NYC Beerathon X Scream Team

November 19, 2011

     The Scream Team made an epic showing at this year's 2011 NYC Beerathon held in the Village in lower Manhattan.  In celebration of Meghan J's birthday, a group of more than 20 thirsty day drinkers,  trained it up to the Big Apple.  Everyone had their sites set on taking on the 26 bar - 26 beer course that started at high noon and went all day and night.  Within this group, there was the legendary Scream Team that fully represented once L-Ron made it to the first bar after registration.  More importantly,  he had the official uniform of the Scream Team which would set the pace all day.   (He was literally making the T's that morning, major props).  You could literally spot the various members in all the bars easily with the trademark red tops and numbers.  At some point, the yells of Scream Team could be heard upon entrance of the drinking establishments as the entire group would take up most of the bars.

OG ScreamTeamers

     This event has to be commended for the organization and overall great time provided to the 1,000 participants.  Each bar was more than happy to entertain the throngs of drunken revelers for more than 12 hours.  The beer flowed aplenty and the weather was absolutely perfect.  New friends were made all day, especially the Brew-Tang Clan who we declared an honorary faction of Scream Team.  Extra special thanks and Happy Birthday to Meghan J for completely taking care of everything for our group, along with making pretzel necklaces for everyone (which I ate by the 3rd bar).  Everybody in the group was super awesome and made it that much better.  Definitely looking forward to next year.

DS, Bday Girl and friends, yes, we were seeing double

Shout to the Scream Team roster of L-Ron, Truth, Executioner, DS, Rizza, and last but definitely not least Big Wes, who actually completed the Beerathon and got punched by all 26 bars.  That's handling your business.  See you in 2012.  Enjoy the pics and hit the jump for more pics.

Biggie Baby Baby

     I'm sure a lot of you have seen this already, but I pretty much fell out of my seat laughing when I first saw this.  The Notorious B.I.G. is one of my favorite musical artists aka rappers of all time, like most of you east coasters.  Who knew it would be the favorite for a brand new generation??  All you newer parents out there better get your Life After Death Disc 1 out of the attic and put it on repeat.  One of the better viral video's out there.  Shout to Frank and Jaclyn from the land down under for putting me on.  Love you guys

Mixtape Mayhem IV

     The holidays are getting close and that means a lot of new music will be coming from all directions trying to get your hard earned dollar.  Have no fear, Mixtape Mayhem is here, as there is a ton of free heat to keep you warm this fall season.  The mixtape game is hot and heavy as rap's superstars, savvy vets, R&B semithugs, and everything in between have released mixtapes in the last few weeks.

       We'll start off with one of rap's unique voices and flows straight from the Illadelph, our favorite bearded rapper, Freeway.  We've heard from Free on twitter about him working on his upcoming album, Free At Last, along with his mixtape, The Intermission, which he just released.   Free's as ill as ever on the entire album as he many new cuts and only a couple freestyles where he displays his full repertoire of rhymes.  This tape is as good as anything out there and has appearances from Meek Mill, Wale, Yo Gotti, along with the reunion of the Roc group, State Property.  Various producers give it a fresh sound where the Philly Freezer sounds as fresh as ever, no skips needed.

     Keeping with the Philly theme, the State Property vet, Young Chris, released another mixtape, The Revival, as he continues to promote his upcoming major release on Rico Love's Division 1 records.  The tape has numerous cameo's from the members of State Property, but Peedi Crack makes a handful of features on the tape.  Peedi Peedi sounds pretty focused on staying relevant, I enjoy his sound.  Young Chris will continue to grow his fan base by feeding the streets with quality music every few months.  The young gunner has been in the game for quite a while and continue's to work as hard as anyone.
     One of the best voices and flows the past handful of years has to be Blue Hefner aka Lloyd Banks of G-Unit.  He seemed to have fell off for a while as he switched record labels but has been a mainstay since releasing his last solo album, H.F.M 2, a year ago.  Banks dropped his newest mixtape, Cold Corner 2 and it's pretty much what the title says….cold…cold blooded.  Banks sets a dark tone for the whole tape right from the beginning with a guest spot by Mobb Deep's Prodigy.  Nobody does that sound better than the Mobb but if winter in NYC could come out with a mixtape, this would be it.  I'm a big fan of Banks and this is 18 new bangers full of punchlines.  Check out "Score", "Shock The World" and "Make it Stack" w/ ASAP Rocky.
     Speaking of ASAP Rocky and staying in New York, this rapper is generating as much buzz as anyone.  The song and video for "Purple Swag" had the internet going nuts as the Harlem native was delivering his own southern screwed sound as the video has a snow bunny with gold fronts singing chorus.  He recently dropped his highly anticipated mixtape, Live, Love, A.S.A.P. to a thirsty crowd.  The tape has it's own distinctive sound that leans heavy on southern influences but he has that New York City flow that seems to come easy.  Combined, it sounds like you're on a smoke induced trip that stops in Mars, Houston, and your speaker box.  We'll be waiting to see what's next for the syrup sippin spitter.  Also, look out for the producer, Clams Casino, who produced a handful of records for the mixtape (and has one of the coolest names).
     There was even something for the ladies in the mixtape game as Trey Songz released not one, but two mixtapes a couple weeks ago.  Anticipation 2 and LetMeHolDatBeat2 are proving that artists continue to self-promote themselves through mixtapes and providing their music for free to their fans.  Surprised rock bands and other genres of music haven't tried this avenue of promotion, but I'm sure at some point…
     Lastly, rapper/actor, Ludacris just dropped his mixtape called 1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The First Time.  I can't front…the cover and title sounds a little…okay, a lot like the main man Wale's mixtape, Back To The Feature, which is an official banger.  Luda has star features such as Rozay, Wiz, Big K.R.I.T., Meek Mills and others that let them showcase their skills over new beats from new and veteran producers.  At this point, if you're on as a rapper, you have your own mixtape and you're on everybody else's.  Not a bad thing at all especially since it's FREE and a lot of it is quality music and a different sound for everyone.
     As always, you can revisit the Mixtape Mayhem series if you've missed anything this past year.  Vol. I, II, III.  Let me know what you think about any of these collections or if there is a tape out there that's a must listen.  Feel free to forward as well.
Be safe over the next handful of weeks and enjoy all the gratis beats that are a click away.
Shout to datpiff.com, thee official mixtape site.  All downloads below.

Downloads
Freeway
Young Chris
Lloyd Banks
A.S.A.P. Rocky
Ludacris
Trey Songz Anticipation 2
Trey Songz LetMeHolDatBeat2

Wobbeldee Wobble

     At some point, even I'm speechless.  Don't need many words to describe this video or more importantly, what's shakin in the video.  Nicki has redefined hammertime….watch, repeat, watch.

Star Boards

     Star Wars is collaborating with Burton Snowboards in a limited line of boards and a helmet for the holiday season.  They're both available in youth sizes only.  There are eight boards that have the images of our favorite galactic hero's and villains.  The helmet is super cool as it's modeled after R2-D2.  More information here.

Watch The Throne x Philadelphia

Otis

      Philadelphia was almost on hip hop overload last week as new mixtapes were released from Freeway and Young Chris along with live shows featuring Theophilus London, Kendrick Lamar, and local fire starter Meek Mills.  Last, but definitely not least, was the Watch The Throne concert at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly featuring the king's Jay-Z and Kanye West.   Expectations were super high for this dynamic duo, who are both considered icon's in the game, as they are traveling across North America in support of their collaborative album, Watch The Throne.

Hova

     The excitement was definitely in the crowd as the females dressed in their best club attire along with the dudes showing off their latest kicks, as you can imagine, it was the place to be seen….that is until the lights went down and the speakers started to thump.   Fans went scrambling like cockroaches for their seats as Hov and Ye started the show with "HAM".  They each were standing on elevated cubes on opposite sides of the arena floor.  This theme continued all night as they alternated songs with each taking turns on the cubes while also both being on the main stage belting out hit after hit.  Each side of the cube showed various images of sharks and all kinds of wild life, along with the images shown on giant screens on the main stage.  Huge flames and a tremendous laser light show also highlighted the epic event as we expected nothing less than a rock star performance.   Kanye definitely dressed the part as well by wearing a leather kilt along with the anticipated Nike Air Yeezy 2's.  Hov donned his usual Yankee cap, this time snap back and all black everything.
     Some of the highlights included Kanye's performance of "Runaway" as he was on the far cube by himself as it glowed red in the middle of the arena.  That song is definitely made for stadium status.  Kanye also gave Philly local and ex-gf, Amber Rose, an emotional mention during the song.  I  managed to get that on video and posted after the break.

Runaway

Jigga and Ye played on their relationships with their ladies as they did intro's for the classics GoldDigger and then 99 Problems.  Mr. West and Jay also took a seat on the stage to do what Kanye says his is favorite track on the WTT album and most introspective ever, "New Day".  "Me and the RZA connect…"  They both did their own best hits while sprinkling in most of WTT which gave the concert great energy.  Their catalogs drip with classics as they continue to make more.  The night culminated in everybody's favorite right now, "N***** in Paris" as they literally did a triple encore of the jam that lasted more than 12 minutes.  Yes, three times.  Crowd went bonkers every time.  Of course, there was one more song to appropriately finish the show and that was Jay's "Encore"…. do you want more.  Yes, of course we do.
     One thing that impressed me was the genuine emotion that Kanye and Jay put into the show.  They continually talked to the crowd, shook hands with the front row, ran and danced all over the stage and really gave a total effort.  Both smiling and enjoying the audience dancing all two and a half hours while they were in complete control.  They've accomplished everything that most artists can dream of and instead of competing or staying in their lanes, they've combined their talents to really give the fans a great experience.  Both the album and show set the bar of what great artists can do.  It doesn't have to be the best show or album ever, but their resumes draw those kinds of expectations.  Honestly, they didn't disappoint on either account.  If anything, they've cemented themselves as truly great artists of any musical genre and personally, my all time favorites…..  as they say...it's get the people going.
More pics at the break with the set list.