New Graphics chip in action

*In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a former Apple employee so I might be sliiiightly biased in their favor. But I’ll try to keep it as real as possible.

So we all know that Apple is known to make a media splash or two during the Fall in anticipation of the holiday season. They’ve already created a frenzy amongst the Apple Addicts with their update to the iPod roster - adding new and improved iPod Nano and a redesigned iPod Touch. Now they’ve come back with with a recession friendly MacBook update. Here’s the low down on what you should even care about:

The base model of the old MacBook’s seen its price drop from $1099 to  $999. Not as much as most people had hoped but saving a hunned dollars these days is crucial with liquor habits on the rise in this recession. Besides, given how much I paid for my BlacBook I WISH a ninja would complain.

New MacBooks have hit the streets with a couple of interesting new features:

• slimmer, aluminum unibody frame: more durable and tree-hugger friendly
• new “industry-standard” mini display port (snoozer for now) but will be more convenient later
• back-lit keyboard: comes in handy while visiting unscrupulous sites at nite
• glass, button-less trackpad: innovative as usual. sounds fly but I’m waiting to see this in sucka action.
• Last but not least, a new, faster integrated graphics chip! THIS is the real gem for the MacBook. It is the one knock that I’ve had against the MacBook as a pro-sumer. For instance, I can’t really do any semi-pro video work on my present MacBook because the integrated graphics card just can’t handle it. But both video editors and GAMERS alike can now consider the MacBook as a viable option for handling their everyday personal and professional needs.

$1299 starting price: still a bit pricey for a notebook but not too bad considering the critical graphics upgrade.

In my opinion, these additions have gone a long way towards perfecting their laptop offering. Although they did take a bit of a step back by eliminating the Firewire port from the new line, which I see as a way of creating further differentiation from their MacBook Pro line, it’s still a great new machine for prosumers like you and I.

Respect Due:

• Apple
• Engadget Live Coverage: kept me up to date during the event.

Here’s the original Caribou - Pelican Narrows Video, some real weirdo sh*t but the instrumental is still ba-noodles.

Respect Due:

• Dope Mashup Site: The Hood Internet
• Interesting “Psychadelic” artist: Caribou on Myspace

For those who don’t remember me or never knew me, I’m D-Black, reppin the Bronx, NY. Before giving y’all my debut mixtape entitled “New Black City”, which is hosted by Mick Boogie, and features collaborations from Skyzoo, Rapper Pooh of Little Brother, production from Illmind, Khrysis, and many more, I figured I’d give out 3 songs a week to commemorate the closing of Yankee Stadium and one of the great moments in Bronx history: Reggie Jacksons 3 Home Runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. In baseball, those hits would be called quality at-bats. So I figured I’d give you 3 quality hits per week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for the month of October, right before New Black City hits in November. Each song is accompanied by a D-Black baseball collector’s card (gum not included lol) which in all will help you win a special prize at the end of the series. The first of twelve joints which I’m featuring in the Mr. October Series is called “Black On Black Crime” because I simply bodied this Black Milk beat. Stay tuned, I got some surprises on the way.

Black is already 3 tracks deep into the campaign and they’re all pretty dope. Click on each image to collect and listen…

Download Track 1 of 12

Download Track 2 of 12

Download Track 3 of 12

New Banger from Ill Bill. Reminiscent of that classic 90s sound. Heavy lyrics over some throwback boom bap courtesy of the Madd DJ.

Shawn Lee

A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement

Download audio file (tribe-thelove.mp3)

I feel like a Laker,
Shootin like a Pacer,
But I’m playin’ for the Knicks…

Enter the mind of the BX’s own Lloyal…with the recent release of his debut mixtape entitled “Lloyal Rumble” and weekly radio show “It’s Lloyal” on wbmbradio.com, the kids future is looking nothing but bright.

Lloyal

Very few artists forget to make hip-hop fun, and that’s what Lloyal brings to us with this release. Based around the classic WWF Royal Rumble series, Lloyal is the lone contestant in a battle against 29 other generic lame emcees, in his quest to become the last emcee standing. Mixed by yours truly and scratches by DJ Nome, this mixtape is sure to keep your ears entertained. Download it by clicking the cover and make sure to show ur support in the comments or his myspace.

Your favorite brand of live fried spinnin...

Aiight folks, you know me and the rest of the Homecookin’ Radio fam rock regularly Wednesday nights (8 - 10 pm) on WBMB Radio. If this is news to you then I’d like to welcome and invite you to our weekly reckless rant session. Due the knowledge and download some of our podcasts via iTunes, I’m sure you’ll be entertained… Although we like to run our mouths on the show, oft-times aimlessly, this week the focus is on the music. We cooked up some marvelous sh*t this week to make things a bit more interesting. Yours truly, Shawn Lee aka Greazy Fingaz, will be takin on J.U. aka DJ 4 to 1 in a battle for Homecookin’ Supremacy. The rules are as follows, both deejayz will be judged on style and selection, but of course there’s a catch. The homie Logan upped the ante by restricting us to spinning records only from artists who were born/raised in a certain region. As if my supreme skillz weren’t enuff to guarantee victory, J.U. got the tough draw of spinning records from Bay Area artists, while I was blessed to get the legend-heavy region known as Dirty Jerz. Needless to say, yall are gonna wanna tune in to check this one out. Hopefully we’ll have a Goldie sighting this week, although he did pull a ashy to classy move sending us Popeye’s in his absence last week. Phelps was especially appreciative. lol. So yeah, definitely tune in online and peep the fcukery. I feel a classic coming on…Be Greazy