Pah!

Everybody knows Nas lost!

Stargate and Jay-Z?

I remember when Stargate first left Europe for America. I was surprised. Since they've been over there though the hits haven't stopped. For those of you that don't know, Stargate are responsible for a lot of Atomic Kitten, Blue, Lemar, Mis-Teeq, S Club 7, Cleopatra and 5ive hits. Oh yes. Quality stuff I'm sure you'll agree. They're now responsible for hits by Ne Yo, Rihanna, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Nas, Chris Brown, Leona Lewis, Pussy Cat Dolls, Lindsay Lohan and Usher...a jump in quality? Perhaps not. But finance? Certainly. Well today they've announced a new label deal with Jay-Z called StarRoc. I assume this will be a deal through Live Nation? I don't know. What I do know is that I can probably live my entire life without a Stargate/ Jay-Z collaboration. I've been wrong before though.

LINK: Ballade.no

Why did Stillmatic get 5 Mics?

In the height of the feud between Nas and Jay-Z both released their best albums since their respective debuts (Jay's was arguably his best period). Both 'Blueprint' and 'Stillmatic' got 5/5 ratings in the (then) credible hip-hop bible The Source. I don't think there's much argument in 2008 about whether or not 'Blueprint' is a classic record; it's widely regarded. But 'Stillmatic' hasn't aged very well. There were always question marks over songs like 'Braveheart Party' (which was actually removed from the tracklisting in the album's second run), 'The Flyest' and 'Rule' featuring Amerie. The obvious path to understanding the overrating of 'Stillmatic' would be to look at the production list, the title track and intro was produced by The Source's evil overlord and general humorous geezer Benzino and his production company. Suspect? Why of course. But it appears there were even greater incentives for the magazine to see Nas succeed as revealed by former editor-in-chief in her new novel about her life in hip-hop...

“We waited until the SUV’s backseat window slowly rolled down and we saw Nas’ face hiding behind a pair of dark, don’t-notice-me sunglasses. From where I was sitting, I could see everything inside the car. Holding a cane, Nas was reclined in the backseat behind the passenger side wearing a red, black, and green kufi and a matching dashiki. From that moment on, we used the code name Zamunda when referring to him. Zamunda was the fictional country in Africa that Eddie Murphy came from in my favorite movie of all time, Coming To America.”

When 'Stillmatic' was first released to select press in 2001 it actually received horrible reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone who gave it 2.5/5 calling it "a jumble of sloppy filler". I actually kinda like 'Stillmatic' but the idea of it being a perfect album always confused me.

Sepp Blatter: "Footballers are like slaves"

Somebody get Nas on the phone!

Nas- Hero [Video]

Since I was a kid Nas videos have looked exactly the same.

Superhero > Hero

Best song on the album though.

Me aka NYoil on 2DobeBoyz.com

Frig knows how this happened by Akira just sent through a link. 2DopeBoyz.com have got my picture on an article about NYOil who wrote that song about getting lynched and who called Nas out something serious for his 'Be a Nigger Too' song. Man if 2DopeBoyz linked me that would make my day. Those of you who have listened to the mixtape already this morning will have heard me shout them out at the end. Their website is very serious.

Nas- The Nigger Tape [MP3]

Is Nas back? Did he do it? 'Hip-Hop Is Dead' made such a minuscule impact in my brain and the two albums before that I can barely name a track from. I want to believe the old Nas is back though. Are you there Nas? Are you? Please? The full MP3 leak of his new mixtape with the greatest Mixtape DJ working today Green Lantern is out today and is available below. I need that separate tracks version soon.

Nas & DJ Green Lantern: The Nigger Tape [zShare]

Busta Rhymes on Westwood debuting 'Don't Touch Me Remix'

That looks like fun. The original is hot as hell too.

Be a Nigger Too

New Nas 'Be a Nigger Too' stolen from Nahright of course. I really like the verses but the sample sounds familiar and the chorus is poor. Still, if he's going to rap as well as that on the new album he might be worth listening to again.