Whatcha doing this weekend? Is it on and popping fresh dough? Dead ass? Knowledge is for free so you should be bountiful in that aspect.
I likes my sci-fi (fux the new spelling) but I deal in reality. In Brooklyn, NY there was this movie theatre, The Commodore, right off of Broadway, at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge. They used to have the 2 movies for $5 special and you could burn in there and smuggle your 40’s and munchies. I’m talking fresh new movies, no repeats. It ain’t fly like that anymore practically anywhere (but there’s a drive in over here in OR), so I will reminiscence over that. But that got me in the habit of going to see a movie, even if I was alone. Like you can’t bag one at the flicks.
SHOULD be able to bag one anywhere you’re at.
So hell yeah I went to see “Eli”. Dead afternoon and I caught the matinee special for $4. Provide my novelties and I’m good. But what I didn’t expect was the visual to everything I have been saying and stating. Burn 1, or 2, or whatever you do, and make sure you check this one out. This is the one you need to see, but of course with everything else going on right now it wouldn’t be a surprise if you missed it, that’s why it was released in January from the door. If the funds make you not the one, watch it online. It’s there if you have faith in the information superhighway. Disclaimer says I never stated DL’d.
So I’m cooling out, keeping a low profile on a dead Saturday. Just came back home from Red Lobster, getting my “Rick Ross” style on with the finest of crab-meats (I co-sign the shrimp deal) with the girlfriend and we decided to lay back in comfort and watch “Bucktown”, with Fred Williamson & Pam Grier (shouts to the original Foxy Brown and the awesome boobies). Me growing up in the “Blaxploitation” Era, I tend to gravitate towards these movies whenever they are on cable. Platform shoes aside, I actually like to see the fashion sense we had during those days.
But you know me. I start thinking about one of the most iconic & influential African American shows ever on television and I ask, “What happened to Soul Train”? After doing a brief recon over at Wikipedia, all I can do is shake my head in disappointment. (II).
We took the L with this one folks.
To even accept the fact that this show is regulated to only being seen on YouTube in clips is a fail. This show was responsible for a lot of people’s music careers. If you got the Soul Train co-sign and call to perform, you had a hit. Simple and plain. Even a lot of the Soul Train Gang parlayed their TV appearances into television or music industry careers. Hell Mr. Johnson wouldn’t have sold all of that Afro Sheen if there were no Soul Train Saturday mornings. What they wore, how they danced, what they said influenced our Saturday nights and the week ahead. To have an award show named after it but no actual airtime programming is an atrocity.
I mean seriously, are we always “on to the next one” to the fact that we discard what is beneficial to us in the first place? I’m all for looking forward and the creation of new things as well, but what have we created that has taken the place of Soul Train? 106 & Park cannot and will not EVER be anything close to a Soul Train so save the “our generation” argument, it’s not gonna work. Look at the decline of good music and the disinterest in the Black Arts these days.
I will say this, when Mr. Johnson got on his BET grind, one of the stipulations should have been to take Soul Train FROM Tribune Broadcasting, take the syndication label away from it, and give it big boy status on BET. BET could have been running re-runs of the past shows, giving the old heads something to enjoy, and at the same time schooling these youngin’s. Those episodes easily show you stage presence (even though some lip-syncing was done), Black music culture, Black couture, and again QUALITY MUSIC.
They should have BEEN released DVD sets. 12 million views on YouTube would give me a hint that people want to see Soul Train. Salutes to a pioneer. I too wish you love, peace, and SOOOOOOUUUUULLLLL!
A little nostalgia:
Rufus f/Chaka Khan “Fools Paradise”
The Dramatics “In The Rain” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFZcF4WIFkI
Bonus: When style biting goes wrong…
When you did it right 3 years earlier. RIP The King of Pop.
Notice how the Soul Train videos aren't even from the Soul Train YouTube page. SMH
Kibblez & Bitz:
Is it me or are those recent Drake leaks utter moldy cornbread?
Do you really think Nicki Minaj will be able to sell an album filled with that annoying voice?
Why is Khaled still called a DJ when he doesn't spin records?
* Portions of this post were already written at XXL, by yours truly. More has been attached to the post soooo, go thru it again. And excuse the Caps but I am stressing important issues. *
I used to spend $20-$100 weekly on music. Now the industry is lucky if I spend $100 a YEAR.
OB4CL2-$10
BP3-$5 burnt copy from my homie
Estatic-$10
Survival Skills-$10
DOOM-$10
Fashawn-$5 burnt copy
Cudi-burnt copy for a blunt
Jadakiss-barter swap (original CD)
Cam’ron-$8
BISD-$15-2 DVDs & CD is a deal
Relapse-$14(deluxe edition)
DTR-4 $1 iTunes downloads
Slaughterhouse-$10
Escape Route-FREE burnt copy
Blackout!2-barter swap (original CD)
BlaQKout-barter swap (original CD)
Rakim-$10
Alchemist-$5 burnt copy
Chamber Music-$5 sale in store
See all the burnt copies? No bootlegs. Bootleg recording is an otherwise unavailable audio or video recording of a live performance or screening distributed without consent. It’s easier for my homie down the road to come over and smoke and I get my music and compensate him for his blank CD usage. He paid for an AVAILABLE recording (store bought) and duplicated the files. I supported dudes who I felt earned my support by buying through the means of the ancient practice, going to a retail store. But as I finish this posting, you will see even this ancient practice really makes no sense these days.
Now peep game people:
Say IF I went to Best Buy, bought “Attention Deficit” for $10, and while I’m at the crib with the homies smoking or playing Xbox or watching the game, dudes want a copy, I burn it and they compensate me with a fiver, who’s stopping the hustle? I’m not trying to retail them in the STREET, LIKE DVD’s, and WHICH IS HARD TO DO BECAUSE OF FBI STUFF AND BLU-RAY CHIPS AND ALL THAT. THERE ARE NO CODES AND CHIPS FOR MP3’S! I’m not posting it on the web nor is it UNAUTHORIZED.
I am replicating the MP3’s for my friends in the crib. And it’s THE SAME QUALITY CD. Most cats don’t want album art. This is one of the scenarios where Billboard can’t count units and the companies can’t control the usage of a purchased CD. A cat could make $50 off of a PURCHASED $10 album, IF it’s that good. Then if a dude likes the album they MIGHT go to the store and purchase it, WHICH BY THEN IT’S CHEAPER AT THE STORE. THE ALBUM BUZZ IS DEAD, the store needs shelf space for the next CD.
Back then, YOU COULDN’T DO THIS WITH AN ALBUM. OR A MINI-DISC. Cassettes lost quality over usage or popped so you had to replace them. You had to know someone in the industry to make white-labels, album bootlegs. How else would you get the mastered reel to reels? And even then you were more concerned with putting out your OWN music (remember scratching and mixing? Those were the days). Mini-Discs could read mp3 and WAV files, but it would convert them to ATRAC files. You couldn’t send it back to the computer to record. Sony actually released “Nastradamus” on MD. And by the way I loved the MD player and format. I would just plug the player into the headphone jack in ANY system, even a TV, and record. Sony dropped the ATRAC format because they got scared they were going to lose money because of the MP3 conversion.
SUCKERS! THEY HAD THE CODES OF THE FUTURE!
BECAUSE OF CORPORATE GREED and TECHNOLOGY, now you can play any CD on your computer while your friend puts his or her iPod/mp3 player in the USB port and he/she’s got that music. Drag the icon. THIS IS EASIER THAN BURNING A CD! My iMac has 5 USB ports! Does anyone even remember when CD/DVD players wouldn’t read burnt CDs or DVDs? The GREED made them give in, when they had the means to suppress duplication from jump-street! It’s even easier now! The MEMORY CARDS (SanDisk) and PDA’s have it to where all you need to do is sync the phone with the computer!
Don’t believe me? OB4CL2 is sitting on 140,000. But it seems like a million plus people know the whole album. Jay is probably really at 3 mil instead of reaching out for 2 mil.
Realize that album leaks come from the transfers of MP3 files through email. Most leaks are INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS OF ALBUMS that are sent to the DISTRIBUTOR FOR REPLICATION AND PACKAGING. The only way to stop someone from taking your music online is THE MUSIC FLASH PLAYER. But don't get too happy, just like you can build a flash player, YOU CAN DISMANTLE ONE.
Have you guys noticed this? If you have LIMEWIRE, YOUR MUSIC FILES ARE LOCATED IN YOUR iTunes LIBRARY? Your entire MP3 library is now SHARED. I know that SanDisk is actually thinking of selling music on the memory card format. But I just showed you this would not change the unit-selling problem. It would be as easy as taking your memory card and copying the audio folder to my phone (gotta have a card yourself or enough phone memory), then going to the crib and synching the phone or card to the computer, then burning a CD and I have Jay-Z’ album ready for the car. Buy that person a drink or some smokes and all’s well. That’s not bootlegging. That’s a technology loophole.
So how do we change game $yk? There are a couple of ways:
Recording an album? DO NOT CONVERT THE FILES TO MP3 AND BURN CDs. Keep them as DATA FILES. HIDE THE FOLDER OR ENCRYPT IT ON YOUR DESKTOP. LEAVE PC ALONE AND INVEST IN MAC (Jewel: When the Feds had Bill Gates cornered, one of the deals was that he had to OPEN UP THE EXPLORER BROWSER LANGUAGE, thus your many viruses). If you need to run around with the music, BUY A MINI-DISC. Put the tracks on there. PLUG IT IN A SOUND CONSOLE WHEN YOU WANT AN AUDIENCE TO HEAR IT. I HAVE DONE SHOWS THIS WAY. Beyond that they can listen on the headphones. And them players are cheap as hell now. No scratched CDs and the music can’t be stolen if you’re not looking. Remember it’s a different file format. Refuse Company’s MP3 email request. Send a DATA FILE FOLDER. Labels used to have reels, DAT players in house. Someone should be there to transfer the data files, whatever program it’s from. And even so, this transfer should happen ONLY when it’s distributor time.
A small time artist? SELL T-SHIRTS, GIVE THE CD FOR FREE. If you have no barcodes it’s a waste of time anyway making a CD. Would you rather sell a 10-15 dollar t-shirt? Or a badly mixed and replicated CD for $5? Doing a show AND have barcodes? Every ticket sold comes with a CD, which would be scanned upon entering the venue. But mufukka’s like clothing. Don’t forget it’s a recession and a t-shirt can be a collector’s item. Do a 50 Cent move, you can’t cop the JMJ doc w/o getting BISD, package them together and scan the CD, not the shirt. SMALLER TIME ARTISTS get the web downloading game going and try to keep your material relevant TO GOOGLE ADS. Make them web hits work, or start looking at another hobby. If I can get Drake’s CD for blunt smoke, why am I buying your street “Listen To My Demo” mixtape? I’d buy some fly ass stickers with cool artwork though. No shots, but think about it.
Got bread like that? First laugh at all of the entertainment companies that actually gave away their security just to ride the wave and then go hire a computer G to find a way make them codes. Just remember I’ve already got a head start on that mission right there. I’m just showing my people how screwed up the game is, and how big corporation wants to blame us for their mistakes (greed). If there were better music and better artists, this issue would still exist. Even with my recording an album game changer, the tech set up out here is on SHARE (compatibility). At least you would have a minimal chance of album leakage and your 1st week numbers won’t look anemic.
yesterday, on Bol's post on XXLmag.com, a discussion erupted. his post was about the black woman complainin about Reggie Bush bein on the cover of Essence cause he was wit Kim Kardashian, who is not black. (but what is that nowadays? have they seen that ass?) me, of course, u know i went in.
but then a female commenter, Mousie, came into the forum and commented and then the fellas all went into this apologetic, apathetic stance. some even optin to take back what they said (shame on you nicholasdelorejo), even after Mousie made such a blatantly uninformed statement that said that in the 60's and 70's black men "decided" (all at once, i suppose) to not take care of their kids. she ends her comment with "Fuck yall niggas" from Jay-z's "Takeover". me, of course, i asked her if i gots to be her nigga, why can't she be my bitch? i'm hopeful to get a comment from her today.
me, i cant speak for all yall, but i've had enough of doin the same thing over and over. i'm not makin excuses for nobody. not for me and definitely not for u. a pause for the reality of the situation: we all are sufferering from a mass form of abuse. the psyche of people of color has been terribly scarred by the force of slavery, imperialism and colonialism. me, im Indian and African, so i feel the pain twice as deep. so i dont wanna hear that whinin when u see my picture, see my hair and be like, "you're not Black!" i dont need to be to be oppressed. but for the sake of this discussion, my mother will make Sam Jackson look like a redbone. dont bother me with those tired ass skin color politics.
this mass abuse is just like a an abused child, or an abused animal (for my white folks). that abuse has long reaching effects, and will affect that person/ animal for years, until some sort of treatment is given to first identify it and then to relieve the individual of the burden and mental blockage that causes and precipitates abnormal behavior. but then there is the subjective abuse that affects the individuals singularly from that pool of abuse we all spring from. in women we have this manifested in their direct relationship with or without their father. it really does scar the way they look at themselves and the way they deal with men. i know in my life i've felt a certain pressure to have a lot of women cause i'm pretty, peer pressure mostly. (i'll go into what affects the men in another post.) i've received comments over the years like "oh, i know u got a lot of kids". shit like that. so when u outgrow that and really start wantin to deal with quality over quantity, u get to this point in ur dealings with women where they start to want to make u prove urself over and over again, no matter how much u do for them. they want to take u thru tests and argue everything u say. some will even do things that sabotage the relationship itself, such as keep ties with other men. some start arguments and fights over the things they want that "u cant give them", which is really them tryin to reason a way out of the relationship. some just strait up fuck somebody else. cause in a lot of these chicks mind, if they own daddy couldn't love them, how is it possible that you can?
a queen is worthy of the title. and those not worthy, usually wear this crown by force. thats in principalities. in the realm of perspectives, u only have ur presentation and ur conduct to deserve that title. a lot of women want to be called queen just cause they black. beat it. even in the old kingdoms, every women wasnt no gotdam queen. somebody had to do the laundry, ya dig? you can be the queen of your household, but what do u do to deserve that title when traveling abroad? traveling dignitaries have motorcades and announcements proclaiming the arrival of a queen. if u aint got all that, all u have is the way u carry it, love. but thats ACTION. i need to see it. cause if u tell me u a queen and u sloppy, business aint handled right, fuck with anything less than a thorobred, i got a hearty "get the fuck outta here" for you on reserve.
then im sick of this tired ass rhetoric and bullshit reasoning. "we have to take back the way we're portrayed in the media". "the music has helped contribute to the low self esteem of women". get the fuck outta here!!! the music aint do shit! or the images either. i am a supporter of anything that will build wealth for poor people. if these girls can make a livin off of bein beautiful, baby, go get your money! its ok for white women to do it? you black women only say its wrong for BLACK women. you NEVER have the same criticism or white women. even if we are witnessing the total restructuring of the value of beauty in the favor of women of color, whereas nothing else was deemed valuable because of the prominence, the dominance of the image of the white woman. are u still too nearsighted to see a social revolution happening in front of you? one that is caused just by YOU being beautiful, black woman? but YOU would demonize and criticize the image of your own selves. and u don't see where thats a symptom of abuse?
and then the one about the music? are u serious? it may reinforce the images. it is not a source for them. any pimp will tell u that aint a ho hoin that aint already had years of abuse piled up on her until a pimp showed up to show her a better way. yes, a better way. cause a lot of these broads are out here fuckin without regard to life or injury caused by irresponsible behavior. a pimp will at least make sure shes tested, she uses condoms and stays safe, cause he has a vested interest in that bitch stayin healthy. a bitch thats runnin the streets with no to low self esteem doesnt care what happens to her. even if she catch them letters. see, the negative aint goin nowhere. GOD made the DEVIL. even he thought it was necessary for the negative to exist. and since god made evil, evil exists in the mind of god. therefore, how do you honestly think you gone eradicate it from this plane of reality? won't happen. so at least the negative can be managed. like a pimp does a ho. or like the street life used to have rules and regulations that prevented the acts of those in "the Life" to spill into the lives of the uninitiated. and as any pimp who seen some action will tell you, aint a pimp livin or dead ever turned out a ho better than they own mamma and daddy did.
women hate criticism. but so do a lot of these dudes. cause i mean, shit they was raised by women. its natural that they would take on some of these characteristics. why u think these niggas wearin girl jeans nowadays? see, i aint makin excuses for nobody. if u cant see urself, ill show u what i see. and i aint gonna hold back on it. cause these females have been spoiled to the point of a hard return. and they wanna be spoiled. but a spoiled child aint happy. they always cryin. cause they always want somethin else. thats just like u black women. and until u recognize that its there and fill that void, stop expectin me (us) to fill it for u.
so do somethin different. anything. instead of always complainin... 'specially 'bout the same ol' shit...
this year, we gonna stop acceptin shit. i mean, we gone start callin niggas wack. at least around here. and i aint gonna hide behind the screen. thats my picture right there in the right hand column. niggas can get on that ol' school Prodigy shit and approach a nigga if they want to. i'm a North Philly nigga that grew up between Brooklyn and the Bronx. make sure u step to me for real.
i mean, its really for the artists benefit tho. i mean these dudes aint heard the term wack enough. they couldnt have and still turn in this shit. i mean my nigga $yk said the funny shit about Gucci comin home and shuttin Wacka Flocka down. its true. cause in degrees of corny, Gucci is a lesser degree of corny than the baw. but somebody shoulda told that nigga that his name was WACK. its WACKA than a whole FLOCKA shit out now. but niggas done got so far gone, that they will accept this shit. i mean in the current crop of shit, Vanilla Ice, as a name, got flavor (i didnt mean that, but the double meanin is fly, right?)
then im gonna call the swag shit dead. cause it seems to me that these niggas call havin swag ACTIN'. and the one that acts the best has the most swag. as most niggas'll tell u, on the east coast anyway, swag is a jailhouse term for food, most of the time a sandwich that a nigga done smuggled back to the blocks in prison. dont describe me as roast beef on rye, my nigga. i'm the animal the meat came from, feel me? and i aint really wit all that LYIN and shit. cause me, myself, im a geek. i like Star Trek (i would bang every green bitch Kirk did), i fuck with comic books (the John Byrne/Chris Claremont X-Men is the absolute GOAT), im a graffiti writer (look for more coverage) shit, one of the best where i'm from. but i also did close to 5 years in the joint, and used to rock on a spot that made close to a million dollars a month. there's a whole lot of other shit regardin me, but the future will tell that story. what im sayin is, is THATS ME. i dont expect nobody to b like me. shiiiit, the way i feel about myself, i'd get to heaven and tell Jesus to get the fuck out my seat. but that just me tho'. be ur fuckin self. if u got to turn who u are on and off, nine out a dime, YOU ARE A LIAR.
not here. not this year.
we gone concentrate on all the fly shit. whatever is fly shit, we gone co-sign it. and the wack shit is gonna get called that. cause thats what made all the golden eras fly. niggas wanted to avoid being wack at all costs. so they sat up in the crib and got it right. now, its like my youngbaw told me, all the real niggas are out doin real shit. the niggas wit time on their hands to go write n develop usually is the ones that get a deal. and these them dudes that suppose. the dudes that really tell it like it aint. these the dudes with all the swag.
the definition of a real nigga does not equate to bein a criminal. word to Tony Grands. a real nigga is just that. real about his shit. real about hisself. and ifn a mothafucka gone do some exaggeratin, make it plain that it is. dont claim it as your life. entertain. see, i cant listen to a nigga lyin all day. but i love to hear them niggas shoot the shit. if u cant relate, ask a real nigga to elaborate.
i'll be here everyday this week and alternatin weekends.
my nigga $yk b holdin me down! so when he dropped this joint on the most elusive animal in rap, the female MC, i had no choice but to acknowledge the need to acknowledge it. ride wit my man as he tracks down the whereabouts of this elusive creature....
So I’m checking out the new song by Keri Hilson featuring Nicki Minaj, zoning off of the Kush, and something Culture said yesterday is registering in my mental:
“I’ll be the one in the room treatin a bad bitch like she regular”.
Word is bond it’s like that. It isn’t like I can’t pull the biddies, but if you are extra with it home girl, expect me to give you no shine in any shape, form or fashion. Men do the knowledge on how this type of action gets them!
So seriously, I’m listening to the irritating voice and verse conjured up by Minaj (just like every other verse done by her) and I’m thinking, “where are the wisdoms at”? The women who have rocked the mic all these years in the rap game? Not the biddies, the women?
Even though the biddies are eye candy, let’s keep it 100. Minaj, Trina, and Shawnna are all Lil’ Kim clones. Since I grew up in the “no biting allowed” era, they get no play in my universe of music. Foxy Brown bit a little bit of Kim’s style, but Fox Boogie has/had a rap flow. Let’s take a minute to do the knowledge:
Give it up to one of the pioneers: Sha Rock
She must be included in female GOAT convos: MC Lyte
With this one I’m cheating. Two ladies. Lyte and Missy:
Can never forget the Queen:
Bahamadia
Heather B
I met this woman. I get hyped once her voice is heard:
And someone please go get this woman! Peace to my dude Khrysis on the beat:
See what I did? No tit-tays and sh*t? All female emcees!
Where the f**** are they at? Where are the wisdoms that will take the baton and do justice? Put Minaj, Trina, Shawnna, Diamond against these women and the latter list would be done. Finished! Believe me I know I didn’t mention plenty of women. Yo-Yo, The Lady Of Rage, Eve (Ruff Ryder days), Monie Love, I can keep the list going but you get where I’m coming from.
Someone please find these wisdoms. I’m tired of these soft porn female rappers. Challah Back!
