Wednesday, November 6, 2024
So He Gets A Second Term
After losing the popular vote in each of his first two Presidential bids (one a win over Hillary Clinton via Electoral College, the other a loss to Joe Biden), Donald Trump won against Kamala Harris in a crushing manner despite polls having them at a dead heat tie for four months and appearances of empty Trump rallies versus a general public look in cities that inspired confidence for the Harris camp.
What happened?
We know Trump was going to want to cheat and steal his way to victory, from stacking the Supreme Court in his favour, preemptively filing countless frivolous lawsuits contesting results, to Tweeting about possible fraud in philadelphia the day of, to his admitting to having a "little secret" with House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson:
It sure feels like the election was stolen...
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Video Of The Week: Ice Cube
(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, previous post links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)
The "best rapper of all time" debate is one that always ignites passion, some willing to hand it to 2Pac because of his highest peaks and untimely death but forgetting that his immense output includes a lot of sub-par work; others prefer The Notorious B.I.G. because he, too, died too soon; others go back to the first masters of the genre, your street intellectuals Rakim, LL Cool J, and KRS-One. Millennials might have a soft spot for Jay-Z or Eminem, while the best voice in the game is undoubtedly Snoop Dogg, but he disqualifies himself for contenting himself with spelling his name out for over a decade, mid-career.
However, when it comes to square, 4/4, old-school rhyming, no one comes close to Ice Cube, save perhaps Everlast. Cube invented gangsta rap with N.W.A., became an even bigger star by going solo after refusing to get screwed over in a poor record deal, became a film star when he lacked inspiration in music, and came back to rap with material more incisive than ever at the turn of the millennium. Here he is, back again, doing what he does best: claiming he's the best: That's It's My Ego, from the forthcoming album Man Down!, directed by Gabriel "Videogod" Hart.
The "best rapper of all time" debate is one that always ignites passion, some willing to hand it to 2Pac because of his highest peaks and untimely death but forgetting that his immense output includes a lot of sub-par work; others prefer The Notorious B.I.G. because he, too, died too soon; others go back to the first masters of the genre, your street intellectuals Rakim, LL Cool J, and KRS-One. Millennials might have a soft spot for Jay-Z or Eminem, while the best voice in the game is undoubtedly Snoop Dogg, but he disqualifies himself for contenting himself with spelling his name out for over a decade, mid-career.
However, when it comes to square, 4/4, old-school rhyming, no one comes close to Ice Cube, save perhaps Everlast. Cube invented gangsta rap with N.W.A., became an even bigger star by going solo after refusing to get screwed over in a poor record deal, became a film star when he lacked inspiration in music, and came back to rap with material more incisive than ever at the turn of the millennium. Here he is, back again, doing what he does best: claiming he's the best: That's It's My Ego, from the forthcoming album Man Down!, directed by Gabriel "Videogod" Hart.
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Video Of The Week: Eminem, Big Sean & BabyTron
(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, previous post links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)
Eminem made the news recently when he was the surprise headliner of the concert that marked the reopening of Michigan Central, a building whose dereliction had come to symbolize the city's financial struggles. It was a Detroit-centric show, a Detroit-centric performance with his guest stars, and he continues the theme here with fellow Detroit MC Big Sean and Michigander BabyTron, on Em's latest single, Tobey: It's a little too "trapy" for my taste, as it gets repetitive between standout lines throughout the verses, but Big Sean and Eminem have a few strokes of genius here and there, particularly the eight-bar Melle Mel diss.
25 years in and still current, with references that draw from the past and present equally. Solid.
The video itself was directed by frequent Eminem collaborator and pioneer of underground rap for the past decade Cole Bennett, from what was probably an insanely long storyboard, and the special effects are well done for something that probably didn't cost plural millions, seeing as videos aren't really a thing anymore with no ratings-driven TV station to play them.
Eminem made the news recently when he was the surprise headliner of the concert that marked the reopening of Michigan Central, a building whose dereliction had come to symbolize the city's financial struggles. It was a Detroit-centric show, a Detroit-centric performance with his guest stars, and he continues the theme here with fellow Detroit MC Big Sean and Michigander BabyTron, on Em's latest single, Tobey: It's a little too "trapy" for my taste, as it gets repetitive between standout lines throughout the verses, but Big Sean and Eminem have a few strokes of genius here and there, particularly the eight-bar Melle Mel diss.
25 years in and still current, with references that draw from the past and present equally. Solid.
The video itself was directed by frequent Eminem collaborator and pioneer of underground rap for the past decade Cole Bennett, from what was probably an insanely long storyboard, and the special effects are well done for something that probably didn't cost plural millions, seeing as videos aren't really a thing anymore with no ratings-driven TV station to play them.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Video Of The Week: Johnny Cash
(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, article links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)
After the extremely successful run of covers albums, Johnny Cash's estate now takes us to his back catalogue with a full album of unreleased 1993 tracks called Songwriter, Cash's new video for Hello Out There, a song that takes the side of presenting planet Earth to alien civilizations in bit of a cry for help, and mixes it in with the singer's usual religious inclinations: As per with the award-winning video for Hurt, this black-and-white video's story owes a lot to the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, this time concentrating on a child finding out about the songwriter's craft or, as per the video's YouTube page:
After the extremely successful run of covers albums, Johnny Cash's estate now takes us to his back catalogue with a full album of unreleased 1993 tracks called Songwriter, Cash's new video for Hello Out There, a song that takes the side of presenting planet Earth to alien civilizations in bit of a cry for help, and mixes it in with the singer's usual religious inclinations: As per with the award-winning video for Hurt, this black-and-white video's story owes a lot to the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, this time concentrating on a child finding out about the songwriter's craft or, as per the video's YouTube page:
“Hello Out There” was directed by Matt Paskert and starring Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s youngest granddaughter, six-year-old Grace June Cash, the daughter of John Carter and his wife Ana Cristina Cash. In the black and white video, Grace sets off alone on an adventure and comes upon the Cash Cabin, Johnny’s hallowed sanctuary in Hendersonville, Tennessee where he wrote and recorded some of his final songs, and where ‘Songwriter’ was produced.The cynic in me took a hard listen and my conclusion was that this was worthy of release and of inclusion in my Country, Johnny Cash, and Current playlists - and maybe in time my Eternal Playlist as well.
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