Did you ever wonder when you were a kid if animals like cats and dogs in other countries spoke a different language than ones here in NZ? Haha, might sound dumb, but maybe that’s the case if this TV3 news item I saw the other day’s anything to go by. According to textbook-reporter-flow guy David Farrier, people in Japan say dogs go “wung wung” as opposed to the more conventional “woof woof” or “arf arf” us Westerners are accustomed to. And it’s not just dogs either. Check out the clip here.

If only DMX was Japanese…

One of the boys at work linked me up to a website called GraphJam recently, where people submit “funny” (they’re usually stink) graphs meant to reflect a range of things. The site isn’t all that good except for the above example, but it reminded me of some graphs/charts I saw that were representations of rap songs/lyrics. If you’ve seen ‘em before, nevermind you, but if not, see some examples after the jump. Funny as.

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This has been on TV for a minute, but I’ve only just discovered it on Youtube to blog it up. I dunno how the double entendre was missed by the ad’s producers, but it cracks me up every time. Poor Fafa.

This track is bad. I haven’t had the proper version of Paper Trail long, but this track stood out straight away. It’s good to see Cliff back with DJ Toomp - that combo accounts for 5 tracks all up on Paper Trail. On that note, is Toomp one of the most consistent producers currently doing it? I like almost everything he touches: T.I - What You Know, 24s, U Don’t Know Me etc; Nas - NIGGER; Kanye - Good Life, Big Brother, Can’t Tell Me Nothing; Jigga - Say Hello; Game - House of Pain; Jeezy -  The Recession, I Luv It; Rick Ross - White House and even Mariah Carey - Lovin You Long Time. 56 Barz isn’t just about the beat though, TIP murks it. No hook, just straight up the guts. Have a listen below and when you can, check out the whole album. The King is back.

Download: T.I - 56 Barz (produced DJ Toomp)

Holy damn, what a 24 hours of sport! First of all, props to the All Blacks for their Bledisloe/Tri-Nations win last night. It was a pretty tight game and a well deserved win. Our loosies were killing it, and man it’s good to see Weepu back - shot boys. Then today I managed to shake a slight hangover in time to see the Warriors under-20 side win their quarterfinal against St George convincingly. Heapsa talented dudes in that team man, Kevin Locke and Russell Packer especially… Kiwi league’s future looks pretty promising. Then there was the big one, the Warriors vs the Storm. Understandably we weren’t really expected to win, but somehow we did. Un-fucken-believable. I’m still a bit lost for words, but this is pretty much the greatest day in my life hahaha. I was fist pumping and all that shit during that last play from Ropati and Vatuvei which saw Witt (eventually) put the ball down and score in the last minute. The even better news is that we get a home game next Friday now to decide who makes the semi-finals. As soon as those tickets go on sale I’m in there. Man, getting up Monday morning for work is gonna be all that much easier after this weekend of sport, yessss.

Bad spelling is funny to me. This photo of a dairy’s vegie stocks was taken down at the shops where Avondale meets Blockhouse Bay. I wish I’d kept all the photos I’ve taken of bad spelling or freshy grammatical errors, I’ve seen a few crack up ones in my time. Dairies and bakeries are notorious for it. At a bakery in Fitzroy (New Plymouth) they got gingerbread man wrong and had “ginger batman” haha. If you got some examples of what I’m talking about link them up for my amusement. And if fobby translation or poor spelling is funny to you too, check out Engrish.com… full of the shit.

Any of yous heard Game’s latest album? I can’t be fucked writing a review of it haha, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on a couple of the tracks I like and also up a link to a zip of all them for you good folks without Boxden accounts and such. So, aside from the already released tracks in Dope Boys, My Life and Game’s Pain, here’s my top 5 - download them here.

Share your thoughts on the album in the comments section. Where does LAX fit with Game’s previous two albums?

LAX Files - Cool JR Rotem beat with Game explaining what it is to be gangsta - I’m sure you cynics will find some irony in that.

State of Emergency feat. Ice Cube - Damn Cube shoulda got a verse on this, not just the hook. This is some old hard West Coast shit, no singing, no g-funk - just some punch you in your face type stuff. JR Rotem again.

House of Pain - This is in a similar vein to the above - although not so West Coast besides the lyrical content. DJ Toomp this time on the beat.

Let Us Live feat. Chrisette Michelle - I fucken hate Scott Storch usually, but this beat is bad. If you have decent sounds at home or your car, give it a hoon.

Angel feat. Common - Out of the 5, this is the most different. It’s way more laidback, funky synth type shit. What’d you expect though, Common ain’t gonna rap on something like State of Emergency. Produced by Kanye, the man yet again.

Raphael Saadiq has long been the man in my books. Whether it’s with Tony Toni Tone, Lucy Pearl or his solo shit, this cat is super talented. Aside from his own projects, he’s also contributed production or instrumentation on several other artist’s tracks, like D’Angelo’s Lady, Total’s Kissing You, John Legend’s Show Me & Kelis’ Glow among others. He’s also done shit with the likes of Joss Stone, Anthony Hamilton, Mary J, Snoop and the list goes on. If you know even a fraction of this guy’s body of work (and I don’t proclaim to know allll his shit) one thing should be apparent to you - he’s got soul. Haha it’s sort of a cliched thing to say, but it’s the simple truth and it’s something that sets a lot of artists apart from the rest. Anyway, the reason I’m blogging on this guy is cos I recently came across a sampler of his next solo album, which is called The Way I See It - and it sounds like it’s gonna be mean as fuck. As the cover suggests, Saadiq’s gone for an old school feel and is out to reproduce that soulful sound of the Motown era we all know and love. The album’s not due out ’til September, and as far as I know it hasn’t leaked on the net yet, but below is a link to the sampler which has 5 full tracks to tide you over. The full album tracklist is after the jump if you’re interested.

The Way I See It sampler (Megaupload): Click here.

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What the hell is the Spanish Olympic basketball team up to with this photo?? Doing slanty eyes for an Olympic shoot? Man, saaaad guys. Read more about it here. It would seem Spain is about as non-PC as it gets - remember the Lewis Hamilton racial taunts thing in Spain? Where’s their Olympic spirit?

If you frequent our blog you’ve probably noticed we’re all about lists and here’s another one to debate over. XXL has put together its top 10 hip hop remixes and surprisingly I’m largely in agreement with it. The #1 spot in particular is bang on, one of my top songs full-stop. If I could rework the list though there’s a few personal favourites I’d have to fit in there somewhere: Common - Resurrection (Large Pro remix); Mobb Deep - Temperature’s Rising Remix; Smif n Wessun - Sound Bwoy Burriel Remix feat. OGC; and Boyz II Men - Vibin Remix feat. Treach, Craig Mack, Busta & Meth (if a hip hop remix of an R&B song counts heh). There’s heeeaps of mean remixes in the history of hip hop so what would your top 10 be? Don’t feel like you’ve gotta stick to the mid-90s theme me and XXL have gone with… maybe you think the I’m So Hood Remix is top 10?? Ha.

10: “Rainy Dayz” (Remix)- produced by The Rza

9: “Street Dreams” (Remix)- Nas ft. R. Kelly

8: “Ebonics” (Remix)- Big L- produced by DJ Premier

7: “Nappy Heads” (Remix)- The Fugees- Produced by Salaam Remi

6: “I Gotcha Opin” (Remix)- Black Moon- produced by The Beatminerz

5: “Paid In Full” (Coldcut Remix)- Eric B and Rakim- produced by…

4: “California Love” (Remix)- 2pac- produced by Dr. Dre

3: “One More Chance” (Stay With Me Remix)- The Notorious B.I.G.- produced by ????

2: “Scenario” (Remix)- A Tribe Called Quest- produced by Q-Tip?

1: “Shut Em Down” (Remix)- Public Enemy- produced by Pete Rock