Feature: It's Only a Grammy

I don’t take most award shows or presentations seriously at all.  The only creditable award ceremony in my book is the Academy Awards for film and even that is shaky.  I know the Grammy’s are coming up and many are excited.  Some real talented artists like Mos Def are up for awards and that’s encouraging for many in the hip hop realm.  But in the same token, a lot of music is overlooked and not publicized.  Sure, a lot of the nominees are off of taste but I feel sometimes music is so complex and hard to really narrow down a Best Album of the Year award.

King Justice (Video)

Feature: Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

Most of you are familiar with the phrase, “blessing in disguise” but are you familiar with a “curse in disguise?”

A Look Into hurryupnbuy's Soul

They say eyes are the window to a person’s soul.  Well, I say fuck that.  Your iPod screen is the window to your soul.  A person’s taste in music says a lot about what type of person they are.  Here’s my soul on shuffle:

I was Just Going to Say the Same Thing

Some of you may be aware that Kanye West is a major douche bag. Always has been, and always will be.  His ego and personality to me is unbearable. I don’t know if he does it purposely or unconsciously. Either way, I can’t stand it. I do think Kanye is a great producer and made some fairly dope songs. But on the other hand I never was crazy about his lyrics and failed to see the “genius” behind it. Call me a hater or just plain shallow about his music. But apparently, I don’t feel so alone about my opinions anymore.

Recently, South Park has aired an episode totally ripping on Kanye West. Throughout the whole episode, there was an ongoing joke of people asking Kanye if he liked fish sticks in his mouth. Kanye kept on saying yes not realizing that the statement was poking fun at him. The whole episode is fairly funny for the most part. And surprisingly, the response from Kanye West wasn’t that angry either:

Nike's Got a Nasty Fetish

What’s up blogosphere! It’s your friendly neighborhood Othello a.k.a Ari “40 oz. Gold” back with another entry. The last time we last met, I was talking about sneakers and the rap game. I would like to continue talking about sneakers and in particular about Nike. The Nike Brand for the past few years have been fascinated with the whole concept of the Hybrid. They would combine shoes like a Jordan V with a Nike Air Force One. But Nike has this problem with a fresh idea…..they completely go overboard with it. They have been so Hybrid crazy, that many loyal sneaker fans have been showing their disgust. I’ve read many articles and blogs complaining about the design of these sneakers. When will this Sneaker-gene-splicing stop?

Don't Use the Lord's Name in Vain

“Oh God! Why would they do that?” I said to Will. “They just want to make money. Isn’t it obvious? Just produce a lot of them and sell to the masses.” This conversation took place in front of Luxury Sneaker store on Canal Street while gazing upon the Jordan Retro IV/XIX pack. “Well I was willing to pay the money for them but the quality is shit! Who would buy them?” I said. “I dunno. Suckers?” Will said with a snicker in his voice. After having my encounter with the Jordan Collezione packs, I realized that the majority of these packs are going to follow the same principle: Crappy quality for a lot of money. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, they do the same thing to Biggie and Pac.

I consider myself a sneakerhead. A poor sneaker head, but I believe in quality over quantity. Perhaps the reason I am always broke is because I seem to always find some shoe that I can’t live without. On top of that, I am frequently checking release date sites and NIKETALK. Yeah I know it’s a lot, but lately with me being unemployed, I seem to have a lot of time on my hands.

What's the Next Trend?

In contrast to my last article, “How to Resuscitate Hip Hop,” I will be writing about the evolution this genre has experienced in recent memory.  I’ve been noticing that many of the writers on this site are very pessimistic, by nature, including myself.  Hopefully this article will show the optimistic side of my views on hip hop.

Every music genre has its up’s and down’s as it grows.  Hip hop has only been around for, arguably, thirty years, so its obviously unfair to compare the growth with rock music.  With that being said, I’ve noticed many hip hop heads being more and more opened to other genres as time goes by.  I remember back in high school when it was almost a disgrace for a hip hop head to embrace other genres like techno or rock.  I’ve actually had closet rock fans.  If I have that same mentality now, I’d be look upon as ignorant.

This Ain’t Funny, So Don’t You Dare Laugh!

Written by Othello aka Ari 40 oz. Gold

I know that this little article may be completely off topic from music in every way, but I could not resist. To me, there are two things in my life that are most important and they share equal relevance. These two things my friends are Music and Humor. These two things keep me going and gives me motivation for everything. Without any of it, I would crumble faster than a cookie in milk (sorry for the cliché analogy.) But lately, I’ve noticed a parallel in the rap game and comedy, there are plenty of comedians that get shine that totally don’t deserve it. I’ve compiled a few people who are fairly popular and have never gotten a laugh out of me.

First on my list, Jimmy Fallon. Not only was this guy not funny on SNL, but he’s got his own late night show? Lord have mercy! Has the world flipped upside down? Black is White? Left is Right? This guy could not keep a straight face during any skit in SNL and just had no presence on the camera. Now that Conan O’Brien has left the late night scene (although I do think he is returning but just in a different form), they get this shumck to replace probably one the funniest guys of the past couple decades? Sad day in Comedy.

How To Resuscitate Hip Hop

written by dj hurryupnbuy

Ever since Nas’ album a couple of years ago, there has been this talk of hip hop being dead.  Truth of the matter is, the quality of hip hop has been diluting consistently for years, even prior to that.  I blame it on the corporations who are taking over our art form.  What once started out as DJs spinning breaks at a local block party, evolved into MC’s telling stories of their struggles.  And now, with the involvement of Corporate America, it has become a soap opera.

I used to work for this independent label and we made these shirts that read “YO! True Hip Hop is BACK!”  The graphics were a rip off the old “Yo! MTV Raps” graphic.  When I wore this shirt to my old job, my coworker asked me what exactly is “true hip hop?”  I answered him by saying it when hip hop was still pure and just about the music; taking out all this commercial garbage on the radio.  He summarized “true hip hop” as music he truly enjoys, period.  Makes you wonder…as similar as those two answers are, its different.