Too Old for Christmas?

As I come up on my 24th Christmas, I wonder if there is a point where you really don't care anymore. Like I said, I'm 24, my brother is 21, and my sister is 16 and there isn't really any excitement around the house. There's not even a tree at my mother's house, and Christmas is only seven days away. I still have gifts to buy. I can't really remember the last time I was really excited for Christmas to come. Imagine that when I have children the excitement will come in the form of seeing them enjoy it, but for right now, it's just time off from work - I guess as an adult, that's something to be excited about.

I've know that Santa is a myth for a long time now (4 years...4 sad, cold, years), but I was still excited to see what my parents had gotten me for being nice instead of naughty. It was a time of sheer joy becuase it was the only other time of the year you got new toys. Now, it's cash and gift cards....wait why am I not excited again?

I've also known for a while that Jesus was not born in December, but much earlier in the year. Some have proposed April 18th as the day of Jesus' birth. That explains why I'm so dope...I was born on the same day as Our Lord and Savior. Maybe instead of being dope, I'm on it. Anyway, they chose December 25th in an effort to jack that days' previous celebration, a pagan celebration of the sun, and turn it into a Christian celebration of...the Son. Man, I'm so clever. But not as clever as those marketing geniuses that have intertwined fatal shopping sprees and the birth of Jesus. That takes some skill.

I guess I'm just tired of this day being more representative of commercialism than religion and faith. I mean if we really were celebrating His birth, why not give him gifts, like a grain, or burnt offering? Yeah, just throw an entire cow on a bonfire in the back yard. Bam. Thanks Jesus. Come visit us soon.

So, while the modern Church attempts to de-commercialize "Jesus' birthday," I'll go out and finish my Christmas shopping. After all, you can't celebrate the birth of our Savior without iTunes gift cards.

Do you.

Universal Mind Control

This review is for the
iTunes edition.


Intro- Joelle Ndiaye -
It's short, and in French...
kinda like my girlfriend,
who says this basically
translates into-"Welcome
to a new sound called
Universal Mind Control".7/10.

Universal Mind Control - Pharrell whispers they just
wanna dance a few times at the beginning of the track.
It's an interesting comment on the current state of music,
and perhaps the theme for the album.I did notice a lot of
5 Percenter references which are prevalent in a  lot of
East Coast rap.Like most of Pharrell's tracks, UMC has
a dope beat,and like most of Common's songs, a good flow.
It's been stuck in my head for weeks now.
10/10.

Punch Drunk Love ft. Kanye - This joint is an instant
head-nodder.I love the fact that Kanye is NOT singing
on this one. It's a typically boastful Kanye hook that
I like a lot. 8/10.

Make My Day ft. Cee-Lo - Sounds like he borrowed this one
from 3 Stacks, but it works for him as well Cee-Lo is as
nice as ever on the hook, and the upbeat tempo gives the
love song a casual feel. This one got stuck in my head
as well.
8/10.

Sex 4 Suga- Didn't like this one too much at the first
listen, but it has grown on me a bit. I like the beat a lot
more than at first. Not bad.7/10.

Announcement ft. Pharrell - I love the throwback
feel of this beat-good balance of synth and the drum
beat sounds like a hit from the hip-hop's heyday. I half
expected to hear Biggie go "Uhh" a few times before he
stepped to the mic, with a few Diddy "take that's" in
the background.Solid lyrics again from Common, with a
decent verse from Pharrell-I like how he calls out the
G-Shock biters...ahem...BOW WOW.
9/10

Gladiator - In my opinion, this rivals UMC for best on
the album. Nice flow from Common. This track boasts the
best lyrics of the album. Pharell does a great job of
switching things up for the chorus.Songs like this is why I
bought the album. 10/10.

Changes ft. Muhsinah - The standard retrospective/
inspiringCommon joint-hasn't gotten old yet. Muhsinah
is a god fit on the hook. Changes is a nice Obama-era
laid back, Common type track. His daughter Omoye
adds some nice spoken word to the end. 7/10.

Inhale - The beat is a mix between DJ Premier and the
Neptunes with the airy synths as well as a lil scratching
here and there. It's a very breezy beat, but Common
goes hard lyrically, giving it some weight. 7/10.

What a World - Instantly catchy beat-sounds new, yet
retro at the same time. It's a very funky sound, kinda like
a updated Ike & Tina. I can see Ike on the bass now...
Common spits the throwback 80s flow that sounds right
in line with Curtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash. 
8/10.

Everywhere ft. Martina Topley Bird - Very different
sound for Common, but still nice. On this one, he's content
to let Martina do most of the work. He pops in  to do his
thing on one verse. I like this one because Common
shows that he can flow over all types of beats. 7/10.

Break my Heart(live) - For those who haven't seen
Common in concert, it is a great experience, especially
in a venue like the House of Blues. It's a very interactive
experience, with talented live instrumentation."Testify"
from the "BE:turns into a mini theatrical production.
9/10.

Final Score - 96/120=80 That comes out to a B, even
though it feels more like a B+. UMC is not the typical lay
back and burn one album from common, but dope
nonetheless. I like the fact that Common is experimenting
with a new sound and taking risks. Risks are necessary for
artists and for hip-hop as a whole to grow and develop. It
isn't as good as Be or Finding Forever, but it's no slouch
either.



                                                                                  Do you.

The future of Hip-hop?!

On the cover of this month's issue of VIBE, there is a picture of the future of hip-hop. The picture isn't of Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Kids, Wale, B.o.B, GemStones, or a slew of other up and comers. No, "the future of rap is on the cover of VIBEs December 08 issue and you'll never believe who it is!" Man, truer words have never been spoken..

Plies. Yes, THAT Plies. Algernod Lanier Washington according to the government, and the future of hip-hop according to someone at VIBE who doesn't actually listen to music.
Calling him the future of rap is like calling the SUV the future of automobiles, or Rod Blagojevich the future of Illinois politics, or Al Sharpton the future of Black leadership.
With three releases under his belt in 16 months-Real Testament, Definition of Real, and Da Realest-we can see that Plies is prolifically real. I mean, I'm impressed that after a full day of being a "full-blooded goon," he still has time to record so much music. But after listening to some of his real testaments, I figure each track didn't take more than 30 minutes from start to finish. Even still, that's a lot of goonery. Perhaps after performing tasks befitting of the realest person alive, he simply went to the studio to record said deeds. Perhaps, his albums are merely an auditory journal of sorts that gives us insight on the day to day activities of the realest man alive.

Everything above aside, this isn't about Plies. It's about the sad state of hip-hop affairs. I'm not one of those hip-hop is dead/dying people, but I do believe that we are in a rut of sorts. Anytime someone who is a new artist that sounds just like other mediocre rappers with the same content, beats, and D class jewelery gets heralded as the future of anything, we have a problem. Plies brings nothing new to the table. (Sidenote: Grills are still hot?) Sex for the women, guns for the guys, and jewelery for people that are autistic. (Sorry I shoulda said materialistic.) It's the same formula over and over. Sales are down becuase creativity is down, not becuase of iTunes.

In any case, in order for hip-hop to grow and move forward, we need albums like The Love Below, St. Elsewhere, Electric Circus, and 808s & Heartbreak. Boundaries need to be pushed and minds need to be expanded. That way, the future won't be a step backwards.

Do you.

Wal-Mart Madness

By now I'm sure you've all heard about the madness that took place on Black Friday at the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. I'll sum it up just in case. At 5am on Friday, November 28th, a worker was crushed by a wave of people as big as 2,000 as he tried to open the doors for shopping. A little info on Valley Stream:
93% White
5% Asian
1.5% African American <----all work at Wal-Mart! j/k.....maybe Median income for a household $103,243 As we can see, it's a very affluent area of Long Island, so It surprises me that they were so thirsty to save a few dollars on things they probably had already. Maybe they wanted to upgrade the flat screen in the guest room to someting of more theatric dimensions.
Only in America.

Sure, people get trampled all the time in foreign countries. Usually it's to get rice during a nationwide food shortage, or to flee an oncoming army. Sometimes it's to escape rising flood waters or other natural disasters. In Long Island, you get trampled over a television or an over priced re-hashing of last years' toys all so you little spoiled, snot-nosed, undeserving offspring can have the honor of bragging to their classmates about having the latest lead contaminated piece of molded Chinese plastic that somehow makes them cooler to the other douchebags to be in the 6th grade. It's sickening. People were actually mad that shopping was suspended while they attended to this dying person! Damn him for dying before I could max out my credit card...again...this year. Doesn't he know that my illiterate children will throw temper tantrums if they don't have something new and shiny under the tree? The Ritalin only does so much.

By the way, aren't we in a recession?

Apparently times aren't as bad as advertised if people are crushing each other for the opportunity to spend money first. I think I may have stumbled into the answer for our economic woes - let's just make every Friday Black Friday! Sure we might lose a few dozen people to mob violence, but hey, that's less people sucking up my welfare dollars!

Even in the face of the worst economy in decades, materialism still trumps all in the U.S.

Do you.