ghettoManga: March 2012

"Now if we add up the stats of latinos and blacks that’s murdered with gats, it’s way more than Iraq..." -Bavu Blakes

Feel free to ignore my rambling below and just enjoy this free track by Third Root and Bavu Blakes...

Now Playing: "Runaway Slave" by Pep Love f/Otayo Dub

My dude Elihu blessed me with a youTube link to Runaway Slave, off Pep Love's new album Rigmarole. Obviously, any member of the mighty Hieroglyphics crew is gonna be worth checking out, but this track is a back breaker...

Mamma's Boyz: March _adness

Album Review: "Thrift Store Jesus" by Heath McNease

Worship crooner and bandcamp rap champion Heath McNease dropped his album Thrift Store Jesus on the feverishly-waiting internets last month, but I was too busy to notice. Because being a Christian makes you persistent and stuff, he sent me another email today, so I checked it out. After all, I'm STILL bumping that Nintendo Thumb Mixtape, and it was free. Hell, the guy split the bill to pay me to draw that Wed, White & Wu artwork... the least I could do was check out his new plate, right? You can listen to it free below, and I'll let you know what ~~your opinion should be~~ I thought of it...

In Stores Now- "Alpha Girl #2" art by Robert Love

The second issue of Alpha Girl (the story of a young delinquent who discovers she is the only girl alive not turned into a brainless homicidal maniac) arrived in stores yesterday. With art by GhettoManga favorite Robert Love, this book is looking good...

"I don't waste ink, n*gga I think! I drop megaton bombs more faster than you blink..." -the GZA #np

Yeah... My mind has been fixated on Liquid Swords, the classic hip hop album by the Gza (pronounced "jizza" if you didn't know... but he also answers to "the Genius"), for the last couple weeks... You may imbibe some Gza-directed youTubery while I drop a little blah blah...

Cute MF DOOM Wallpaper anyone? YES PLEASE!

Yeah, so I was messing around with Illustrator at my job, and created this fresh-to-death portrait of the world's greatest rapping supervillain, the mighty MF DOOM (all caps, please). I was so hypnotized by his steely digital gaze that I decided I wouldn't be happy until I created an MF DOOM Wallpaper for the people...

Peep some "HOODRATZ IN SPACE" preview art by Erik Reeves

I snagged some preview art by my dude Erik Reeves from his upcoming sci-fi joint Hoodratz In Space. Peep it, fam!

Start the day off Right w/ Double AB, Karniege & Torae

I'm not big on nostalgia raps, but this is dope...

Comicbook World #63: Young Stars Shoot Water Bullets

While you were reading Facebook posts about what your friends had for dinner, I learned that not only did scientists discover a star shooting out superheated water at speeds 80 times faster than machine gun bullets, but they postulate that ALL "young stars" spray these liquid bullets! There's a rap lyric in there somewhere...

"I ain't pulling a Ma$e, I ain't duckin' the game, I play at my own pace..." -Bavu Blakes

I just put a quarter on Bavu's Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming record SANCT EP, which will get me a physical cd (remember those?) and a teeshirt. He doesn't really need my money to make it, though: he's doing fine...

Preview- "BLOCKHEAD vs Da Hot Dog Demon" by Nat Landry

Louisiana emcee, art dude and GhettoManga contributor Nat Landry (Bring Da Pain Jermaine) gave us a first look at his upcoming comic Blockhead vs Da Hot Dog Demon, so enjoy...

PREVIEW- "Super Crooks" by Mark Millar and Leinel Yu

I can almost guarantee I'm not gonna buy this, BUT it does look pretty awesome. So here's a preview...

(p)REVIEW- "CLOSING DOORS and Other City Yarns" by Mark Rudolph

Tired of reading barely-legible tales about overly-muscled dudes, weird aliens and mutant vigilantes locked in a never- ending series of nigh-meaningless conflicts? Yeah, me neither... but peep this preview of Mark Rudolph's hella-tight anthology paperback Closing Doors and Other City Yarns for a refreshing and much-needed change of pace anyways. You'll dig it.

IN STORES NOW- "SAGA #1" by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

FACT: If you have a picture of a woman breast-feeding with one hand, holding a weapon in the other hand on the cover of your comic, you WILL receive a shout on GhettoManga. Yeah, I drew a similar image in the past (and I'll do it again...), but my hat's off to your girl Fiona Staples who bodied it on the cover to her new sci-fi/ fantasy debut Saga #1 (Brian K Vaughan's writing doesn't suck either). Peep this preview that picks up where the previous one I posted left off...

Hip Hop INTERVIEW: Davey D sits down with Mr. Lif

Mr. Lif from his Def Jux days...

Here's a classic 55 minute interview from Breakdown FM where that dude Davey D sits with underground rap hero Mr. Lif, playing classic Lif tracks and speaking about the arc of his career at the time (this is 2008, I think). Davey and Lif build and destroy about the culture at Def Jux, compare and contrast the Bay Area and Boston hip hop scenes, and the politics within the industry and the greater world. Take a break from your reality teevee for some real reality...

PREVIEW- SHARKNIFE: DOUBLE Z

It's been a long time coming on some Sam Cooke isht, but it looks like the long awaited return of Ceasar Hallelujah, the mighty man monster Sharknife (one k, no spaces) is finally upon us in the form of Sharknife: Double Z... peep some random pages snatched from the megalodon sized jaws of the internets...

Preview- "GLORY:ONCE AND FUTURE" Part Two

Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell return for their second issue of Glory... WOW! There is NO way I'll be able to wait on the trade for this series after reading this preview... If you haven't read this team's debut on Glory, skip this and go buy it! Or at least peep my (p)review of the first issue instead. The rest of you, put your seat-belt on and peep this...

"Sons o' bitches won't stop til the economy crash. It's gettin' a little vicious to make a little cash..." -King Ra

Jersey emcee King Ra expresses the resentment that many of us are feeling toward corporate greed in his single I Gotta Get Paid. Whether you're down with the lefty populism of the Occupy Wallstreet cats or not, you've probably felt the same way at some point...

What's this? An "Adventure Time" Comic? SWEET!

While I was saving ladies and raising babies, those merry sons o' guns at BOOM! Studios got the rights to make a comic about my favorite cartoon show Adventure Time! And they're not afraid ta use it, neither. Peep some preview material, tough guy!
Here's the Sales Pitch:

PREVIEW- EmiTown Vol 2

Are you familiar with Emi Lenox? Me neither, until I saw this preview of her super cute and mad hilarious diary comic Emi Town Volume 2... now I'm a huge fan!

"Do the LADIES Run this mutha? Heeelll yea!" or PREVIEW- "WOMANTHOLOGY #1"

It took 168 contributors to make it happen, but the Womanthology movement is upon us...

R.I.P. Moebius

Legendary cartoonist Jean Giraud, known best as Moebius, has died in Paris. There are a few artists who have been true trail-blazers in comics, and Moebius strode in that company as a giant.

PREVIEW- Dark Matter #1-3

Thought all you sci-fi ~~nerds~~ fans might wanna see this...

Read it FREE- American Dark Age #1

Megabrain Comics is still celebrating the successful Kickstarter campaign for the second issue of its urban disaster fantasy American Dark Age, which chronicles the transformation of Kat Brody from indie punk-rocker to armored sword-wielding badass. So you can read American Dark Age #1 free courtesy of the publisher, via the miracle of Graphicly...

Brandon Graham + Rakim = HELLYES!

That one dude Brandon Graham posted this Rakim montage on his blog featuring scenes from the R's video When I B on the Mic.

PREVIEW- "Valkyrie Squadron: Anamoly" by Jules Rivera

Hey, you! Peep this comic Valkyrie Squadron by the lovely and talented Jules Rivera (Marsh Rocket, Hard Graft). Valkyrie Squadron stars armored chicks in the godly pursuit of destroying robots in space, so of course I instantly loved it! Here's a preview:

Comicbook World #64 or "The Boy with the Lightning Tattoo"

In comics, a lightning strike generally leads to super-powers and a life of ass-kicking, world-saving (or conquering, if you're nasty), and generally being awesome. In real life... not so much...