We all know this Kanye. In fact, we look forward to it. I was hoping that I would catch a classic Kanye rant when I saw him a couple of years ago. Every time this happens, we excuse this as Kanye being Kanye. I don’t. Every time he does something, whether it’s calling out the President or speaking about reconnecting with a past love, it’s done in a timed, truthful fashion that you have no choice, but to say that you respect it. Ilook forward to them because it’s raw. This newest rant wasn’t any different.

If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of passion coupled with emotion. I believe these two things are dependent upon each other and you can’t have one without the other.  By watching others exemplify this, it’s where artists find their inspiration, (and sometimes alone in a room with a bottle of alcohol). I also believe that society suppresses them out of fear. Fear that becomes inspiring and then changes the natural flow and order of things that make people comfortable. In other words, people don’t like when you break their established order.

Kanye has never been in the business of maintaining an established order. It’s the artist’s dilemma. Breaking standards guides our every thought.  It’s constantly asking themselves: what am I doing that hasn’t been done? How do most people feel about something but can’t express it? How can I spread what I think to the most amount of people? It starts with his music, which never sounds the same from each album to the next. It’s been his passion, which is what he creates, coupled with his emotion, and the answering of all these questions, that produce Kanye. And it’s amazing to watch.

For the sake of not sounding like a super-Stan, his tact can be off at moments, but his statements have always been perfection. Think about Katrina and how he said what others felt. Think about his disdain for award shows. It’s absolute faith in the purity of art.

In his latest London (and now Paris) show rants, Kanye was speaking about the need to keep the purity of the artistic mindset. Hmmm what is that? It’s not compromising. It’s doing it simply because you love it and want others to love it. It was his frustration of others trying to taint it and take advantage. If that would’ve happened, it could have been the continuation of the typical routine and coforming. It’s the thing I hate the most. It’s not a good feeling when an artist is just working for checks and feeling constrained of their full creativity.

For my last point, let’s think about emotion for a second. Think about when something hits you, but you can’t react, so you’re quiet and you hold it in. Now what do you do? Sooner or later it just becomes bottled up and thoughts become incomprehensible. So what do you do to let it out? You scream, because you can’t translate it. You scream loud and long.

Still G-Unit artist Lloyd Banks teams up with Fabolous for the first single off his upcoming mixtape V6: The Gift. A part of me feels like Lloyd won’t really flourish independently until he breaks up with G-Unit. Or maybe he’ll singlehandedly bring them back to year 2000 relevance. What do I know?

This week’s mix was created last-minute and has a summer vibe. Get in the whip and drop the top. If you don’t have a top, roll the windows down. If you don’t have a car, turn up your headphones. If you don’t have headphones, then…I give up.

Get those summer bodies ready!!!

Download: Pre-summer Mix

On Saturday night, Pretty Boy Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Pacquiao Miguel “El Anjel” Cotto fought a twelve round bout which resulted in a decision given to Mayweather.

Before this match, I must admit, I was starting to lose faith in boxing. The only two fighters worth paying an exorbitant amount for were anything involving Mayweather and Pacquiao. However, even these two prize fighters bouts were starting to become mundane. With new forms of marketing (24/7), I felt as if boxing was starting to become more Hunger Games-like, without all the killing. Then there was this fight, and for the first time in years, I started to believe in boxing again.

Floyd was typical Floyd. He stuck to his typical defensive, counter-punching style that has garnered him his 43-0 record. I haven’t watched much Cotto in the past but he was the agressor, at least in the earlier rounds against Mayweather. Cotto landed a few shots, as was evidenced by Mayweather shaking his head acknowledging that Cotto hadn’t hurt him. Out of the last three or so opponents that Mayweather has faced, I think Cotto is the one who was the most prepared, and the least scared.

The unfortunate part of this fight was that we didn’t see a knockdown, or any head snapping hits. It’s like going to watch the Spurs. You know they’re going to win, you just have to expect that you won’t see any highlight dunks.

Am I re-inspired to watch boxing again? Probably not, but I will be watching the next Mayweather and Pacquiao fights.

When you first start to like a sport it’s because of a few select, influential and superstar individuals. There’s a process to becoming a fan. First you pay attention to the star players on your favorite team and then the other contributors. When I first started to like football as a fan there are a few names that pop into my head. They are Jerry Rice, John Elway, Emmitt Smith, and Junior Seau.

As the news unfolded of Seau’s supposed suicide, I was shocked and immediately became lugubrious. As I continued to watch the news, and the testimonials from Seau’s friends and family, I realized that it confirmed what I believed all along. This was that he was a better person than a football player. This is what truly brought me into being a fan of the man. That is the truest example of a role model.

I believe that your attitude is reflected in everything you do. As I watched ESPN, I saw grown men crying as they testified of Seau’s upbeat, positive attitude not only to the game of football, but life. It made me realize that the greatest people in the world aren’t praised because of their professional accomplishments, and Junior had an all-time stat line, it’s their positivity that they emanated which gathered people to them. This also made me realize that this is how I want to be in life.

I’ve never run into Junior Seau while he graced this earth but if I would have, I would gladly shake his hand and simply say, “You’ve inspired me to be a great person.”

This video was taken during USC’s 2012 spring game a couple weeks ago.

Earlier today, G-Dep was convicted for his role in the death of John Henkel in 1993. Mr. Special Delivery himself was found guilty of second degree murder by the Supreme Criminal Court in Lower Manhattan, New York. But how did all of this come about? Interesting you ask…back in December of 2010, G-Dep walked into NYC’s 25th Precinct and confessed to a murder he committed 17-years ago. Now I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I’m all about that “the truth will set you free” life. But at the same time, confessing isn’t going to bring back the dead. I don’t know, I’m obviously torn. While it’s still unclear as to how many years he’ll face, G-Dep’s attorney Anthony Ricco says it’s possible he could serve a minimum of 15-years to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8. Ummmmm…good luck?