Friday, May 18, 2007

Didn't see it coming

There were just certain things that I knew were going to happen on my favorite TV shows this season.

Let’s start with ‘The Sopranos’, I just knew that Chris was going to get caught up with drugs and dealing with the two Arab guys that had been coming around buying weapons, that he’d get busted for it, and then turn rat for the Feds.
Damn, was I wrong…

I didn’t see that coming.

Nor did I see Melinda Doolittle losing to one of
the weakest and weirdest American Idol contestants yet.

I didn’t see that coming.

The problem with American Idol isn’t a matter of racial conspiracies or a flawed voting system. No, it’s none of that. It’s a flawed American youth culture.

What we’re seeing are a bunch of 13-18 year-olds who have every access to modern technology, but sorely lacking in judgment. We’re seeing kids who basically don’t know how to judge talent based on the necessary components that come with it: craftsmanship, skill level, technical ability and originality. When you see a talented singer like Melinda voted off, you have to wonder.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Inside and Out

Once again I’ve been away too long. I know, I know. Life is has been pretty rough nowadays. You know the saying: “When life throws you lemons…make lemonade, right?” Well, what do you do when life throws you shit? Throw shit back, right?

I’ve been busy trying to write proposals and articles and deal with my family and work, that I get very little time to talk to you.


Someday soon Wax Poetics will run my Eddie Cheba article; I can’t wait to see it in print. You have to understand something, I hounded Eddie for two years for that article. I stepped my pen game up 200% for that piece, I put my heart into it. I can’t wait for you to see it, you’ll know what I mean. No one has ever told the story of that side of hip hop history like that before. Trust me its well worth the wait.

I also handed in an article about the rise of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, considering their nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame it is a timely piece, and it too is some of my best work. I checked all of the major publications and none of them, not one of them, covered the story like I did. But, I have no idea when that article will see the light of day.

I know I have an idea you should contact Wax and tell them “Hey run them Mark Skillz joints…”

The Virginia Tech shooting was horrifying to me. It made me stop and think about all of the potential wacko’s I could’ve offended over the years. You never know what goes through some people’s heads, man. One day, you’re in class minding your business and then some wack job is in the back of the class taking pictures of people not saying anything. You have no idea what the pictures are for or nothing. For all you know he’s using them to jack off to. You never know.

The scariest thing – it was all scary, but the part that bugged me out was he stopped what he was doing to record a video and take pictures of himself. That tells you something about the impact that the media has on wacko’s. One day, someone else is going to imitate what this nut job did, except in his video he’s gonna stop talking and pull down his pants and start wacking off. I’m telling you its coming. Sorry, no pun intended. But it’s true.

I’ve been hooked on American Idol lately I don’t care what, I hope Melinda Doolittle wins.
Her performance last night was dope to me. I don’t care what Simon and Randy say.

Speaking of American Idol, that dude Blake is kinda corny yo. I mean he’s a talented dude and all, but on the real, all that shit he’s doing to them songs is kinda corny kid. When he makes them sound effects he makes the songs sound like you’re in some weird club somewhere where you need to be taking some kind of mind altering drug in order to dance. His last song last night was aiiight, but he killed – and I mean killed not in a good way, ‘You should be dancing’ – wack, wack, wack, totally corny.

I know you like LaKisha but, on the real she ain’t gonna win, yo. A lot of black women I know are rooting for LaKisha because she in a way represents them. Stay with me on this. LaKisha looks like an ordinary sister, she can sing, but she’s a big girl. And a lot of women can identify with a big girl easier because she is non- threatening to them. She is one of them.

Check this out, bring up the subject of ‘Dreamgirls’ and watch what happens. Most Black women are rooting for Jennifer Hudson’s character because they just ‘ain’t feeling Beyonce’. Not Beyonce’s character – but Beyonce the person. See what I mean? Beyonce is threatening to them; her beauty makes her someone they don’t want to relate to. Check that out then get back with me and we’ll compare notes.

Men, we don’t have those hang ups. We have other hang ups, but we won’t knock the next dude because he looks better than us…nah, nah, nah, nah, we’ll knock the next dude if he tries to play like he’s better than us. He can think whatever he wants – we don’t care, but if he tries to play like he’s king of the castle then there will be probs. Most dudes who knock the next dude do it out of insecurity. Same as women. But for men, at least most men I know, so long as homie isn’t throwing shit in your face its all good. Get back at me on that we need to talk about it.