Threadless has these dope Teeshirts depicting a bored transformer thinking about gettin' his swivel on! this is an easy pick for T'ing of the Week (i know it's only tuesday, but what's gonna top this, really?). you can get it in sizes xtra small all the way up to XXXtra Large in men's and ladies' sizes for just $18, so click the pic so you can COP that joint! if you buy this, see me at a con, and i'll sharpie a Decepticon symbol on that joint for you for FREE! that's how i ROLL! holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
Nas on CNN speaking about his music and the open letter he wrote in reaction to youth violence in Chicago... people focus on what they want to focus on. Nas writes about as much conscious uplifting music as he does gangster stuff. while i think Nas is downplaying the effects such art and music can have on an individual, i still think it is childish for people to go to a rapper and plead with them to change, as if it will make a difference. does this dude really believe there are no positive role models or music in hip hop? "Change the game, Nas! do it for the babies!"
c'mon, dude... imploring a rapper to change his music is like going to a baseball player and asking him to stop taking 'roids 'for the love of the game' without demanding that the league (that benefits from his inflated stats) crack down on it. a man is not going to do something that goes against how he makes his money. what you need to do is ask WHY does this violence happen, WHO benefits from the violence, and WHAT changes can we make to the conditions that contribute to violence. Nas does not benefit from violence, so stop questioning him. he actually is trying to USE his influence to curb the violence. and if they must focus on a Nas song, do they have to pick the WACKEST song he ever made? what is this, Fox News? so i injected a couple better songs, just in case you never listened to him, so you would know better!
anyways, as you can tell, i have a pretty strong and developed opinion about it... but what do ya'll think?
Stone Coal Secret Santa by RoyalBoiler aka Brandon Graham. please click to enlarge. this is why i heart Brandon. this joint will serve as the back cover to an upcoming issue of his opus-worthy Image/ Tokyopop comic series King City. Brandon squeezes as much stuff into a page as possible, but it's not just a bunch of stuff, it's FUN stuff! his influences in cartoons, manga, hipHop, etc show on the page. i love reading his comics repeatedly... not just for the story, but to absorb the raw fun in the artwork! very inspirational as an artist. holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
be on the lookout for my friend and colleague Arie Monroe at the con. she will be packing her brand new DrawLikeCrazySketchbook, which i can recommend sight unseen because she is frankly one of the best artists you never heard of... like a lot of us, she's struggling to get to the next level of this art game, so if you're in Baltimore, go to the Baltimore Comicon and throw a few dollars her way. if this is your first exposure to her work, click the pic to get familiar at her blog.
holla!
-samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
if you're a fan of Todd McFarlane or Robert Kirkman (or both), you pro'lly wanna check out this FREE preview of Haunt #1, their new collabo joint from Image. here's the sales pitch: Daniel Kilgore is dragged into his estranged brother Kurt’s secret life of murder and espionage... by his ghost. With no training whatsoever, guided by the spirit of his secret-agent brother, Daniel must now solve his brother’s murder and save the world – or die trying! It all starts here, people: Witness the birth of HAUNT! so here ya go! even if you don't care for McFarlane, you might have noticed Ottley (artist on Invincible) on the credits, too... so click the pic to peep the free preview, and let me know what YOU think...Haunt #1 will be in comic shops wednesday october 7th holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
this joint Still Dope (aka track 11 on DOOM's Born Like This )been breakin' my neck for a minute... now the video gives us a look at the fresh Atlanta (f)emcee StaHHr, and has me convinced that i need to cop her new plate Almost Neva Was. sample more of the dopeness off Stahhr's mySpace. props to my dude goldiGold for the artwork (actually album and teeshirt artwork), and for turning me on to this sister's music... please believe, fam: she's mustard! for now, enjoy her spit over a fresh DOOM beat! holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
this looks dope! here's the sales pitch: The only comic edited by a dimension-traveling cosmic cat in a superhero costume where video games and the mystical sequential arts clash in a whirling maelstrom of nonsense. Resolutely all-ages fun,Smart Bomb!!presents stories that begin and end in the same issue (no interminably tedious epics here) combined with posters, puzzles, special features and a letters page ruled over by a space worm as old as time itself, all wrapped up in a video games theme. available for purchase right now at IndyPlanet.com [here]
Girls Love Bad Boys... by Samax. click to enlarge whaddup, Party people! haven't been that vocal lately because i'm in Deadline Purgatory, but i want everyone to be prepared because Spontaneous:2009 my artbook/sketchbook/freestyle comic, will most definitely drop December 30, 2009 in time for Indy Comicbook Week! if you're in Dallas, your comicshop will probably have it, if you're not in Dallas tell them to GET AT me, and tell them to get down with IndyComicbook Week! Diamond (the too-big-to-fail corporation with a strangle-hold monopoly on comicbook distribution) has decided not to ship any comics on the week of December 30, so the fine folks at ICBW have decided to turn it into an Indy power grab! we're challenging fans, dealers and creators of comics to make the week of December 30th all about independents, and line the new comics racks with Indy Comics! so if you've been nursing a story forever, get off your can and get that joint together! if you got a wishlist a mile long, stop procrastinating! whether you make comics or just love them (or love to hate them!) click the pic to find out what you (yeah YOU!) can do to help make Indy Comicbook Week a success! don't forget to pass it on to your comicshop, follow the blog, and subscribe to the updates on Twitter, tough guy! now then... i gotta get back to the drawing board! holla! -samax ghettoManga.com
click the pic to peep this dope FREE Preview courtesy of CBR. here's the sales pitch: Every great action hero got started somewhere: Batman Began. Bond had his Casino Royale. And more than a decade before the first Die Hard movie, John McClane's just another rookie cop, an East Coast guy working on earning his badge in New York City during 1976's Bicentennial celebration. Too bad for McClane, nothing's ever that easy. Join legendary industry creator Howard Chaykin on a thrill ride that's rung up over $1 billion in box office worldwide and become the gold standard for classic action! Yippee Ki Yay! yeah, this is one i've been waiting for! now the wait is over... this joint is in stores Wednesday, September 30. holla! -samax
those brainy jokers in the land of the Rising Sun are at it again! Holograms you can touch, the technology that makes sci-fi movies and comics so cool, is about to go from virtual to reality. "Up until now, holography has been for the eyes only, and if you'd try to touch it, your hand would go right through," says Tokyo University professor Hiroyuki Shinoda. "But now we have a technology that also adds the sensation of touch to holograms." the new holograms they are developing will use ultrasonic vibrations to provide a sense of touch when a user interacts with a hologram. still in the rudimentary phases, researchers foresee practical applications like virtual switches in hospitals and other places where contamination is an issue. I can imagine that we might see holographic control panels on cell phones, computers and even cars that can be customized by the user... comics/movie nerds have already gotten used to seeing portable floating keyboards, and holographic concubines... what other applications can we look forward to with this? holla! -samax
Pirate Radio by Mars ILL between their studio albums Backbreakanomics and Pro Pain,Mars Ill released an underground album through DeepSpace5 records called Pirate Radio. i never even heard of this record until last week, when i stumbled across the title track on YouTube. I'm gonna hafta cop this joint. another classic from manchild and dust...
the mighty Deepspace5 crew has just released this free Blueprint3 Outtakes, The Deepspace Version Mixtape to whet appetites for the new full-length joint they got in the chamber. click the pic to go to their website and cop it! -gM
for this week's ghettoManga T'ing of the Week we're spotlighting some fancy etched vibrators designed by that dude Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz, Tank Girl). i gaffled this off'a Brandon Graham's (King City, Multiple Warhedz, Escalator) blog, where he was talking about comics artists freelancing on the side:"One of the main things that's important to me in making comics is to not compromise the actual pages I draw. So side work is the ideal way to actually make enough money and not end up drawing off a script you don't like because you need a good page rate and not hoping for a movie deal to bail you out. ya knaw? So, It's awesome to see dudes making impressive work out of the side gigs." it's been my observation that if you watch any comics artist long enough, you will see them do side gigs. and lots of people use that as an excuse to stop doing comics altogether (the money in illustrating is waaaay better than drawing comics... and easier money), so it's good to hear an artist who puts it in perspective and (in my opinion) has his priorities in order! either way, these joints by Hewlett are awesome! the innuendo in the copy is hilarious, and of course the drawing is splendid.don't ask me where to get them, ladies (or gentlemen...), i just work here. get your google on! holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
Optimus Prime by *TimKelly the new Transformers film franchise is alright, (actually, i still ain't seen part 2) but i still think the robot designs are not iconic and memorable, the way the original designs were. one of the best things about the original cartoon designs was that each robot LOOKED like it turned into a car or airplane or whatever! you could see the tires and the windshields and the doors, etc and that was just cool! wish the designs would'a been more like this joint! that would have been better... combining the desire for real-world mechanical complexity with the more iconic and recognizable design of the original toy/cartoon. what do you think?
Eric Canete is so good at drawing, it will make you cry. when you see what he can draw in 90 minutes, it will cripple your self esteem... then, you will remember that no one is asking you to draw this good, this fast. you'll have a glass of Kool-Aid and feel much better about just being who you are, and doing what you do. anyways, peep this pic he did of T'challa, the Black Panther. dope ain't it? holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
the 3rd issue of Tyrese Gibson's ultraviolent hit comic MAYHEM! is due to land in stores on October 7th, but according to his twitter blast, the books are available to those that wanna get a leg up right now through Meltdown Comics. here's the sales pitch: Broken and beaten, Mayhem is back to take out Big X and the Four Corners once and for all. An assault by righteousness on evil, from ground floor to penthouse, which will run Mayhem through the ringer, putting all his skill to the ultimate test! as my readers probably remember, MAYHEM! #1 broke the single store record for issues sold through Meltdownthis summer, and the relationship continues to pay dividends for both Tyrese's team and the Meltdown crew, who proudly proclaim on their website that they'll ship your comic anywhere in the world. you can call the store at 323 851.7223 or hit 'em up at BuyMayhem.com if that's how you get down. holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
Breathe Slow by Mars ILL w/JAX (RIP) good morning party people! just figured i'd bless you with some quality hip hop once again. one of my absolute favorite hip hop crews -the "he's the deejay, i'm the rapper" combination of Manchild and Dust known together as Mars ILL- dropped this jewel a few years ago, but Breathe Slow off their sophomore LP Backbreakanomics never gets old. it's an anthem for the downtrodden and underappreciated that'll remind you to "take what's meant for you, no longer survive on what's passed down... win or lose you'll live your life knowing you never backed down." if those ain't words to live by, i don't know any... holla! -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
Blakroc Project from Myrhax on Vimeo. MOS DEF, RZA, RAEKWON, JIM JONES, Q-TIP, PHAROAHE MONCH, and more all on ONE RECORD, in stores Nov 27? where do i sign?!?! watch this video and ball up in the fetal position until the Blakroc Project drops!
i haven't spent much time worrying about Slaughterhouse [the bi-coastal super group made up of Joe Budden, Crooked I, Royce Da 5-9, and Joell Ortiz... and their new album of the same name], but when i heard the song Salute on the Revolutionary Times blog, i had to pause... the track features an ominous vocal hook by the mighty Pharoahe Monch, whose bluesy crooning stylee is dope enough to make me worry that he might stop rapping like every other dope emcee with a li'l singing ability. at any rate, Slaughterhouse appears to be nice. hell, Crooked I could hold my attention all by himself, so i might have to get this album... does anybody have this already? let me know what's up with it... should i buy it?
if you were smart enough to pre-order one of these fly a$$ teeshirts by superduperfly painter/art goddess Dawn Okoro like i told you to, then breathe easy, because your Tees are back from the printer and on the way, according to Dawn's blog. If you procrastinated and forgot, head over and see if she has extras you can scam. Tell her samax from ghettoManga sent you... it probably won't help you any, but it will help reinforce in her mind that i heart me some her! it looks like she enjoyed doing the shirts, so lets hope we see more tees and other fashionable t'ing from the lovely Mistress Okoro in the future! holla! -samax
Flashback by Del The Funkee Homosapien & Tame One off their collabo album Parallel Uni-Verses album, due October 13th on Gold Dust. this album can't come soon enough for me! enjoy! -gM
Anthony Williams- better known as the legendary deejay Grand Master Roc Raida of venerated turntable crew The X-ecutioners- has passed away unexpectedly today from complications of recent surgeries he had following a martial arts related accident. in addition to the X-ecutioners, Roc has worked with the likes of O.C., Big Pun, Immortal Technique, Busta Rhymes and Smiff N' Wessun as a dee jay and producer. Roc is survived by his wife, 3 lovely daughters, and mother. our prayers are with his family, friends, and fans. he was 37. peace, -samax ghettoManga.com comics.hipHop.news.art.culture
Threadless has these dope Teeshirts depicting a bored transformer thinking about gettin' his swivel on! this is an easy pick for T'ing of the Week (i know it's only tuesday, but what's gonna top this, really?). you can get it in sizes xtra small all the way up to XXXtra Large in men's and ladies' sizes for just $18, so click the pic so you can COP that joint! if you buy this, see me at a con, and i'll sharpie a Decepticon symbol on that joint for you for FREE! that's how i ROLL!
[the bi-coastal super group made up of Joe Budden, Crooked I, Royce Da 5-9, and Joell Ortiz... and their new album of the same name], but when i heard the song 
