Kanye West debuted his Power video last night on MTV, leaving fans to interpret the rappers vision in the Marco Brambilla directed “moving portrait”. Many fans commented on MTV.com about the religious and illuminatti themes they thought they found in the video. However, with some digging I was able to discover that the portrait is not neccserily portraying any religious themes other than duality found in man, good and evil. The video is a reworking of an old Greek myth in which an ordinary man trades places with a god is entrusted with unimaginable power, but has a sword placed above his head, hanging by a single hair. It represents the fear that comes along with such power. I think this video or “moving portrait”, as Yeezy would call it, is absolutely genius!! It is just another reminder to people that Kanye is truly the best pop ARTIST of recent times. I cant wait for the debut of his album in October.

What do you get when take two of the biggest names in pop music and toss them on a track together, then add a little Megan Fox and sprinkle in a Hobbit? You get a pretty gritty video about domestic violence. The music video is directed by Joseph Kahn and based on the troubled relationship between Eminem and his two-time ex-wife, Kim. “It’s essentially a look at the relationship that Eminem was in with his wife, Kim, so I kind of felt like I was playing Eminem a little bit, and Megan Fox was kind of playing Kim,” Monaghan, the Hobbit, told MTV. For Rihanna the song is something she needed to do because she “connected” to it. She explained to Access Hollywood, “It’s something that, you know, we’ve both experienced… on different sides, different ends of the table. He (Eminem) pretty much just broke down the cycle of domestic violence and it’s something that people don’t have a lot of insight on.” I’ve been waiting to see a video for this song and I wasn’t in the least bit disappointed. Good job Mr. Mathers. Hopefully you won’t make the mistake of marrying Kim for  a third time…

This post is dedicated to my boy Junk Food Karl, who insisted that I post Skateboard videos on TheyCall Me English or else he’d stop following my blog. So without further ado check out my first ever skateboard video entry. These video recap Nike SB’s DONT FEAR THE RIPPER TOUR which took place earlier this year. Part 1 covers the first leg of the tour with stops in Denver, Kansas City, and Minneapolis, featuring plenty of hot clips from the SB team including new riders Cory Kennedy and Eric Koston.

Part two of the Don’t Fear the Sweeper tour video just went live. To start things off, Staba challenges Koston to make good on his promise of 18 tricks in 10 minutes from the trailer at the Chicago demo. Check out Brad’s challenge and the Nike SB team in Chicago, New York, Connecticut and Virginia.

This is the third and final episode of Dont Fear the Sweeper. Picking up where we left off in part 2, the crew finishes up business in New York and then heads to Pennsylvania and Miami with a final stop in Texas.

Happy Karl??

Jay Electronica is a master wordsmith and true Hip Hop MC. His verse on this track was so poinant and his poetry really comes to life when your able to read his lyrics in this video. “a painter with a felt pen who drew ali/…” - WoW!! This dude is brilliant and the majority of what gets played on the radio is idiots music. Most people don’t even know who Noble Drew Ali was. He was the Founder of the The Moorish Science Temple of America. His disciples included Wallace Fard Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam, and Elijah Muhammad, who was Fard’s successor and who later employed Malcolm X.  Now the levees thing is because he believes that the goverment blew up the levees to wipe out the projects and now they are building casinos in place of the projects instead of building more houses like they promised, thus the line “eerie like that documentary on Lisa Lopez – pentagrams, pyramids conspiracies wit goat heads knocked down the levees, knock down the projects, start another project, build another object.” You can really tell that Jay Elect is an extremely well read dude which is the issue with a lot of other rappers in the game. There content is limited because there perception and knowledge of the world is even more limited. Much respect to Jay ElectHanukahRamadan. I wish that him , Nas, Andre 3000, Mos Def  and Ras Kass could put an album together with Badu on the hooks and put down some real knowledge based classic material.

I’ve long been a fan of the infamous Mr. Cartoon. Nike Sportswear chose Mister Cartoon as the American artist for the True Colors Artist Collaboration. In this video Cartoon breaks down the creative process behind the logos and mascot he created for this collection. Peep the homies can control, its its incredible!!

Now this track is far from new but it is classic as far as Im concerned, and that why I have to share it with you. “Break-up songs and make-up” songs are ten a penny, but “even-though-it-didn’t-work-out-we’re-still-friends-right?” songs don’t come around so often. But when they do, and when they’re done right, they can be pretty devastating. A case in point is ‘Never Forget You’, the Noisettes latest single. ‘There is just something spectacular you feel when you listen to this song. It reminds me of Raphael Saadiks last album. Shingai Shoniwa’s voice and the bands sounds is like something straight out of the 60’s.

“Since bursting on the scene with a collection of lifestyle shoes inspired by one of the greatest signature sneaker franchises of all-time, Gourmet has come into its own. Offering a collection featuring both timeless profiles as well as some silhouettes that re-visit and re-appropriate classics, we took the opportunity to catch up with the brand’s three founders. Each possessing their own respective and relevant backgrounds prior to Gourmet, we follow Greg Lucci, Jon Buscemi and Greg Johnsen for a day at the tracks and back to the Gourmet headquarters to chop it up with Jon Buscemi.”

Source

This dude isn’t as stunt heavy as my boy Damien Walters but he definitely has mad style!! Its like he’s combining free running with breakdancing using real obstacles in urban environments. Plus the video samples one of my favorite Bruce Lee quotes of all time. Very dope!!

One of my all time favotite Nike runners are back once again!!!  As many of you know, The Nike Air Max 90 has become quite the icon since it’s debut in 1990. It is the second running shoe created by Tinker Hatfield that displays a Visible Air Window on it’s exterior. No matter how many times the original Infrared colourway sees a retro release, it’s re-arrival is always welcomed with open arms. Being huge fans of classic runners as well, the peeps at  Primitive decided to offer a tee to go along with the kicks. They recently caught up with the beautiful & curvaceous JUSTENE JARO to join in the fun. They asked her if she was down to pose in underwear & Infrareds, and she was cool with the concept. This is a behind the scenes video from that photo shoot…

*visit www.primitiveshoes.com to purchase the shirt.

I wouldn’t consider myself an atheist by any means but I’m definitely far from religious. Although I have a high respect for religion and the peace it provides individuals I have always been critical of the interpretation of scripture and the persecution of innocent people on behalf of scripture. I came across this video on my friend Dan’s Facebook page and it made me think about the relevance of religion in our modern world. I truly believe spirituality is a necessity to all those seeking balance and contentment in their lives but is religion? I’m not saying that it time to irradicate religion from society but I do think its time for us to teach our children the difference between scripture and the pure messages found in most religions.