]
Those good memories have all
but faded into oblivion and given way to a season of
second-guesses for the Lakers' championship ambitions. The latest round
of doubt came on the eve of the Staples Center-hosted NBA All-Star Game
weekend. The the threepeat-seeking Lakers dropped a road game to the
Cleveland Cavaliers – aka the lowliest squad in the league, a team that recently
set an NBA record for most consecutive losses.
It wasn't a game 7, and the Lakers didn't bring home a trophy, so more
than a few sportswriters pounced on Artest for tweeting after the game
that he was releasing his new BALL'N hip-hop mixtape ahead of
schedule. That same night he provides a link for the free download and asked his fans for feedback. Since Ron-Ron turned in an especially abysmal one-point performance against the Cavs, many newspaper sports
sections, including the pages of The Los Angeles Times, wondered in print
if the starting forward had his head in the game or was distracted by
his musical side-project.
The drumbeat was so loud that Artest
apologized earlier today tweeting “HEY HARDCORE LAKER FANS, SORRY
ABOUT THE TWEET OF MY MIXTAPE RIGHT AFTER THE LOST. I WAS JUST
PROCEEDING WITH MY PERSONAL BIZ. THANKS.”
seemingly gotten lost in the mix. Perhaps had the Lakers trounced the
Cavs and finished their Grammy Awards road trip 5-2 instead of 4-3, it
would be getting its due. Either way, the official
non-edited version was scheduled to drop yesterday on Vibe.com anyhow.
If people are truly too upset about the current state of affairs of
Lakerdom to give BALL'N a listen, they are missing out.
The
mixtape is hosted by Power 106's DJ Felli Fel and only takes a few
seconds into the first track to blare that annoying air-horn multi-shot
sample, but it's anchored by enough solid tracks to make it worthwhile –
auto-tune choruses aside. Artest takes a minimalist approach, appearing
on songs with an assembled crew of MCs throughout including Nas,
Chamillionaire, and even fellow teammates Joe Smith and rookie Derrick
Caracter.
The Laker forward keeps himself to the intro only on “Who I Am?”
allowing Nas to do his thing on the mixtape's standout song. W.C. drops a
guest verse for “On that New Shit” with Artest over a beat that recalls
what made “Champions” so listenable. As for the rapping merits of
Artest himself? His flow has certainly improved since the 'Sit-ups keep
my back strong' days of “Workout.” There's still some lyrical 'wtf's'
that make for a good chuckle like when he steps into his verse on “This
is What it Sound Like” rhyming “Came from the mom's womb/ Pops caught a
good nut!” but it's still much better than anything Kobe Bryant has done
behind the mic.
Not including the Black Mamba on the mixtape was probably the smartest move Artest makes on BALL'N!
Ron Artest will be signing autographs Sunday at the Earloomz Store, 14514 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, 91403. 1-2 p.m.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!
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