It's been a crazy
week, and by crazy I mean not good. The Game recently asked for a peace treaty
from 50 Cent. This coming from the same guy who wrote at least 1,500 bars at
50 and had the G-Unot campaign. It's not like this should come as a surprise
to anyone that the rapper who recently released "The Funeral" would
all of a sudden want peace with 50. He's basically said everything he could
have at 50 and it has arguably only been a chink in the ol' armor for the G-Unit
crew. And what does 50 have to gain by calling a truce? It's not like he ever
really dedicated himself to bringing down Game's career the way Game did his.
Right now it feels as though Game is just throwing darts in a dark bar hoping
one of them hits the bullseye.
I'm surprised that
Game didn't rename his album after Dr. Dre wiped his hands clean of the whole
situation.
Apparently Game
also said something about wanting to do a track with Jay, Nas and 50. Who wouldn't
want to do that? You know Jay and Nas are probably going to do something for
Jay's album, Nas and 50 would probably never do a track together (you can never
say never with Nas…who would have thought Nas would have signed to Jay-Z?)
and Jay and 50 have no reason to do a song together. And who would stand to
gain the most from that track? Hint, it starts with a G and ends with an ame.
The big question
now is how many big names are going to want to work with Game now that he's
flip-flopped more than Jay-Z's feet on just about every issue?
And by now you've
probably seen Game on the cover of XXL saying that the "West Coast Savior
Wins Against All Odds." I think there's a lot of rappers out West who would
like to debate the "savior" part of that statement, and probably the
"winning" portion as well.
On another note,
I was at the bar the other night holding my bottle of Bud, observing its weight
and thickness like I was a judge in a bikini contest. In all the different times
I've held a beer bottle, I've never once contemplated how it would feel to get
hit in the head with one. Well, three nights ago I came to the conclusion that
it would hurt.
And now onto the
next wack story of the week. Terrell Owens. Only two good things came out of
that whole situation: Another Bill Parcells press conference and a distraction
for the Cowboys which can only help the Giants (we need all the help we can
get right now) (and apparently that distraction didn't really hurt the 'Boys).
Just watching Parcells tell a reporter, "You're taking me down a road I
don't want to go" made the countless hours of ESPN's uninformative coverage
worth it. I hope ESPN sends TO a nice Christmas present.
Is it possible
that TO has the worst publicist in the history of publicity? I always thought
the job of a publicist was to make you look good. Not only did she get up there
at the press conference and completely butcher the English language she's supposed
to know (She said, "A man of his statue…" or "stature,"
whatever one works for you) but she also made TO look like more of a jackass
than he already did (not an easy task). Not only was she completely condescending
for no reason to reporters, blaming them for TO's bad image because they "pick
on him" (hey, blame the media when the going gets rough) but she also said
he has "25 million reasons to live." I'm guessing since that's the
amount of his contract, that's the only stuff keeping him alive right now. I
guess the whole thing about staying alive for your son and because you're "living
a fantasy life" (insert a different tired cliché if you don't like
that one) must have just slipped her mind. And while the media may be overbearing
at times, can you really blame the media for covering Terrell Owens? It sells
and it's easy to write about.
You know as soon
as ESPN heard the news Dan Patrick and Stuart Scott were toasting their wine
coolers. You have to love how they sent reporters out to Philly to see what
they'd have to say about TO. I mean, did they really expect a bunch of fans
to get on camera and say, "That's great that he tried to commit suicide.
It's too bad it didn't work"? When you ask Donovan McNabb how he feels
about TO attempting suicide, do you really expect Donovan to say (and feel)
that he wished TO died? Even if people felt that way, I still don't think they'd
get on national television and voice their opinion.
And on a sidenote,
I guess TO can cross Tylenol off his list of potential endorsers.
Should anyone be
surprised that a riot broke out a DMX show? If I went to a DMX show and a riot
didn't break out, I would be asking for my money back. It's cool that DMX and
Ja Rule squashed their problems, but it's like an ugly girl finding out she's
not pregnant: it's late and no one cares.
And apparently
there was a new Flavor of Love. You're taking me down a road I don't want to
go.
It's been a couple
weeks since the song came out, but I don't think it's too late to sound off
on it. Maino recently came out with "Take It Like A Man," a follow-up
of some sorts to his breakout song two years ago, "Rumors." Maino
makes some very valid points and some that will leave you scratching your head.
First off, he's trying to move the old rappers off to the side. Let's make it
clear. Only certain older rappers need to be gone, either because they're just
spitting nonsense or they're just not that good anymore. However, most of the
"old" rappers would school these new guys on more than just history.
And you can basically say goodbye to hip-hop if dudes like Sadat X and Killah
Priest get pushed more to the side than they've already been.
Then Maino takes
it upon himself to announce the deaths of Bad Boy, Cash Money, Rocafella and
Wu-Tang. With Jay-Z going around the world, Rocafella is probably not dead.
If you look at the label Jay and Dame ran together, yes, that version of Rocafella
is dead. And while Bad Boy may not put out good music, they're not really dead
as evidenced by Yung Joc, Danity Kane and Puffy's new album. Cash Money? Well,
I don't know about that one just because I don't keep up with what they do.
And Wu-Tang? Unfortunately I think Maino lost some hip-hop points with that
statement. It's good to alienate some people, but you can't alienate everyone
and expect to be taken seriously. Plus dissing Wu-Tang is never a good idea,
even though they probably won't respond. Wu-Tang may not be doing it as big
as when they first split heads open, but they're still doing it. Rae's got a
great situation now, GZA did a banger with Muggs last year, Masta Killa's had
two solid releases in the past two years, RZA's been making some bread in the
movies, Ghost stays on the road, has a doll coming out and released an album
Fishscale that got him some props and Method Man's new album is one of the best
albums of the year, along with Fishscale. So Wu-Tang being dead? I don't think
they're on life support yet, but even if they were, I'm pretty sure House could
bring them back.
I honestly don't
think dissing people is the right direction for Maino right now. I don't claim
to be an industry head or an A&R, but I think it's best if he drops some
more songs that don't involve dissing everyone.
This is something
I saw awhile ago and I always meant to write about it, but it always slipped
my mind. In an Ozone issue this summer, they featured a kid from South Carolina
named Marley Mar. Marley Mar. The rapper's name is Marley Mar. Marley Mar. It
took a minute for it to sink in with me so I understand if it's still not really
hitting you. Take your time and when it sinks in, continue reading. So anyway,
the interviewer asks him if there's any confusion with Marley Marl. Marley Mar
says something to the effect of, "The old-school rapper?" Now take
some more time to let that sink in. Not only did he take one of the legend's
names, but he thinks Marley Marl was a rapper. I guess that brief intro and
outro on "The Symphony" qualified him as a rapper in the mind of Marley
Mar. This brings a few questions to my mind. 1) How does a publication justify
the interview? 2) How does someone along the way not step in and suggest a name
change? 3) How much money would you bet that Marley Marl is a better MC than
Marley Mar?
As long as we're
talking about mags, I might as well bring up the King issue with reality TV
girls on the cover (see, I didn't even say the show). There was an interview
with Shaun Alexander about the new Madden. The interview read a little awkward,
which you can expect in magazines like King and Maxim, but then the interviewer
lost all credibility when he asked Alexander if Alabama won the National Championship
before he got on the cover of NCAA 2001. You don't have to know everything about
sports before interviewing an athlete, but it helps to know something other
than knowing the Seahawks lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Plus winning
the National Championship is kind of a big thing. King might want to have their
writers tighten up a little before they send them out on any more interviews.
Talking about Shaun
Alexander is the perfect transition into my next topic, which is my TUBGIRLS.
We're riding a two-week losing streak right now, and as Head Coach/GM/Owner/VP
of Marketing, I take full responsibility for our last loss. I took Hines Ward
out of the lineup and replaced him with Santana Moss. The only problem is I
didn't hit the "submit changes" button and the move was never made.
Leave it to Moss to go get three touchdowns in one game. And shout out to Brandon
for giving me some good advice on keeping Marc Bulger in the lineup. I lost
a lot of points on Moss but I think I still would have lost even with Moss in
the lineup. And I released Chris Cooley. I can't tell you how good that felt.
The best comparison I could draw to the feeling I had dropping Chris Cooley
was the feeling I get throwing out my old running shoes. You keep them around
just in case you leave your good shoes somewhere but you know they stink and
you hate looking at them. I think I might even try to unload Moss in a trade.
Maybe that'll be my goal for the week.
05/13 - 
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