The Heavy Metal Kings tour hit Rochester on Thursday night. I missed the opening act like a dick and got there just in time for King Syze to hit the stage. He is another Philadelphia MC that I had heard a few times over the years, both on the AOTP records and on his Syzemology LP. I liked seeing him live, but the energy wasn't quite what I had hoped for and the beats didn't sound all that loud through the system to me. I'll chalk it up to a bad night and me being more excited to see Paz and Bill than anything else. He did get the crowd warmed up though. As I have mentioned before, seeing Vinnie Paz was a big deal to me as I have been a fan of Jedi Mind Tricks for some time now. Listening to some of the older Jedi Mind Tricks songs brings back memories of where I was when I first heard them and I obviously love nostalgia. Ill Bill is one artist that has always slipped through the cracks for me for some reason. This made me happy to hear that Paz and Bill would be sharing the stage. They did just as I thought they would, jumping back and forth from some of Ill Bill's solo stuff (as well as Non-Phixion and I think there was a La Coka Nostra song in the mix too) to all of the Paz work. It was a good mix of Jedi Mind Tricks classics, a couple AOTP joints, as well as a few of Paz's more recent solo songs. King Syze joined them to do his work on AOTP's classic "Battle Cry." As expected, they closed with Heavy Metal Kings. I guess my only complaint would be that they only played for about an hour. I was hoping for more, but for ten bucks I guess I can't really complain. It was great finally seeing Vinnie Paz live on stage and hopefully next time it will be with Jedi Mind Tricks or possibly the whole entire AOTP crew.
As mentioned on here a few times in recent weeks, Panini America is bringing Video Trading cards to the industry. Their first line of video cards will be randomly inserted in Totally Certified, available late June. Those cards will feature Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant, and John Wall. To say that I have been hoping for a Kobe Bryant autograph in every pack of cards I have opened this season would be an understatement. It would be great to be able to pull one of these cards. It will be no easy task as they are only releasing 51 video cards of each player. One can only imagine what these cards will be fetching on e bay when people get their hands on them.
*Update- A Derrick Rose Absolute 10-11 Autograph just sold for $330 on ebay...
RIP GURU. It's hard to believe that a year has already gone by. Luckily you left us with plenty of great pieces of music to pass down to future generations. A lot of people talk about Biggie, Tupac, Big L, and Big Pun in the "G.O.A.T." discussion, yet I rarely here Guru's name come up in this conversation. He definitely belongs in that category in my opiion.
The Beastie Boys are one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite band. Their catalog speaks for itself and it is truly inspiring seeing them working on great, original music after all of these years. The Fight For Your Right revisited video features a dead sea scroll-sized list of Hollywood actors. That will be released on May 3, in conjunction with their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. Both the short film and record are going to rule.
It really didn't take long at all and I guess at the end of the day, I'm not that surprised. In what has been described as a "mutual parting," Rick Adelman and the Rockets have parted ways. That only adds to the already growing list of questions facing the Rockets brass this offseason. Of course, the main question is what to do with Yao Ming. Yao has been a huge injury disappointment in recent seasons and a big part of most Rockets fans wouldn't mind moving on. Still, we have caught some glimpses of a great center in recent seasons. He could help Hasheem Thabeet develop into a great young center. I really hope Houston keeps Chase Budinger and continues to let him blossom. He will be a good wing man for many years to come, not really an all star per se but a damned dependable scorer and defender. There are a lot of great building blocks with this team, but as I saw first hand last month, Houston still has no proven leader. It will all start with a good coach. I haven't thrown my name into the hat yet, but I probably will soon.
As mentioned here a couple months ago, the Heavy Metal Kings tour will be hitting Rochester this week. For me when I started branching out musically at the beginning of the last decade, Jedi Mind Tricks (and later most of the AOTP camp) took the place of a lot of hardcore I had been previously listening to. The Heavy Metal Kings/Hardcore Hip-hop hybrid is a very sensible pairing for someone with my background. This is one of the best and most original hip-hop lineups to hit Rochester in years. It only makes sense that they would play at Dub Land Underground, where other great hip-hop acts such as Slick Rick, Afu-Ra, Sean Price, Louis Logic, Reef The Lost Cauze, Cut Chemist, and many others have graced the stage in recent years. This will be a great set I am sure and I hope the crowd is as diverse as the music.
"Don’t miss ILL Bill and Vinnie Paz performing live as Heavy Metal Kings this spring in support of their new album which hits stores April 5, 2011. The Heavy Metal Kings Tour is a unique opportunity to catch ILL Bill and Vinnie Paz performing live together as Heavy Metal Kings with a setlist that will feature songs spanning more than a decade’s worth of indie hip hop classics from their combined catalogs, including songs from their solo albums as well as tracks from Jedi Mind Tricks, Non-Phixion, La Coka Nostra, Army of the Pharaohs, and their new Heavy Metal Kings album."
The Heavy Metal Kings tour hit Rochester on Thursday night. I missed the opening act like a dick and got there just in time for King Syze to hit the stage. He is another Philadelphia MC that I had heard a few times over the years, both on the AOTP records and on his Syzemology LP. I liked seeing him live, but the energy wasn't quite what I had hoped for and the beats didn't sound all that loud through the system to me. I'll chalk it up to a bad night and me being more excited to see Paz and Bill than anything else. He did get the crowd warmed up though. As I have mentioned before, seeing Vinnie Paz was a big deal to me as I have been a fan of Jedi Mind Tricks for some time now. Listening to some of the older Jedi Mind Tricks songs brings back memories of where I was when I first heard them and I obviously love nostalgia. Ill Bill is one artist that has always slipped through the cracks for me for some reason. This made me happy to hear that Paz and Bill would be sharing the stage. They did just as I thought they would, jumping back and forth from some of Ill Bill's solo stuff (as well as Non-Phixion and I think there was a La Coka Nostra song in the mix too) to all of the Paz work. It was a good mix of Jedi Mind Tricks classics, a couple AOTP joints, as well as a few of Paz's more recent solo songs. King Syze joined them to do his work on AOTP's classic "Battle Cry." As expected, they closed with Heavy Metal Kings. I guess my only complaint would be that they only played for about an hour. I was hoping for more, but for ten bucks I guess I can't really complain. It was great finally seeing Vinnie Paz live on stage and hopefully next time it will be with Jedi Mind Tricks or possibly the whole entire AOTP crew. 
