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Wake N’ Watch: Raekwon f/ Ghostface Killah, Method Man, & Inspectah Deck “House Of Flying Daggers”

ebaker — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:00:55 +0000

After endless delays, it looks like Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II is really happening. There’s a single with a music video and everything! Jokes aside, we couldn’t be happier about Raekwon’s follow-up to his 1995 classic finally seeing the light of day. In typical Wu fashion, Rae called upon a few members of the Clan for assistance on this “House Of Flying Daggers” joint. The animated video just hit the Internet and rest assured that there’s enough blood, guts, and violence to keep it off television networks and us entertained. We smell what The Chef is cooking and we like it.

Tune in to Complex.com every morning at 8 AM for your daily “Wake N’ Watch” video.

Hip-Hop’s 5 Most Heartwarming Peace Talks

intern — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:19:40 +0000

Few rappers start beef as often Joe Budden—and few squash beef as often, for that matter. The Jersey MC did the latter when he went for a stroll through some Jones Beach, NY shrubbery with Method Man to sort out their problems (luckily Mel D. Cole was there to snap the above photo). How touching.

You might not guess it, but rappers do have the ability to be nicer, more understanding guys than they’re given credit for, as these type of peace talks aren’t all that uncommon. There have been several in the recent years, in fact. Here are the five most heartwarming of the bunch…

RAPPERS: 50 Cent & The Game
CONFLICT: Game’s disloyalty to G-Unit, blah blah, do we really have to go over this again?
RESOLUTION: The two publicly squashed their beef at a March 2005 press conference in Harlem. The peace didn’t last, but the warmth of the embrace (and kiss?) pictured above will live on forever.

RAPPERS: Diddy & The Lox
CONFLICT: Diddy owning half of The Lox’s publishing despite them only releasing one album on Bad Boy.
RESOLUTION: Just one month after performing with Diddy in late 2005, The Lox went on Hot 97 to complain about him owning so much of their music (and threatening to push a fridge over a skyscraper on his head) before Mr. Combs himself called in to counter their claims. After all the tough talk, both parties heavily co-signed one another while promoting Jadakiss’ The Last Kiss on 106 & Park earlier this year.

RAPPERS: Common & Ice Cube
CONFLICT: Ice Cube took offense to Common’s portrayal of gangster rap on “I Used To Love H.E.R.” and dissed him on “Westside Slaughterhouse.” Com then ethered the whole click with “The Bitch In Yoo.”
RESOLUTION: The death of Tupac and Biggie inspired Minister Louis Farrakhan to host The Nation of Islam Peace Summit aimed at deterring violence in hip-hop. Multiple feuds were resolved, but the pivotal moment came when Ice Cube got up and hugged Common. They didn’t have to “pause” that back then.

RAPPERS: Snoop Dogg & West Coast rappers
CONFLICT: Left Coast inter-conflicts in general.
RESOLUTION: Lots of rappers no one really cares about were in attendance to settle beefs no one really cares about at the 2005 “Protect The West” peace conference (organized by Snoop and Steve Harvey), but it’s the thought that counts. Snoop told MTV: “I felt we should come together as one, organize, unify and start making records with each other and be about a cause.” Lil’ Eazy E later claimed it was a PR stunt on Snoop’s part. As if him telling the press that was any different.

RAPPERS: Jay-Z & Nas
CONFLICT: “Takeover,” “Ether,” Carmen, condoms on the baby seat, etc.
RESOLUTION: There was no overblown media event to signal the end of this beef (the MTV interview was after the fact), but inviting the guy who said you had “dick sucking lips” to perform on stage with you is pretty peaceful. Dare we say, Jay’s “I Declare War’ concert was heartwarming?

The 7 Worst Excuses For Celebrity Tax Evasion

prubin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:59:50 +0000

’Tis the season to pay the piper, y’all…and by “piper” we mean “the taxman who pipes you out every April 15.” So if you’re expecting a rebate, send it our way (trees are expensive!)—and if you come out on the other side of the ledger, we strongly suggest you at least consider coming up off that check, lest you wind up like Method Man, who got his ride repossessed a couple of weeks back.

It’s old news by now, though his original excuse that he forgot because he was high (which he’s since angrily recounted) struck us as his worst idea since sticking with Def Jam. And since we’re shameless recyclers, it also struck us as perfect fodder for a list. We love lists. You love lists. Don’t fight the lists. And read on for Meth and six other public figures who need to rethink their rationales…

MARION BARRY

Excuse: The most famous crackhead mayor ever claimed that he never paid is 2007 taxes (after previously pleading guilty to similar charges in 2005) because he was expecting a kidney transplant. Not having one. Expecting one. By that logic, we’ve never cheated on our girl, we’re just anticipating her dumping us.

AL FRANKEN

Excuse: The almost-Minnesota senator blamed his accountant for underpaying his taxes in 17 states for money earned in 2003. Doggie, if you’re passing the buck before you’re even in office, you need to…well, you need to skip all that Congress shit and go straight to the White House!

RICHARD HATCH

Excuse: The first-ever winner of Survivor claimed that CBS had told him they’d pay the taxes on the million-dollar check he received for ~~repulsing people with his naked body~~ outwitting, outplaying and outlasting everyone else.

LEONA HELMSLEY

Excuse: During her 1989 trial for tax evasion, a former housekeeper testified that she had overheard the hotel heiress say, “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes” Which is apparently why we’ve never seen a monocled dwarf lighting cigars with hundred-dollar bills.

METHOD MAN

Excuse: What, do you not read?

WESLEY SNIPES

Excuse: Big homie Blade tried a few things: sending “bills of exchange” instead of money, and then when that didn’t work, claiming that a section of the tax code left open a loophole that allows American citizens not to pay taxes. Now we see why he has such a knack for picking great movie scripts.

MARTHA STEWART

Excuse: In 1994, the then-not-yet-ex-con (did you get that?) tried to claim that she didn’t owe state taxes in New York because, uh, most of her friends lived in Connecticut. That’s like saying your shitty album sales don’t count because you’re huge on the internet, word to every single rapper out there.

The Wackness Is Dope Enough

justinm — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:37:43 +0000

When Ayo! Scott wants to revisit his youth, he watches Kids. Other than the raving and raping, Larry Clark's 1995 classic about aimless NYC teens skating, boozing, drugging, fucking, fighting, and slurping juice with tampons is like a day in the life of young Ayo!

The Wackness, set in 1994, taps into some of the same nostalgia. High school outsider Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends the summer before college selling weed, getting put up on new hip-hop by his connect (Method Man), trading trees for psychiatric therapy, and crushing on his shrink's stepdaughter (Ayo!’s boo-to-be, Olivia Thirlby). While Kids captured actual city teenagers doing how they once did, The Wackness attempts to transport young actors back in time, which proves tricky. The era references and slang spilling out of their mouths feel forced and untrue at times'though still infinitely more believable than a mesh-tank-top-rockin’ Meth's embarrassing Jafakin' accent.

If some details are off, the film still wins by focusing on the angst of first love, making it the coming-of-age story to Clark's cumming-in-underage-girls story. After all, between skating, boozing, drugging, fucking, fighting, and slurping juice with tampons, we did occasionally fall in love with these hoes. See the trailer and watch scenes after the jump.