R.I.P. Christopher Wallace

March 9th, 2010 | By boadurichard

“Told me meet em in the future later, they’ll take me shopping
Buy me lavender and fuschia Gators
Introduce me to player haters and heavy weighters” – Frank White – “You’re Nobody Til Somebody Kills You”

I can’t believe that it’s been thirteen years since Biggie Smalls passed away. I remember where I was when I heard about it too. I was as sophomore in high school and my pops was driving me to school. I was riding in the back of the car and he always jammed NPR news. (Can you jam NPR news?) Either way, they announced he had been shot and killed. I was devastated. He was by far my favorite rapper. I came onto him late to be honest. I wasn’t really feeling him until Life After Death, but after I listened to that cd so much it made me go out and by Ready to Die where I then truly realized his greatness.

I’ve always been a fan of storytellers and B.I.G. was the best since Slick Rick. He’d say things that would have my jaw on the floor. He didn’t bore me like a lot of rappers did at that time. He was just a great MC that I really hated to see go. Just imagine what would have been if Biggie were to have lived? He’d be 37 this upcoming May 21st. Would he still be in the game ala Jay-Z? Would he still be with Bad Boy? Would him and Pac ever ended their beef if Pac stayed alive? What ifs don’t matter, but its hard not to wonder what could have been.

Everything happens for a reason if you ask me and B.I.G. is gone physically but people still recite his lyrics as an ode to pay homage. There have been plenty of great rappers since, but none have been able to hold a candle to Biggie.

I’m going to do my best to put out a 6Magazine + Biggie Smalls Birthday Mixtape on May 21st of this year. Hopefully I can get many of the acts who are going to be at SXSW to agree to jump on it. Either way, rock a Coogi Sweater today if you have one in Memory of Biggie! I’m gonna rock mine!

Here is my favorite Biggie song of all time. I want to direct a short story to this song one of these days.

That’s All I got, RIP BIG

Ricky Writer

The Future

March 9th, 2010 | By boadurichard

I can’t wait to see the future of magazine’s. Please believe that 6Magazine will be joining in on all the technological advances coming in the very near future.

Sports Illustrated

Wired Magazine

Esquire Magazine December 2009 issue – Augmented Reality Issue

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer

DC Don Juan + 6Magazine Conversation

March 8th, 2010 | By boadurichard

I love Hip-hop. It’s creative, thought provoking, energetic, fresh and a true expression of culture and what’s going on in the urban world. Certain things about Hip-hop do wear on me though, and that’s the flood of backpack rappers, or as Waka Flocka Flame called them, “Dictionary Rappers”. Speaking of Waka, we have our trapper rappers as well. I’m suddenly being forced to listen to the backpackers trying to outsmart me, enlighten me, and belittle me all at the same time. Then I have to hear about the trials and tribulations of the hood and how real it is in these streets. Sometimes, I just want to be entertained. Music is my escape, and I don’t need all the extra stuff from every rapper.

Well, thank goodness for DC Don Juan, the up and coming rapper’s latest single “Lookie Looky” is becoming a club favorite. Juan’s flow and style are worry free as he keeps the party going and the mood uplifting. Don’t get it twisted, his upbeat style is fully equipped with a cocky witty flow that demands respect. Juan is a real rapper that realizes there is an audience that loves to have fun and party.

I caught up with Juan over the weekend while he was in the studio.

DC Don Juan + 6Magazine conversation from 6Magazine on Vimeo.

Make sure you download his latest mixtape

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer

Cardinal Sin

March 8th, 2010 | By boadurichard

When the Free Agent clock struck, the action was on. A lot of teams got better and few got worse. One team the clearly got worse was the Arizona Cardinals. We’ve the phrase before, “You get what you pay for”, and the Cardinals paid for nothing in free agency.

Look at who the Cards have lost so far this off-season, Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, Karlos Dansby, and Antrel Rolle. All they got in return was Kerry Rhodes and a third round draft pick. Some of these losses couldn’t be avoided, well let me take that back, only one which was Warner. Some, if not all of the other off-season losses could have been avoided. Kurt Warner walked away from a base salary of $4 million dollars, which means that money was available to pay out.

Boldin just signed a four year deal $28 million dollar deal with the Ravens in a sign and trade deal, with the Ravens giving up their third and fourth round picks to get Boldin.

Dansby just signed a five year $43 million dollar deal with $22 million dollar deal making him the highest paid inside linebacker.

Antrel Rolle signed a five year $37 million dollar deal with $15 million dollars guaranteed.

Now you there is no way that Cardinals could have paid all three of the free agents they lost. Scratch that, they could have, but I understand why they may not have wanted to pay all that money to all four of them.

Keep this in mind. The Cardinals 2009 total pay roll was $111,138, 646 it remains to be seen what they do in free agency to replace these players, but if they weren’t going to pay these guys top dollars, then they aren’t going to pay a second rate free agent anymore money than the top flight guys they had.

I feel as if the Cardinals are throwing in the towel on the 2010 season once they realized Warner wasn’t coming back. They’re are many reasons to keep any of these former Cardinals.

Reasons to keep Boldin: 1) Make life easy for Matt Leinhart (2) Keep the double teams off of Larry Fitzgerald (3) He’s earned the money!

Reasons to keep Dansby: 1) Make life easy for Matt Leinhart (2) He’s the best run stopper in the league (3) He’s earned the money!

Reasons to keep Rolle: 1) Who’s going to lead your defense (2) Defensive Playmaker/Special teams ace (3) Wildcat quarterback

The main reason to keep them all is to make life easy for Matt Leinhart. The team has little faith in him already, so they need to make his transition back to being a starter as easy as possible, which means pound the ball(Ken Wisenhunt has the Steelers pedigree to know this) and play great defense. Losing Boldlin is going to make it easy for teams to double team Fitzgerald. If you think that Early Doucet or Steve Breaston are going to be able to fully replace or possibly be more productive than Boldin please show me footage of what the hell you are talking about. Word on the street is that Cards are looking to pick up Dolphins’ Joey Porter to replace Dansby. Porter is older and if he was that good, the Dolphins wouldn’t let him go. They gave up a fourth round pick to acquire Kerry Rhodes in a trade. Yes, the same Kerry Rhodes who didn’t make a big play (pick, forced fumble, or fumble recovery) until Week 12, and of his three picks he grabbed last year two were against the awful Jake Delhomme and the other was against Tampa Bay Buccaneer rookie, Josh Freeman.

The draft is around the corner, trades and free agency moves are still yet to be made, but the Cardnials 2010 outlook isn’t looking too hot. Keep this in mind, the Cardinals 2009 total payroll was $111,138, 646….the Cardinals 2010 payroll ???? Whatever that 2010 payroll is if the Cardinals don’t make the playoffs that 2010 payroll is probably going to be significantly less than 2009 and you can thank Cardinals ownership for getting what they paid for.

6Magazine + Erik Flowchild conversation

March 5th, 2010 | By boadurichard

I caught up with Erik Flowchild last night, the up and coming Toronto hip-hop star had a lot to say about hip-hop, Canada, the Chixtape, and  J.Cole

Erik Flowchild + 6Magazine conversation from 6Magazine on Vimeo.

Download the Chixtape here

Also checkout Erik Flowchild’s first video

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer

Free Agent Friday

March 4th, 2010 | By boadurichard

Free Agent Friday is here. We’ll I take that back, it’s like 11 hours away, but it’s close! This will be the first Free Agency period without a salary cap since 1993. Don’t think it’s going to turn into Major League Baseball. The economy still sucks right now and this is football where the risk of injury is much higher than baseball. So don’t expect owners to get stupid dumb with these contracts shelling out MLB numbers.

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Joe Haden Did Himself a Service

March 4th, 2010 | By boadurichard

Joe Haden choked! Tricked off the dope. He cost himself millions of dollars! He’s no longer the top CB in this year’s draft class.

Okay? Are you done? Chill out people. Yeah, Joe Haden’s 4.57 and 4.60 40s at the combine earlier this week are far from top flight cornerback. But it’s not the end of the world for Mr. Haden. He’s still going to get drafted in the first round, and he’s still going to be the first CB selected and get selected very high. Haden showed he had the courage to even run at the combine, he did well after his disappointing 40, and he has a chance to redeem himself.

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Football and Hip-Hop leaders of the Free World!!!

March 4th, 2010 | By boadurichard

We’ve been through a lot since July 2008. We’ve seen our ups and our downs. But when the world needed a leader to step up and save it from the other magazines that neglected to realize the influence that hip-hop culture had on the sport of football we were there. We’ve finally gained our respect but we are far from finished with our journey. But as for now, we’d like to thank Sweeden for their kind words….

(the video takes about 90 seconds to load so be patient, you’ll enjoy it…and put your own spin on it when you finished) Happy Thursday.

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer

6Magazine + Bun B conversation

March 1st, 2010 | By boadurichard

I caught up with the Underground King himself, Bun B, while he was in Austin over the weekend at the Nicekicks.com grand opening. Hear what Bun has to say about Jay Electronica as well.

6Magazine + Bun B Conversation from 6Magazine on Vimeo.

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer

Nice Kicks store Grand Opening

March 1st, 2010 | By boadurichard

Nicekicks.com opened their flagship store in Austin, TX this past weekend. Doors opened at 11am this past Saturday but people were in line at 9am. At one time there were 80 people inside the store and 300 people in line outside. They had several DJ’s spinning and the Underground King himself, Bun B stopped by to show some love. Check out the footage.

Shouts out to my boys Matt and Alex at Nicekicks.com for letting me shoot some footage!

Nice Kicks store Grand Opening from 6Magazine on Vimeo.

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer