Here's the nine...


I must be slippin' in my old age. I can't believe I missed this. Last night, I was listening to and catching up on "On The Real" w/ Chuck D when I heard that he was talking to Brother J from the X-Clan. Come to find out that not only that X-clan and Public Enemy are now on tour, but X-clan has a new album coming out in January (the 30th from what I see).

If you don't know X-Clan is a Hip Hop group from the 90's and the "face" of the Blackwatch Movement (which is still active) started by group member and Activist Lumumba "Professor X the Overseer" Carson, son of civil rights activist Sonny Carson. Their first album, "To the East, Blackwards", is classic material and their second album, "Xodus", was more of the same. They spoke a message of pro black radicalism not totally unlike aforementioned Public Enemy. Brother J, the lead and pretty much only, MC was and still is regarded as one of the nicest on the mic. Ok, I don't remember if he made the list, but I think he should have if he hasn't. X-Clan helped popularize the beads and black medalions (the "afrocentric look" as would be said nowadays) that were widely worn (I hate to say fashionable, but that's what it seemed to be) when they came out. They didn't seem to be doing it for fashion sake, but because of what they believed in and that's part of why they are one of my favorite groups.

The group consisted of the before mentioned Brother J and Professor X (points if you can tell what that was in reference to), DJ Sugar Shaft, Paradise (not sure what he did), and Lady MC's Queen Mother Rage (not to be confused with Lady of Rage) and Isis, AKA Lin Que. Professor X died earlier this year, and Sugar Shaft died some years ago. Of that group, Brother J and Paradise are what's left. I have now idea what Queen Mother Rage is doing and Lin Que was, at one pint down with the Wu Tang offshoot crew, the Deadly Venoms.

Anyway, you can read all of that elsewhere. Right now, you should check out the new video, "Weapon X" below. It's hot, personally. I'm a little biased, granted, but it is good and Brother J proves he's still nice with his.



And if you want to check out X-Clan, here is their website:

X-Clan Music

And their Myspace page:

www.myspace.com/Xclanmusic


More videos:

Funkin' Lesson


Heed the word of the Brother


Xodus


Oh, and by the way, this is still protected by the Red, the Black, and the Green, SISSIES!!
(Hey, the prof's not here to do it so someone had to)


Vanglorious!

This, from my home girl, L. You have to check out the video on the post (if you hadn't already).
It said a lot and I didn't have the sound on. Go figure. And congrats on her blog win!

Phat to Fabulous!: Booty Booty Booty Booty Rockin' Every Where...



There is a beautiful (personally) NSFW picture of an oil painting on blogger extraordinaire Voilet Blue's site, Tinynibbles.com. Check that out, here.



Also, check out the latest edition of Soul2Soul from HoneySoul.com. It's called the Divalicious Edition. You can listen to it there or download it for later. It's worth the listen.

Honey Soul Music » Soul 2 Soul, Dec. 14, 2006: The Divalicious Edition


There is also the reason why I may have to stop doing Sample Moments. No really, dude's
got it locked. Check out SoulCrates...your home for SOUL: Show Em Whatcha Got....A Hova Sample Session


Next up is a not one, not two, but a three part mix of Barry White and Isaac Hayes (with a little Marvin, Al Green, and others) on T. Grundy's RIBS site. Definitely go check those out if you hadn't already.

Random musical interlude: Songs stuck in my head....(with video)
I wish I knew why

First up: Wham - "Everything She Wants"


Second: Blackalicious - "Make you feel that way"

Because I couldn't find "Paragraph President" and "Alphabet Aerobics' was done here.

Third: Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice baby"

I really didn't look for this one because I don't know why it popped up. Do have a funny story though. I was in Best buy a couple of weeks back where the satellite radio stuff was when this song came on. Now, I had already been hearing it in my head the last couple of days prior, so I left the area. Turning the corner from the display, I see these 3 young caucasians (two of which in hoodies no doubt) striking a B Boy stance and trippin' on said song. Needless to say, I found this quite amusing, yet sad at the same time. Anyway, in lieu of the actual song, here is a clip from "In Living Color" that is just as funny.




And last but not least this clip from the show "Scrubs" because thanks to my cousin showing me the clip, i'm singing the damn song.



Later.

P.S.
Oh, and Holla - TRANSFORMERS on Yahoo! Movies
It can't be good, but I WILL see it....because....it's F**KIN' Transformers, MAN!

Twas the week five days before Christmas
and all through the town.
People are scrambling for gifts,
and knocking others down.

Ok, so that wasn't my best rendition, but you get the point. It's crunch time, and i'm here to help. If you've gotten your shopping done, Hoorah! If not, join the club. Anyway, when I first started blogging last year, I put out a similar post on the different Holiday gift guides on the web, so this could be an annual event. And since I know time's precious (and I have to go to work in a few), let's get it going.

First up: For the tech inclined (like me)

CNET does a gift guide every year. It's broken down all nice and neat into categories. There's even video and podcasts to go all with it. Some of he videos were from their recent Holiday Helpdesk that was streamed a couple of weeks back. Should have told you about it then.


Holiday Gift Guide 2006 - CNET.com


Engadget - Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide! - Engadget

I love this site, in general. If you are a gadget lover, this is the place for news. Their guide is broken down by person (Mom, Dad, Him, Her, etc). Nicely done.

DL.TV - Episode 114: Our first annual Holiday Shopping Guide! - DL.TV

DL.TV is a web video show hosted by two former Tech TV hosts. Great show in general. Good stuff.

Also check the Gadgettes podcast, They drop names of gadgets like it's going out of style. They even did a non denominational holiday gift podcast.


For the gamers in the house (like me)

1up.com - 2006 Videogame Gift Guide from 1UP.com

Great gaming site (of which I have a blog page on). Their guide is broken down by platform (PS2, Xbox, etc).

Gamespot.com - GameSpot Holiday Gift Guide - Gifts for Gamers

Another great site. Part of the CNET Networks (redundant I know). Their guide is also broken up by platform.



For the sexually inclined (yea me too)

SFGate.com (the online side of the San Fransisco Chronicle - Sexy Holiday Shopping Guide

Admittedly, I didn't spend much time on this one as I should have.

Author, columnist, geek, machinist, (audio, video, and text) blogger Violet Blue has some suggestions on what to put under the tree... or anywhere else you want to stick something. Hopefully, I hope to add more to this section later.

*UPDATE*

I found this link from a couple of weeks back. It has links to other sex themed holiday guides (useful year round). check out: Viviane's Sex Carnival: Gift guides roundup.


For the music lovers (note the theme here people) -
Admitted, this is another section I didn't spend much time but still are worth checking out.

MP3.com - MP3.com Holiday Gift Guide - CDs, Music Downloads, and Accessories
Also a part of the CNET family. good site laid out by genre and has a section for MP3 playing hardware (probably Ipods, but I could be wrong).


Allmusic.com - allmusic ((( 2006 Holiday Buying Guide )))

Music site where I link to quite often when I do music related posts (which I'm past due on). Guide done by genre, of course. I think MP3.com borrowed reviews and such from Allmusic.com. A lot of places do.


For the TV lovers (not so much me)

TV.com - TV.com Holiday Gift Guide - DVDs, Sountracks and Electronics

If it's not painfully obvious what this site is about, then allow me to redirect you to another site. Anyway, it's another CNET property. Usually hit them up for show recaps and whatnot.


And (for now), there you have it. I may stick in one or two others should I come across anything in the next day or two. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas to go off from. If not, you are on your own.

Happy Holidays!