The Basedgod was the cover story in this month’s edition of UK based music magazine Wire, delivering another massive dose of the strange and arresting personality we’ve come to expect. The second I saw Brandon McCartney on the cover of a legitimate magazine, that thing was a sure thing purchase. His interviews are just as interesting (and strikingly similar) to his Based freestyles, though this one hit one some interesting stuff I hadn’t really heard from him before.

First thing’s first, you’ll definitely get all of the weird B you could want, with half-baked-or-maybe-we-just-don’t-get-it platitudes about knowledge, godliness, race, linguistics, lineage, and the rap game. Interesting, sure, but I coulda gotten that from BasedgodVelli or Rain In England. The really good part is the businessman side of B you get here, where he’s talking about contracts and how he deals logistically with producers and how he wants you to be able to buy his albums at Target n shit. I guess I just assumed he didn’t think about that shit. He also talks a lot about his upcoming “debut album.” Lol. Anyway, you should just track down the issue and read the article. It’s real based.

Does that look like the face of someone who could mistakenly wipe out an entire alien race? Apparently so, for 14-year-old Asa Butterfield has been cast as Ender Wiggins in the upcoming adaptation of Ender’s Game, the classic sci-fi novel written by frothing, homophobic lunatic Orson Scott Card. Since its publication in 1985, there’s been a plethora of failed attempts to adapt it for the big screen, but in 2009 Odd Lot Entertainment got the ball rolling and brought on director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine haha).

For those unfamiliar with Card’s book, Ender’s Game is about a bunch of kids who are sent to a military training academy for geniuses. Despite being a shrimp, Ender Wiggins is the star student. He begins leading his classmates in simulation exercises and mock battles against the Buggers, humanity’s greatest threat. It’s a kickass novel, although I prefer Card’s follow-up, Speaker for the Dead.

Ender’s Game is currently scheduled for a March 2013 release date but you can see Mr. Butterfield do his thing next weekend in Scorsese’s upcoming family film Hugo.

<Fanfic> It was the beginning of the new schoolyear, and all of the Hogwarts students were gathered in the great hall, giddy with excitement at the prospect of the impending semester. Harry and Hermione were sitting at the Gryffindor table, doing lame shit like drinking non-alcoholic beverages and doing spells that don’t kill things or start fires. “Where’s Ron,” asked Harry, like a wang-nimbus.

All of a sudden Ron swaggered in with his arms around two girls from, I dunno, whatever the hot house is, decked out head to toe in Мишка gear and smoking a blunt and shit. “Ron Weasley, what have you gotten into?” said Hermione and she was all blushing or whatever cuz she was feeling it. “I founded this new Hogwarts house yo, House Мишка,” replied Ron. “Our sorting hat is a New Era fitted and our ghost is ODB. Who wants to come get high and watch Troma movies and be based?”

And everyone did so everyone left the other Hogwarts houses. Then Voldemort was over being evil so he came to hang out at House Mishka too but he couldn’t keep his shit together and he booted after doing a magical kegstand. The other kids drew magical weiners on his face with their wands after he passed out and the realm of witches and wizards was happy forever after. </Fanfic>

P.S. If you want to be like Rupert, the Tigerstripe Camo Keep Watch Hoodie is available now in-store and online.

We were extremely pleased and a little fanboyed out to have the one and only Bun B stop by the 350 Broadway Store recently. Growing up as a nerdy and generally lame suburban white kid, the first time I heard UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty my face pretty much just fell off. I would like to hope that perhaps some of you shared in that experience.

Despite the end of UGK (RIP Pimp C), Bun B has continued to exhibit his trill flow over some real dope solo albums, including last year’s Trill OG, and a bunch of guest verses. He is, apparently, also a fan of Night Slugs, which makes me like him even more. I think the lesson here is: come by the store and you might meet some of the best rappers of all time. Of all time yo!

In the meantime check out Bun and Big K.R.I.T. in new guest spots over Jackie Chain‘s latest video “Parked Outside.”

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

J/M/Z to Marcy Ave
G to Broadway
L to Lorimer

Brooklyn runs deep. even out here in California. And so when one of my all-time greatest homies, and long-time Brooklyn resident, told me he was moving to Los Angeles, I was psyched. Now, I’m in the Bay, so it’s still a ways away, but it’s a lot closer. And, perhaps more importantly, his reason for moving is mind-blowing.

My homie Chris Tabron, who also goes by DJ Tab, is one of the most gifted people I’ve ever had the pleasure of making music with. Chris is a really good musician, but he is an all-out incredible engineer. Everything that I know about how to make my music sound better, I learned from him. Over the years that I was in New York I sat in on a few sessions with Chris, and spent many late nights in a studio after someone else’s session working on our stuff. He was living the same life that all of us artists live: barely scraping by with a hodge podge of gigs, never being paid what he’s worth, and never getting enough of a lead to change his situation.

Now, although Chris busted his ass in New York, oddly enough his big break wouldn’t be in the city that had made him. He worked on a number of projects with pretty big names, but one name that he always brought up weighed very heavily with me: Tony Maserati. Occasionally Chris would work with Tony, and I always loved hearing about it because, well, Tony is Tony. So, when Chris called me earlier this year and told me that Tony had offered him a position EYE shit a brick. I spent several days over the course of a week or two on the phone with Chris weighing out the pros and cons, and in the end he took the job, moved to Los Angeles, and plunged headlong into what will most likely evolve into an amazing career behind the scenes of some of the world’s most incredible music.

So, by now you might be asking why this matters to the Bloglin, or to any of you reading. And, since you wondered, I’ll explain: Chris is going to be helping out with some upcoming projects that we’ll be releasing. And given, that he’s gonna have a hand in the sounds you’ll be hearing we wanted to do things how we do them, and flip the script. So, instead of his name just being in the credits, and his work going unnoticed we wanted to put more of a face to the name since the work of the engineer is so important to the final product that the listener gets. And, what better way to get to know him than with music?

So, Chris has offered to provide us and you, the Bloglin faithful, with a monthly installment titled “Sound Different.” When I listened to this inaugural installment it reminded me of being in New York because Chris is by all means a New York DJ. He knows how to carry the vibe and move through all kinds of genres, across any era, and then somehow totally lose you. And I don’t mean like he surprises you, but he just loses you because the way he understands music is so far beyond what the rest of us can comprehend that it’s impossible to know why he put that record on. But you don’t need to. And his role as an engineer is very much derivative of that sentiment. Most folks will never even know that the engineer was involved, let alone know why an engineer made a particular choice. And while enjoying the music doesn’t depend on it, I think that understanding the engineer’s role can definitely enrich an appreciation for music.
DJ Tab – Sound Different Vol. 1 by Chris Tabron

Dear Coco Hayley Gordon Moore,

Runaway… Seek out Frances Bean and be awesome together. Two cool rock chicks listening to Neu!

<3 Me.

Musicians Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, married in 1984, are announcing they have separated. Sonic Youth, with both Kim and Thurston involved, will proceed with its South American tour dates in November. Plans beyond that tour are uncertain. The couple has requested respect for their personal privacy and does not wish to issue further comment.

What a total bummer… I guess he/she don’t “love him/her all the time.”

Oofa!!! Now this is a fuckin’ PSA if I’ve ever seen one!!! It’s about 30 minutes long but well worth sitting through the whole thing. SPIN actually has a great minute by minute breakdown of the whole thing for those of you who’ll need Cliff Notes on the time signatures to skip to.

Taking up the reigns to the coastal dispute put on hold following the deaths of Biggie and Tupac, are Hip Hop legends Fabolous and Ray J! Or, Fabolous and Brandy’s brother, as Fab would call him. Shout out to Fab, though. And as is typical of today’s beef, this all started on Twitter, which is cool.

Among claims of having seven Rolls-Royce’s and a whole bunch of other cars that no one asked him about, Brandy’s little brother, Ray J, went off on a tirade yesterday on New York radio station, Power 105.1, regarding some altercation between him and Fabolous. And as if anyone put any stake into Ray J’s claims, Fab called in last night to clarify the event and further embarrass Ray J, who he called “Little Red Riding Hood”. It was too good. Incase you missed all this, here are the highlights of Ray J’s call.

Seriously, who keeps hooking up Rupert Grint with the Keep Watch swag? This is the second time we’ve spied him rocking something with the eyeball during a press junket. Not that we’re complaining, we just wanna say thank you to whoever is turning the young wizard into a mopster.

Look, I’m just going to come out and say it: There should be a version of The View for men. Just imagine, five guys, different backgrounds, different personalities and talents, discussing current events and interviewing guests. Entourage was society’s (Hollywood’s) response to Sex and The City, and now that that’s ending, this seems like the next logical step. And don’t think that this would just be five dudes sitting around riffing about sex and whatever. No, this would be five suit-wearing gentleman, discussing politics, current events, and then also sex and whatever.

And no, I have not forgotten about the short-lived 2001 daytime talk show, The Other Half, hosted by Dick Clark, Mario Lopez, Danny Bonaduce, and Dr. Jan Adams. The quick cancellation does not worry me, though. Frankly, with hosts like that I’m surprised it last the two years that it did. No, I am positive that the male View, which will be known as Gentleman’s Hour, will be nothing short of a massive success.

So here’s what I’m thinking: In place of show creator and veteran, Barbara Walters, would be Larry David. Hear me out. While he may not have the journalistic credentials that Walters possesses, he clearly knows how to speak is mind and is extremely opinionated. And that’s just what this show needs: opinions.

Walters is generally only featured on the show three days a week, leaving the show to be run typically by current moderator, Woopi Goldberg. In her place, would be supreme gentleman, George Clooney. Both politically aware and funny, Clooney is an easy pick for moderator, as he commands respect and looks great in a suit. Seriously, have you seen this guy in a suit? It’s awesome. Very gentlemanly.

The casting of the remaining three seats did not come to me as easily as the first two. On one hand, you want diversity, and a range of opinions. On the other hand, I would not want to watch Bill O’Reilly, who certainly possesses a different political view than David or Clooney, sit with a group of respectable gentleman and excrete bizarre, inane slander. And while the position of resident-idiot, Elizabeth Hasslebeck cannot be totally ignored, the key is not to select a moron host who you expect to spout ignorance and disagree with the rest of the cast, but simply to choose diverse personalities. For the first of the remaining three seats, I’d choose Kanye West.

Seriously.

Kanye clearly is a very opinionated guy who speaks his mind, and not just in terms of music. During the 2008 presidential election West was a vibrant supporter of Obama, but following the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards after he stormed the stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance of the Best Female Video award, Obama called the rapper “a jackass” in an off-the-record portion of an interview with ABC News. Between this and Kanye’s famous comment that, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” he would undoubtedly make a great host for a male View who would not hesitate to contribute his honest opinion.

For the second remaining seat, I’d cast comedian Louis C.K. Comedians, particularly those that confront controversial topics, are obvious picks for a talk show. Regarded as the best stand-up comedian alive, C.K. is known for tackling weighty personal issues in his stand-up and placing the audience in a position where they are addressing real issues — be them familial, political, or societal — that are, on top of being funny jokes, serious matters. Louis speaks his mind and is simultaneously ridiculously funny, making him a perfect male counterpart for current View cast member, Joy Behar.

The final seat threw me for a bit of a loop. I originally intended to cast famous chef and author, Anthony Bourdain, however, I realized that while I think Bourdain is awesome, and funny, and cool, he would not bring enough diversity to the cast. So instead, I’m choosing Food Network personality, Guy Fieri. Born in Ohio, and the co-owner of five California restaurants, Fieri, who is arguably much less of an icon and celebrity than West, David, and Clooney, would bring an opinion closer to that of an average, not-famous person, which is sure to make him a crucial addition.

How do I know so much about The View? If you must know, I used to watch it any time my mother told me to fake sick so that I could stay home and we could hang out. Incidentally, this happened all the time from second grade to senior year, so I became pretty familiar with these lovely ladies.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard the arguments against a male version of The View. They are such gripes as, “We don’t need more representation of the male opinion!” “They’re just going to talk about sex!” and “Everything on Spike TV is already a male View!” And it’s true, most things, not only on TV but in the entire media are representations of male views. Much of the time, however, these views are those of a certain type and demographic of men, meaning that there are many other male views other than those expressed in the media.

Also, this show would pretty much just be a comedy show, so there’s really no need to make arguments against it.