Posted by Austin Tyler

We waited 5 years for a new Eminem solo album. After a series of unfortunate events in the personal life of Marshall Mathers (a failed second marriage, the loss of best friend Proof, his mother’s battle with cancer, and Stat Quo and Obie Trice’s departure from Shady Records), one of the biggest names in modern music has blessed us with….more of the same wack shit that we were sick of and hated on his last album.

I’m really disappointed because I read multiple reports that had me convinced that Eminem was not concerned with doing any records for the mainstream listeners (hard to believe) and that he was getting back to some real lyrical hip hop music. So far, “I’m Having a Relapse”, “Crack A Bottle”, and now “We Made You”–all 3 of his last comeback records have been pure gutter wackness. And I really can’t imagine ADULTS bumping this song at a club, in the car with friends, or even in an iPod! Either Eminem has lost sight of his audience, or he just flat doesn’t want to be taken seriously as a hip hop artist anymore. Don’t underestimate your fans, Em. Just because you have Dr. Dre in your corner making your beats, that doesn’t mean that hip hop heads are going to blindly flock you. Keep in mind; Dre produced songs for GWEN STEFANI a few years back. In this case, the IDEA of Eminem and Dr. Dre sounds much better than the actual results.

Last year, Vibe magazine had a reader poll set up in tourney brackets to let the public decide who in fact was “The Best Rapper Alive”, and despite the fact that Em had been unusually quiet to the point of being almost reclusive, he beat out Jay Z by a landslide of votes. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. The only thing is, now that he’s back and the whole world has been anticipating his return, does he deliver what the “Best Rapper Alive” would deliver? Obviously, it’s a matter of taste. Very questionable taste.

I feel embarrassed for 50 Cent that he has to ride Em and Dre’s coattails the next few months to get his music on the charts again. Because I know 50 doesn’t feel this new corny Eminem shit at all. Fif, just duck your head, fulfill your contract by dropping your album, and just go independent. Because sticking around this clown is not a good luck for you my dude.

Posted by Austin Tyler

The legendary troublemakers are dropping their first single for the upcoming “Blackout 2″! Peep a behind the scenes look below!

Posted by Austin Tyler

Not to be out-down by Lebron below, Dwayne Wade offensively has played better than anybody this year. Check out this shot he made against the Nets earlier this past week. Too bad it didn’t count.

Posted by Austin Tyler

He’s a pale-faced white kid from the suburbs of Philadelphia. He doesn’t really have any kind of a shoddy history as a drug dealer, gangsta, or a hustler. He isn’t hard, and he sounds too much like Eminem. This kid can’t possibly be taken seriously as a rapper…

What hasn’t already been said about 21 year-old Asher Roth? Just like many emerging artists, especially coming into the hip-hop world, Asher knows there are bound to be detractors and haters that just want to see him fail. It’s expected really. I mean, for every Eminem, Paul Wall, Beastie Boys, Brother Ali, and Alchemist, there are plenty of others that have represented poorly, making it hard for people to stomach a new MC with a light complexion. And then there’s that one sacred hip-hop rule: authenticity.

The fact of the matter is that instead of Vanilla Icing his past, he chooses to actually embrace who he is and use it to his advantage. His frat-gem “I Love College” is pretty much 2008/2009′s college party anthem right now. And although Dipset capo Jim Jones jumped on a remix of the track, I really wouldn’t hold my breath on seeing Asher Roth featured on a some street banger with Beanie Sigel or Styles P any time soon. He’s just not that type of rapper.

But, to his credit, the kid is fully aware of where he fits.
“I was always from the outside looking in,” says Roth. “Hip-hop has always been very influential in the ‘burbs, [but] it’s just a matter of where we could relate to it. You find a lot of kids that are really confused. You look at them and they’re dressed out of character. They don’t look right. I figured out, I don’t have to dress this way, but you can still love hip-hop.”

It’s this grounded approach that he has about himself and his music that I think is very commendable. And as long as he doesn’t get confused and stays true to himself, he will definitely find himself a respectable deal of success and open new doors for similar artists in the future.

Posted by Austin Tyler

No description necessary. The title says it all.

I haven’t laughed this hard in weeks!

Posted by Austin Tyler

Day 2 of Sneaker Week here at Double 7 is going strong as we continue to showcase the marriage of film and fashion with a Nike commercial directed by Guy Ritchie for the UEFA 2008 European Championship.

Posted by Austin Tyler

In this modern day era of junk-food television, marketing executives are constantly hard at work serving up memorable, but annoying ad spots to air during breaks of your favorite reality TV shows and sitcoms. Whether it’s another awful, played-out gimmick like the Geico Cavemen, or the 244,023,959th airing of the Freecreditreport.com guys, we the consumers are being fed so many stupid tidbits of useless information that our brains are slowly heading into comatose. Therefore, as smart and dignified Americans, we must assess the irreplaceable damage that has already been done to our minds. We must find a way to fight against the powers that already brainwashed most young Americans into thinking Lil Wayne is the greatest living genius of our time, or that by saying “Freetriplecreditreport.com” 3x fast people will actually remember the name of their website……WAIT.

But in the meantime, I’m actually going to look past the Geico Lizard’s painfully unfunny diatribes, as well as Charles Schwab’s customer testimonies (ie. the creepy A Scanner Darkly -esque visuals) in favor of dissing the greatest threat to our mind and hearts; the talking baby.

Ever since the emergence of the “Look Who’s Talking” movies of the 90′s, America has fallen in love with the talking baby. Sure, they’re defenseless, fat, and bald; the perfect underdog capable of earning your sympathy. And we Americans for whatever reason, LOVE to feel sorry for something. So the powers that brought you those pricelessly-contrived Emerald Nuts commercials know this full well, and have once again decided to play on your sympathies to get you exchanging stocks in a horrific financial climate with the new E-Trade commercials.

UNHH UHH! Not this unsympathetic shell of an American human. I’m not falling for that. Besides, I’ve seen much better baby thespians time and time again anyway; WITHOUT all that phony CGI. Can anyone remember Baby Bink’s brilliant performance in Baby’s Day Out? Talk about dedication, that toddler had no qualms with getting into a cage at the zoo with a 500-pound adult gorilla! Or what about Baby Geniuses? OK. HORRIBLE movie. BUT, at least the babies had more sense than to sit around in their diapers and convince you to buy something.

It isn’t that I hate babies. Nor do I fear them. Hell, I sent massive chain emails of the Dancing Baby to all friends, family, and strangers back in ’99. It’s just that these babies need to shut the f@#$ up! And until they do, I’m afraid that they just may…take over the world.

Or we’ll just see more lame commercials.

Posted by Austin Tyler

Lenovo, the company that brings you IBM’s remarkably unstylish Thinkpad notebook computers is releasing the first portable, dual-screen laptop computer; the Thinkpad W700. In addition to it’s already large (but apparently not large enough) 17-inch screen, it hosts a 10″ LCD that slides out of the primary display. This second screen isn’t ideal as a second window for gaming or watching movies, but it does work great as extra space for those IM’s with your crew, sticky-notes, and stock market updates. Most importantly, you’ll send the message to others that your paper is thick (and what’s 5 G’s anyway?) and your swag is ridiculous.

It’s not all style-over-substance though. For that $5,000, you’re getting a machine with a 2.53-GHz Core 2 Extreme and dual 200-GB hard drives. The 4 GB of RAM doesn’t hurt either. Regardless, this will definitely turn heads.