Diamond District - In The Ruff Instrumentals

Via Strictly Beats. Great instrumental album to bump while working.

A couple of the tracks seem to repeat one beat. Maybe I'm just going crazy. All in all, good work album.

Humans Can Fly

Posted this a while back, but it's just so cool I need to repost it.



The track @ 1:00 is JDiz Organ & Sackcloth Fashion - Under Man. Can't find the 1st song online.

In September 2010, Shin Ito set a world record flying 10.87 miles over Davis, California. He flew for 4:57 and reached a top speed of 177 mph. THAT'S INSANE. Can you imagine flying in the air for 5 minutes? Can you imagine flying in the air period?!

Too Good to be True

I just tried this drink called Bai5. It's great. It's a sweet juice (actually it's only 4% juice so I'm not sure what to call it - it's a sweet drink). It's also supposedly good for you, as it uses 'coffee's secret superfruit.' Turns out the skin that shells a coffee bean is a fruit and its full of antioxidants, which modern marketing says is really good for me. I don't know why and it's too late to google it.

The bottle goes on to say that "Just one gram of Bai pure coffee fruit extract has the astonishing antioxidant power of 4,000 ORAC UNITS." (their all caps and bolding, not mine). I have no idea what ORAC UNITS are. It sounds like some power metric for a trading card game I would be playing if I were in the 5th grade.

What really struck me about the juice was its low calorie content. It has 5 calories per 8 fl oz, totaling a little over 10 calories for this significantly sweet 16.9 fl oz bottle. I checked the usual suspect; aspartame. It doesn't have any. The trick, ladies and gentlemen, is an ingredient heretofore unbeknownst to me: erythritol. It's now my new best friend, as through some heavy googling (i.e., ~5 minutes), the only negative side effect I could find was farts. And farting I have been. But hey. It's pleasure doing business with you erythritol.

14KT Mix by Rhettmatic

Dope mix by Rhettmatic of the Beat Junkies.

@0:52, 2:43, 7:04, 11:18

14KT BEAT MIX by Rhettmatic by jrocc

Bill Russell - Mind Games

I'm a huge Celtics fan. In honor of the beginning of the NBA Playoff season, here is a great video highlighting one of the legends of the game, Bill Russell. Russel played 13 seasons with the Celtics, and won 11 championships, more championships than any North American professional athlete in history. Not only was Russell one of the greatest players of all time, he was active in the Civil Rights Movement, for which he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama in 2011.

This video provides some insight into the 'intellectualization' of basketball that Russell was accused of by Wilt Chamberlain. I love the spiritual connotations in the discussion of Russell's playing style, such as this line at 4:10;

"Perhaps his greatest mental ability was to sift through all the mind's clutter to discover and harness purity of purpose. A distilled dedication to one goal: winning."

I also enjoyed this line from Bill at the very end; "There are 10 players, 3 refs, 2 hoops, 20,000 people, 1 ball. What's gonna happen with that ball is the most interesting thing." It may seem obvious to some, but this fact that it all comes down to what happens with the ball has been somewhat of a revelation to me. Everything else that occurs on the field or the court is a means to affect the ball.

Some other notable lines;

• Russell: "Psychologically, you have to make the opposite player question what he's doing...you have to create doubts."
• "Russell blocked shots without blocking them because people wouldn't take shots because people were afraid to take them. He changed the whole game."
• Russell: "I would block a guy's shot and say 'Yes, we did that to you. If you come back, we'll do it again. If you come back again, we'll do it another time. So you're going to have to find something else to do.'" (@2:42)

Insulation is Sexy

Alexis Ringwald Knows What's Up...

http://www.greenbiz.com/video/2011/02/05/one-great-idea-creative-sourcing-green-innovation-alexis-ringwald

Jay-Z - The Blueprint [Reconstructed]

This album [download here] dropped a year and a half ago via Kevin Nottingham, but I just heard it today, 'cause I sleep like that. All the tracks off the original Blueprint come equipped with heavy new beats, and I must say, they are delicious. 2dopeboyz.com gives the background on the project; 'KN ran a contest for folks to rework the production side of Hov’s classic. Each producer used the same samples for each record.' This album has introduced some fantastic new producers: Sima, Bidimridim, G.C., EB Productions, S.T.T.R.E.S.S., and more. If y'all know any good jams from these guys, post 'em in the comments.

My favorite track from the album is below. I've blasted this track right hurr about 20x times today. 'LET'S GET SHIT POPPIN' is the sentiment I'm left with. Let me know your favorite tracks off the album.

"More Girls, Girls, Girls" produced by Sima

Raw Stiles

What's better than an amazing new producer that comes out of the blue? One that posts their music for free. Raw Stiles dropped his debut album, Hello Lovely EP, a little more than a year ago. Featuring original compositions from the man himself that have been likened to the school of J Dilla and Madlib, you know it's bound to be bangers. If your head isn't nodding straight through, get your ears checked.



Raw Material Vol. 1 is a compilation album featuring some great jazz/funk jams courtesy of Raw Stiles' diligent crate digging.The selections are all gems, with my personal favorite coming in at track 6: Don Rendell's 'Blue Mosque.' Raw Material Vol 2 features two longer mixes, both phenomenal. Listen and download all of Raw Stiles' music here.

It Ain't Hard to Tell (Four Tet Remix) - Nas / Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Beautiful song. Excellent remix by Four Tet, providing a fresh take on an all time classic. The glitching at the end is a bit jarring, but hey.

Queen Latifah - Just Another Day

File this one under "insanely dope hip hop." You might be more familiar with Latifah from her acting career beginning in 1993, but Latifah first hit the stage when she dropped All Hail the Queen in 1989. This particular track was a single off her 1993 album 'Black Reign,' which also featured the classic track 'U.N.I.T.Y.' An amazing beat combined with Latifah's flow which is gentle but firm, fitting since (apparently) 'Latifah' means 'delicate' in Arabic.

Are We Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch?

Are We Lost Mammals of an Approaching Transcendental Epoch? from StrangeLoop on Vimeo.

You tell me. Awesome video. Awesome song. Deep title. 'Nuff said.

The Force (will one day be) Strong With This One...

An absolutely adorable / hilarious super bowl ad from VW. Das Auto? More like Das AWESOME!

Bad-Ass Legos

'In a medieval forest, a simple lumberjack is granted the greatest power of all time. Created by Paganomation for the LEGO Club Show in early 2010.'

SO AMAZING! I would have killed to have some of these lego monsters when I was a kid. The song and video go great together, really tight production all around. You can view some photos from the production here. How they turned those photos into this awesome video is beyond me.

Enjoy!

Test Drive a Tesla Roadster for $25

Just heard from my friends at GOOD Magazine (definitely check them out) about Getaround, a new company that has a web / smartphone platform enabling peer-to-peer car sharing. Make money from that parked car of yours!

"Since the invention of the automobile, we've been conditioned to think that only one person should own and use each car," says Getaround co-founder Elliot Kroo. "Getaround is changing that paradigm by enabling people to access a vehicle instead of having to possess one."

The best part? One getaround member is helping promote the company and the love of electric vehicles by renting his $100k+ Tesla Roadster for $25 an hour!!

Still trying to find out where this generous owner resides...please post in comments if you find out!