Nitro

Since my computer's been [expletive]ed up the last few days, I didn't get a chance to share this story, so... Back in November, this girl who I've been friends with for a few years promised me VIP tickets to Rock the Bells at Governor's Island. Evidently her dad owns a fencing company and gets them for marketing purposes, so every year she goes. Anyway, since then she's been pumping it up to me, getting me excited. The lineup this year included Nas (performing all of Illmatic), Immortal Technique, Black Star, Slaughterhouse, Black Milk, various Wu-Tang sets, Lauryn Hill, Mobb Deep, and a bunch of others. Anyway, we had a bit of a falling-out a month ago, so I assumed I wasn't going and managed to accept it. Then, on Thursday, she texted me to remind me that we were going, and I got mad excited. She said her dad told her it was the 4th, but I swore that they said on the radio it was the 3rd, but I kinda assumed it was maybe a 2 day thing, or I heard it wrong. So, Saturday comes and we start talking over text about how we'll get there, and while I'm looking up various routes, I went to the main webpage for the concert and found out it WAS in fact the 3rd, with nothing for the 4th. By then it was already 3pm, and she had work 'till 7. From what I hear, Nas killed it. FML.

I agree to an extent, but a few things...a lot of those inmates suffer addictions, from drugs to sex (rapists, pedophiles, etc..), to whatever it is called to have the urge to kill people, etc.. And if the success rates are similar to regular drug rehabilitation (which tends to be at nice facilities, not prison), then the success rate for rehabilitation is a very generous 10%. So, I definitely do think it would be very beneficial to incorperate more of that into the prison system, but for the most part it'll fail for over 90% of the inmates.

I'm pretty sure I posted this like over a year ago lol. Great song.

That simply won't happen. It's psychological. When you get used to being institutionalized, you lose that fear, despite being around killers all day, officers who abuse their rights, rats running around everywhere, awful food, etc.. And when you lose that fear, it makes you twice as dangerous when you make it back on the streets. It'd be the same shit no matter what kind of system you put in place.

The Raptors were also awful, so I don't think Kobe's supporting cast for that one game means all that much Agreed, although I'd put Jordan's 69pt game over either...69pts (23-37 from the field, 2-6 from 3, 21-23 from the FT line), 18reb, 6ast, 4stl, only 2to. It was also only a 4pt game that went into OT.

Both are absolutely incredible, but Kobe's was simply more rare. I mean, as amazing as LeBron's 52pts were, Kobe scored 55pts in the 2nd half alone of his 81pt game. LeBron's 9 assist advantage would definitely have been made up by Kobe's 29pt advantage, and Kobe also scored considerably more efficiently.

Wtf? I don't think I've even mentioned your name or quoted one of your posts in months, and if I did it wasn't as an insult or anything. And as I said, you're like the only mod assigned to the NFL forums, so this falls partially on your shoulders, especially since you've been involved in quite a bit of it yourself.

Besides the stupid arguements, personal insults and off-topic convo, the one thing that annoys me about the NFL board is all the cliques involved (I don't post much in the NFL forum, but I do browse). It's bad enough when it's only certain individual members going at it, but when it become a tag-team in damn near every single thread it just completely ruins things. What's funny to me is that the NBA board, which involves more members than the NFL board during the season, runs free of most of this bullshit (besides anything involving the Heat). Also, one last thing...fish, besides the global mod's you are the main mod of the NFL forums, but you are also one of the main reasons for this. Set a better example or give up the position.

I'd hate to be in the same restaurant as two half-deaf people on a date...the screaming would be as annoying as assholes on blue tooths (Curb reference). Seriously, though, I'm probably not the best to ask, but see how much you can build her attraction towards you before you make a move. Just don't make the mistake of taking too long and having her lose interest. It's a fine line you'll have to toe, but considering you want to take it slow and not mess it up, I'd go that route.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihpcN_vns0k Oh, and I finished my verse to a freestyle over the "Bang Bang" instrumental by RZA. Below is the verse. About half the lines are from lines I thought of in the last 2 weeks, and half of it is stuff I wrote on the spot today. I like it.

He also had a lot of hot tracks off Doctor's Advocate and LAX, such as... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9bbp1DN5D0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXtpDu6izho

That's because he dissed your boy Jay (and also gave him a ton of props on R.E.D), and because your listening to his music with a pre-disposition that he's whack. I am not a Lil Wayne fan by any means, and I generally hate his new stuff and his whole skater style, but I still usually can take away some good in his lyrics and music. Hate blinds people from good. BTW, I meant since 2004, when Documentary dropped, that very few new rappers (i.e since 2004) have come up that are better than Game.

He has a solid flow, usually good subject matter, some nice metaphores and punchlines, and decent rhyme schemes. He has made 4 albums that are all solid at worst, a buncha good mixtapes, and one of my favorite diss songs ever in 300 Bars. There's very few rappers who have come up since his first album dropped that I'd call better than him.

Yes, he's absolutely a good lyracist. I don't even know how you could argue him not being a good lyracist, especially in today's game. Prove me wrong.

If Kobe went to the Clippers it would have been career suicide. Their management is awful and Kobe would have consistently filled the seats despite the team being stuck in mediocrity, giving Sterling the excuse to not spend big to put the right pieces around him.

Yeah, I didn't get it too bad. Some streets have trees/huge branches that came down, which along with the lost power made the roads a little tricky to maneuver through, but otherwise there was no issues.

Quentin Richardson was never, ever the best 3pt shooter in the league. He shot 35-38% from 3 with the Clippers, and never led the league in 3pt FG's with them either. The only reason he led the league with the Suns was because he was taking over 8 attempts every game.

In his prime, Eminem absolutely blew Jay away lyrically. He had better wordplay, better/more complex rhyme schemes, a more complex flow/a wider array of flows (although I can understand people preferring Jay's slower flow), better use of multi-syllable rhymes, was a better story-teller, and was better with songs with unique concepts (Stan for instance). I also feel that Em was much better at connecting with the listener with his lyrics, and had that rare ability to make it feel like he's personally talking to you...Jay is more of a poet, and some of his songs are extended metaphores for something else (which is the only way his lyrics could go way over your head), but I feel there are other rappers out there who have had a similar style to Jay and did it better. I just can't say that anyone's taken a similar style to Em and done it as well as he has, although I'd say Pun was the only one who had a similar style and did it at a similar level. Overall, Em was a more talented and versatile than Jay lyracist, and that's no knock on Jay as you can make a case for Em being the most talented lyracist of all-time (although Nas, Pun, Big L, Biggie and a few others are in the conversation). In terms of career, whether it be rap or basketball, I look at prime years the most, while taking into consideration quantity. Give me SSLP, MMLP, TES, and all the freestyles and mixtape/diss songs Em released from 1999-2004 (because those are some of my favorites works from Em) over Jay's 3 best albums and his non-album work. To me, that means more than Jay having a longer discography. I can understand people preferring Jay over Eminem, specifically because of production. Jay has always been blessed with amazing production of the more soulful variety, while Em had Dre and his own more "in-your-face" production earlier in his career, and now he basically just goes along with what's trending. I can also understand people not liking Em's subject matter, while Jay is more of a classic hip-hop style. However, I have no idea how anyone can say Jay is the better rapper...he simply isn't. One hot album? Illmatic, It Was Written, Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes, God's Son and Distant Relatives are all hot albums (although Distant Relatives is an acquired taste considering Damian's part in the album, but Nas himself is amazing on it). No one cares about Nas? He's in pretty much everyone's top 10 and he has a gigantic army of fanboys. Unlike rappers like Rakim and KRS, he has stayed very relevant in hip-hop, even if he isn't on a bunch of radio songs or the VMA's (keep in mind, Illmatic had little mainstream success, so that speaks volumes to how much that really means). And yes, Nas still raps. Lyrically, his new single murdered anything from Jay on Watch the Throne. On the one upload of it on Youtube, the song has 2300 likes and 30 dislikes, so obviously he's still killin' it and people are still enjoying it. Lol, he dissed a genre which, after that release, is still thriving 2-3 years later. And he dissed T-Pain...so what? T-Pain isn't even really a rapper, 'nor is he elite. If you're going to use him dissing T-Pain, then I have 0 issue using "The Warning" by Eminem, which is an absolutely viscious diss song against Mariah Carey, or his various disses to weak rappers like Benzino or Everlast.

Oh, I get it...he dissed Jay so anything we say positive about him you'll come back with stupid comments like, "he's a cornball." I don't care who he is as a person away from the mic or who he name-drops; he's a very good lyracist with more of an old-school style. That's why I like him.

I love his defense and the kid has a lot of talent, although I do question if he can be an elite scorer or playmaker at the PG position. He is rather inefficient scoring the ball because he simply doesn't get to the line often enough, and I just don't think he has the court awareness and IQ to be an elite playmaker. So, I think he will end up more in the Chauncey Billups realm as opposed to the Nash/Williams/Paul realm when he's in his prime.

That idea got canned (although Nas' new solo album will probably be sick judging by the 1st single). Also, no way is WTT better than this, and I prefer it to Section 80. Haven't listened to Random Axe or The Greatest Story Never Told. My 2nd favorite album this year was W.A.R by Pharoahe Monch.

LeBron. What kills Wade in the career department is his health. He missed over 20 games his rookie year (when LeBron won ROTY), he missed the biggest game of his career (up until that point) in the 2005 ECF, and he missed over 30 games in two of his prime seasons, one of which his team had the worst record in the league. LeBron has never missed more than 5 games in any season, has always been the better player (except maybe 1 season, 05-06), and has more individal accolades. He also did some brilliant things for those Cavs teams, including bringing them to their first NBA Finals with Drew Gooden or an older Big Z as his 2nd best player, and multiple deep playoff runs.

People underrate Rondo a helluva lot. He's not a franchise player (at least until he develops his jumper), but neither are guys like Westbrook, Ellis, etc... Yes, he does have the players around him right now that maximize his abilities, but he still is a very elite playmaker, great finisher around the rim, and a very good rebounder and defender for his position. All of those things will translate no matter what team he is on, although he's obviously in a tremendous position on a team suited for his talents. However, his teammates don't make him the player he is, he does.

Depends on the improvements DeAndre Jordan makes and if they make any decent FA signings to give them some depth and veteran leadership. As it stands now, I'd say no, but they are very close to having a really good team.

I agree he's too high for the simple fact it was one season and his team missed the playoffs, but make no mistake about it...he had probably the best season statistically of any PF in the league. Stats don't mean everything, but 22.5PPG/12.1RPG/3.8APG with a 50%+ FG percentage is ridiculous.