All Of The Lights by the Portland Cello Orchestra

Found this via the incredible playlist blog and damn who knew Portland was hip?

TPG Talks 2010: Raekwon's Verse on Kanye West's Gorgeous

At the end of 2010 Kanye West made up for all his previous antics by dropping his new disc "My Beautiful Dark Fantasy." To say that the album was good would be a huge understatement, the album is fresh like farmer's market strawberries after your rode your bike there on a nice spring morning after you just head a strong cup of organic free range coffee. But while many songs stand out on the album, my favorite part of the whole thing would be Raekwon's verse on the featured song above- Goregous.

 A member of the Wu-Tang Clan and one of the most underrated rapper in the game, over a rhythm change and soulful guitar, he destroys the verse. And man there are some serious verses on the album. Jay-Z, Pusha T, Nicki Minaj, and Rick Ross all tear up tracks on this album, but it's The Chef's that stands out, peep this sample of the verse

if you can’t live, you dying

you give or buy in

keep it real or keep it moving, keep grinding

keep shining, to every young man, this is a plan

learn from others like your brothers Rae and Kanye

Damn, that sounds like a New Years Resolution!

The Weekend Wrap Up September 13th 2009

On the second weekend of the ninth month of 2009, Kanye West attempted to drop truth on Taylor Swift, True Blood ran dry (for now at least), and the great vortex of productive Sunday's known as the NFL officially began.

Taylor Swift is America's sweetheart, and Kanye West is our resident musical "genius" and apparently the two of them are "cool" after their little dust-up. However, I'm not buying it for a hot minute, it is clear through Swift's previous diss records (going after Joe Jonas) she is not one to back down. West on the other has no idea what he got himself into with this teenager, rapper beef is nothing compared to teenage rage, and I think Swift has a got a dark streak in her, check out her KISS get-up.

As for True Blood, besides the bull goring Mary Anne, I wasn't that impressed with the whole finale. I knew it was going to be disappointing when the resident Rambo, aka Jason Stackhouse, rolled into the devil party armed to the teeth and then quickly succumbed to the black eye syndrome without even blasting one small piece of his arsenal. Sometimes you want an epic showdown, and all you get with is Evan Rachel Wood playing Yahtzee, such is life.

I didn't realize how much time the NFL can suck from a young man's soul. Damn, it's so easy to sit there and watch football, it's like the couch is magnetic or demonic. In fact, not only is the couch possessed but it releases some type of pheromone that makes u crave pizza. I counted about an hour and 3 minutes before someone said "I think we should order pizza" like they were some type of robot. I'm trying to be healthy, and avoid that gut expanding pie of deliciousness, and luckily I had an escape plan ("Uhh, I have a dinner party to go to"). But damn, I don't know how long I'll last through the season

Stay tuned, should have some mind blowing posts this week.

Rewarding The Risk-Takers

The new Kanye West CD, takes two elements of modern day hip-hop: the drum machine (Roland TR-808 Drum Machine) and the Auto Tune (a.k.a. T-Pain's best friend) and uses them to create something fresh. Don't get it twisted, doing this, especially, after the previous formula was working so well, is a huge risk.

But to be great, you got to take risks. In sports, you gotta run that gutsy play, take that big shot, steal that base. In business, you gotta, well, I'm not a business man, but I'm sure there is some risk involved. And in the arts, almost any project is a risk. With each painting, song, or film you're exposing yourself to the world. I mean look what happened to Britney Spears (that is if you consider her an artist). With this new Kanye disc, he's baring his soul, venting about his personal demons (which apparently are plentiful).

Yet this risk-taking can be toxic. It's fitting that in the same week Kanye's risky record comes out, another record "Chinese Democracy" by Guns N' Roses finally came out after over a decade of waiting. One one hand is the new artist, heading in a new direction, and on the other hand is the wicked old rock star finally delivering what was a risky project when Clinton was still President and not Secretary of State.

Sometimes the risk works out and sometimes it doesn't, I guess that's the way of life, whether it's in LA or anywhere else.