STREETS IS TALKING

 

First Look: Tom Hardy As Bane In 
             The Dark Knight Rises

By Kevin L. Clark, | 

After an unexciting press release on Thursday which announced the beginning of production for The Dark Knight Rises, fans went into overdrive to channel their inner bat-detective. If you're like us and visited the film's official website, you also came across an ominous black image with some really weird chanting.
A fan over at SuperHeroHype was able to look at the visual spectrum of that audio file and discovered a Twitter hashtag. When tweeted, the hashtag, #TheFireRises, slowly revealed, pixel by pixel, a new image. As of publication, here's how the image looks so far. You can see the final result above: our first look at Tom Hardy as the villainous Bane.
It seems that the studio is following in the footsteps of The Dark Knight by continuing the tradition of promoting an intriguing viral campaign that keeps fans both guessing about the movie and joining in on the fun as The Dark Knight Rises edges closer to theaters.
But after a few repeated listens of that bizarre audio file, the immediate questions come to mind:

• Could it be Arkham's inmates cheering for Bane in the place where he was born and raised?
• Could it be the mantra of the League of Shadows, the nefarious group from Batman Begins who many are speculating will return for TDKR?
• Is this chanting related to the backstory of Ra's Al-Ghul?

Christopher Nolan directs Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Juno Temple, Anne Hathaway, and a host of others for the final time in The Dark Knight Rises, which is scheduled to swoop into theaters on July 20, 2012.

Lil Wayne Leads MCs in BET Awards Nods

Weezy picked up five nominations, while Drake comes in second with four…

www.xxlmag.com

The nominees for the 2011 BET Awards have been announced and Lil Wayne leads all rappers with five nominations.
Weezy is up for five trophies in such categories as Best Hip-Hop Artist, Viewer’s Choice for his hit single “6 Foot 7 Foot” and three nods for his collaboration with BET Awards frontrunner Chris Brown (who received six nominations, the highest of any other artist), for “Look At Me Now.”
Multiple nominations also went to Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, B.o.B, Drake and Nicki Minaj. Young Money is well represented among the nominees. Along with Wayne and Drake (who is up four awards including Best Male Hip Hop artist and Best Collaboration for Rihanna’s “What’s My Name”), Minaj also earned honors in three categories, counting the expected Best Female Hip Hop artist. All three artists landed in the Coca-Cola Viewer’s Choice category which includes Trey Songz’s collabo with Nicki MInaj, “Bottom’s Up,” Nicki MInaj Ft. Drake, “Moment 4 Life,” “Rihanna ft. Drake, “What’s My Name,” “Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz, “6 Foot 7 Foot,” Chris Brown ft. Weezy and Busta Rhymes, “Look At Me Now and Mindless Behavior’s “My Girl.”
In the New Artist category, J. Cole will compete with Wiz Khalifa, Bruno Mars, Miguel and Willow Smith.
Best Group nominations went to Diddy-Dirty Money, Cali Swag District, N.E.R.D., New Boyz and Travis Porter.
The award show, which will be hosted by actor/comedian Kevin Hart, is set to air live on Sunday, June 26, at 8PM/7c. 
Lauren Carter