February 28, 2008 | Tags: Tyra Banks

It’s no secret that there are a few notable names, “A-listers” if you so desire, that just get on my last fucking nerve. Second only to Oprah as far as rich women on that list go is Tyra Banks. But, just as I do with Oprah, I keep my eye on Tyra just to see what she’s up to, so that way if I ever get my own talk show, I know what not to do. Well, that, and there’s not much else on TV on a Wednesday night.

This past Wednesday though, Tyra outdid herself. No, I don’t mean “outdid” in the sense that she put yet another poster of her forehead-prominent face in the house that the America’s Next Top Model contestants are staying in. Tyra decided to OD on awareness* this week as she made the contestants model with women in a homeless shelter.

Leave it to Tyra’s conceited (and gradually getting fatter) ass to partake in the photo opportunity solo. I mean it would be utter blasphemy to be photographed with the homeless shelter residents** like the contestants did, right? Nevermind the fact that for some reason people idolize Tyra, and it probably would have made their day. But that’s not the point of this rant. Just take a look at that picture. Perhaps they were trying to use that little tool called “satire” (if you’re a model reading this, and this is too far over your head-that-probably-weighs-more-than-the-rest-of-your-body for you to comprehend, click here to see the definition) to call attention to a serious cause. Well, just as many previous endeavors by models trying to be intellectual ended, this was a big ol’ grade-A runway disaster.

I love D.C. newscasters sometimes, but continuing on…

The best way to sum up the whole episode is that it was a big spit in the face to homeless people. They straight up dressed the homeless (there’s got to be a better word for that) in couture gowns that could have easily paid a month or two of rent on an apartment to pose in a picture, while the uppity, voluntarily anorexic-looking models-in-training dressed like, well, homeless people. Because, you know, homeless people wake up everyday and fix their expensive makeup in the side mirrors of the cars parked along the streets or something, right?

“Will pose for change”. Either this is supposed to be some clever play on words, as “change” could mean some sort of progressive type of change, but let’s face it. You didn’t perceive it that way the first time you read it. I’d put “change” on it. So let me get this straight. If I’m cute and homeless, I just have to pose in some “high-fashion” manner and people will give me money? Well ain’t that some haute shit! I always thought prostitution was the money-maker on the streets as far as looks are concerned, but dammit, those smartypants models are one high-heeled step ahead of me once again.

Tyra then proceeded to talk about how this photoshoot was near and dear to her heart since…

…this deserves some sort of drum roll or something, that’s how ridiculous it is…

...since she had to be “homeless” for a day on her talk show.

Yeah, sure. Immersing yourself in the ways of the homeless involves getting your makeup done to look like you snorted just a slight excess of cocaine, and receiving advice on what footwear to sport while your camera crew follows you through the nitty-gritty streets of the inner city. I hope the camera crew had enough pairs of thick boots too, because at this point I’m feeling way sorrier for them than I am for Tyra. And isn’t that jacket that she picked off of the rack just a fabulous match for those needle-proof boots? Tyra, you so fierce! Work(boot) it, girl!

The fact of the matter is, there is so much that one could easily do to directly aid the homeless in the streets of America. Posing for pictures? Not really doing too much. I mean the least they could have done is airbrushed the models’ fingertips blue or something, because if they really sat outside on the streets of NYC in a cardboard box in the middle of February, that’s what they’d be looking like. But you know, that’s not so glamorous now, is it?

For those of you that actually give a shit about issues like these instead of using them to promote your talk show and give you an excuse to pose for a pretty picture, look up the volunteering opportunities around your way. Stay aware of how things are working in the business world – it’s quite interesting how many large corporations are cutting American jobs in favor of outsourcing goals, thus leaving people jobless and with families to support on relatively short notice. It may just be all in a capitalist’s day’s work, but if you have something to say about it, then say it. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but backing up your words with action? Priceless.

*The irony in this is that ANTM has been widely criticized for having racist tendencies. Actually, there’s so much irony in this that I can’t even put it into words. Here, let Tyra try…

…still scratching your head? Yeah, that’s what I do every time I hear this woman talk these days. Giving out Swarovski-encrusted, $100 containers of Vaseline? Come on Tyra, you could have at least passed them out at the homeless shelter. Peep how I started this little sidenote talking about one thing, and now it ends with blinged-out Vaseline. Proof that there is just so much wrong with this woman that you can’t even begin to talk about it all.

**If you call them “residents”, are they really homeless? But I suppose that technicalities were so last season.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

All I See Turns to Brown

February 25, 2008 | Tags: none

It was a cold, February night when one of the friendliest people I ever encountered in life was taken away. I won’t go so far to say that he was ever a great friend of mine – we weren’t that close or anything. See, I had the (dis)pleasure of going to a high school with a reputation for diversity. It sounded great on the surface, and the word was a great media tool, but the students knew it didn’t really go down like that. Every little racial clique pretty much kept to themselves, so there wasn’t a lot of cultural mixing going on. Just a nice little façade that the faculty liked to brag about (although that changed when they had to start breaking up gang fights that undoubtedly were racially segregated). I, being mixed and all, was always presented with a bit of an identity crisis. The Arabs found me too non-Arab for their liking (except the guys…hm, go figure), and the white people found me too non-white for their liking (especially that preppy Abercrombie jock crowd. I may have been a cheerleader, but there was no way in hell I was down with that crowd). So I just kind of hopped between cliques befriending anybody who I found to be cool.

One of these people was this guy Aaron. I had known him from middle school, so I was a bit familiar with him anyway. But to this day, only one truly vivid memory of Aaron remains in my brain. I had some kind of honors Biology class that I couldn’t stand at all. It was full of that uppity prep crowd, and I stuck out like a delinquent sore thumb*. Before I got into a little (ok, large) verbal squabble with one of my many prepster enemies and got a permanent seat in the front of the room, I sat directly across from Aaron (the room was laid out so the seats were in a circle, so I faced him the whole class). And I remember him sitting there in his black Metallica shirt, long hair hanging, with the most sincere smile on his face. You couldn’t not smile back at him – it was one of those truly contagious smiles. On the surface he looked nothing like the kind of guy you’d expect a hip hop addict cheerleader to associate with, but that was one of the cool things about him. He’d hold a hand out to anybody that needed it, and that’s part of the reason I feel his death hit the local community so hard.

On February 25, 2006, Aaron was shot and killed by an off duty police officer. He was 18 years old, an Eagle Scout, and in his first year of college. Somebody you’d never expect something like that to happen to. I remember hearing that at the funeral so many people turned out that they couldn’t fit in the church, and the overflow was directed into another church nearby where people could watch the service live on TV. He had just simply touched that many lives. And perhaps the thing that touched me the most about Aaron was his inclination towards all things having to do with music.

Aaron would have made an excellent producer of rap music, as crazy as it sounds. Just a post or two ago I mentioned sampling. See, rap samples sounds from so many various genres of music. Without previous forms of music like soul, rock, reggae, p-funk, jazz, classical, etc., what would rap be? Aaron knew so much about so many different kinds of music (although rock was his obvious favorite), and I wish he had been able to be around longer so that I could have learned more from him. If you know somebody like that in your life, learn what you can from them while you still have the chance. You never know when that opportunity will be taken from you. And anybody looking to get into rap, take a lesson from Aaron and expand your musical knowledge in all aspects. That will help you tremendously. Or even if you just have nothing better to do with your time – learn about other forms of music. You’ll amazed at how different rap sounds to you when you recognize the samples a particular song utilizes, or relate the message from the original sample to that of the song that uses it. Open your mind.

And that’s how I’ll choose to remember Aaron. With the smile on his face, his Metallica shirt, and his chucks on his feet – a reminder to never limit myself. A reminder to always give people a chance. A reminder to open my mind.

To honor that t-shirt and the guy who wore it, I present to you my favorite Metallica song, “Enter Sandman”. Turn it up to 10 and go nuts.

This has to do with the title of this post which you guys seem to love taking ever-so-seriously. It may not make sense to you, but it does to me, dammit. Classic song, and so much better than Diddy’s version.

*I never took another honors class in my life after that year. Yeah, it was that bad. And even without those damn honors/AP/IB classes I still turned out fine. So for all you kids still in high school, don't believe that bullshit that the administration and your PTA-type parents feed you about how those classes will help you get into college or any of that. You're better off taking "regular people" classes and getting better grades with less stress, than busting your ass to learn no more than anybody else will, only to get a shittier grade. Not to mention you socially alienate yourself on all sorts of levels when you take classes like that. Save yourself, seriously.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Obama is Hip Hop!

February 21, 2008 | Tags: obama, sampling

Shouts to all the people who pay attention to politics that read this joint. I know you’re out there. Those that don’t? Well, this country needs your help right now very badly, so perhaps this is a great time for you to get involved. For the sake of the greater good and all. Anyway, I know I’ve been yapping a lot about politics lately, and I’m not sorry for that at all, but this time I’ll make sure to keep it hip hop related. I promise.

The latest hype in the election talk has been the whole “Obama plagiarized!” thing. Been living in a hole? Need a re-up? Here’s the rundown from the New York Times. OK, so he lifted a few words from this guy Deval Patrick. But you see, Patrick and Obama are cool with one another. They’re friends, homeboys, buddies - whatever you want to call it. They’ve backed eachother up in various endeavors and even run similar campaigns. Obviously they know how to contact eachother. If this guy Deval was going to be pissed about this thing, I’m sure he would have taken it up with Barack personally. No need for the Clinton camp to throw in their two cents in a desperate attempt at a last-minute foiling of Obama’s success. But, as the soulful and melanin-possessing half of the 2dopeboyz would say, I digress.

Obama was slick. He bit the phrase in question and used it in a spoken speech – a better move perhaps than putting it into written word in a book. Does this sound familiar to anybody yet? Putting it in a speech is much easier. There’s a quicker delivery time to the public, you probably don’t have to pay to hear the speech (especially when it’s broadcast on damn near every news/politics station in the country), and it gives people a nice preview of how you’ll carry yourself if/when you win the election.

Presidential campaign speeches are like mixtapes.

And what is a predominant reason for pushing out mixtapes rather than a legitimate album? The difficulties of getting samples cleared. You see, I’m going to propose that Obama didn’t really plagiarize, per se. The better way to phrase this is that Obama merely sampled Deval’s speech in his own. And when you phrase it like that, then Clinton’s response would be pretty much exactly what Obama was looking for.

[In my best Hillary Clinton voice] “Did you hear that? Did you catch that sample? Damn, I remember the first time I heard that joint, shit was hot. I can’t believe he used that!”

And shit, we know this guy Deval Patrick isn’t really giving a fuck that Obama sampled his lines. He was probably behind the scenes executive producing the speech. He’ll get some free liquor and VIP entrance to the release party for the album (the celebration if/when Obama wins the election) and he’ll be chillin. And he knows it. You never know, maybe he’ll have a nice career as a speech-ghostwriter as well. This guy’s career just got a boost. Who is he to complain?

I guess Obama is a smart guy after all. He took the essential foundation of rap, the art of sampling, and put it into a whole new arena to throw a curveball at the competition. And just as the concept of sampling in rap has been seen as blasphemous at times – laden with legal issues and old fart-disapproval, Obama’s sampling of the classic Deval Patrick track “Just Words” has been met with the same attitude from those uppity, so not hip hop, panties-in-a-bunch crowd who wouldn’t know the hood if it bit them in their tabletop-flat asses.

Stay up Barack, and remember fam, all press is good press. But can we get an Earth Wind & Fire sample next time? That’d set the streets on fire.

*Special shouts to everybody that's been helping me out in the past few very hectic days, especially Shake and Jake (hahaha, you love how I played that, huh Shake?), and my man Modi from DC to BC (have you been listening?). Everyone that's been working with me behind the scenes...it's all love, and without you I couldn't have had the week that I just had. Thank you very much. Also congratulations are in order to my man Ryan who just launched an indie hip hop website this week called Rhymehouse. I dropped a feature on Immortal Technique over there, in case anybody is interested. And also props to the wonderful duo of DX's own Donwill and his other Ilwil half, Ilyas, who just dropped the gem of a freebie, Beat Thieves 2. More from Donwill to come in a future post.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Kind Of a Big Deal

February 20, 2008 | Tags: wale

Well, your girl has been silent lately, huh? Rest assured though, my silence is not a sign of dormancy. I�ve been out making moves, and seeking out some fresh info about things that I know some of the regulars around here may be interested in. One of these moves involved me taking up the precious time of that one local artist that every one of you should know about by now if you follow my words with at least minimal effort: Wale. So peep the following interview and take a trip into the mind of an artist who is on the verge of blowing the fuck up on the music scene. I mean come on, it�s the first post-Valentines Day work week � what else are you going to be doing online to pass the time anyway? I know you�re all too temporarily broke to be online shopping or whatever it is you do when you�re �working�. Oh, and shouts to bananaclipse on the last minute inspirational tip. Good lookin out.

Amanda: So you just returned from Los Angeles for a trip to the Grammy awards. How was it?
Wale: Great man. I put together the last piece of the people that I needed to meet to put together my perfect album, and that was Pharrell. We talked for a minute on Rodeo Drive where we bumped into eachother. We talked for about fifteen minutes in the middle of the street. So, that was cool. And the homie Mark � you know my labelmate, the person who runs my label, won three Grammys. It was very inspirational.

A: Pharrell? You planning on keeping it local with DMV artists?
Wale: Man, Pharrell already know. Pusha T? Look out for the record. I got a crazy, crazy, joint I did with two people. One is from Texas, one from Virginia. It�s crazy. Crazy!

A: I heard you�re going to be on The Roots� upcoming LP as well. What�s good with that?
Wale: I mean it�s a great record, you know? Yeah. It�s a great record.

A: You shouted out Black Thought on 100 Miles and Running. So did he reach out to you because of that?
Wale: They just liked my stuff, you know what I�m saying? It was like a mutual respect. And now it�s just like whenever they talk, I listen.

A: Hm��Nike Boots�. How does it feel to pretty much have the theme song for a shoe?
Wale: It was a good look. It was just the other side of Wale�there�s the trendsetting, tastemaker Wale that�s the one that�s more exposed. But the other side of Wale is just the Wale that walks around D.C. and Maryland all the time in Nike boots. The street narrator side of Wale doesn�t really get exposed as much, but on this mixtape [Mixtape About Nothing] it�ll probably come out more.

A: Explain the Nike boot thing to people that may not be from around here and not understand it as much.
Wale: It�s pretty much a metaphor for the dark state of mind of a person that�s within the confines of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. You know, the unimpressed, dark, unmovable, unscratchable�

A: A lot of people are saying that you�re putting D.C. on the map. You�re the one to really do it, it�s all you, etc�
Wale: You know the thing is that I used to be caught up with that �putting D.C. on the map�, and doin� it, and being the first, but now I just say �man��. I had a long talk with Jay and he just said �make the best music you can make�. And at the end of the day you have to take a step back and say, �yo, that�s all I really can do. Just make the best music I can make.� That�s it. I mean I love where I�m from, but I�m not going to sit up here and�you know. Because then you lose sight of the common goal, which is to make great music. Timeless music.

A: But with a mindstate like that, how do you react when people compare you to artists like Lupe Fiasco? �Wale is the next Lupe,� and all of that stuff.
Wale: Diehard Lupe fans are going to be offended by that. And then they�re already going to make their judgements about me and then not be Wale fans. So it�s unfair to me, and it�s unfair to Lupe. And Wale fans are going to get mad and then be like, �well, you can�t say that�. So I just say let every artist fight his own battle, have his own plight, and walk his own walk. And never compare any two artists, because it�s unfair to both. I personally don�t see any comparisons to Lupe. At all. And Lupe probably doesn�t see any comparisons either.

A: There�s a definite gogo element in your mixtapes, and you�ve been on tracks such as Mambo Sauce�s �Welcome to D.C.� remix, and this has brought gogo to the ears of people who hadn�t been exposed to it previously. Do you think that now is the time that gogo is going to blow up and leave the confines of the district?
Wale: It�s hard to really say. Everything runs its course. Gogo could never blow up, or it could be the phenomenon of 2008-2009, and so on. But you really can�t say, man.

A: Do you think that would be detrimental though? Would going mainstream possibly risk sanitizing the gogo sound?
Wale: I mean, music is music man. It�s made for people to hear. If I make a new genre of music in the confines of this room that holds four or five people in it right now, it�s not like �Oh, well, this music is only for the four or five people in this room right now�, it�s for anybody that�s blessed to have a set of ears, you know what I�m saying?

A: I�m surprised gogo didn�t catch on earlier. Is there any sort of reason in your mind as to why this may be the case?
Wale: Maybe because it�s too regional and people are protective over it. Maybe it�s an acquired taste. I grew up on it. I remember block parties, I remember Junkyard, I remember all those things, and those things are just�we made it up. We made it up and we ran with it before you found out about it, and it took so long for you to find out about it that it became regional. It became something that only we understand.

A: I mean even Spike Lee hooked it up with �Da Butt� in School Daze, but even then, people know that song but they don�t associate it with gogo.
Wale: Yeah, it doesn�t register. Maybe they didn�t follow up well enough.

A: I miss those old days.
Wale: I miss �em too, man.

A: What�s good with the debut album? A Wale LP?
Wale: We got guys. I got good mentors, man. I got good people that I can play songs for and give ideas to and get their feedback from. I got guys like Ronson and Just Blaze that I talk to on a creative level every once in a while. And most importantly I got the people that I�ve been hanging with. I have so many songs, so you never know. When the deal is done, and I play the records for whoever it may be, whether it be Def Jam, Capitol, or whoever�I have a good foundation. I got Rique, Dan, Mike � these guys over here that I play the records for, and they have great ears, you know what I mean? And we haven�t let eachother down yet as far as me writing a record and them saying �OK, go to radio with this�. We haven�t let eachother down yet. We got the �Impala test�. When it sounds good in Rique�s Impala, then we run with it to radio.

A: You got that look on your face like you�re anxious.
Wale: Oh man, I�m ready. We�re looking at this fall for it to come out. But I�m going to keep everybody, you know, appeased in the meantime.

A: One of the largest critiques that you get from people is that you rep D.C. but you�re from PG County. What�s up with that? It�s like the area isn�t unified.
Wale\: [Laughs] If they got something to say, that�s great. I mean I lived in D.C. for ten years, I lived in PG County for thirteen. So I mean, you know, sue me. I�ve done more shows in D.C. than I have in PG. You know, a lot of my family is still in D.C., most of my team is from D.C. It�s just like when you go to Europe and you be like �Well I live in Largo. I live in Landover,� they�re gonna be like �huh?�. So you�re like �OK, D.C.�. You know what I�m sayin�? You know. D.C., like right there. D.C., the district, is made for working. PG is made for the people that work in D.C., you know what I�m saying? I work in D.C. You know, I was born there, so if I rep Maryland hard then the people that knew me when I was in D.C. would be like �why don�t you ever rep D.C.?�, so it�s a catch 22.

A: Do you think that�s bad though? There�s just this separation within the area.
Wale: It�s segregation. It�s like School Daze all over again. But I don�t care. It�s all good. Like I said, most of my team grew up in D.C. and we just migrated. Everybody migrates. 90% of us won�t live there in the next ten years anyway.

A: So let�s say somebody from out of town that had never been here before was coming to D.C. What�s the one place you would tell them to make sure they got to?
Wale: Hm. That�s a good question. Ben�s Chili Bowl. Or Georgetown to go shopping.

A: The Mixtape About Nothing. What�s it about, besides nothing?
Wale: At the end of the day, mixtapes really aren�t about anything anyway. They�re just songs you couldn�t clear and freestyles. So I flipped it around. The undertone of that message is that there�s a lot of issues I�m talking about, a lot of things I talk about.

A: So it�s more serious than your other tapes?
Wale: It is. And that�s the funny thing about it. The title is the Mixtape About Nothing, and, you know, it�s more about something. When you hear it, you�ll figure it out.

A: I heard you�re using Seinfeld as a theme for it. Will people who don�t know much about Seinfeld still be able to appreciate it?
Wale: They�re going to like it because of the lyrical excellence that I exercise on it.

A: When you say you�re talking about �something�, do you mean local issues, or�?
Wale: You�ll see. There�s a lot of things that I�m talking about, but you�ll get it. Immediately.

A: What�s the release date looking like on that project?
Wale: March. Mid-to-late March.

A: Any final thoughts?
Wale: Look out for the Mixtape About Nothing, keep supporting me, and you know�D.C., Maryland, and Virginia!

For more information about Wale, check out his myspace or elitaste.com. You can also catch him live on February 28th with Pete Rock, Torae, and Kid Cudi at the Highline Ballroom in New York City. Don't sleep. And I also just got word that the official video of W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. will be premiering on MTV2 and MTVU. Don't want to wait that long? Check out this post on Elitaste for some preview clips of the video. I must say, it looks
hot

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Politics As Usual

February 12, 2008 | Tags: hillary clinton, Bill Clinton

Yes, this is a hip hop site, but have you forgotten that there are democratic primaries going on? In my humble yet bluntly stated opinion, that’s important too. So…get over it.

There is one extremely significant asset that Hillary Clinton possesses in this election that nobody else has – her husband. And she knows it. The saxophone playing ex-prez isn’t just sitting back and smiling for the cameras like the other candidates’ spouses are. He’s out there campaigning like he’s the one going after the cushy rooms of the White House (and of its’ interns) again.

I wonder who the weedcarrier in this relationship is?

Anyway, when I was in the process of seeking shelter in a heated building after my long trek through the concrete tundra of Northern Virginia (better known as the overpopulated parking lots of GMU), I found myself surrounded by various flyers talking about some sort of Clinton rally that was going to go down. I turned down an opportunity to see Obama last year, so I figured that I should fight the urge to go home (of course to avoid the crowds and the inevitable amount of feds of any and every variety that come along with politicos) and I instead decided to stick it out and peep the event.

There was a catch though. You’d think that “Clinton rally, tonight, 9:15pm!” would mean Hillary Clinton, right? You know, being that she’s the one running for office and all.

Nope.

The rally was being run by none other than the infamous other half in the relationship – our boy Bill. I mean it’s interesting to hear him speak and all, being that he was the leader of our country for a large amount of years and probably the most loved of any of the uber-scandalous chiefs of state that we’ve seen throughout history. But do you see Obama’s wife leading rallies and giving speeches for him? Giuliani’s mistress? Maybe you do, go figure, but I sure missed it.

This is slightly dangerous though. See, Obama’s wife could speak all she wanted, but it undoubtedly wouldn’t hold as much weight as what Bill has to say. Why? Well, aside from the fact he already ruled our country, he seems to have this huge following of stans. You know, the ones like “oh man, Clinton was so gangsta!”, and the ones that don’t remember anything except “he got us out of debt!”. It makes me wonder if people are truly voting for Hillary in their minds, or if they’re just voting for Hillary due to Bill-association. As if somehow by electing her, they’re really electing him.

I wonder if he’s allowed by law to be her running mate for the V.P. position if she wins the primaries? That would be interesting.

But damn. Between trying to maintain a low profile while rocking my kaffiyeh in a building full of secret service agents, cops, and 4 foot-nothing type security guards that were supposed to be “intimidating” or something, watching people hit the ground as the tables under them collapsed, and getting my personal space severely violated in ways I don’t care to elaborate on by random strangers who felt the need to climb all over me, a terrifying sound hit my ears: the shrill-pitched noises of overly-excited women’s voices screaming “WE LOVE YOU BILL!!!!!!”.

Um…isn’t it a little late for that? Isn’t the point of this event to be loving Hillary? A vote for Hillary is not a vote for Bill. I hope you know that.

Oh, and for the record, Bill Clinton is one hell of a public speaker. You may not agree with what he has to say, but the man doesn’t read off of notes or cue cards or anything. 100% off the top of the dome, with not one noticeable stutter. For over an hour. The technique is impeccable. I’d like to see Bush do that!

Yo Dubya – I’ll pay you $100 bucks if you can properly say the word “nuclear”. I dare you.

For anybody that cares about what he has to say, I uploaded a roughly four minute long video clip of the speech when he was talking about Hillary’s policy about education reform and her feelings about No Child Left Behind. Keyword: her. Not his feelings. Dammit. The clip was too big for YouTube, sorry. And ignore the shaking, aside from my amateur photography, 50% of the shakes is probably me fidgeting to adjust to some random person’s hand brushing against my ass. Ugh. Politics is a dirty game, y’all.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FFW39T78

And here's some shitty pictures, too. Props to the photographer that wasn’t all up on me that eventually fixed some of the settings on my camera to help me out.

I'm still surprised I even got in the door looking all flashy like that. I guess being a tiny person comes in handy - I don't look too intimidating. And come on, you didn't think you'd get to see my face now, did you? And what up, Virginia!

Chillin in his b-boy stance?

Pretty large turnout, despite Hillary's absence. And that was only one level of people. There were two more above it.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Hip Hop For President

February 06, 2008 | Tags: none

You may know how Huckabee feels about gun control, or how Obama feels about the war on drugs. But how do the candidates feel about that thing that the media seems to have so much fun shitting on? You know...hip hop? Well, I wondered that my damn self, and took to searching out some videos that would answer that question for me. Maybe I didn't get all the answers...but I found some interesting things.

I am so going to start calling the Washington Post the Dub Post now. Buhleeeedat!

Obama likes Jay-Z and Kanye. Not surprising. But props to Barack-Steady for keepin' it old school. Earth Wind and Fire? Always good in my book. Yo Obama - if you win the election, get at me. I'll show you some non-degrading rap. I'll even burn a CD for you and deliver it to the White House personally. Cool? Then you can take that and show your girl Oprah what's really good (no Dipset). This is the most serious clip of any of the ones I posted though, so you may really want to listen closely to this one.

"I think they might kill him." And don't even get me started on "Mr. Cent".

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

The Game Needs a Rappendectomy

February 05, 2008 | Tags: Underground, Lil Wayne, mainstream

Perhaps this is just a case of me having very picky personal taste when it comes to music, but I feel like rap as a musical genre is seriously ill these days. Other genres have their issues too, don’t get me wrong, but this is a hip hop site, so let’s just focus on the rap aspect of things.

"OK, start with straight shots, and then pop bottles,
Pour it on the models, shut up bitch swallow,
If you can't swallow, shut up bitch gargle,
Straight up out the water with my Marc Jacobs goggles,
I'm fresher than a muhfucka, yeah I'm a muhfucka,
No I wouldn't take your girl, but I should take her tongue from her*,
Can't you tell I'm in love woman, like no other woman,
I'm sorry sweetheart, I thought you were my other woman."
-Fuck it, all y’all know who the quote is from. No need to mention his name.

This is what’s hot right now? For real? This is what 14-year-old middle school aged girls are listening to these days? And then professing their love for Mr. F. Baby? I don’t know how much more of this I can take. If I possessed the talent to be able to rap, I’d be flooding the market right now with way better shit than this. Unfortunately I can’t rap though. But I can write, so write I will.

First of all, how unnecessarily disrespectful is that verse for no reason at all? Anybody that knows me personally will tell you that I’m not all about that feminist shit, and I’m not about to get on some “hip hop is evil because it disrespects women” tip because I just don’t feel that way. Plus, that topic as a whole is just so broad that it has to be given its own post or two to properly cover it. And one day it’ll get that, don’t worry. But this verse even touches a nerve with me, and that’s saying a lot. I mean really, how many people have you ever heard claim to be a “motherfucker”? OK, sure, he said “muhfucka” but it’s the same damn thing. If that is actually what he said…

Weezy – whatever it is you got in your mouth when you record your tracks, can you remove it please? It makes it hard for me to analyze how irritating you are. Thank you.

Continuing on…I’ve come across some damn wild people in my life, but yet none of them have ever bragged about fucking mothers. Because real talk, in the context he used it in, what else could the word mean? Now I’m sure one of the stanboys out there is going to claim that this motherfuckery makes our boy Weezy “the most gangsta ass rapper alive” or whatever it is that his cult following is choosing to refer to him as these days.

Forget about that verse though. I’ve given it enough attention for the day. My point is that bullshit like this is somewhat like a disease to rap music. No, I’m not about to get on that whole “Nas said hip hop was dead, but I think it’s just a little bit sick right now” kind of steez. It’s bad enough that as of late people seem to forget** how to put together a properly structured sentence free of factual error (and even worse, nobody seems to care). Apparently now the words you put together in a verse don’t even have to mean much of anything for it to sell records. I mean don’t get me wrong – I know there’s a market for this kind of stuff. It’s just a little unsettling how large that market is in comparison to the one that music with a message falls into.

But then take a second and think about the people behind the senseless shit. No, not the lyricist. No, not even the ghostwriters. The people they have to answer to. The CEO’s of the large record labels, which many of you may know more familiarly by the loving term “TI”. These people are not hip hop. They are capitalists. Exploiting people, art, and culture for the love of money***. I’m sure many of you have come across somebody in your lifetime that claims that HIV/AIDS is a manmade virus that was purposely planted into the human race, or some close variation of that tale. Compare that to the mainstream music industry, and it’s like the people running the record labels are the ones who made the disease and are pushing it throughout the streets.

And just like AIDS, this musical disease…this dumping of crap onto the rap economy, if you want it in other terms, seems to have no cure. Maybe with time the market will change its tastes and desires. Maybe with time sound systems will continue to improve to the point that I can just turn the bass up so loud that I don’t have to bother myself with lyrics anymore, without even having to worry about collapsing a lung or sonically shitting my pants****.

*****

We may not be able to permanently do away with the bullshit, and honestly the people who really do appreciate that shit should be able to have access to it, regardless of how I feel about it. But we can make a conscious effort to support high quality independent artists who aren’t answering to the people who are feeding our ears this musical pain. Oh, and you can still find that good ol’ misogyny, profanity, violence, and drug talk that you all fiend for in some underground shit too. Fuck what you heard. But at least I can still understand what they’re saying.

*You have no idea how long I listened to this line alone just to figure out what he was saying. And I’m still not sure that’s what he’s really saying. I checked like 20 different lyrics sites online to find some confirmation, and I found damn near 20 different interpretations of the line. And I live in the South, too! It’s not like the accent is throwing me off. Although it’s not like the statement would have been really profound if I knew what he was saying for sure anyway. Actually, here: peep the YouTube for yourself and tell me just what the hell he’s saying in that line.

**Or maybe I should blame this on the never-improving public school system.

***Since it’s Super Tuesday, I suppose I should be politically correct and state that most seem to take that stance. There’s gotta be a good one out there somewhere. Actually, I’m sure there is. But that is a severe minority. And yes, I realize art is a subset of culture. I just wanted to clarify the specific element of art for a second.

****Man, bass is great?

*****Adding in these little blurbs at the bottom is fun, no? OK, I'm done with this now, for real. It's been a long day. I'm entertaining myself while writing this blog.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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