Unlimited Vision

Swizz Beatz, the world famous producer/beat maker, has big plans for 2011. This 31 year old artist is well known for his musical talent but he's showing the world that as an artist he is not limited to music. When he's in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn art studio he goes by his real name, Kasseem Dean.

Visual art is just as much one of his passions as music and he does not plan on giving up one for the other. Why should he when he's very capable of doing both? He has even painted on his wife Alicia Keys, before the new year, and said that she is the best canvas that he's ever painted on. In this piece "Love" is the predominant word painted on her body.

Swizz donated all of the money earned from his very first painting to charity. He seems to have gone through many stages of styles and does not plan on stopping anytime soon. The piece where he uses Alicia Keys as his canvas definitely reminds me of one of his inspirations, Keith Haring.

He has released a glimpse of his first painting of the year called Young Brazil. I wonder if he paints with those shades on too haha...if so, that's pretty great that he can produce that piece with them on. I think it's a lovely piece and there's great emotion in the children's faces. I also think it's safe to say that Swizz Beatz is on the verge of being a genius.

Read more to see more art pieces by Swizz Beatz and an interview by the NY Post.

Haters in the Building

Lil Kim really needs to stop trying to start fights with Nicki Minaj. What Lil Kim fails to realize is that without Nicki Minaj she would still be trying to figure out how to get back in the game. She is one of the people that paved the way for Nicki and no one disputes that but why is she still trying to attack Nicki when she's already acknowledged that she was an influence to her.

Lil Kim is a true hater and now she's trying to bring Mary J. Blige into the feud. She had her time and now it's time to let the people that used to look up to her keep things going for the female rappers. There is word that Lil Kim and Mary will be working on a diss for Nicki but honestly, no one should be worried. The first diss, "Friday the 13th", was garbage.

The Real Happy Feet

I saw the movie Happy Feet for the first time in Portuguese on my way to Brasil a few years ago and I had no idea what was being said but I knew it was an awesome movie. I love pretty much all cute animals but I find penguins to be very fascinating. I later saw the movie in English and that confirmed my feelings about the movie and penguins.

A great video of a penguin dancing and jumping around in excitement while snow fell was posted on youtube a few days ago. It's interesting because the penguin should be used to the snow given where its habitat is. A few of the other penguins appear to be a bit confused but don't have much of a reaction beyond that.


Courtesy of Nicole Tremblay

After seeing Happy Feet I've always wanted my own pet penguin. I have it all planned out where once I get my own house, I'll have this large walk-in freezer where the penguin will stay. I don't mind the cold so I will be glad to go in and play with it whenever. I tell people about this idea and they think I'm a little crazy. Little did I know, there is an old man and woman in Japan living out my dream. They have a 10 year old king penguin from the antarctic and are caring for it like a regular pet. There's still hope for me to have one too!


Read more to see a video on the pet Japanese penguin.

Resolutions

While most people have set their new year resolution(s), I'm still not exactly sure what mine will be. A survey was done on 43things.com where they found the top 10 resolutions for 2011. I think that they're pretty good.

  1. Lose Weight

Losing weight is always great...unless you're already slim and are trying to gain weight.

  2. Eat, Drink, Learn or Try Something New

I always think it's good to try new things. The way I see it is that if I don't end up liking it, it might turn out to be a good story to tell people later on. Also, it's good to learn about new things because everyone should be aware of certain things in life.

  3. Be Happy

Happiness is great. Nobody...actually...I think very few people would like to stay sad or mad about everything in life. 

  4. Save Money

Saving money is also great. I think that if I'm saving money, I'm already starting to achieve #3.

  5. Set an Attainable Athletic Goal, Like Running a 5 or 10K

Athletic goals are definitely worth the effort. I don't know if I have the motivation to run a 5 or 10K but I think I could find something else to work up to. This also ties into #1 because while trying to attain this goal you can also be losing weight.

  6. Fall in Love

Love. As one gets older, they usually try to seek out that person that brings true happiness to their life. I think it's great to have it as a resolution. Don't rush into it, let things take its course.

  7. Get a Job

Everyone needs a job...except those who already have one...or a couple. The job search is hard and especially in this economy, things aren't getting easier anytime soon. 

  8. Take a Photo Every Day of the Year

I read this one and thought it was absolutely ridiculous but then I realized it would actually be pretty cool to see myself change day by day. I kind of really want to try it but I'm pretty certain that I'll get fed up with it by March...if that late.

  9. Read More

Reading is essential for pretty much everything. I will definitely try to do more of it throughout this year.

10. Quit Smoking

Lucky for me I never started. I do think it's great when people do take that step to stop because like any addiction it can be tough.

So Ambitious

Jay-Z has gone through a lot in his life and I think that his song "So Ambitious" has a great message. He defied the odds of either being left in jail, dead, or a drug addict although he started off on the wrong path.

Pharell starts the song off by saying, "The motivation for me is them telling me what I could not be, oh well." His story really shows how humble he is about his success and how he truly came from nothing.

Oprah has a show called Master Class where she gives the stories of  people who have impacted the world in some way. In these interviews they speak about the person's success, downfalls and everything in between. In this edition she does a special on Jay-Z

"I felt so inspired by what my teacher said

Said I'd either be dead or be a reefer head"

- Jay-Z

Part 1


Read more to see part 2 and 3 of the program.

I'm Not Seeing Much

So Chris Brown has a new single for 2011 and I'm not sure what to think of it. I saw that the song had him, Busta Rhymes, and Lil Wayne and I thought "Ok this has potential. It should be pretty good." I played it and I think the beat is good but I feel like an artist's first song of the year should be them going hard to make sure that they start the year off well.

The verse by Chris isn't great. Busta is being himself and I feel like he might be going a bit hard but he hasn't been in the game for a little while and he understands what he needs to try to do. Weezy's verse is alright but he has nothing to prove. He's clearly the most established out of the three. I know it's Chris's song but he definitely lowers the quality of it.


Read more to hear the song.

New Year!

6 Foot 7 Foot New Year's Day 2011 Performance by Lil Wayne & Cory Gunz...You have to have Weezy to get people hyped in the new year!