1. Q-Tip-Renaissance: The Renaissance was definitely worth the 9-year wait. The Election Day release date already gives it a special place in my heart. It somehow made that day so much sweeter. This was one of the few albums…

I like hockey games. I have to, I’m Canadian—deport me. NHL 2K9 is also the most fun I have had playing a hockey game since NHL ‘93 for the Sega Genesis, which was immortalized by that bloated jerk Vince Vaughn…

NBA 2K9 is the latest edition of the premiere b-ball simulation game, now the number one NBA simulation for seven years straight! And from the looks we’ve seen of the newest incarnation, it looks like 2K’s winning streak is far…

Ludacris-Theater of the Mind
Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam
Rating: 3 out of 4
By Preach Jacobs

Not many artists have the duality of Ludacris in hip-hop. The ability to have commercial appeal while being aware of the roots for so-called backpackers, Luda has the…

By Ben Powell

Hold the fuck up and look at this cover: it’s a dude skating in sunglasses, cropped to provide no reference to where he’s coming from or landing, grabbing stinkbug, and it’s blurry as all hell. Four strikes, and…

By Sean Mortimer, Foreword by Tony Hawk

Stalefish isn’t the best title, but the premise for the book is definitely great: it contains pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about skating, past and present, straight from the lips of…

By Scott Bourne, Kenny Reed, Pontus Alv, more

For a while, several years back, I traveled around with pro skaters Scott Bourne and Kenny Reed, among others, just skating and living the life of a pro hobo/skater (not that I was…

What could be fresher than a board named after Vapors Magazine and featuring Futura’s art?!? I’m kidding, of course. But the Vapor is certainly Burton’s slickest stick—they even call it their “dream machine.” It has all the gimmicky, trademarked bullet…

By Michael Burnett (michaelburnettphoto.com)

Mike Burnett is the main photo dude at Thrasher Magazine (I think they call it a staff photographer or photo editor, but Vapors obviously doesn’t have one), and I’ve been known to credit him with bringing that…

Calypsoul 70: Caribbean Soul & Calypso Crossover 1969-1979
Strut
4 stars

It’s easy to spot the musical influence of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora on artists ranging from Antibalas and Paul Simon to No Doubt and Vampire Weekend, but you rarely see much written…