I just wanna give props to the NZ Sevens team for winning their 7th tournament in a row last night at the Hong Kong 7s. After we had a rough patch two seasons ago Gordon Tietjens has got the team back to its best. I dunno how he does it, but he must have the meanest eye for talent, especially when you consider the kind of players he’s helped mould in the past - Cullen, Lomu, Ai’i, So’oialo, Rokocoko, Messam, Masoe, Tuitavake. Now we’ve got guys like DJ Forbes, Alfred Pelenise (although not in Hong Kong) and Victor Vito on the come up. Shot boys on the win.

Now if the Warriors win tonight, my week at work will be a lot less of a pain in my life. *prays Vatuvei scores more tries than he lets in* Oh and how’s Israel Folau leaving the Melbourne Storm to play for the Broncos next season, holy heck.

Sneaker collector or not, you cannot deny that the Air Jordan is one of the most recognised shoes worldwide.

I stumbled upon this interview with the guy behind the designs of various Jordans, Tinker Hatfield. If you’ve ever wondered how much input MJ really has with the designs then this is for you.

Incredible to think that a lawnmower inspired one of the iconic pairs in the series. Phil, this is for you.

I was watching the new Ill Semantics video (posted below) the other day and something about it seemed real familiar. After talking with a friend of mine we realised it was just like a kids show, but neither of us could fully remember specific details about it. After some Youtubing though we had great success and the memories of him and other Sesame Street characters/regular features flooded back. Man I’m on my TV nostalgia buzz today.

Ill Semantics feat. Adeaze - Take It Slow:

The inspiration:

Did you guys know Wheel of Fortune is coming back on TV? Haha I don’t really care, but it gives me an excuse to up video footage of the shamest moment on NZ television. I can barely bring myself to watch it to be honest.

I was high like the vocal tone of my nigga Bootie Brown
decided to take a ride to see what’s really goin’ down up on
the northside of town Of course I bought a quarter pound
of bomb hemp feelin’ a-ight like Johnny Kemp on a Friday
night Lookin’ right cuz’ my shit is tight blazin’ blunts to city
lights on Sunset and Crescent Heights bounce to House
of Blues then I slid in free wit tennis shoes, sweatshirt, jeans
and no ID. Soon as I step inside the plizace I recognize the
fizace of an epp wit an izass more amazin’ than grace dont
waste no time to kick my line I say “How ya doin’” she says
“Hey, I’m doin’ fine” so I commence to mackin to baby to see
what’s crackin So maybe I get her back at the cabin and
start attackin Threw back a shot of yak and started jabberin
jibbin, fibbin and adlibbin just to get her to my crib then
We was chilling on the bed bumpin some Isley thought I was
about to spread the thighs but she surprised me when she
said “oh like that? You know I don’t get down” I know my
homies gonna clown cause I let her stick around when…

That shit right there is for my money the best description of trying to pick up a woman in the club ever to be laid down in a rap song. The song Pharcyde - She Said came up on shuffle in the Ipod yesterday and I even brought it back(rewind one time selektah) just to vibe off Fatlip’s verse again.

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I was talking to Jordache last night and I believe we were both in agreement that there hasn’t been a better hip hop album than Get Rich Or Die Trying since it came out. That’s a good 5 years now and Curtis proper debut is still reigning supreme. For me personally the only contenders have been Kanye’s efforts (Graduation in particular) and Game - The Documentary.

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Probably revealing my geek card here, but one of my favourite books of all time is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This book was written in the 80’s and came up with such crazy concepts as avatars, Second Life-esque software and Google Earth.

One thing in the book that seemed completely outrageous to me was bionic dogs. In the book a company took in abandonded dogs from the SPCA and used their brains and part of their bodies to create super robot dogs. Pretty hard to believe right?

Boston Dynamics is working on a mechanical dog that is 100% next level. Check out the part when it walks on the ice. As soon as this thing becomes self-aware, we’re all fucked.

If you’re anything like me, you spent your formative years making pause tapes and splicing cassette tapes. If you ever opened up the cassette deck and put your fingers on the spools to slow down the music, chances are you’ll love this. DJ Ramsey scratches tapes. Absolutely hilarious with the body tricks but still.

This technique provides a pretty good solution to dj’s without the budget to buy serato. Just tape all your favourite mp3’s and away you go.

As mentioned last week Mareko’s releasing a new mixtape soon and above is the cover, in his blog post he doesn’t go as far as mentioning a date but gives us a loose timeframe within which to expect it - look for it within the next 10 days, no money back guarantees tho, lol.

So Jay-Z is looking for a DJ for his upcoming ‘Heart Of The City’ tour and he called up A-Trak, more recently known as Kanye West’s DJ, to ask him. Most DJs would jump at that opportunity however A-Trak declined because he’s knuckling down on some work for his new Record Label, Fool’s Gold. Jay was real persistent though and so A-Trak has agreed to be a musical director and help put together the show for Jay’s DJ.

A-Trak is an integral part of Kanye’s live shows, not to mention one of my all-time favourite DJs, a Jay-Z show with A-Trak would be sick no doubt. I hope this isn’t the last opportunity that A-Trak has to DJ for Hov… Check the Fool’s Gold blog for the full story.