Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Don't Look Back in Anger.



Words.

"As Sens. Jeff Sessions, Jon Kyl and John Cornyn disparaged the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on the opening day of Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings, dismissing him as an "activist judge" in what appeared to be a raw attempt to score political points, I wondered: "Have you no sense of decency, at long last?"

Let me put it plainly, senators: Far from being the out-of-the-mainstream caricature you seek to create, Thurgood Marshall deserves your unyielding gratitude and respect.

...Thurgood came. And he came through. He taught us all what it means to love our country enough to work to make it a little better, a little stronger and a little closer to what it's supposed to be. That's not activism. That's patriotism..."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: Thurgood Marshall's legacy deserves cheers, not sneers
  • Radio, KILLA.

    The Dream.

    TRILOGY.

    Echoes.



    A "New flava in ya ear!" Production from The Klaxons.

  • MODULAR: Listen: Klaxons - "Echoes" (Radio Edit)
  • Monday, June 28, 2010

    L to the O. V to the E.



  • FADER: The-Dream Reigns Supreme
  • Party and Bullshit!

    The saga continues...

    How to get rich [without really trying] in Hip-Hop:

    Gwop Gang Muzik / Snack Theater.

    Four Loko.

    BITCHES!

    "I'll be loving you always..."

    For Michael.

    Party and Bullshit!

    How to get rich [without really trying] in Hip-Hop:

    Exhibit "A":

    Soulja Boy.

    Pretty Boy Swag.


    Bittersweet.

    A video.

    Starring Fantasia.

    Sunday, June 27, 2010

    Talk to "Her".



  • WASHINGTON POST: POSTPARTISAN: Barbershop 3: black men, stigma and HIV/AIDS
  • Night Work.


    For Your Consideration...

  • Stream here.
  • Party in the U.S.A.



  • JEZEBEL: An Open Letter To Katy Perry From Jessie Spano
  • The Love Shack.

    New flava in ya ear!

    MGMT.

    It's Working.


    "TURN THE LIGHTS OFF!"

    "Because tonight I want to see you in the dark..."

    New flava in ya ear!

    Chromeo.

    Don't Turn The Lights On.

    Come Away with Me...

    New flava in ya ear!

    Animal Collective.

    Guys Eyes.

    Saturday, June 26, 2010

    Jokes.

    New flava in ya ear!

    Drake feat. Jimmy Kimmel.

    Tweet Tweet.

    Thursday, June 24, 2010

    Boom Boom POW!

    Foals.

    Miami.

    A video.

    Tuesday, June 22, 2010

    Lion in a Coma.

    A Moment of Clarity.


    What the people want(?).

    Words.

    "...Across the political spectrum, pundits are blasting Obama for his coolness in the face of crisis.

    Consider the New York Times and Fox News, which are typically at loggerheads about Obama's policies. But when it comes to the president's feelings — or his apparent lack thereof — they stand united: Obama should be our emoter-in-chief, and he's falling down on the job.

    Times columnist Maureen Dowd called Obama "bloodless," while her colleague Charles M. Blow urged him to "openly empathize with the anger of others." Over at Fox, meanwhile, Sean Hannity was also squealing for some presidential feeling. He said that some say, "[Obama's] so cool under pressure that he hasn't been able to show enough emotion to the American people." Hannity said, "I don't think it's going to fly."

    I hope they're wrong. By demanding that Obama show his emotions in public, the critics reinforce the very worst parts of our political culture. We can never know what the president is "really" feeling, and — most of all — we shouldn't want to know. So why do we? The answer lies in three broad and mutually reinforcing trends in contemporary American life: confession, celebrity and cynicism. Together, these "3 Cs" threaten to bury our politics in a shallow, superficial gauze. And we should laud President Obama — not lambaste him — for trying to resist them..."

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES: Obama: cool in a crisis
  • Grown Simba.

    New flava in ya ear!

    J. Cole.

    Who Dat.

    A video.

    Monday, June 21, 2010

    Monsters of Folk.

    New flava in ya ear!

    The Roots feat. Jim James.

    Dear God 2.0.


    Ace. HOOD!

    Ron Artest.

    Champions.

    Cat Power.



    Words. For Your Consideration...

  • THE NEW YORK TIMES: Opinionator: Lady Power
  • Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk.



  • PITCHFORK: Interviews: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
  • ADD SUV.

    A video.

    Starring Uffie. And Pharrell.

    The Morning After.

    New flava in ya ear!

    Diddy Dirty Money feat. Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj.

    Hello, Good Morning.

    THE REMIX!

    HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME!

    New flava in ya ear!

    N.E.R.D.

    Hot 'N Fun.

    "You are what you love(?)".



  • FLAVORPILL: Stereotyping People by Their Favorite Indie Bands
  • Saturday, June 19, 2010

    I Think I'm in Love.

    Okay this Robyn song is already one of my favorite singles of the year. This video helps solidify that.

    Robyn.

    Dancing On My Own



    Again, man, "I think I'm in love..."

    Tuesday, June 15, 2010

    The L Word.

    New flava in MY ear!

    Rihanna.

    Te Amo.

    And anotha one...

    For Your Consideration...



  • PITCHFORK: New Black Lips: "Before You Judge Me"


  • EARLIER:

  • LOVE & HAPPINESS: The Albums: 2009: 4/Black Lips/200 Million Thousand
  • Depth & Destruction.

    A Moment of Clarity.


    Words.

    "In the Gulf of Mexico, plumes of black oil are gushing into the ocean, coating the wings of seabirds, poisoning shellfish, sending tar balls rolling onto white Florida beaches. It is an ecological disaster. It is a economic nightmare. And there is absolutely nothing that the American president can do about it. Nothing at all.

    Here is the hard truth: The U.S. government does not possess a secret method for capping oil leaks. Even the combined wisdom of the Obama inner circle -- all of those Harvard economists, silver-tongued spin doctors and hardened politicos -- cannot prevent tens of thousands of tons of oil from pouring out of hole a mile beneath the ocean surface. Other than proximity to the Louisiana coast, this catastrophe has nothing in common with Hurricane Katrina: That was an unstoppable natural disaster that turned into a human tragedy because of an inadequate government response. This is just an unstoppable disaster, period. It will be a human tragedy precisely because no government response is possible.

    ...In truth, the organization most likely to have the phone numbers of the "experts" is BP. The organization that will get them to Louisiana fastest is BP. I am writing this not because I like, admire or even have an opinion about the company formerly known as British Petroleum but because BP's shareholders have already lost billions of dollars and BP's executives are motivated to find solutions faster than anyone in the White House ever could. Bashing BP or seeking to punish BP is pointless. This is not only because we will soon learn that many companies -- American, Japanese, even Halliburton -- were responsible for that rig but also because whatever the solution, BP has to be part of it.

    ...It's right for Obama to be concerned about the consequences of this disaster, but wrong -- and dangerous -- for him to pretend he is capable of controlling it. We should stop calling on him to do so."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: The oil spill isn't Obama's Katrina
  • For Your Consideration.


    "To Infinity and Beyond!"

  • PITCHFORK: Klaxons Announce Second Album
  • Monday, June 14, 2010

    "Come pick me up!"


    Not yet.

  • THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two Weddings, a Divorce and ‘Glee’
  • Party and Bullshit!

    How to get rich [without really trying] in Hip-Hop:

    Exhibit "A":

    Freekey Zekey feat. Tito Green.

    WHITE BOY WASTED(!)*




    *Emphasis mine.

    Friday, June 11, 2010

    YES!

    New flava in ya ear!

    Ciara feat Bei Maejor and André 3000.

    Ride.

    THE REMIX!

    I Think I'm in Love.

    I don't care how cheesy some of y'all may think it is. When this song is on, I feel lke SEX ON A STICK. Please believe!

    Christina Aguilera.

    Denudate.

    A "C. Tricky Stewart" Production.

    The Youth.


    "Drop down low and sweep the flo' wit it!"

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE: Jerkin' Jeneration
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

    A Moment of Clarity.


    "TAKE ME AWAY!"

    Words.

    "Why can't President Obama stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Why can't he get the Israelis and Palestinians to stop squabbling and make peace? Why can't he get the Europeans to contribute more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan? Why can't he forge a global treaty to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?

    Why can't he . . . well, you get the point. Obama, it turns out, is not Superman. In (unhappy) truth, no president is, no matter how politically gifted and no matter how many people, in this country and around the world, root for his success...

    ...Obama, fairly enough, is reaping what he sowed in assigning himself an impossible mission as a global savior. But Americans are his culpable enablers. Few people want to hear this, but he's doing the best he can, considering the difficult circumstances that he and the nation face. And what he needs most from the public is a quality that distinguishes adults from children: patience."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: Don't expect Obama to be Superman
  • Thursday, June 10, 2010

    "YEAH! AND YOU DON'T STOP!"


    "Cause it's 187 on the GOP candidates at the top!"

    Words.

    "The good news for Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina here in California was that they won their Republican primaries. The bad news was that they had to run in Republican primaries.

    Whitman, now the GOP nominee for governor, and Fiorina, the GOP nominee for senator, dispatched their nearest primary rivals by margins of better than 2 to 1.

    ...But California Republican primaries have a nasty habit of rendering their winners unelectable in November, and this year's contest looks like it will be no exception. To win, Whitman and Fiorina -- conventional conservative business Republicans both -- had to take positions so far to the right that their chances of winning a state in which Barack Obama commands a 59 percent approval rating are slim..."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: Calif. GOP primary winners look headed for defeat
  • Wednesday, June 09, 2010

    "Feeling good, feeling GREAT! Feeling great, feeling GOOD, how are YOU?!"

    New flava in ya ear!

    Redman.

    Lookin' Fly.

    For Your Consideration.



  • STEREOGUM: Jenny And Johnny I’m Having Fun Now Album Art, Tour Dates
  • Clueless.


    Myself included. Obama, can you help a brotha out?

    Words.

    "Quick, don't Google, just answer: Who represents you in state government?

    This is the question I roamed about asking at a party in my diverse and politically progressive neighborhood of Venice. The room was filled with people who worry openly about the water they drink, the fuel in their cars, the contents of their compost. Some of them had canvassed for Barack Obama or written checks to his campaign. Others were busy trying to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that banned gay marriage in California. They were unanimously baffled by what's happening in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer recently signed a bill requiring "suspicious" people to prove their citizenship if stopped by police.

    I did not expect everyone to answer accurately. It's arcane, this business of lawmaking in Sacramento, where legislators in various districts debate everything from hunger to cargo theft to the invasion of the glassy-winged sharpshooter and its impact on viticulture. But the results were far worse than I'd imagined..."

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES: California politics, and what we don't know
  • La Isla Bonita.

    With Lady Gaga and,

    ALEJANDRO.

    Tuesday, June 08, 2010

    Black Thought.



    Words. For Your Consideration...

    "Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you saw your black male colleague, especially if you're in a white-collar profession, show anger or rage in public? My hunch is never. There's a reason for that. African American men are taught at very young ages (or learn the hard way) to keep our emotions in check, to not lose our cool, lest we be perceived as dangerous or menacing or give someone a reason to doubt our ability to handle our jobs. Think of the emotional corset women in leadership positions are expected to maintain to ensure they never cry in public or show TOO much compassion for fear of raising the same doubt and seeming weak.

    I pose this question because over the last two weeks, I have watched and listened with increasing frustration to the criticism that President Obama hasn't shown enough emotion, enough rage over the ceaseless flow of BP oil choking the Gulf Coast. Sure, I, too, have asked the president to connect more with the American people over this disaster. To show a little emotion. But I have never and would never advise Obama to do what movie director Spike Lee advised last week on CNN: "One time, go off!"

    We all know one of the reasons why Obama won't "go off."' He's just not wired that way. Despite the feisty interview he did with NBC News's Matt Lauer that aired this morning, overt expressions of rage (or any overheated emotion) are not in his personality. That's why Maureen Dowd has consistently dubbed him President Spock. And Obama's cool, "say what I mean and mean what I say" demeanor is exacerbated by his reliance on the TelePrompTer.

    But he can't "go off."

    ...Americans expect their presidents to be cool, calm and collected in a crisis. But we have to recognize that Obama already has this manner (or skill) mastered because it attaches to any black professional, especially those in positions of authority.

    ...Fear of unleashing the "angry black man" stereotype or not, none of the men I spoke with want Obama to emote just to please the media or anyone else...The Democratic strategist said, "I don't need my president to feel my pain. I need my president to take on problems and solve them." This is where I, the men I talked with and the American people are all in agreement."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: PostPartisan: Rage: Why Obama won't and can't give you what you want
  • TELEVISION TELEVISION!

    Another morning. Another workout. Another viewing of a music video from an act getting its feet wet/trying to grab our attention/stand out in the crowd. Worthy of a repeat listen? Press play and find out...

    New flava in MY ear!

    Curren$y feat. Stalley.

    Address.

    Monday, June 07, 2010

    Deliverance.


    "What the people want?"

    Words.

    "IT turns out there is something harder to find than a fix for BP’s leak: Barack Obama’s boiling point.

    The frantic and fruitless nationwide search for the president’s temper is now our sole dependable comic relief from the tragedy in the gulf. Only The Onion could have imagined the White House briefing last week where a CBS News correspondent asked the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, if he had “really seen rage from the president” and to “describe it.” Gibbs came up with Obama’s “clenched jaw” and his order to “plug the damn hole.” (Thank God he hadn’t settled for “darn.”) This evidence did not persuade anyone, least of all Spike Lee, who could be found on CNN the next night begging the president, “One time, go off!”

    Not going to happen. Obama will never unleash the anger of the antagonists in “Do the Right Thing” or match James Carville’s rebooted “ragin’ Cajun” shtick. That’s not who Obama is. If he tried to go off, he’d look ridiculous. But the debate over how to raise the president’s emotional thermostat is not an entirely innocuous distraction. It allows Obama to duck the more serious doubts about his leadership that have resurfaced along with BP’s oil..."

  • THE NEW YORK TIMES: Don’t Get Mad, Mr. President. Get Even.
  • Vibin'.

    New flava in ya ear!

    Rhymefest feat. Phonte.

    Say Whassup.

    Saturday, June 05, 2010

    SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR!



    Another day, another blog post, another reason to post that there song.

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES: Ariel Pink is firmly in control of Haunted Graffiti
  • Friday, June 04, 2010

    QUESTION!


    "This can't be life..."

    Words.

    "How is it possible that BP chief executive Tony Hayward hasn't been fired? At this point, how can anyone believe a word the man says? If he told me my mother loves me, I'd want a second source.

    Hayward has apologized for his one lapse of candor -- the now-famous whine last Sunday that "I'd like my life back." It must be a nice life indeed: According to Forbes, Hayward's total compensation from BP in 2009 was about $4.6 million. The Louisiana fishermen who've been put out of work by the oil spill are accustomed to getting by on considerably less. In a Facebook posting, Hayward said that his callous words "don't represent how I feel about this tragedy, and certainly don't represent the hearts of the people of BP."

    Within hours, though, Hayward's foot was firmly lodged in his mouth yet again. The effort to contain the oil and keep it away from the Gulf Coast has been "very successful," he told the Financial Times. "Considering how big this has been, very little has got away from us." This sunny assessment came as television networks broadcast images of oil-soaked Louisiana marshes, where hazmat-suited workers -- who said they were under orders from BP not to talk to the media, on pain of getting fired -- were trying to sop up the mess with what looked like rags, as if this were a gargantuan kitchen mishap. Meanwhile, mousse-like clumps of "weathered" oil were being washed onto beaches in Alabama, and authorities in Florida were watching the approach of a menacing, oily sheen. Scientists have not even begun to assess the potential long-term effects of the oil spill on human health, marine life and coastal ecology. Carol Browner, the president's chief adviser on energy and the environment, said that the Deepwater Horizon incident is already the worst environmental disaster in United States history.

    Give yourself another pat on the back, Tony..."

  • THE WASHINGTON POST: Why is Tony Hayward still on the job?
  • For Your Consideration...


    "GET DOWN!"

  • COMPLEX: The 25 Greatest Timbaland Songs Of All Time
  • Good Vibrations.

    New flava in ya ear!

    Jamie Lidell.

    I Wanna Be Your Telephone.

    Wednesday, June 02, 2010

    Hollywood Swingin'!

    New flava in ya ear!

    The Dream feat. T.I.

    Make Up Bag.

    Tuesday, June 01, 2010

    For Your Consideration.

    Justin Bieber.

    Jaden Smith.

    Never Say Never.



  • LOS ANGELES TIMES: Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith duet for 'Karate Kid'; teen heads explode
  • Silent Alarm.



    Words. For Your Consideration...

    "Last week, the Obama administration and Congress inched closer to striking down "don't ask, don't tell," pending a Pentagon review (due by Dec. 1) that will gauge the military's ability to sustain the changes required for the repeal. As part of that review, I experienced a rite of passage of my own: For once, the Department of Defense asked me, as a military family member, what I think — specifically about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, via an online questionnaire. Since I've got the DOD's ear, here are my two cents — or rather, my two words — on the matter: Good riddance.

    I come to this view not just as someone who married an Army intelligence officer in 2002. My closest military friend, now deployed, is a lesbian soldier. I, like her other friends in the community, show my love for her in varying degrees of plausible deniability. We get that we can never publicly mention the girlfriend — not at an Army event, on Facebook, certainly not in an e-mail sent to her AKO address. She goes to even greater lengths: no public displays of affection with her partner, constantly qualifying herself as a "confirmed bachelorette." Covering up requires a shamefully large amount of brain share — mental energy that could be better spent on her duties as a soldier.

    Is she distracted by this charade? No. But she is burdened. When I dropped her off for her deployment, I said to some soldiers from her unit that I was "just doing my Army wife duty," and she quickly stressed, "But she's not my wife." DADT requires such CYA (cover your ass) measures. She is the proud soldier of a nation built on diversity's bedrock. Can't we do better than this?..."

  • LOS ANGELES TIMES: Not asking, but telling
  • Twisted Elegance.

    New flava in ya ear!

    Vampire Weekend.

    Holiday.