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Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller have been dazzling audiences for decades.  Magics own rock stars.  Here's a clip of one of their oldest bits called, "Shadows".  Kinda cool.  Kinda creepy.  Definitely way gone.

D'Angelo has only released two full length LPs in his 16 year career - but those are two of the dopest albums in neo-soul history.  His most recent effort, James River, has already been 10 years in the making (with no scheduled release date as of yet).  D'Angelo's personal and legal troubles along with the schedules of his collaboraters (including ?uestlove) have made things drag along slowly.  Let's hope he returns soon and in top form.  Watch him killin "Brown Sugar" (the sexiest song about weed EVER) on Later with Jools Holland.

Here's a clip from the early 80's (presumably 1983?) in which Jazzy Jay and Afrika Bambaataa are asked to teach some squares how to scratch records.  The added bonus comes at the 4:20 mark.  Peep.

If you only know Flava Flav from his embarrassing reality TV career you're missing out.  Public Enemy remains one of the most relevant ensembles in hip-hop.  Led by the militant teacher, Chuck D and his cartoon-esque clown of a sidekick, Flav - the group transformed the face of the genre.  They still put on one of the best live shows in hip-hop.  Chuck D usually led the attack on every track with few acceptions (see "Cold Lampin" and below, "911 is a Joke") with Flava Flav tossing in his trademark ad libs like, "Yeeeeaaah Boy!".

The emergency phone number "911" was invented in 1968 but didn't reach wide usage until the 80's.  On this track, Flav recounts the pains of the inner city and how they struggled to get the same emergency attention as folks in better neighborhoods.  Dig it.

Serena Williams has been making headlines for her on-court tantrums at the US Open - both this year and last.  Seems to me that she's just a brat who's losing her dominence in the sport.  More like childs play for those of us old enough remember the fits that John McEnroe threw on the regular.  I give you Exhibit A (please excuse the lame 10 second ad at the beginning).