Nicki Minaj has been being paying attention to the criticism over the last few months regarding the music she’s been putting out. It’s either been non-sensical rambling courtesy of her alter ego Roman Zolanski, or mediocre dance pop. Tonight, Minaj re-emerged from her creative stupor with “Roman Reloaded,” a rare Hip-Hop battle  track (!) aimed in parts at Lil Kim and devoid of the goofy voices. She defends her pop stature by attacking her detractors as jealous of her success and unable to remain revelant. While her recent bad music quality isn’t touched on, Nicki’s stance is her formula is working and her competition’s isn’t.

The upgraded Queen Bee shots, mentions of her Grammy performance and MTV’s Hottest MC’s list let’s you know this a new track. It’s unlikely we can expect this on the regular, but it’s good to know Nicki’s rapping roots are still in there somewhere.

NICKI MINAJ X LIL WAYNE “ROMAN RELOADED”

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Here’s some more comedy from last weekend’s David Haye-Dereck Chisora brawl. This footage picks up at the end right after Haye’s tripod throw. The Hayemaker takes a brief look back at the camera almost as if to confirm they got everything. Ever the self-promoter and businessman, Haye then gingerly leaves a screaming Chisora (“He glassed me!”) to walk over to Vitali Klitschko, who gives him a froppish clap and smile before they shake hands. Considering Vitali was the recipient of a Chisora slap just a day earlier, it’s no surprise he got a kick out of the brief Haye-Chisora dust-up.

HBO Boxing has released a 13-minute documentary chronicling the intense lead-up to Brandon Rios ‘ last fight and victory over John Murray. There’s a big focus on Rios’ struggles to make weight and rightly so; “Bam Bam” looks like a person suffering from a terminal disease in the footage right before the weigh-in. Since Rios will again compete at lightweight when he faces Yuriorkis Gamboa on April 14, many will no doubt watch this and now favor the smaller, but more explosive Gamboa to win.

New heat from one of the more underrated duos in Hip-Hop, REKS and Statik Selektah. This track will be featured on an upcoming project entitled Straight No Chaser.

In his latest “Doggisode” music video, Snoop Dogg pays homage to the old school by interpolating Suzanne Vega’s classic “Tom’s Diner.” Since it’s a pool party, close-up shots of the bikini-clad, beautiful women of Brazil abound for the entire four minutes.

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Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley began their first media tour yesterday (February 21) in Los Angeles for their June 9 showdown. Bradley’s last fight against Joel Casamayor wasn’t exactly the best lead-in, so it’ll be interesting to see how Bob Arum and company promote this fight over the next few months. For what it’s worth, both camps said they’re expecting a toe to toe war.

“ I think a lot of rap makes you want things that you think are going to make you happy.” – Murs

We need more of this in Hip-Hop. Contrary to what some people may say and write, Yasiin Bey isn’t “dissing” Kanye West and Jay-Z. What he is doing is having a public conversation with them about their choice of excessive materialistic content during one of the most devastating economic periods in America’s history. Is the Throne’s “Niggas In Paris” innocent escapism, or is it a disservice to their listeners suffering the disenfranchisement Bey details in his remake?

In today’s urban market, there’s a lot of bowing down to the status quo. In fear of being branded a “hater,” most artists and taste-makers are afraid to critique anything about the culture of Hip-Hop. It’s unlikely Kanye or Jay will respond (Editors Note: As Mos Def, Bey previously reworked Jay’s “Takeover” to a music industry critique entitled “The Rape Over”), but Bey’s decision to address the wretched excess of “Niggas In Paris” with an equally extreme viewpoint, although in the opposite philosophical direction, has created a tenuous balance.

Rihanna and Chris Brown have reunited on wax with remixes of their hits “Birthday Cake” and “Turn Up the Music.” The former blows up the sexual innuendo with Brown’s opening line stating “girl, I wanna fuck you right now.” “Birthday Cake” was already catchy enough and Brown’s addition does nothing to change that. “Turn Up the Music” is the unexpected drop. Rihanna drops a short verse in the middle, but outside of that and some ad-libs the song remains the same.

As expected, there’s been a lot of dicussion about Rihanna being a disappointment and a bad role model for not only forgiving but working with an ex-boyfriend that viciously beat her three years ago. The former couple has pretty much went against the advice of their labels in working together. But what people are going to need to accept is their music and leave their personal lives to just that… being personal. Rihanna and Chris Brown are not role models at all and haven’t been anything near that for the majority of their careers. If your child looks up to either of them, then there’s a much better job you need to do at parenting.

There are many musical icons not named Ike Turner who were women abusers, ranging from James Brown to the Notorious B.I.G. and Fela Kuti. If we can acknowledge their musical gifts without endorsing their personal transgressions, is it not possible to do the same here?

RIHANNA X CHRIS BROWN “BIRTHDAY CAKE REMIX”

CHRIS BROWN X RIHANNA “TURN UP THE MUSIC REMIX”

The team for Gabriel Campillo has announced plans today to file a protest with the International Boxing Federation (IBF) to dispute their fighter’s highly controversial split decision loss to champion Tavoris Cloud last Saturday (February 18) in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Campillo lost by scores of 115-111, 112-114 and 110-116 after surviving two knockdowns in round one to outbox and significantly outland Cloud the rest of the way ().

“We are going to file a protest with the IBF on Monday and we’ll make a request for a no-decision and an immediate rematch,” Campillo promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told Boxingscene.com. “This is the second time that something like this has happened to one of my fighters. First it was Sergio Martinez with Kermit Cintron and now with Campillo.”

The fight, broadcast live on Showtime Extreme, started with Cloud having a huge 10-7 first round courtesy of two knockdowns. Campillo would immediately bounce back in the second round by moving Cloud back with quick 3-4 punch combinations. The southpaw Campillo continued his momentum in the third with sharp left cross counters that had Cloud befuddled.

Cloud had solid moments in the fourth and sixth rounds by outworking Campillo on the inside with short hooks to the body. However, Campillo evaded Cloud’s  heavy power shots and had a big seventh round that started off with varied and hard combinations to the head and body. The damage became visible via a bad cut above Cloud’s left eye.

Campillo never lost his momentum in the late rounds, having big moments in the eighth and tenth by stunning Cloud with uppercuts, left crosses and short right hooks. Cloud’s best late moment would come in the eleventh when he landed a jarring right after Campillo unwisely began to taunt him.

Showtime ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. also believed the decision to be unjust, tweeting immediately afterward that it was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to announce.”

The decision was angrily booed by fans in attendance. The tense atmosphere resulted in Cloud’s mother fainting when the decision was announced and the crowd chanting Campillo’s name as he remained in the ring.

“I feel like I won this fight,” said Cloud when questioned about the verdict’s validity. “I was the aggressor throughout the fight… He [Campillo] cannot take a punch.”

The controversial win was Cloud’s fourth defense of his IBF light-heavyweight title.

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The saddest thing is that as boxing writers and fans we’re so used to this that we don’t even bat an eye. On Twitter, nearly everyone I follow and myself included said “well, Campillo’s about to get screwed.” We’ve come to accept this nonense as a functional part of our sport. Texas’ history of dodgy decisions is well documented with the most famous being Pernell Whitaker out-classing Julio Cesar Chavez and only earning a draw. The 116-110 score for Cloud is sheer corruption, ineptness or both.

The New Jersey boxing commission did the right thing last year when they suspended the judges involved in Paul Williams’ robbery “win” over Erislandy Lara. We won’t get anything similar from Texas until the big networks make it clear these embarrassments to the sport will no longer be accepted.

Blu and Madlib have released a full stream on their new collaboration project UCLA. Unfortunately, like the December bandcamp stream of Blu and Exile’s Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, this release is unmixed or mastered, thus not justifying the $15 price tag. However, the quality and potential of the album shines through on tracks like “Burgandy Whip,” “What U C” and “Call My Nga.”  All the production is handled by Madlib and UCLA features appearances from Co$$, Jack Spade, Lil Stoney, M.E.D. and others. No complaints here about that cover.

UPDATE

Turns out Blu dropped this without the involvement of Madlib or his permission, according to Stones Throw Records. The stream has been taken down, but this download link is still available. Get it while it lasts.

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