Showing Out

Can you believe Redman still hasn’t been dropped from Def Jam? He must have signed a ten album deal or something. Nonetheless, here comes the video for the first single off the upcoming Reggie Noble 9 1/2, hitting stores courtesy of DJ on December 8th. Not gonna lie, “Coc Back” actually slams pretty hard. In the clip, Redman and Ready Roc pull some shady heist where they pretend to be valets, only to speed off in the car and trade it in at a body shop for a hefty chunk of change. These two apparently aren’t to be messed with, and the beat pretty much vouches for it. Not bad, Reggie Noble. Not bad in the least.

Finally, this hits the Internet. Over a month after pictures were snapped of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys filming the video for “Empire State of Mind” (and on the same day that Beans fired shots at Hov), the black-and-white clip has been released in its entirety, with the pair giving one of the most inspiring big-ups to New York City in recent memory. Jay raps in front of his childhood school in Brooklyn, down in Wall Street, up in Harlem and more before joining forces with A. Keys in Times Square for the power chorus. The video isn’t as amazing as it could have been for such a hope-filled anthem, yet it pays the Big Apple the respect that it’s due. Not even Beans could be mad at that.

Just in time for the weekend, the Weinstein Company has released a new trailer for their forthcoming flick The Road, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men). Directed by John Hillcoat, the film stars Viggo Mortensen as a man that travels with his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) through a post-apocalyptic terrain, fighting for survival as those with corrupted morals attempt to take them down. The Road also stars Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and more, with a tentative release date of November 25th. That gives you plenty of time to go out and pick up this book to read before the film hits theaters, because, as with every film adaptation, the book is usually better.

Ford Mustang just posted a nice little behind the scenes clip from the video shoot for Queen Latifah’s “Fast Car,” the final cut for which hit the internet a few weeks back. In the above clip, you get to see La hop in the Ford Mustang 2010 whip and drive around the track, with director of the clip Juwan Lee explaining how they approached shooting each part of the video. “It’s fast and it’s fly,” she says of the car. “That’s about right for me.” If you haven’t yet peeped the video, then hit the link above or watch the end of this behind the scenes clip. And if you don’t already know, Persona is in stores now.

Before Michael Jackson passed, many close to the King of Pop attempted to cash in on his success by filing lawsuits to get a piece of the profits they felt they deserved. But not even his death is stopping those from trying to get paid their dues. John Landis (who directed the “Thriller” video back in the ’80s), producer George Folsey Jr. and a production company filed claims against the estate yesterday to get paid the $2.4 million they said they should have gotten for working on the classic video. Additionally, Leonard Rowe (Jackson’s self-proclaimed manager) filed a claim for $51,218 in unreimbursed expenses, while Dr. Arnie Klein filed for $48,522.89 for unpaid medical treatments. Some of the lawsuits were already in place before MJ passed, with several of the suits being refiled against the estate. Still, can he rest in peace without this slander?

Rapper Skyzoo has earned quite a buzz for himself thanks to the success of his recently released debut The Salvation, and he isn’t letting this one go away so quickly. The emcee just shot the video for the Nottz-produced “Popularity,” heading to Bayside High School a la Saved by the Bell (intentional or not, we are gladly making that connection). In the Todd Angkasuwan-directed clip, Skyzoo rocks a varsity jacket as he strolls through the halls of the high school, spitting game at the ladies as pages of a notebook fill each side of the screen. Check for the Amanda Diva cameo in the classroom and freeze-frame in the soda shop.

We haven’t heard much from Djimon Hounsou as of lately, so here comes an update on one of his various endeavors. According to Variety, the Blood Diamond star has been cast in White Elephant, a film that’s being produced and directed by Prachya Pinkaew (Ong-bak, Chocolate). The film, which is set to begin shooting in March 2010 in Bangkok, centers on an assassin that’s hired by a businessman to avenge his daughter’s death. The catch is that she was murdered by white slave traders in Thailand, adding a controversial twist to the story. Though there’s no word on when the film will hit theaters, Hounsou will next be seen in The Tempest, which co-stars Helen Mirren and Russell Brand and will be released next year.

It’s obvious that anything that goes up against the World Series is going to take a serious hit in ratings, so it’s understandable about what went down last night. According to the numbers, the World Series pulled in 18.9 million viewers last night, making it the highest-watched Game 2 since 2004. Things didn’t go so well for other shows that aired during the baseball game, with ABC’s FlashForward only managing to pull in 9 million viewers, taking a 13% hit in its audience that’s mostly comprised of dudes (again, it only makes sense that most of them got pulled over to the game). The only two shows to actually have a ratings surge last night were NBC’s Community and CW’s The Vampire Diaries, the former of which rose 11% in viewership while the latter rose to a series high of 4.2 million. Not bad for those, but again, why even bother airing new eps if it’s the World Series? For shame, networks.

Sunday is one of the biggest sports days of the year, with a 1 PM footbal game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks and Game 4 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Fox, of course, sees this as a golden opportunity to promote their forthcoming film Avatar, for which the trailer basically took over the internet yesterday. On November 1st, Fox will air the 3 1/2-minute trailer before the NFL game, while 90-second air spots will continually be broadcast during the game and the World Series, forcing the film upon millions of viewers watching the games around the world. If this isn’t the biggest promo push we’ve ever seen, then clearly, we haven’t seen nothing yet. Avatar hits theaters December 11th in 3-D.

Only Kanye could get away with releasing a promotional clip for a book. In the above video, you get a sneak taste at the new Glow in the Dark tour book that Kanye’s releasing, and it’s not much of a preview for a book as it is a reel of clips from his various performances on the tour. Nonetheless, if you happened to miss out on the spectacle that was the Glow in the Dark tour, the promo will give you a pretty good idea of what you didn’t see, with each page of the book showing a different segment of the show. And if this wins you over, then feel free to head over to Amazon to get your purchase on, with the 288-page book going for a mere $31.50. Not bad, Mr. West.