My favorite wrestlers of this decade

Here are three wrestlers that made me the most excited to tune into wrestling for the past 10 years. In my earlier years I would watch wrestling just to see one person. Now I watch it just to enjoy the sport and entertainment aspects of it. I still tune into wrestling just to see what the following wrestlers do:

Undertaker: It has been amazing to watch the Undertaker transform from an intimidatingly dark wrestler to a bandana wearing, motorcycle riding wrestler back to the dark, creepy wrestler. He maintained his dominance throughout this decade. Many wrestlers have come and gone over time but he has remained successful. One of the most remarkable things about the Undertaker is his ability to play both roles in the heel/face spectrum. When he is a face (goodguy) the fans love him, when he is a heel(badguy) the fans despise him.

The other great thing about Taker is his presence in great matches. His matches at Wrestlemania are a perfect example of that. Even though he always comes out victorious at the annual event, he always puts on a good show.

Kurt Angle: Kurt Angle brought charisma and great technical skills to the squared circle. When he arrived in the WWE at the end of 1999, he began to breeze through the competition. By mid 2000 he was getting a push to the main event status. At No Mercy in 2000, he defeated The Rock to obtain the WWE championship for the first time.

His first year in the WWE is a fine example of what Angle has accomplished this decade. He was able to perform well in the ring with anyone he wrestled and he manipulated the "WWE universe" to hate him when he was bad and love him when he was babyface. After his time in the WWE ended, he moved on to TNA where he has continued to be successful despite his deteriorating health. Hey if a man can wrestle a man can wrestle regardless of how old he is, just ask Ric Flair!

Triple H: One of the few wrestlers who has maintained superstar status from the beginning to the end is the final wrestler on my list. I know marrying the bosses daughter gets you some points but we have to give Triple H some credit. He knows what the fans want. Whether he is a single competitor or apart of a stable like Evolution or DX, he has control of every cut scene and match he is apart of.

The only knock on Triple H is he has repeatedly gotten injured while he has the WWE by the throat. When he was seeing his popularity peak in 2001 he suffered a serious quad injury that took him out of action for about a year. I will say this, everytime he returns from injury he comes back with a chip on his shoulder and brings a major intensity with his presense. This is why Triple H was one of my favorites from this decade.

If you remember the Hell in the Cell in 2000, all three of these men were in the match. Only one of them came out victorious. If you want to find out look it up it was a great match.

5 Ravens selected to participate in the Pro Bowl next month

Congradulations to Haloti Ngata, Ray Rice, Ray Lewis, Leron Mcclain and Ed Reed for being selected for the 2010 AFC Pro Bowl Roster.

Haloti Ngata, Ray Lewis, Leron Mcclain and Ed Reed are all starters in the game. Ray Rice will be a backup which is no knock on his accomplishments because he has talented running backs Chris Johnson and Maurice Jones Drew ahead of him. He beat out Thomas Jones who is the leading rusher on the Jets who are currently the number one rushing offense in the league.

I am not sure Lewis, Mcclain and Reed have actually earned their nods but it is good to see these players being recognized for what they have done in the past.

Wale at Redskins vs Cowboys game

This is just a little video of Wale at a Redskins game. Its funny because he's so passionate about the Deadskins. Its ok Wale, rep what you love regardless of how pathetic the team is.

Skillz- Rap Up 2009

Download skillz 2009 rap mp3

Its that time of year again. Skillz gives us the Rap Up for this year. I love these. They make me laugh everytime but there so true. Enjoy!

Lupe Fiasco - Im Beaming | Audio | Rap Basement

Lupe Fiasco - Im Beaming | Audio | Rap Basement

Great vibe from Lupe Fiasco. Im looking forward to Lasers. Sounds like this will be on there. Listen and enjoy

Are you kidding me?

The Ravens beat themselves in a game at Pittsburgh versus the Steelers. That's right I said it. Over the course of the first three quarters, the Ravens started off poorly falling behind 3-0 then at one point 20-10 but in the third quarter they tied it up at 20-20. There mini-comeback made it look like the Ravens could continue to gather the momentum and keeping running up and down the field in the fourth quarter. But that did not happen because of one word...PENALTIES!!

By the game's end, the Ravens had committed 11 penalties for 113 yards in every faze of the game, offense, defense and special teams. These mistakes costed them several scores and opportunities to eliminate the Steelers chances of winning the game. Derrick Mason, best wide reciever on the team, dropped one of the easiest passes thrown into the endzone you will ever see. Christopher Reeves could have caught that thing!

Honestly, if it weren't for a couple of players' (I will not mention names) undisciplined play, we could be talking about a different score, a different playoff picture and a different attitude towards a team that had the scheme and players to win on Sunday.

Shout out to Todd Heap, Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and Domonique Foxworth for playing well. Rice eclipsed 100 rushing yards against a Steelers defense who had not allowed one in 32 games. Flacco had two touchdown passes and one interception(caused by poor pass protection). Heap had another 2 touchdown day and Foxworth had another interception.

My favorite hip hop albums of this decade.

Sadly this decade is coming to an end. We have witnessed the release of many albums, some superb, some good and some horrific. For right now I will focus on the ones that I enjoyed.Here is a list of 5 of my favorite Hip Hop albums from 2000-2009.

Kanye West Late Registration- This was Kanye's sophmore album but it was no slump. He along with Jon Brian created songs with political value (Crack Music), sentimental value (Hey Mama) and catchy tunes that would replay in your head for days(Gold Digger). The production and arrangement of the songs were terrific. Lyrically he took a step forward.
Best songs on album: Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Touch the Sky and Roses

Outkast Speakerboxx/Love Below- The two disc set featured two solo albums from each rapper. Speakerboxx was Big Boi's side and Love Below was Andre 3000's side. The styles of both cd's contrasted in so many ways but that is what made it great. 3000 seemed to be experiementing with new sounds while keeping some of the Outkast funk sound.

Big Boi took the southern rap route with his album. Collaborated with various artist in the game at the time like Ludacris, Jay-Z as well as some of his closer friends from his hometown Atlanta like Killer Mike and Goodie Mob.
Best songs of the album: Hey Ya, Roses, The Way You Move and Bust

Jay-Z The Black Album- The magnitude of the hype for this album was crazy. This was supposed to be Jay-Z's last album before he went into retirement (obviously that didn't happen). Hov got together some of his favorite producers and compiled a group of songs that made us dance, think and learn a little more about him.
Best songs of the album: 99 problems and Encore

The Diplomats Diplomatic Immunity- The first installment of the Diplomatic Immunity series by Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Juelz Santana was heavily fueled by sped up high pitch samples. The album had songs about selling drugs (Real ******), a personal song (Who am I) and plenty of songs that display how well the soldiers of the Diplomat's camp can rap. For some inexplicable reason the soul samples and crack raps lured me to these rappers. This album forced me to pay attention to this crew. I knew I would be hearing a lot more of them and I was not wrong.
Best songs of the album: Real ****** and I really mean it.

Eminem Marshall Mathers LP- This album featured some of the most outrageous lyrics I have heard in my life. Songs like Amityville and Kill You gave you the hint that something was seriously wrong with this Eminem guy. One thing that was not ailing him was his ability to make songs the masses wanted to hear. Hits like The way I am, The real Slim Shady and Stan all boosted the sales of this record to over 10 million sold. The way Eminem illustrates a perverted fan in Stan is almost unparalled.
Best Songs of the album- Stan, The way I am

Ravens at Steelers. Who wins?

Well Ravens fans knew it would come down to this one. It is week 16 and if the Ravens win they have a great chance of sliding into the playoffs. If they lose, it is pretty much over.

The intriguing matchup for this game seems to make it a must see. Neither team is the defensive titan that they were a year ago but they get the job done. Both team's offenses are putting up points, the Ravens are using Ray Rice to run up and down the field on opponents and the Steelers are allowing Roethlisberger to throw as much as he can. Last week he threw for 503 passing yards against a solid Packers defense. Will this be a shoot out? I do not think so.

The Ravens defense has been improving all year long. They are currently ranked fourth in the league in yards allowed. Despite the crucial injuries to the secondary, the Ravens have been able to hold there own versus all of the average quarterbacks. The problem has been the Ravens defense has not contended well versus elite quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, and Brett Favre can all testify that this secondary has its vulnerabilities.

The Ravens have a chance to win as long as they do not turn the ball over and they run the ball effectively. This means that Ray Rice, Willis Mcgahee and Leron Mcclain should all get in some work. But do not get confused, Flacco must be able throw under pressure and punch it in the endzone whenever he has the chance. 14 points will not put away the Steelers on Sunday.

It is unlikely that Ed Reed will play and Lardarius Webb was put on Injured Reserve this past week. This comes at a great time since the team is traveling to Pittsburgh to face Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward and Mike Wallace.

This game would lie in the Ravens favor if it did not take place in Pittsburgh. The Ravens win this game if they can score points in the redzone, take the ball away from the Steelers and prevent turning it over. On Sunday they will do everything but score in the redzone and that will prevent them from winning.

Ravens beat the Bears... So What?

The final score of the Bears vs Ravens game was 31-7. This is not an unexpected outcome seeing as though the Bears had to go through hell and high water just to get to the Baltimore because of the snowstorm. Despite exterior factors the fact is that the Bears really aren't that good this year. Jay Cutler has completed more passes to his opposing defenses that he has to his own recievers(18td's,25int's). The run game has gotten worse from last year and the defense has lost some of its muscle.But enough about them.

Regardless of who the Ravens play, a win is a win. This victory brings the Ravens to 8-6. This puts them in the number 5 spot or the first wildcard spot in the playoff rankings. Obviously there are still two more weeks of the regular season so we have to see how things end up because it's not over yet.

Next week at 1pm the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Now I know the Steelers have a losing record but they just beat Packers last weekend. This means that in any game, the Steelers can really stick it to their opponent. This makes the upcoming game all the more exciting and dangerous for the Ravens. Plus we know that when these teams play it is an all out war. The big issue here is the Ravens do not have the whole calvary.

The secondary has been ravaged by injuries all year. We saw another soldier Lardarius Webb go down last week. He will be out for the rest of the season. Will Ed Reed be back in time for this game? Who knows? Haloti Ngata has not recovered fully from his injury and is still appearing on the injury reports during the week.

Can the Ravens line-up against the Steelers next Sunday and beat them is yet to be seen. But the matchups are looking a little lopsided in favor of the Steelers. I will talk about those later in the week.

Wale- The meeting

Wale - The Meeting | Audio | Rap Basement

"An average ***** with swag or an ugly ***** with talent"? This is one of the many hard hitting and thought provoking lines you here in this song. One of the best non-album songs I have heard from Wale this year. Listen and be amazed!

Mckinney goes to IR; Paschal moves up

Defensive lineman Brandon Mckinney was put on Injured Reserve today. He was gameday inactive vs. the Lions last week. Marcus Paschal,a defensive back who was signed to the practice squad after KJ Gerard moved to the actice roster, will take Mckinney's place on the roster. Paschal has not had a lot of experience starting on any team in the NFL.

This move is not shocking. Mckinney was holding down a roster spot lower on the depth chart anyway. What is surprising is the Ravens do not bring up a wide reciever to the roster seeing as how Kelley Washington is questionable and Mark Clayton is still hurting from injuries. I know they have Demetrius Williams but another body would be great for the passing game. Todd Heap and LJ Smith are hurt to so it would not be too likely to see Cam Cameron to put a tight end in the slot.

Looks like we will see Ray Rice and Derrick Mason targeted for a lot more passes(as if that that were possible). Either that or we will see alot more of the smashmouth run game the offense is capable of having.

Bret Hart returning to WWE?

Bret Hart reportedly signed a contract with the WWE. It was said that he will be appearing on WWE TV programming from January to April. What is his role? That is yet to be seen. Is this even true? I do not know that either. I guess you could call this a rumor for now but I will say that this seems to be outlandish but believable. I guess we'll have to wait til' January.

R.I.P Chris Henry

Chris Henry, wide reciever for the Cincinatti Bengals died today in Charlotte, Nc after falling off of a pick up truck in a domestic dispute with his fiancee. Henry, who was 6-4 200, had accumulated 119 catches, 1826 recieving yards and 21 touchdowns in his professional career and was considered a talented up and coming reciever in the NFL. The only obstacle to his success was his inability to stay away from off the field quandary. He had been suspended several times for a variety of offenses. Despite his past, he was making a turnaround and settling down. He was preparing to get married in March.

This is a major loss for Chris Henry's family and friends and the Bengals organization. He was a good player and evidently a good friend according to some of his teammates. It is always a shame to see anyone die at such a young age but to see someone with so much potential pass is a tragedy.

Shaun Boothe - Poor Boy

This is a good video. Shaun Boothe has been doing his thing for a while and deserves to get his respect. This conceptual video backs up his arguement. Check it out

And the slammy goes to...

Last night, Monday Night Raw was half Raw/half award show. The Slammy awards which have lost a lot of prestige was thrown in the show vicariously but nevertheless here are your winners:

Tag Team of the Year: Jeri Show (Chris Jericho and Big Show)

Breakout star of the Year: Sheamus- this is an obvious choice after winning the WWE championship at TLC the night before.

Shocker of the Year: CM Punk forces Jeff Hardy to leave WWE- this was shocking to most but not to me. I had already heard the rumors that he was planning to take a "long break". It just turned out this was how he was sent off.

Match of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker- this match definitely deserved the award. This was one of the few matches this year that had me on the edge of my seat.

Guest Host of the Year: Bob Barker

Extreme Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy's jump off the ladder at SummerSlam- this was crazy. We have seen Hardy do this before but the wow-factor of it was unparalled this year.

Oh my Moment of the Year: Michael Cole puking on Chris Jericho.

Diva of the Year: Maria

Superstar of the Year: John Cena- Last night, Cena vowed he will not lose another match until he regains the WWE title. Well the same night there was a tournament for Superstar of the Year. Needless to say Cena sticks to his word... so far

This years Slammy's did not have any shocking awardees. It gave Monday Night Raw a little spice though. I actually watched more than I usually do because I wanted to know who the Superstar of the Year would be. Well, surprise surprise!

Shemus is New WWE champion?!

Last night John Cena lost the WWE title to his opponent Shemus in a tables match. This is definitely a shocker to the WWE universe especially since everyone loves them some John Cena (I hate Cena). What does this mean for WWE?

This is refreshing to me. Finally someone besides Cena, Michaels, Triple H holds the title. Hopefully we see some new twists in the storyline.

Props to the creative team for the balls to pass the title to someone else even if it does not last for a long time.

Tune in to Monday Night Raw at the regular time to see the backlash of this Pay Per View.

Juelz Santana featuring Chris Brown- Back to the Crib video

I've been waiting on this video for a while now. It is everything I expected it to be and a little nothing more. Its your typical music video with a some "Dipset" flavor. Overall it's just a big party. Watch and enjoy!

Ravens beat Lions in convincing fashion.

Here we are the Monday after the Ravens punished the Lions. Was it really all that impressive?

Well I would say yes. The second most impressive thing they did was keep Calvin Johnson in check. The 6-5 240 pound wide reciever (and I use that term loosely) was a huge threat for the Ravens who have had problems defending the big recievers all year long. On Sunday he was held to 4 catches for 37 yards. The defense did this without Ed Reed who was out of the game for injury the second week in a row.

The most impressive thing they did was put up 548(franchise record) total offensive yards against the Lion's defense! Now I know it is just the Lions but a week earlier the same defense forced two interceptions from Carson Palmer. Yesterday we saw Joe Flacco come out of the game with 13 completions for 230 passing yards and a touchdown pass.

The run game accumulated 308 yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground with the combined efforts of Willis Mcgahee, Leron Mcclain and even Jalen Parmele. But wait there's more!

RAY RICE! That's all for the offense I just wanted to mention the best offensive player of the game and possibly the week.

Next week I challenge Flacco to spread that ball around a little more. 9 or his 13 completions went to either Mason or Rice. I know Clayton is out but there are other recievers roaming around the field, somewhere. Even though the offense scored a lot of points, they had some help from the Lions and their poor defense. So lets not crown this offense yet.

On the bright side, the Ravens are a little closer to the playoffs at 7-6!

100 most popular songs of the decade (according to Billboard)

Here is a link to Billboard.com's Hot 100 of the decade. They basically list which songs were played the most from 2000-2009. The biggest surprises are Apologize by One Republic & Timbaland was put higher on the charts that Outkast Hey Ya and the most popular Usher according to this list is U got it bad. I don't believe either one of those but check out the rest list!

Link- http://www.billboard.com/#/charts-decade-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009&begin=1&order=position

Blacroc featuring Mos Def & Jim Jones on Letterman

This is the performance of Ain't nothing like you from Blacroc's album on Late Night with Dave Letterman. Pretty good performance. Funny to watch Mos Def vibe to Jim Jones' rhymes.

Mos Def- Supermagic Video

Video for first track on Mos Def's superb "The Estatic" album. I'll let the video do the talking on this one.

50 Cent- Do you think about me?

New 50 cent video "Do you think about me?". Vivica A. Fox and some other chicks are in this video. Its got slashed tires,voodoo dolls and explosions in it. Check it out!

Beyonce nominated for 10 GRAMMYS!!

Beyonce recieved 10 grammy nominations during the live Grammy Nominations Concert last week. This is definitely an astounding accomplishment in her career. She leads all artist in nominations for the upcoming Grammy Awards.

Halo was nominated for Record of the Year
Single Ladies was nominated for Song of the Year
Sasha Fierce was nominated for Album of the Year

And the list goes on...

Keri Hilson got two nods that night as well. Jay-Z and Lil Wayne lead the Hip Hop artist in nominations but that shouldn't surprise anyone. What surprised me was Money Goes, Honey Stay collabo with Jay-Z and Fabolous got nominated. Don't get me wrong its a great song but it was not amongst the most popular hip hop songs of the year but hey, maybe the academy DOES actually care about quality.

The winners will be announced at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards Ceremony on Jan 31.

Congrats to all the artist who were nominated!

Eminem ft Dr Dre - Hell Breaks Loose | Audio | Rap Basement

Eminem ft Dr Dre - Hell Breaks Loose | Audio | Rap Basement

This song is a perfect example of why Eminem and Dr.Dre are like Brady and Moss. Apart they are great but together they are perfection!

Can the Ravens handle the Packers in Green Bay?

Next Monday night the Ravens have a primetime game vs the Packers. They will be playing at Lambeau Field in December on Monday night. That sounds like a major homefield advantage to me.

The Packers are injury ridden but still manage to fight hard on the weekly basis. They are missing CB Al Harris but still have Charles Woodson, tied fourth in the league in interceptions with seven. This defense has transitioned pretty well from a 4-3 to a 3-4. The rookie Clay Matthews is leading the team in sacks with five. They are currently the number one defense in the league and have a turnover differential of +17. YIKES!

Aaron Rodgers and their offense are sixth in the league and can hit a defense from all sides. Ryan Grant can burst the threw the middle at almost anytime. He has 890 rushing yards so far this year. Aaron Rodgers is no stiff in the pocket. He has 247 yards rushing but is most dangerous when throwing to Jennings, Driver and others. He has 3136 passing yards and a 104.9 passer rating. YIKES!

This game may surprise Ravens fans. Alot of people think the Ravens have instantly started on a playoff run and no team will get in their way. Fact of the matter is the Packers seem to serve a lot on their platter and the Ravens probably cannot handle it all. The way the Ravens win is continue to spread the ball around more on offense like they did vs. the Steelers and play solid pass defense. Of course this is easier said than done!

Juelz Santana ft Carlee Voice - Gangsta Luv (Freestyle) | Audio | Rap Basement

Juelz Santana ft Carlee Voice - Gangsta Luv (Freestyle) | Audio | Rap Basement

Hmm... This is no better than the original by Snoop Dogg. But this is not the first time Juelz Santana has made a corny remake. Santana you just need to focus on putting out the album because freestyles like this are not helping your buzz!

Listen if you dare.