Drake- Headlines

Drake right, The Weeknd left

Just before Drake's annual OVOfest in Toronto today, he drops a track off of his upcoming album Take Care. Headlines is a dope track that is produced by Drake's long time boy's Boi-1da and Noah "40" Shebib. 

Crazy pumped for some Drake and The Weeknd performances tomorrow at OVOfest... OVOXO till I overdose.

Headlines:

Odd Future's Tdot tour date

Odd Future recently let loose their upcoming North American tour dates via Tyler's twitter account yesterday. 

Their T.O. date is set for October 10th at Sound Academy!  Check out their L.A. performance below.

Frank Ocean- Thinking About You

Despite the fact that it is by far one of Frank's softer tracks, it just proves how versatile he can be. This is sure to be one of the few love ballads you can expect from the Odd Future starlet as he prepares for some career changing appearances on Kanye and Jayz's Watch the Throne (August 8). Say word being in the studio with Beyonce recently is bringing out Frank's soft side.

Dope track.

Jays GM makes another stamp on the club

OF Colby Ramus

This deal is a little complicated so here we go... Jays trade RHP Jason Frasor, RHP Zach Stewart to the White Sox in exchange for 3B/OF Mark Teahen and RHP Edwin Jackson; Jays then deal Jackson, RHP Octavia Dotel, LHP Marc Rzepczynski and OF Corey Patterson to St. Louis in exchange for OF Colby Ramus, LHP Brian Tallet, RHP P.J. Walters and LHP Trevor Miller. 

In this deal the Jays acquire Ramus, 24 who is under contract for the next 3 years and has 30-home run power and great potential. Despite this, the Jays loose long time Jay Jason Frasor, potential starter Zach Stewart and a key member of the bullpen Marc Ryzepczynski. 

GM Alex Anthopoulos makes another good move to help better prepare this team for a real playoff run next season; with a potential of a 2nd wildcard spot. 

Say word the Jays re-acquired Tallet...

My favourite sports moment of the year animated...

Rooney's overhead volley against cunty Man City. Brilliant.

Pumped to watch Becks play United tonight with the MLS All-Stars. There is sure to be some reminiscing.

J.Cole, Trey Songz- Can't Get Enough

J.Cole and Trey Songz team up for a drummed out, mid-tempo jam called Can't Get Enough. Trey's smooth flow combined with J.Cole educated one-liners make for a dope track to boost J.Cole's September release of Cole's World: The Sideline Story.

Check this track.

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter partying too much?

There have been various sources floating around the hockey world claiming that the reason the Flyers dealt their star forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter was because of their excessive drinking and partying. Reports are also claiming the Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette asked the team to go alcohol free month by month and that Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were two of a hand full of guys who chose not to participate. In addition, there are unnamed Flyers teammates that claimed they were "worried" about their excessive drinking.

No matter which way you look at this, I feel as though the guys probably should have agreed to this challenge/demand regardless if they followed through or not. Setting any kind of divide in the dressing room is just bad for team moral. The fact of the matter is, there has notably been a tone of turmoil surrounding the Flyers dressing room over the past two years and Laviolette was probably just trying to prove a point. Because Richards and Carter did not participate shows a lack of professionalism and leadership. They're not taking part in this demand probably drew another line in the Flyers dressing room, similar to when there was debate over the Richards-Pronger captaincy.

Laviolette clearly saw a problem and was trying to minimize it. These guys are paid $6 million plus to treat their bodies like temples and perform and should have at least humoured the idea even if they drank behind closed doors. After all, I don't think Laviolette was following them to night clubs on the road or in Philly. Nonetheless, what do you expect a bunch of 20 something year old millionaires to do in their free time. With all that said, Laviolette is no one's daddy on that team and the fact that he was also asking 30-year-old fathers on that team who have played in the NHL for over 10 years to "not drink" shows a lack of respect to those players. If I were Chris Pronger I would have told him to stick it. The NHL isn't a fucking summer camp, you can't try and tell grown men how to live their lives. Plus, the Flyers organization is at fault for letting this type of shit get to the media. What happens in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room.

Straight up, the guys who agreed to the challenge definitely did not follow through with it and just humoured the idea; Richards and Carter should have done the same. I think there has been a team divide in that dressing room for over 2 years and the Flyers organization just had enough, especially after the last few playoff disappointments.

Makes for hilarious PR work though eh...

Kanye and Jay Z announce their T.O. date

With the upcoming release of their album Watch the Throne scheduled for August 8th, Kanye and Jay announced their North American tour.

The T.O. date is set for Aug 24th, can't wait for that...

Otis: 

M.I.A track in Amy Winehouse's memory

Last night, M.I.A. posted this track titled 27 on Soundcloud. She then wrote on Twitter, "I recorded this song B4 vivkileekx and never put it out. Its a unfinished demo." She added, "R.I.P A.M.Y." 

In addition, on the Soundcloud page M.I.A. wrote that the track is "dedicated to all my friends that died at 27."

ASAP Rocky- Purple Swag

Harlem's ASAP Rocky's video for the chilled out and chopped up track Purple Swag is just as live as the "Fuck Swag" tee that he's rocking. Check out his mixtape Deep Purple...

Watch the Throne- August 8th

Kanye and Jay Z dropped their first track Otis, off of their collab album Watch the Throne on Wednesday. The track samples the voice of Otis Reading and is the perfect mouth watering track to keep fans pumped for the August 8th release of the album. 

Check this track. Nasty.

Amy Winehouse 1983-2011

Amy Winehouse performs Back To Black at the Vodafone Somerset House, 2007. RIP Amy Winehouse... such a great talent. She joins musicians Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain; all of whom passed away at the age of 27. 

"Trouble on My Mind" video

Tyler, the Creator and Pusha T shoot the video for their hard-as-fuck track Trouble on My Mind. In the video, two dress up as each other as the successfully cause mayhem on the streets of Cali.

Sick video, even better track. 

Kate Upton

Love a chick that rocks Jordans and can dougie...

Curren$y, Wiz & Big Sean

It has been confirmed by various sources that Curren$y and Wiz will be reunited for yet another mixtape. This time the duo will be accompanied by G.O.O.D Music up and comer Big Sean; who just dropped his debut album Finally Famous. The trio have dropped 2 tracks this week already: O.T.T.R and Flowers.

Check em'

O.T.T.R-

Flowers-

Odd Future Performs in L.A.

The video begins with a fan reciting the track Burger to Tyler just before he lights his own hair on fire for a crowd (mad jokes). Check out this crazy hometown performance by Odd Future. 

Wish I caught their Toronto show. 

Steve Nash commercial

I hate Toyota but love Steve Nash. The end of the commercial is priceless.

James Blake Performance on Jimmy Fallon: The Wilhelm Scream

British electronic pop guru James Blake stopped by Jimmy Fallon last week for his first U.S. television performance. After the performance, the Roots bandleader ?uestlove tweeted about a possible James Blake appearance on their upcoming album.

Sick performance- I want to see this guy live so badly.

Washed Out- Within and Without

Washed Out released his debut album Within and Without on July 12th and has yet to be greeted with anything less than success. In 2009, Ernest Green moved back to his native home in Perry, Georgia where he began working in his bedroom studio. Two years later he is receiving great ratings from pitchfork and is being dubbed one of the pillars of the chillwave movement. 

Check out this album. http://www.last.fm/music/Washed+Out

Sorry 4 the Wait

Lil' Wayne goes off on his most recent mixtape Sorry 4 the Wait; almost as if he was makin' up for lost time. Fans get a taste of the "old" Wayne that we all miss, as he builds massive anticipation for his hyped album The Carter IV.

Sorry 4 the Wait; the track is crazy.

Download this. http://hulkshare.com/rf16zdtrg15u

AraabMuzik

AraabMuzik has gained mad respect in the hip-hop game for multiple successful productions for Dipset. He is becoming one of hip-hop's fasting growing producers and with the release of the EP Electronic Dream, people are beginning to see what the dude is all about.

Sick EP.

Download album. http://hulkshare.com/hf2ncbdz25mx

Big things from Valanciunas

Believe me, I'll be the first to admit that I was pissed when the Raps didn't draft the likes of Brandon Knight or Kemba Walker, but after a stellar performance at the U19 FIBA World Championships, Valanciunas is looking like an absolute stud.

Valanciunas led the event in scoring with an impressive 23 PPG, 13.9 RPG and 3.3 BPG. This guy tore the tourney up making his competition look like 5 year old school girls; not to mention he had a game high 38 points in Lithuania's 67-65 Gold Medal win, also collecting the event MVP.

Hopefully this guy fills out a little bit and can replicate a way more talented and tougher version of Pau Gasol or Andrew Bogut. If this lockout is for real, and we actually miss out on NBA ball for a year; Colangelo could look like a genius as Valanciunas' Euro club team contract forces him to play one more year in Europe, unless a Raps pay the unlikely buyout fee of $4million.
Either way I may be starting to bite my words... Good pick.

Scenes from the Suburbs

Check out Arcade Fire's short film Scenes from the Suburbs directed by Spike Jonze. The film chronicles the lives of estranged teens as the viewers witness the various moments of their lives that they either chose to forget or chose to remember.

Sick short film.

Future Islands- Before the Bridge

Future Islands easily became one of my favourite bands after their 2010 release In Evening Air. To follow it up, they just dropped a video for their new single Before the Bridge. If you haven't heard of Future Islands, Before the Bridge is a great first song to listen to; in order to take in their distinct post-wave sound.

Sick video- check it.

Dreamkilla- Frank Ocean

Watch for Frank Ocean to feature on 2 tracks with the release of Jay Z and Kanye West's collaborative album Watch the Throne (set to drop August 2nd). The release of Frank Ocean's new track DreamKilla will likely keep fans and critics buzzing until then.

Big things comin'...

Curren$y - This is the Life Video

Curren$y's drops a video for the latest single This is the Life off of his most recent album Weekend at Burnies. 

Dope summer jam to cruise around to... rolling doobies up for course. 

#JETLIFE

Section 80- Beyond good...

Kendrick Lamar's 3rd album Section 80 has got to be rated as the best hip-hop album of 2011 thus far. Combined with the laid back beats on the album; Lamar's refreshing flow as well as the inspired lyrical fire his spits on every track makes Section 80 impossible to stop listening to. It's been 4 days and I've yet to listen to anything else. 

Drake and his boys at October's Very Own have been boosting Lamar, leading to speculation that he could be one of the surprise guests at this year's OVO fest in T.O. (July 31)

If you like hip-hop download this album. http://hulkshare.com/s9wq6j85fkzu 

Leafs resign MacArthur and Bozak

Burke took care of two restricted free agents on Tuesday; Clarke MacArthur and Tyler Bozak. 

MacArthur was rewarded with a 2-year $6.5 million contract after a breakthrough season that saw him hit career highs in goals with 21 and points with 62. This allows coach Ron Wilson to keep the line that saw much success last season together of MacArthur, Grabovski and Kulemin. Great resign!

Bozak inked a multi-year contract said to be in the range of $1.1 million a year. Bozak was a team worst -29 and failed to be the centre that would launch Phil Kessel to the 40 goal mark. Despite this, with the signing of Connolly and the trade for Lombardi, Bozak's role with the team will be reduced as he is best suited as a 3rd line centre. 

The leafs could have done without the resigning of Bozak but $1.1 million a year isn't a big concern. 

Common Ft Nas – Ghetto Dreams

Two hip-hop legends; Common and Nas link up for this new No I.D. produced track. Common is set to drop an album in November titled The Dreamer, The Believer as Nas's new album is to be released by the end of 2011 as well. Both of these dudes brought fire on this track.

Sick track.

Leafs steal Lombardi and Franson

The Leafs essentially give up nothing as they swap Brett Lebda, Robert Slaney and a conditional 4th round pick to Nashville in exchange for Matthew Lombardi and Cody Franson.

Lombardi was limited to 2 games last season because of a severe concussion. When healthy, Lombardi has some of the best wheels in the NHL along with decent hands, vision and an eye for goal. His most successful year was with Phoenix when he posted 19 goals and 53 points in 78 games (just before his pre season concussion last year). Lombardi has 2 more years left on his contract worth about $3.5 million a year.

Franson is the real steal in this deal. With Franson the Leafs acquired a 23 year old with the potential to play in a top 4 pairing this season. Franson is one of 9 NHL defencemen who have posted at least 20 points with a double digit plus minus in each of the last two seasons. He posted 8 goals and 29 points in his first full NHL season last year (Franson and Liles should work well together on the PP).

Another good low risk deal by Burke, with the potential for some really good upside...

Curren$y - Smoke Break

Curren$y unveiled his video for Smoke Break, off of his 2011 album Covert Coupe. Curren$y just dropped his new album called Weekend at Burnies and is planning to release yet another album titled Muscle Car Chronicles before the end of 2011. Dudes having a pretty busy 2011, considering he's dropping 3 albums and touring around the world...

Worst mistake of the year so far was missing his show in t.dot last month.

Leafs agree to terms with Connolly

After the Leafs were unsuccessful in the chase for Brad Richards (signed with the Rangers for a ridiculous 9 year, $60 million), their apparent next target was the savvy playmaker Tim Connolly. Despite injury problems, Connolly was without a doubt the next best available playmaker via free agency. On Saturday, Burke signed Connolly to a 2 year $9.5 million contract, hours after the announcement of the Rangers signing of Richards was made.

Connolly's low risk two year deal is ideal as it will buy time for the organization to asses the likes of Nazem Kadri and Joe Colborne (potential top six centres) as their contracts will also expire in two years.

He's no Richards but who else but the Rangers would want him for $6.5 million a year until he's 40 years old... Connolly's a great signing by Burke.

Kendrick Lamar- Tammy's Song video

Kendrick Lamar was the only other rapper other than Big KRIT that was worthy of gracing the cover of this year's XXL Freshmen of the Year issue. The dude has all kinds of hype following him around and he continues to keep hip-hop fans intrigued as he drops a video for Tammy's Song off his upcoming album Section80.

Pumped for this album... Hopefully we get some Cali vibes to welcome the summer with.

Fuck a Lockout

The NBA lockout has officially begun...

Most people tend to believe that this lockout could last as long as the 1998-1999 lockout, if not longer. There are 3 main reasons for the lockout:

• Players want to protect their collective earnings of a billion dollars and owners want to cut that in half.
• Apparently the league lost around $300 million last year- players deem that as mismanagement of franchises.
• Players want any new deal to embody specific revenue sharing plans among owners.

Honestly, this will not last as long as the 1998-1999 lockout. It will be a shame if both sides don't realize that the future revenues for both parties are way too lucrative to lose. Though what we heard Thursday was extremely discouraging, let the summer play itself out... Owner's will see that the road they are embarking on is a dead end and will be sure to work something out before the end of the summer.

Short lockouts have happened before...