The Audacity of Dope

Speaking of Seattle hip-hop, here’s the new video from the homey Wizdom, which features his childhood friend Nate Burleson…and Nate’s amazing shoe collection. Nate’s such a shoe fiend, his rap moniker is actually New Balance…or it was, when he rapped.  I’m not sure if he still gets on the mic, but dude wasn’t bad at all.  That said, his NFL career seems to be going pretty damn well, so I think we’re happy he’s staying focused there.

Check out more of Wizdom’s Unearthed project here!

With the NBA lockout looming larger every day, I’ve already convinced myself that there won’t be a season.  This way, if any good news breaks, it will be a pleasant surprise since I’ve already accepted disappointment.  In its absence, I have a feeling I’ll be following more NHL this season, especially if our closest Pacific Northwest squad, the Canucks, can replicate their (regular) season success again.  I’ll also have more interest if Nike keeps creating dope marketing collaborations like this one, highlighting Montreal’s P.K. Subban over a dope track by Canadian legend Saukrates.

The long awaited video from Mack, Ryan, and Zia Mohajerjasbi for “WINGS” has finally been released and premiered today on XXL.  Yet another great look for some of my favorite artists and homies from Seattle.  Great job fellas!

(hint: floating left is when I like to pull the most)

As I’ve mentioned on the blog and Twitter, I traveled down to Austin last week for SXSW.  In addition to all the incredible shows I saw and artists I chopped it up with, I had the privilege to play in the first annual HoopxHang 3 on 3 tournament.  John Gotty of the Smoking Section (my personal favorite blog because of the care they put in their write ups and their excellent musical taste), Nick Huff of Hard Knock TV, and Nike Basketball organized the event and invited about 50 artists, DJ’s, managers, bloggers, record label reps, and other industry folks to take their talents to Doris Miller Auditorium.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that as much as I live and breathe music, sports has always been 329318239128x the passion in my life.  I’ll go play any game, anytime, anywhere, so I was just excited to get a little run in during the trip.  Also, every time these rappers come through Sound Session, you should hear them go on and on about their skills on the court.  After all that talk, I finally got to play with a few of the homies!  Topping it all off, Nike came through with free gear from head to toe.  #winning!

Special shout to my two teammates:  Kenny, a friend of The Smoking Section’s John Gotty, and Chris (pictured below) from Hollyweerd.  We didn’t know what squad we would be on before we began, but we meshed pretty nicely.

After winning our first two games (yours truly with the game winners in each…#humblebrag), we were ousted in the semi-finals against the eventual champions…these guys:

That would be Push Montana (who turned into Khalid El-Amin against us), Brock (Diamond Supply), and Dutch (Smokers Club).  They had a solid mix of skill, size, and intensity that proved too much for the competition as they knocked off the Pac Div homies (below) in the Championship.

Despite what had to be a logistical nightmare, the event went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time.  Hats off to everyone who organized and participated and thanks again to Gotty and Nick for the invitation.  Looking forward to it being bigger and better next year…perhaps we could we see a little 5 on 5 action?  We need to get these rappers in shape!

Be sure to check out the official recap with more pictures and stories over at The Smoking Section.

While I’m strictly an Adidas wearer when I’m on the pitch (conversely, no pun, Nike’s only on the court), I must say, the new Nike ad in preparation for the World Cup is incredible.  Peep the release:

BEAVERTON, Ore.– NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) today unveils an action-packed film that brings together some of the world’s greatest players to inspire football lovers and sports fans around the world. The epic three-minute “Write the Future” film takes people on a journey that dramatically captures that one moment when headlines are written from a single pass, or one strike can bring a nation eternal happiness, while bringing others to their knees.

Some of the world’s best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva, are featured. Special guest cameos are made by tennis legend Roger Federer and basketball superstar Kobe Bryant. Homer Simpson completes the star-studded cast of appearances. The film will be shown on TV for the first time on May 22nd during the European Club Final.

Directed by renowned Hollywood director and producer Alejandro G. Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), this epic football journey unfolds through a match of goal line clearances, game-winning tackles and lightning footwork that literally send a ripple effect across the world.

Football fans around the world will be able to experience the full three-minute film online at nikefootball.com from May 20th at 6pm GMT before it rolls out through global partnerships with Facebook, YouTube and QQ.com on Saturday the 22nd. The spot will then air across 32 countries, sharing the campaign with millions of fans around the world on May 22nd.

This marks the first stage of a journey that will ultimately see fans around the world write their own future through experiences that put them at the center of the action. In June, fans will be able to live like their heroes through a unique experience on nikefootball.com that generates ripple videos and visuals from their own photos and information, placing them at the center stage.

Footballers can then use this creative to build their own Facebook campaign to get noticed and selected for “The Chance” – an elite Nike Academy football camp in partnership with the Barclays Premier League in England that allows players to get scouted and get noticed at the highest level of the game.

“This epic campaign really captures the scale, emotion and impact that one single moment in a football game can have on a player, fan or nation,” said Davide Grasso, NIKE, Vice President of Global Football Marketing. “This is just the beginning of the journey. The next stage allows everyone who loves football to engage and interact in an incredible way.”

The story starts when the viewer is drawn into the heat of battle on the pitch as a ball drops from the air into the path of Didier Drogba. As the world holds its collective breath, Drogba picks his way through sliding defenders and expertly chips the goalkeeper – wild celebrations commence across Africa. But they are curtailed at the last second as Fabio Cannavaro makes a stunning overhead goal line clearance. This game-changing moment propels Cannavaro to pop culture icon complete with television chat show appearances and a song dedicated to his moment of brilliance.

Other global football stars including Wayne Rooney experience how a moment on the pitch can last forever. In one scene, the England striker sees an intercepted pass picked up by midfielder Franck Ribery. The ensuing impact brings a nation to its knees and leaves us to imagine Rooney’s destroyed career and his life as a groundsman, living in a caravan, with Ribery’s image looming large above him on a giant billboard. Fast forward, and Rooney relives the moment, sprints after Ribery and wins the ball back. Personal and national pride restored, we see him receiving a knighthood, with headline-grabbing plaudits, a maternity room full of little Waynes and an effortless table-tennis defeat of Roger Federer. The Rooney ripple effect comes full circle.

Similarly, Cristiano Ronaldo is fouled in a game, and as he prepares to take a vital free-kick for Portugal, we flash forward to see the ripple effect if he scores; a stadium named in his honour and a Film Premiere for a movie of his life.

“Every touch you have in a game has the ability to change the entire course of not just those 90 minutes, but your entire tournament or season,” said Cristiano Ronaldo. “One touch of the ball can be an opportunity to leave your mark on the game and write your own future, or equally a moment missed, that creates a legacy for your opponent with their fans.”

Also unveiled is Nike’s supercharged Elite Series football boots providing new levels of performance for players during the tournament. Nike’s Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II, CTR360 Maestri, Total90 Laser III and Tiempo Legend III all feature a new performance upper to improve on-field visibility and a reengineered outsole to deliver lightweight performance for every style of player. The Elite Series is available to players at all levels and also incorporates Nike Football+, which features exclusive insider access to the world’s best coaches, players and teams for total game improvement.

Must cop.

Hahahahahah…I’m not mad at this at all.

There isn’t a Seattle Nike+ Human Race event, but I may have to get out there and do some running on Sunday.  Anyone up for “Murph” after the Keyshia Cole/T.I. show at Bumbershoot?

Yessss.  I was worried we wouldn’t see any more of these since some oversensitive people complained about Nike’s Hyperdunk Recovery Center ads.  Perhaps the print versions will stay pulled, but the videos will continue to leak.  Fine by me.  Following in the tradition of Devante and Terry, Todd tells his story about how he ended up in rehab.

I decided last time to post one of my favorite dunks everytime a new ad drops, and the description of this posterization reminded me of when Hakim Warrick demonstrated what happens when you transfer away from my Arizona Wildcats.  Actually, after watching Dennis Latimore play at Notre Dame, we probably didn’t want him anyway:

Spotted on Hypebeast.

The homey 6th Sense put together this project with Mick Boogie for their trip to Nike’s HQ down in the PDX.  Your friendly neighborhood Hyphen helped hook up track 5.  Tracklisting, download link, and a video recap of their trip after the jump!

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