With God Forigves I Don’t in stores today, Rick Ross’ go-to video director Dre Films has put together a special montage clip for “3 Kings” that highlights moments from the careers of Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Ross himself, who can be seen at times sans the beard. Considering there were likely budget and time constraints that prevented a regular video with all three appearing, this was a creative and simple way to work around it.
50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather’s upstart TMT (The Money Team) Promotions added more firepower to their brand with the announcement of three new signings in Andre Berto, Zab Judah and Celestino Caballero.
The news was first announced earlier this morning by FightHype.com, which coincided with meeting pictures released on Twitter late last night.
Berto and Judah were most recently promoted by Lou DiBella and Main Events, respectively. The new signings increase the TMT roster to seven including Billy Dib, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Andre Dirrell and allegedly Floyd Mayweather, who is rumored to seek another fight in November upon being released from prison this weekend.
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These moves should dispel any remaining doubters about the seriousness of this venture. This is quite the collection of names for a promotion that’s barely two weeks old.
If Mayweather does indeed try to get in a fight before the end of 2012, we may end up seeing one of the most stacked pay-per-view cards in years. Can you imagine the likes of Gamboa, Judah and Dirrell filling out an undercard? 50 Cent boldly proclaimed he wanted to make a card of several main event worthy fights. With these moves we have no further reason to doubt the man.
The Twitter “beef” with Oscar De La Hoya aside, TMT is off to a great start.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 20 years since Pharcyde’s critically acclaimed debut, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. To commemorate what Kanye West called his favorite album, the group is reissuing the album is a three-disc boxset adding remixes and instrumentals. And after a successful reunion May 23 at LA’s Roxy Theatre, the group will hit the road for “The Bizarre Ride Love” tour which will go through the U.S. and Europe starting on August 3 at San Francisco’s Low End Theory venue.
The only downside you’ll notice immediately is that all the members don’t appear to be present. There’s been no word as to why, so make of it what you will. For more information, visit the group’s official website HERE.
Who says California emcees and producers can’t rock over some vintage boom-bap styled Hip-Hop? Producer Jlisted does just that on the boards with some choice cuts from DJ Revolution on Montage One’s latest single “Beat2Def.” This gem will be on Montage’s upcoming 10.6.3 OGX album set to drop September 11. Other confirmed guests emcees for the project include Evidence and Aloe Blacc.
MONTAGE ONE X RAS KASS X GUILTY SIMPSON – “BEAT2DEF”
Many critics say Hip-Hop would be much better off if artists rapped about what they knew. Philadelphia native Vas is doing just that in his debut video “Food (Glorious Phood).” From his physical appearance and descriptive lyrics, it’s quite evident this man knows all the eatery spots in his city. This humorous track is supplied with a head-nodding beat that’ll remind you of MF Doom’s work. And peep the Allen Iverson practice speech parody in the middle of the clip.
Vas’ debut album Raging Bullshit is available HERE.
SAN JOSE, CA — The UK contender George Groves made a memorable second appearance on U.S. soil with a vicious knockout of a game Francisco Sierra last night at the HP Pavilion.
Both fighters had KO on the mind and threw hard power shots in exchanges. The inside warfare resulted in a clash of heads in round three that opened a deep, flowing cut above Groves’ right eye. Sierra did his best work pinning Groves against the ropes and strafing him with power shots. At ring center, Groves was able to score first with fast, compact hook counters inside Sierra’s looping shots.
Groves would end matters in the sixth with a overhand right-left hook combo followed by another right and left hook that dropped Sierra. He beat the count only to run into two more head-snapping right hooks that prompted Sierra’s corner to throw in the towel.
The full fight is available below. For those who are time-compressed, the closing sequence can be viewed a little after the 26-minute mark.
You’ve heard one Rick Ross “southern banger,” you’ve heard them all. Rozay is in cruise control for this track off God Forgives I Don’t, shot in black in white with New Orleans as the backdrop. I haven’t sat down with the album yet, but hopefully it’s Ross utilizing his soulful tracks over this sound, which we got a decent amount of on Rich Forever.
SAN JOSE, CA — Robert Guerrero joined elite company in being one of the few fighters to have titles in four weight classes with a brusing win last night over Selcuk Aydin at the HP Pavilion.
Guerrero, who came up two weight classes to face Aydin at welterweight, was in control for the first half of the bout behind 3-4 punch combinations and and an overall prodigious punch output. The plodding Aydin struggled to get inside and found himself quickly countered at long and mid-range.
Guerrero was all business; he refused to touch gloves with Aydin after the second after both landed jarring uppercuts in the closing seconds. Guerrero scored with solid left hooks in the third and continued outworking Aydin through round six. However, Aydin’s heavy right hand did its share of damage; the Turkish slugger visibly stunned Guerrero in the fourth and dug into the body in the fifth.
The notable momentum shift came in the seventh behind Aydin’s relentless inside attack. A tired Guerrero tried in clinches and had his head snapped back by repeated right uppercuts. Aydin dominated the round and finished with thudding hooks to the body.
Guerrero would respond with a big eighth round that saw him tap into an energy reserve. He started with quick hook combinations inside and left uppercuts that backed up Aydin. The ninth round was much closer; Aydin succeeded in roughing up his opponent with cuffing right hooks while Guerrero countered with straight lefts and constant southpawing jabbing.
Aydin appeared close to securing a knockdown in the 10th behind a barrage of right hooks to the body. Guerrero could only hold most of the round while Aydin doubled the punch upstairs.
Yet again, Guerrero would find the energy to outwork Aydin in the 11th. Guerrero countered well with straight lefts and made sure to respond to every Aydin punch with 3-4 shots. Aside from a late right hook exchange that resulted in Guerrero taking the worst of it, The Ghost had notched another “comeback round” heading into the bout’s final three minutes.
Guerrero was again spent and languishing inside, allowing Aydin to tee off with right hands. Guerrero returned fire, but Aydin’s heavier right hands were doing more damage in these inside exchanges. Both would land wild power shots in the waning seconds with a relieved Guerrero pumping his fist at the final bell.
Although a tough fight, Guerrero’s high punch output and early dominance resulted in a clear unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 and 116-112 twice. Now the WBC welterweight champion, Guerrero made sure his intentions for the division were reiterated in the post-fight interview.
“Floyd [Mayweather] wants his belt, it’s right here!” exclaimed Guerrero. “Now you know I can take a shot from the welterweight division.”
A dejected Selcuk Aydin agreed with the scores, but also blamed the defeat on “boxing politics” and blood pressure issues in addition to a vision problem.
“I did wrong, not the judges,” said Aydin. “I couldn’t do what I wanted. After the fourth I was seeing double.”
On the undercard, Shawn Porter remained undefeated but not unscathed in winning a brusing, foul-filled unanimous decision over Alfonso Gomez. Porter’s faster hands and combinations allowed him to rack up points and stun Gomez several times with hard hooks inside. Gomez would stay in the fight behind sporadic overhand rights and persistent hooks downstairs. Head butt clashes resulted in Gomez receiving a bloody mouth and Porter sporting deep lacerations over both eyes. Final scores read 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
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Last night had good performances from all involved. Considering the weight jump, Guerrero’s performance was particularly impressive. He didn’t run and many times fought Aydin’s fight.
But does this mean he’ll get a shot at Floyd Mayweather?
I seriously doubt it, but Floyd also doesn’t have many options if he wants to get in a fight before the end of the year. Porter proved he’s legit with that gutsy win over Gomez. Although he brawled a little too much, he didn’t get flustered at the sight of his own blood and mixed up his shots well. He’ll have to tighten up that defense, but Porter looks to be one of the better young fighters at welterweight.
This is one of the most grimy “conscious” songs I’ve ever heard. Fatt Father is a respected, long-standing vet of the Detroit Hip-Hop scene that released a well-received indie project a few years ago with the group Fat Killahz. He’s back on the solo tip with a project called Fatherhood, detailing the trials and tribulations of life while managing the never-ending responsibilities of being a father.
As you’ll hear, this isn’t one of those cute and cuddly feel good songs. It’s a defiant street anthem that keeps a social awareness of the importance of the family unit. For those who find it a little too rough, here’s the clean version. Fatherhood is available now via iTunes.
SAN JOSE, CA — A Selcuk Aydin fist taunt resulted in a brief scuffle earlier today at the weigh-in for tomorrow night’s Showtime Championship Boxing main event. Aydin tapped his right first to Guerrero’s face, prompting him to give Aydin a hard shove. Further physicality was quickly broken up by both fighter’s entourages. The real fight begins tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET.
