I can make it good, I can make it hood, I can make you come, I can make you go! I can make it high, I can make it fly, make you touch the sky, hey maybe so!
It's funny how a tiny undergraduate school in New England with a largely Caucasian student body could turn a brotha against Reggaeton. But I can mess with this Pitbull remix. Why? Cause in the tenth grade, as a 15 year old boy in Los Angeles, I was the Quinceañera king. Shit I was even one of the chambelánes in the Quinceañera for one of my boy's sisters back in the day. I can totally see the DJ spinning this at a 15th and watching all the drunk adults go bonkers, shouting loudly in Spanish, breaking it down.
Now if you visit this blog often, you know that old school jams are more often than not posted under the "Old School Funk for the True Funk Soldiers" headline. But sometimes old school joints are so good, so well put together, so classic to a brotha, [see Montell Jordan's This is how we do it] that all I can do is marvel at their goodness as they boldly play on and show us how's it done. This jam, presented below, is one such example.
Now THIS is how you close an album.
Ryan Adams.
Hotel Chelsea Nights.
And please, I know it's long, but you gotta let this one play. Just coast...
As you watch this, make sure you take a little time to peep the videos that were in rotation at the time across the bottom of the screen. Queenpen? OH MY GOD! When's the last time you brought her name up in a conversation?
Ja Rule. Adorned in the trappings of a Halloween costume my parents would never let me wear Halloween after Halloween.
"They got my man Doug Morris under fire and @#!*, they got him going down to go speak to Congress about hip-hop lyrics, are you @#*$ing serious?" Ja said. "There's a f--king black kid right now about to get 25 years for having a fight with some white kids over hanging the nooses over the white tree, let's get to that. Let's get into sh-t like that, because that's what's tearing up America, not me calling a woman a b--ch or a h-e on my rap songs...And if it is, then we need to go step to Paramount, and f--king MGM, and all of these other motherf--kers that's making all of these movies and we need to go step to MTV and Viacom, and lets talk about all these f--king shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can't watch this sh-t," he continued. "Dating shows that's showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let's talk about s--t like that! If that's not f--king up America, I don't know what is..."-Ja tells Complex magazine
Sorry Ja, but I'm gonna have to disagree. Them gay episodes of Next is straight jokes son! Real talk.
I have been listening to a lot of great albums lately. Not singles, ALBUMS.[though I have been enjoying me some bangin' singles] 2007 has been pretty good to this popular music fan thus far, and it's quite magnificent that I've managed to absorb and/or give repeated listens to so many albums without overlooking whatever else is hot, sitting in my music collection, or coming at me every Tuesday.
Wait!
I take that back.
You can also say that 2007 has been the year that some of my favorite artists have released new albums that I have purchased, and, since the date of said purchase, I have either let them pick up dust, or get little to no play for some strange reason.
These are their stories.
Modest Mouse. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
iTunes Last Played: July 22, 2007 [Tracks 1-10], April 3, 2007 [Track 11], and never at all. [Tracks 12-14] Previously...: Good News for People Who Love Bad News was my top album of 2004. And since then Isaac and the gang could do no wrong, playing by their own rules and still pleasing the public. What happened?: After about track seven, tracks become less distinct and exciting as those that came before it. Why it should still be in heavy rotation:
Bloc Party.A Weekend in the City.
iTunes Last Played: 7/10, 2/26, and 4/19/07. Previously...: That debut. Silent Alarm came out of nowhere, making the boys from London town the new Strokes for 2005. What happened?: After knocking me out with tracks 1-4, [and that video for track 4, The Prayer]Kele and company fail to keep the momentum going for the latter half of the disc both musically and content wise. Why it should still be in heavy rotation:
Nine Inch Nails.Year Zero.
iTunes Last Played: June 15, 2007 Previously...: Unlike most people The Fragile is my NIN record, and as of late I have been scrambling, yes scrambling to get With Teeth back in my life. What happened?: Is the "schtick" [the beats, the lyrics, the theme of it all] getting old for me? Nothing really begged me to come back repeatedly. I ain't been this dissapointed with Trent since that one time in H&M where he seemed to think that those blue cargo shorts he had in his hand were a good idea. Why it should still be in heavy rotation:
Bright Eyes.Cassadaga.
iTunes Last Played: 4/25, 5/30, and 8/03/07 Previously...: Me and Bright been tight ever since that stunning collection of tunes he labeled I'm Wide Awake It's Morning. What happened?: One word to describe things after track six: tedious. 'But Tauwan did you listen to track one? That shit is too much.' No, no it's not. All the gimmicks and piling on for piling on indie sake works in that instance thank you very much. Why it should still be in heavy rotation:
Ryan Adams.Easy Tiger.
iTunes Last Played: 7/19, 8/16/07, and tracks 9-13 not at all. Previously...: Confession: I don't and haven't done Whiskeytown, and I don't really listen to or enjoy the stuff with the Cardinals that much or at all. But I do love solo Ryan. Yes, that includes Rock N Roll, 29, and Love is Hell. Parts 1 and 2. What happened?: You tell me Ryan. Seriously. I want to know. And no, I won't be a dick and say go back to the druggin and boozin cause there are a handful of tracks on here that are just fine. Why it should still be in heavy rotation:
What albums have you forgotten about/neglected this year?
The story is in the soil. Keep your ear to the ground.
A few weeks back I tried to download Kanye West's Graduation and get my pre-release listen on like everybody else. But unlike everyone else I had little to no luck in securing all of the album's tracks. After many, many tries I said fuck it, deleted what I had and waited til today to purchase it, take it home, and press play.
And I did.
One run through and my first impression is this: it's aight. Again, first impression. Hell by the time Homecoming came on I was almost bored, and moved on before the ode to Jay-Z, Big Brother, started. Again I need more time. This is how I feel with one non-skippable run through. In the meantime I'll go back to playing that album shown above, which has become one of my favorite albums/hip-hop albums of the year.
SIDENOTE: I do love this song though. I mean he makes T-Pain "sing" and samples P.Y.T. How can you not love it? And I am also glad to see that he's feeling the fellas in Justice a little more than he used to.
After sitting in silence not knowing what to make of my girl's performance, it hit me: Britney Spears is a bitch. And I don't mean bitch in the whole how could she do this to her fans, what the fuck? But more of a damn, she's got a new single and album to promote, MTV gots ratings to acquire, she knows people are curios and who else to get people to turn into the clusterfuck that was this year's Dick Clark's Rockin Eve, ahem, excuse me, VMA's, than Britney Spears! As an opener! Ratings goldmine! [Sorry Kanye.]
And what does she do?
She gets on stage and just doesn't give a fuck.
Did she get dressed at all or is that her costume?
Is she dancing/looking like that one stripper who is still kind of attractive but should leave the limelight poles to the younger hotties? Did she just stop fake singing completely?
And worst of all [for me at least] what is up with the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 carefulness and "over"thinking of her dancing?
Aww hell naw!
...This is hillarious.
And Britney is a bitch.
As we all know by now things have been topsy turvy in the world of Britney ever since her and K-Fed called it quits. Most of all she has said fuck the world to any and everyone who thinks they can come up in her house and tell her how to run things, even if you may be her I don't know, manager, business associates, child protective services, or that woman who used to follow her around everywhere. What was her name? Oh yeah, Lynne Spears.
In other words. She. Don't. GIVE. A. FUCK. And for some strange reason I think I love her even more. Am I disappointed by what I saw on Sunday night? Hell yes. Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Probably not. If this is the case, click the link below and you'll get what I'm talking about.
I must admit, part of me is like, okay M.I.A. that's what I am talking about. Get that exposure, get your name out there, and more ears listening to your amazing new album. Do you girl, do you. While the other half of me is like, please girl don't do it, RECONSIDER!
If you don't get yo mothafuckin' hands off my streets...
I went to school in Brunswick, Maine. Yeah go on, twist up your face, look confused and then go 'Maine.' Yeah we had good food, a small campus with a great student to teacher ratio, but you know what would have been slammin'? A fuckin row of shops with like 5-10 fast food joints. Not local mom and pop restaurants, but like BK, Mickey D's, Taco Bell, all that shit. With great late hours. Yeah. Would have been nice. You know, like how "in just one quarter of a mile near USC on Figueroa Street, from Adams Boulevard south, there are about 20 fast-food outlets?" That should would have been awesome.
So I may enjoy me some Wipe Me Down courtesy of Lil Boosie and the gang. And I may have even succumbed to the whims of Soulja Boy and his cronies, thanks to Cousin Cole. But I will not, repeat NOT, give this the time of day. It's just all kinds of wrong. But despite all this, please, whatever you do, watch this thing in its entirety.
