Black History Month is officially done!

You know, the funniest thing is how insignificant Black History Month has become. How is it celebrated? Is it acknowledged? Does anybody ever say "Happy Black History Month?"

Seems to me that Black History Month is a shallow, superficial show of respect by people black and white who really couldn't care less about any of it. Maybe I missed something, but I haven't heard of any special event, any form of acknowledgement, or anything to celebrate Black History Month.

Valentines Day comes and goes and you know it is Valentines Day; you are reminded over and over again. Black History Month comes and goes, and most people couldn't care less about it.

Oh well, until next year Happy Black History Month!

Latest Blogrolls.......

I got blogrolled at a couple of blogs. I really have to check out at least weekly Mixtapes Etc., which I have not only because I got two jobs and I am not able to go to the local bootlegger as much to check out the CD's this brotha promotes. I have to count on ITunes and Emusic for the latest tunes lately, and that kinda sucks at .99 cents a song. Before you know it, all your grip is out the window messing with that. Plus, all the music is the commercial stuff on ITunes at least, and Emusic has music that I like but which isn't that popular. But anyways, Im blogrolled there at that site, and that's a tight one.

Im also blogrolled at the crappy Right-Wing blog Hennessy's View. Bill Hennessy is a Republican who I have questioned about his beliefs but he is convinced that I am a commie/socialist "fag lover". I like annoying him, and in his comments field I use the name "Soupman" just to get on his nerves. In the blogroll section he has me labled "left". Just because I disagree with him and his world view, he is convinced I am a commie. Hey, whatever works for him, I don't care. I quit commenting to him because I just got bored with his whole extreme worldview that everybody who doesn't love Bush is a "socialist" intent on destroying people like him. Whatever.

Vibe, 50 Cent, other stuff...

You know, it's the craziest thing. It all started out coming home from a long hard day working two jobs, and I just got the latest issue of Vibe. Im so sick and tired of 50 Cents big ass head. His interviews now are just wack. He's talking about how he's dissing Fat Joe, dissing Jadakiss, and I talked about that earlier, but now he's dissing Nas! He was talking about how he had to pay his dues in the NYC scene, and how he's got beef with Ja Rule, and they did songs with him, so now he feels that he has to "destroy" them. He's trying to do what he did to Ja Rule (or what he feels he's done) to Jada and Joe.

I think it's lame that 50 feels that he's gotta diss other people in order to make a point. Thing is, most of these rap fans are lame enough to stop buying an artists album because the more popular artist talked about the other. Personally, I don't really care for Fat Joe; I would never buy an album of his material. I also don't really care for Jada; if anything, I'd buy his bootleg. I'm not going to buy 50's new album either; I may download some tracks, buy a bootleg, or check out the latest mixx CD's if I can get to the bootleggers downtown, but I won't go out of my way to buy the shyt that 50 proudly parades as $16.99. That's bs, I'd rather buy it for $5.00 at the bootlegger.

Another aspect I liked of the latest Vibe was the top 50 most influential hip hop films. I liked the list, it was cool, it had some movies I dig. Here's a partial list of movies that didn't make that list and that I don't know if they are influential, but I liked them more than 8 Mile:

Disorderlies-The Fat Boys as the 3 Stooges, how can you go wrong?

Rappin'-Mario Van Peebles played "Rappin' Hood". Sure it sucked, but it was just stupid funny.

Tougher Than Leather-part blaxpoitation, part action flick, part RUN DMC whopping your azz.

Rhyme or Reason How could they forget this documentary?

The Show Well, this one did kinda suck.....

Delivery Boys Classic sleeper about pizza delivery boys who breakdance. Never mind the plot, the dancings pretty hot....

CB4 Thought Chris Rock sucked at the Oscars? He sucked even worse in this flick!

Fear of A Black Hat Same concept as CB4, lower budget, but better.

South Central-You gotta see this one. No Menace to Society, but unintentionally funny.

Don't Drink Your Juice in the Hood...Unlike "South Central", this was supposed to be funny.....

Chris Rock & 50 Cent


I don't know if it was just me, but I don't think that Chris Rock was any good at all on the Grammy Awards. He did alot of racial humor, alot of halfway decent cracks, but to me, his schtick would be appropriate for the BET Awards or the Soul Train Awards. In the overwhelmingly white Grammies, the whole routine just seemed, I dunno, a little out of place.


I recorded the "State of the Black Union" off C-SPAN this last weekend. I haven't watched it as of yet. What I found funny was the Rev Jesse Peterson, the black Republican "opposing view" on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" who has a very extreme view of Republicans being good and Democrats being evil, and Bush being sent by God and whites being more hard on black people to account for their situation.


50 Cent is talking trash, trying to provoke Fat Joe and Jadakiss by continuing to criticize them, saying they aren't good songwriters. He has a good point about Fat Joe; he was never really all that good at lyrics or songs. Jadakiss on the other hand is pretty cold on the mic, but he doesn't get good sales. I've never really been fascinated by Jadakiss, he sounds like a slower and more hardcore Ma$e. I like that song "Why" of course, but Im not really a hardcore Jada fan. Some of his freestyles are hot, but his songs are halfway decent. I guess I'd have to listen to his albums song for song, which I have not.


I picked up the new issue of Smooth Girl, and it was a decent issue. What stuck out for me was the Allure spread. I'm still recovering from the Kenya Moore cover of the Smooth Magazine issue, that was hot. This one has one of the ex members of Destiny's Child, that girl named Farrah. Speaking of Destiny's Child, Beyonce was hot doing all the songs on the Grammies.

I love that Jammie Fox got the best actor award for Ray; to me that makes up for Denzel getting that award for that ugliness he played in the entertaining yet disturbing Training Day, and Halle Berry's portrayal of the helpless black ho for the racist white in the revolting Monster's Ball. What a piece of crap that was. Jammie Fox got his award I feel in a more positive way; he didn't have to sell his soul.

Jammie's characters in Booty Call and maybe even Player's Ball led a lot to be desired, but he honestly paid his dues doing these movies. In being in Ray and his other movie Collateral, Jammie played positive roles, especially in Collateral. I think that in the end Jammie did a tremendous one up over Denzel and Halle. It may be his only moment in the spotlight, his only moment to shine, but it was a great moment.

Blah, blah, blah.....

One thing I am big on is education. I went to a predominately white high school, and I studied. I studied my butt off. Oh yeah, it was all boys as well. So, with no women around, and not having had a ride or a rep, I just studied. As a result, I could get into the college of my choice.

Less fortunate are the poor children who go to these crappy DC school. I could play the simple "blame the white man" role and say that whites don't care about these schools, and they are f-d up as a result, but that is too easy.

There is these "cat clinics" in the school cafeteria at Eaton Elementary School which is disgusting and unnecessary. Then there is the mercury spill at Cardozo High School. Then there is the mysterious "bad air and mold" problem at the Walker Jones Elementary school.

To me, the schools are the backbone of any community. However, too often, crappy schools will churn out crappy students who have not a chance in hell of succeeding in this society. I guess that if the resources are not there and nobody cares, then these schools can churn out what this society needs-the low paid working class janitors, shopping mall retail store workers and McDonalds crew chiefs.

I'll never forget how Biggie rhymed about how in the ghetto kids had three choices to succeed-hip hop, sports, or the drug game. What can be seen is that in schools you're always going to have your brains, but without resources the schools will not be able to really make that brainy kid the type who will succeed. If the brainy kid is not offered classes like Trigonometry, Calculus, and Geometry because the school may not have the teachers or the school doesn't offer that, then when he gets to college he will be far behind.

What Biggie was saying was that the school's aren't doing it, the combination of that mentality of "being smart is uncool" mixed with crappy schools will produce somebody who has nothing to offer society. As a result, he has 2 choices; either he takes the low paying jobs that are waiting for him because he can't the college degree, or he can get the big dollar$ being a pro athelete or an entertainer. Kids in the hood practically worship and respect athletes, and they have equal respect for most entertainers. That's seen as the road to riches, which require talent and using your brain without classes and studying and all the other stuff the rest of us squares had to do.

Where it get's really sticky is the drug game. Most kids see "Scarface" and get wild. I saw the movie "State Property" the other day. It was a more "hood" version of the movie "Goodfellas" with some of the scenes re-enacted from the gangsta classic. What really had me on pause when I was watching it was the glamour that was projected as part of the world of drug dealing. There was also the alarming disregard for human life; when somebody got "popped" they were seen as weak or soft. One woman got shot and it was all seen as a big joke. The main character played by Beanie Siegel was in the end seen as a hero, when all he was in the end to me was just a no good criminal. Such glorification of the drug trade makes it look like it is glamorous and exciting, and makes drug dealers into heros. This movie was a real piece of shyt, if you ask me. The appeal of this drug dealer subculture is a by product of the lousy schools in the urban areas.

I guess it would be the easy way out to get the talented 10%, the brains and the nerds and move them to better schools using vouchers, but what about the other 90%? What about the bigger problem? All in all, the school will remain like a cancer, festering and ignored and when it becomes a bigger problem, it is too late. It has become a bigger problem, but believe me, my kids are not going to these crappy schools.

Rap News

I haven't ever liked C-Murder. To me he's like the most worthless artist to ever come out of the NO. I like his brother Silkk the Shocker, I like Master P, hell, I even like Lil Romeo better than I like C-Murder. Like T.I., it looks like he's going to Record a Music Video Behind Bars.

Speaking of T.I., it seems like people are half and half on feeling this cat. Some people love him, some hate him. Most females do, you know, most women think he's the lick, but I think that its a bit much to say that he's taking over the rap world, like he's really running stuff.

Other articles

Author: Today's youth forget hip-hop's roots

Controversial Hip Hop Author Adisa Banjoko to Speak at Harvard University Feb. 28th 2005

Blaxpoitation and hip hop


Hip hop history goes way way back and one of the first things that the last generation was checking out was Sweet Sweetback's Badassss Song.

I've seen this movie a couple times, brought a copy, and I don't know really what to make of it. It's like a bit of soft core porn, a big celebration of those "free sex" days of the sixties, and an artistic political statement all in one. It was suppossed to be the beginning of the whole "blaxpoitation" movement, but it seems so different, so far removed from the Superfly and Foxy Brown genre.

The whole theme of all these movies is the idea of the rebellious black man who is defiant against "the man". For me, there's nothing like watching movies like Shaft, Superfly and Foxy Brown and seeing black hero in the end get one up on their enemies. This gave the black audience inspiration and an escape from the reality of dealing with oppressive white bosses, police, crooked politicians all on the news.

Naturally, blaxpoitation was the forerunner to hip hop in defiant black entertainment. For that generation that took in Sweet Sweetback and Shaft faithfully, this was their outlet. Hip hop would do for the late 80's Reagan generation what blaxpoitation did for the late 60's Nixon generation.

Interesting articles

Last week I went to this bookstore and brought a couple of new magazines. An interesting article I am reading is in the International Socialist Review. It's about Bush, and it's titled "Can He Be Stopped"? It's a very good, well written article. Another article I liked was the magazine "The New African" entitled very bluntly "Why Does Nobody Care About Blacks?" The article is not online, so you'd have to find a bookstore that carries that magazine; and it's $4.25 but well worth the money.


Today is the 40th Anniversary of Malcolm X's death. The liberal media elites at MSN have done an interesting write up about his controversial yet enduring legacy. To me, his greatest speech ever, and the most relevant even today, is "The Ballot or The Bullet". Here is an excerpt:

No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver -- no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

I know alot of pro-Bush Republicans will hate Malcolm X with a passion, especially these corny, docile American negros who want so badly to fit in with Republicans. As for American black people as a whole, I don't even expect this kind of philosophy from them. That's why I hold onto and believe fully in Malcolm X.

Now, Im about to dis the hell out of Michigan. In the state where Eminem will be upheld as an icon, Malcolm X grew up as Detroit Red in his hustling days. However, in this same city (and in the state of Michigan), Malcolm X's legacy obscure in city where he grew up In his autobiography, he said this about Lansing:

"I don't know a town with a higher percentage of complacent and misguided so-called `middle class' Negroes."

He spoke nothing but truth. Things in general remain that way.

Reflections Today

You know, it trips me out how these bloggers have gotten it into their heads that they have some kinda clout, and they call the shots and can bring down a man's career.

Now, in regard to this whole concept of being a blogger, I think that it is good for being creative, but the whole thing is that nobody actually sees bloggers for who a lot of them really are-and in some cases that may be a good and bad thing. Most of you bloggers may have nothing to hide, but some others? Well, I don't know. It's always easy to try to assert some kind of power from a keyboard, to be "the MAN".

Even in the hip hop blogger world, my thing is, I hardly read hip hop blogs, may read them once in a while, and they alright for like once in a while, or a blue moon. Some guys Im cool with, some don't know me, and I don' know about the others. But I'll never forget one cat saying that the Alchemist was spamming his comments function as though Alchemist did it personally so people would buy his album. Well, it being on EMusic, and me being a big Emusic enthusiast, I downloaded his whole album and it's hot, and believe me, Alchemist doesn't have time to be messing with some brotha's weblog. Another blogger said that his comments on his blog ruined Talib Kweli's album sales. Well, I didn't give a crap what a nigga said on his blog, I brought Talib's album, and sure, his rapping isn't perfect, but he's far from sounding like shyt. I mean, come on, who the hell in hip hop is perfect at rapping? You could talk shyt about everybody from Tupac to Biggie to Too Short to Cube, but who gives a crap, it's entertainment! This is the music you listen to when you're kicking it, when you're chilling at whatever spot you hang at, you bump in your car, whatever. I appreciate the art as much as the next man, but niggaz are too critical.

But, it's even worse in the mainstream, you got people losing their jobs if these bloggers react negatively, its like you got a legion of pencil necks running to their computers the minute somebody says something unfavorable to the war in Iraq, the US Army or Bush. To me, it's almost like a modern day version of the Salem Witch trials. It sucks, in that this blogging thing is suppossed to be just a form of expressing your views, but people are using it to disrupt people's lives. Like, even on the left you got some of these nuts who threatened one of the guys who was in the White House Press Corps, and they are talking this nonsense to death on these blogs. I don't like the Republicans as much as the next man, but Im not with threatening people's families, which this guy said people were doing. You know how those Republicans love to whine and make a big deal about things, but I dont know, if what he says really happened, I think these bloggers have to answer for that.

I'm not naming names, because I really think that this blogging thing has gotten out of hand. It has gotten reactionary, mean spirited, and ugly. What do you want, the Bush Administration to start pushing for regulating the net? No more of those zany sites on the left, right or hip hop when that happens, the net will become a place like the ol school Prodigy, where we can learn how to pot a plant. That's what you all will get for all this ugliness a lot of you all perpetuate.

Indecency laws?


Let's ban everything and be like the Cleaver family!

I found really amusing watching Congress debate about raising the fines for "indecency" over the airwaves. Now networks over the airwaves (not cable, the internet, or satellite radio) can expect that if a bunch of fuddy duddy backwoods Republicans and their front groups (like the Parents TV Council, and the American Family Association)detect another "wardrobe malfunction" or something as scandelous as another bare breast, the FCC will harrass the networks that these people don't like. It was funny on C-SPAN the reactions of people calling in. There are actually people who want things to go back to the era of Beaver and the Cleaver Family. That's so odd to me, how people would actually want it to be the 50's again. Granted, you'd want to be there if you are white, because if you were black in the 50's, you'd have to put up with all that segregation nonsense and overt racism.


Gee, the 50's was such a swell decade!

Plenty of people expressed their dismay at how it's not like the 50s anymore, where people lived "traditional values". What about those seperate water fountains, or those seperate restaurants? Really moral, huh? Really traditional?

Whites can say, "That racism is in the past", but then never hesitate to
babble about things being "much better" back then without considering that racism that did happen!

That this censorship would bring us back to such an era is such a diversion. The 50s is way behind us, and that is not something I would ever want to get back to. What these people should be thinking about is not Beaver Cleaver; such innocence was just an image, it just never was. All throughout the debate, the Republicans were talking about protecting children. This kind of defensive can be used to justify outright censorship; they could use this defense to ban books they don't like, ban music they don't like and ban teaching sex education (after all, wont that corrupt the children?)

Look, the kids are going to pick up bad habits anyways from the other kids at school! Why don't Republicans and these other goody two shoes and moral stiffs admit that it is human nature for kids to be bad and mischevious? Why are people always trying to sugar coat youth? Hasn't anybody seen the movie the Bad News Bears? Those were the rottenest group of kids, and that movie was made in the 70s! By and large, I grew up around kids like that, and they were bad!


What a tangled web we weave. I wish this never happened.

What scares me next is the next move these Republicans make. Before you know it, they will be back to banning the book Catcher in the Rye. "We must protect the children, they say." Whatever.

Hip Hop in the 80's-Breakdance Commercials


Anybody remember back in the 80's all those hip hop breakdancing commercials? Long before rappers were brought into the mix, and when breakdancing was a worldwide phenomenom, breakdancers were the first celebrities in the hip hop world, and alot of them made some impressive commercials.

Like, I remember this one for Converse where these people were doing these really impressive acrobatic stunts. It was just out there what they did. Two kids were liked linked and the one in front had his feet around the one in back, and both of them did that dance I think that was called the worm. You know, that dance where you have your hands on the floor and you bring your body downward.

I also remember this other other sneaker commercial where these kids did these unbelievable windmills; I would see that all the time on channel 5 from NYC. Alot of the early breakdance commercials were for sneakers because that was what they were wearing; the funny thing about these was that the rapper would be invisible; and you'd hear the music, but the breakdancer would be the main performer.

The trend continued, but it did get corny, like there was a Skittles commercial where these new waver looking kids did these simple dance moves. Then there were the Flinstone breakdance commercials, and you knew that it was all over once you saw the Flinstones breakdancing, trying to hustle the Fruity Pebbles and all the rest of that crap. WTF?

I wished that I caught those commercials on tape; they were truly impressive. At that time, ironically, there were no hip hop videos on MTV, even though it was already a given that hip hop fashion and music could make money, but the whole discrimatory attitude still prevailed; MTV was for rock in the 80's, and you had to be a superstar (like Michael Jackson or Prince) before you could get a shoot on MTV; that's such a contrast from what MTV is now.

I Missed the Grammies

I missed the grammies. They always suck anyways. I watched the Simpsons and Family Guy instead.

The Simpsons show tonight was the one which had 50 Cent in it. Bart goes to a rap concert, gets on stage and does a freestyle rap dissing his Dad. 50 Cent was only in one frame, while the rest of the episode had this fictional MC named Alkatraz. I don't know if this caricture is what the Simpsons producers think a rapper is, but really, he seemed to be pulled straight out of a bad mid 90's gangsta rap video.

The whole episode was not even really funny, but just a crude display of bad gangsta rap cliches-naked girls (though I have no problem with that), low riders bouncing up and down, and everytime Alkatraz's crew got mad they pulled out guns all at the same time. That was about the gist of it. The humor came from the mixing of something as white bread as the Simpsons with hardcore "black" gangsta rap.

This theme continued on tonight's episode of that show Family Guy. As a whole, this series best shows are worse than the Simpson's latest episodes, which have been really bad lately. Fox is taking a chance brining this show back, which was relegated to the Cartoon Network before being revived to fill the void for Sunday Night programming on Fox. Tonight's episode was the whiter than white father figure, kinda a dipstick Dad figure in the same vein as Homer Simpson, finding out he had a black slave ancestor, and all of a sudden he wants to be where black people are before he finds himself unwelcome. Like at a black comedy show like "Def Comedy Jam", he says something in response to the comedians jokes, the black people all are quiet and look at him angrily, and he walks out and hits the emergency exit by mistake. That's the gist of that.

Where these episodes a response to (and mockery of) the Grammies new found funkiness? Hmmm....

All quiet on the Hip Hop Front?

Things have been pretty quiet on the Hip Hop front lately, besides what's been written in some of hip hops popular magazines. In the latest XXL I tripped out about the 50 Cent article, I mean, now he's dissing Jadakiss, saying that he's not a good artist because he can't get past 1,000,000 sales and saying that his artists (G-Unit) are better. I don't know who he's talking about; Lloyd is alright, Young Buck's rhymes are nursery level, and The GAME is cool but he's way overhyped. I'm sorry, but Jada could rip them all, even Lloyd, easy.

Then there is the whole Source/Eminem beef. The Source put out their Power 30 Issue, which I didn't buy. Ever since years ago Master P's house band Beats by the Pound was in there, but now aint nobody ever heard of those cats. I saw that the Power 30 reflected who was doing things at the moment. But the rap industry is like a revolving door; easy come, easy go. But there is the foundation; the industry, which they do cover well. It's cool to see the industry side, but its obvious that recently, the magazine is biased not just against Eminem, but also against people Benzino doesn't like. If Benzino doesn't like them, they don't make the list.

Benzino is wasting record company resources hyping his album, whatever it's called, I don't care, with the full page ads, advertising his latest waste of CD space, with his response to Eminem's equally dreary "Toy Soldiers" song called "Look Into My Eyes". He talks about how, "Oh poor me, I've struggled in the streets, Im mad nice, and nobody will buy my crappy records." Too funny. To me, "Toy Soldiers" sucks, and I couldn't care less about Benzino's response. Of course, the Source is the only magazine that pretends to care about anything Benzino does, and that's why its a joke.

Well, the Grammy's are coming up, Queen Latifah has finally arrived, with fame and all, and she's hosting the thing. That's better than some of the corny comedians who used to host it back in the day. I don't care for these award shows, they always get it wrong. Putting hip hop artists as R&B and gospel artists (not gospel rappers, they haven't gone there yet despite Kanye and Mase)as hip hop artists, and the hip hop vs. rap distinction they at least acknowledge, but they get the two confused. I don't expect much of a change, but according to Reuters, the Grammys Reflect Hip-Hop Culture. Despite this, I probably won't check for them.

I like this article, and this attitude is what I have always been about:Don't go with the trends in hip-hop; go with greatness True dat!

This is funny: But The Game’s advocates might say that he sounds soooo good reliving the past. Who knows? "The Documentary" may just do for gangsta rap what "Happy Days" did for the ‘50s, with The Game as the thug-life answer to The Fonz. Read more in this article dissing The GAME: The Game brings nothing new to hip-hop True enough. I like West Coast as much as any Cali resident, but really, I'd take Kurupt or Crooked I anyday. The Game's appeal comes from his houses getting shot up (a recent bit of gossip I caught on a message board)or that Vibe story where they document his real "thug life". That's cool and all, but to me, GAME just doesn't bring it.

Just a bit of the senseless violence that goes down in DC; this apparently from a neighborhood squabble. I saw this on the news and you had people fighting, doing drive-bys which led to the fighting, just a bunch of nonsense: 2 Teens Wounded In Shooting in SE

In another posting, I want to write my opinion of Bush's words in the State of the Union. I haven't been checking my hip hop sites, so I don't know the reaction:

Now we need to focus on giving young people, especially young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail. Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence. (Applause.) Taking on gang life will be one part of a broader outreach to at-risk youth, which involves parents and pastors, coaches and community leaders, in programs ranging from literacy to sports. And I am proud that the leader of this nationwide effort will be our First Lady, Laura Bush.

I'll write more later.

2 Protests going on, same company


The cats who own Taco Bell/KFC are not having an easy time. A friend of mine told me about the boycott of Taco Bell over the treatment of their workers. I found one article here in the Daily Northwestern. Apparently, the workers who pick the tomatoes are recieving like very little in wages:


The workers -- who pick the tomatoes Taco Bell uses for its food products and are paid per bucket picked -- receive the same wages as they did in the 1970s. Currently the workers have to pick two tons of tomatoes in a single day to get $50.

Apparently, when researching it just now, I found it was an old issue. A concert tour (Taco Bell Truth Tour) was on the CIW online website. I guess I'll have to read up a little more about that one.


Also, the Beastie Boys are joining up to protest KFC with PETA because of the treatment of animals.

These restaurants are owned by YUM Brands. Check out their website.

The Politics of Droppy Pants


I think it is ridiculous in Virginia the attempt to outlaw baggy pants. It is funny to me what some of those nerdy politicians get all worked up about. Some funny quotes:

“It’s not an attack on baggy pants. It’s not about Janet Jackson. It’s not about Randy Moss,” Howell said. “When a person gets to the point that he or she doesn’t want to sit on the porch because of the way people are dressed, it’s time to do something.”

Sitting on the porch? Huh? I don't know, what some of these politicians say just doesn't make any kind of sense to me.

Most of us would identify this as the coarsening of society,” said Del. John S. Reid, R-Richmond. “Underwear is called underwear for a reason.”

On CNN, they had a report about this, and in one scene, they showed a woman's booty with really tight pants and you could see one bit of a thong. I wanted to see that booty again. I'll bet that most of these politicians playing these "Mr Moral Values" roles would have wanted to see that woman's booty again. I wouldn't blame them, but then that would show what hypocrites they are. Looks like in Bush America, it is okay to shove your opinions and morals in everybodys face. Next time you go to Virginia, wear your pants baggy, or any way you damn well please. Screw the politicians! Next time you come in Maryland ladies, show your thongs. It's perfectly legal out here!

Weekly record reviews

As much music as I buy, listen to, download, etc, I have decided to get into doing weekly record reviews. Every Wednesday, I am going to do a different review. My first review will be of the Kansas City rap crew Deep Thinkers. Thanks to Willis at Datura Records for sending me the CD, and I will be getting that together in an entry soon. Anybody interested in sending me some stuff please email me; I'm looking for the struggling independent artists, and though I have access to plenty, I want to learn about more!

Can't Stop Won't Stop

Today, Jeff Chang's book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation was released, and I'm looking forward to getting a copy. I read the sample in the latest Vibe, and it seemed so on point. I'll get the book later on this week. Check out the Can't Stop Won't Stop website. The book even has an introduction written by Kool Herc! You can't get any more real!


When did I first hear about Kool Herc?
In a nutshell, when I was younger and first started listening to rap music back in '84-'85, I wanted to learn as much as I could about this, and I lived in the Connecticut suburbs so I was pretty far removed. I listened to it on the radio, saw some stuff on TV (like that one show wonder "Grafitti Rock")but I picked up some books about it, and I read about how Kool Herc did the best parties, had the best sound system, and he used to do the toasting which evolved into rapping. Then, I saw him in the movie Beat Street, and though he never put a record out, he was, and continues to be, a legend.