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Spinning top

Japanese Spinning Tops

A top (also called spinning top or spintop) is a toy that can be spun on an axis, balancing on a point. This motion is produced in the most simple forms of top by twirling the stem using the fingers. More sophisticated tops are spun by holding the axis firmly while pulling a string or twisting a stick or pushing an auger as shown in the pictures on this page. In the kinds with an auger, an internal weight rotates, producing an overall circular motion.

The top is one of the oldest recognizable toys found on archaeological sites. Spinning tops originated independently in cultures all over the world.^[1] Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for gambling and prophecy. Some role-playing gamers still use tops to augment dice in generating randomized results; it is in this case referred to as a spinner.^{[citation needed]} A thumbtack may also be made to spin on the same principles.

The action of a top relies on the gyroscopic effect for its operation. Typically the top will at first wobble until the shape of the tip and its interaction with the surface force it upright. After spinning upright for an extended period, the angular momentum, and therefore the gyroscopic effect will gradually lessen, leading to ever increasing precession, finally causing the top to topple in a frequently violent last thrash.

In recent years there have been many developments within the technology of the top. Bearing tops, with a tip that spins, have been one of the biggest changes. In addition, plastic and metal have largely supplanted the use of wood in tops. Fixed tip tops are featured in National Championships in Chico, California and in the World Championships in Orlando, Florida.^{[citation needed]}

Types of tops[link]

• Battling top
  • Battle Strikers
  • Beigoma
  • Beyblade
  • Spin Fighters
  • Spinja
• Dreidel (also spelled "dradel", "dreidl", or "dreydl")
• Flaming top
• Gaming top
• Gasing jantung
• Gasing leper
• Humming top
• Floating top
• Perinola, a six-sided top, very similar to the dreidel, that is used for a similar game in Latin America.^[2]
• Spinja
• Tippe top
• Trompo, Whipping top
• Whistling top
• Cracker top
• Peg top
• Ball top

See also[link]

"Brummkreisel"

• Bauernroulette
• Gee-haw whammy diddle
• Gyroscope
• Levitron
• Rattleback or celt, a top that reverses its spin direction.
• The Top, short story by Franz Kafka
• Wizzzer
• Yo-yo

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spinning top

Look up dawg in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Dawg may refer to:

• an African American Vernacular English word used to apply to close friends
• directed acyclic word graph, a computer science data structure
• Dawg, the nickname of American mandolinist David Grisman
• Dawg, a fictional character from the Lobo (DC Comics) series
• Dawg, a companion of The Dandy comics Desperate Dan
• a fan of the Cleveland Browns
• Dawg (film), a romantic-comedy film (also known as Bad Boy) starring Liz Hurley and Denis Leary
• University of Washington's nickname, also called Husky
• University of Georgia's nickname

See also[link]

• Dog (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987)^[2], better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American hip hop recording artist from Carson, California currently signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records.^[3] Stevens is a member of hip hop supergroup Black Hippy along with fellow West Coast rappers and label mates Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q.^[4]

Biography[link]

1987-2010: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Stevens was born and raised in the suburb of Carson, California. He grew up with middle class parents, who owned a local record store called Magic Disc Music, where Stevens had to go everyday after school: "I worked there my whole life. We closed it last April. For a long time it was just something that my mom sold, it was just our business, so I didn't really care for it. I didn't understand the big deal about it, it was something we sold for money. It was my mom's job. Somewhere along the line, with my love and compassion for words and stories, I found a collection of music."^[5][6] At the age of 10, Stevens contracted Stevens–Johnson syndrome which caused him to be hospitalised and is the origin of his dark lips and light sensitive eyes: "When I got had got sick when I was younger of course it affected my lip skin, so coming up in school I had very dark lips and my eyes were low. I had to wear shades and shit. So I was quite peculiar. People teased me about my lips, and say I look high. I didn't even start smoking weed until after I graduated from high school."^[7]

Stevens claims to have written his first verse when he was 12 years old, to Twista's "Emotions": "I was like, I can do this; I'll try it out. And I wrote it out. That's a day I remember vividly. From that moment I've had a very keen interest in the whole craft. Being a big fan of words and making the real connection with them. Saying things that can make your eyes open up. I can say something and I can turn heads.^[8] However it wasn't until he graduated high school that he began to take his music career seriously: "I just wanted to be tight with [my raps] but I was growing a passion for it. Wasn't until after I graduated from high school and checked into the community college that I realized I wanted to be a rapper full time. I probably did the equivalent of a half a semester total, in my attendance. I tried one semester and dropped out and then I tried another semester and dropped out. So it just didn't work out."^[8] In 2002, Stevens recorded his first song. In 2005, he signed a recording contract with StreetBeat Entertainment, but just a year later in 2006, he met Punch, president and chairman of Top Dawg Entertainment, who as Stevens says, saw more in his music "than metaphors and punchlines": "As soon as I had graduated from high school I had signed an independent contract with a small label called StreetBeat Entertainment. Take it as a learning experience. But during that time, I had started working with TDE. That deal was for two years, so as soon as that was up, I built a relationship with TDE and became a member of that family."^[9]

In 2007, Stevens officially became part of the Top Dawg roster, which already boasted fellow up-and-coming rappers, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar. Stevens states The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of the texts that really enlightened him saying: "It just taught me a lot about people, religion, society, possibilities in society, success, and things like that. From there, I’ve just been very observant about a lot of the major political figures or religious figures that we have and I’ve been keeping a close eye to [them]. It may seem transparent, but ultimately it’s very important to [draw your own conclusions]."^[10]

In 2008, he began recording music for his debut mixtape, at the TDE Recording Studio: House of Pain. The mixtape, titled Longterm was released in January 2009. The mixtape was the first in a series, that Stevens claims will have four installments: "When I did the first Longterm I knew that there would be four of them. When I did the first one. So there will be four of them: Longterm 1, 2, 3, and 4. So right now we're at two. You'll have to wait for the next one. That’s for the next Ab-Soul interview.".^[11] In 2009, he formed Black Hippy with fellow label mates and frequent collaborators Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar. His second mixtape, and the sequel to the first, Longterm 2: Lifestyles of the Broke and Almost Famous was released on June 28, 2010. The tape was highly acclaimed and featured Stevens singing on several songs.

[edit] 2011-present: Longterm Mentality and Control System

Stevens released his first independent album, under Top Dawg Entertainment, exclusively through iTunes on April 5, 2011. The album, although it's title is Longterm Mentality, is not the third part of his Longterm series. The album peaked at #76 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The independent albums of his label mates partly inspired material on the album: "I compare [the process behind] Longterm Mentality to the process with all of my joints. Kendrick’s OD (Overly Dedicated) had came out and Q’s Setbacks had came out. I had these bodies of work to go off of as references, as inspiration. I hear what Kendrick is talking about, I hear what Q is talking about, I heard what Jay Rock was talking about. So how am I going to piece this all together and add my own two cents, too? How do I continue the sound but have my individuality as an artist? It's the same challenge every single time."^[12]

Soon after the release of Schoolboy Q's Habits & Contradictions (2012), Stevens began promoting his second independent album, releasing a song titled "Black Lip Bastard" on January 17, 2012. The song was produced by TDE in-house producer Willie B.^[13] On February 28, 2012, Ab-Soul, along with Schoolboy Q, appeared on Sway Calloway's #SwayInTheMorning radio show, where Ab-Soul called "Black Lip Bastard": "pretty much one of the title tracks",^[14] The first song that appears on the album, to be released was "Showin' Love", also produced by Willie B.^[15] In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Stevens is signed to, closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Black Hippy cohort, Kendrick Lamar's debut studio album, good kid, m.A.A.d city will be jointly released via Top Dawg/Interscope/Aftermath, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg/Interscope.^[1] On March 24, Schoolboy Q announced #TheGroovyTour; a month long tour with Ab-Soul accompanying him the entire way. The tour began on April 20 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California.^[16]

On April 6, 2012, Ab-Soul released "Terrorist Threats". The song features frequent collaborator Jhené Aiko and fellow rapper Danny Brown, who proclaimed on Twitter that "Black Hippy the new Beatles and I'm Harry Nilsson".^[17] On April 17, 2012, Ab-Soul revealed the album's title to be Control System and unveiled the release date to be May 11, 2012. That same day he also released a music video for "Pineal Gland", a song inspired by the psychedelic drug DMT and of course the pineal gland, a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain.^[18][19] On April 24, 2012, another single, by the title of "SOPA" was released. The song, produced by Nez & Rio, references Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith, that would've allowed the U.S. government to control the internet.^[20]

On May 1, 2012, Ab-Soul released another music video, for a new song titled "Empathy", the song features vocals from JaVonte and his late friend/girlfriend Alori Joh, who committed suicide in February.^[21] On May 4, 2012, it was revealed "Black Lip Bastard" was remixed and will feature his Black Hippy cohorts, Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.^[22] On May 8, 2012, his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, titled "ILLuminate", was released. The day before the album's release Ab-Soul revealed the track listing and released snippets from the album. The album, as written on the back cover, is "Dedicated to the beautiful soul of Loriana Angel Johnson aka Alori Joh"^[23]

Discography[link]

Independent albums[link]

Mixtapes[link]

Promotional singles[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Music videos[link]

As main artist[link]

As featured artist[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ab-Soul on Myspace
• Ab-Soul on Twitter
• Ab-Soul at Allmusic

Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr.^[3] (born March 31, 1986), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper. He was named one of the top 13 most street artists by XXL.^[4] His voice has been called a cross between Immortal Technique and Shyne.^[5] He is a part of the hip hop group Black Hippy along with label mates Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. Rock signed to Strange Music and released his long-awaited debut studio album Follow Me Home on July 26, 2011.

Biography[link]

1986-2007: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Jay Rock was born and raised in Watts, Los Angeles, California in the Nickerson Gardens Projects.^[6] He released several mixtapes in his neighborhood and the internet which led to his signing to Warner Bros. Records and Top Dawg Entertainment.^[7] Jay attended Locke High School.

[edit] 2008–2011: Follow Me Home and move to Strange Music

He released his debut single, "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" in late 2008, which featured artists Lil Wayne and will.i.am and was one of iTunes's Free Downloads in early 2009. He was featured on the cover of XXL's annual Top 10 Freshmen issue.^[8] He was also named one of MTV's 2010 breakthrough MC's.^[9] Jay Rock was featured on Omarion's single "Hoodie" and was supposed to be featured on Flo Rida's third studio album Only One Flo but was left off the final tracklisting.^[10] His mixtape "From the Hood to the Cover of XXL" was released to iTunes on July 24, 2010 as was his mixtape Tales From the Hood 2 on March 28, 2010.^[11][12] He toured with 50 Cent and other various artists on The Invitation Tour. Jay Rock signed with indie record label Strange Music in the Fall of 2010 on a multi-album deal after leaving from Warner Bros.^[13] Jay Rock then went on tour with Tech N9ne, E-40, Glasses Malone, Kutt Calhoun and Kendrick Lamar on the "Independent Grind National Tour".^[14] His mixtape Black Friday was released December 7, 2010 to iTunes.^[15] His debut album Follow Me Home was released in the Summer of 2011 under Strange Music.^[13][16]

2012-present[link]

In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Jay Rock is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment. Under the new deal, Black Hippy cohort, Kendrick Lamar's debut studio album, Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg/Interscope/Aftermath while releases from the rest of Black Hippy (Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q) will be distributed via Top Dawg/Interscope.^[2]

Discography[link]

Independent album

• Follow Me Home (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Jay Rock on Myspace
• Jay Rock on Twitter

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth^[1] (born June 17, 1987), simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper and songwriter from Compton, California currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope. He first gained major attention after the release of his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated. In 2011, his album Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes, instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.^[2] Lamar has amassed a large internet following, is a member of hip hop collective Black Hippy, along with Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, and has worked with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, Game, Drake, Busta Rhymes and Tech N9ne among other popular artists.^[3]

Biography[link]

1987-2009: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, a community southeast of Los Angeles city limits, to parents from Chicago, Illinois.^[4] At the age of eight, in 1995, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film the music video for their hit single "California Love," a very significant moment in Lamar's life.^[5] In 2003 at the young age of sixteen, Lamar released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga In Charge under the name K. Dot.^[6] The mixtape was able to garner enough attention for Lamar to get a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based independent record label.^[6] He then released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later titled Training Day.^[7] More recognition came Lamar's way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton goes in the crowd and battles rappers at attendance. Lamar didn't hesitate and began rapping a verse over Milkbone's "Keep It Real", that would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang".^[5] In 2008 Lamar made a cameo appearance on Jay Rock's "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" music video. After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, he released his third mixtape in 2009 titled C4, heavily themed around Tha Carter III LP.^[8] Soon after, he decided to drop his stage name K. Dot and go by his real name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP; the Kendrick Lamar EP in late 2009.^[9]

[edit] 2010–2011: Overly Dedicated and Section.80

Kendrick performing at a concert in Toronto, Canada

In 2010 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour.^[6] On September 23, 2010 he released O(verly) D(edicated) a highly acclaimed mixtape that included a song titled "Ignorance is Bliss" in which he glorifies gangsta rap and street crime but ends each verse with "ignorance is bliss" giving the message "we know not what we do".^[10][11] It was that song specifically that made hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar.^[12] This led to him working with Dre and Snoop Dogg on Dre's Detox album and him considering signing to Aftermath Entertainment.^[6][13] In January 2011 Lamar said his debut album was 90% finished.^[6]

In early 2011 Lamar was featured on XXL Magazine's 2011 Freshman cover along with CyHi the Prynce, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Lil B, Big K.R.I.T. and Diggy Simmons among others.^[14] On July 2, 2011, Lamar released his third solo project Section.80 to critical acclaim. It features guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and includes production from longtime collaborator Sounwave, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin, J. Cole and more. On the topic of whether Section.80 would be an album or a mixtape Lamar said "I treat every project like it’s an album anyway. It’s not gonna be nothing leftover. I never do nothing like that. These are my leftover songs y’all can have ‘em, nah. I’m gonna put my best out. My best effort. I’m tryna look for an album in 2012". The first single for Section.80 was the J. Cole produced track "HiiiPower", of which the concept was to further explain the HiiiPower movement. Section.80 went on to sell over 10,000 copies in its first week^[15] without any television or radio coverage and received many very positive reviews. In the second half of 2011, Lamar appeared on Game's The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's, 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years and Drake's Take Care.

In August 2011, while onstage with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game, at the West Los Angeles concert, the three of them crowned him the "New King of the West Coast"^[16]

[edit] 2012–present: Good Kid in a Mad City

On February 15, 2012, a song titled "Cartoons & Cereal" featuring Gunplay of Triple C's was leaked.^[17] Lamar revealed later that the track was for his upcoming album and he was planning to shoot a video for it.^[18]

In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Lamar is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Kendrick Lamar’s projects, including his upcoming debut studio album Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope.^[19]

Lamar premiered "The Recipe", his debut single and the lead single from Good Kid in a Mad City, at Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The track was released for digital download the following day. The song was produced by Scoop DeVille and features Dr. Dre.^{[citation needed]}

It was announced on May 14, 2012, that Lamar is working on a collaborative album with J. Cole. In an interview with Bootleg Kev, Cole stated that "I just started working with Kendrick the other day. We got it in, finally, again. We got maybe four or five [songs] together."

Personal life[link]

In high school, Centennial in Compton, Lamar was a good student.^[4] Lamar said that he has seen relatives who have died in his dreams for years. Tupac Shakur is also his favorite rapper, and influences not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac Shakur. ^[6][20][21] He revealed that his favorite and most influential rappers are Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z and his label-mate Eminem.

Discography[link]

• Section.80 (2011)
• Good Kid in a Mad City (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kendrick Lamar on Twitter
• kedricklamar.com Official Site