Mass Appeal guilty pleasure Francis And The Lights will be getting it in, this very evening, at the Mercury Lounge. Fall through. You shan’t regret it.

This week, New York’s Thunderdog Studios heads to Motown with Dante Ross and Dr. Revolt to aid the Detroit YMCA in pulling off Detroit’s first ever Sneaker Exhibition. The event will last 2 days and feature a wide array of attractions including DJ’s, breaking, a rare and unusual sneaker exhibition, and live art by Dr. Revolt & Tristan Eaton. Word has it that the Detroit Pistons will be in the house to autograph shoes and host a free throw contest, but many other suprises are sure to pop up. If you’re in the Detroit area, get down there! All proceeds will go to the the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.

Visit www.thesneakerproject.org for more info! (more »)

Pictured above is the lovely “Radio” Rose Garcia, Mass Appeal style editor and proprietor of Aroundthewaygirls.net. She has about a thousand other jobs too, but we ain’t here for all that. Over the next two days, Rose will be providing flyness and even some sounds at some notoriously dope gatherings. Click through to get down with the queen. (more »)

Portishead is slated to release their first studio album in 10 years, Third, sometime in the spring. After such a long hiatus, worries begin to pile up and fans (those of us left) can’t help but be a little nervous about the new project. Hip-hop sounds entirely different from what it was a decade ago. What if Portishead sounds dated or, even worse, the trio tries to stay current with trip-hop renditions of Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss”? What if the album is akin to Beth Gibbon’s lackluster solo project? It’s obvious that Beth herself knows how it feels to be in the grip of intense emotions, so to calm fans lingering fears, Portishead just posted a new video for “Machine Gun” from the forthcoming album. I hesitate to say what they are actually doing on the song, but it doesn’t sound like they are biting Joni Mitchell or Lil Mama and, I’m more than grateful for that.

A 35-year-old Adelaide, Australian amateur “gardener” and smartest man alive called the police to report that six thieves raided his residence and nabbed portions of his plants. Police failed to apprehend the crooks but showed up to his crib with a drug warrant and nicked him for growing six hydroponic marijuana plants. When the Aussie green thumb finally gets his day in court, you can bet he’s going to plead insanity. Only crazy people snitch on themselves.

In 2007, the BET Awards gave KRS-One a lifetime achievement award, we watched Common grabbing a plaque, and even Hip-Hop’s intellectual friends Cornel West and Eric Michael Dyson graced us with their presence. For those of us who know how Hip-Hop award shows really get down, we need a little something more than make-up over the buc-fifties on Hip-Hop’s face. (more »)

Remember the days when you’d run to the store to purchase a pack of baseball cards, in hopes of finding something to trade for that super-rare Jose Canseco rookie card, and finally getting your hands on it, only to have it stolen by the school bully? Well, the guys at MLB 2K8 can empathize with you. In their latest installment of the MLB series you can win vintage cards and trade them in for stadiums (how about the infamous Polo Grounds?), throwback jerseys or sell them at the card shop for credit through Xbox Live. (more »)

The LA Times’ Chuck Phillips is reporting that Diddy, along with Jimmy Henchman (current manager to Game, Shyne and Gucci Mane) were fully aware of the impending incident at Quad Studios back in ‘94. People (including Diddy and Jimmy) are already calling out Phillips for being overzealous and sensationalist, but with Henchman’s resume pre-music, and Diddy’s record for ruining lives, it all seems pretty likely.

Is the hood that boring that you gotta try to rob a police station. Where are these kids OGs? Who is teaching the babies!?!