Most fun ever?

Wylin' out


The boy "Sparkles" (me) and Steve Cannon


I'm absolutely wasted at this point

- This Weekend: Thanks to urryone that came out to the several parties that Bo and I DJed this weekend. This weekend was insane. Friday night we did the Child’s Play party (pictures and recap here--there's nothing but smiles in all those pics) with Low Budget, Dan the Swede (the best person ever), and Steven Bloodbath from the Town Jewelrz and it was absolute mayhem. 400 folks rolled through to experience the ridiculously rowdy Willie-Hutch-into-“Stay Fly” moshpit, some “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (twice), and Bo Bliz killing the slow reggae. And the BPP boys were in the house! The BYOB-ness of the party was key (everyone was pretty much annihilated) but made for an absolutely horrible cleaning experience the next day. Nothing is worse than having a pounding hangover-headache and having to bend down and pick up stanky stale beer bottles all day after getting like four hours of sleep. Ugh dude. That shiz was ROUGH. But the party was a huge success and went off without a hitch (except for some cornball grafitti artist tagging the spot up right before the party ended. Whoever did that—and we know who did it—is an effin’ cornball. First of all, his hand styles are terrible and, second of all, dude tagged the spot up two minutes before the party ended. So, the only people that saw it were me and the 4 other DJs. Way to “get up,” homie. Don’t worry though—we’re gonna get you for the deposit money you owe us, you prick). Then on Saturday it was off to the east village for Bo and I to hold down “Curl” with Moe Choi. We killed it and a bunch of homies came through and it was a good ass time. But, needless to say, it’s Monday morning and the boy is absolutely exhausted. Looooooooong-ass hectic weekend capped-off with a terrible Eagles loss. And, unfortunately, I’m too exhausted to go see my man Brendan Bring’em get down tonight for his crazy Halloween party at Denim. I’m sorry Brendan. I suck. You really need to go to this:

SOUL TRAVELERS ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT
Monday, October 31st At Denim With A Live Band

It's a special night of the Soul Travelers DJ'ing with a live band like it's never been done before. The Soul Travelers have put together a 10 piece dance orchestra led by James Rouse, Kelis' tour drummer and musical impresario. The band will be playing 70's, 80's and 90's dance classics mixing in out of the Soul Travelers' sets, keeping the dance floor jumping with classics as well as a full out live BALTIMORE CLUB set. Brendan and Joey will be holding it down along with your hosts for the night, Gravy and Ryva.

The Halloween theme for the night is "The Grammy Awards," so think of an artist you've always wanted to masquerade as and make it happen for the night. You can come dressed as what ever you'd like, but there will be a reduced admission for those in costume. It happens at Denim at 1712 Walnut Street and the party goes from 9 pm to 3 am.

A Halloween Night At The Grammy's w/ Soul Travelers
Monday, October 31st at denim> 1712 Walnut Street

- More On the Dress-Code: A pretty funny article about what the players can do to combat the dress-code. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em “outside the system,” work within the confines “within the system,” right?

- Sudoku: I’m kind of a Sudoku freak these days. I’m not particularly great at them but I’m not bad either. The Metro puzzle is way too easy though.


-e

Boo, bitch!

Uh oh.

What you gwan do?

- The Wednesday Night Weekly: Bo and I are DJing tonight at the TWNW. Come holler. $2 PBR and/or Yueng-er cans. Holler. Official promo is the following:

Thats right! This wednesday is the official debut of the newest residents at TWNW, emynd & Bo Bliz. These cats are the REAL F'N DEAL on the decks. I had the pleasure of seeing them rock the Family Affair crowd over the summer and immediately brought them in last month to TWNW and the crowd ate them up to say the least. Prepare to get your dance on this week. These are the types of dudes that just ALWAYS seem to play the right track at the right time....expect to hear allll the classics.
Oh yea, this will also be my OFFICIAL birthday celebration. SO YOU KNOW shits gonna be poppin this week. Be sure to come out and buy a brotha a shot. And by "brotha", I mean skinny white boy.

- Peedi Peedi: Quoting Peedi’s lyrics isn’t a very productive way to relay the genius of the man. Peedi is a flow monster. His lyrics are basically meaningless. You gotta listen to the man to hear the man!

- Cunninglynguists: OK, I’m really not too into “underground rap,” these days, but this new Cunninglynguists shit sounds great (snippets). The production is ridiculous. The homie Trapper Juan’s review of it confirms that it is dope. Did I mention that the production is ridiculous? Dude DJ Kno got rekkids.

- Benjamin, Warhol, and Aura: For my grad-school theory nerds, Steven Shaviro has some more brilliantly simple stuff to say about Benjamin, Warhol, and the concept of “aura”. The basic gist of it is that “authenticity” only exists because of the commodity culture that relentlessly razes it—you can’t have one without the other. Again, that’s worth repeating: “authenticity” only exists because of (not in spite of) the commodity culture that destroys it. So, if you’re going to suggest that commodification (and/or technology as Benjamin does in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”) is the central focus as what brought on the demise of “authenticity,” you should be aware that commodification is simultaneously what made that “authenticity” actually “authentic” in the first place. Again, you can’t have one without the other. I think the major point of this isn’t to suggest we should lament the demise of “authenticity” because of commodity culture, nor praise commodity culture for simultaneously “creating” this notion of authenticity. Instead, it’s just a matter of understanding where this notion of “authenticity” comes from--that “authenticity” is not only a victim of commidification, but also at once a product of it as well.

- Turntable Lab Record Checks: Here, here, here, here, here, here, Diplo here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Whew. I’m sure I linked some of those incorrectly, but fuck it.

-e

Electro-shock-therapy.

- Halloween Jump-Offs: Two Halloween leap-offs this weekend. Bo and I are DJing at the soon-to-be-epic Philly party Child's Play with Low Budget, Steve Bloodbath, and our White T compatriot Dan The Swede. Remember: it's BYOB, so come get rowdy with us. Then, on Saturday night, we're rocking the East Village at CURL. Free Vodka from 10-11 and no cover and just us smashin' mugs with that electroshocktherapy. Come through!

- Slightly Nerdy to Sincerely Strange: Like woah.

- Feast or Famine: Here's some more good press for Reef’s new album over at RapReviews.com. Reviewer agrees with me that "Look at the Sun" shoulda been a single! Gyeah!

- Can I Kick It?: You go, girl! This girl was homecoming Queen AND the football team’s kicker. If I’m not mistaken, Mike Vanderjagt is the only other kicker that can claim to be homecoming Queen and his highschool football team’s kicker.

- Stay At Home Mom On Strike: I think this lady is over-estimating how much leverage she has. She certainly has a better job than I do, though.

- BDSM Sheriff: Dude, this dude is the scariest human ever.

- Sudden Impact: Remember Sudden Impact? Don’t worry, me neither… that is, until I clicked this link and it all came rushing back to me in a flurry. If you click one link of mine today, make sure it’s that one.

- Janet Jackson's got a seed?: Apparently, Janet's got an 18-year-old daughter with James DeBarge.

- Donnie Darko: My dude R*b*rt/Icarus from the shrimp broke down the “Donnia Darko is great” phenomenon on a messageboard recently. I’m posting it because it’s pretty hilarious:

There is a certain breed of hetero, Yankee, cracker of the male persuasion who thinks himself smarter than the average person -- his tastes more refined, his penchant to derive 'meaning' more pronounced. Let’s call this young man Blake. This person is typically between the ages of 17 and 23. He's not particularly well-read (though he thinks he is because he's read Invisible Monsters AND Survivor ). His knowledge of music consists almost entirely of the recent Pitchforkmedia canon and maybe the Velvet Underground. If he likes rap at all, his favorite artist is probably Aesop Rock. And when it comes to film, impossible weak, borderline offensive, shit like Garden State is his favorite shit. In fact, the main character of Garden State is his patron saint. The character's disenchantment with suburban cracker culture resonates with our hypothetical young man. Like the Garden State guy, this kid can't actually leave suburban cracker culture behind, cultivating a distinct personality, considering the world, music, film, on radically different terms. That would involve far too much work for our young man, who'd rather fake it than make it. Instead, Blake keeps his parents' culture at arms length, arrogantly holding his nose. His old friends and family tolerate him because they know he hasn't gone nearly as far as he thinks he has and that he'll eventually come home to roost.

This kid loooves Donnie Darko. Why? Not because it's such a great movie -- it's good, but that's almost irrelevent. But:

1) The main character is another disenchanted suburban white boy, it reminds him of all his other favorite films (think Wes Anderson) and his favorite topic (i.e. himself).

2) Donnie Darko, like Blake, isn't just disenchanted with suburban cracker life (like, say, a character in a Todd Solondz film), he's discovered a way out. This works for Blake in several ways:

3) Donnie's path out of suburban crackerdom is exclusive to him. Only he can see it. He is the fucking unique butterfly superhero that all the Blakes of the world think/wish they are.

4) Donnie's path out of suburban crackerdom is couched in metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. Blake loves this shit. He might've read a book about chaos theory or some shit like that in his life. It's important, though, that the way out is mystical but not spiritual. Blake is a militant believer in science. Had this mystical mumbo-jumbo been instead religious mumbo-jumbo, Blake would certainly think less of the film. The film is set out to mock Swayze's mystical, non-scientific mumbo-jumbo but asks us to take Donnie's scientific mumbo-jumbo seriously.

5) The casting of the film was brilliant. I've known several Blakes in my life and almost all of them once had a thing for Drew Barrymore. Drew Barrymore, in her prime, was unlike anything else Blake has ever known. She was a gorgeous Hollywood star but she was also an unpredictable alternachick. In Blake's dream, accessible. Sorta like Fiona Apple but less self-consciously intellectual. And Patrick Swayze as a child molester? The Swayze of Blake's youth was a pretty-boy badass ladykilling dancing machine. Blake loves watching guys like that go down.

God damn the dude is killing it!

-e

The Dress Code

- Game Over: There is one last thing that I'd like to say about the dress-code:

“The Jordan crossover [appeal], as engineered by [his agent David Falk], succeeded because white Americans got to participate fully in what was ‘Jordan’ without ever having their race guilt triggered. Jordan’s white fans didn’t think of him as black the way Ali’s white fans thought of him as black; Jordan didn’t construct his public persona out of his blackness. As a result, the world’s most dangerous man on the hardwood was utterly unthreatening as a symbol; he ‘transcended’ race, which is to say that in his planed, smiling face, white Americans (unconsciously) sought and found permission to forget about race--both his and theirs. Thus the Jordan appeal, while giving the impression of having ‘overcome’ race--of having ‘solved’ the race problem--merely sidestepped the issue altogether.”
-- Only the Strong Survive by Larry Platt

-e

Menace II Sobriety -- Tonight!

This flier looks like shit here but looks awesome in person.
I’m the best graphic designer ever.

- Rap Music (No Irony): OK, so I love Hollertronix and Diplo and Beezy are my dudes, but for better or for worse, these guys sparked a movement in Philly that I like to call the “I can play anything at all in the club” movement. Sure, it can be fun to hear some Block Party in the club and I will never complain about hearing some INXS mixed in nicely, but as beautiful as a song “Paint it Black” is, is that really something folks want to shake their ass to? And, if so, are these the types of folks I want to be around, especially considering that most of these people find it excessively funny to dance to old Mary J Blige songs and Wu-Tang joints. The fuck is so funny about that shit, you terds? That shit is fucking HOT. So, in that vein, Bo Bliz, Lady Jae, and I are doing a party called “Menace II Sobriety” where we are going to—god forbid—actually stick to a format and won’t play everything under the sun from the Stones to the Streets. So, if you like classic hip-hop, dancehall, and r&b un-ironically (i.e. you actually like the music you’re hearing) come to our party tonight. We are gonna rock everything from Tribe to Jeezy to DJ Technics (without all the hipster-weirdness that is by now standard in all Philly DJ sets) at the Blue Horseshoe and will promptly beat up anyone that ain’t acting right. So, tonight (and every third Friday!) 10PM to 2AM. 10 South 20th Street (just south of Market)!

- God, Beards, and Hair: Well, if you’ve ever been interested in the influence of politics and religion on the hair and beard, this article is for you. I haven’t read it yet, but I bet there’s some interesting stuff that we can link up to the stupid-ass dress-code policy the stupid-ass NBA has stupidly adopted. More on this later after I read the article.

- Race and the Dress Code: Speaking of the stupid-ass NBA and its stupid-ass dress-code policy, this is one of the few sensible things that’s been written about it. Of course it doesn’t overtly address the issue most at stake “race,” but white folks are notoriously good at under-valuing the importance of “race” in these issues (cue high voice: “Oh stop playing the race card!”). Steven Jackson—one that’s never been hesitant to throw punches, both literally and figuratively—thinks it’s racist because it’s his god-given right as a black man to rock medallions. I don’t necessarily agree with his logic (logic that I’m obviously exaggerating), but I do think it’s “racist”—not because the rules are prohibiting mostly black people from dressing a certain way, nor because the rules are pretty much based on the fashion-sense of most black stars like Iverson. The dress-code is racist because it is an attempt to appease a racist audience that has lost interest in the NBA. Older white folks don’t like the NBA anymore. They claim it’s because the game is excessively “individualized” (although the Spurs and Pistons--the last few champions--are teams that are excessively un-individualized, and as the ratings show, the least fun to watch) and because it’s less “pure” (i.e. just about the money), or because it’s too low-scoring (which I’m not actually convinced of… somebody point me to some statistics that show that 80’s and 90’s were REALLY that much more high-scoring. Sure, we all remember the Lakers and Celtics serieses that reached 120 points each every game, but I highly fucking doubt the Pistons-Bulls serieses reached that high and I highly fucking doubt MOST games were really that high-scoring), but the fact of the matter is the game is less-popular because the folks who were buying tickets in the past (rich white folks) don’t like the game anymore because it’s “too black.” This dress-code is an attempt to roll back the league’s “black” image to appease its (some mildly, some not so mildly) racist fans. End of story. It’s racist. It’s obviously not on the same level as lynching or the Katrina aid, but nonetheless, it’s motivated by race and racist. Shockingly, even freedarko associate Bethlehem Shoals is hesitant to blow the “racist” whistle. What the fuck? Shoals is always good for some gold though and says (in a complete different context) “i don't buy that espn piece that artest is turning into the next rodman. that's like saying freeway is the next chris cornell.” Haha! Anyway, the only argument that is really valid for being “pro-dress-code” is that this shit was in the collective bargaining agreement that the Player’s Association agreed upon. Heh. I guess the players should’ve read that shit before they agreed to agree with it, huh? Stupid black people! They can’t even read! I do think that the dress-code is going to make for some interesting outfits though. Who’s gonna be the first person to wear a sport’s jacket with a snowman screen printed on the back? I wonder if bullet-proof vests are banned, too. Someone should rock one as a sweater-vest.

- Speaking of Racism: These girls aren’t “racist,” they’re just “white nationalists.” Jeez! Stop playing the race card! In all honesty, this is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. Some dude on a messageboard said “These girls are gonna be doing ‘blacks on blondes’ porn in a couple years.” It’s funny because it’s true.

- Beer and Vaginas: I guess if you like to perform oral sex on a girl, there’s not a lot of reason to be super disgusted by this, but uh, shit’s pretty nasty. However, it makes for some interesting marketing opportunities. If they were smart, they’d try to enroll some celebrities and make special, individualized brews from celebrities’ vaginas. There’s probably at least a million dudes that would love to drink a beer made from Scarlett Johanson’s yeast.

- Beer and (c)Rap: Serg thinks he’s such a man but he hurt himself at a fucking Glue show. I heard he hurt himself right in between the opening prayer session and the “WWJD” freestyle cipher. Sucka! Anyway, just kidding… Adeem and Maker are two of the nicest people ever. Hey guys! I do like that Serg laughs at this guy though. Super hot picture. Peep the file name, too. Hah.

- Fuck and Stuff: If you check the same three message-boards that I do, there’s really no reason to come to my blog because all I do is post stuff on here that other people have found elsewhere and then occasionally write like 500 words calling somebody a “racist.” This blog should be called “Other People’s Stuff and Emil Calling People Racist(s)” and should be relocated to OPSECPR.com. Or not. Anyway, fuck this book and fuck DJ Ayres for putting me up on it.

-e

Let that mothereffer burn...

- Fuck Hollerween!: We don’t need no stinking Hollertronix on Halloween! We got Low Budget (from the aforementioned Hollertronix), Steve Bloodbath (from the Town Jewelerz), Dan the Swede, and me & Bo Bliz doing the damn thizzing at Broad and Federal at an ex-funeral parlor. Halloweensoreal. Clich here. Game over.

- Penn State: *sigh* R.I.P. to PSU’s National Title chances. I mean, they were slim to begin with, but I think they would’ve have to gone undefeated to finish in the top two or three this year. They’re still probably gonna wind up in a pretty good bowl, but I had myself convinced that they might do bigger thangs. Oh well. But, here’s some severally bad news: Williams broke his arm. Fuck.

- Reef vs All Hip-Hop: My man Reef is getting some shine at AllHipHop.com. Can’t hate on that. Do your thang, my dude. Bol even got the headline/frontpage story. Gyeah!

- Record Show and Swap Meet: The Record-Revival swap meet is back in the building and I’m swinging through with some gems for trade. At the famed-Holletronix-Ukie from 1-7PM next Sunday, October 22. Bring me your drum breaks.

- White-Washing or the Michael Jackson Disease: So, there’s some rumors that Vanity Fair “white-washed” (i.e. artificially lightened Beyonce’s skintone) Beyonce on the cover of the November issue. Looking at the covers, I can’t notice a discernible difference, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened.

- Bun B vs Catchdubs: Go. Catchdubs is a really solid “journalist.” Kudos.

- Underground Hip-Hop Records: Go buy some of Nool’s rare underground hip-hop from ebay.

- Close Your Tags!: Somebody tell the folks at the stencil to close their bold html tags!

- Self-Serving Bad Thoughts: I find myself unwittingly wishing that bad things will continue to happen to Mr. Babylon at his Bronx-based school so his blog will stop being on his “nothing bad enough for me to write about” hiatus. We all know the deal though, dude. It’s not so much that bad stuff isn’t happening, it’s just that dude is more concerned with writing about “Lost” (on his 15th blog) than he is writing about kids. Oh well. Come home, Mr. Babylon!

- Grimey: I know this kind of shit happens everywhere, but Jesus Christ, Philly can be a really grimey place. Clever headline to the piece, too. Not really pathos-filled, but cute, right?

-e

I'ma rob me a person...

- Illinoise: I bought this Sufjan Steven’s CD “Illinoise” this weekend because I heard “Chicago” on the radio a few times and I fucking love it. This dude kills. Cop that shit.

- Wayne: One Year Down, Eternity to go!: The wonderful blogger Wayne from wayne&wax celebrated his One Year Wedding Anniversary recently, proving himself to be much more than just an interesting nerd a great writer. Congrats, dude. Only eternity to go!

- Reef Review: In a fit of extreme journalistic immorality, my dude Drew Lazor/Trapper Juan wrote a nice review of Reef’s new record, saying nice things about Reef and complimenting my beats. Thanks, dude. Sorry for publicly exposing your lack of journalistic integrity and/or ethics, but somebody’s gotta watch the watch-dog!

- White Tizzle and Bizzle: White T’s and Belts was hella fun. Bo, Dan, and I did our thing (on woodgrain turntables no less) and the place was packed even though it was raining like a muuuug. Thanks to urryone that came out. You can see some early night pics here, but it’s worth reiterating that they were EARLY. Bkellz took these pics before 12:15 and shit didn’t get poppin’ until 12:30 or so. Come next time, you folls!

- Pornography Task Force: Well, the FBI’s newly created Anti-Porn Task Force Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department has raided the office of notorious male porn-star Max Hardcore. Now, I’m not necessarily pro-disgusting porn, but I am pro-free speech and as long as nobody is being illegally violated and/or directly forced into doing disgusting porn, I don’t see the harm in its existence. I do, however, find a great deal of harm in passing legislation based on “morality” that would limit this type of “expression.” This is straight-up censorship, and it’s not right, and it’s un-American. If (a) an 18-year old girl wants to get sodomized by an old man on camera, who is anybody to say she shouldn’t be able to do that if she wants and/or (b) some folks (of legal viewing age) shouldn’t watch it? We value the wrong things in this country.

- Ed Wade: Speaking of “valuing the wrong things,” Phillies GM for 8 years Ed Wade has FINALLY been canned. Philly’s “Premier Radio Sports Talk Personality” Howard Eskin seems to think that Wade’s firing was in no small part due to something like 1/3 of the season ticket holders writing letters to Dave Montgomery saying that they would not be purchase season tickets next year if Wade returned while countless other non-season ticket purchasers wrote similar letters expressing their disdain. I applaud the fans’ desire to make their voices heard, but why is it that folks are more willing to write a letter to get a GM of a baseball team fired, but would never sit down and write a letter to a congressman about something that might actually AFFECT them. Of course, I’m greatly simplifying the dynamics of what it means to be “human” with this brief rant, but it’s still slightly frustrating. Oh well. Go buy some Eskin fur from the King of Bling.

- Derrida Loves Dipset: On a messageboard recently, I was asked to elaborate when I said “I still think Dipset... is much more political than someone like Talib Kweli will ever be.” Well, here’s my verbose explication in my famous small font that Aaron loves:

The whole “Dipset is more political than some anonymous conscious rapper” idea I support is based on the simple fact that I don’t think that it’s really all that possible to be political in content anymore and that one can only be successfully “political” in “form” and/or performance. There are several reasons why I feel this way. First of all, I’m not convinced people pay much attention to “content” nor do I think people learn very much from “content.” As far as conscious hip-hop goes, folks like Mos Def and Talib Kweli are relatively effectless (and hence “apolitical”) because their whole existence as “conscious” is based on their content—it’s based on what they rap about, not at all about how they rap. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that in anyway and, to be sure, I actually like quite a bit of each of their stuff. But, that being said, I don’t think anyone who listens to Mos Def and Kweli were really that affected by the “messages” in their song. After all, look at the barrage of “conscious” songs we heard before the last election? Eminem’s “Mosh,” Jada’s “Why,” Sage Francis and his whole catalog of anti-Bush songs, not to mention the Dixie Chicks, Green Day (who’s Anti-Bush album won a motherfucking Grammy for God’s sake), etc, etc. And, what was the sum-total of all this “conscious” stuff? All this “political” art? Bush wins by a larger margin then before.

I tend to think that most people that gravitate towards conscious rappers aren’t compelled to do so in some way nor are they particularly convinced by their messages; they are simply listening to stuff they agree with, and patting themselves on the back for agreeing with this shit. Again, there’s nothing particularly wrong with that, but if the point of conscious rap is “revolution” or “social change,” then I think folks like Mos Def and Kweli need to re-evaluate their approach if they want to make some sort of lasting change.

The thing about the Dips is that they truly are “a movement.” Of course, they don’t appear to be rapping about anything especially provocative and even voice some pretty reprehensible homophobic and misogynistic notions, but they’ve really found a way to attract a large listenership through being unequivocally likable. I think Cam’ron and Juelz Santana are really the two reasons people like the Dips (Jim Jones and Freeky and even JR Writer are just side-acts that happen to compliment King-Cam and Prince-Santana pretty well, but I don’t think anybody would be paying much attention to the rest of the Dips if they didn’t come with the approval of Cam and Juelz) and, while people probably like them for a variety of different reasons, I think there are certain things they do in their music that we can all agree are extremely likable and effective.

For all intents and purposes, Cam basically invented that rhyming a word with the same word shit that is all but overdone at this point. That rhyming a word with the same word/homonym thing is basically why I came up with the “Derrida loves Dipset” shirt. I really have no idea if Derrida would actually like Dipset (somehow however, I doubt it), but I do think that some of the things that Cam and Juelz do with language perform some Derridean notions by drawing attention to the complicated and “free interplay” of signifiers and signifieds (what better way to call attention to the arbitrary nature and structure-less structure of language than to use the same words over and over again to mean vastly different things? i.e. JR Writer’s “I ran with coppers/You ran with the coppers/ Platinum, while your ass ran with the copper”). Of course, I don’t honestly think that most of Harlem likes Cam because he’s a clever performance of Derridean concepts nor do I think Cam is aware of Derrida’s existence (while I wouldn’t be surprised if he was), but the fact remains that there’s something sort’ve exciting and fun about hearing these dudes spit this somewhat ridiculous, clever word-play shit with such a confident swagger (and that excitement and fun itself performs Derrida’s faith in the deconstructive spirit. While lots of people criticized deconstruction and the poststructuralists [and, in turn, postmodernity] as something that tragically de-centered everything, leaving it baseless, folks like Derrida and Jameson give you a feeling of excitement about the possibilities and potentialities of this baseless, groundless, and fundamentally structure-less world). Anyway, I’m getting a bit off track here, but the point is that the Dips are exciting, fun, and creative music and I think they’re single-handedly responsible for showing a lot of people (me included) that mainstream rap isn’t as simple and shitty as us underground dorks thought.

The Dips successfully introduced a new way of looking at mainstream rap music. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the blogosphere recently went Dipset crazy. I think there was something undeniably likable about the Dipset swagger and performance that attracted a lot of folks that were previously pretty anti-mainstream rap. But, Dipset’s greatest achievement was introducing a whole new set of aesthetic standards to people that weren’t aware of these standards. It was like “Holy shit! I like this! Maybe I [i]shouldn’t[/u], but fuck it! I do!” and with that realization came some basic questions and some re-evaluating. There was something in the Dip swagger and performance that really changed the way a lot of (probably mostly white) people looked at rap music and what’s so remarkable about it is that the Dips did it on their own terms, without comprising themselves, but by bringing the listener over to their side.

I remember reading a review quote on the back of Don DeLillo’s “Underworld” where the writer of the review was praising the book. He said something along the lines of the following: “This book is a great book, and all great books teach you how to read them as you are reading it.” This is how I feel about Dipset. They didn’t have to get Jon Brion to play on their albums, nor did they have to rap about “conscious” stuff to get white people to listen—they simply rapped and did so in such a provocative, fun, and interesting way that it simultaneously taught their listener that what they were doing was good.

I don’t doubt that some of this is a time & place sort’ve thing where this type of aesthetic transformation/acceptance was bound to happen sooner or later (i.e. if it weren’t the Dips, eventually someone like Young Jeezy would’ve come along and done something similar), but, as you will undoubtedly read in any biography of any great revolutionary figure that they too were only as successful as their time & place allowed them to be.

Anyway, I’m kinda rambling now, but the point is, I think Dipset is great because they transformed a whole lot of folks aesthetic standards instead of transforming their own in order to market themselves to a larger audience or something. The Dips did what they do in an uncompromising, unapologetic manner and wound up teaching a whole lot of white folks out there the main lesson of rap music: that the “how” (form/style/performance) is greater than the “what” (content/intent/message). That’s way more political than Mos Def and Talib Kweli and the like have ever been… and likely will ever be.

-e

TONIGHT!

COME THROUGH MOTHERFUCKERS!

White T's and White Belts



Gyeah! Gyeah!


Free before 11! $2 PBRs!!

Back in the building... back on the map...

White T's and White Belts


Gyeah! It's that time again for the hottest first Friday party in the Smellydelphia district with your good, fine, special friends emynd, The Swede, and Bo Bliz. We've settled on making Ulana's on 2nd and Bainbridge (yes, it's the Goth club) the monthly jump-off because it's a dope spot (there's like 3 rooms and a fucking balcony... so real), we got the $2 PBR jump-off, and it's probably pretty close to you or your friends South Philly crib (which is a good place to get that pre-game action poppin' while watching that there Penn State game... WE ARE!). It's more of the same Debbie Deb meets Dipset meets Debbie Harry madness that you know and love with good peoples, good drinks, good DJs, and a whole lot of behinds moving in steady, calculated arhythmic motions. Shit's free before 11 so get there early, otherwise you'll have to pay a toll to the troll at the door to enter... but it'll be worth it either way. We killed that shit last month and there's no reason to think it'll be any different this time around so deifintely come through or suffer a fate worse than death: boredom on a Friday.

You ARE allowed to do the following at White T's and White Belts:

- This
- Dress like this
- This... but only at the end of the night
- This
- Extreme Feminism is encouraged but definitely not this
- And please no dudes up in the club like this (that means you, too, Bo Bliz).
- Synchronized swimming

Nothing's better than fun!

- Spiders on Drugs: Look at what happens to spiders on drugs. That shit's pretty funny if you ask me.

- Rap Rumors: A bunch of silly rap rumors/facts posted on a game forum. Weird. I love when people say "Rappers aren't as talented as any musician." So hot.

- Bun B Month: It’s Bun B month at Houstonsoreal. Go.

-e

You don't have to say what you did... I already know... I found out from hiiiiiiiim.

”The only way I can possibly make up for this is
to do something good with my money. I vow to!” – JT

- God Bless JT: Man, I can’t hate on Justin Timberlake, at all. “Cry Me a River” is still one of my favorite songs ever (no sarcasm), and I’m especially impressed that dude is willing to do good things with his money. Some jack-asses are already protesting against this shit as if JT is “gonna pull all extant Stax releases from shelves and replace them with ‘improved’ versions that feature his own vocals” (which blatantly isn’t the case), but I echo this response: “I would understand people's ire if Justin was ruthlessly outbidding Carla Thomas or Steve Cropper for these places/catalogs, but so far no one has indicated that there is anything of the sort transpiring.” People are just a bunch of fucking haters.

- NBA and Power Rankings: Training Camp has started. GYEAH! Already got some Power Rankings posted. Which reminds me of one of the funnier McSweeney’s pieces that I probably posted like 6 months ago: My Family’s Power Rankings.

- Beanie Sigel Interview: Peep a candid Beanie Sigel interview. Good stuff.

- Family Guy Nerds: For you Family Guy dorks, you can go here and tell Stewie to do stuff. Shit’s pretty funny. Tell him to “have sex with a pig.” Hilarious.

- MIA vs Honda: I’m sure most of y’all who care have heard by now that MIA’s song “Galang” is now appearing in a Honda commercial. Everyone’s favorite resident blogging genius Mr. Wayne&Wax chimes in with some of his patented provocative inquisitions (no religio-genocide), and I myself don’t really know what to say about it. I found myself sticking up for Common when he chose to do those stupid Pepsi commercials but I was only sticking up for him because I felt like the criticism against him was so severe. I didn’t really care either way whether or not he was pimping Pepsi (or whether Pepsi was pimping him) nor did I care about any sense of “authenticity” involved with Common’s endorsement. And, let’s be frank, that’s what this is all about these days: fans expect artists to turn down corporate endorsements because it’s a quick way to decide whether or not the artist in question is doing it “for the love” or “for the money.” Nobody really considers whether or not the artist supports the company being advertised. After all, I don’t think anyone is sitting around thinking, “Ya know what? Maybe MIA really likes Hondas and that’s why she did it.” No. At this point, we all know how the game works: a hip ad person has been reading blogs and knows that the kids like MIA and so “Galang” is a perfect way to grab their attention so they throw a huge sum of money at the artist that only an idiot would say “no” to (unless the ad was for something that was blatantly “bad”). This issue is simply about the money. Fans simply don’t want artists getting money from corporate venues. Why not? Who the fuck knows? After all, this doesn’t affect the integrity of the music unless the fans allow it to. It’s as simple as this: MIA wanted some money. She was offered money and took it. So the fuck what? Let her live. Her album isn’t doing the huge numbers the blogosphere predicted it would, so let the girl get some fuckin’ duckets. Who gives a shit?

-e

My guns go boom boom, your guns go pow pow

- Woodgrain 1200s: Fuck a wood grain steering wheel or a wood grain dash. It’s all about my dude Dan the Swede’s home-made wood grain 1200s. So fucking real.

- Teen Captures His Own Killing on Tape: This is fucking chilling. Gotdamn.

- RIP August Wilson: Playwright August Wilson died yesterday. Sad. RIP, homie.

- Dark Crystal Sequel: Damn. This should be hot. The special effects in the original early 80’s version were super dope so I can only imagine how this shit is gonna look now. Shit should be super trill. RIP Jim Henson.

- Cage vs Serg: I really like that Serg is into equal parts grimey street hip-hop and cutesy emo rap. It’s quite endearing that this uberly-macho alcoholic beer-connoisseur can find pleasure in both Three 6 Mafia as well as Sage Francis. In that vein, he’s posted some new Cage shit and has anyone mentioned how metro this dude looks now? Sheesh. Anyway, go listen to it if you’re into that sorta thing.

- The Devil Made Me Do It: From poplicks, Lynddie England blames her ex-lover for abuse photos. Laughable but infuriating.

- Roots Vs Project Pat: Weird song that’ll probably never see the light of day.

- Mr. Babylon: Hombre Blanco is getting better at teaching! Let’s applaud him. He’s the best blogger ever.

- Reggaetron: Thanks to free darko I am now aware that David Ortiz likes ReggaeTRON. Hah!

-e