It truly doesn’t get nerdier than this.  adidas previewed their Tron collaboration last week at San Diego’s Comic-Con (which may be the biggest geek haven around.  Secretly, this poplemon has always wanted to go… full video gamer girl’ed out).  What’s extra fresh about these kicks lies within the reflective strips that give off an appearance of light, as well as the glow-in-the-dark stitching which echos the Tron suits in the movie.  The thing that sucks, ladies, is that adidas will be releasing their Tron collection in December, 2010…. for men only.

Enter Def Jam Rap Star, which is expected to be released on October 5th on the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms.  While previous rap centric video games did not have an intense focus on social interaction, Def Jam Rap Star is quite the opposite and includes the ability to build your own real-life crews, battle rivals, gain followers and fans, and potentially catch the eye of Def Jam - all while rapping along to your favorite hip hop songs.  Def Jam has stated that they would be more than happy to bring the best contenders in for professional studio time (think, from rapping in your bedroom to rapping with Def Jam label mates such as The Roots and The Dream).  Within the freestyle setting within the game, users can create their own videos and share them via social networks such as YouTube and Facebook.

Rappers and wannabe rappers aren’t the only folks who can enjoy Rap Star - promoters will also receive awards for sharing artists videos and songs via social media networks.

In the famous (tweaked) words of Biggie… You never thought that hip hop would take it this far… nerds.

DJ Hero turntable controller

During the recent E3 convention in Los Angeles (think: Super Bowl for nerds), Black Eyed Peas dj, Rocky Rock faced an interesting challenge – battling a professional gamer by the name of Prod1gy X (he should obviously be a rapper and not a dj based on his fucked up name spelling alone)… Only Dj Rocky Rock was blessed with traditional turntables while  the gamer geek used the fake turntable controller for the popular XBox360 game.

Check out the video below – please tell me the final outcome isn’t shocking.

Geeky?  Yes.  Wonderfully geeky?  Yes, indeed.  About the flash drives:

A nearly exact replica of the legendary hip hop sequencers, the E-MU SP1200 & AKAI MPC 2000 XL, in the form of a 2 inch wide, 4GB USB Flash Drive. There’s an incredible amount of detail on both of these pieces, down to the colors and the raised buttons, knobs and text. To reveal the USB plug, you simply pull it apart down the middle and bam… you got 4 Gigs of compact flash drive space to take with wherever you may go. Only a few in stock.. by Hip Hop Flash Drive via DigitalGravel.

• Gold plated headphone jack?  Check.

• Speaker Diameter: 40mm

• Driver Type: Mylar

• Magnet Type: Neodynium

• Frequency Response: 20-20k Hz

• Impedence: 33 ohms

• Nominal Input Power: 100mW

• Cable Type: Nylon Braided

• Cable Length: 1.3m

I wish I had a dollar for every emcee I’ve come across that has ditched the traditional pen & pad and ends up writing verses on their smartphone.  Technology meets culture once again, and when you’re rappin & rockin all spur of the moment status, there’s… well… there’s an app for that.  Love to Tanya Morgan and my good buddy Che Grand for holding down the commercial spots above.  Both freestyle snippets come correct.

More about the app:

Freestyle is a mobile tool for songwriters, emcees and poets on the go. Be prepared when and wherever inspiration strikes. Freestyle’s advanced notepad contains the integrated Schirmer’s Complete Rhyming Dictionary, an industry standard including over 96,000 rhymes, so you will never be lost for words. Then record tracks on the fly backed by a selection of exclusive beats and rhythm tracks. Show off your skills to friends by emailing them your recordings and lyrics, take that crush to the next level with a custom rap, or simply use Freestyle to record demos and ideas to work on later.

(via freestyleapplication)

Last week, Dj Hero dropped with disappointing sales… Scratch offers controllers designed by Numark, who was well known in the earlier days and quite possibly one of the forefathers of belt-driven turntables (do people still use those?). Scratch aims to offer a more authentic controller than it’s video game competitor, but also lacks the superstar celebrity backing power that Dj Hero has gained by adding artists such as Jay-Z and Eminem to their roster (even though according to the Video Game Examiner, Scratch will feature The Beastie Boys and Mixmaster Mike).

Check out the trailer above.

In the midst of the technology age, many have begun switching their vinyl collections to a more compact MP3 format, which also won’t melt in the back of your car in July or break your posture when moving crates full of records (everyone’s helped a dj move housing arrangements, it’s similar to pulling teeth or waiting in line at the DMV).

I’m not a huge Urban Outfitters fan at all, but I was impressed by this compact portable turntable with a USB interface, which would allow you to convert your vinyl into MP3s.  The next time you move, your friends just may thank you.

And now for the UO blurb from their site:

Play your records and make your music mobile, anywhere, with Portable USB Turntable! This innovative, portable record player has a convenient USB computer jack enabling you to connect your Mac or PC and transfer your music. You can also connect other music sources and turn them into MP3s. Once on your computer, you can listen, make custom playlists, record it to CD and transfer it to your iPod or MP3 player. The music from your records can be with you wherever you go! The Portable USB Turntable runs on wall power using the included AC adapter, or batteries for total mobility. It has a built-in speaker for listening to your records and monitoring your recordings. Also included is a line input jack so you can connect other music sources such as cassette decks, and turn your other music into MP3s. EZ Vinyl Converter software provides an easy way to transfer your music and import it into your iTunes music library. PC users can download a free version of EZ Vinyl Converter with Gracenote(r) MusicID technology, which automatically adds album, artist, and song information! Audacity enables you to edit your tracks and reduce noise from worn recordings. The Portable USB Turntable comes with everything you need to turn your music into digital MP3 files. It has a dust cover with handle, cartridge with stylus, 45RPM adapter, cables, and slipmat. Pick one up and start enjoying your music anywhere you go!

(available @ urbanoutfitters for $140).

The trailer:

A few screenshots (information via rockstargames.com)

DJ Hero turntable controller

I have friends who are Guitar Hero/Rock Band addicts.  It’s to the point where most of them that are good, and I mean staying-up-until-6am-playing-Guitar Hero good have never touched a guitar, more or less any other type of instrument.  These types of games were always interesting to me because they allow you to kind of but not really learn the fine art of performing with an instrument.  Me?  I’m so terrible that I usually last about 5 minutes before my rockstar-esque randomly generated video game entity gets boo’ed off stage.

Enter DJ Hero which was displayed at the G3 conference in LA this week which has audible contributions by Jay-Z, Emimem, and others.  DJ Hero drops in September of this year and will also host generes outside of hip hop including R&B, techno (I can’t wait to get my Bad Boy Bill on… siiiiiike), and Motown and will be compatible with other Rock Band instrument controllers.

The most entertaining part? The turntable controller also comes with a pseudo flight case and a stand, making it 90x easier to carry around than an actual set of turntables.

The most WTF part? Where is the mixer?! Thanks to Andy in the comments – there IS a mixer.

The most hopeful AND scary part: Maybe people will start respecting the art of turntablism after they have turned into closet scratch masters again… and in turn, flood  the entire industry with a bunch of shitty turntablists who are scratching in the sequence of the Contra code.

And now, for some dj turntable goodness which doesn’t play around with controllers.

Dj Chonz & Dj Vajra, circa forever ago