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I’m a bit late in posting this but…

Next year is the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower, and to celebrate its birthday the French are giving it a pretty big party hat. Or ‘observation deck’ as its being called. A ‘webbed Kevlar observation deck’ to be precise.

It’ll double the size of the deck at the top - and while some people aren’t too keen on it, don’t worry, it isn’t permanent, but will be simply bolted in place and easily removed later.

Pics…

EDIT - Turns out it won’t be getting it’s party hat… link

I know landline phones are pointless as fuck nowadays, what with everybody having one or two mobile phones… but this lego phone is awesome.

Yes, it DOES work. And it has mute and redial buttons. There’s a drawer on the side to pull out other legos, so you can start building on the phone itself. The phone has features for turning the ringer low, high, and off and a switch for Tone or Pulse dialing too.

You can pick it up for anywhere between $60-150 depending on where you look.

I absolutely love it. Bit expensive mind :/

• I’ve just finished work. That would be a good thing, but I’ve got to go back in three hours time. Yeah. Sucks huh? Another night of serving the middle-aged, intellectually challenged retards of Sunderland. It’s a tricky job, but someone’s got to do it.

• My Mrs reads this blog now – hey Amy! Yeah apparently if you google my name I’m the second entry for this website. Google’s #1 rob woolford works for a website/company under the address of woolford.co.uk. Which leaves me in the unfortunate position of being the #2 rob woolford. All this will change though, I am sure. I also have the #3 entry and the #5 I think too (for my work on the uni radio station). I’m gunning for #1 though. Watch this space…

• I was rather enjoying Soccer Saturday in my brief few hours off. Arsenal 2-0 down, and with Diaby sent off… turns out they went on to win 3-2. Grrrrrrrr. Fucking Bolton. Hope they get relegated now. Good for nothing set of bastards. That would have been Wenger’s title charge dead and buried for sure. The bottom of the table looks a lot clearer though – Derby relegated on 11 points, Fulham (24) and Bolton (26) pretty far adrift of Birmingham (30) with only 6 games left. Sunderland look safe, which is good, and I can’t see past Fulham/Bolton going down now.

• On the bright side (Arsenal winning being the gloomy side), United v Aston Villa is on the box in a minute. I don’t have a good feeling about this one, but apparently the last time they beat us was in 93/94… some 15 years ago. That’s a long ass time ago. I don’t want to do the predictions thing, I just hope our team comes out unscathed with our trip to Rome in mind on Tuesday.

• On the subject of Italian football I just read that Jose Mourinho has flown into Milan for discussions about the Internazionale job. That’s Inter Milan to you. Not bad at all. I’ve always liked Inter, and I’ve always liked Mourinho. I don’t really think Roberto Mancini has done much wrong, but whatever. Decent squad for Mourinho to inherit. Will be interesting to see what he does now that he isn’t being fed money like its air. That is, if he gets the job of course.

• I’ve been quite detached from the Basketball world this year. Focusing on my dissertation and all that. But I’ve been keeping a close eye on the standings, and New York are still doing shit. 20 wins to 52 defeats. They would be rock bottom of the Eastern conference if it weren’t for the Shaq and Dwayne Wade-less Miami, and taking the West into account New York are the 5th worst team in the whole competition. That’s 5th worst out of 30+ teams. You would have thought that the city of New York would be able to compile a much better team than that… I wanted New York to finish rock bottom in the midst of all this, just so they could secure a good draft pick… but as I’ve wrote before Isiah Thomas has already traded away the good draft picks so even if New York finished bottom they wouldn’t be getting their hands on the next LeBron or Dwayne Wade. Oh no. They’d be giving it away. So, instead, I want the Knicks to finish bottom (or thereabouts) just so that Dolan can fire Thomas’ sorry ass.

• I’ve just seen this, the Grand Theft Auto Xbox. Nice.

• In fact, GTA IV is less than a month away. Well, if we’re being exact, its out a month today! Check the official website here, the wikipedia page here and a geek’s fan site here to find out what all the fuss is about.

• This time next month I should be saying goodbye to my dissertation, and hello to the end of uni. That’s quite sad in a way, but I’ve been looking forward to leaving for a while now. I’m sick of doing everything in my spare time, sick of bringing work home with me. At least if I had a 9-5 I would be able to chill out from 5pm until the next time I’m at work. At the moment, it’s uni whichever hours of the day I need to be in, and then the added weight of having to get stuff done outside of work. And it’s been that way for three years now. I’m sick of it. I want to come home, put my feet up, watch TV, play Xbox, go for a pint and chill the fuck out. I feel extremely guilty when I do that whilst at uni (after all, it is my third year).

• Easter holidays are here. What are you doing with yours? I’m spending mine here, in the rather depressing city of Sunderland. Five of my six flat mates have gone home. And Mark, the only other one left, works 9-5 and will be going home in a week or so. The girlfriend is on holiday. I sense two or three very lonely weeks coming my way.

• I just watched Good Morning Vietnam. It made me laugh.

• Me and my good friend Lee have just started a weekly album exchange. Sort of like a book club, but he wants to hear more good rap music – and I’m the man for that job. And I want to get a rock education. Trying to learn all about a new genre is hard, especially when there’s so many albums out (I can think of 25-30 albums straight away that I would recommend to anybody wanting to get into hip hop – where do you find the time for them though?) and I can imagine that Lee has a shit load intended for my listening. The first one he’s given me is Aerosmith’s debut album. I’ve really enjoyed it, although I need to give it a few more listens to know it. The first album I gave him is Aim’s “Cold Water Music” simply because it’s what I’ve been playing a lot lately. I plan to send Nas’ “Illmatic”, Dre’s “2001”, Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” and some others his way in the next couple of weeks. It’s a great idea though. And I hope to step up my rock knowledge as the weeks go by. In a years time I should ‘know’ 50 or so seminal rock albums. Which is what I want.

• I’m also going to ask Lee to teach me the guitar. He doesn’t know that yet.

• And, in the next year or so, with less ‘home work’ in my spare time, I’m going to start learning Chinese. Although that will only last a week or so.

• After I’m done with uni (late May, early June) I’ll be completely redoing this website. I originally bought robwoolford.com to make it into an online portfolio for prospective employers. Then I just ended up using it as a blog. I need to get an online C.V. and shit up on here, because that will always look better than an e-mail or a letter. As well as that I’m going get all my photos and other shit up on here - make it more than just a blog. The blog is going to be redesigned too. I’m bored of how it looks at the moment.

And now I’ve run out of things to say.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

I probably won’t.

Several times platinum, gangster rap legend Prodigy (one half of Mobb Deep) is now blogging on the regular, and today he took a moment to address exactly what a blog is.

P.S. ANYBODY THAT GOT SOMETHING AGAINST KEEPING A BLOG, YOU SHOULD STAY FARRRRRR AWAY FROM THE FOOL AND NEVER TRUST EM’. A BLOG IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY, JUST LIKE RAP MUSIC ISN’T FOR EVERYBODY. A BLOG IS INTERNET SLANG FOR A LOG AND IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT A LOG IS—IT’S WHAT BOAT CAPTAINS WRITE AND KEEP IN ORDER TO DOCUMENT THE DAYS OF LONG VOYAGES AND TRAVELS…IT’S LIKE A DIARY. SO FOR A YOUNG, VETERAN, HARDCORE RAPPER LIKE MYSELF, THAT’S BEEN IN THE GAME FOR OVER 16 YEARS TO KEEP A BLOG ON MY OWN WEBSITE MIND YOU, IS GROUND BREAKING AND VERY INTERESTING. AND WHOEVER TELLS YOU THEY DON’T DO THE BLOG THING, THEN THAT’S THEIR CHOICE…BUT IT’S THE CHOICE OF A DINOSAUR WHO HAS LITTLE TO NO PLACE WITH THE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURE.

Yeah.

That blogging shit is gangster.

This from the same guy whos group once rapped “I’ll rock [punch] you in your face and stab your brain with your nose bone”.

Word Prodigy.

Word.

The follow up to the article below, which I wrote back in January as well.

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At the start of the year we released our shortlist of “10 to watch for in 2008″ consisting of ten artists who we believe will make big steps in hip hop in the next 365 days.

But, of course, there were some tough decision there in selectin our top 10.

Some were easier choices than others - Saigon, Papoose and Termanology are all relative no brainers. And off the back of his Hip Hop Weekly series, Crooked I, as well as Dr. Dre’s latest Aftermath protege, Bishop Lamont, were obvious favourites over on the west coast.
But, with our ‘Leaders of the New School’ show this week, we thought it give us a decent chance to introduce 10 more artists who are set to make an impact on hip hop music throughout 2008. 10 who didn’t quite make the cut for our last list.

ALI VEGAS

Ali Vegas has been in the game for a while now, plying his trade on the underground east coast scene. he first emerged in the 2000 Blaze Battle, which was a televised freestyle battle on HBO Representing Queens to the fullest. He’s been dubbed the ‘new Nas’ by a few people, but unfortuanatley he’s had a string of record label problems. Ali appeared hungry on the underground scene for years, constantly putting out new material. He’s just jumped on a track with Termanology, and he’s signed to Basketball player Lamar Odom’s “Rich Soil Entertainment” music label. He’s already recorded around 10 mixtapes and 6 music videos as he prepares his debut LP, which is slated to feature production from heavyweights Kanye West and DJ Premier, so the signs appear good for Ali Vegas. If he can sort his label problems out, and build up a bit of a buzz, he could quickly emerge as one of New York’s next big artists.

BLU

You’ll probably have heard of Blu from the duo Blu & Exile, who released one of the best albums of last year. Blu is the rapper, Exile is the DJ, and they are the one of the most hotly tipped rap acts to come out of Los Angeles since the turn of the millenium. Don’t mistake them for the gangsta-rap, Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg style combo. They’re more along the lines of the conscious Lupe Fiasco/Common type. Blu, however, has started to work on side projects and with other DJs and producers as he expands his profile. He’s been involved in the Cali underground scene for a while now, but last year’s “Below the Heavens” was quite possibly the surprise album of the year. It was the subject of hip hop message boards all around the world. Expect Blu & Exile to reemerge with more material throughout 2008. For now, check out the “Soul Amazing” video in our media section.

THE COOL KIDS

The Cool Kids are a hip hop duo from Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan. the duo consists of Antoine “Mike Rock” Reed and Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll. They’ve been an overnight sensation on Myspace, where the bulk of their material has been released, and they’ve signed a number of independent record deals already. The duo were formed in 2005, and cite Eric B. & Rakim as inspiration (which is always a good thing). Their first single, “Black Mags”, has done the rounds on MTV and the video has been banded across most hip hop websites on the net. They’re set to rock the SXSW festival this year as people continue to bump their “Totally Flossed Out EP”. They’re alternative rap at a time when Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and the likes are outselling the 50 Cent’s and Ja Rule’s of recent times, so expect The Cool Kids to be a name you see a lot in 2008.

FLO RIDA

Flo Rida, born Tramar Florida Dillard, exploded onto the charts at the back end of last year with the club anthem “Low”, featuring T-Pain and closely followed that with another high profile collabo, this time “Elevator” featuring Timbaland. It has been a quick journey to the top of the charts for the Miami born rapper, who first started to appear on the mixtape scene back in 2006. After signing to Poe Boy Entertainment in 2007, he quickly aligned himself with a string of success Florida-based rappers such as Rick Ross, Trina and Trick Daddy. After making it on to DJ Khaled’s “We The Best” album, Flo Rida then made the cut on Rick Ross’ “Speedin’” remix alongside hip hop heavyweights such as Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and Fat Joe. Whilst some artists have to wait years for their opportunity to come around, Flo Rida seized the new found publicity and quickly enlisted the help of ring tone record breaker T-Pain for his club banger “Low”, which he quickly put out for digital download. The rest, as they say, is history and he’s one of the surprise acts to arise for 2008. His debut album, “Mail on Sunday”, is due out in March and features production from will.i.am, Timbaland and J.R. Rotem as well as guest appearances from Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and Birdman.

GEMSTONES a.k.a. Gemini

You might know him as Gemini, you might know him as GemStones, or you might not know him at all. GemStones is a rapper out of Chicago signed to Lupe Fiasco’s 1st & 15th record label. Through collaborating with Mr Fiasco on both ‘Food and Liquor’ and ‘The Cool’, the rapper formerly known as Gemini, has gained a steady following and a fair share of curiosity. His debut album, ‘Troubles of the World’ is slated to arive “soon” through Lupe’s label. The Chicago emcee is known for the ability to rap at Twista-paced speeds, but also to tone it down and sing choruses as well. He has a few mixtapes out, some of which are available to download here on WorldHipHop.fm, but if not, expect to hear more collaborations with Lupe Fiasco some time soon.

GLASSES MALONE

Charles Penniman, better known as Glasses Malone or G.Malone, is another West coast rapper who could turn heads in the following year or two. He signed to Sony Records for nearly $2 million after turning down offers from Def Jam, Interscope, Atlantic and The Game’s Black Wall Street. His 2005 mixtape “White Lighting (Sticks)” sold a whopping 30,000 copies and he plans to release his debut album, “The Beach Cruiser”, some time in 2008. “Fuck Wit Me”, “Malone” and the Akon collaboration “Certified” have all been released as singles, but it seems the 29 year old LA rapper is biding his time before he throws out his first full length LP. Glasses Malone is more of a traditional West coast rapper, and if as we expect, Jay Rock, Bishop Lamont and Crooked I resurrect the west in the following year, expect Glasses Malone and some of the others on this list to tag along.

STAT QUO

Stanley ‘Stat Quo’ Benton has been signed to Shady/Aftermath since 2003. He was the second artist, after 50 Cent, to sign to Dre and Eminem’s imprint, and has been co-signed by southern legend Scarface of the Geto Boyz too. The future looked bright for Stat way back in 2003, but 5 years on we’re yet to see the ‘Statlanta’ album we were promised. The southern rapper was signed at a time when Southern hip hop was on the up, and if he’s not careful, will be released while that subgenre is on the decline. Videos and singles have come and gone, and the talent is clearly there, but the record label’s motivation to get his material out there is definitely questionable. Stat is no dummy though. The Atlanta, Georgia born rapper has a degree in international business to his name, but some might be wondering if signing to Shady/Aftermath was the right bit of business for him after all. If he drops his debut in 2008, some 6 years after signing, expect him to light up Southern hip hop.

WALE

Wale, pronounched Wha-Lay, is an emerging artist out of Washington D.C. and he’s been making small moves in hip hop for a few years now. His first single, “Dig Dug”, was the most requested single of all time by DC’s biggest hip hop station. He performed at the MTV 2007 Video Music Awards with Mark Ronson, and has been co-signed by the likes of Lil Wayne, Bun B and Rhymefest. After numerous features in XXL, The Source, URB and tonnes of hip hop websites, it looks like 2008 is going to be Wale’s year. He’s recorded tracks with the three artists we just mentioned, and he’s going into the studio with The Roots at the moment for a guest spot on their forthcoming album Rising Down. The bidding war for his distribution deal must surely be underway, and we’ve no doubts that the “Nike Boots” star is sat back in his DC home watching the offers roll in. Expect big things from this man in 2008.

WIZ KHALIFA

Wiz Khalifa is doing for Pittsburgh what Wale is doing for DC. That is leading the movement of hip hop right now. Wiz has been featured in XXL, Rolling Stone and Vibe in recent times - as well as recording several mixtapes, one of which was hosted by the world famous DJ Green Lantern. As he readies his full length studio debut under Warner Brothers Records, expect this promising young artist to drop The Steel City’s finest hip hop album for some time. He’s already performed alongside Ghostface, Lupe Fiasco and Little Brother, so he has already proven he can hold is own, but the test will come in creatng a buzz in an already fiercely competitive hip hop market. Our money is on this boy dropping a seriously good album by the end of ‘08 though. You can download his ‘Prince of the City 2′ mixtape right here in our media section.

YA BOY

The Game’s Black Wall Street record label seems to have unearthed a couple of gems from the West Coast - Ya Boy is one, Juice and Clyde Carson are others - and all of the aforementioned appear to have both crossover appeal from the underground & the streets to the mainstream and back again. Whether they will get the promotion or the funding they need as they ply their trade beneath Cali emcee The Game, well that’s another thing, but Ya Boy is one of the more promising offerings. He’s been down with The Game ever since Black Wall Street was created, and his versatile spitting ability makes him a standout. He has the ability to paint vivid pictures, whilst also throwing out punchline after punchline. He’s already put out a number of quality mixtapes, one of which “Optimus Rime” you can download here on the website, and having released his first single “Holla at Ya Boy” (produced by Cool & Dre) it looks like the Bay Area MC is going to carry on working the mixtape curcuit until he gains a nation wide buzz.

—

Wale, Wiz Khalifa, The Cool Kids, Flo Rida and Blu (of Blu & Exile) look like they’re going to come good.

Certainly doing better than the first list of mine! Wale’s just jumped on the new Roots album, The Cool Kids rocked the SXSW festival, Flo Rida was #1 for like 10 weeks in the U.S. and every man and his dog was dick riding the Blu/Exile album last year.

An article I wrote for www.worldhiphop.fm way back in January on the next generation of rappers… trying to disassociate the genre with shit like Souljah Boy…

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“10 to watch for in 2008″

It’s a new day, and a new year, so it seems like a good time to look ahead at the new artists who are going to dominate 2008. 2007 saw MIMS come in to the limelight for a while, and how can we forget Soulja Boy? But who’s got next? Some of the guys on this list you may have heard of, some you may not have, however one thing’s for sure - the buzz and expectation that surrounds each and every one of them is huge. Signed to multi million dollar deals and simply waiting for the right opportunity to launch their albums, here are ten emcees that we think will have huge succcess in 2008…

BISHOP LAMONT

Born Philip Martin on October 31st, 1978. Better known as Bishop Lamont, and as the latest protege of West Coast legend Dr. Dre. Bishop Lamont hails from Inglewood, California and met Dre whilst on the set of The Game’s music video “Dreams”. Dr. Dre signed Lamont back in 2005, just as the he’d found his way into The Source’s Unsigned Hype section. Just as any Aftermath signee will tell you, the buzz and anticipation that follows is huge, and Lamont quickly found himself on the soundtracks of Madden, NBA Live and NFL Street. He featured heavily on Warren G’s “In The Mid-Nite Hour” album as well as putting out a well received series of mixtapes called “Who I Gotta Kill to Get a Record Deal”. It is thought that Bishop Lamont will be one of the main artists on Dre’s “Detox” LP when it eventually hits the stores, but until then Martin is working on his debut album “The Reformation”. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent are all expected to feature - as well as production from Dre (of course), DJ Premier, Scott Storch, The RZA, Pete Rock and others. “The Reformation” has no solid release date as of yet, but expect to see it mid to late 2008.

CROOKED I

Starting to become known as “The Hip Hop Weekly” guy, Crooked I has been in the hip hop business for a long ass time. Since 1995 to be exact. He’s been signed to DPG Records with Snoop, he’s been signed to Death Row records with Tupac and he nearly found his way onto Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint around the same time “2001″ and “The Marshall Mathers LP” came around. He had two solo albums recorded during that time, but neither saw the light of day, and it wasn’t until he formed Dynasty Entertainment in 2004 that it looked like Crooked I would get his career back on track. The West Coast artist really came into the spotlight in 2007 with his “Hip Hop Weekly” series, recording a new topical freestyle on a weekly basis. All those freestyles are available for free, here. Crooked I now seems set to make a big impact on hip hop, particularly in the West Coast, as he readies his debut album some 13 years after he came into the game. “B.O.S.S. (Beginning of Something Serious” will be released some time in 2008 and features the track “N.W.A. (New West Anthem)”.

GUILTY SIMPSON

A favourite of the late, great J. Dilla, Guilty Simpson seemed to come out of nowhere in 2007. After a guest spot on Black Milk’s “Sound the Alarm” as well as verses on J. Dilla, Jaylib, Peanut Butter Wolf and Percee P tracks, Guilty Simpson is now being talked about as one of the most promising rappers in hip hop. Guilt hails from Detroit and is signed to Stones Throw Records, which has a reputation for low profile artists with real critical acclaim. Simpson is currently hard at work on his debut album “Ode to the Ghetto” which features production from Mr. Porter, J. Dilla, Madlib, Oh No and Jake One. His latest mixtape, “Stray Bullets”, is available on the Download section of this website completely free. While Guilt is unlikely to take the charts and MTV by storm, he is proving to become a real force to be reckoned with and his debut album “Ode to the Ghetto” promises to be one of the better releases in 2008.

JAY ROCK

Another West Coast artist, Jay Rock was born in Watts, California’s notorious Nickerson Gardens Projects. He’s earned a deal with industry powerhouse Warner Bros. Records which also home to artists like Lil Jon and Talib Kweli. Jay has rose to superstardom on the internet, through his “Watts Finest” mixtape series and a video for his banging track “Lift Me Up”. While the media buzz surrounding Jay Rock seems significantly less than the other artists on our 10 to watch for list, he is starting to appear in various magazines, and he recently collaborated with high profile West coasters The Game & E-40. His website, topdawgprodcutions.com, promises that his full length LP will be released ‘real soon’, but if you want to sample some of his material, check out his “No Sleep Til NYC” mixtape on our Downloads section or check out the video for “Lift Me Up” in our Media section.

JOE BUDDEN

It seems strange to be talking about Joe Budden as a promising rapper when he raided the charts for the first time back in 2003. Most people will remember Budden for his club tracks “Pump It Up” and “Fire”, but the New Jersey rapper has been on a somewhat frustrating journey since his self titled debut shifted half a million copies five years ago. Def Jam, where Joe Budden was signed to until recently, were reluctant to put out his sophomore record for various reasons. Some cite a falling out with label boss Jay-Z, others believe disappointing sales following a lot of promotion led to the fall out. Whatever the reason, Budden started to release his “Mood Muzik” mixtape series on the Internet and the music showed a more emotional and personal side to Budden. Mood Muzik 2, released in 2005, was a huge success and Jumpoff Joe has literally had the Internet following his every move ever since. Now looking for a new home to resurrect his career, it is safe to say that if Internet buzz is anything to go by, Joe is one of the biggest rappers out at the moment. Look out for his sophomore album “Padded Room” coming in summer ‘08.

JOELL ORTIZ

“The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)” was one of the best albums out in ‘07, put out on Koch Records by Joell Ortiz while he waits to ready a major label with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint. While doubts surface about his situation over at Aftermath/Interscope, Ortiz’s talents remain unquestioned. XXL recently featured Joell in their “Leaders of the New School” article, and the Brooklyn born rapper has also collaborated with hip hop legends KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G. Rap in recent months. Joell passed on both an academic and basketball scholarship when he was on 17, ten years on he looks set to be one of the hip hop’s rising stars over the next few years. Ortiz won the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earnt his song “Mean Business” a place on NBA Live 2005. However, it was his signing to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath that really made people’s ears prick up. Whether Ortiz continues to put out music on Koch or whether it’s on Aftermath, 2008 should see more dope hip hop coming from the Puerto Rican rapper.

PAPOOSE

Papoose, born Shamele Mackie, has long been talked about as the heir to thrown of “King of New York”. Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Pap has been putting out mixtapes frequently since 2004. You might recognise him as the guy on Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It” remix, but the truth is that Papoose has bullied his way into the rap game by dominating the mixtape scene. Using DJ Kay Slay as his promotional tool, Pap signed a $1.5 million record deal with Jive records back in 2006. Tracks like “Alphabetical Slaughter” and “Change Gon Come”, a song dealing with the murder of Sean Bell, have led people to describe Mackie as the future of hip hop. His debut album, “The Nacirema Dream”, was expected in 2007 but it seems almost certain that it will drop some time in 2008.

SAIGON

Whether you know him as Saigon or Saigiddy or The Yardfather or that dude signed to Just Blaze’s record label, what you will know is that Saigon means business. His debut album, “The Greatest Story Never Told” has been pushed back so many times that Sai nearly retired, but thankfully the Brooklyn born emcee is going to endure the label wrangles and hopefully have “TGSNT” in stores some time in 2008. Just Blaze and Saigon ensure us that the album is a wrap, and includes 13 guest appearances - all of whom are ‘legends’. Tracks like “Come On Baby” and “Pain In My Life” have been hugely successful, and the videos for both tracks are available here on the website. You’ll be sure to hear a lot of Saigon on our shows, and it goes without saying that if “TGSNT” drops in 2008 it will surely be a contender for album of the year.

TERMANOLOGY

Termanology is a half Puerto Rican, half French rapper from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Term exploded onto the hip hop scene with his DJ Premier produced-track “Watch How It Go Down” in the rear of 2006. What followed were a string of collaborations with artists such as Nas, Royce Da 5′9″, Papoose, M.O.P. and Terror Squad. Better still, he continued to work with DJ Premier, and the 25 year-old emcee recently featured on Statik Selektah’s “Spell My Name Right” album. Termanology has gained a small underground buzz with his “Hood Politics” mixtape series, and he’s currently label shopping to find a home that best suits his needs. If the Massachussetts rapper secures more Premo beats on his album and continues his high profile collaborations then he really is going to be looking at a contender for album of the year 2008. Check out the video for “So Amazing” in our Media section to see what all the fuss is about.

UNCLE MURDA

The buzz around Brooklyn-born Uncle Murda seems to have died down in recent months, but the gangster rapper was for a short while considered to be the next big thing in New York hip hop. Often considered “too hard for hip hop” such is his lyrical content, Uncle Murda has been involved in a number of altercations, including one high profile incident with Papoose and his entourage. Unc recently got a guest spot with Fabolous and Jay-Z on the track “Brooklyn”, and while he continues to put out mixtapes, he is also preparing to put out a debut LP. If you’re a fan of NY hip hop, gangster hip hop and the hard hitting lyrics of groups like D-Block then check out Uncle Murda. With a bit of label backing Uncle Murda could be looking forward to a good 2008.

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I’m not saying it’s a good article, but seeing as I write mostly about hip hop and football here I figure there was no harm in putting it up.

I wrote this two or three months ago and I’m still waiting on one of these three to come out with a damn album and prove me right. My money’s on Saigon and Termanology first and foremost.

Apparently, in training the other day, Capello questioned why the England players are unable to take their Premiership/training displays out onto the pitch with them when they represent their country.

I imagine that tonight was a fine example of what he meant.

Despite looking fairly organised at the back, and relatively safe other than David James’ customary international moment of madness, England were the same side that we’ve known for as long as I can remember now - dull, lifeless and uninspiring.

Lacking any penetration whatsoever.

Many were quick to jump on the Capello bandwagon as we edged a 2-1 draw against that all-star team Switzerland. Sense the sarcasm. But Capello was always going to be judged by tonight’s game, his first against top level opposition. And, it has to be said, top level opposition missing their most influential players - Henry, Benzema and Vieira to name just a few.

So I think it’s fair to, again, be disappointed with the dismal performance of the England players in the Stade de France tonight. With Barry and Hargreaves in the middle of the park… Rooney, Gerrard, Beckham and Joe Cole should have been able to go forward relentlessly and cause the French problems, safe in the knowledge that Barry/Hargreaves would be waiting in the wings to break up play as soon as France regained possession. Barry and Hargreaves, to be fair to them, kept the French pretty quiet.

What happened in the final third, for me, was very concerning.

England simply didn’t move the ball fast enough. They couldn’t create chances because they simply took too long in possession, and as soon as they thought they had something, France had already shifted their shape to deal with it. I lost count of the amount of times that England played the ball out to the full backs only for two or three France players to surround all the full back’s short passing options. Yes, France are one of the better international teams in the world, but England are supposed to be in that bracket too, and thus should be causing far more problems than they actually did.

I don’t remember a single incisive move from England’s game tonight. When Owen/Crouch came on they did absolutely nothing. Downing looked like he was aiming his crosses for Coupet’s hands, and Bentley didn’t seem to know what to do against Abidal. In the first half, Joe Cole looked a little more promising, but the French defence seemed more than comfortable with him. Gerrard and Beckham created little, and Rooney struggled up front on his own.

In fact, at times the decisions of England players seemed either routine or desperate rather than creative or sensible. Take Downing for example - rather than slip the ball back to the left back, or inside to a centre mid, he spent most of the game throwing a weak cross into the French box for Owen/Crouch, which not once from my memory registered on an England forehead. That kind of unintelligible play was on show throughout the whole team tonight, and it’s no wonder playing like that that this crop of England players struggled to ease past Croatia and Israel for European Qualification.

All in all, a poor, poor performance from England. Defensively we were sound, and if it hadn’t been for another David James howler on the international scene, we’d probably be talking about this as a bore draw, but even then we wouldn’t be escaping the fact that England struggled to create any concrete chances, or sustain any pressure on a team that are statistically not too far ahead of us - but a team who never had to leave second or third gear to win tonight.

I don’t know why I bother watching England y’know. I can’t remember the last time I walked out of a bar, or turned off the TV, safe in the knowledge that England had given me a thrilling or satisfying game of football.

A great day for United fans.

We ease past a lifeless Liverpool, and Arsenal faulter. That’s five games for them now without a victory, and with fixtures coming against United and Liverpool you would have to say that the title is beyond them. After struggling to beat Middlesbrough and Villa, I can’t see them travelling to Old Trafford and a wounded Liverpool and scoring key victories. I really don’t.

Chelsea on the other hand have a much easier run in. They’re to entertain Man Utd, who haven’t won at Stamford Bridge for quite some time now. They’re trickiest ties lie away at Everton and Man City, but let’s be honest, a Championship winning team will win at those grounds regardless. We can’t write them off yet - for me they’re definitely realistic contenders. Their form since the turn of the year has been exceptional.

As for my beloved Man Utd. We host Arsenal soon, and then travel to Stamford Bridge. Other than that, we’ve got a tricky tie away at Blackburn and we host Villa next week. Three victories out of those four games and I think we’ll win the title.

I had a feeling yesterday would run as smoothly as it did. I had already guessed at 2-0 or 3-2 (if we weren’t up to defending) but Liverpool looked out of their element almost straight away. United dominated possession and passed the ball around with relative ease. The scousers never quite got to grips with Ronaldo, and they let Rooney drop into midfield or onto the flanks whenever he wanted to - and as a result he set up the cross for Wes Brown’s first goal. There was no going back from there.

Much will be made of Mascherano’s sending off. “The ref ruined the game” I’ve heard some people say. No, Mascherano ruined it for himself. After a bookable offence, he committed two or three more fouls, and then had the cheek to sprint over to the referee to complain about something that had already seen Fernando Torres booked. How did he think that was going to end? I’m a fan of Mascherano, but for a player of his calibre and experience he has no one to blame but himself.

United were brilliant yesterday. Nani came on and looked very, very good - his goal proving that he has the potential to win games ala Ronaldo - but other than Tottenham we’re yet to see him do it single handedly.

I was pretty happy for Cristiano to get on the score sheet yesterday. A lot of the pre match talk was about how he’s failed to score against Liverpool and Chelsea, and how he needs to step up in the big games. Well yesterday the Portuguese winger could have had two or three, before heading in from a corner. Now hopefully people will stop talking about how he hasn’t scored in these types of games.

There’s a lot of positives United can take out of yesterday’s win. We’re converting chances again (we’ve struggled with that as of late) and we didn’t even have to get into 5th gear. What will be interesting to see is if this leads to complacency or more of the same when we come to play Roma.

I just completed the BBC’s “predictor” for the remaining Premiership fixtures, and here’s the final Premiership table that I got back:

As a United fan, I tried not to be too biased, and I had us drawing away to Chelsea and Blackburn, but scoring key home victories over Arsenal and Liverpool (today). Those four games I think are the trickiest still to come from our last eight.

I’ve got Arsenal and Chelsea neck and neck for 2^nd and 3^rd, and Liverpool to pip Everton to fourth place on goal difference. Pompey to get the other European place with Blackburn, Villa and Man City just missing out. Tottenham make a late surge up the table, but are ultimately too far off right now to even think about anything other than a top table finish (at best).

I’ve been a little harsh on West Ham, Middlesbrough & Newcastle by the looks of things – adjudging them all to pick up less than 10 points in their remaining games. That’s probably not going to be the case. I’ve got Sunderland finishing ahead of North East rivals Middlesbrough and Newcastle, but I would be surprised if that were the case. Newcastle’s form certainly suggests that, with one win in ten, I might not be too far off, but I’m sure they’ll amass more points in the coming games. Certainly more than 34 in total (which is what I’ve got them down for, I think they’re on 30 at the moment).

Other than that I think it’s pretty accurate. I said at the start of the season three of Derby, Birmingham, Fulham and Bolton will go down. I banded Wigan’s name around their too, so that looks pretty accurate to me.

Predictions of note for the remainder of the season…

Today:

United to beat Liverpool 2-0 at Old Trafford, with Chelsea and Arsenal drawing 1-1.

Next weekend:

Man Utd pick up another 2-0 home victory against Aston Villa, Arsenal win away at Bolton and Sunderland secure a vital home win against West Ham. Derby manage a home draw against lowly Fulham. The Merseyside derby ends in a 2-2 draw, and Tottenham/Chelsea both score easy victories against M’brough and Newcastle respectively.

First weekend of April:

Arsenal pip Liverpool to a 1-0 win, Chelsea win away at Man City and Sunderland ride a bit of form and win away against Fulham. United trounce Middlesbrough 4-1, and it’s a bad day for the bottom clubs as Bolton, Derby and Birmingham are all comprehensively beat.

April 12/13^th:

Man United score a vital 1-0 home win against Arsenal, and increase the gap at the top of the league. Chelsea thrash Wigan 4-0 and Liverpool edge Blackburn 2-1. Bolton get a freak victory against West Ham 1-0 to dig themselves out of the relegation zone, but Fulham, Newcastle, Derby Birmingham and Sunderland all fail to pick up points.

April 19^th/20^th:

Sunderland v Newcastle ends in a 2-2 draw, as does Man City v Pompey. The Birmingham derby ends with a 1-0 Villa win. Man United draw away to Blackburn, as do Liverpool at Fulham, but Chelsea and Arsenal both pick up comfortable away wins at Everton and Reading respectively. Elsewhere, West Ham beat Derby 2-0, and Tottenham win 3-0 on their travels at Wigan.

The weekend after that:

Man United draw away at Chelsea, and Arsenal thrash Derby 3-0 to put pressure back on United at the top of the table. Liverpool win, as do Tottenham, Everton and Blackburn. At the bottom of the table, Reading pick up points, but Birmingham, Fulham, Bolton and Newcastle all fail to win. Sunderland v Middlesbrough ends in a 1-1 stalemate.

Moving in to the penultimate weekend:

Arsenal get a 2-1 home win against Everton. Chelsea win 1-0 in Newcastle and Liverpool score a 2-1 victory against Man City. The pressure would be on United, but they brush West Ham aside 3-0. Sunderland get an important 1-0 away win at Bolton, and Fulham blaze Birmingham 3-0. Derby, Wigan, Middlesbrough and Newcastle all lose too.

Last day of the season:

Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal all score victories. Chelsea 3-0 at home to Bolton, United 3-0 at Wigan and Arsenal 2-1 at Sunderland. Liverpool lose in a 4-3 thriller to Tottenham, and Derby pick up a 2-1 win at home to Reading to send them down with a bit of pride. There are draws between West Ham/Aston Villa and Middlesbrough/Man City. Birmingham, who lead Blackburn for the majority of the game and look like they will stay up on goal difference, lose 3-2 and are promptly relegated. Everton beat Newcastle 1-0, but fail to qualify for the Champions League on goal difference, and Pompey beat Fulham 2-0 to secure a UEFA cup spot.

And that’s that.  Today in particular, I’m feeling either a 2-0 or 3-2 win for United against Liverpool. Goals for Rooney and Ronaldo. As for Chelsea/Arsenal… a fiery 1-1 draw with yellow cards a plenty. Adebayor to break his scoring drought, and Ballack to score for the Russians. Or atleast that’s what I’m wanting to happen.

Just seen this on High Fidelity (film with John Cusack).

If you haven’t seen that film, basically John Cusack makes “Top 5…”s pretty much all the way through the film. Most centrally, his “Top 5 break ups”, but other things like “Top 5 funeral songs” creep in to the film too.

One that got me thinking was his “Top 5 dream jobs” which he all managed to fit in as a sort of career.

So, in a High Fidelity style-y… “Top 5 Dream Jobs”.

Sports Journalist (2008-2018)

After deciding to settle in Sunderland at the age of 21, I start writing freelance, but am recruited by either The Guardian, The Times or a well paid website to cover international leagues outside of England. This would see me doing a lot of travelling and attending faraway matches on special occasions – random derbies in Argentina, relegation battles in Eastern Europe and lots of stops in Brazil. Tim Vickery does something similar on the BBC’s website, and I absolutely love it.

After five or more years of doing this, I move to The New York Times (or some New York based website/publication) to help with their ‘Soccer’ coverage, including reporting of America, The Premiership and yet more random domestic leagues. This isn’t particularly well paid, but it bases me in the Big Apple and sees me free to cover as much global football as possible.

Oh, and ummm, this also doubles up as commentary too. On a minor scale though.

Radio Station DJ, New York (2018-2025)

Now that I’m based in New York, I decide to pursue my love of hip hop and apply to various hip hop radio stations. I don’t become the next Funkmaster Flex or Tim Westwood. Instead, I score a stupidly late show on Hot 97 (or similar) where commercial hip hop isn’t a must, and I’m free to play the best hip hop available – both past and present. The show is only on a couple of times a week, and I don’t gain huge notoriety, but I earn a small fortune DJing all over NYC and the surrounding area, whilst still reporting on the football in a part-time position.

It’s not that inconceivable. Colin Murray did something similar with BBC Radio 1, then to sports reporting and sports talk shows.

Travel Writer, Worldwide (2025-2030)

After a successful period on the radio, and having enjoyed travel so much in my earlier days as a journalist, I decide to travel again. By this point I will have been stationary in New York for nearly 10 years, and I’ll be late 30s.

At this point I write a well received travel website. You know, because I’m such a good writer by this point (haha). But I also branch off to a more travel-related job in the media. It’s 20 years in the future, so it’s hard to know what exactly that would be, but I envisage something along the lines of a video-blog or a video-podcast about different cities around the world. A dedicated team would visit all the corners of to bring all these cities and wonders of the world to the public. But, they would also be guides, so we would compile places to stay, how to travel, interviews with locals and all that garbage… I don’t know the details… but it would be a hit on the net and make us all a small fortune.

The best part though is that the team would all hit the road together and we’d stop in each location for a week. We’d work, of course, but in our spare time we’d get to follow our personal interests in these places. 5 years, (52 weeks x 5) spending a week in a new place. Shit, that’s 200+ cities or countries I’d get to visit… a definite dream come true!

Bar owner/manager, Various places (2030-2035)

Having travelled for so long, I fall in love with a number of cities and places.

I would be 50 years old by this point, and at that age there’s only so much you can do whilst you travel, so I decide to open a bar in some quiet corner of the world. South Africa? Australia? Brazil? Argentina? … who knows. Somewhere nice, with a lot of sun to keep the Mrs happy, and somewhere nice for the hypothetical children to spend their teens.

The bar is a success, and I’m able to open a couple more in some other lovely destinations.

And therein lies a family business. Hoorah! A chain of low key bars/pubs in exotic locations. Holiday homes for all of the family, but a nice stress-free way to retire I think!

York City Chairman, York (2035 onwards)

After galavanting across the world, writing almost non-stop for the previous 30 years… I decide it is time to get back involved with my first love – football. I’ve never been any good at playing, and by this time I’m too old, so I look to get involved on the executive side.

York City are a club who’ve never really been successful. They’re currently outside the top 92 clubs in the country, but the city deserves a club that matches its beauty.

The club are still nowhere special when I miraculously manage to buy them, but as this is my dream, I somehow manage to set up a structure at the club that sees them progress and work their way up the leagues towards the top few tiers. Premiership is nice in the dream, but I’d be happy with any of the top few tiers.

With ‘chairman’ being such a loose role, I can still run the aforementioned worldwide bars, amongst other things… but relocating back to York is something I’ve always expected to do in later life.

Anyway, the club’s stadium expands under my reign, as does the fan base, and the club are a consistent, respected part of the football league for as long as I’m alive.

So… New York Times, Hot 97, worldwide travel, bars and York City Chairman. Hey, it’s my dream, why the hell not?!?

What are yours?