DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

"Lets get it, lets get it, lets get it, lets get it"

Yes, that was my Halloween costume.

But lets give it up for our culture that gave a 4th grade boy, from the elementary school that I was at today, the idea to dress up as a pimp. Fitted in a red velour jump suit, a blinged out dollar chain, and a red feathered pimp hat. I chuckled, not believing that his parents would have let him go as a caricature of someone who solicits prostitution. Hell, it could have been his interpretation of a rap star (which seemed to be one of the biggest Halloween/black face minstrel costumes seen this year, a la Flavor Flav and a slew of other instant commodified culture in a box costumes).

So I had to confirm my guess, and proceeded to ask the student what he was dressed as. And proudly, he responds to me, "I'm a piiimp."

Funny thing is, his teacher tells me the boy is a quiet kid who hardly ever gets into trouble, with conservative Mexican parents who wouldn't seem like the type to let their kids go to school dressed up in this type of costume.

What does this say about our culture? And I haven't even touched all the slutty Halloween costumes that are produced for children.

LINKAGE 10.30.2006

O'Reilly's pompous ass on David Letterman: Part 1 & Part 2. He actually admits the Iraq war was about oil.

Hurry up and get your fixings of YouTube, cause all the clips that have probably brought a resurge in viewership for many shows will be taken down.

The NY Times does a tribute piece on "Apache" (c/o Different Kitchen, who kindley linked me here)

Sidenote: "Apache" was actually the song that introduced me to what an actual break was. Back in my freshman year of high school, when me and my friends would have "Planet Rock" on repeat during our Friday night bboy sessions, I was totally unaware of what a break really was until I heard this track on a bboy video. I scoured Napster to locate the track and "Apache" became the next most overplayed song during our sessions, along with "The Mexican" and "Its Just Begun." Make sure to make your way to Soul Sides for some more material on "Apache".

And a case of when "wacky videos happen to great songs" (Soul Sights):


"The Doctor's Advocate" is now officially leaked. I'm giving it my first listen as we speak. Nope, I'm not going to put it up for you, but since I'm sure if you really are looking for it, you'll be able to find it yourself. (Here's the new K-Fed though, not that anybody really cares.) If you can't find it, Discobelle has a couple tracks. The Nas and Just Blaze track is pretty ill. Though the name dropping on the album seems to be a lot worse than the last album. Jay Smooth summed up The Game's position in hip-hop:

Game is the Luc Longley of emcees: nobody's mistaking him for an all-star, but he knows how to play his role on a winning team, and he delivers his usual 10 points and 8 rebounds here.

ZION I, FAB, TYRA, AND OTHER BAY RELATED ISH

Video for the Zion I, Grouch, & FAB slapper, "Hit Em":

(Courtesy of City of Dope)

*Here's a higher quality version of the video.

Some o.g. Fabby Davis ish, from his debut album Nig Latin: video for "He's Sicc"

Peep FAB in the SF Chronicle

Spotted this Craigslist listing at the Siccness forums:

The Tyra Banks Show is looking for teens who "Ghost Ride The Whip" and who have tape! We are looking for people who have GREAT tape of them gost riding the whip and we of course want the crazy clips of GRTW going wrong. Tyra wants to talk to teens get hyphy!

I'm hoping middle aged white guys named Jonathan are restricted from submitting entries.

Some recent knocks:

The Federation - My Rims

I actually miss hearing Bay rappers doing cliche interpolation tracks like this, flippin "Night and Day." And I'm not talking about using songs by Corey Hart or Ray Parker Jr. "My Rims" is suppose to be on the upcoming album Its Whateva, whenever it gets released. Though XXL already gave the album a XL rating.

The Pack - Im Shinin

After "Vans" came out, I wanted to give the Pack a chance, and hoped that these kids from Berkely would actually come out with some decent tracks. For the most part I was wrong, and they delivered half ass songs, with beats that sounded recycled. Well, I guess they've proved to me that they can make another decent song. Too bad, so far, they're only batting 2 for 20 (or however many tracks of theirs were leaked.

Kaz Kyzah - I Go

I heard this track a couple months ago, but never posted it. Kaz Kyzah loops a Biggie line and makes it Bayish. So here you go.

RED RIBBON WEEK

Being that I work within the school system down here in San Diego as a substitute teacher, I have been able to acquire a great deal of knowledge regarding trends with the youth. I'm still not up on my game with what the latest news is on the current state of Nickelodeon or what manga all the cool kids are reading. But I do know that kids love to read books about a guy named Captain Underpants, and yes, Choose Your Own Adventure books are still reppin'.

What I have also learned from my experiences, is that some third graders know how to throw up gang signs (although they don't necessarily know what they mean) and that snap music is more popular among elementary school kids than hyphy music. Dont get it twisted, every now and then, I do encounter a first graders who like to chant "go stupid, go dumb, dumb, dumb... tell me when to go." And I've even had a fourth grader show me how to do the thizzle dance. Moments like these nearly bring a tears of joy to my eyes. In the Bay, I'm sure its more of a common thing to see, but when I see this in San Diego, it shows me the reach of Bay Area music. I guess I could give props to the radio stations down here for showing a growing support for artists like the Federation, DB'z, Frontline, Keak, etc., but the radio stations down here are still wack.

But still, for every seven year old that recites a Mac Dre lyric, there's a bout twenty more seven year olds that won't stop snap dancing in line. Even in high school, with the exception of La Jolla High School, I dont think I have ever had an assignment in the past nine months where I didn't see a tall tee drenched sophmore with an Ipod, walking to class, leaning and rocking with it as he does the "matrix" snap. So sorry Bay Area, Atlanta's got you so far. Hopefully things will change.

Aside from learning about which regional music has a stronger hold on the youth of San Diego, I am also more aware of certain annual events that some of my peers might have forgotten since graduating from high school. We had Crack Week earlier this year, but this week is actually Red Ribbon Week the drug prevention and education initiative coordinated by the National Family Partnership (in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency and it's neverending war on drugs). So in commeration of the week that teaches kids how to use drugs [1], I bring forth a few public service announcements:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tell us not to be a turkey:


You're right Pee Wee, crack is wack:


The commerical with the most classic line of all anti-drug commercials:


If you're still a curious cat and are interested in smoking that wacky tobacky, educate yourself with this accurate report on the effects of drugs:


[1] While I might joke about how much more I learned about drugs through programs such as DARE, I actually think drug education programs (taught properly, of course) would be a very effective and should exist, in such the way that sex education should exist in schools to make students aware and knowledgable of consequences and preventive measures so that one doesn't get burned.

$14.5 MILLION FOR KIM OSORIO IN SOURCE LAWSUIT

By now, if you've made your daily rounds in the hip-hop blog circuit, you probably heard or read about this this morning. But it bears posting here as well.

From AllHipHop

The Source Magazine, Dave Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott must pay $14.5 million dollars to former editor-in-chief Kim Osorio, after a federal jury in New York found she was fired in retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment and gender discrimination on the job.

Osorio claims she was subjected to verbal abuse and threats of physical violence while working at The Source Magazine.

Continue Reading...

NY Daily News starts off their article with "The Bible of Hip Hop is out a lot of Benjamins." Hah... "Bible of Hip Hop."!?

ALL OVER PRINTS = THE NEW POLKA DOTS

The cycle of fashion fuck-ups always re-emerge

Wait, before you go out and waste that $300 on that hoodie with ridiculous looking patterns printed all over the fuckin' thing, lets think back at how dope folks used to think polka dots used to be. Somehow, for whatever reason, the design caught on to become somewhat iconic as urban street wear. It became the thing to rock, especially if you were a back up dancer, but we even had Eddie Winslow and the Fresh Prince sporting it on prime time tv. We even had the the biggest supporter of the design, Kwame, who even dedicated an album to the print's adventures. But eventually, and thankfully, the appeal to such a dumb ass design that must've emerged as a result of some of that shroom and acid poppin that the re-incarnated Daisy Age of the early 90's faded away and became erased from our conscience, just like the "Method & Red" show.

All over print's make even the dumbest look even dumber

The most recent fashion fuck up that I can think of that can illustrate how absurdley goofy the all over prints are would be the infamous every team sports clothing that kids with no sensibility to sports and teams would wear. We all wanted to yell at them and tell them to pick a team ands stick with it. We all know that they weren't proving anything by wearing a jacket with every team logo embroidered on it.

Now we have kids rockin' these ridiculous looking printed shirts and hoodies that shout out to the world that its only going to be rockable for a few more months. Wearing prints of ugly ass ice creams, diamonds, and the now overused brass knuckles only speak volumes about how much you want to fit in to the in crowd. Don't worry boys and girls, we'll have the good folks at Complex to tell us what the latest fashion fad that we need to follow is. And don't trip, that new "it" fashion brand/design will be released by the fuckers (though I will say that they are smart mother fuckers) as a limited release. So you can go ahead and spend that extra couple of bills to let these bastards exploit you.

And now its even gotten to the point that folks other than Lupe type, Hypebeast folks, only rock the design. We've got Lil Weezy's Carter adminstration, Chris Brown, and the kids from The Pack lookin like idiots wearing this shit. To quote the kid who stunts like his daddy, "It's outrageous."

Let's hope The Pack don't make a song about their Bape sweaters [1]

Good lookin on Ian at Different Kitchen for pointing in the direction of Don't Believe the Hypebeast, a funny ass blog that takes jabs at the current state of "urban street wear". But what the fuck is urban streetwear nowadays than, rich hegemonic types who try their best to keep it hood by rockin grills with their Bape or Ice Cream hoodies? Just ask Serg.

Just when I think things were already bad, DBTHB shows me these.

To continue with capitalistic consumer themed post, ProHipHop breaks down the interesting placement of the Armand de Brignac champagne in Jay Z's new video "Show Me What You Got".

Unrelated, but worth sharing: A time when Biggie and Tupac were still cool.

[1] Unfortunately, I've heard a song from some other youngins who actually profess their love of Bape hoodies and theirs isn't fake because it zips all the way up.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY

Why do people even celebrate Columbus Day anymore?

"Columbus and Western Civilization" by Howard Zinn

"They never mention this in history class
Cause o'fays are threatened when you get the real lesson"
-Ras Kass, Nature of the Threat

Justice for Leonard Peltier and for all indigenous people's of the world!



Freedom from dumbass Presidents.



And in other non-colonial/mass genocidal news, but nonetheless, an opportunity to exploit Black culture:

The continued commodified exploits of the Furl and another opportunity for drunken white frat boys to be rockin minstrel costumes for Halloween. And for an additional six bucks, cop it with some stunna shades.

JESUS BOOT CAMP CLICK

"I want to see them laying their lives down for the Bible"

I posted the trailer for Jesus Camp a little over a month ago and was finally able to watch the film that has been winning "scariest film" awards at various film festivals. The film has garnered much media attention the past couple of weeks due in part to its controversial representation of the Christian Evangelical movement in America, the brainwashing of the youth, and its influence on right wing political agenda.

Interestingly enough, the attention given by the media has shown mixed reaction from the Evangelical movement on the film. Pastor Ted Haggard has lambasted the movie for its demonization of the Christian right, while Becky Fischer, the children's pastor in the film, has praised the film's portrayal of her Christian youth camp. In the film, Becky Fischer points out the terrified reactions that secular progressives might have when seeing the fanatacism of the children in her camp, but notes that it shows the power and importance of her Evangelical movement towards the youth.

Throughout the film, I was one of those secular progressives watching with a "what the fcuk is going on with these wackos" look on my face, as seven year olds are on their knees crying and repenting for watching Harry Potter and reading about warlocks, a white boy reflects on his decision to be saved when he was five years old because he "wanted more from life," and an entire ministry follows the female pastor and begin to speak in tongues. The way the children become taught to have only one way of thinking and believing, rejecting nearly anything to do with science and all that has to do with evolution, is frightening. These children are told of the importance of their generation and how they are the key to bringing Christian salvation to the sinful world of non-believers who will all be condemned to hell if they do not become "born again."

"Their" generation is to spread the word of Jesus. Though, at times it seams as though, the words of peace and acceptance spoken by Jesus become overlooked for a more condescending and condeming belief. This belief also aims to assure a stronghold on American politics for the Christian right and to institute their religious beliefs within government.

One of the fundamental ideals that this country was built upon was the need for the separation of church and state. When the church and state become too intertwined, tyranny of (a) certain religion(s) may take power and suppress all that don't hold on to the same beliefs. Take a look at countries that do not have such a secular state (ie: Afghanistan, Iran, etc) and see how oppressive the insitution becomes when the separation of church and state are not clear.

While there is a specificity of Christian and Muslim religions in the discussion of religion and secular governments, it goes beyond the two groups. Religion can serve a positive role in society, but one must see the dangers that exist when religious dogmas become perverted, corrupted, and imposed upon a population.

The indoctrination of children, who are never allowed to socialize with other youth, who may hold differing views, due to homeschooling, is all the more frightening when they are being shaped to follow the path of the reactionary right. A wing of hypocrites who fail to even hold onto their own moral high grounds. If the movie shows the viewer anything, it should illuminate us to hold a more cautious eye towards this wing and the influence that is yielded over it from a group that seeks only to desingrate the civil liberties of the country.


"We're being trained to be God's army" - Levi, kid with the ill duck tale hair cut

CoupTube

Arguably the best "conscious" hip-hop group rockin' it right now. Funky melodies and revolutionary lyrical content blend so well when Pam the Funktress and Boots Riley put everything together.

The Coup - Dig It


The Coup - Funk


The Coup - Me & Jesus the Pimp in a 79 Granada Last Night


The Coup - Fat Cats & Bigga Fish


A more recent video,

The Coup - We Are the Ones


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And, go vote right now for the BARS (Bay Area Rap Scene) Awards. Mike T says its rigged. I say vote for "Super Hyphy" for song of "da" year.

"Tell Me When To Go" might have been the crossover jump that we were all waiting for, but "Super Hyphy" was the joint folks in the Bay were slappin' the trunk endlessly until MTV gave hyphy air time to "TMWTG". Over a year old, I still can't get sick of the song. And Traxxamillion brought such an infectious beat, he decided to even recycle the same bass line and more on "On Citas". And that song was still fiyah. While "TMWTG" brought a slew of sub-par remixes, with one decent Bay all star collaboration, nothing can fcuk with the Thizz remix of "Super Hyphy".

While we're all in the voting mood, vote for Touchblue's entry into San Diego Asian Film Festival's Michelob Light Flicks 2006 commercial competition. Objectively speaking (and not cause these dude's are my homies), the other commercials are wack in comparison to theirs. So vote right here. And make sure to vote for "Something for Everyone" directed by Touchblue.