The GBM

Last week Rafi from Ohword and Dallas Penn from Dallas Penn brought the world a video that took the hip hop blogosphere collaborations to heights that the Tower of Babel could have never achieved. The Ghetto Big Mac clip is a clip that could have the potential to do for McDonalds what the "Vans" song could do for Vans shoes.

The video has already been getting hella rotation throughout the blog-world, and has even generated a bit of hate.

After watching the clip, I was overcome with curiousity (a curiousity that will probably kill this cat with clogged arteries) to try out the GBM, even though I rarely ever eat at Emcee Donalds. On the drive down back to San Diego from Turlock this past weekend [1], I ordered the burger, just the way it was ordered in the video, at the McDonalds at the Laval Rd. exit right before the Grapevine. For $2 (the double cheeseburger and the small order of fries) the burger was pretty much on point as a cheaper Big Mac alternative. It should be noted, though, that there are some spots where they have $1 Big Macs, I've only seen these locations around Los Angeles; so if you live around these spots, there's really no point in ordering the GBM. The only thing that I failed to add on, which wasn't added in the video either, was the lettuce.

Also, I should add that after 30 min of having consumed the GBM, indigestion hit me up, but that always happens to me after eating anything at McDonalds (why I still eat that shit? Blame it on hegemony).

While I do give it up for Rafi and D. Penn for bringing to light the GBM, its all about ordering a burger at In-n-Out with fries inside and ordering $1 chicken sandwhiches at any fast food joint with buffalo sauce (innovated by Mark Marcelo) [2].

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[1] I rolled up with the homie, Larry, who was able to be a witness to the oddities of Turlock, seeing real live cowboys that went straight to Wellington Station from the Stanislaus County Fair. Its an odd thing to see cowboys at a bar giggin' to Mac Dre.

[2] Order that shit without mayo and pour the buffalo sauce to get you a buffalo chicken sandwhich.

leave the scraper at home...

...its all about ghostridin' the BART.

Spotted at CantStopWontStop: free public transportation = change in venue for sideshows

On one Spare the Air Day, said BART police Chief Gary Gee, "we had a train car taken over by 10 young males in white T-shirts and baggy pants, and they were holding the door open and acting like they were on the playground.

"In certain trains, people were pretty terrified by their rides," he said.

I say its just due to the progressive nature of the Bay Area. Bay kids know the threat caused by increased carbon monoxide emission from the Buick Le Sabres and are just doing their part in preventing global warming.

Catholics Gone Dumb

"Put ya stunna shades on"

DJ Mark Marcelo - Holy Ghost Ride the Whip

According to an article from Pitchfork, Keak states, "Hyphy's a ritual to us, a religion." With that said, one cannot overlook the overt Catholic/Judeo-Christian inspirations within 2006's biggest Bay crossover track, "Tell Me When to Go". The parallels between references in the song and hyphy culture in general to Catholicism is like a lemon to a lime.

Let's begin with the opening 40 Water lines:

Jesus Christ had dreads, so shake em
I aint got none, but I’m planning on growing some
Imagine all the Hebrews going dumb
Dancing on top of chariots and turning tight ones

Within these lines, not only does E-Feasible, aka Earl Stevens, illustrate the religious inspiration to going dumb going as far back as the persecuted Hebrews, who like the communities in politically abandoned Oakland, could likely have created their own subcultural celebratory rituals to escape from the oppression they faced from the Romans and Egyptians. What may also be of even more importance is the claim made by Earl Stevens that Yeshua Ben Yosef did not have the long flowing blonde hair that many of us have been socially constructed to believe he had, but instead had dreadlocks. Stevens does not directly state that Jesus was Black or even Brown, but one can definitely allude to Steven's argument for the erasure whiteness from the image of Jesus within his lyrics. From this, we can see the religious historical revisionism with which hyphy can be used as a tool.

The religious statements do not end with E-40 Fonzarelli, but are also extended by Keak da Sneak, aka Charles Kinte Bowens, who gives direct shout out to the miracles of the late Pope John Paul II:

I said they couldn’t be saved by John the Pope

The Catholic undertones with Bowens' verse is striking; not only does he acknowledge the spiritual strength of the Catholic Church's highest ranking official, but the aesthetics of his lyrical delivery are very much like that of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, is acknowledged by many in the Christian community as a very high spiritual point for humans to be able to speak in a language only understandable by God. Keak exemplifies the spirituality that exists within the hyphy culture that can be related to the spirituality that exists with many Christian groups. When Keak and others say "yarrrrrramean!", it can be described as the Bay's own version of speaking in tongues.

Giggin', turf dancing, or simply the dance that fools do when they're hyphy, is reflective of a spiritual manifestation of the Holy Ghost taking control of one's body. Mistah FAB created a tribute song for Mac Dre entitled, "The Furley Ghost", in which he tells folks to "let Dre get in your soul and lose control." While it would be interesting to capture the thizz inspired energy of Mac Dre, one should not overlook the power of the Holy Ghost in giving many hyphy individuals to do the things they do.

Pat Robertson and Pope Benedict, take note, cop a white tee, some grillz, and shake your helmet.

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On a separate note, after all that corporate controversy that happened at Rupert'sSpace.com, DJ Mark Marcelo's Myspace page has been back and running. And on it, you can find a preview of his latest "Dummy Mix" that he recorded live from a gig he had up in Sweden, along with his own interpretation of "Tell Me When to Go" over "Ave Maria", which he calls "Holy Ghost Ride the Whip."

"Vans" sneak peak and Mistah FAB giggin' with Slimer

The Wolfpack aka The Pack, have a trailer for the "Vans" song. Peep it. (spotted at differentkitchen, damn... when a dude from NY is getting Bay news faster than me, I know I need to step my game up)

The video is allegedly premiering on MTV and BET in 2-3 weeks. My prediction: this song is gonna blow up. Its catchy as fuck, the beat becomes imprinted into your head after the first listen, and its riding that hip-hop skater trend that Lupe's been getting on. Word is its already getting play throughout the nation, now it just needs to get that MTV audience, and these kids from Berkeley will be getting their shine. Honestly though, I'm not sure how their longevity will be. The other tracks I've heard from the group just ain't up to par with this commercial jingle. I could be wrong though.

Mistah FAB - Ghostride It

Fabby Davis Jr. revisits Ray Parker Jr. with the help of Sean T (producer of MD's "Feelin' Myself") to bring us this dumb stoopid track. This track is comedy. First person to show me a video of them ghost riding this whip gets a prize.

Chicago inquiry finds police tortured Blacks

Chicago inquiry finds police tortured Blacks

Special prosecutors investigating allegations that police tortured nearly 150 black suspects in the 1970s and ’80s said Wednesday they found evidence of abuse, but any crimes are now too old to prosecute.

How does the Israel/Lebanon crisis affect Pilipinos?

I'm sure many are aware of the evacuation of foreigners from Lebanon, but to let it hit home for some of my Pilipino brothers and sisters, remember the 30,000 overseas workers in Lebanon.

Pilipino overseas foreign worker's trying to evacuate Lebanon

OFW's in Beruit flee to churches

And a list of countries evacuating nationals from Lebanon. Philippines has the second most number of nationals in Lebanon.

so is this what the peace process looks like?

Is it justified to bomb and air raid an entire civilian population for the return of two hostages? (Btw, in no way am I trying to devalue the lives of the two Israeli soldiers)

Hopefully others are keeping as close of an eye to the conflict in Lebanon as I am, but as it stands, Israel doesn't appear to be letting down on their actions.

I guess, we shouldn't be so surprised by Israel's arrogance.

If you haven't been following what's been going on, here's a quick lesson on key milestones with the Middle East crisis.

Fleeing Lebanese Speak of Indiscriminate Bombing

From the brilliant mind of Bush, "See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."

Junichi discusses his thoughts on the Bombs over Lebanon. There's a really interesting back and forth discussion at Poplicks with O-Dub and others.

Apparently, the crisis in the Middle East is now being described as the beginnings of World War III.

Linkage

Davey D drops some knowledge about Filipino Hip Hop

Is the hip-hop audience really 80% White?

Common among the 25 biggest wusses

Game discusses being on "Change of Heart" with Jay Smooth

Regional hip-hop trends are sprouting up like weeds right now, but which has the best and worst dance style?

Speaking of regional hip-hop scenes, the freshest regional scene has just brought us this fresh to def video for "18 Dummy" by The Federation. Watch it here.

While we're on the topic of Bay rap, I just picked up Treal TV 2 today, haven't yet had an opportunity to check it out. But if your in San Diego, Access Hip Hop in Pacific Beach has it.

Petition to release J Dilla's MCA album

Fuck It

So I wasn't originally planning on posting up my own list of the top singles of the first half of 2006, but, fuck it.

Here it goes, in no particular order:

Traxamillion feat. Too $hort and Mistah FAB - Sideshow
A instant Bay slap classic. Trax did justice to his homage to Richie Rich's homage to sideshows, with the help of Short Dogg and the self proclaimed Tony Hawk of the ghetto.

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Haters want to constantly argue the un-hip hopness of this track... fuck em. The biggest crossover track of the year doesnt always have to suck.

TI - Why U Wanna
The ultimate summer jam of 2006. King, overhyped? Maybe, but the album still came with it on bringing the heat with singles. And as much as I'm a fan of "What You Know", this one got much more rotations by me due to the throwback laid back feel. Peep the remix with Q-Tip.

The DB'z feat. E-40 - Stewie
As they say in the Bay, this song go. Droop-E blessed us the DB'z with a heater, and he even did us all a favor and didn't rap on the track, but let his dad do the thang.

DJ Unk - Walk It Out
I first caught wind of this song when I heard a remix of it playing in the background of this clip of these 2 dudes doing various snap dances. Apparently there's more to snap dancing than leaning with it and rocking with it, and snap songs could also be more layered and complex than "Laffy Taffy." Snap dancers, make sure to submit your applications to be in the video.

Ghostface Killah - Back Like That feat. Ne-Yo
Ghostdini brought us the first great hip hop album of the year. And while I wasn't originally a fan of Ne-Yo due to his overly cheese filled "So Sick", dude does have talent. There are a couple other tracks on the album that could have been put on this list instead of this, but this track just shows how gully Ghost can come off on r&b/hip-hop tracks.

Ray Cash - Bumpin My Music
If I made a song about artists that I played in my car, it would probably sound something like this, but shitty.

Lupe Fiasco - Close Your Mind
Social commentary often comes off rather dry and preachy. But this ethnic studies lesson from Lupe from the leaked version of F&L, was the stand out track for me. Hopefully this song remains intact and Lupe doesn't do anything to fuck it up for the finalized release like getting Mike Shinoda for a cameo.

Baby Cham - Ghetto Story
Controversy propels songs to great heights. I guess the descriptions of the gritty and stark realities in Jamaica scare the elite, especially since we know that singing songs of reality aren't really what they want people to hear. Peep the remix with Alicia Keyes.

Method Man feat. Lauryn Hill - Things They Say
Apparently even with all the crazy shit that Ms. Hill has been doing, she still has it in her to make a really good collaboration track with Method Man. This song finds itself really showing a reflective and more mature Meth, as oppossed to being a spokesperson for deodorant.

Honorable Mentions:
Ghostface Killah - The Champ
Champ Bailey - U C It
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
Busta Rhymes feat. Q-Tip and Chauncey Black - Can't Hold a Torch
The Coup - We Are the Ones

Some tracks to peep (both courtesy of Discobelle):

Nump feat. MIA - Grapes (remix)

Cassie - Me & U (Silk remix)

the "pixie skit"

Here's the Chappelle skit that my last post was about. Watch for yourself and discuss.

racial politics and chappelle

After catching the first episode of Chappelle's Show's Lost Episodes, I was pleasantly surprised with what they were able to scrap together, considering the magic of its host displaced. Donnell Rawlings (aka Ashy Larry) and Charlie Murphy did well to do their best in filling in for Dave, although it was evident that there was an emptiness on the stage, even though it was two men replacing one. There is an eeriness that exists watching the segments, in that one can’t help thinking about the incidences that took place that led Chappelle to walk out. And as has been revealed, this theory was dentures (fake like false teeth?... eh, I guess I should leave the slanguage creations to Forty Water).

According to this Times article, many things lead him to disembark on his own pilgrimmage, but it was a sketch about a Black faced Pixie that sparked Chappelle to rethink the route of the show. On the Oprah Winfrey Show, he discussed an unsettling laughter, from a White guy that left him questioning whether or not he was challenging racial stereotypes or merely reinforcing them, during the filming of this sketch. I was actually able to get a hold of the next two "lost" episodes and saw the aforementioned Chappelle's Show sketch. I don't want to tell too much because I think it would be better for each person to see it first before coming to any sort of conclusion. Though, it was interesting for them to have a discourse about the racial representations that have were exhibited, even though some people did have some stupid ass responses.

I just recently watched Spike Lee's film, Bamboozled, for the first time, and I have to say, it came at a very interesting time, especially after the whole Chappelle incident and even more after watching the new sketch. There has been several discussions about the trend of minstrelsy in hip hop, and the perpetuation of "porch monkey" caracatures by certain performers, so this discussion isn't something that is only looked at historically. What Chappelle went through is not unlike the decisions that several characters in Bamboozled had to make regarding the potrayal of race on stage. Chappelle used satire, but at what point did that satire become a tool for exploitation by Comedy Central and Viacom?

If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of the Dave Chappelle and have been following up on his career religiously ever since I first saw his "Killin Em Softly" stand up. What draws me to his type of comedy is the same reason why Richard Pryor was so important to his generation. Both men create a platform for racial discourse through comedy, by pushing the envelope consiously. And I'm not talking about how Carlos Mencia plays on race(fool is fuckin wack sauce and exploitative). But, questions still have to be asked regarding the represnation of race, especially with comedy. Where does the line of racial comedy get drawn? Are these representations of race challenging stereotypes or reinforcing them? Are white folks laughing too much? And finally, where does Chappelle go from here?

here's another one

Damn, I should just put up the entire show on here. But this clip is priceless, even though a good majority of the viewers who saw this probably didnt get the reference.

"I wrote this long time ago... back in '94"

This skit, from the first episode of Chappelle's "Lost Episodes," has already been making its rounds on the net. But the genius of this one is too great to not post up.

Dave said that he would be more than happy if none of his fans watched these new episodes. I'm a fan and all, but screw that, I've been waiting damn long to see what the episodes were all about. So far, its been quality. And although Ashy Larry and Charlie Murphy are cool and all, its unfortunate Dave couldn't be the one hosting his own show.

to all the killers and the hundred dollar billers

Just yesterday, a good friend of mine and a frequenter of this blog, pointed out something about my blog of which I had never noticed. The acronym for "Fear of a Brown Blogger" is F.O.B.B. For those unknowing, the term "fob" is a term that has been used to derogatorily describe a newly arrived immigrant to the United States, in which fob stand for "fresh off the boat". I personally prefer the flip that Nump had created, "fresh off the block". (Slightly related, check out the Bindlestiff production "Fob Show" if you ever have an opportunity, or cop the dvd that can be purchased at the site.) As a 1.5 Pilipino-American immigrant generationer, I have personal connections to the word "fob" and find very problematic issues with the use of the term, especially when used to create intracultural (is that even a word?) conflict among Pilipino-Americans. What a coincidence it is to realize that the acronym for the name that I created for this space I use to rant and post up random links has a connotation to a word that negatively defines the very essence of American culture.

So, I hope the few of you that have stumbled upon this blog have enjoyed what I have had to present in this space, with this blog nearing its one year anniversary in a month. Hopefully I've awakened some urge for some of y'all to seek more information regarding some of the issues that I've discussed and maybe have even taken action on certain things. And at the least, hopefully some of y'all have found some form of entertainment in at least one of my posts.

With the nearing of this blog's birthday, I've actually had the idea of changing some shit around, maybe get a url, make things more visually appealing, and even have a contributing blogger. It's all still being brainstormed with the same homie who pointed out the acronym, but we'll see if it actually comes into fruition.

On a side note, congratulations Manny!