In honor of the upcoming MLB All-Star Game. Give me your top ten things as it relates to Hip Hop. It could be artists, trends, songs, moments and personalities. It doesn’t have to be in any particular order.

I took in Ice Cube’s sports segment on ‘First Take’ yesterday. Cube talked about his love for the Lakers and Raiders among other things. Cube has done a complete 180-degree turn from the mac-10 toting, 40 guzzling image he portrayed with N.W.A. to PG-13 movies and Coors Light commercials.

And while O’Shea Jackson is one of my favorite solo rappers ever, where is the bandana-rockin, Chuck Taylor sportin’ politically conscious Ice Cube?

TSF spoke with Etan Thomas on the old site extensively. I also mentioned Etan in The Nation piece regarding the Black athlete today. He’s one of the very few athletes unafraid to speak his mind with the admirable intention of simply providing a helping hand through celebrity. Educating people in a society searching for a logical sense of reality. The NBA forward gets all he can out of what is now his moment in the professional sports arena. He is one whom inspires and should be spoken of in every realm of what a soul model truly is and can potentially be. I can’t wait to read his book on being a father and his getting so many pops across our culture (and others) to speak of their experiences with their fathers and also as fathers that should make us all want to spiritually and unconditionally forever love our sons.