Oh, I’m about to go Andre the giant, you a sellout but I ain’t buyin’….
So pop music. It’s kind of like sex…when it’s good you can’t get enough, when it’s bad you want nothing to do with it.
Oh, come on. It can’t be just me who thinks that…?
Backtracking after the hump…er, JUMP…
I’m sitting on deep crates of sweet beat break…
Holy schnikeys, this is an ugly blog. I really need to do something about this page layout, because I don’t think my progressively more bilious color scheme is working.
I think it’s been at least three years since I first heard She Moved Outta Cincy by Tanya Morgan(which despite the name, is a rap group, not a soul singer)…all of a sudden the tune has cropped up again on their new mixtape, the descriptively named Tanya Morgan Is A Rap Group. I bring that up just to point out the excellent website loudminoritymusic.com and all of the free mixtapes and quality albums they have up there…definitely worth checking out.
Me and you, your mama and your cousin too…
~sigh~ I love music. But I must have missed the memo. Apparently it is no longer en vogue to make or use your own beats these days. Seems like every other new hip-hop release is a rehash of something that was previously done…Rhymefest did the whole Thriller tribute thing, Kardinal Offishall just released a whole album of other people’s songs with his voice on them, and the former Floacist Marsha whatshername re-rhymed The Chronic. The pop world is even getting in on the trend, with Mark Ronson simultaneously pissing off the band that originally did Valerie and providing Amy Winehouse with more income with which to live up to her last name, poor thing
Who dat be?
So I’ve discovered that I suddenly have real difficulty answering the question “so what is it that you do?”
“I’m a community volunteer.” Totally leaves God out of the equation.
“I’m an artist.” Not really. Not anymore.
“I’m a Christian youth worker.” Gack. While this is probably the most accurate, it’s also the one that I’d be most likely to write off if I met someone else who claimed to do this.
Even better is the question, “so why are you in England?”
“God sent me here.” True, I suppose, but also a bit egocentrically grandiose, and once again, if I met someone else who said that sort of thing, I’d run away screaming and holding my nose. Gack again.
“It seemed like a good place.” Since this is usually accompanied by torrential rains and the massive migration of diarrheaic pigeons, no-one takes it seriously. Or if they do, they also seriously doubt my sanity.
“I don’t know.” Seems like we have a winner. But now I sound like some life-drifting opportunistic idiot. Not that I don’t *always* sound like that, but still…
Anyway, this is my official new blog. I’ve decided that I will share my individual perspective on the world by behaving like everybody else does and typing about it on the internet. Go me. I’ve already been doing so over on myspace, but is it just me or is myspace getting progressively creepier? I can’t remember the first time I got a friend request from someone I *know*.
Actually, wait, yes I can. Liz and Carmen, you two officially rock.
Speaking of rocking, K’Naan doesn’t exactly rock, but he does *rock* my world. My own poor usage of the English language notwithstanding, you should really check out the politically minded Somalian rapper in this video with my favorite emcee, Mos Def.
It’s called “My God”. Check it out, y’all.
...nothing but water... 