Well, there’s more to what’s happening out of the Los Angeles hip hop scene than The Game, and if you didn’t know that, then I’d better make the introductions, and I’d first like to introduce you to Flying Lotus.
September 18th, 1970, Jimi Hendrix passes on leaving us a wonderful legacy of fantastic rock & roll. The music that Hendrix created has played a vital role in the music of hip hop culture. I’m not going to just spoon feed you this one, you’re going to have to look it up. The world of hip hop is forever indebted to this musical soul. Rest In Peace Jimi! Hip Hop says Thank you.
Love Lockdown, what a brilliant piece of music from Kanye West! Saw it on the 2008 MTV VMAs, and it blew the show, away! Keep your love locked down! Sound advice from Mr. West. Right now the errand boys and girls, sent by grocery clerks, are all over YouTube pulling this segment of the show that manages to get posted (the lawyers are still wondering how the kids do that), but if you go over there now, I’m sure you’ll find something (I’m just saying… psst, over here… even lazy lawyers can’t stop this… seriously). The geeks shall inherit the earth.
Google launched Chrome on Tuesday September 2nd, it’s their new browser in their ongoing effort to take over the online world. Check it out here. Though it lacks the bells and whistles of Firefox and Internet Explorer, it may just be the Safari killer in the PC market. Apple recently launched its traditional browser for Mac on the PC world, and I’m sure they’re cringing right about now.
Google Chrome is probably the fatest browser on the market, the advantage of not having those bells and whistles clogging up system resources, (Safari is a close second). Since I downloaded Chrome, I found that it handles YouTube videos with ease. You don’t get the fancy AJAX whirlygig while the video is loading. I really don’t know if Googleopolis optimized the browser for their products or not, (Google owns YouTube, if you don’t know, now you know).
So check out your favourite Hip Hop videos on YouTube in Chrome, I highly recommend it. Be the first kid with the high tech floss in your neighbourhood. Just be careful of where you surf, apparently there’s an exploit in Chrome that will automatically download executables. So stay away from those sites your mama warned you about!
After you’ve downloaded Chrome, come back and check out The-Dream - Falsetto, here. You feel me?
I think that it’s about time that MuchMusic’s RapCity gets a new theme song. Not that I tune in that often anymore, I’m a man with responsibilities now, and I tend to miss the timeslot, but that show has me wondering how much mileage can a network get out of one show’s intro/outro/and theme?
With Chum being bought by The Globe (my-tongue-in-check) recently, is there change’a'coming for shows like these? Is this the end of such programming for good? Stay tuned…
All it really needs is a makeover, they’ve been using that same music since before your mama’s born. I mean, if you are going to run a hostless ghost ship, you better spend some money on production. With the recent buyout, I think they can afford it.
Just make sure to keep it Canadian, only without the cold Canadian budget aka low budg. production values. I mean, really make it, “The freshest rap videos you want to see every week.” - Don’t just say it.
Who’s in charge of SS MM/MMM anyway? I want to see more Rap Videos on my music TV.
Grilled. You guys and girls at MuchMusic make it too easy.
Revisionist hip hop history is a hot topic lately, revisionists are coming out of the woodwork like crazy, and it’s not just ill-informed journalists riding the media mogul wave of big cash bags that are propogating the myths of hip hop, which I recently found out for myself.
Everybody has an opinion about hip hop, some love it, others hate it, some grew up on it.
I’m not sure if I’m falling into the reactionary trap, but if I am, I’ll just chalk it up to another blog post and leave it at that. I know that those from the last category are very passionate about the subject of hip hop, and there’s no crime in trying to open a younger audience’s ears and eyes on what the love of hip hop is all about.
Where we tend to go astray is in using our opinion to define the culture, this can turn into a dangerous excercise. There’s a difference in telling your audience what your personal preferences are, and using that as gospel, than giving the facts of how a generation moved through the music and culture. If we are doing the latter, we are empowered because we are empowering others with information. If we are doing the former, than we are on that slippery slope with the devil laughing all the way to the bank on a nation divided.
We are free to discuss and editorialize, but make sure that you tell your audience what you’re doing by using your words, we must refrain from editorializing opinion as fact.
I have made it known on this blog that Vanilla Ice (heralded by today’s revisionsists), was rejected by true hip hopers. I didn’t use my opinion, I used the voice of a generation, and I paraphrase here, “Rap is not pop, if you call it that then stop” - Check The Rhyme, A Tribe Called Quest.
So just what is Kangol, a very well respected and talented man of the culture, one of the members of UTFO, about on his new piece in AllHipHop.com?
“Soldier Boy and Ice T is an example of Hip-Hop communication gone wrong” - Kangol, 2008
I’ll leave Soldier Boy alone for this blog post, since we’re talking about the history of the culture. I do want to hear what he has to say about Ice T, in regards to this however.
So before I get caught in the reactionary trap, let me just say that we need someone like Kangol out there, this man is credible, and that my message to Kangol is, the children of hop hop are listening, use your voice wisely.
To the readers from the latest generation, take the advice from a previous generation, don’t believe everything you hear, ask questions, and be informed.
