Directed by RONIN / Designed by JOHN
Courtesy of Hotmop Films 2011

Off T.Shirt's (@sweatshirt) I Should Just Chill album available here or tshirt.bandcamp.com

COMING SOON.

This seems like a great contest and I could use the exposure. Fuck a billboard hit, I want a billboard...I'm saying. It's a one-click vote thing that pops up right here. 5 seconds of your time for a good cause.

Oh boy. New Pirelli. Mario Sorrenti, Kate Moss, others. Whoa. December 6th.

Bit more of a preview here.

Fucking incredible. Nike is killing me lately with these seamless joints and I've yet to see this grey suede one. It's just so nice.

I'm not sure when or where this specific pair is at the moment but my guess would be to stay updated on Nike.com and make regular visits to 21 Mercer if you're in the NYC area like yours truly. I shall be there every week till the day I die.

This looks super interesting. Nice to see Pharrell out on the streets doing some good, bringing light to something so important as a whole city of people were affected earlier this year.

Maaaaaaaaaaaan. Wayne murks this fucking guest verse. Spitta sounds like a bubbling fool when compared to a professional. Yikes. Nice to see them put all the past and weirdness behind them though.

Download Smoke Sumthin - Curren$y feat. Lil Wayne (NR link)

Biggest pop star in the world looking like a dirty craigslist hooker. Wow. The Polaroid outtakes are taken by photography legend Nobuyoshi Araki. Google image that son of a bitch. He makes Terry Richardson shots look like high school yearbook shit.

*Might be time to put those Lady Gaga has a dick rumors to sleep.

My best friend Ronin took this photo yesterday while doing some work near the site. I live in New York and I'm downtown almost every day of my life and I had no idea there was this much of the new tower erected already. That's something. Really strong photo.

God, I love this bitch.

10 year ago today. So fucking sad. Gorgeous, super talented and gone in an instant. RIP, babygirl.

Guess what I'll be rocking this fall? Shout to my guy who cannot be named for the hook up. New anti-fatigue comfort technology and flexible footbed. Excited for the cold...

By the way, Will Yan did a whole project surrounding the release of these. Check it here.

Unfortunately for the nigga Weezy, this entire thing leaked last night. There was a lot of buzz around a particular "Jay-Z diss" but it's pretty much nothing and everyone is going nuts. I took a listen to the album from start to finish on my way home last night and I just wanted to post my favorite cut of the moment, rather than add to the ridiculous hype. I'm hoping people still go out this coming Tuesday and support what I think is a real solid effort of an album. Wayne is so fucking entertaining.

(Just a stream, for now. Hulkshare's gonna remove it soon anyway)

This is doooope. Every now and then a brand or someone will do something I'm so mad I didn't think of first. This is one of those moments.

Mothafucking Jay-Z says it and you see it. I mean, in all actuality guys at Hypebeast have been posting Hublots for years now. I've always liked them and respected their craftsmanship but as far as design-wise, they're just too over the top for my taste. This one is an exception. Just gorgeous. More here.

Named the “Chukker Bang,” this limited timepiece is developed alongside Hublot brand ambassador and world renowned polo player Facundo Pieres. The new model is based on the brand’s signature Big Bang model that features lavish technical detailing, sophisticated leather strap, “Chukker Bang” engraving at the caseback, and a special 7 minute and 30 second counter which reflects chukka, or the length of one period of play in a polo match. The watch is available either in a titanium version or in a more glamorous version with a diamond-set grille.

Things are mooooving. UK music newspaper The Stool Pigeon featured the kid in their new issue out now on the streets overseas. I'm still waiting of my physical copies but they just put it up online. I don't know how I feel about the overall tone of the piece but it's still appreciated. You be the judge.

Read here.

*Once again, shout to Andy J. Scott for the great photos shot in LA.

I don't like how it's an unofficial image they used but I'm still holding out faith that Elliott Wilson brought it home inside. That tag line, Watch The Throne is the most important album in Hip-Hop history. And we can prove it! is gangster, haha. We'll keep you in the loop once some more info drops. Hits stands September 6th.

Amazing visual and song. Just wow.

*Wait till you see what me, Ronin & Stephen have cooking.

Wow. I'm hooked. I'm so into the new Vac Tech models I can't even breathe. There's a few other models but they mean nothing to me so they're not going up.

Slowly die a sexy death for close to 7 minutes if you have the stomach for it. I'm not sure how many or who many these Weeknd kids are but they got a whole lot of attention being associated with Drizzy Drake. Here he is on one of the tracks off a new mixtape that dropped like an hour ago.

Download The Zone - The Weeknd feat. Drake


*Shout out NR for clean links and yeah.

I don't really dig this all that much personally but I respect almost everything about it. I think the video is cool, the song, the artwork etc. The fact the shit means something to the kid and all that. Good stuff. Debut album, Blue Slide Park coming in November.

*Donald Trump cosigns. Kind of ridiculous.

A beautiful photo by Kai z. Feng for the simple enough reason I love to inject beauty in the middle of a shitty rap blog. Some more from the shoot here.

Shit is tough. No doubt about it. Ye' is my favorite at this point. Pusha doing real good.

Download Amen - Pusha feat. Kanye West & Young Jeezy

This video makes me sad. I don't even wanna talk about it.

Game says real ass shit on this. Great wordplay and all. The much delayed Red Album is finally dropping on August 23rd from what I hear. I'm not sure why but I want this nigga to win.

*I normally don't post joints until the CDQ's drop but I can't wait on this and I think you should be fucking with it now.

Download Born In The Trap - The Game (Produced by DJ Premier)


*Bonus* Download the great, Good Girls Gone Bad (Courtesy of Lowkey)


*Game's on fire.

This kid isn't playing around. He's corny as fuck with the slowed down voice and Halloween mask but I gotta admit, he's pretty effective. We had a theory that the work was a whole big ploy to bring attention to the brands and actually sanctioned but I don't know at this point.

These are kind of ill. Happy for Spitta on the new endeavors. Diamond Supply Co. took the classic silhouette and slightly upgraded it to feature leather panels, a Diamond logo tongue and an all-over weed leaf print. Black, white or green. High or low, though I'm guessing you'll be high either way.

More looks from Highsnobiety here.

I'm fucking with this. Something special about it. Kid's been getting a lot of cosigns as of late and I can see why. Video directed by Abteen Bagheri.

Pretty cool. Big hook by the kid Drizz. Wayne on that Wayne shit. Produced by T-Minus. Tha Carter IV drops August 29th, 2011.

Download She Will - Lil Wayne feat. Drake (YK2 link)

Video of the year. Hov looks half his age. Fucking awesome, so much fun.

The vehicle used in this visual will be offered up for auction. Proceeds will be donated towards the East African Drought Disaster.

This is some in-depth shit. Thank you goes to the director of TheSoullective for reaching out last month before I went to LA. I've never done a song breakdown like that before either so it took a minute.

One of the main reasons I gravitated towards your music is because you have this raw style that reminds me of early 90s, New York hip hop. I immediately think of Wu Tang, Mobb Deep and Nasty Nas when I hear you. Why do you think that New York has gotten away from that style of rap?

Thanks for the big comparisons. Honestly, it’s just a different world. It’s literally not the same New York it was in the 90’s. I’m not mad at it. We had that and now there’s all this. If you’re lucky enough to have made it through with some great memories of how it used to be then sweet, but we’re making some brand new great memories now. I think rappers getting away from that raw sound you talk about is merely due to the music they stopped listening to. The parties they stopped going to, the people they stopped hanging around. Everything around you creeps into the sound and song content. Believe me there’s still a lot of “raw hip-hop” being made, it’s just terrible. Sure, Jay isn’t telling Reasonable Doubt stories anymore but I think most of the music he’s making now is fucking incredible. True artists never stay the same. I have no gripes with where anything’s gone, just the labels people use to describe something they don’t understand.

Interview + Art Bully (lyrics, breakdown) (Separate, direct links)

Photo by Andy J. Scott