Sunday, October 14, 2007

Frustrations

I'm tired ...of so many things.

Too tired to expound on them right now.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Lupe clears the air - Vibe had it f'ed up!!!

...either his PR clean up skills are ridiculously on point OR ...he's telling the truth and Vibe just wanted to stir shit up a tiny bit more.

Lupe will be taking Vibe to court for defamation of character, claiming that the now infamous 'Vibe Exclusive' was actually an interview done approximately a month ago but used for the purposes of adding fuel to the fire.

Kay Slay is a bit much for me but if you can take it, here is Lupe setting things straight.


Note that although Q-Tip states they never spoke on his participation save for a conference call to plan the actual performance, Lupe insists that Q-Tip is his 'Muslim brother'.

Boo.

Happy National Coming Out Day!!!


Be Proud.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Lupe Fiasco has officially forgotten himself.

Dude, have a cookie and kick push your ass into a corner.

"After screwing up his rhymes during a tribute to A Tribe Called Quest on VH1's Hip Hop Honors awards show on Sunday, rap star Lupe Fiasco has quickly become a blogger's whipping boy in a drama now referred to as "Fiascogate," with new allegations from Q-Tip that Lupe was never asked by him to perform at the VH1 ceremony at all.

...Lupe wasted no time addressing the VH1 mishap on Okayplayer. Under the screen name FNF Up Up And Away, he causticly wrote in all caps concerning the performance, "When it was initially offered to me, I turned it down because I felt it was out of place for me to be honoring them because while I was fully aware of their impact in hip-hop, I wasn't really aware of their music like that . . . but guess who wanted me to be apart of it . . . hmmmm . . . how about . . . Q-Tip!!! . . ."

How about we try that one more time Lupe.

But according to Q-Tip, that wasn't the case. On the gossip blog of Miss Info, Q-Tip was reported as saying, "I'm not trying to make this any bigger than it is. But I just want to clear up one thing. . . We never hunted him down and begged him to be a part of the show or anything like that. His name was pitched to us by VH1, and we said, ok cool. The only time I spoke to Lupe about the Hip Hop Honors performance was on a conference call, which we did with the other artists too, like Busta and Common, to plan the performance."

...In the past, Roots drummer Questlove has criticized Lupe for never having heard Marauders. Most recently, Phonte of the group Little Brother gleefully added fuel to the fire. "You fuckin up, my nig. Straight up and down," Phonte posted on an Okayplayer message board. "What's even more amazing is the same cats on this site defending your arrogance and ignorance on this topic . . .you forgetting the lyrics to a classic song from a classic group on national television while paying tribute to them, the 2nd plane has officially hit the tower."

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!!!! I'll take Hip Hop Sacrilege for $1000, Alex.

Lupe aired out his grievances exclusively to VIBE concerning the backlash to the revelation that he missed out on Marauders. "[Tribe] didn't sell 10 million records, so why would people think they had a blanket on the world like that? MC Hammer was way more popular to me than Tribe Called Quest."
Umm, "Come again Pikey".

It's all about hip hop vanity, Lupe explains. "Because there's kids in Harlem who right now would never ever listen to Midnight Marauders, I don't give a fuck what you do, they'll never listen to Q-Tip and they want to be rappers and they want to talk about positive things. So why would you shoot them down?"

His voice rises. "It's like, 'Oh, you ain't never listened to Midnight Marauders? You ain't expanding your horizons? Oh, you ain't real' cause they did that shit to me! 'Oh Lupe, that's fucked up man, I don't fuck with you now, I'm not buying your next album' and be dead serious!It made me feel like, 'You dirty bastards. Like how dare you.'"

Overall, the rapper appears to be more hurt than furious from the blog butchering. And he claims he'll still "never" listen to Midnight Marauders, though he's criticized for denying the fact that groups like Tribe opened doors for the lyrically-PG, happy-go-lucky form of rap he's known for. But no matter how you look at it, Lupe's refusal to throw on some headphones and pop in the album isn't about Midnight Marauders, or lack of interest at all:
it's about defiance.

And his power comes from being unapologetic to critics. "Those hip hop elitists who think [Tribe] hold the crown and the copyright to hip hop," he says. "I listen to 8Ball & MJG and I think they're better than you [Tribe].""

Wow buddy.

Really Lupe? Really???
I like 8Ball & MJG ...but MC Hammer? Really???

Tell 'em why you mad son. Tell 'em why you mad.

Quotes taken from a Vibe.com Exclusive


Tuesday, October 09, 2007

40 Years Ago Today

...Ernesto 'Che' Guevara de la Serna was executed.
Felix Rodriguez, the CIA and Mario Teran **and by extension the Bolivian Army are responsible for his murder.


Che Guevara June 14th, 1928 - October 9th, 1967
"He vivido días magníficos."
- Letter to Fidel Castro 1965

"The great lesson of the guerrillas' invincibility is taking hold among the masses of the dispossessed. The galvanization of the national spirit; the preparation for more difficult tasks, for resistance to more violent repression. Hate as a factor in the struggle, intransigent hatred for the enemy that takes one beyond the natural limitations of a human being and converts one into an effective, violent, selective, cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be like that; a people without hate cannot triumph over a brutal enemy."

The VH1 Hip Hop Honors

*pause*

...I just have to put this out there before I even begin the blog.

Did anyone peep dude in the audience dancing like he was the only person there???

Every time the camera happened to cut him ...man, listen. Baby boy was putting in work!!! Overtime.

*play*

Aside from a slow start, Pepa's nose looking a hot mess, Lupe's unforgivable ATCQ flub **not to mention subsequent b.s. excuse, later dismissed by Q-Tip himself ** Keyshia being dead wrong for that jacked vocal, and a premature / off base hip hop honor **no shade but there are female MC's way more deserving than Missy Elliott** the tributes to Whodini, Snoop and A Tribe Called Quest made watching the 2 hour taping worthwhile. I sat back and 'wopped' up a headache, rattling off the words to practically every song, as I clapped myself into a nostalgic tizzy.
Tell me you didn't peep Nelly get low, lol. I can't wait for the videos to hit YouTube.

Ain't nothing like the good old days; back yard barbecue's with someones stereo turned out the window, dancing for your uncles spare change.

*pause*

Oh, yeah ...and the Cowboy's came back and stunned the shyt out of the Bills.

How 'bout dem Cowboy's!!!

Monday, October 08, 2007

The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams - Meshell Ndegeocello




Refusing to be categorized, the melding of so many different genres with an ease and fluidity that today, is unmatched ...we have yet another banger from Meshell Ndegeocello.

I've had my copy since last week.
Undoubtedly, Sloganeer is my favorite. Simply consuming, it stays in heavy rotation. I fear I may wear a grove in the cd itself.

Coming in right behind it are Elliptical, Michelle Johnson, Evolution, Virgo, Shirk, Relief, Solomon, Lovely Lovely, ...shall I stop short of an out of order track listing?

Save for a set in Charlotte, where she seemed more like the introduction and not the headliner she is, Meshell has yet to disappoint me.
Please support her raw artistry.
**Note the version of Sloganeer now playing is not the album version. This comes from a live show in Zurich.

'I'm just a soul on the planet. Trying to do good, be good and feel good.'
...Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur 'Michelle Johnson'

**UPDATE**
Praise YouTube ...I found a video of her performing Sloganeer.




Get a bang out of life.
...Suicide
Straight to paradise.
If you're the chosen...
Why don't you just
...Kill yourself now, kill yourself now.
Cause I hate all the beautiful people.
Just open your legs.

Supposedly, the song is to / about a suicide bomber. I need more time to digest it before I can draw any conclusions.

Also, I don't advocate for the taping or photographing of Meshell with out her permission as in her case, among other things, it is a health hazard ..but, please don't bother to point out the contradiction in reposting this video; I'm aware.

**Link to information re: Epilepsy

Tattoos and Drum Sticks

I came across this again today and I don't know why I didn't post this video earlier.
Tavis Barker is amazing ...actually makes the song bearable.