"Brooklyn Keeps On Takin' It!" -New York's Throughest Boro Is On The Rise

It seems like NYC (or rather the world) is FINALLY starting to get it! People with $ and corporate America are starting to respect Brooklyn for the royal Kings County that it's ALWAYS been! At least to the Brooklynites are born and raised here. Stadiums, high end stores, high rise condo housing, and all the entrapment's that "the city" once monopolized on, are planting their flags firmly into BK soil. So that renaissance that Harlem was expecting is looking like it's happening faster in good ol' "Bucktown USA" instead. Man, I don't blame this rep from Harlem for sitting this one out. All that Brooklyn/Harlem "Who's better?" beef stuff is meat in a fajita wrap now! The BROOKLYN Renaissance looks like its gonna be around for years to come. If you're curious to know or just plain nosy, the story behind the picture of ol' boy here is that he decided he wanted to play tough guy and not salute when the DJ on set asked "Where's Brooklyn at?" He flings open his sweat drenched shirt to revel and even sweaty 'er HARLEM t-shirt underneath and next thing you know...BIFF! BAM! POW! He's "Harlem shaking" laying on the cold concrete like a tossed away flier promoting a Harlem World reunion CD. Oh buddy! However there IS some good news for Harlemites...Brooklyn has some low housing rentals still available! So do like Shalamar and "make that move right now baby!" I called Mase to pray for you guys. And Diddy was unavailable for comment, away in Miami I guess. Somebody go wake this guy up and say "Hello! Good morning!" for me! LMAO!

"Do Fries Go W/ That (Harlem) Shake?" -I Can't Shake The Feeling That...

Now I know it'll never be on it's way to become a national holiday but, TODAY (June 16th) ladies and gentlemen, marks the 5 yr. anniversary of the now infamous "Harlem Shake" dance, the last big dance craze (and I do mean craze!) to originate from Uptown. Now most of the unsuspecting public became familiar with this dance via G-Dep's "Let's Get It" video, but truth be told, the dance was already popular long before that since '89. So to commemorate this monumental day in Black history, I took my lazy ass up to Harlem to track down some of the torch bearers that still kept the flame (and flamers!) alive. And boy, it wasn't hard to find willing dancers to prove that Harlem STILL clings on to old s**t the rest of the world has quickly moved on from (Pelle Pelle anyone). Here's some video I captured of some guys "shaking their stuff" (pause, no homo) in a "friendly fire" dance off. One guy was "shaking" so violently I was preying it wasn't a stroke or MS, and had to kept from him swallowing his tongue! LOL. History reads that the dance was originally a parody, poking fun at the crack & heroin addicts that haunted Harlem during those late Alpo, Rich Porter days. The fiends would "shake" involuntarily in between their next hit. So one day being driven through Harlem to get in touch with his roots again, Diddy peered out his heavily tinted windows, told the driver to stop, and studied the crack heads for a moment during a shaking fit and announced to himself "Now THAT'S Harlem! I gotta capture that essence!" Hired a crack team (no pun intended) of skilled dancers to make sense of the moves, and voila'... you go from milk shake to Harlem Shake! Bong! Now watch and see, I bet you some "genius" turns this into a workout video White folks will eat up! Lmao!

"Good Morning, Time To Find Your Love" -Drake and Dirty Money Latest Vids

Now I haven't watched videos in a MINUTE! And for good reason too! One is , I HARDLY ever watch TV to begin with and two all of the videos lately look as if thay were shoot the SAME day inside of the SAME club! Here's two though that caught my fancy, that I thought I should share with you. REALLY not feeling the Diddy/Dirty Money song, but I'm not hating on the video. And it seems like Drake FINALLY got a good video under his belt...good for him! Go take a look see.

"Flashing Lights" -Paparazzi Pics (Pt.184)

Now let me state straight off the back that I DON'T go out HALF as much as I used to. Not that the "thrill" is gone it's just that I'm on some "What is it to be thrill about?" mood right now. But Sunday night curiosity got the better of me. After hearing SO much about Pink Elephant on Sunday nights, I thought it was about time to pay that spot a visit. Especially being that one, I was walking in with fellow Block Association member DJ Trauma (Alador & Smith/Soundproof), and two there was NO work on Monday. What better reasons right? After Traum' played his opening set, we took an "observation booth" seat and watched how fast the room filled up. about 85 percent of the room were women, and rest were cats I wouldn't leave an open wallet around. LOL. By (I wanna say) 11:30ish, It was almost filled to capacity! Team players Silky, and L.A. (Lyshaan Hall) came out to join in on the tomfoolery going on that night, and the rest I really can't recall to save my life. But here's what my camera managed to capture. FYI didn't realize Rick Ross & Diddy were there till I checked my camera...WASTED!

"Kanye Is Appalled!" -New Track For Diddy By Mr. West

Oh you thought he was going away after that ol' Taylor Swift incident? Nah, dude is "Mr, Contro
versy" himself, America was tripping while he already had his Louis V bags in baggage claim. Anyway here's a leaked reference track that Yeezy did supposedly for Diddy's "Last Train To Paris" CD that's soon to come out. I'm thinking he needs to keep this one for himself. Give a listen...

"Old School, New School Need To Learn" -Getting My Shyne On!

Now even though I haven't done a posting in this category in a minute, doesn't mean I haven't been posting up samples from time to time. But being that this guy (former Bad Boy artist turned gun man) Shyne) has been in the news a lot lately, I thought what BETTER time to post this than now! Will he rap again? Is he staying in the states? I don't remember, what song he made again? Why didn't Diddy come visit more? Are ALL questions being floated around the "water cooler!" Me? I'm about the music. I say eff the controversy, I just wanna hear GOOD music from the kid. Well in the meantime here's a "refresher" on the hit he had AND the song he lifted it from made by club icon/nightclubber Grace Jones. Get reacquainted all over again with both.

"Someone Needs A (Taylor) Swift Kick In The Yeezy! -the VMA Awards In Reveiw

I'm not one to really follow these sorta things, I'll let you know first hand that I honestly didn't even know WHO was up for any awards, let alone SEEN any of them. But something inside told me that I HAD to watch this year's VMA awards! And boy did it not disappoint! But before we get into all that, I gotta say watching made me FEEL old. More than half of the "host" for the pre-show I've never even heard of before. I was told that they're "actresses" on that "Gossip Girls" show. Now let me remind you that I'm an over 25 African-American heterosexual male, that barely watches TV. So you naming names is lost to me (hand waving past head motion). Then they've gone an added Twitter into the mix (huh?) which I think is for the birds (pun intended)! Don't get me wrong, technically I HAVE an account (Twitter.com/theMreporter), but ask me how many times I've used it and I'll hold up only a few fingers at best. BTW Pink and Shakira in the same dress? Oops! Now let's move on. Only but ten maybe twenty mins. into the program after Madonna's "Yeah, I tried to seduce Michael Jackson memory" and Janet's "Scream" if you love MJ performance. Ya boy 'Ye has a melt down over Taylor Swift beating out both Beyonce' AND Lady Gaga for Best Female Video (?) Big "WOW moment" for the night. Bigger than any of the performances to be honest. I That moment will be spoken about and Youtube'd FOREVER in time. Trust me MTV is NOT mad one bit at him, simply because now next year this time around folks will be glued to watch. Hoping not to miss anything. So they can stay in the "cool crowd" the next morning. As far as my thoughts on the host Russell Brand...eh?!? He's one funny bloke, but at some point I needed sub-titles because he talks so fast with an accent to boot at times. Bring on Sasha Cohen man. The Tracy Morgan/Eminem skits...lame. the look on Eminem's face when Gaga big ed' up gays...Priceless! Diddy's suit...sharp! The witty "Wait, what did I said?" comment after saying Kanye's name...sharper! Wale acting like the Roots backing up band Russell was a NO. Respect yourself in the morning! Beyonce' s "Single Ladies" performance screamed "I don't believe you, you need more people!" so she brought out MORE people. Lol! THEN the crapper of the night to me, that made me get my hat & coat outta coat check, was funky ass Lil' Mama jumping on stage during Jay-Z & Alicia Keys show closing performance of New York's newest anthem ("Empire State of Mind") Hey Lil Mama isn't past your bed time?

"Frank N' Scents" -Notorious Marketing Done B.I.G.

Boy, they're REALLY going hard trying to promote this Biggie bio that's a about to be release next year. Ralph even jumped on board to give his "fashionistic" input, for a different perspective promotional wise. Only told by Diddy to capture "Frank White's" essence in a fragrance, and the title "Notorious," here's Ralph's thoughts on his approach.

"I originally thought, what would or did the late Mr. Wallace smell like after a four song set under hot lights in a full suit? Or better yet, a night of lustful sex w/his numerous groupies or whats-her-face...that Lil' Kim young lady? Then I heard a line from 2Pac stating that Biggie once slept on his couch at one time or another. And thought of going in that direction for the smell we were seeking. Then it hit me, what was his passions? Money, weed, and good vagina, and BOOM! You have "Notorious" my friend! Come, take a wiff."

Ya see, I'm a fan of Ralph Lauren but ummm...I'll past on this one.

"Flashing Lights" -Paparazzi Pics (Pt.26)

Believe it or not me of all people got invite to this ritzy ditzy shindig that Vogue hosted in honor of Bad Boy artist Cassie(?). Let me tell you folks...it was well planned! As you arrived inside, scantily clad chicks in lingrie greeted you with a choice of either wine, champaigne, or a martini...Hot! Also around the room you were FREE to get your portrait painted, make-up done, nails fixed, or just chill to the tunes of Celeb
Dj D-Nice...Dope! Once the "in crowd" showed up, you had a chance to mix and mingle with the evenings host Cassie, Ryan Leslie, Stephon Marbury, missing Fugee Pras, and some other notables I can't remember off hand. Oh and did I tell you it was an OPEN BAR...ALL night? Ciroc was in the building too, case Diddy got thirsty, who by the way, was the only cat with security (understandably)
It was a good sexy look all around, just peep the pics.