Saturday, April 04, 2009

MF Doom Fan Club President: Mos Def



You know how sometimes you wonder who an artist listens to in their car or at home? I guess we know who Mos is listening to - it's Doom. Mos is obviously blasting Doom while chilling in the studio or on the set of a film or television show in between shooting scenes. Mos, definitely not paralyzed like he was on a recent episode of "House", spends seven minutes of this video spitting verses from Doom tracks like he wrote 'em and then analyzing them like a professor in a college classroom for his students to digest. Guess he's a true fan of another real emcee, showing that he's definitely a humble dude.

Best line, "I bet a million dollars on Doom against Lil Wayne." Wow!

DOOM's album, Born Like This, is in stores now.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Simple. Yet so hilarious.



Best I Ever Had


So Far Gone Review
Category: Hip Hop

I laughed when I read the line "'So Far Gone' suggests what '808s & Heartbreak' would have sound like if Kanye West could sing." Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Kanye fan and appreciated the efforts of "808s & Heartbreak" but "So Far Gone", a mix tape from relatively unknown Aubrey "Drake" Graham, is fire from beginning to end.

Graham, a Canadian actor by day, has three self-published mix tapes to his credit under the name Drake but through some work with Lil Wayne, his latest "So Far Gone" has created quite the buzz and allowed him to reintroduce himself. "So Far Gone" features Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Omarion, Bun B, Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and seventeen quality tracks.

It's a mix tape you don't want to miss out on. Had O not sent me a text telling me about "A Night Off" featuring Lloyd (which I immediately listened to on YouTube) and requested more info (which was followed by a link to the download) I would have missed one of the best hip hop releases of this year. Yes, I said it - one of the best releases of the year! "So Far Gone" reminded me of the days of being able to listen to albums from beginning to end and with seventeen tracks, you get more than you get when you pay for an album (which is maybe 10 songs).

"So Far Gone" has what many albums are missing - originality and talent. Every track will quickly become a favorite. The album is smooth, rich and well produced. Drake mellows things out with tracks like "Bria's Interlude" and "A Night Off". Then he keeps it real with tracks like "Little Bit", "Best I Ever Had", "Lust for Life" and "Say What's Real". There's also club friendly tracks (however, trust me you'll never hear them in a club) "Unstoppable" and "Uptown".

Because of the robots that run the radio stations, you'll never hear these tracks on air but word is Drake, also known on his records as Drizzy, is in the beginning stages of working on his major label debut (due out at some point this year or early 2010) so perhaps that will lend some headway to providing a mainstream outlet.

For more info on Drake:
http://www.octobersveryown.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thisisdrake

To download:
http://www.octobersveryown.net/mixtapes/drake_sofargone.zip

"So Far Gone" tracklisting...


















# 1. Lust For Life
# 2. Houstatlantavegas
# 3. Successful (feat. Trey Songz & Lil' Wayne)
# 4. Let's Call It Off (feat. Peter Bjorn & John)
# 5. November 18th
# 6. Ignant Shit (feat. Lil' Wayne)
# 7. A Night Off (feat. Lloyd)
# 8. Say What's Real
# 9. Little Bit (feat. Lykke Li)
# 10. Best I Ever Had
# 11. Unstoppable (feat. Santo Gold & Lil' Wayne)
# 12. Uptown (feat. Bun B & Lil' Wayne)
# 13. Sooner Than Later
# 14. Bria's Interlude (feat. Omarion)
# 15. The Calm
# 16. Outro
# 17. Brand New

What I'm Watching ... Ryan Leslie - "Gibberish"

He's more talented than most song writers and "Gibberish" doesn't even have real words. Listen closely.



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Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Before the Music Dies

Music headed for self-destruction ...

The Mad Bloggers are back.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

So now you're an R&B artist?


Roger Troutman. Teddy Riley. T-Pain. And now whoever else. Weezy, Yung Berg, Yeezy....? So many amazing r&b artists in this field still, extremely great vocal talents, yet these guys and others rather do it all on their record. Never mind maintaining the quality of the music. It's like throwing a party for yourself and you are the host, DJ, caterer, MC, rapper, singer, etc. It get annoying. Irritating. Narcissistic. And sometimes unproductive. It's bad enough there are so called R&B artists coming out with albums with borderline vocal ability. Now I have to deal with this? Great. I'm sticking to my old faithfuls. My reliables. My legendary singers. Some of them might not have released an album in some time, in some years, but still. I blame fans and record labels. Rarely the artists. Never settling for B.S. Not with my music. Ever.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Jingle Jam '07 Biggest Ever? Guess not...


So I hear earlier today that CT's radio station's Jingle Jam still had tickets. Still wasn't sold out. Even had some discounted. Really? Not sold out hours before showtime?

Expert from the radio station's website:(Year after year HOT 93.7 Hartford’s #1 for Hip Hop & R&B has brought you the biggest names in the game like Jay-Z, Nas, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Akon, Ciara, Ludacris & more and THIS YEAR THE GIFTS ARE COMING A LITTLE EARLY WITH THE RETURN OF THE HOTTEST CONCERT OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON...HOT 93.7’S "JINGLE JAM 07" AND IT WILL BE even BIGGER THAN EVER - LIVE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH AT THE HARTFORD CIVIC CENTER!!!)

Bigger than ever? You kidding me?

B5, T-Pain, Hurricane Chris, Bow Wow, Trey Songz, The Dream, Cassidy, Mr. Vegas and last but not least Souljah Boy....

Now I don't dislike every single person in that line up. But........I can see why that show didn't sell out. Amazing considering how much of their music I'm force fed by "alledged" radio and tv requests. Makes me wonder if the artists' labels are just involved in the payola routine. Jay-Z can sell out a show in minutes just him alone. 9 artists plus surprise guests according to the radio station, over a month of promoting and still.......tickets available.

Some on that list can actually sing. Some...can't. Some can actually rap. Most on that list.....can't. Don't see many classics from those artists. But I can admit, I see some one hit wonder puppets on there. Goes to show you that not even hollering at A Bay Bay, falling in love with Bartenders, or Super Soaking that Hoe is enough to sell tickets. You got fans who aren't even that committed to spend $3 an artist, according to the radio station. Seriously? These are fans. Not even good ones. LOL!

Come on people. Get with the program. Cut the bullshit. Ban the wack cats. Stop supporting stupid music that just puts your brain cells to sleep. I can't, at 29, honestly like some shit that sounds like it was written by Dr. Suess nor can I listen to songs sung by what sounds like some kareoke 3rd place winner. Stop settling. I need quality music. I want quality music. I demand that shit. Cause yes...I still buy cds. I'm not making wack "rhymers" (cause most of them can't rap) and greedy money grubbing labels rich like I'm some ignorant, can't think for self, uneducated, middle school drop out who takes what they give me. Too smart for that. Music means too much to me to let that happen. Real music is out there. Just gotta wake your hinbernated brain up to look for it. I mean, it ain't like you don't spend 19 outta 24 hours online anyway. Be useful. Be proactive. Be in love with real music again!

I'm out..........

Monday, October 22, 2007

Cosby Speaks


This piece was sent to me by a friend and I thought it was important to share. Bill Cosby has spent the last few years creating quite a stir in the black community. Many have called America's favorite dad a bit reckless with his statements about black males in particular. Some claim that Bill Cosby hates black people. Does he really? What's wrong with saying that they control their own destiny? What's wrong with saying that they shouldn't blame others for their misfortune when there are opportunities available? What's wrong with saying that minorities have very little role models to look up to except for rappers and athletes? The article, but more importantly the book he has co-written, may make you think.

Tough, Sad and Smart

Published: October 16, 2007

They are a longtime odd couple, Bill Cosby and Harvard’s Dr. Alvin Poussaint, and their latest campaign is nothing less than an effort to save the soul of black America.

Mr. Cosby, of course, is the boisterous veteran comedian who has spent the last few years hammering home some brutal truths about self-destructive behavior within the African-American community.

“A word to the wise ain’t necessary,” Mr. Cosby likes to say. “It’s the stupid ones who need the advice.”

Dr. Poussaint is a quiet, elegant professor of psychiatry who, in public at least, is in no way funny. He teaches at the Harvard Medical School and is a staff member at the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston, where he sees kids struggling in some of the toughest circumstances imaginable.

I always wonder, whenever I talk to Dr. Poussaint, why he isn’t better known. He’s one of the smartest individuals in the country on issues of race, class and justice.

For three years, Mr. Cosby and Dr. Poussaint have been traveling the country, meeting with as many people as possible to explore the problems facing the black community.

There is a sense of deep sadness and loss — grief — evident in both men over the tragedy that has befallen so many blacks in America. They were on “Meet the Press” for the entire hour Sunday, talking about their new book, a cri de coeur against the forces of self-sabotage titled, “Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors.”

There weren’t many laughs over the course of the hour. Speaking about the epidemic of fatherlessness in black families, Mr. Cosby imagined a young fatherless child thinking: “Somewhere in my life a person called my father has not shown up, and I feel very sad about this because I don’t know if I’m ugly — I don’t know what the reason is.”

Dr. Poussaint, referring to boys who get into trouble, added: “I think a lot of these males kind of have a father hunger and actually grieve that they don’t have a father. And I think later a lot of that turns into anger. ‘Why aren’t you with me? Why don’t you care about me?’ ”

The absence of fathers, and the resultant feelings of abandonment felt by boys and girls, inevitably affect the children’s sense of self-worth, he said.

The book lays out the difficult route black people will have to take to free the many who are still trapped in prisons of extreme violence, poverty, degradation and depression.

It’s a work with a palpable undercurrent of love throughout. And yet it pulls no punches. In a chapter titled “What’s Going on With Black Men?,” the authors (in a voice that sounds remarkably like Mr. Cosby’s) note:

“You can’t land a plane in Rome saying, ‘Whassup?’ to the control tower. You can’t be a doctor telling your nurse, ‘Dat tumor be nasty.’ ”

Racism is still a plague and neither Mr. Cosby nor Dr. Poussaint give it short shrift. But they also note that in past years blacks were able to progress despite the most malignant forms of racism and that many are succeeding today.

“Blaming white people,” they write, “can be a way for some black people to feel better about themselves, but it doesn’t pay the electric bills. There are more doors of opportunity open for black people today than ever before in the history of America.”

I couldn’t agree more. Racism disgusts me, and I think it should be fought with much greater ferocity than we see today. But that’s no reason to drop out of school, or take drugs, or refuse to care for one’s children, or shoot somebody.

The most important step toward ending the tragic cycles of violence and poverty among African-Americans also happens to be the heaviest lift — reconnecting black fathers to their children.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Poussaint said: “You go into whole neighborhoods and there are no fathers there. What you find is apathy in a lot of the males who don’t even know that they are supposed to be a father.”

The book covers a great deal that has been talked about incessantly — the importance of family and education and hard work and mentoring and civic participation. But hand in hand with its practical advice and the undercurrent of deep love for one’s community is a stress on the absolute importance of maintaining one’s personal dignity and self-respect.

It’s a tough book. Victimhood is cast as the enemy. Defeat, failure and hopelessness are not to be tolerated.

Hard times and rough circumstances are not excuses for degrading others or allowing oneself to be degraded. In fact, they’re not excuses for anything, except to try harder.

Video of the Week








MTV Video of the Year?
Talib Kweli provides real lyrical content. Talib took that creativity a step further by creating an amazing video to compliment the lyrical content. Would MTV dare nominate it as the Video of the Year? I guess only time will tell.

Real lyrical content and creativity has no place in society, well at least that's what these commercial suckers want you to think. Support real hip hop, bootleg wack rappers!

Monday, September 18, 2006

TELL 'EM WHY YOU MAD: Poor Customer Service


I was recently having an everyday convo with a friend of mine about customer service and how bad its gotten. We pretty much agreed that saying it's gone downhill would be an extreme understatement. Customer service is one of those skills that any human being should be able to have. It's not Rocket Science. Geez, it's not even simple Add and Subtract kind of math. But it is required when going for a position in a supermarket, mall or any kind of retail store. I haven't applied for a position in years where customer service is required but I'm sure the applications ask if you have any experience in it. So how are people getting these jobs but aren't qualified leaving us, the customers, feeling berated and confused. Therae's the saying that The Customer Is Always Right. Now, I won't whole heartedly agree with that statement but I will say that the statement there is so far from the truth nowadays that I'm afraid of having to deal with the employees for fear that I might actually have a question or need help.

My feeling is this: Customer service is dead! R.I.P.! Gone Fishing! On Vacation!

Now my question is this: Where did it go? Why aren't we fighting to get it back? What are we doing to reverse this epidemic?

Here's a paraphrased excerpt from my friend's email conversation:

"...Dude, mention how (expletive) annoying the (Retail Chain Store) in Waterbury is.. that we still ride out to Naugatuck and Wallingford instead of going to the one in our own town...because the people they got working there SUCK. You ask them a question and you want to say "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting your day by making you work? Yeah, my bad for not letting you finish your conversation with your homegirl (who, by the way, works there too) about how stank your baby daddy is and about the party you went to the night before...which everyone in the freakin' store knows thanks to your loud, rude, no work ethic having self." I'm saying, just making minorities look bad daaaaaaaaaamn!..."

Don't give me attitude, make angry facial expressions, or get mad at me because I need help. I didn't tell you to get that job. I didn't make you come to work. Leave all that negativity at home!

To put the question into a form that "most" young kids (who are the core of our customer service problem), WHAT'S REALLY GOOD?!?!


Saturday, September 09, 2006

A COMMERCIAL MC?



Saturday afternoon text session. In the mind of O & Q. This is exhibit 200 your honor in the case of Hip Hop v. Fake Shit

Text From Q to O:
Looking at iTunes. They have Yung Joc listed under pop. Ha! What's that say about him?

The Response from O to Q
Pop is short for popular music. He's popular. With the same kids who can't pass a simple aptitude test and adults who can't name more than three presidents, but can tell you every American Idol winner and runner up.

Text back from Q to O
Meet me at the gap, it's going down...

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Categorize This



This whole blog thing started as a series of emails back and forth between the two of us over the years. We’ve been complaining about several things as mentioned in the ‘about us’ section. They’re very silly things that are out there that frustrate us. Music is at the forefront of that frustration (Please look forward to the boycott on American radio). The following allows you to witness the process.

Recently, while watching the Video Music Awards (VMA) – on an unnamed music station that gives out a moon man as the award – I received a text from a friend. I’ve had several conversations with him about music and such, and he was generally disappointed about the direction of the show. There were artists winning in categories they shouldn’t have been in, beating more deserving artists. The following is the back and forth email after the text, sharing it with O.

----Original Message Follows----

O,

So, I'm watching the VMAs and I get this text from a friend...

"The VMAs are close to being irrelevant if the wrong people keep winning these awards. Pink? Pussycat Dolls? Black Eye Peas? Ridiculous. I hate music."

Yeah, some of the categories that they won, they shouldn't have even been in. "My Humps" is not a hip-hop song and should not have beaten Kanye West for example. "My Humps" couldn't be more of a pop song. The Black Eye Peas sold out their hip-hop roots a long time ago, and crossed over to the more lucrative pop game. Good for them. I’m not hating at all, I’m just saying please put them in the appropriate category. Pussycat Dolls "Buttons" best dance video? Yeah right. Not when Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" video is nominated in the same category. Shakira may not be the best singer, but the category was “best dance video”, maybe I’m mistaken, but her hips don’t lie at all. It’s all bullshit.


----Original Message Follows----
Q,

It just reminds me of a time I read a newspaper section that mentioned "Sisqo, the MTV rapper...." Well 1, I didn't know he singed to MTV Records. And 2, I didn't know he was a rapper.

Same shit happened yesterday when I saw "My Sweet 16" (channel surfing purposes) on MTV, which for argument's sake isn't Music TeleVision but Mostly TeleVision (side bar: When they debuted they started with the video “Video Killed the radio star.” Well, frankly reality TV is going to kill the video star) some young ass 15 year old told her mother she wanted to get someone to perform. Surfed the net and showed her who. She says, "I want Bobby Valentino to perform. He's a hot rapper out now."

So ummm yeah, it got me wondering – Who's advising who? Is it the kids to the adults that shouldn't have anything to do with music? Or perhaps it’s the adults to the kids who shouldn't have anything to do with music? Either way, they are both f**king clueless as to what real music is, regardless of category.

P.S. Who do I contact about getting someone in charge of the Award Shows' categorizing? Rocket Science? Hardly....