New Era came through Concepts to do a piece on Boston for their online magazine “Your Lifestyle Fitted”. The article has a video component on page 9. They did a great job,

Shout to my boy Stebs who shot the video for the piece.

Check it out here: Your Lifestyle Fitted.

Signing my rights away

Stebs on the camera

Still from the video

Interview I did for Karmaloop TV during the Statik Selektah album listening party at Concepts.

Big shouts to Dennis Todisco and the KM team.

While it’s already premiered on Starz, Spartacus: Blood and Sand looks promising and pretty bloody. If you agree (and happen to have Starz) then check it out.

Big Pun. One of the greatest to ever do it.

November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000

Rest in Peace.

Plain and simple, this movie looks great. Check out the trailer.

Life is about meeting people, connecting and making things happen. Meet some friends.

All photos by: Harris Tobey

Name: Brek.One
Game: DJ /Designer
Where: BrekOne.com / Twitter @BrekOne

Name: Johnny Cupcakes
Game: Owner of the brand Johnny Cupcakes
Where: JohnnyCupcakes.com / Twitter @JohnnyCupcakes

Name: Levi Maestro
Game: Living life and documenting it
Where: MaestroKnows.com / Twitter @MaestroKnows

Name: Stebs
Game: Video
Where: iloveqp.com / Twitter @iloveqp

Sun don’t shine if Son don’t shine

Follow me on Twitter @FranktheButcher

As the new decade seems to already be flying by, I thought I’d take more time to look at some of the films that we saw in the 00′s. In no particular order, here are my top ten comedies of the past ten years.

Superbad – Easily one of the best comedies of the 00’s, this movie had me laughing throughout the whole thing.

Old School – Another easy pick. Funny movie the whole way through. Already a classic.

Office Space – Also a classic. Before there was The Office, there was Office Space.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Coen Brothers, Clooney… Done deal. Some may not consider it a comedy, but it makes me laugh, so it’s in.

40 Year Old Virgin – ‘If I hear Ya Mo Be There one more time, I’m gonna Ya Mo burn this place to the ground.’ So many great moments in this movie.

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – Definitely Wes Anderson’s style of film, so you have to be into his stuff. But it’s one of my favorites.

Pineapple Express –  Hilarious. Great cast and funny all the way through. ‘It makes me aerodynamic when I fight.’

Wedding Crashers – Mom! The meatloaf!

The Royal Tenembaums – Another great film from Anderson.

Shaun of the Dead – Zombies. And hilarious.

It was 1988 and I was a 10 year old absolutely obsessed with hip-hop music and culture. I didn’t even refer to it as such because is was as normal to me to listen to rap music as it was to eat grandma’s Puerto Rican food. With out the internet to fuel ones need for discovery, I would walk from my neighborhood to Strawberry’s (the local record store – now closed) to cop cassettes and help a DJ friend at the time boost vinyl.

Its hard to explain how important 1988-1989 was for hip-hop music and how much of a contribution it made to my development as a person. Everything was so new: let me explain. When Slick Rick dropped his single “Children’s Story”, it was the first time I have ever heard a rapper recite a story in a rap that was so vivid, animated and complete. He invented that shit. When I heard KRS One’s voice for the first time on “My Philosophy” it was like I was at a self help seminar! Let’s not even start an Eric B and Rakim conversation— they were so serious, it made me serious! The things these artists were doing were literally the first time they were being done. Can you say that about any one artist today? Probably not. Absolutely not.

One song in particular that really made an impact on me was Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock’s “It takes 2″— for a few reasons.

1- It was amazing – first and foremost.

2- My DJ friend that I used to steal records with had the Lyn Collin record “Think (about it)” which is the original sample used for that song (and many other hip-hop classics). He used to cut up and sample the record before I actually heard “It Takes 2″. Shit, might have been his favorite record because we heard it a lot! To know the origins of the record made an impact on me.

3- It became incorporated into the theme song for YO! MTV Raps which was religion for me. Would not miss a show and when we finally could afford a VCR it was dubbed, re dubbed and re re dubbed.

Fast forward to present day and Snoop Dogg has resurrected the Rob Base song for a modern day hit (and tribute…) and I’m not mad at all. It was a reminder of what was but a confirmation that what happens today is with direct influence of yesterday.

From Lyn Collins to Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, to Snoop Dogg, to the numerous rappers that ended 2009 freestyling over the Snoop Dogg instrumental – the seed Lyn planted in 1972 has provided the fruit we eat today.

Below are the videos for the Rob Base smash, Snoop’s joint and the foundation Lyn layed.

Enjoy.

And yes I am getting old….

Before we get too far into the next decade, I wanted to take some time to reflect on some of the films that I’ve really liked over the past ten years. Because there are too many to do an overall top ten, I’ll break it down into some genres and if you care to, tune in again over the next few weeks to see my other picks. Let’s start with Action, shall we?

The Bourne Trilogy – Anyone who knows me, knows that I love the Bourne movies. I watch them all the time… All the time… I’m watching them now. I grouped them all together here, but they could easily make it into my top ten on their own. Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, Joan Allen, and the list goes on and on. Joan Allen’s right hand man, played by Tom Gallop, is a family member of mine so I’m slightly biased but in my opinion, they’re the best action/espionage films made in a very long time.

Kill Bill 1 and 2 – I’m grouping again on this one, but both of these films were great. At their core a great story, but when you add in Uma Thurman and the rest of the cast, as well as Tarantino’s brand of film making, you can’t lose. While he has tried to repeat the ‘resurrection’ success he had with Travolta in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino didn’t come up short this time when he put David Carradine in the role of Bill. Perfect. While Tarantino has made some great flicks up to this point, one could argue that the Kill Bill films are the best he’s done.

Batman Returns and The Dark Knight – The Batman story is one that has been told and re-told several times over. However I think it’s safe to say that these two films brought it to the next level. True, the first Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson is a classic, but these films brought a realism and darkness to the story that no other take has been able to achieve. Christian Bale as Batman is perfect and Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight is amazing. These films are easily in the top ten.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – While this film wasn’t the first example of it’s kind and genre, Crouching Tiger was the first to be brought to the American public is such a wide release. Chow Yun-Fat as a martial arts legend, hunting down his master’s murderer. Classic.

Gladiator – Love it or hate it, no one can deny the popularity of this film. I’m a huge Ancient Roman nerd-aficionado (if that exists), but put Ridley Scott at the helm with Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and a fantastic final performance from Oliver Reed… Easy pick. On a side note, I think Denzel Washington got robbed by Russell Crowe at the Oscar’s the year this came out, but this is a great action film. No question.

Saving Private Ryan – WWII, killing Nazis and a mission that can only end in death and destruction. Fantastic. The beach storming sequence would put this in the top ten by itself. In my opinion, Tom Hanks gave his best performance since Forest Gump, and although he’s done some good films up until now, hasn’t matched it. Great movie.

Sin City – You could say that this film belongs to a few other genres as well as Action, but I’m gonna put it here. Adapted from the Frank Miller graphic novel, the cinematography and art direction pulls you in from minute one. One of the best ‘action’ movies of the 00′s. No question.

Spiderman – While the sequels to the first film weren’t as good, Spiderman still ranks in the top ten. This film helped to hearken in the new, updated way of making super hero films and helped influence ones to follow. Fun, action packed, and entertaining.

X-Men – The X-Men was my favorite comic growing up as a kid. The first film of this franchise was great. Along with Spiderman, which came two years after, X-Men updated the super hero film. It’s action sequences along with it’s almost flawless casting, puts this in the top ten.

300 – Another film based on the works of Frank Miller, 300 is a visual fun house. Hard hitting, over the top and action packed, 300 has been mimicked ever since it was released.

Chedda posted this on his page but I have to give it front page love—

and yeah… I have a few of these myself.