Top Picks of the Day - January 4th, 2011

Happy New Year! I trust everyone had a stellar holiday season. I am almost caught up to life today. Here is my first Top Picks entry in 2011. 

Song: Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt - Dead Presidents II. From the early days of Shawn Carter's career. This track is produced by Ski with samples of A Garden of Peace by Lonnie Liston Smith in the melody - which is a soft piano piece that uses simple bass keys in conjunction with faster tempo high note strokes to paint a repetition piece with no real peak or break in tension, The World Is Yours (Q-tip Remix) by Nas - arguably the most infamous, if not best track, ever produced by Nas and debated as a top hip-hop track of all time, and Oh My God by A Tribe Called Quest in the percussion - a simple bass drum and snare beat laid heavily over an odd horn and lounge keyboard rhythm. Interesting that The World Is Yours remix was done by Q-Tip and he is also a member of A Tribe Called Quest. This was the rap mogul's debut single that went gold. Same beat and chorus as the track Dead Presidents but with different lyrics. Nas refused to re-rap the chorus for the track and this is cited as the genesis of the feud between the two rappers. 


News: A visual display of religion/anti-religion based billboard wars. Some of these are pure gold!

Website: Keepio.com - Great site that allows you to categorize your possessions to share, collect and swap with friends.

TV Series: I finished Boardwalk Empire and The League. I think I need to catch a few more episodes of the Office and South Park. I am so 2010.

Video: Someone please buy me one of these. What a clever idea and cool thing to own. Kickstarter is my new favorite site.