With the economy as it is these days, everyone is looking for ways to save money through coupons like the sunday ads or looking online. Rollback is a website that contains free coupons for over a million stores. No matter what you are trying to buy, Rollback will help you save some money. You can find coupons for top stores such as Best Buy, Sears, Popcorn Factory, Amazon, 1-800 Flowers, and many other stores. Best of all, the site is very easy to navigate with a store directory or you can browse through coupons by categories including Automotive, Office, Pets, or Jewelry & Watches. On my first visit to Rollback I was able to find a coupon that saved me $50 on a Marriott hotel stay for upcoming trip. If you check Rollback for coupons every time you make a purchase, you can save a great deal of money. You can save that money for future purchases and stretch your dollars even further. I’m looking to upgrade my home entertainment system with a new television, surround sound speakers and a Blu-Ray player and the home page alone shows me quite a few ways to save money. I’ll make sure that I check Rollback from now on.

Drake stopped by Funkmaster Flex’s radio show last night to premiere a new record off of Take Care. The Nicki Minaj assisted single is a sure bet to be played on radio all day.

Kendrick delivers the latest visual off Section.80. Looking forward to seeing Kendrick on tour with Drake, ASAP Rocky and Chase N Cashe this Fall.

Since its start, Dell, Inc. has seen growth rates that were envied in other industries, while its competitors struggled to stay alive in the trail of smoke left by Dell’s skyrocketing sales and market domination. Dell did not invent the microprocessor or the hard drive or the components that connect all these pieces of hardware together and they did not have a core-ability in manufacturing any of these or other components that are collectively called a computer

Dell’s core competency had not been in assembling computers, but computer assembly activities in moderation tied with dedication towards the customer, increased customer attention by segmenting based upon sales to sense customer needs to predict demand. The concept was simple but very innovative at the time when it was introduced. Sell computer products directly to customers without dealing with intermediate distributors. At that time the only philosophy of this innovation was to reduce the total cost of computer products to make them more attractive for buyer. Over the time, other benefits such as customer understanding and targeting each segment of customer according to their requirement become apparent. Dell offers a wide range of enterprise systems, client systems, printing and imaging systems, software and peripherals, and global services. At its peak, Dell was ranked number one in selling personal computers both in US and worldwide. Eliminating distributors and selling value-added computer systems to customers, both concepts that were very new at the time when Dell started executing them returned them big profits. With the passage of time these concepts become common in the market place but Dell kept an edge on others by start leveraging internet transaction technology (eCommerce) on top of its direct and customer centric business model.

It is easy for others to understand Dell’s simple direct business model and tempting to imitate that but difficult to derive value out of that business model. Dell succeeded deriving value out of direct business model by remaining customer focused and investing heavily on internet technologies. Most of the time customers place their orders from Dell’s portal. That order hits Dell’s inventory in minutes and after appropriate verification gets transmitted to different suppliers and logistics operators who put together different pieces of the same order and ship a value-added system to customer. That is one of the reason why Dell has responded so quick for its customers unique demands compare to its giant competitors.

In recent years though, Dell’s once innovative business model has quickly been imitated by many of the leading computer manufacturers. Currently Dell has lost its overall market share in the PC, declining from 14.2% last year to 13.2% this year, while HP has leaped into the lead having a 19.8% market share. This shift from the early 2000s when Dell was the dominant PC manufacturer to currently is a result of other companies taking the advantages of Dell’s business model and adapting them to their already somewhat successful business models. Dell’s inability to adapt to today’s changing market has resulted in their diminishing market share. Additionally, other company’s new innovative and inexpensive computers and notebooks have lead to their success. Dell has also struggled in the past 10 years with poor customer satisfaction ratings and poor customer services reports.

Wiz Khalifa and Rostrum Records already dropped an official video for Taylor Gang but have released an alternate version using footage from Wiz Khalifa’s tour. Wiz Khalifa and the rest of the Taylor Gang definitely seem to be living that rockstar lifestyle.

Shopping in a mall, or even just a single store, can be aggravating and tiresome. Retailers often run out of merchandise in your size or have holes on the shelves. Even if you do find what you were searching for, chances are good that you’ll have to wait in a long line and deal with a cashier who is less than friendly.

How can you go about avoiding this stressful ordeal? By shopping online! Many stores have more merchandise available on their websites, including online exclusives that cannot be found anywhere else. Some worry about the high cost of shipping when placing a large order online, but there’s no reason to let that deter you from shopping on the Web. Most etailers offer discounted or free shipping on orders over a predetermined amount. If you plan your purchases wisely and shop at the end of a season, you can usually get clothing, shoes, and accessories for a fraction of the original price, with free shipping to boot.

But what if you aren’t in the market for apparel? Appliances, furniture, gadgets, food, and even cars can be bought online! You can pre-purchase movies and albums before they’re released, find unique creations with ease, and finally get your hands on that coveted poster or toy from your childhood.

The largest benefit that comes with shopping online is coupons. Brick and mortar stores, malls, and big box retailers offer coupons occasionally, but when you shop online, there are always at least a few coupons at your disposal. They might be good for free shipping over twenty-five dollars, or buy one, get one free deals, or even for free merchandise with no minimum purchase.

Don’t hesitate – start making your purchases online today! A whole new world of merchandise and easy as pie shopping will be opened up to you.

Das Racist has released their third album, Relax. Check out a preview of the stream on Spotify here (you need a Spotify account and the Spotify program installed on your computer).

Surfing Amazon and overspending has become a bad habit due to the getting a one year trial Amazon Prime (which gives free upgrades to 2-day shipping on any items fulfilled and shipped out by Amazon). Browsing around one day, Amazon suggested the book “How To Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC.” As a huge fan of hip-hop music, I feel I have a decent amount of knowledge on the final product that is released but didn’t know much about the process of writing and recording. For about $8, I decided to give the book a shot and figured I could learn a few things.

Two days later I received my copy in the mail and was eager to get started reading. The cover features a black and teal photograph of Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) performing on stage with names of some of the artists who were interviewed for the book. There are a lot of big names in here including Clipse, The Lox, Dilated Peoples, AZ and even The Black Eyed Pease (Will-I-Am) when they were just beginning their shift from underground hip-hop to the mainstream.

How to Rap begins with a foreward from Kool G. Rap, a pioneer in mafioso rap. Kool G Rap was a heavy influence on many of today’s biggest stars in hip-hop such as Jay-Z, Eminem, and Nas. Kool G basically tells readers a huge part of hip-hop and becoming an emcee is studying the craft and music of others. The book is split up into 4 parts: Content, Flow, Writing and Delivery.

The content section talks about content forms such as real-life, fictional and club/party content; content forms such as rapping in story forms, abstract forms and conceptual forms; and content tools which discusses imagery, simile, slang and other kinds of wordplay.

The flow section explains exactly what flow is and even breaks down a few different songs in a flow diagram so the reader can learn how to count bars. The section wraps up with discussion on rhyme scheme and rhythm.

The writing section goes over writing techniques and how to structure and edit lyrics. Every section has quotes from artists on their feelings over the different subjects but the artists’ input in the writing section is interesting just to see the various methodologies artists have.

The delivery section goes over breath control, recording tips and techniques for the studio as well as pointers for when someone is ready to bring their emceeing to stage for live performances.

Overall, the book was worth the purchase price and I definitely did learn things I didn’t know before. I would recommend the book to anyone who is aspiring to become a rapper or just someone who wants to learn more about the craft.

How To Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC
by Paul Edwards
Foreword by Kool G Rap

DOM Kennedy is an hip-hop artist based out of Los Angeles, specifically the neighborhood of Leimert Park which DOM heavily represents through frequent shoutouts in his rhymes. DOM Kennedy broke out in the hip-hop scene with the release of his debut mixtape “25th Hour” in 2008. One of the standout tracks and possibly even DOM’s most popular track, “Watermelon Sundae” appears on 25th Hour. A definite summertime anthem, Watermelon Sundae is a feel-good track that will be heard at summertime BBQs from Leimert Park to New York City and everywhere in between. Still Lookin (which some may notice is the same beat as Wiz Khalifa’s “Ink My Whole Body”) and Notorious DOM are the tracks from this project that may have received the most spins from me.

DOM’s sophomore effort, “Future Street/Drug Sounds” was released in April 2009. Many of DOM’s fans consider this mixtape to be his strongest and most complete work. Videos were released for a number of tracks off this mixtape including “Menace Beach” and “Of All Time.” A video for “Showtime!” was filmed at the Staples Center during the Lakers championship in June 2009, however the video was never released due to the footage being lost. There are a few behind-the-scenes videos floating around on YouTube showing with footage of DOM and the Just Be Cool crew taping around the Staples Center. With strong production and even better rhymes, I would have to say that FS/DS is one of DOM’s top two if not best mixtape. It’s a tough decision to pick my favorite tracks off this project but Menace Beach and I Apologize are high on the list.

DOM Kennedy has released four more projects since FS/DS which are: Best After Bobby, From The Westside With Love, Original DOM Kennedy, and II: From The Westside With Love. Since I haven’t given enough playtime to DOM’s last two projects I’ll save the recap for the rest of his projects for another post. Definitely check out 25th Hour and FS/DS in the meantime.

The first time I heard of Stalley I was in LA in late 2009. I saw a blogpost for his mixtape, “MadStalley: The Autobiography” over at The Smoking Section (RMF!). For the most part through TSS comments, NT or Twitter I will usually hear at the least the mention of an artist a few times before I’ll get around to listening to their material. I had never heard of Stalley previously but decided to give it a listen after reading the story of the injured aspiring basketball player turned rapper. The mixtape ‘s intro “Welcome To The Show” has Stalley giving a brief background, thanking the listener for taking their time out, and letting them know how the mixtape will go (“we take a little rollercoaster, some ups and downs..”). Sidenote: the buildup of the instrumental on “Welcome To The Show” is dope as hell. I actually ran into Stalley the next SXSW and told him that he should have rapped over the beat and he told me that a lot of people had felt the same way. The production on MadStalley is top notch and as the title suggests, all the instrumentals are MadLib inspired. I don’t plan on focusing on MadStalley too much so I’ll say that the tracks I enjoyed the most were “Stay”, “The Autobiography”, and “Worldwide feat. Mickey Factz.”

Earlier this year Stalley released his second mixtape “Lincoln Way Nights: Intelligent Trunk Music”. The mixtape is heavily influenced by Stalley’s mid-west upbringing and really gives the listener a good feel for the blue collar, car-centric culture of Massillon, Ohio where Stalley was born and raised. The mixtape was produced entirely by Rashad of Elevate the Game Music, something that is rarely done these days. The chemistry between producer and emcee is easily seen as the production is tailor made for Stalley’s somewhat unorthodox flow. I can honestly rate Lincoln Way Nights as one of the best mixtapes released this year. The number of plays between “Tell Montez I Love Her” and “She Hates The Bass” alone is a disgusting figure. Since Lincoln Way Nights has flooded the blogosphere and given Stalley a huge amount of buzz, he has since been signed to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group imprint. Go see why Ross is betting money on Stalley and give Lincoln Way Nights a listen today.