Best of Biggie: My favorites from Chris Wallace

Three years ago, I honored the Notorious B.I.G. in this space and I said that I couldn't do a Top 10 list of my favorite songs. I'm going to try to do it now and while it should be easy because Biggie only has a small catalog of music, it's hard because I enjoy most of his music and as a writer, I love his wordplay and rhyme schemes.

Without further adieu, here goes my list.

Unbelievable - My favorite Biggie record is perfect in every sense. Juicy is perfect too but this one is a great marriage of Biggie's easy flow and DJ Premier simple yet creative and funky beat. The R. Kelly sample in the middle is a great touch. I just love the feeling I get when I hear it.

The What - I love how Biggie and Method Man trade verses. Love how Biggie mimics a hiccup in the middle of his 2nd verse. Love Easy Mo Bee's beat coming smoother than a river.

Review: Big Boi & Killer Mike at the House of Blues

The last 2 weeks have been a blur for me. Got to witness my sister receive her law degree in Atlanta and my mother get her doctorate in Educational Leadership in the same week. To end it all, I returned to Atlanta somewhat when I went to go see Killer Mike and Big Boi at the House of Blues.
I hadn't been to the HOB on Sunset since 2007 when I interviewed Chuck D and sadly had to leave before Public Enemy took the stage. Yes, I chose a date over seeing PE up close and personal but if it makes you feel better, I had seen them a week prior at Rock the Bells.

Anyways, I got there right before an opening act started. Fishhawk was a pretty cool band but the sound made it hard to appreciate them until their last two songs. Their lead singer definitely was a character on stage with his curly hair and stage antics but I dug their sound. I may give them a listen on Spotify to see more.

Then it was time for Killer Mike. Soon as I heard the opening seconds of "God is In the Building" Mike came out spitting his opening verse from "Big Beast", the lead single from last year's "R.A.P. Music."

Memo to the Tea Party: Welcome to the Club

I've been rolling my eyes at this news that the IRS secretly targeted Tea Party organizations in 2010 and 2012 and even more so at the overwhelming reaction from people to it. The uproar has some people treating this like Watergate II and all I can do is sit back with a smirk.

Memo to the Tea Party, their supporters and others who are outraged by this. Have you ever studied American history? Better yet, American domestic policy?

Let me educate real quick. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover created a little something called COINTELPRO. During 1956-1971, they investigated and infiltrated political groups they deemed subversive such as the NAACP, SCLC, CORE, Students for a Democratic Society and other civil rights organizations. Their tactics included surveillance, spies, spreading false information, working with police officers for illegal raids, and in some cases, murder with aid from various police departments.

Barnes @ Work (May Update - 31 LBS and counting)

I started this journey on January 3. Here I am on May 9. Four months into this transformation and this is where I stand. A weight I haven't purposely seen in over a decade.

I'm currently 180 lbs. I started at 211 lbs. 31 lbs shed in four months. A state of mind renewed. Looking slimmer in pictures than I think I have since high school. I can't believe it!

Let me say that again. THIRTY-ONE POUNDS LOST. I went from averaging 14-17 mins a mile in January to 13-14 mins/per mile when I started running at the beach in February to now averaging 11-12 mins.

I got to reconnect with Cleveland Cavaliers coach (and fellow USD alum) Mike Brown last month, who I first met in 2010. But I'm just amazed how slim I look in this photo.

April was such a good month for me. I forced myself to run further and push harder than I thought I could do. I went from running 5 miles one week to chasing six the next. Last week, I ended April and started May running 6 miles, 3 days a week.

I'm now running from the beginning of Redondo Beach to the beginning of Hermosa Beach. It blew my mind that it's a 3-mile run and when I hit the Hermosa border, I almost get giddy and want to keep going even further because I can't believe I've run into another city.

Whirlwind Pyramid (On Jason Collins, Chris Broussard, Faith, Evolution of Opinion and Me)

I gave my sports take on Jason Collins' announcement at the EB Sports Report. But what I'm about to say here is better suited for this format. Especially since it involves the great battle between faith and homosexuality thanks to what ESPN's Chris Broussard had to say on the matter

As I said on the EBSR, Collins and Britney Griner's announcements this month on coming out signify that in 2013, the climate is better suited for athletes to show support for gay rights. It's better suited for gay athletes if it isn't already for lesbian athletes. And it's also a time where many have to evaluate what they believe.

Jason Collins deserves all the credit today and while it may not make as much impact as if he was younger, it's still a great moment because he's the first openly gay athlete in a Big 4 sport. It's not a Jackie Robinson moment because his career is winding down but it's still worth noting for the simple fact of what he did

Chris Broussard started off today talking about how the NBA would react to Collins and most of it was overwhelming positive. Then this happened - Broussard was asked about it as a Christian and he said what was in that link.

"Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like premarital sex between heterosexuals. If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits. It says that, you know, that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever it maybe, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. So I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian." 

Where the Media Failed (And Succeeded) in the Boston Marathon Tragedy

Amidst the tragedy in Boston, the media became part of the story as we saw the best of reporting from local outlets, especially the Boston Globe, and the worst of 24/7 media coverage, most famously CNN. What happened last week should be and will be studied for years on what to do, not to do and ultimately how money, guests and ratings have trumped.  
Cable news failed because of their failure to handle this information culture we are in. There’s too much information floating around and in an attempt to be relevant, they want to include everything or touch on every angle without considering if it matters or is confirmed.

CNN showed this when they along with others reported that a suspect was on his way to the courthouse. The normally reliable John King said it was a dark-skinned male, an announcement that drew the ire of the National Association of Black Journalists and others.

They also had Jake Tapper far away from the action, which made his reporting/analysis seem distant compared to MSNBC. Bad enough the media got it wrong on identifying the suspects by name and face and probably won’t go out of their way to apologize and work to repair their mistake. 

"It Takes A Nation of Millions" - 25 Years as the Greatest Rap Album

25 years ago Sunday, the greatest rap album of all time was released. Public Enemy's sophomore album changed hip hop forever and it's still a remarkable album every time I hear it.

The first time I heard it was in college. I had bought a PE greatest hits CD in high school so the next step was to hear this album. I downloaded "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos", "Rebel Without a Pause" and "Party For Your Right to Fight", the last one simply because it flipped the Beastie Boys' biggest hits.

I ended up DLing the whole album and to say that it was powerful is an understatement. It's music for a revolution but it didn't lose its cool or fun in the process. It was hip hop growing up to be a force of change on the heels of Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys making hip-hop popular.

"It Takes A Nation Of Millions" was arguably the album that made mainstream music critics understand Rap was an actual legitimate artform...
— Dart_Adams (@Dart_Adams) April 14, 2013

Here's my case why it's the greatest album in rap history (and one of the best albums period of the last 30 years).

RIP KDAY: The Last of a Dying Breed

By now, most of you have heard that my city's last great hip hop radio station is possibly going to be sold this year and flip to a Mandarin-language format. KDAY, which came back in 2004, might be officially on life support and I couldn't be sadder.

As a native Angeleno, I grew up in the shadow of hearing KDAY as I got older. I listened to 92.3 The Beat and Power 106 but I knew neither of those stations would be possible without KDAY in the 1980's giving Los Angeles great hip hop and exposing folks to NWA, Ice-T, DJ Quik, Rodney O & Joe Cooley and so many other local legends.

I used to drive down Crenshaw Boulevard going to school and I passed by the old 1580 KDAY offices every time. KDAY was the first station in the country to play all hip-hop and even when it went off the air in 1991, its legacy loomed large when I talked to older friends and family members.

That's why in 2004-05, I was so happy when I heard KDAY was coming back. It gave me a chance to appreciate a radio station that showed love to L.A. as well as old school hip hop. I came home from college and during the winters and summers, I'd listen to Julio G showing love to national acts as well as local.

Barnes @ Work! (April Update)

On my fourth month of working out and here's the progress for you.

Current Weight: 187-188 lbs.
Weight Lost Since Jan 3: 23-24 lbs.

What I learned in March is that as much as I'm working out, I had to change up my diet a bit. I had been going cold turkey on sweets, carbs and anything that was going to add to be unhealthy. But since I've been working out more and running more, I realized that I had to eat more so while my diet is still pretty consistent - no eating past 8-9 p.m. if possible, save sweets for the weekend and salads/water with most meals - I've had to eat more since I'm burning more.

March saw me cross the 4-mile barrier and now I'm consistently running 4 miles two to three times a week. The next goal was 5 miles. Monday, I ran 4.96 miles nonstop. Today, I ran 5.05 miles. Cross another one off!

Rest in Peace, Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert wasn't just a film critic. He was an institution. He was a teacher. He was open-minded when he viewed movies but he let you know what he thought honestly.

When I took a college course in studying television/film criticism, Ebert's name came up as the most prominent critic in the country. I learned terms like "auteur" and "mise-en-scene" and directors like Francois Truffaut - all things that I'd later see in Ebert's great reviews of film.

He passed away Thursday at 70, a day after announcing he'd take a leave of presence. To me, he defined what being a critic should be. Fair, open-minded, intelligent and able to appeal to a wide audience with clear thoughts. More than anything, he helped teach us how to watch movies and learn from the greats, as well as appreciate certain aspects we may not see.

As a kid, I knew who he was because he and Gene Siskel were always around. I remember the joke as a kid wasn't knowing which was which. Who was the skinny one again? I also remembered this great parody of them on Animaniacs that was still funny when I re-watched it today.