Creep (in all senses of the word)

I’ve been struggling with blog topics because I told myself that I didn’t want my next entry to be about love and relationships. But after this incident, I knew I had to post.

It all started earlier this year. One evening, I was expecting a phone call. So, while in Bible Study, my phone rang, and I excused myself to pick it up. This phone call was far from what I was expecting. There was a young  lady on the other end asking if I knew a certain guy. She proceeded  to get upset when I told her she was calling the wrong person and that all question she had needed to be directed towards her alleged boyfriend. I just thought it wasn’t my place to discuss the status of her pseudo relationship. The real deal was I knew exactly who he was.

 

Picking Up the Pieces for Longhorn Nation….

Remember this?

Who knew this would be the happiest moment for the next year for this program?

That was a great feeling, right?

Well that moment would lead to this…..

Then to this…..

And then ultimately to this….

Should've been us....

 

Why Are We Making Teen Moms Celebrities?!?!?

I may get some flack for this, and I’m fine with that.  This is a blog, so if you disagree with me, by all means, leave a comment.  Many of you remember some of my sentiments concerning the young pregnancy issue from a previous post.  I am a single, childless, black male, so “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant” don’t really pertain to my demographic.  I do watch quite a bit of MTV, though (I miss when they played music videos during the day and not obscure hours of the night).  The fact that “16 and Pregnant” and its spin-off “Teen Mom” are successful shows is enough to make me want to throw up (not from morning sickness, either).  Are we glorifying this?  Why are these girls making the covers of magazines? Is it cool to get pregnant now when you don’t even have a high school diploma yet?

 

Top 10 of ’10 (6-10)

Happy Holidays thREADERS! As a hip-hop head and overall music lover, my favorite part of the holidays is to recap my favorite albums of the year. I’ve been doing this for at least 5 years, and its fun to go back and see what albums you loved in a given year, and to decide whether those albums are still listenable or not. If that’s not good enough reasoning for you, every other blog does this, so why not us?

Anyway, ’10 was a solid year for hip-hop! Need a refresher? Check out the top 30 hip-hop songs of the year put together by my boys over at A Thousand Grams. Anyway, without further ado, here’s albums 6-10. These albums have my personal seal of approval, so check them out! (Also, I’ve posted links to purchase all the albums so SUPPORT GOOD MUSIC!)

#10: Live From the Tape Deck (Skyzoo & Illmind)

 

The Future of Music: Part II

Dear Readers… as you all are aware, your favorite writer Typo-Critical has recently embarked upon a campaign to assess and project where Rap and R&B music appears to be going as we head into 2011-2020. To get a feel for where I’m going with these predictions, peep the first edition of “The Future of Music.” Now, on to my next one –

Prediction 2: “conscious” rap briefly re-emerges.

“I’m one of the few who’s been accused and abused/of the crime of poisonin’ young minds/but you don’t know shit ’til you been in my shoes!” – Dr. Dre, “100 Miles N Runnin'”

The last decade of the twentieth century (the 90s) witnessed a slight building upon what has been popularly referred to as “conscious rap.” Channeling oratorical masterpieces of poets of the 60s and 70s like Gil Scott-Heron and Amiri Baraka, conscious rap music was classified as any music that incited thought, discussion, or dissection of issues prevalent in a given community. The most distinctive difference between these past poets and conscious rappers of the 90s, is that the former often wrote pieces geared towards Black pride and challenging “the Man”; while the latter talked about the harsh realities that came with being a part of an underclass or underrepresented community.

Following groups such Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy (when Flavor Flav was a rebel in his own mind instead of about chicken and chickenheads), arguably gangsta rap in its earliest forms could be considered the emergence of conscious rap in the 90s. I could literally dedicate a book to gangsta rap – indeed, it’s already been done – but just for a reference point, the rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit’ Attitudes) was one of the earliest and most well-known gangsta rap groups. *Note: I say this with no disrespect to Boogie Down Productions, whose Criminal Minded album back in the 80s is credited with birthing “gangsta rap” before the group went conscious*. N.W.A. was largely credited with bringing in a very raw, uncut sound to rap music and hence starting a trend that continues to this day (although it has focused less on violence and more so especially on the drug-dealing/”trapping” aspect in the modern).

 

The Flower

I have yet to hear a compelling and logical argument to refute the assertion that our current Marijuana laws are deeply flawed. In absence of an opponent I’m going to continue to belabor the point. Here in a sweet short is an example of what a world with  legal weed could look like and contrasts this with our status quo. Let’s get the movement moving Texas.

h/t: Andrew Sullivan

 

Just friends? So you say…

Sorry about the subtitles and sound quality, but it was the only one I could find with this particular part from “Bring the Pain”.  Basically, Chris Rock is talking about men/women friendships.

I have my own theory concerning men and women when it comes to cross-gender friendships: 90% of these men/women friendships are a result of one or both parties catching feelings sometime during the course of said friendship.  Sometimes, one party has a thing for the other before they really become close friends.  Sometimes, one party surveys its other relationships/friendships only to realize that the person they really want is right under their nose. (Usher – “U Make Me Wanna”) Other times, these surpressed feelings end up doing in a friendship once they get out into the open.  Other times, they can lead to a wonderful and fruitful relationship.

 

The Real World: New Orleans

New Orleans – I’m reflecting on the past four days of exhausting, physical exertions consisting of rebuilding houses.  Many people think that the work in New Orleans is finished since we see the Saints, Hornets, and Mardi Gras continuing with their regularly scheduled programs.  There is so much more work to be done here.  There are entire neighborhoods (mostly ours) that look like they belong in a third world country.  Nope, they’re right here in The United States of America.

 

Who Will Survive In America?

“Who Will Survive In America” is a spoken word from Gil Scott-Heron. The metaphorical lashings at the Anglo concept of “free-doom” are indicative of a tradition of separatist language most reminiscent of the days of Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey.

The theory of many vocal activists of that time was that America was a place invented for people who are not of Afrikan decent. We were brought to the land to cultivate it, but not to reap from it. We were freed not to participate with the nation, but to refute claims that they were the villain. We remain not because we are welcome, but because we have no place else to go.

 

Yeezy Taught You Well

While reading Brandon Soderberg’s awesome analysis of Kanye’s track “Blame Game” I ran across this absolute gem of observance,

Chris Rock voices the average joe that will date Kanye’s much “improved” ex next. This is a very male way to view a break-up: “How did I permanently change this girl and who’s going to get the rewards of it now that I’m outta the picture?” A silly, masculine view of a relationship for sure, but one that most dudes, no matter how evolved or whatever, adopt at some emotional breaking point or another.

While I share the assertion that at some point every dude thinks this way when going through a break-up, I genuinely must ask is this a trait exclusive to guys?