Chae-Chae-Chae-Chae-Change...

If you are a Santogold fan, as I am, this new remix of "L.E.S. Artists" by Spank Rock's XXXChange is worth checking out. You can stream it here, as well as a couple tracks by the illustrious Ms. White that you have already heard.

If Prodigy Ruled the World, He'd Free All His Guns...

In honor of Prodigy's recent rant on being hip-hop's greatest innovator, here's a snippet from an interview I did with him recently.

You went to an art school high school. How did that influence you in your rap career?

That’s where me and Hav(oc) met. Basically the only reason I went to that school is cause all my friends from my neighborhood went there. It didn’t really have that much to do with art. I had to take a test to get in there. I used to do some little graffiti type characters, and they accepted me in. I was always interested in drawing, little cartoon characters and graffiti art, but I wasn’t too serious into it. When I met Hav in the school, we was running around getting in trouble, and we found out we both had an interest in rap music. Me and Hav started cutting out of school going to the studio and the first thing we did right away was something special. Our first name was Poetical Prophets. It fit us, but it didn’t really fit how we was living our life. So we wanted to change our name to really describe how we was living.

You’ve been emphatic that you’re a rapper and not a criminal. But you are still rapping about murder on H.N.I.C. 2. How do you explain that?

If I’m rapping about anything like that, I’m talking about a situation of self-defense. Anytime we say something like that, we don’t speak recklessly, we don’t tell anyone to go out there and murder and kill. We’re trying to bring a message to people: what life is like in the hood and what we go through. We came into the game when we was like 14, 15 years old. We said a lot of reckless shit back then. But as we got older, you will hear exactly what Mobb Deep mean and what we talk about.

You speak about spirituality on the new song “My World Is Empty Without You.” Can you elaborate your beliefs?

I mean I’m not a religious person. I’m a spiritual person. I believe I got my own connection with the creator. I don’t believe in a lot of these religions and a lot of these things that the government and the system and the way they raised us and the things that they did to my people in the past. That gives me the right not to believe a lot of the shit they teach us. About my own connection with the creator -- that’s how it’s supposed to be. We didn’t have a bible, we had our own connection with the people.

Are you a conspiracy theorist?

I mean it’s definitely not theory, it’s fact. If you do the homework you’ll see. You’ll start to see on the dot. The more you dig deep, the more you’ll start connecting all the dots. It’s definitely a conspiracy against our freedoms. I just read a lot about history and my people, other cultures. History of religion, about foods and ingredients.

The Inimitable MC Juiceboxxx.

Discuss.

White People Blog

Why is this the funniest/most on point blog..

also, my apologies if I'm late on this..

Stuff White People Like

#75 Threatening to Move to Canada
February 24, 2008 by clander




Often times, white people get frustrated with the state of their country. They do not like the President, or Congress, or the health care system, or the illegal status of Marijuana. Whenever they are presented with a situation that seems unreasonable to them, their first instinct is to threaten to move to Canada.

For example, if you are watching TV with white people and there is a piece on the news about that they do not agree with, they are likely to declare “ok, that’s it, I’m moving to Canada.”

Though they will never actually move to Canada, the act of declaring that they are willing to undertake the journey is very symbolic in white culture. It shows that their dedication to their lifestyle and beliefs are so strong, that they would consider packing up their entire lives and moving to a country that is only slightly similar to the one they live in now.

Within white culture, it is agreed upon that if Canada had better weather it would be a perfect place.

Being aware that this information can be used quite easily to gain the trust of white people. Whenever they say, “I’m moving to Canada,” you must immediately respond with “I have relatives in Canada.”

They will then expect you to tell them about how Canada has a perfect healthcare system, legalized everything, and no crime. Though not true, it will reassure them that they are making the right choice by saying they want to move there.

But be warned, they will reference you in future conversations and possibly call on you to settle disputes about Canadian tax rates. So use this advice only if you plan to do some basic research.

Note: Canadian white people threaten to move to Europe.

Note: Europeans are unable to threaten to move anywhere.

So You Think You Can Juke?

I wrote a piece on Mr. Factz for The Fader's iissue 51.

NahRight.com was forthright about calling Factz a "hipster rapper," which is also a phrase getting tossed out about rappers like SpankRock, Kid Sister and Yo Majesty. It probably makes no difference at all, but for me Factz is a slightly different breed, albeit related. He, Curtains and Kapps are more akin to Cool Kid rappers: They wax endlessly about their rare, collectable gear that you probably never have heard of, and niche cultural trends. It's not so much about partying till the break of dawn and then going home to finish the fucking you started on the dancefloor, as with the aforementioned club rappers, above. Also, the production has some markedly different characteristics. Though Factz does draw from electro, house, and even trance and techno, he applies those genres with a particularly New York sensibility, and in more of an across-the-board sort of way, rather than drawing from just one regional sound, a la Spank from B-more club, Kid Sis from Chicago juke, and Tampa's Yo Majesty, funnily enough, from British electro. Finally, Factz, Kapps, Curtains and even the Cool Kids may, at the end of the day, have production that lends itself to being more palatable in the mainstream: They aren't generally pushing BPMs upwards of 160 -- a tempo that'll clear any dancefloor unfamiliar with more hardcore juking, new rave or footwork styles of dancing.

Anyway, I like Factz, though I don't care much about his Supras. You can download all his mixtapes for free here.

If voting changed anything, it would be illegal.

You don't have to agree with me.

The shit you find, or the shit that finds you??

So there I am on the 6 the other night, going home, minding my own business, and I look next to me and see a few folded up scraps of a Newport 100's carton. Like so:



So, pick it up for whatever dumb reason and flip it over to reveal this!!



Holy shit!! What the fuck is this!?? Upon closer inspection I get the feeling that some one who is totally fucking nuts or high or a genius made this.Judge for yourself:



Casa Perez looks like the spot. Jasson, tell us about that? You got guns, knives, roosters, palm trees and rain. It can only be one place....



Dude is talking about a cement forest and how its alive and only the crazy are content there. Fucking amazing. I feel like that everyday.

You don't understand how this made my day.

Thank You, the El Paso Police

It sucks living in the southwest and not being part of a gang. Females don't like you, people yell things out of their car at you, and you have to watch your back always (mostly for people yelling things out of their car at you).

This 1992 PSA from the El Paso Police Department, ment to stear kids away from gang life, using a catchy rap tune and shocking images, did just the opposite for me. It reminded me of just how big of a loser I am. I like rap music alright. But at the same time, I've always secretly wanted to wear Raiders clothing and hang out around trash can fires with my guys like I was in the Wu-Tang Clan. And if that's not enough, there were parts of this video that I felt were speaking directly to me. For instance, they show a close up of a young gentlemans jacket while he's using a payphone. The jacket has the mans name embroided on the back in old english. Now, how could they have possibly known, without knowing me, that a "KOOCH" old english embroiderd jacket (or hat) is in my top 5 things that I want most in this world? They couldnt have. Thats what's so fucked about this whole thing right now..

"It Must Be Said..."

I am not much of a fashion critic, but I do know Tilda Swinton showed up to the Oscars looking like a eunich from the cast of HBO's Rome.

Jiggy Era

Inspired by Prince Charles and his love for Bad Boy.

During the mid to late 90's era of jiggyness, I was so wrapped up in keeping hiphop "real" (whatever that means now), that I slept on a few years of some pretty good music. Ok, I wasn't asleep entirely. I was more like napping, I guess you could say, because I did like some stuff (wasn't like I was going to let you know that though).

Nowadays, backpack rap sucks, mostly. Crunk was funny to me for a second. I live in close proximity to Texas, so I went kind of crazy with the whole Houston/Swishahouse thing for a while. Dipset was original and they had bangin' production (Heatmakerz). Mashups were cute when they were ironic still. But really, all and all rap has been pretty uninspiring this decade. Now I'll even go as far as to say that it sucks. I'm not trying to debate that, it's just one mans opinion (not that of the blogs), that not even a Nas/Premier album would be able to change at this point.

The more I became less impressed with the way hiphop was going, the more I was being asked to play out at clubs and parties, the more jiggy music started to appeal to me.

So now I'm on Youtube fucking around. Here are some videos I came across. It's not like I dug way deep in the crate or anything. And it's not like I have a lot of time or the greatest memory either. But you should remember these..

One of my favs..



When I began to lose interest in doing radio, and everyone else around me seemed to as well, I put this instrumental on replay on air, no joke, somewhere between 10 and 15 times before anyone caught on..



Horse and Carriage..



And the rmx with the Night Court sample, http://youtube.com/watch?v=n4wF3MjpD6s&feature=related

Biggups to Mr. C for this one..



Terror Squad style..



Crush on You..



Not sure if this is "jiggy", but it's from that era and one of my favs also..



Rmx..



And of course..

Y'all just better hope we gracefully bow out!!!!!!!!!!

Fidel annouced he's done telling the pro libertariert what to do. Today he officially steps down and lets Lil Castro aka Raul Castro hold down the government. This officially makes Hugo Chavez the H.T.W.L.I.C. (Head Third World Leader In Charge). Fidel has a storied history. With as many fans as detractors. If you want to read more check out the guardian.

Half on a Baby

After seeing Jasson's post last week (below) and now reading this, I am intent on seeing Juno this week, as well as the substantially darker 4 Months. This J. Hoberman article is phenomenal. Even if you loved Knocked Up, as I did, you will recognize the inversion of choice (ie. pro life agenda) when it's called out.

Here is the soul of its thesis:

"There can be no female agency in Knocked Up, Waitress, and Juno—not because they are comedies, but because, in each scenario, unwanted pregnancy is the joke played (by God?) on the female lead. As the most successful of the preg protags, she who is Knocked Up is necessarily the most smacked down—the glass ceiling turns out to be Alison's own uterus. Jenna and Juno are less formidable, but unexpected fertility mocks their dreams of autonomy. All three are taught their place by their own bodies—and what's more, they learn to like it."

Failure to Launch

I guess the link was broken to the V-day mix I posted on Thurs. Also, Jasson is bitching that once again I neglected to post a track listing. So this should remedy both situations. A fresh linky-dink and the goods as follows below.