Viva Las Vegas!

Ok, I have to run to catch a plane to Las Vegas, so this will be quick. Nevertheless, I apologize for not writing in a while. Last week I was down in Washington D.C./Virginia, looking for apartments with my two soon to be roommates and was living with someone who inexplicably did not have internet access in their apartment. Got home Saturday night late, heading out to Vegas this morning. So, that is why you haven't seen anything new from me.

If all goes according to plan, you'll see some new stuff from me Saturday, but we'll see.

Have a good week y'all, and pray I don't lose my shirt in the City of Sin!

I Hate My Generation, YEAH!

Disco music from the 1970's, as well as something my father said to me a long time ago which for some reason I remembered tonight, got me thinking.

See, as a buddy and I drove home from a friends apartment tonight, we happened to be listening to Paul Oakenfold and his special brand of anthemic cheese, and it for some reason reminded me of something my Dad had said to me a few years back, when I was a disciple of Sasha and Digweed and anything Twilo-approved. He had said to me that he didn't get dane music, he didn't understand how the music that I told him was "dance" music was designed to make you, ya know, dance. He couldn't imagine himself dancing to it or even remotely considering it dance music.

And this for some reason led me to reason that my generation was the first generation to have music packaged specifically as dance music. Think about it-- back in the day, every song had to be "dance music" (i.e., something you could dance to, preferably slow with your lady friend), and it was called simply rock and roll. What about that often quoted line from that music choice show my parents used to watch growing up-- "It had a good beat, and I could dance to it." Those were your standard criteria for getting a song played, period. There wasn't a style of music played specifically for clubs, while other records you rocked alone in your basement-- it was just what it was, music.

Now, I don't know why this matters, something so completely arbitrary-- the first generation to define a certain type of music as "dance," as if to eliminate the possibility of dancing to any other form of music-- but for some reason I began to think about this, mull it over in my mind.

Until an ad came on the radio, advertising the top one hundred disco songs from the 1970's.

And then I realized that my generation didn't even have that, the copyright on music specifically designated as music to dance to. The 70's had disco, and if you want to talk only about the more recent style of anthemic type club dance music, the late 80's have that on lock, too (at least in the UK). And that's when I realized:

The reason my generation is so seemingly bored and disaffected by anything and everything is that everything has already been done, and there is nothing new or original to excite or interest us. What the Sex Pistols predicted has literally come to pass, and that nothing is shocking. We've seen it all before, and someone else had already done it-- and probably done it better. There are no uncharted territories left to explore, no new thoughts to conjure up-- seemingly everything there is to be done has already been done, leaving nothing to really excite my generation. Hell, my generation is the one that managed to make even punk rock boring and irrelevant-- something which would have seemed impossible at one point in time.

Hollywood is seemingly only interested in producing remakes of older movies or spawning sequels to the few actually interesting ideas (and several of the not so interesting or inspired ones to boot). Most of the hot "new" bands in music are simply recreating and recrafting what has come before them (Take two newer bands I happen to love, Interpol and Bloc Party. What they're doing is essentially no different than what Gang of Four or Joy Division/New Order, among others, did before them). It's why we no longer have iconic figures like Marilyn Monroe or Joe DiMaggio, but would rather build up a Lindsay Lohan or a Britney Spears, only to tear them down six months later when we've become bored, as always. (Kill your idols indeed-- how very punk rock!)

Sometimes, this lack of interest can manifest itself in odd ways. Take, for example, the response of my generation to 9/11. Beneath the shock and the horror and the anger, there is a desire to have 9/11 be the validating moment of our generation, to have this cataclismic event stand as a defining, life and world altering event (and in some instances, it has). I can't tell you how many times I've discussed 9/11 with people of my own age, and at some point the comment of "Well, we have our own JFK now" comes up.

Think about that comparison for a moment. After JFK, the world really did seem to shift, especially for the youth of this country. After JFK's assassination, Vietnam blows up, and becomes the cultural force of the time. You've got the civil rights movemetn, you've got the rise of grassroots political activism, young people coming together to affect change and force the agenda, and on and on and on. All of these notions are extremely romantic and idealistic, and I think at some level, a large portion of my generation yearns to still believe that those things are possible. And so, to some extent, the response to 9/11 has been a hope that this, this event, will mobilize our generation much the same way our parents were when they were our ages.

(And in a completely different sort of way, 9/11 may have the same kind of impact. Immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Washington, you've got the full scope of the Bush Doctrine, raw and unleashed. I saw an article somewhere on the internet recently where it was suggested that the Bush Administration may go down in history as the authors of the decline of the American century, and I don't think that's too far from the truth. But instead of inspiring the younger generations to become idealistic hippie dreamers and believe (somewhat misguidedly) in the ability to force change, 9/11 has driven my generation to simply throw up our hands and go "We're so fucked.")

But hell, I guess at least now when someone like our parents tries to bring up the JFK assassination and how momentous it was, this generation can sit back and stifle a yawn. We can simply mumble "We got that, too" and go back to being jaded and bored and disaffected.

(Note: I could be completely talking out of my ass here. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comment section. Props to anyone who caught the Cracker drop in the title.)

Thoughts On "10 Things That Aren't Going to Stop Bush"

Hey, lookee here! Two posts in the same day! What the Hell is this world coming to!?

Well, just after I posted my little personal note below, I surfed on over to one of my favorite comedy websites, Blagg Blogg. It is usually a source of witty, humorous posts that often have me laughing at loud (sometimes while I was at the office, pretending to do work-- when I had a job, that is). However, today, I want to comment briefly on Alex Blagg's seemingly serious, non comedic moment of introspection, 10 Things That Aren't Going to Stop Bush.

It is an interesting list, and there are things that I definitely agree with contained in it-- protesting, especially in liberal cities such as San Francisco or even New York City is probably an exercise in futility, as is clever bumper stickers or being punk rock. And his point about the Democrats is fairly spot on. However, I want to comment on a few of his points (although I may be engaging in a futile exercise as well, given that it may have been written simply for comedys sake).

"2. Blogging (unless you're Atrios)

I recently spent about 3 hours deleting the first year or so of this blog, which consisted of hundreds of pointless posts where I wasted word upon word, naively trying to demonstrate and argue the fact that George W. Bush is hell-bent on destroying civilization as we know it. Every day there are political blogs, message boards and "news portals" where idiots on the left and idiots on the right incessantly argue irrelevant talking points, reveling in their mutual self-righteous idiocy, never once grasping the nature of this irony. Those of you who know me are probably thinking to yourselves, "you used to be one of those idiots". Well, I can admit when I'm wrong. Instead of banging out angry blog posts about Bush's Evil, try reaching out to those whose opinions differ from your own and engaging them in a calm, rational, civilized discussion. Chances are your points will be better received."

I understand where he's coming from here. However, there is a reason why I read blogs like firedoglake or Talking Points Memo or Altercation (and a reason why they're all featured on my blogroll, kids). And it's not because these people are engaging in simple, "angry blog posts about Bush's evil." Believe me, if these and other blogs were the equivalent of taking a can of spray paint and writing "Fuck Bush" graffiti on the overpass of the internet highway, I wouldn't waste my time reading them.

Rather, I read these blogs because they educate me. In a time when you can't hardly trust your professional media anymore, I depend on these sites not only for information, but to cut through the bullshit and bring out the relevant points routinely lost in the morass of political discourse, something which our supposedly liberal mainstream media seemingly refuses to do these days. If The New York Times won't do it, I'm glad there are people around like Eric Alterman, Jame Hamsher, and Josh Marshall to do it. I and anyone who reads these and other blogs like it are smarter, more well-informed, and more prepared for upcoming arguments/discussions/3 AM drunken state of the world conversations/shouting matches than before.

Usually, these blogs do not descend into "self-righteous idiocy," but are more concerned with doing just what Alex desires: "engaging in calm, rational, civilized, discussion." Because quite frankly, I can't talk to every conservative in this manner (and honestly, I'm not so sure I'd like to even if I could). However, by throwing up opinions on the internet (on anything, not just politics), that's what I'm trying to do here. Engage in discussion. There's a reason why my blog is titled Mental Sword Fighting-- you're supposed to do a little thinking, even if it is something as basic as "Hmmm. that new Ivy disc sounds really cool, maybe I should go pick it up!" Ideally, we'd even have a few arguments here and there, get into some actual debate (although I understand that the likelihood of this is limited by the low traffic this blog gets and the fact that I spend large portions of my time writing about music, a subject which is probably not gonna get you all hot and bother and fighting mad-- unless you're me).

"7. Michael Moore

My friend Merkley??? summed it up pretty well himself, but the fact is that Michael Moore is the fucking Disney brand of Liberalism. Literally. He appeals to people who prefer to blindly adopt the opinions of others as opposed to forming their own. His movies are manipulative, poorly researched and are about as objective and unbiased as Mein Kampf."

All of which is true. One of the most illuminating things about Fahrenheit 9/11 for me was seeing it with a few friends of mine who were/are anti-Bush like myself, but were not nearly as into politics or knowledgeable on these issues as I was/am (not trying to toot my own horn here). It wasn't that these people hadn't ever heard these things before, or that I spent the next hour or so after the movie on my friends porch holding court on a discussion group on these issues, pointing out the instances where Moore was biased, or where he was grasping at straws and over reaching in his conclusions. No, that was actually fun, I enjoy doing that (and hey, it's not the fault of my friends that they didn't take several upper level political science seminars and thus don't understand international relations theory or high handed political maneuvering).

No, the most illuminating moment was when we were walking out of the theater, and my friend turned to me and said "Ya know, now I'm actually gonna vote."

That statement left me flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that there was anyone in America, let alone anyone my age, who needed to be convinced to vote in this past election. Or that Fahrenheit 9/11 would be necessary simply to convince people that voting was important.

That got me thinking. Part of what makes the right so successful is that they have an untold number of spinmeisters out there, like Robert Novak or even (shudder to think) Bill O'Reilly, who simply scream and scream and scream and bludgeon you to death with their arguments. Does it matter that, often times these people blatantly lie or engage in other forms of idiocy. Rather, its the simple fact that these guys exist, and that people believe them. When you've got a major media outlet like Fox News acting as a propaganda arm for the Republican party, that's a problem.

Enter Michael Moore. Yeah, he's a bomb thrower, and yeah, his positions are often somewhat tenuous as well as extremely biased. But this is exactly what the Left needs-- someone to counter the Fox News Brigade, someone to out-O'Reilly O'Reilly (without the sex scandals, natch). If the success of Fox News has proved anything, it's that the majority of Americans are lazy and aren't going to have Media Matters bookmarked, so that they can sift through the lies and pomp and circumstance to get at the real truth.

Unfortunately, due to the inherent laziness of the American people, as well as the fact that the mainstream media seems to be asleep at the wheel, you need Michael Moore. Because this is what passes for political discourse in America, circa 2005: two or three talking heads screaming at each other, trying to beat each other down with the massive weight of their excess verbiage. The left cannot simply surrender this position to the right, as politics (like everything else), has largely become about public relations. It matters less what you are really doing, but more about how you can dress it up and present it to the public. And Moore is a master of doing this and getting people to watch. So, while Moore may be pompous and over reaching in his assertions, he's a necessary evil in order to present differing opinions and attempt to drown out O'Reilly, Novak, and all the rest.

(All of the above points have probably been made before and made better than I just did, particularly around the time Fahrenheit first dropped, but it was a topic of discussion so I figured I'd take it there).

"9. Your Liberal Hubris

The reason the left is unable to garner support among a broader range of American voters is quite simple - we treat the right with condescension and hostility. The fact is, most of the people in this country didn't go to college, don't listen to Radiohead, don't read books without raised lettering on the cover and don't ever think to question what they're told on television. So rather than angrily dismissing these people, try respectfully explaining the reasons why you believe what you believe."

I agree. Indirectly, Alex here supports my point about Michael Moore. He notes that "most of the people in this country... don't ever think to question what they're told on television." Exactly. If people start just blindly accepting what Al Franken or Michael Moore told them, rather than Bill O'Reilly, the left would be in a better spot. It's not exactly the kind of Republic I'd want to live in, where people just mindlessly accept everything they're told as long as it comes from a source they trust (be that source George W. Bush, The New York Times, Fox News, etc.), but it's essentially the Republic we're getting with a large portion of this country. Understanding that, I'd rather all these accepting individuals listen to Michael Moore and vote Democrat, rather than Robert Novak and vote Republican.

All in all, Alex is right tho-- the left does need to do a better job of reaching out to people and getting its message across. However, how do you have a rational discussion with people who, when you try to talk with them about matters of substance, tell you that they don't read The New York Times but rather get their information from fucking Ann Coulter books (as I personally have been told)? How do you engage in debate with someone from the O'Reilly school of debate, which consists of screaming and browbeating your conversation mate until they throw up their hands and go "Fuck it, you win, I just don't care anymore"?

Like I said earlier, most of the blogs I read do a good job of presenting the issues in a rational manner, but who on the right is gonna read them? I know I don't read right-leaning blogs, because frankly I don't care about their opinion or the way it's being spun in the right wind community. I'd rather read about issues that matter to me, and learn more about them so that I can engage in discussion as a more well informed, rational individual.

I dunno if this post makes any sense, and alot of these points no doubt have been made elsewhere by people who've thought about this longer than I have, particularly in the first few weeks after the election. However, Alex's blog post got me thinking (got me itching to do a little mental sword fighting, eh?), so I felt like writing about. Feel free to discuss in the comments section.

A Life On The Brink

Fear not, my friends, for I have returned!

I know that I have not posted much in the past two weeks (I think there's been something like two posts in the past two weeks... pathetic), but your boy here has been going through some drama in the ol' personal life, which has forced MSF to the backburner a bit (that, and I haven't had much to write about).

If you go back a few weeks, you'll notice sprinkled throughout my posts referrences to "the new job" and things of that sort. Well.... I no longer have that "new job." That's because I quit. In lieu of receiving a $500,000 lawsuit for violation of non-confidentiality, I'll err on the side of caution and all I'll say is that it just wasn't for me and I wasn't comfortable, so I peaced rather than throw shade. So, once again, I am unemployed.

Now, through that one simple action, many possible paths have opened up. And it appears likely that I will be choosing the one that leads away from the great state of New York, and towards the political capital of this nation, Washington D.C. It is highly likely in the next two weeks that I will be moving to Washington with two buddies of mine from school, in hopes of finding a job doing research or something political. This is what interests me most--writing, researching, thinking analytically-- and so I have decided to take a leap of faith and actually find a job that interests me.

Notice, however, I said "in hopes of finding a job." Because, in all likelihood, I will be taking the DC plunge sans immediate employment. It's a little intimidating, and kind of a little scary, to just up and move away from everything you've ever known and say "Fuck it, what else do I have to lose?" But, I realize that I'm 24, and it's time to start getting serious about my life and what I plan to do with it. So, at this juncture, I'm going for dolo, trying to grow and figure out where I belong in this world (if that's possible). And part of that requires, at least to my thinking, biting the bullet and doing the scary thing-- moving away and seeing if I can hack it on my own, for real. It feels like something I have to do, not just from an employment standpoint but from a personal standpoint-- I want to challenge myself, as well as maybe escape some of the bad habits I've developed here in NY. It will be interesting no doubt, and I am excited, but I am also tremendously nervous as well.

Thus, you can understand why I'm a little stressed and a tad bit nervous about the whole thing, thus forcing the blogging to the side a little bit. And for that, I apologize. All I can really offer you is that when things return to some state of normalcy (and I get my computer fixed so that it doesn't act all crazy and actually lets me sign on to the internet), you will see the number of posts on the blog increase once again. I don't usually like to get into personal matters here on this blog, but I thought that I would at least try to explain what is going on around me, rather than simply drop one of my now patented "I'm sorry, more stuff is coming soon, I promise!" notes here (although a review of the new SOAD CD, Mesmerize, should be up sometime tomorrow). Please forgive me!

And, if anyone has any hot tips on where to find jobs in DC or places to live, please do feel free to give the kid the hookup, it would be much appreciated.

Can it Be That It Was All So Simple Then?

On his mindblowing debut album Endtroducing, right before the sublime "Midnight In A Perfect World," DJ Shadow has an odd, forty second song that is seemingly nothing more than a throwaway time filler, yet it always makes me laugh and gets me thinking. It's called "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96," and it consists solely of a short little loop and a voice intoning "It's the money..."

That has always cracked me up, because it was true. It was true then, when I first heard it. It is even more true now, which is why I find myself going back to that track and thinking. Because I agree with Mr. Davis: Hip hop-- at least major label commerical hip hop-- has sucked for a minute now, and it's largely due to the money.

All you need to do is compare what was coming out ten to twelve years ago (when I first started listening to hip hop in all seriousness) and what is coming out. All you have to do is look at this list of eight classic hip hop albums, all released within a three and a half year period.

Dr. Dre, The Chronic -- Released December 15, 1992
Wu Tang Clan, Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) -- Released November 9, 1993
Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle -- Released November 23, 1993
Nas, Illmatic -- Released April 19, 1994
Notorious B.I.G., Ready To Die -- Released September 13, 1994
Mobb Deep, The Infamous -- Released April 25, 1995
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... -- Released August 1, 1995
Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt-- Released June 25, 1996

It is interesting to note that the Jigga man is the last of these eight classics to drop over this three and a half year run of greatness, because Hova indirectly had alot to do with shifting the game and indirectly watering it down (not only because Hova was one of the first practioners of the highly stylized flossing playa/kingpin image in rap, but also after In My Lifetime, Vol. One flopped, he became bound and determined to rule the charts and began crafting anthems like "Hard Knock Life," "Big Pimpin'," "Izzo (Hova)," and others, leaving behind the more nuanced and subtle rhythmic gymnastics that are found on Reasonable Doubt).

Anyway, my point is that, you compare that list with what has come out since, and does anything match up at all? Have there been any hip hop albums released since that can hold a candle to any of these modern hip hop masterpieces? Maybe you can throw Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP in the ring, and you could probably include Outkast's Aquemini, but after that your pickings are pretty slim. And why is that?

Well, not coincidentally, the years between 1992 and 1996 are when rap started to really blow up on a major, national level. All of a sudden, you had Dr. Dre and Snoop riding around in low riders and bringing the laid back Cali vibe to your living room at all hours of the day on MTV, you had ladies calling Biggie "Big Poppa" on mainstream Top Forty radio-- basically, what had once been an underground, semi-localized phenomenon blew the fuck up between '92 and '96. And, for the first time, hip hop was looked at by corporate America as a viable, profitable genre, ripe for exploitation. It's the money...

Now, I realize that I may just be succumbing to a case of nostalgia, saying that things were better before. There's probably some sixteen year old out there who would tell me that his collection of 50 Cent and Mike Jones records are just as vital, and that old school Wu Tang don't have shit on them. As Chuck Klosterman writes in the May 2005 Esquire, people who are caught up in the real world don't spend much time listening to modern music, and thus "That's why everyone insists that most good music was (coincidentally) recorded between their sophomore year in high school and their senior year of college." Except that I haven't stopped listening to modern music at all-- rather, I crave it like a dope fiend searching for his next hit-- and that, for this essay at least, it would be between sixth grade and the start of my freshman year of high school (yeah, I was a hipster even as a wee little tyke!). So I acknowledge that this may be all nostalgia and these insights may come pre-packaged with the sense of wonderment I felt upon discovering hip hop for the first time, moments in my life that come I'm reminded of when I listen to these records, and thus suppose that they are"pure" and give more relevance to them then they should really be accorded. Nevertheless, I shall continue...

(Quick aside: I know I might be late to the game, but I read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs about a month ago, and just loved it. For anyone that cares about pop culture, or just wants to enjoy a good laugh or two, I recommend this book. It is a rather quick read, and he is able to make some compelling points about seemingly insipid material. Basically, I want to write like Chuck Klosterman when I grow up.)

So, basically right around the time Jay-Z was dropping his masterpiece, Reasonable Doubt, the game had shifted. Once people (read: major labels) realized that you could make a shit load of money with this here hip hop thing, that's what it became about. No longer were you simply rhyming for the pure love of the craft or to get props on your block-- you were trying to get that paper. How you gonna stack that loot? Well, you gotta get played on the radio and MTV. So now, instead of just making a dope jam, it became about "How do I get this on the radio? How is this going to play to Wal-Mart Middle America? How is the video going to look? What image should I use?"

The other night, I was at a friends house and she happened to throw on the burned copy of The Infamous I had made for her. When she threw it on, I immediately got hype, and declared that this was one of my favorite albums of all time. As we played darts and bumped the grooves, I was reminded for the millionth time why I loved this album-- the ominious beats, the lyrical wizardry, the straight forward consistency of every track a banger.

As we listened to the album, I was struck by something that I had never thought of before: As "Temperture's Rising" was playing, I had the eureka! moment of realizing that yes, indeed, there was a femable R&B singer crooning the hook on this song. Now, don't get me wrong, having heard this song approximately 37,000 times, I obviously knew that there was an R&B hook on the song. Yet, it never really jumped out at me, because it worked. It didn't seem forced or out of place, but rather seemed to meld perfectly with the song.

The reason I bring this up is that, once rap blew up mainstream, it seemed like everyone had to get an R&B hook on their songs, so that they could get spun on the radio (Note that "Temperture's Rising" was never a single). Instead of doing it as a benefit to the song, as in the case of Mobb Deep, artists know had to think "How can I get on the radio? Well, if I spit some easy to digest rhymes and then get Mary J. Blige to sing the hook, how can radio not love it?" Voila! That, right there kids, is the watering down of hip hop. So much so that five years later, you've got Ja Rule doing his own weak ass R&B crooning and re-enacting Grease with Ashanti in music videos. It wasn't about making good songs, like "Temperture's Rising"-- it became about getting spun on the radio and bumping your Soundscan numbers. All of a sudden you've got Jadakiss talking L-O-V-E- while Mariah Carey warbles "K-I-S-S me..." over some buttery soft track, which of course dominates radio but does nothing artistically.

Another thing that bugs me about the commercialization of hip hop is that very few seem to care anymore about the craft of the MC. Whereas before you may have had your day job or whatever, but your real love was MC'ing, now it seems as if that has been inverted. In the past, you did what you had to do until you blew up, and thus reached the point where you could be an MC for a living. Now, it seems like people are waking up and realizing "Ya know, I don't really like pumping crack on the block. I don't like the threat of getting shot. So ya know, I'm gonna pick up this mic and try to rhyme, how hard could it be? All I gotta do is get some hot beats and a hot video or two, and I'll be rich! Score!"

For example, I've read or heard alot of interviews with The Game in which he proclaims that, in 2001, when he was in the hospital recuperating from getting shot five times, that is the moment he decided he wanted to be an MC. That his brother bought him every classic hip hop album (including some which I listed above), and he listened and studied how to be an MC. Now, let me get this straight: It was only after getting shot five times that you decided that wasn't exactly the best career move? And that, only then, did you realize, selling crack wasn't the best career move? And only then, you realized Hey, maybe I can make a living doing this MC thing-- I'll just study these dudes for a minute, then I'll be rich! And that seems to be the mindset of alot of MC's nowadays-- instead of it being that they have something relevant to say, but rather the simple fact that they need something else do to with their time. And record companies know that, in today's C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me-- oddly enough, a statement popularized by the Wu Tang Clan) mindset, that if they get Lil Jon or whoever the hottest producer of the moment is to do the beats and package it correctly, kids will eat it up.

Maybe all of this money floating around is the reason why I like mixtapes so much. You see, most songs on mixtapes aren't ever supposed to be released commercially, but are intended more as promotional tools. It's on mixtapes that you hear MC's just going for it, either doing ridiculous things (like Game rhyming for seven minutes straight, over the beat of the Snoop and Dre classic "Deep Cover," on "200 Bars" found on Whoo Kid's G-Unit Radio 8), dissing their competition (admittedly, the most compelling part of the mixtape industry is the never ending collection of diss tracks), or just putting out that grimy shit radio wouldn't fuck with in a million years. How many times have you heard a dope beat and wished you could hear your favorite MC spit over it? On mixtapes, you can (for weeks, I've been saying that someone should rhyme over Ying Yang's "Wait (The Whisper Song)" beat, because the right MC would just destroy that track. What happens? Tuesday night, I'm listening to Green Lantern, and what do I hear? Juelz Santana ripping that track). Mixtapes, because they're designed to be bootlegged and "for the streets," are where all the joints that don't get played on the radio because they're not commercial and safe, but rather grimy and edgy, go.

But even the mixtapes are getting corruped by money. Record labels have figured out that mixtapes are a great way to hype everything up. If I hear Juelz Santana rip the Ying Yang beat, I'm naturally gonna be more inclined to pay attention to Juelz Santana. Well, what do ya know? Surprise, surprise! Juelz Santana has an album coming out soon! Me being more inclined to pay attention to Juelz Santana obviously leads me to being more inclined to check out his album-- and thus the record labels get their cake! Although you can often run into problems when your mixtapes are better than your albums (the most notable example of this would be Jadakiss, but you can throw 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and any number of others in this discussion as well).

So, it all comes back to money. Like punk rock or heavy metal or indie rock before it, hip hop got co-opted and hijacked by the money train, somewhere around '96. And thus, the albums that have the kind of impact that say, Ready to Die or The Chronic did are much fewer and far between. Hell, if you look at the list I posted above, most of these artists themselves never reached the same heights again (Nas being the most blatant example, given that he completely shifted his style from his first to his second album. On Illmatic, he wsa the street poet dispensing pearls of wisdom with every breath. On It Was Written, all of a sudden he was a gangster out of Casino, moving pounds of cocaine with his crew and having Lauryn Hill sing hooks on songs obviously crafted for radio consumption-- "If I Ruled The World." Jay-Z too, as mentioned above. I almost shudder to think about what kind of records Biggie would be making today if he was still alive).

DJ Shadow could re-title that song for each successive year post '96, and it would still work. In fact, I think that songs message is even more applicable today than it was in '96. You just don't have the same kind of classic material being released nowadays-- you had eight classic albums in three years time! Now, you're lucky if you get one record a year that you'll surely be bumping a year from now, let alone ten years down the road (as I do with all of the above mentioned albums). All of which, as a music fan, makes me sad and forces me to ponder what Raekwon and Ghost asked, all the way back in '93: Can it be that it was all so simple then?

(Note: This post was inspired by this post by Douglas Reinhardt and the comments I made on it. I have also touched on this topic before, in columns I wrote for the Kenyon Collegian (I couldn't find the link to the specific article in which I wrote about this, but if you're bored, you can hit the archives and scroll through the A&E section to get an assortment of my previous columns, includingg my top 10 records for 2001-2003, which in and of itself might be interesting to some). Just trying to give the props where the propers are due, kids.)

I'm Always Forgetting Something

Ok, so I spent all of this afternoon working on the music meme post, and finally hit the "post" button and send it on its way. Content, I begin making plans to go to dinner with a friend of mine.

It's not until I pull into the parking lot of the restaurant that I realize that I didn't post who I was passing this meme on, which could be construed as a breach of blog etiquette. Not that I think it really matters, since anyone who's likely to be reading this blog has already contributed to the meme. But, if these people were to somehow stumble onto my blog and care to take up the challenge, I'd be interested to hear what Douglas Reinhardt, or Scott Stereogum had to say about it. I'd also like to hear what O-Dub and/or Junichi thought, as well as Christie, were any one of them so inclined.

-- Been meaning to say this for a week or so now: One mixtape that is getting serious love in my car CD player right now, and is sure to continue to do so for the near future, is Nick Catchdubs Oh Snap mixtape. If you like to hear some interesting and eclectic song choices, full of oringinal blends/mashups and nuanced mixing, check it out. I'll tell you this: While listening to this mix I not only actually enjoyed dancehall, but I also actually liked Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot" (I'm sorry, the Neptunes have fallen off huge) for the first time. It is only eight dollars post paid, I recommend it if you're looking for something new and fresh and wide ranging. It's the perfect soundtrack to a house party, if your friends either have quasi-hipster taste or are open minded (or on drugs).

-- Friday night, a few of my friends and I went out to Brother Jimmy's, in NYC. It was a dope time. Two things of note:

Above the men's urinal, there was an advertisement for Mitchum Deoderant. It read "If you can urinate for more than sixty seconds, you're a Mitchum man." Now, I'm not gonna go out and buy their deoderant or anything, and it may have been that I was already half drunk (thus qualifying as a Mitchum man), but I thought that was pretty funny.

I also met some guy who leaned over and gave me a pound and informed me the Mets had indeed won that night, after he saw my Mets hat. We got to chatting, and the inevitable "Fuck the Yankees" turn in the conversation arouse (I know the whole country is loving the fact that the Yankees eat it right now, but I don't think there's anyone who's enjoying this more than Mets fans right now. Even Boston, now that they've won the Series, their enjoyment is muted somewhat... whereas Mets fan? Oh man, now we can pop off, because at least for a little while we can tell those smug Yankee fans to fuck off and check the standings, bitches.). This dude had an interesting analogy for what has happened to the Yankees.

He said (and I'm paraphrasing): "Ever since the Yankees lost that three game lead, they're whole life has changed. They're like the guy who goes home from the bar with an absolutely gorgeous woman. They wake up in the morning only to discover that they've got herpes. Immediately, their whole life has changed. That's the Yankees."

I think that's hiliarious-- and a pretty good, albeit weird, analogy. As for me, I am trying to stay calm. If the Yankees continue to suck in the middle of June, and the Mets are still better than them, I'll start letting out 10 years of Yankee fan smugness out on some poor fools. Just wait.

Combine that with a fun atmosphere, good friends, a waitress that not only took shots with us but gave us free shots, semi-intelligent conversation about sports and life in general, not to mention Magic Hat #9 on tap... yeah, it was a good time. Throw in conversing with an old friend who for some reason you don't talk to enough over IM at 4 AM when you've both been out... good times. One of the better Friday nights on record. (Note: I try not to get too personal on here, because I think that might get a little boring, for both you and me, but just thought I'd throw that in there, since I was already on the topic of Friday night).

-- Interesting point for debate (or should I say, engaging in some mental sword fighting?): 1997-- The Best Year in Music? While I don't necessarily agree with the theis, it does make some interesting points. It does remind me that so many dope records-- (Biggie, Sleater-Kinney, and the Chemical Brothers in the span of two weeks, as well as Portishead, Radiohead, Roni Size, and even the Prodigy, not to mention Spiritualized, who I was just turned on to thanks to Jane) did actually drop in that year. My favorite part was the entry about Janet Jackson. I think I wanna get to know some of this dude's friends. [link via the Thighmaster]

The Music Meme

A few days ago, Jane from Firedoglake passed along this music meme (for those that don't know what a meme is... uh, don't ask me, just Google it) which is making its way around the blogosphere. Being that I am a music junkie (and always looking for ways to either shout out my knowledge, turn people onto new stuff, or get turned on by myself), this is right up my alley. It's interesting that I got this this week, as some of the stuff listed here dovetails sort of nicely with some of the essays I've been writing/thinking about and which are to come (hopefully sooner rather than later) here. This is also a hard list to compose because, even though I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about this, I know that in a few days I'm gonna stumble on something that makes me go "Shit! How could I forget to put this in the meme!?" Oh well, here goes nothing!

Top Five Lyrics That Touch Your Heart

1. Thursday, "War All The Time":
War all the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast, falling apart like ashes of American flags
If the sun doesn't rise, we'll replace it with an H-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of light in the sky,
Like Three-Mile-Island nightmares on TV used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field, or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and just fade away
All those nights in the basement, the kids are still screaming
On and on and on...

2. Nas, "Affirmative Action":
Life's a bitch, but God forbide the bitch divorce me.

3. Rilo Kiley, "Portions For Foxes":
There's blood in my moth, because I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talking trash, but I never say anything
And the talking leads to touching
And the touching leads to sex
And then there's no mystery left
And it's bad news, baby I'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news...

4. U2, "Bullet The Blue Sky":
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
You take the staircase to the first floor
You turn the key and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside it's America
Outside it's America

Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run...
Into the arms...of America

5. Jets to Brazil, "Cat Heaven"
In the dream that awakened me, you had taken me to a sea of stars
Everything we saw was beautiful and strong, and I knew we belonged.
Then the birds came and carried us to the sky and married us
On a bed of stars, where I was always yours, you were mine.
Everything I saw was everything I’d want, and this world had just begun to
live.
Don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up,
I can’t wake up from this.
(Note: I hesitated including these lyrics here, because they basically were the soundtrack for the longest, most intense, most beautiful relationship of my life, so thus it is hard to even listen to "Cat Heaven" anymore. Nevertheless, it is an absolutely beautiful song, and those lyrics do move me, so I included it.)

Top Five Instrumentals
Before we get into this, I will say this was the hardest category for me. It would have been easy to just list five tracks off of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and call it a day, but that would have been a cop out (and besides, I've got lots of stuff to say about that album coming soon).

1. Metallica, Orion: Listen to the staggering genius that was Cliff Burton. Hear how the boys just lock into a groove and absolutely pummel it, starting off slowly and then building to a fist pumping cresendo, with an epic breakdown in the middle. The first rock instrumental that showed me that instrumentals weren't just half-finished jams tacked on to the end of albums because someone was too lazy to write lyrics.

2. Placebo, unnamed (at least to me) bonus track at the end of "Swallow": Fast forward to the 14:52 mark, and you find this hidden gem of a song (I'm dying to find an MP3 of just this part, so that I can throw it on mixtapes). It is a rolling, subtle piece of music, with flowing guitars and beautiful use of piano. It is just a heart-wrenching composition that just grabs me for some reason. I've often said that if someone were to ever make a movie of my life, this song would be the perfect soundtrack for a montage articulating my current stage of life. It is also a fantastic song to zone out with while on the Subway or train.

3. The Pixies, Cecilia Ann: It's only two minutes long, but those two minutes are packed with fun, funky, driving guitars that just charge straight for your head. The song is a brilliant way to open the Bossanova album, as it sets the stage nicely for what's to come (Placebo's "Bulletproof Cupid" does the same thing for their Sleeping With Ghosts album). I discovered this song randomly one day when the shuffle function on my iPod stumbled upon it.

4. Tomayasu Hotei, Battle Without Honor or Humility: Quentin Tarantino used this song perfectly in one of my favorite movies, Kill Bill. Alas, now you can hear it in a bunch of car commercials (for Mazda, I believe), which sucks. However, I always say that at least once in my life I want to walk into a room somewhere and have this song blasting as everyone turns their heads to see me make my entrance. Whenever I need to get pumped up, I throw this on.

5. RJD2, Ghostwriter: Everyone compares RJD2 to DJ Shadow, and it's a valid comparison, as his debut Deadringer is similar to Endtroducing in many ways. Never mind that though-- this song is simply five plus minutes of sticky funk goodness, opening with a slick groove before the horns come in and just destroy the place. We used to play this late night at parties in college, andthe 15-20 drunkards left in the building polishing off the dregs of the kegs would get their fucking minds blown.

Top Five Live Musical Experiences
(Note: Here's where saving all of the ticket stubs throughout the years comes in handy!)

1. Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang Clan, August 20th, 1997, Continental Airlines Arena: My mom took me and a friend to this show when I was 16 (How cool is my fucking mom? She even copped a Rage T-shirt at the end of the show!). If I remember correctly, just about the entire Clan was in the building that night (an extremely rare occurrence). I saw Rage many times (they were probably the best live band I've ever seen), but this show stands out because a few songs in, Zach sprained his ankle jumping on stage. Most bands would call it a night, but Rage only took a 15-20 minute break, then came back. Zack's ankle was bandaged and all fucked up, but he didn't care, going crazy like he always did and the whole band just killed it. As part of the encore, the RZA came out and freestyled with Zach, which was simply staggering.

2. DJ Shadow, June 3, 2002, Irving Plaza: Josh Davis pulled off some of the sickest scratch routines I've ever seen-- he completely took my fucking head off. For the encore, he brought out a live drummer and scratched in perfect rhythm with the live drumming, which had to be seen to be believed. Not to mention the fact that Shadow was so humble, thanking the crowd for their support and announcing that he'd be back at the merch booth in 10 minutes to sign anything for anyone. Just a dope performance from a really classy individual.

3. Slayer, Roseland, September 11, 1998: At the start of the show, I thought the world had ended (and I was completely sober). They played some eerie crashing sounds over the house PA, which made it sound as if a huge demon was entering the building while spooky red lights flittered throughout the stage. Just as the stomping sounds began to grow in volume and frequency, up went the curtain as the boys kicked into an absolutely blistering version of "War Ensemble" and I seriously thought that the world had ended and the Devil had chosen Slayer as his personal soundtrack to the apocalypse (again, I reiterate: I was completely sober). Insane.

4. Sasha and Digweed, last Friday of November, 2000, Twilo: This is the night that I completely fell in love with electronic music. Two of my friends and I strode into Twilo, unsure of what we were about to get. For the next six hours, we were transfixed as Sasha and Digweed threw groove after groove down in what became akin to a religious experience. Led me to devour all sorts of electronic music for the next two years of my life.

5. Deftones, July 12, 2000, Irving Plaza: One of my favorite bands, both on record and live, they put on a great show. Chino over the partitions of the stage to stand over the VIP section and make fun of the frontman of opening band Taproot (who were awful), saying things like "Stephen Richards, who the fuck are you? How are you a VIP?" It was hiliarious. The stage show was furious, as they ran through most of their hits and the best parts of their newly released White Pony (one of my favorite albums of all time).

Honorable mentions: Placebo, May 28, 2001, Irving Plaza; Sasha and Digweed, April 11, 2002 (my 21st birthday), M, Pittsburgh; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, July 1, 2001, PNC Bank Arts Center; Rage Against the Machine, October 2, 1999, Roseland (just before The Battle of Los Angelos came out, me and my buddy paid $175 a ticket and it was well worth it); Tool, August 15, 2002, Continental Airlines Arena; Machinehead, February 12, 2000, Irving Plaza; A Perfect Circle, August 19, 2000, Roseland; Bad Religion, May 15, 1998, Irving Plaza; Metallica, February 28, 1997, Nassau Coliseum.

Top Five Musical Artists You Think More People Should Listen To

1. Thursday: Probably one of my top three favorite bands right now, they get better with every album, progressing from amateurish hardcore on Waiting to the fully developed, mature song writing force they are today on War All The Time.

2. Placebo: Merge hard driving rock with electronics to craft intelligent music built around catchy riffs and hooks and witty wordplay. Another band that has gotten better with every album they release.

3. Pretty Girls Make Graves: I saw this band while I was at Kenyon College on a random Tuesday night. It didn't matter that they were playing in a tiny wing off of the main area of the cafeteria (and thus the accoustics were less than splendid). Didn't matter that there were at most fifty kids there to see the show. They still fucking rawked the place. Good Health showed their blend of high octance punk rock, while The New Romance showed an increased maturity and song writing focus. I can't wait for their third album, reportedly coming this year.

4. Brand New: Yet another band that has gotten better as they've progressed, it's amazing to see the development they've made. Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, was a pretty lame pop-punk album. Their second, Deja Entendu, is a pop-rock masterpiece, crammed with great songs which feature pulsating guitars and melodies that surgically attach themselves to your brain.

5. These Arms Are Snakes: This band may be a little too brutal or off-center for some, but they take the hardcore/post-punk conventions and drop them on their head. Fusing the intensity of hardcore with bizarre electronic atmospheric flourishes, they create a unique sonic blend which really has to be heard. Oxeneers, or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home was one of my favorite records of last year.

Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish

1. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing
2. Neu!, Neu!: Thanks to Astralwerks re-releasing this band's catalogue, I was able to discover the groovy goodness of these highly influential Kraut rock masters.
3. Mobb Deep, The Infamous: Ominious and menacing, with the type of thunderous mid-90's East Coast beats I love so much, and brilliant guest shots from Raekwon, Ghostface, Nas, and Q-Tip. It's like a sixty minute swing through a war zone, delivered with nuance and superb lyricism.
4. Massive Attack, Mezzannine: Everyone cites Blue Lines as their most influential (and it probably is), but I like this one better. "Teardrop" is one of the most hypnotically beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.
5. Outkast, Aquemini: The cream of the crop from the ATLien posse who seem to drop classic albums every time out the box.

Top Five Musical Heroes
1. DJ Shadow
2. Maynard James Keenan, Tool/A Perfect Circle
3. Tom Morello, guitar god, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave
4. Chuck D
5. Kerry King, Slayer (if only because when I was 16, I could think of nothing cooler than to get paid to play that opening riff of "Raining Blood.")

Diamonds Are Forever, Indeed

Hey y'all, I ain't forgot about you. I got a lot of essays half written, in the tweaking and adding stage. In addition, the new job is taxing the brain and zapping the energy (and I'm gonna add a class in the evenings to boot!). But I'm just stopping by real quick to say that I ain't disappeared, and to let you know about Kanye's new jam, "Diamonds."

It's absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Just when I was starting to get bored of Kanye's whole soul sampling gig, he goes and throws a curveball. Lil' Jon might make the crunk music and think that he owns the dancefloor-- but this, well... this is gonna be a fucking nuclear bomb on dance floors all spring and summer long.

Kanye's really done it this time. This is the best introduction to the forthcoming Late Registration because it announces in a major way that Kanye isn't a one trick pony. Kanye ain't no joke, man! The beat has so much going on, so many elements that blend to just create an absolute monster. One of my friends described it as an anthem, and he's right. It's without a doubt the most hype, most energetic beat West's ever made-- and this is the man that produced Ludcacris' "Stand Up." Straight up, it's the best Kanye beat ever.

Seriously, hearing this makes me think that all these months, Kanye's just been clearing out his archived beats while he's secretly been in the lab going insane, keeping the dank funk for himself. Even including Common's new Be (which is hot), "Diamonds" makes most recent Kanye beats (The Game's "Dreams," for example) pale in comparison.

Lyrically, Kanye rips it, riding the beat perfectly. Although it is a little weird to hear someone who so proudly rocks his diamonds-- and talks about just how much he rocks them-- talk about conflict diamonds, somehow he makes it work. And at this point, are we really calling Kanye on the carpet for contradicting himself?

"I ask, when you talk about classics, does his name get brought up?" Kanye asks.

Not yet. But if you can prove that The College Dropout wasn't a fleeting moment of genius (and at this point, Dropout is askin to a modern hip hop classic in the minds of many)-- and if Late Registration is more of the same, you can believe people will.

And you know that once it does, Kanye will let you know about it. Because as this track also reminds you: Kanye is also hip hop's reigning king of braggadacio and self-inflation-- you'd think that he was made a Saint by now, to hear him tell it.