2008 is nearly at a close, and during the next two days  most of us will be thinking about the memorable parts of the past of it. A lot happened: Olympics, election, scandal, recession and weird weather. To be quite honest, there were a lot of things in the past 365 that are worth forgetting, like certain athletes and moments in sports.

There is an elite group of sportsman who displayed behavior in 2008 that can be described as memorably unmemorable or absolutely shocking. Although this rundown might not include every 2008 bonehead, I think we managed to find some of the better ones.  All athletes are judged on a four star rating of awfulness, four being the worst and one being minimal.

Stephon Marbury-      ***

2008 was a really great year for Starbury, who is now known more for his off-court antics rather than for his basketball skills. Due to piss poor attitude problems with the “star guard”, trouble between him and the Kicks has been brewing for a while. Finally this season, tension came to a head when Knicks management suspended Marbury from team involvement with pay. Not a particularly bad deal for #3( Marbury’s number), who gets $21 Million this year alone, which is sixth on the list of top paid NBA players.  As if that type of payout to a suspended player isn’t bad enough, Marbury added an extra “fuck you” to the Knicks by buying courtside seats to their 12/16 away game versus the Lakers.  

Honestly, the fact that Starbury showed up to a Knicks away game is kinda funny. And pulling off a stunt like that takes some serious balls.  The thing that makes him a douche is that tattoo on his bald-ass head. How many Mad Dog 40/40’s did he throw back before that seemed like an awesome idea?

Also mentioned- Brett Favre, Roger Clemens, John Daly, Kimbo Slice and many more.



 

“Growing up in New York, I was exposed to the core of late nineties hip hop culture,” explains Brooklyn, NY native DJ Signify. “I've always loved NY hip-hop, but around 97-98, the scene got stale. Unless coming from (DJ) Premier, beats were unoriginal and uninspired, and people were really unadventurous in what they listened to. In a way, it was necessary though, because it caused a lot of guys, me included, to push hip hop in directions nobody thought it could go.”

In the late nineties, experimental hip hop was emerging from underneath the mainstream noise that plagued popular radio.  Experimental had a whole new sound, wild new source of samples and loads of fresh untapped energy. The more that experimental hip hop grew and traveled through ear drums, primarily with the help of labels like Anticon, Ninja Tunes and Stones Throw, it became more apparent that its creative process seemed to stem from that used by experimental rock and pop fixtures like Bauhaus, Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa.

What separates experimental from the rest of hip hop is that instead of focusing on lyrics and the repetitive nature of looping samples, it primarily showcases the beat as an instrumental work with a start and a finish.

DJ Signify has been at the forefront of experimental hip hip, and is among the ranks of its notable creators, including Aesop Rock, Blockhead, Daddy Kev and Awol One.  
 

They come in all shapes and sizes, and depending on what school you go to, they can be the on-campus hero or the butt of every joke. I am not talking about fraternity boys, sorority gals or football players; I am referring to the college professor.

There are many stereotypes for today’s collegiate academic shepherd, and with good reason; most professors are real characters.  Whether they are unpredictable or painfully boring, all of them do the things they do for very specific reasons.  Here is a description of the different types you will or already have encountered.

Professor Murmur 

 “If you want to hear what I am saying, you need to sit in the first row. Other wise, forget it.”

For anyone that attends a big state school that has survey courses in lecture halls big enough to house 200 students, you will more than likely encounter this professor.

Instead of wearing a mic, which will ensure that everyone in attendance will be able to hear him, he’ll dryly inform the filled to capacity classroom that “those who wish to learn should consider sitting up front.”  In most collegiate situations, that is far easier said than done; the amount of apathy and distraction we students face which prevents us from showing up to class on time (which would guarantee us a good seat) is often far too difficult to overcome.

It seems that this professor, let’s call him Prof. Murmur, enjoys punishing those in the back of the room. He looks upon those of us in the rear as loafers and silly-hearted slackers. So he “cleanses” his lecture of us by talking at just above a whisper, which to the last rows sounds like the mom in “Charlie Brown”- muh mah muh muh mah.

 The only chance non-front row students have for an A in Prof Murmur’s class is by either borrowing notes from someone that can hear the mumbling bastard or by showing up earlier to the class to ensure a better seat. Then again, you could go with option C and stop going to the class under the justification that the professor is an asshole and that survey courses are bullshit.

Also Mentioned: Professor Leftie, Professor Notfunny, Professor Creep-o, Professor Important, Professor Bangastudent and Professor Longhair.

For Vancouver’s premier hip hop group, Sweatshop Union, making top notch music isn’t a problem.  In the past six years, the seven-person group has produced four albums, two of them being nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy), and one of them winning the honor. “It’s been great to do what we’ve done so far,” says group emcee Metty the Durt Merchant, “But we don’t feel like we have done enough. There is a lot more music for us to make and a ton more fans to reach.”

On October 14th of this year, Sweatshop Union released their most recent effort, titled Water Street. The album, just like the rest of Sweatshop’s work, carries the theme of   West Coast underground hip hop gone great, which is a wonderful thing to see.

Besides certain projects coming from the Stones Throw and Rhymesayers labels, in the past years the West Coast hip-hop scene has really been dragging ass. Beats have become obscure and difficult to listen to, and lyrics have become non-engaging. What happened to the energy that created Aceyalone’s Book of Human Language, Dell's 3030 or the Mystic Journeyman’s Worldwide Underground?  These albums were amongst those that defined what it meant to rock authentic West Coast underground.  Now a  decade after the release of these albums, that same energy and creative force starting to once again pop its head through the clouds in the form of Sweatshop Union.
 

Although hip-hop has become a family friendly phenomenon in the last ten years, it still delivers its fair share of controversy.  The latest example of this being The East Coast Avengers (ECA), an underground hip hop group that is speaking out against right wing conservative news in a bold manner. 

They have proved to become the 2008 version of NWA with their marquee single, “Kill Bill O’Reilly”.  

The song, which calls for Fox News to stop broadcasting altogether and for Bill O’Reilly to be executed, has been applauded by the hip hop community, condemned by the “right-wing blogoshere” and has gotten the ECA a spot in Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” TV segment.

“We may hate the guy, but we don’t actually want to kill Bill O’Reilly,” says ECA emcee Trademark. “Anyone that thinks that is completely missing the point of what we are saying. Our messages may be strong and may shock certain people, but we are saying what we believe. People are blind to the pollution in our news and media. Bill O’Reilly is a prime example of that. At one time he was a real reporter that covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and other important world events. Now he just transmits propaganda. That has to stop.”