THE LENNY BRISCOE II REPORT

THE INTRO 2011 saw the release of Watch The Throne (Jay-Z& Kanye West) and Carter IV (Lil Wayne). WTT sold over 400,000 copies,while C IV sold over 900,000 copies-even though the latter was heavily leaked- within the first week of their respective release dates. Add the fact that Jay-Z now stands next only to The Beatles as the artiste with the most #1 albums in the USA, and the reminder that Lil Wayne's preceding studio album Carter III sold 1million copies in the first week, and you'd realize the giant strides hip-hop has made over the years. Recent successes has re-ignited the debate:is Lil Wayne truly a hip-hop great or a fad? Is Jay-Z,the Greatest Of All Time? CHAPTER I Ask any 10 hip-hop aficionados (even from the same geographical area) who the greatest MC is, and your chances of getting the same answer is slimmer than your chance of avoiding a lifetime of taxes. For the purpose of this piece,I did just that.Sean Price, KRS -1, Rakeem ,Biggie Smalls,Jay-Z,Kool G

Truth be told,this would have been written even if Arsenal had not lost 8-2 to Manchester United(aren't we tired of that already!). Truth be told,this would have been written had Arsenal not sold M. Almunia,S. Nasri and F. Fabregas,M. Eboue and replaced them with C. Jenkinson,A. Oxlade-Chamberlain and the pair of pre-teens from Barcelona. That is enough truths,so let's move on to the tall tales allegedly told by a long-nosed,particularly lanky gentleman.(No reference to Pinocchio). They say Mr A. Wenger repeatedly "assured" fans of marquee signings. They say he took fans for granted when he insisted neither Fabregas nor Nasri will leave the Emirates this year. He gets criticized for having an unwritten rule that any player over the grand old age of 30 is past his peak and therefore does not get more than a twelve month contract extension. Or that Arsenal is so prestigious a club that potential signees and their host teams have to accept whatever price t