TEN GEMS 2010: Part 1

10. "CROSS SEAS BELGRADE REMIX" - Illuminati X feat. VIP

In June 2010, we brought VIP (Serbian Hip Hop duo) overseas for a IX Million Entertainment sponsored concert at The Bank Lounge in Niagara Falls, Canada. I'm very proud of this event because it's the first time in Serbian Hip Hop history that a domestic artist performed in North America. We recorded Cross Seas Remix at Kreem's crib and the session, like the concert and the days surrounding it, was a blast! VIP is cool as fuck. Everyone went to NUNU's crib (IX Million barber!!! lol) for a cut! One half of VIP smoked more Canadian kush than me!! haha.. I have video footage of the whole weekend including the show. It will be edited and on 2MC1DJ.com before end of the year! Anyway, in my humble opinion, this song is a timeless classic. If you speak Serbian, take it in word for word; if you don't, take it for what it is: international hip-hop at its finest.. Bump!

09. "THE OATH" - CNN feat. Raekwon & Busta Rhymes

Classic posse cut from one of my favorite groups of all time, featuring Bussa Buss and one of my favorite artists of all time. The theme of the song is a Oath, or "a swear in" each of the artists is taking to "the family". One by one they are sworn in in four languages, Spanish, Italian, Swahili and Patois! Verses are flawless. Beat bangs. The War Report 2 is the best album of 2010. Bump!

"I riot wit da devil, walk righteous, canarys in da bezel, death before dishonour money over bitches i'm my brother's keeper, i throw da world in da sleeper, im so eager 2 blast, bilingual - i be speakin in Cash" - Capone

08. "WEDNESDAY" - Saukrates

2010 edition Saukrates. One of the best out. Canadian legend. Nuff said.

"... I wonder why, wack mothafuckas multiply, must be 85 - percenters, i live n let die, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, i'm sendin em bottles of AK47s full of vodka, i'ma rock n roll opera, hip hopa, n cut from a cloth of Bob Marley poppa, i'm off 2 The Bank.." - Saukrates

07. "NO AVERAGE JOE" - Sauce Money

Sauce mothafucka 2010

"Jean Paul Gaultier cologne wat u smell wen I rome, foreel n i dont give a damn about a throne... cuz on da foshizzle, if i wanted, kings I unseat em n reigns become a slight drizzle.. yall can put ya umbrellas up, the Sun is out, ask if Sauce back - tell em yup. Dead em yup, u shoulda did it n never let em up, try 2 make em forget it, set em n wet em up" - Sauce Money

06. "I'M GONE" - Fat Joe

DJ Premier on the beat and hook. I prolly bumped this shit more than any song in 2010. Timeless. Classic.

"We was at the Grammys with mothafuckin four fifths at our waist nigga..." - Fat Joe

"TEN GEMS 2010" PART 2 - COMING SOON - TOP 5 GEMS OF THE YEAR"

ARTICLE: Prison Survival Guide

FROM: LIBCOM.ORG

Imprisonment as a form of punishment can be traced back to Greek times, but until relatively recently long-term incarceration was extremely rare, only flourishing in modern times after transportation to 'the colonies' became unviable (in no small part due to the American Revolution).

Traditionally, those that offended against society were punished publicly, generally in the most brutal way, from the stocks to the gibbet. Public executions, often with attendant torture and/or mutilation, were the norm in this country until the 17th century. Even when they were abolished it was not out of any sense of decency or humanity, but according to the Oxford History of the Prison, because they had "become the occasion of rowdiness and disgust - both because the crowd had begun to identify with the victim, not the executioner, and because the spectacle had become revolting, offending a new sensibility about pain and bodily integrity. Thus, it became desirable to mete out punishment away from the public gaze."

Today, prison is still very much a closed world, and while within the past two decades TV cameras have occasionally been able to show a very limited view of life behind bars, they rarely capture anything more than that which the authorities wish them to see. The true misery of imprisonment is deliberately kept secret from the general public, while the right-wing press and unscrupulous politicians conspire to present a picture of cushy 'holiday camps' and 'health farms'. The prison authorities do everything within their power (legal and illegal) to prevent investigative journalists having contact with prisoners and vice-versa, while Michael Howard and Jack Straw imposed a ban preventing visiting journalists reporting anything at all. Though the ban has subsequently been deemed unlawful, the vast majority of journalists are so lazy, cowardly, and/or clueless that it might as well still be in place. READ MORE