I’ve seen this commercial countless times but never noticed the VERY last second until ML friend PD pointed it out. That little smile is proof of how “tough” the cowboys are. Dude should just quit and go do Dancing With The Stars. And yeah I know Brain Dawkins is in this too, but he’s more like a stage prop.
Leave your death threats in the comments.
Somewhere in time Fatman Scoop & his wife (who is a counseler/case worker) decided to give relationship (read: sex) advice, and it has evolved into a TV show via MTV. I remember seeing the webeisode incarnation of this a long time back, with some feelings of amusement. This is like an urban version of Loveline, I bet kids in Middle School are gonna be sneaking in their viewing sessions with the volume real low. Seeing Fatman Scoop in his boxers may scar some for life.
Premiers Sept. 29 @ 11pm on MTV.
Sphere: Related ContentOur guy Jabari just wrapped up his exhaustive interview series with Charles Hamilton. In the 4 part series he talks to Charles about his deal, other artists, his background, his music making, shit pretty much everything. Plus catch up other Jabari features you may have missed after the jump.
Part 1:
Part 2:
I’m so glad people are catching on to how great Nardwuar is. He makes me proud to be Canadian. If you’ve never watched/heard Nardwuar do his thing, you’re in for a treat.
Sphere: Related ContentBill Maher can be a little too extreme for my tastes sometimes but this looks good, he hooked up with the director from Borat for this. Expect many protests. NY & LA releases on 10.3.08.
Sphere: Related ContentQuick interview Clinton Sparks did for Karmaloop.tv with TI, pretty enjoyable back and forth talk.
TI: “Hey man, happy times”.
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Via the QN5 Blog
The ever-underrated producer Domingo has a great story about the making of a Big Pun/Fat Joe/Shaq record, originally intended for Shaq’s 1996 album, You Can’t Stop The Reign. I’ll let Domingo take it from here:
Let me set the tone without the deff here..lol…It is around November 1996 Orlando Florida. I am in one of NBA’s most famous players of it’s times house recording for what would be his last solo album. Yes I am talking about Shaquille O’Neal. I had the pleasure of working side by side with him and this is one of the reasons I am always grateful for my career and that is was in my eyes a successful one.
Shaq wanted Big Pun and Fat Joe on a song for his “Can’t Stop The Reign” album and his manager at the time my homie Kevin Mitchell called me and told me Shaq wanted me to do that beat for that song and of course I said ‘Hell yeah!’ because I already knew Pun would kill that song. We all was flown down to Florida and recorded the song.
This song never made the album because of label politics and Shaq scrapped the song. The song has been unreleased and never heard for a very long time until maybe 3 years ago someone bootlegged it and put it out on vinyl. It is still a well sought after record on the net. So I decided to put my lil YouTube skills on a simple basis to work and make a video for the song.
Needless to say, this shit knocks. Grimy beat, killer Pun verse…hell, Shaq is a better rapper than half of these cats out right now. At the very least, better than Jeezy or Rawse.
Oh, and if anyone has an mp3 of this, put up a link in the comments or email me.
Whatever happened to that Twinz album, Puff?
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The candidacy of Senator Barack Obama has put the Hip-Hop community in a unique position to affect a national election. What that position is, exactly, is unclear. Many have characterized Rap artists as petty agitators. Know nothings, who talk for the sake of hearing themselves talk, and have nothing substantial to contribute to the political realm. One of these critics is a writer for the popular conservative blog copious dissent. Here, the writer criticizes Nas for his attacks on Fox News. Next, he described Diddy as an idiot after viewing the artist’s rant on Sarah Palin. This is the video made in response to Nas:
Let me make this clear: I hate the creator of this video with a deep passion. I hate everything that he stands for. I hate his derisive and condescending tone. I hate the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about Rap music, yet acts as if he does. I hate that his voice sounds like Ben Stein got castrated. I truly hate him. And so it makes it all the more difficult for me to concede that somewhere in that dark web of irrelevant, ignorant, conservative bullshit, the man may have point.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from those who find rappers completely illegitimate on an intellectual level, there are those who see hip-hop artists as effective agents of change. Barack Obama himself has said he enjoys Jay-Z, and thinks American Gangster was sending an interesting message. But more importantly there are thousands upon thousands who find hip-hop inspiring on many different levels. The lyricism can be poetic, poignant, and emotional beyond the capacity of many other genres. Harsh truths about social injustice are delved into without precaution. People find hope in Hip-hop. All of this may be true, but what does that mean for Rap’s potential to alter a national action–or even affect peoples political beliefs in the first place.
The American Prospect has an interesting article today entitled From Pop Charts to Politics. The author makes the point that the mainstream nature of rap music makes it difficult for artists to have a legitimate affect on politics. I would go further, and argue that Rap’s roots, the roots that allowed it to become mainstream in the first place, are constantly deterring the genre from having a recognizable position in political discourse.
Lets take a look at the basics of what makes Rap music popular. I find that truly popular songs consist of one of three main subjects: 1) Money 2) Guns and 3) Ego. Take “Swagger Like Us” for example. That fits into both category one and three! Pretty much every Biggie song ever made could be categorized this way, along with the majority of songs by Kanye, T.I., Lil’ Wayne, Dead Prez, Bone Thugs, Eminem, 50, The Game, and many more. Im not saying all rap songs are based on these premises, but the trend is so significant that one can’t help but notice that the roots of Hip-Hop’s themes are anything but kosher. So, knowing this why would anyone take their political advice from a Hip-Hop artist? This question will continue to be a barrier to Hip-Hop’s aspirations to be a more politically involved genre.
Many Hip-Hop advocates might mention the fact that one should separate Hip-Hop artists as people from their music. They might say Nas should be able to criticize Fox News without the baggage of his music affecting the potency of his argument. It’s a good point, but I would argue rap is distinct in this way. Nas can’t separate himself from his music because, if nothing else, his Rap is personal. He should be able to stand behind every one his lines, because he will be first to point out that those lines are who he is. To seperate them is to discredit his music. Bono can sing about death then hold a political rally to defend Darfur. Nas, not so much.
Nas is a rebel of the street corner/ pullin a tec out the dresser/ police got me under pressure
What does this all amount to? Until Rappers can become truly popular without having to meet a certain “swagger” standard, or bash women, or have a certain number of kills on their rap sheet, Hip-Hop won’t have a fighting chance of being a recognizable political force. Maybe one day the rules will change, and Hip-Hop artists will find more productive ways to express their frustration. And then 50 and Kanye and Fat Joe and Masta Ace and everyone will have a big tea party and plant some trees. One can only hope.
Download: Black Spade- Revolutionary Bullshit
Sphere: Related ContentTake a break from getting Love Lockdown (Ver 2) stuck in your head and watch this. Old to some, new to me, features a small interview with Kanye in the middle. Off an episode of UK’s Channel 4 The Album Chart Show from last year.
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Here’s Blu’s set at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco last Thursday (9/11/08) in its entirety. He runs through a bunch of stuff from Below the Heavens and tracks he’s released through his MySpace. And while I’m at it, here’s Johnson & Jonson‘s (Blu and producer Mainframe) new video, “J&J”.
