Top 10 One-Liners

Big L: The illest one-line spitter of all time

There is nothing like a dope one-liner. That shit that just makes you wyle out the first time you hear it...and everytime after it never gets old. Sometimes they are humurous, othertimes they are just ill wordplay, or sometimes they just poetic muthafuckas. I reckon Big L was the king of one-liners - just go listen to Lifestylez of da poor and dangerous. Anyways, here are some random ones I picked out:

MC Suffa (Hilltop Hoods) on "Dumb Enough"
"I make origami of your lyrics / (geez that's good Suffa, what is it?)......IT'S A SWAN!"

Sean Price on "Madman"
"I rock, Mecca, Polo, Iceberg, Fubu, but Ecko I rock
Better solo, fight, hurt, shoot you and jet yo [repeat]"

MF Doom on "Meat Grinder"
"Borderline Schizo / Sorta Fine Tits though / Pour the wine, hold the grind, quarter to nine, lets go"

Juelz Santana on "You Ain't Got Nothing"
"I'm a shark, ya'll just koifish / (what else?)...Octupus, (what else?)...Oysters"

Jay-Z on "Dead Presidents II"
"I had near brushes, not to mention / 3 shots close range, never touched me, divine intervention"

Biggie on "Brooklyn's Finest"
"If Faye had twins, she'd probably have two Pacs...get it, Tupac's?"

Talib Kweli on "Hater Players"
"Reverse psychology got em scared to say when shit is wack / Out of fear of being called a hater, imagine that?"

Mos Def on "Mathematics"
"Like I got...16 to 32 bars to rock it / But only 15 percent of profits...ever see my pockets"

Joe Budden on "Family Reunion"
"I flow sickly, ridin' bumpin' old Biggie/ roll with me or lose weight, Nicole Richie"

Prodigy on "Shook Ones Part II"
"Meanwhile back in Queens, the realness and foundation
if I die, I couldn't choose a better location
when the slugs penetrate, feel a burning sensation
getting closer to God...in a tight situation now"

Big L on "Da Graveyard"
"I'm known for snatchin purses and bombin churches /
I get more pussy on accident then most niggas get on purpose"

Big Pun on "Twinz (Deep Cover '98)"
"Dead in the middle of Little Italy little did we know we’d riddled some middlemen who didn’t do diddly"

GZA on "Gold"
"I'm deep down in the back streets - in the heart of Medina /
About to set off something more deep than a misdemeanor"

Common on "I Used to love H.E.R."
"I'm gonna take her back hoping this shit stop / Cos who I'm talking about ya'll is hip-hop"

New Heltah Skeltah Coming Soon

Yo, I been real busy at uni but this should keep ya'll smart dumb cats busy for a bit.



Need I say anything more? These guys are fucking sick and D.I.R.T. is gonna be supreme dopeness!

Top 20 Premo Beats

I feel it's time to get back on my hip-hop tip. Today, I wanted to discuss the greatest beats by one of the greatest producers of all time: DJ Premier. There are so many dope beats by him, I made it a top 20, but still the chances are your favourite is not on this list. I put some links there to some tracks...some are mp3s I uploaded, others are youtube links. I also tried to keep it only one beat per artist just so we can see dude's variety. Let's get this shit cracking...

20. Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man
Don't hate...if this were a beat for a rapper you'd say it's one of Premo's best. Christina comes nice on this anyway. This is just another notch in his belt: Premo can make hits. I even liked that beat he did for Limp Bizkit with Method Man - "N 2 Gether Now" you can't front that shit is ill!

19. Termanology - Watch How it Go Down
Love this shit. Termanology GOES TO WORK on this. Just keeps rapping for the whole track: and the soundscape Premo provides is fucking sick. I love it at the end how he scratches in Jay-Z's "Shit is wicked on these mean streets" from Premo's own "D'Evils". It's a great final touch on a dope track.

18. Crooklyn Dodgers - Crooklyn Dodgers
That bell that comes in after the mad jazz band sample is insane. Chubb Rock is too.

17. Royce Da 5'9 - Hip Hop
Nice strings in here...and then some cool little bell riff. This track is appropriately named cos this beat is straight up hip-hop.

16. Buckshot LeFonque - Music Evolution
Mad jazz shit.

15. Rawkotics - Hard Core Hip-Hop
Some rare older shit...nonetheless take a listen: that is a mad beat.

14. Common - 6th Sense
Premo provides Common with a type of beat you rarely hear Common spit over. That more straight up hip-hop, less soulful cut. And it sounds great. Common + Premo would be a great partnership I reckon. Although they'll probably never collab again...after all Common already "found the new Premo" (Kanye).

13. Mos Def - Mathematics
It's an ill bassline on this one. Premo has some fun here, with an ill breakdown before Mos' second verse. The hook he scratches out is also sick: "Mighty Mos Def" / Fat Joe: "It's simple mathematics" Lady of Rage: "(check it out)" / Ghostface: "I revolve around science" / Ghostbusters sample: "What are we talking about here?" and then Erykah Badu sample "Do Your Math" leading into the breakdown.

12. The Lox - Recognize
Straight up banger.

11. Gangstarr - Above the Clouds
My fav Gangstarr beat. Inspectah Deck rips this up too. I think "Moment of Truth" was Premo's best production with Gangstarr...every beat on there is solid as fuck.

10. Biggie - Ten Crack Commandments
This has Premo all over it. The way he chops shit up, you can easily tell its dude: especially on this joint. This beat here seems impossible to play without nodding your head.

9. Dilated Peoples - Clockwork
Unlike Ten Crack Commandments, this one isn't as obvious Premo. I dunno it just sounds a bit different to his usual style, with just a phat clean bassline being pumped out rather than a dusty old piano sample or whatever. The hit at the end of each loop, is vintage Premo though. However, it is an insane beat, really gets me going. And the intro and outro to the track are awesome too.

8. Capone N Noreaga - Invincible
That's some ill up-tempo shit. Does exactly what a good hip-hop beat should do...create a platform for MCs to reach their full potential. It would be hard to spit anything on this and sound wack.

7. Blaq Poet - Voices
This is not as well known as some of these other joints. Check the link then if you haven't heard it. This is one bad record. Dark. Haunting. Fucking sick...just take a listen.

6. Nas - N.Y. State of Mind
So yeah he is handy with the MPC, chopping shit up. We all know that. But this track showcases just how important your drums are. This track is all about the drums...some of the best I've ever heard on a hip-hop track. Big, dirty, hard hitting joints. This track is pivotal in setting up the album - one that is regarded by many as the greatest hip-hop album ever made. I think it is therefore safe to say it achieved its goal.

5. Fat Joe - The Shit Is Real (Remix)
This is another one of them positive sounding Premo beats with a mad nostalgic type melody looped over his trademark head-nodding drums.

4. Jeru the Damaja - Come Clean
Premo has a distinctive sound, yet still manages to be one of the most creative cats out there. And it's all about the sample: any sound can be flipped and chopped up into a mad beat. Here it is water drops. But I just love the drums on this one. They contrast with the sample perfectly creating an awesome head-nodding rythmn that Jeru rips up. I also give a shout out here to the joint "Supastar" by another Gangstarr affiliate Group Home which is mad, but I haven't found room for on this list.

3. Jaz O and the Immobiliare - Love Is Gone
This is one slept on beat. He uses this mad electronic sounding sample and then incorporates some breath noise sample in there as well, with some guitar stabs. The result is a track that you can just play over and over, cos its so pleasing to the ears. Jaz O fills the track nicely, don't really know who that other cat is though.

2. Jay-Z - D'Evils/Bring It On
I'll give props to two instrumentals here, both from the classic Reasonable Doubt album. D'Evils is some crazy shit. Premo don't give a shit about no west coast/east coast beef shit...he samples Snoop and layers this mad piano riff over the top, setting an incredible mood on the track. Jay-Z absolutely murders the track, spitting some of greatest verses ever spat. Bring it On features a beautiful melancholy orchestral progression. Once Premo gets an ill sample, you know the track is gonna be dope, cos he's always gonna bring those drums.

1. J-Live - The Best Part
This is number one for me. Again, it all comes down to an ill sample. Here we have a mad pan flute type sound. Add some banging drums, an orchestra fill and some incredible scratching in the hook and you have an absolute classic.

Brand off to Sixers; Maggette joins Warriors

Brand (career high of 25 PPG) and Maggette (career high of 22 PPG): both gone. All I know is this...Al Thornton's fantasy value just went up.

Damn. I guess this just goes to show...never predict a team's future before free-agent season has finished. Everything I wrote about the Clippers the other day is bogus. Without Brand, I don't think they are going anywhere. Baron is great...Brand is greater in my mind. But if I've learned anything today, its as I just said: do not judge before free-agent season has finished. Perhaps in the next couple of days they can manage to lure another big name player their way. Let's not judge them yet...

Scratch that...it's the Clippers. If you think about it, this is the way things were meant to pan out. After a history of being one of the least winningest franchises in sports history, the Clippers make the play-offs in '06, push Phoenix to 7 games, and give the fans some hope for the future. This is followed up with two lack-lustre, injury-riddled seasons, where it seems as if they are neither challenging nor rebuilding. This all makes perfect sense: the Clippers simply aren't meant to have prolonged success.

But after the Clippers agreed to sign Baron Davis last week, it all seemed perhaps times were indeed changing. "Brand and Davis, with some decent talent to build around? Yes please...Maggette? We aren't concerning ourselves with him anymore!" My whole post below sums up the feelings in Clipperland post-Baron, pre-today's horrible news. Now? Of course, it all makes perfect sense.

So that is twice Clippers fans have been treated with a cause to be optimistic, only to have it taken away. The first time was a longer gruelling process, the second short and sharp. Perhaps third time lucky? Don't count on it...it's the Clippers.

Here come the Clippstars!

Boom Dizzle: Bringing some style to the Clippers

So it's that time of year again. The championship has been decided. The draft is over. The new season doesn't start for a good 4 months.

Remarkably, there is still plenty to talk about: for one, Baron Davis is a Clipper. I've already made this transaction in NBA 2K8, and, presuming Elton Brand stays, the Clippers are now an incredibly fun team to play with. One can only assume they will be as fun to watch. But will they get anywhere out west? Most people are saying they'll make the play-offs, but probably not achieve much else.

Me? I'm more positive on their potential. I believe they can certainly make some noise in the play-offs. The inside-outside duo of EB and Boom Dizzle will cause many headaches: most people agree this much. However, after finishing 23-59 last year, many do not rate the rest of the Clippers roster. This puzzles me. How short is their memory? The squad is not much different to that which pushed Pheonix to 7 games in the classic Western Conference Semis in 05/06. Sam Cassell and Vladimir Radmanovic are gone, and Maggette looks likely to leave, but otherwise you have Brand, Chris Kaman, Cat Mobley, Shaun Livingston and Quinton Ross who all have experience playing high-intensity play-off games together. Throw in Al Thornton, who looks like atleast a solid starter in this league, Eric Gordon (who could be hit or miss for my money) and Davis and how can you say they won't make any noise in the play-offs? (I should probably mention Tim Thomas is there too...although this is deservedly an afterthought)

40 wins in 06/07 and 23 last season. OK...let's not judge these win totals fully. In 06/07 the Clippers admittedly could have played better. But they were also hit by some injuries. Often they were essentially without a point guard, with Cassell and Livingston injured. And last season? Calling out the Clippers for that win total last year is incredibly harsh in my opinion. Injury-wise, it was a nightmare. Their franchise player (Brand) was out for the whole year. Their other big man, just-turned-German Chris Kaman, showed great improvement until he too missed most of the second half of the season due to injury. Let's also not forget that Livingston missed the whole season too. The Clippers just could not develop a reliable rotation thanks to the horrible run of injuries. Only one player started more than 60 games for the franchise...that was Maggette, and even he only started 65. The player who appeared in the most games for Clips was Thornton, their rookie. With all this in mind, how can you judge that season? Quite simply you cannot.

So how will their roster look next year? Assuming DeAndre Jordan plays in the D-League, Maggette leaves and noting that Dan Dickau, Paul Davis and Smush Parker have not been offered new contracts, it will look something like this (a "u" indicates the player is an unrestricted free agent, and "r" indicates he is a restricted free agent, so all this may obviously change rendering this article pointless):

PG - Baron Davis
SG - Cat Mobley
SF - Al Thornton
PF - Elton Brand (u)
C - Chris Kaman
Bench - Quinton Ross (u), Shaun Livingston (u), Eric Gordon, Tim Thomas, Nick Fazekas (r), Brevin Knight, Josh Powell, Marcus Williams (r)

The Clippers should perhaps look for a veteran wing or big on the free agent market to complete their roster.

Look at that team...not bad at all. Consider these guys a threat in 2009 play-offs!

Horford is Real (as are the Hawks)

Yes, I said Horford does not deserve to be this year's Rookie of the Year. By now, everyone pretty much agrees with this.

But that said: this Horford kid...he's got it. You know..."it"! He has it! That thing that elevates a player over others with similar skill and size. That thing that makes players become fan favourites, and that thing that draws the best out of his team-mates. That thing that let's the opposition know you don't take no shit...that thing that helps win games.

Horford, like Durant, has got it...and all of a sudden the Hawks seem to have a starting five with great potential. No, they probably won't win this series against Boston, but they have shown that on some nights they can match it with the best of the best. Give this team another year or so, and they could go places. Let's have a look at the starting 5.

PG - Mike Bibby
If he has an injury free pre-season and can grab some time to fully mesh with his new team-mates, next year could be a great one for the Hawks. He's still young enough to contribute his best to this team for a few seasons.

SG - Joe Johnson
The guy simply can make buckets. Some nights he may go cold, but when he is hot you can ride him for an easy W. Hand in the face? Doesn't matter. Fade-away? Money. When he is on, he can shoot with the best of them. On his off nights, that's when you need your post presence.

SF - Marvin Williams
Sure, he was picked over CP3. But that was hardly his fault, was it? The kid is getting better all the time. Possesing a solid mid-range jumper, nice finishing around the rim and a good Free Throw percentage, Williams is finally showing us what he can do. Not a terrible player to have there at the SF glueing things together. He definetely has another gear to climb, though.

PF - Josh Smith
OK, this guy is my favourite player. But looking past that, what does he bring to the table? He is probably the most athletically gifted player in the league, bar Lebron. Coupled with a natural defensive instinct, you better watch out when you are attempting to finish a fast break, or even in the half-court. Smith will most likely always be hovering. His shooting is a weakness, and incredibly streaky. It does seem however, he posseses enough of a base to improve this into a strength. Much practice will be needed in this area. Add this to his game, and he will be an All-Star, of that there is no doubt. He already fills up the stats sheet...with more PPG added he would be an incredibly useful player to build around.

C - Al Horford
The rather small line-up is completed by Horford. There is a reason he was part of two NCAA championship winning teams. He plays with heart, and confidence. His energy is infectouos. It seems that he will be towards the top of the rebounds per game list for years to come. Obviously he needs to work on his offensive game and lift his FG%. He may struggle at times around the rim, being smaller than your average centre, but must work to make up for this and get easy buckets on the fast break. It also seems he has a few moves that work from time to time which should be developed, as well as a mid-range jumper.

This young starting line-up offers plenty of potential. Childress offers a good option off the bench, but otherwise depth is a weakness in this Atlanta team. A solid veteran or two wouldn't go astray. A genuine 7-footer is also needed, and I would recommend the Hawks do all they can to secure one in the upcoming draft. Complete all these items on the franchise-building check-list and the Hawks could go somewhere real soon...let's see how it pans out.

Silence this Horford talk...Durant is MVP

All year I have attempted to let my fellow basketball fans know that Durant is for real. I have championed his cause, and even gone so far as to say he will be more effective than Lebron offensively.

I take the same retorts over and over: nah, dude's shooting like 40% and look at Seattle's record. Plus his D is pretty average. They then go on to claim that not only is Durant not "all that", but Atlanta's Al Horford should be MVP. For example, this article.

First of all, lets tackle these claims against Durant. He is actually shooting 42.5% now. This is higher than Lebron shot in his rookie year. No one was ever talking down on Lebron back then, and for good reason: he has blossomed into the most dangerous offensive player in the game. People would be wise to not judge players while they are still in their first year, and still teenagers. And let's look at Durant's recent month of March and early April. He is shooting 50% and consistently scoring 20+ points per game. He is already improving his shot selection and the results are impressive. He is already learning: and that's the thing about Kevin, he really wants to learn. He wants to improve. He is going to get the most out of his potential.

"But Seattle's record is pathetic!" Obviously. They gave away Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, what do you expect. With either of them Durant would be getting easier looks, and the team would be getting more wins. There's no doubt he would be consensus ROY if either of those players had stayed. However, in the long run, this move is great. Why waste time...let Durant learn how to be the primary scorer now. To shoot 42.5% and 20 PPG in your rookie year when you are 19 and drawing the opposition's best defender every night is a very good effort, to me. Watch these numbers rise in coming years, like Lebron's did. Speaking of Lebron, Durant could match him or even eclipse him offensively: he has a better jumper, and seems to be an elite Free Throw Shooter. Rarely will you find a 19 year old shoot 90% from the line. This will allow him to use his height and attack the rim with the defender scared to give up the foul. Back off him? He'll shoot that smooth mid-range jumper...you will be damned either way. Durant will be a hell of match up problem.

"He plays no D!" Well, he is learning. He actually does play D, you can tell he is trying. I've seen coach Carlesimo put him on the premier scorer on the opposition and often Durant does a good job. His length troubles shooters. He currently struggles a little with lateral movement on the quicker, smaller guards...and probably will for the remainder of his career. However, Durant is going to be useful defensively. His long arms will pick off many steals and blocks. It is no secret though, that Durant's biggest asset is his offense. And those who point out that he is 6'9 yet only averages 4.2 boards a game can be quiet...he plays SG. Sure, he is 6'9, but he is out on the perimeter. How is he supposed to grab 7+ boards per game? (Unless his name is Kidd)

Finally, no offense, but if you give Al Horford ROY you are making a big mistake. Dude seems solid. People say he is on a team making a run at the play-offs. His team is winning more than Durant's, so he must therefore get ROY. Um...ok then, how come Bogut didn't win ROY in 2005? He took the Bucks to the play-offs, while Paul couldn't get the Hornets there. Yet it was obvious Paul was a superstar in this game. It is also obvious Durant is a superstar. When it comes to the ROY award, wins shouldn't account for all that much. Of course Durant has less wins...look at the age of his teammates. Does he have a Joe Johnson, Josh Smith or Mike Bibby on his team? Nope, he has no help of that quality. Of course the Hawks are going to win more games. And let's quickly analyse the stats. Sure, he is averaging twice the rebounds of Durant. He looks like a great rebounder. But he is averaging half the points. He is averaging less steals and blocks than Durant. He is the team's 5th scoring option yet only shoots 50% under the rim. No doubt he is the second best rookie of the year. And there are a lot of good rookies this year. I seen him: he runs the floor well, shoots solid Free Throw numbers and will be a very good player. But Durant is in another class as far as I'm concerned.

I will finish my argument pointing to his game tonight against the Nuggets. 37 points? Nice. 9 assists? Word. 8 boards? Not bad. Two clutch threes (the second of which was DEEEEP) to force OT then OT2 before going on to win the game? Priceless!