC, before they take the stage and receive their prestigious due. Fresh from Morton’s, backstage at the museum’s performance hall, crumpled-up, handwritten speech tight in his fist, Em paces the small dressing room right next to the one occupied by Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. “I’m about to rock this shit!” he says, goofing on his own nervous energy, as a black leather coat arrives for him to wear. “I don’t know what I’m about to rock, but I’m about to do it! I’ma, ummm, rock this speech!”

He hops up, dons the coat and a matching Run-DMC–style fedora, takes the walkway to the stage and busts a b-boy stance at the podium. The audience leaps to its feet. The place goes crazy. Somebody screams “It’s Eminem! He’s back!”

Where have you been? It seems like a whole generation of hip-hop has gone in the time that you’ve been away.

Yeah, well, there were a few things that played into that factor. First of all, I went for seven years straight and never took a break. It got to the point where I felt like I needed to pull back. After the last tour, the Anger Management 3, as everybody knows, I went into rehab for a drug problem that, honestly, didn’t get better when I went into rehab. I wasn’t ready to go into rehab. I felt that, at the time, everyone else was ready for me to go. And I wasn’t ready.

You weren’t ready mentally?

I wasn’t ready mentally. I wasn’t ready to give up the drugs. I didn’t really think I had a problem. Basically, I went in, and I came out. I relapsed, and I spent the next three years struggling with it. Also, at that time, I felt like I wanted to pull back, because my drug problem had got so bad. I felt like, Maybe if I take a break, maybe this will help. I started to get into the producer role more… I can still be out there with my music, like with the Re-Up album, but I don’t have to be in the spotlight the whole time.

What types of drugs were you were taking?

Ever since the beginning of my career I dabbled in Vicodin, Valium, Ambien. It was kind of like a recreational thing that, for some reason, when it first started out, like ecstasy and shit like that, I was able to do it and step away from it. Drinking, I was able to do it and step away from it. But slowly it started progressing. For a while, there were, like, four to six months where I struggled with ecstasy. I had found myself taking it before every show.

So you would go out, rock these shows…

Yeah, like, on the Warped Tour, me and Proof would split a hit, like half a hit or whatever, and on top of it, I was drinking or whatever. Then I would come home and be like, Aight, I’m not gonna do it around the kids. So those would be the times I’d clean myself out. I’d be home for a week, two weeks or whatever and be like, I’m done with this. Then I’d get back out on the road and then… It started becoming that I’d be doing it all the time if people had it. I wouldn’t carry the shit on me. I wouldn’t have it myself. If we were around that kind of party atmosphere and somebody had it, which my music at that time always attracted that crowd, like the raver kids and shit like that, we’d end up hanging out with some kids somehow, and people would be around us and be like, “Hey, I got some mushrooms, I got this, I got that.” Slowly, after a period of time, it became where we were buying it on the road. So we would kinda say, “Who’s got the E?” It became where I wasn’t doing it anymore because people had it, I was doing it and actually purchasing the shit, just because. Then it got to a point where I felt like I needed it to be onstage. My biggest thing was sleeping. I would take NyQuil and shit like that. I’d be like, Okay, well, this worked last night. But I got to take extra tonight, ’cause it ain’t gonna work. Now I got to get a prescription for something. I got to see my doctor.

Because you couldn’t sleep?

It’s between the schedule and all the shit when it starts to get crazy. When you’re in album cycle and touring and shit like that, the schedule… You got to be somewhere at certain times. You only got this little window to sleep. And if you don’t sleep, you are kind of fucked for the next day. So it was all the mental things that I went through. I struggled with ecstasy, kinda struggled with drinking. But I was able to cut it off, which is what I never understood about pills. But that’s obviously what you learn in rehab. It’s what becomes your drug of choice. Certain addicts may not struggle with… I may not have a problem with liquor. But if I drink liquor and I get to where I get a hangover the next day, I’m screaming for a Vicodin. “Oh, I wish I had a Vicodin!” So, basically, I struggled off and on with prescription pills, like, the next three years. Then, everybody knows, I went through a divorce. I was trying to put my family back together. That ended up not working out. Then losing my best friend. It was kinda like going through those struggles. None of that shit was easy. My addiction got worse and worse and worse.
I had to come to the realization, I mean, I’ve been clean for a year now, but I had to come to the realization that I want to do this. This ain’t something that anybody can just tell me, know what
I mean? This isn’t something that everyone can want for me.

When did you know that it was time for you to go to rehab?

There were a bunch of moments where I felt like, I want to do it, I want to do it. Ah, maybe now is not the time. Maybe I’ll just do this for a little longer. I started realizing, like,
I took a break from the spotlight, and I felt like I wanted to be with my family and spend more time with my kids and stuff like that. But the whole time, I’m walking around the house high most of the time. So I’m missing out on the best parts of their lives. There were several moments. And it got to the point where the guilt that I started feeling inside for doing the shit… I wasn’t fooling anybody but myself.
I had to come to that realization. At the time, I’m 35 years old, how long am I going to keep doing this? I felt like I needed to grow up, and if I didn’t grow up, it was like, now or never.-DATWON THOMAS

For more of Hard To Kill, the Eminem cover story, make sure to pick up XXL’s May issue on newsstands now.

Drake to Collab w/ Kanye, Jeezy, (Wayne ofcourse), and Kid CuDi

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

I'm Still Fly- Page feat. Drake

ILL SONG...ILL VIDEO


lol this video is cool

50 Cent in the studio with Dre...rare footage man..lol


Sunday, May 3, 2009

WOOOOOOW

Ok so this video is of some people who camped out for days just to get some shoes...they weren't just any shoes...They were Kanye's Air YEEZY's....but still....Is a pair of shoes that will one day go out of style (or a new design for it will be released) really worth loosing your job and income? is it really worth missing many days of school and failing out? (not that I ever liked high school, though I made it out damn good and went to college)....I'm just sayin...it puzzles me how materialistic this country...and the world can be sometimes....Oh well...the shoes are undeniably fly, but I doubt I would camp out days to get a pair....Kanye and who ever he worked with did an amazing job on designing this shoe...maybe one day when I'm not a broke ass fool I'l cop a pair! Lol

Saturday, May 2, 2009

3 A.M. - Eminem

Eminem's new single off of Relapse....This video is pretty intense


Friday, May 1, 2009

Another CuDi Interview

Yea all I post now-a-days is CuDi...man he just says the realest shit in all of his interviews....He says a lot of shit that I would think about! its fuckin crazy....its like we got the same fuckin mind...DAMN...puttin all my ideas out there Cudder Lol