So that's no Sydney, Brisbane, Wollongong, maybe no Adelaide and Cairns and most certainly no Nunawading Spectres. At this rate the 2009/10 NewNBL season could be the Melbourne TigerTitans vs Perth WildCrocs playing a winner-take-all, one-game showdown. I anxiously await to hear what JR has to say about the outlook of the NewNBL.
(Oh and the pic above is my visual to represent failure, it bookends well with the track below.)
Saddle up indeed. Not quite sure how to begin this post, and it's over two years in the making. It starts at a JB Hi-Fi. Was browsing the hip-hop CDs and vinyls with B-Side, who was at the time Mr. Hip-Hop at Universal Music Australia, and in between moving all the XXX Hip-Hop 2 CDs to the front of the display racks, he stumbled across an album in the new releases section that he'd never seen before. After reading the black and pink sticker on the case, he insisted I buy this mysterious CD titled Lovers and Crypts, then and there, without listening to one track. Here's the blurb that grabbed our attention (take note, marketing/publicity people):
"Lovers and Crypts is the birthchild of North Brooklyn's Bunny Rabbit and partner in life and crime Black Cracker.
A dreamy mash up of crunk, punk and smut that belongs in the clubs you only dream about."
Considering I work in clubs you only dream about, this really grabbed my attention. But then it gets even better! Even better than a female rapper named Bunny Rabbit and her producer boyfriend named BLACK CRACKER? Yes. There's also some pull quotes from reviews of B.Rabbit (the real B.Rabbit).
"this is an X rated crunked-up workout" DAZED AND CONFUSED
"Imagine Joanna Newsom rolling around in a dumpster with a MPC instead of a harp" XL8R (I had no idea who Joanna Newsom was so I had to google her)
The only disappointing thing about the album was... listening to it. Now, it's not that it was terrible, it's just that my hopes were so high after seeing the cover art and reading the blurbs and song titles (such as Bunny Baby, Pussy Queen and Dirty Dirt), I had pictured in my head a cross between Luther Campbell, Trina, Kool Keith, Too $hort, Bushwick Bill and Missy Higgins.
I've actually been looking out for other releases from Bunny Rabbit and Black Cracker with no luck. Here's a taste for you though, Saddle Up, the first track from Lovers and Crypts.
Last weekend was probably one of the biggest non-public holiday Monday weekends I've ever had (that's right promoters, last weekend was not a proper long weekend!). If you haven't checked out XO at the new venue St (LeBron) James Hotel, make sure you do it this week - I'm going to stop calling it the "new venue" now too. Listen to the XO Podcast now, that's an order soldier. Sorry, too much COD4 on Xbox Live.
PODCAST TRACKLIST 29-04-09
1. Simple - Ron Browz feat. Keri Hilson & Juelz Santana 2. G is for Girl - Ciara 3. Ridiculous - DJ Drama feat. Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, OJ Da Juiceman & Lonnie Mac 4. Fly - Paul Wall feat. Young Joc & Gorilla Zoe 5. Playa - Obie Trice feat. Bun-B 6. All the Above - Maino feat. T-Pain 7. You're a Jerk - New Boyz 8. Flip the Work - feat. Smitty 9. Ice Cream - Tiara Wiles 10. Radar - Usher 11. Is That Your Girl - Petey Pablo 12. I Get Crazy - Nicki Minaj feat. Lil Wayne
As well as being one of my best friends in Sydney, Peter Gunz is one of Australia's best club DJs, if not the best. Come down to XO @ St James Hotel this Saturday night for your chance to win a copy of his latest CD, Heavy Rotation Vol. 3 - email here for free guestlist!
OK, serious question - why are some clubs advertising long weekend events for this Sunday April 26? Monday isn't a public holiday is it? Or am I going insane. Anyway, in honour of those crazy mixed up club promoters who got their dates wrong, here's a classic "holiday" track (no J.Holiday either), Players Holiday by Ant Banks feat. Too $hort and Mac Mall. And remember it's always a long weekend Sunday night at Bada Bing, email me for free guestlist!
How can you not root for LeBron and the Cavs after watching this? Especially when compared to the extremely unlikeable Kobe and the Lakers. And how about Delonte West smelling his new shoes - I thought I was the only one who did that!
You will hear this on next week's podcast, at XO this Saturday night and at Bada Bing this Sunday. Guaranteed, or your money back. Young Problemz feat. Gucci Mane and Mike Jones, Boi (I Got So Many) remix. On a totally unrelated note, I can't stand Kobe Bryant. I'm a hater when it comes to Mr Bean, I can admit that.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Few reasons why there hasn't been an XO Podcast on the blog for a couple of weeks - one, I haven't been hosting it every week so uploading it here has slipped my mind and two, the last time I uploaded a podcast I got one of those "take this post down" notices from Blogspot! A-holes. This podcast is a guaranteed classic. Listen to it below. Oh, and yes, the first XO @ St James Hotel was off the (take it easy) heezy! Pics will be coming later today. For guestlist to XO this Saturday, featuring Peter Gunz Heavy Rotation Vol 3 CD giveaways (that's Gunz in the middle of the podcast header above), email here.
PODCAST TRACKLISTING 22-04-09
1. In Cold Blood - Rick Ross 2. Steady Grindin - Lil Chuuuch feat. R.Kelly 3. Stoopid remix - Gucci Mane feat. Busta Rhymes 4. Turn My Swag On remix - Chamillionaire 5. I Love Texas - Bun-B 6. Must Be Love remix - Cassie feat. Diddy, N.O.R.E. 7. In Luv Wit Ya Boy - Lloyd Banks feat. Ron Browz 8. White Leather - Ace Hood 9. Girls Wanna Have Fun - K.A.R. feat. Ace Hood 10. U Don't Know - Bobby Valentino 11. Lemon Drop - Paul Wall feat. Baby Bash 12. I Know - Mike Jones feat. Trey Songz
- Yes, it's one cover charge for two clubs. - Yes, we're using the same DJs and MCs as we've always used. - Yes, we're opening an hour earlier (9pm). - Yes, we're closing at the same time (5am). - Yes, we're still playing the best music in Sydney (you wouldn't believe how many people have complained about what they've had to put up with at other spots). - Yes, you can get on the guestlist via the same channels (refer to the above link for how to hook yourself up). - No, we don't mind if you went to other clubs during XO's two week break. In fact we encouraged it, it will help show you what they don't have compared to us!
OK, it's not the sequel to Who Betta Than This? (my favourite NZ hip-hop track of all-time). Actually, that track had a remix so if there was another WBTT it'd be the third installment. Whatever. This is the new track by PNC, What's Up, produced by NZ uber-producer Pedro Dinero a.k.a. Petey Peso a.k.a. P-Money. Keep up to date with what the bros in Kiwiland are doing by checking out their blogs here and here. Particular thanks to P-Money for putting me onto Dizzee Rascal's new track Bonkers super-super early and making me look like a dance music superstar when I dropped it at the Bing last week!
My technology problems have finally come to an end (touch wood) with the return of my now-repaired Xbox 360. Even though they deleted half of my game saves on the HD, I'm not that mad (is playing through GTAIV and Call of Duty 4 again such a bad thing, really?).
The best thing is now that I've got my super-fast and super-reliable internet up and running, I'm all over Xbox Live. The last time I used it my internet wasn't that great, so all I ever played was the occasionally laggy game of Gears of War or PGR3. Right now I'm getting my NBA 2K9 on, and in the first game I played it was the Orlando Magic (them) against the Utah Jazz (me).
Why did I choose the Jazz? Well they're not a cheap team to use (I'm looking at you Lakers, Cavs and Celtics - although I will be using the Celtics at some stage!) and they've got great outside shooters, which is a must when you're playing a human opponent. Everyone tries to stop dunks and get steals on defence, and being a great outside shooter is such an advantage then.
Anyway, my first 2K9 game on Xbox Live was cool. Guy I played against actually played a proper game of (online videogame) hoops, no cheap stuff. It was a close game from start to finish, ending with me coming back from four points down in the last two minutes thanks to some clutch Mehmet Okur shooting. Was very Jazz-like - Okur sets a high screen for Deron Williams, Dwight Howard backs off a bit to stop the potential drive, Okur pops out behind the three-point line and splish splash.
Final 30 seconds of the game was great as well. Jazz up by three, Orlando get a quick two with around 15 seconds left, then get a miracle steal (Jerry Sloan would have got a tech foul on the no-call in real life) and take it in for a dunk, three seconds left, timeout Jazz with the Magic up one. Guy totally overplays Deron to stop him getting the ball, backdoor cut, easy layup goaltended by Howard, Hedo Turkeyglue misses the potential game-winner.
As you can tell, yes I'm excited to finally be able to visit the wonderful world of Xbox Live. My gamertag is Mr Leon Smith so look me up on there!
And big shoutout to Mehmet Okur for his big balls!
"The relaunched NBL is set to go ahead later this year without a team in Sydney or Brisbane."
As well as being one of my best friends in Sydney, Peter Gunz is one of Australia's best club DJs, if not the best. Come down to XO @ St James Hotel this Saturday night for your chance to win a copy of his latest CD, Heavy Rotation Vol. 3 - 
I've already 
