Forgive Many Things in Others. Nothing in Yourself

Artist of the Week

2010-08-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

This week's featured artist is Pack-FM. A brooklyn emcee who sparked up a bit of controversy with his albums title track "I F*cking Hate Rappers". (featured below) In the song he calls out common for dropping, what many consider, his most commercial album to date. While i agree wholeheartedly that Common took a commercial tone for the sake of relevance some people have questioned Pack's motives. In an interview he answers his critics.

"Well remember "The Bitch In Yoo?" Common was getting at Ice Cube real hard for switching his whole style up to whatever was the flavor of the month and for being in movies. Look at Common now. I think Common is a talented writer, but he's shown that he's not above flippin' the script for the sake of relevance. [No pun intended]. "...."I don't have any beef with Common, I'm just using hom as an example. I come from a different era, where people were held accountable for things and if you felt something about someone, you said it. What good is me holding my tongue going to do? This album is me saying what i think and feel uncensored. "If you hear a name mentioned, it ain't to gain attention. My intention is the same even if I'm blacklisted." So you might hear a rappers name here and there on the record, but it's not to start a publicity beef, its just how I feel."

His album "I Fucking Hate Rappers" is in stores now i highly recommend it to those true hip hop enthusiasts

Governmental Embezzlement

2010-08-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

I was watching Hannity last week and he had on Senator Jim Bunning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veISF6pxdJ0

(Random note on video: Is it me or does Bunning seem a bit senile? Hannity asks "did you have the support of every republican?" he goes off on a tangent about the procedural on goings that led to the vote on the amendment when a simple no only 18 supported it would have sufficed:)

for those who don't feel like watching the entire video Hannity champions Senator Bunning for blocking unemployment extensions for those who have been out of work over 99 days. The argument Bunning uses is that while he sympathizes with those in need of the extension he does not want to do more deficit spending and feels congress needs to come up with a way to pay for it first.

For those who don't know i'm a libertarian so while i disagree with both the timing and the method i do support the idea of pay as we go spending. However i'm also not a fool and understand all media spins so before i blindly support a position i wanted to do a bit more research to figure out the centrifuge.

After digging around a bit i found out that Bunning is at odds with leadership in the GOP. The NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) has launched an exploratory committee to try and find a candidate for Bunning's seat but Bunning had already announced that he planned to run in 2010. So why? well it might be because he's polling 9 points behind every democratic candidate in the state and the GOP feels like some young blood might help they're chances. Regardless of the reason he is an outsider so causing some kind of rift between the conservative and ultra conservative senators will help him make a case in the 2010 mid terms that he is a "true conservative".

Well i guess it's not fair to discredit his actions on the sole purpose that he has something to gain from it. But when you actually look at his position something becomes painfully clear he is a liar. His position is that we should pay for massive spending in this case unemployment as we go. it turns out when it comes to unemployment we actually do. it's called the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA).

In my home state of SC you could be taxed up to 6% of your paycheck to pay for unemployment benefits. In MA you could be taxed almost twice that (11%). So these citizens who payed into the unemployment pool are being denied their fair share of those benefits for what? to make it even worse around $800 billion dollars is collected by the US government through FUTA. According to the CBO the government from 08-09 spent $650 billion dollars on unemployment benefits they collected from us the citizens. So what happens to the rest?

The answer National Defense, Interest payments to the fed, and other budget addends. So in short the government (just like with SSI) does not spend the money they collect from us for these programs on these programs.

Back to Bunning. His premise is wrong. If he wanted to truly be a champion of the american people he wouldn't be blocking unemployment benefits we already paid for and demand that we pay for them again. He would instead demand that our money that we pay for our social insurance programs actually go to our social security programs. That's what he would do if he was a true fiscal conservative. However he is more interested in drumming up a fake issue to use for his own political gain. But that would be asking for a politician to actually care about the american people. Far-fetched.

Hip Hopera - Scene 3: Romance

2009-05-19T15:58:00.001-07:00

hip hop is talentless?

Hip Hopera - Scene 3: Romance

2009-05-19T15:57:00.001-07:00

hip hop is talentless?

Artist Spotlight week 2

2009-05-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

This week's artist is CED the don.

"Ced is a Brooklyn MC that moved to the south many years ago so his style is very 'New York' but he has ties to the south as many people in New York do. He blends his east side flow with the laid back flow of the south."

Hip Hop vs Rock

2009-05-04T10:02:00.002-07:00

I can't help but notice the number of videos posted with the title Rap vs Rock or Rap vs Metal.

Now if you go on to any of these videos it becomes painfully obvious that both sides of this argument are blatantly dumb or willfully ignorant. Comments such as

"sex, sex, drugs, alchohal, gonna slap that bitch. Oh look add some bass and I just made a one hit rap wonder!"

" the only reason more people listen to rap is cause of all the black people and wiggers that are homos and think rap is cool. metal is infinitley better than rap period."

"Rap and Hip hop is not talent, a machine makes your annoying beats, and you dont have to work hars with instrument like rock/metal"

"It's not talent! I'm glad my parents banned me from listening to (c)rap when I was a kid."

are in abundance. The top 3 reason's why rap is talentless according to to these fools are
1.Rap doesn't use real instruments
2. All rap talks about is sex drugs money and violence
3. Rapping itself doesn't take any skill

of course all three of these are wrong.

1. there are many rappers who play instruments as well as incorporate them into their music. And more than that there are musicians who play nothing but hip hop music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFb9UqELX8w

2. this is stupid in itself because even people who don't listen to anything outside of mainstream know that the subject matter of rap is as varied or even more so than any other genre of music.

3. the art of rapping has been around long before hip hop. It was used as a way of communication as well as passing down stories and history from generation to generation. What makes rapping different from poetry or songs is that it uses (for the most part) only the annunciation of syllables and dialect of the speaker to create something similar to percussion. Using word patterns and sounds to create flow. It's not an easy thing to accomplish and is even harder to become great at.

Hip hop gets stereotyped because of mainstream outlet's perversion of what is one of the most soulful genres ever. I listen to almost every genre of music from rap to metal soca to calypso and everything in between. I can say that no genre of music is superior to another and that while all have their stronger elements they all have their weaker ones as well. What makes music good or bad is how the music connects with the audience and what kind of impact it leaves. Anything else is superficial.

Hip Hop vs Rock

2009-05-04T10:02:00.001-07:00

Artist Spotlight week 1

2009-04-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

This weeks artist spotlight is the young MC from St. Louis Prince Ea.

"He combines thought provoking verses with wittiness, humor, passion and hard hitting Punch-lines. The result is nothing short of remarkable and legendary. From his Youtube videos, with millions of hits, Prince Ea has developed a loyal internet fan base. In late 2008 Prince Ea recorded a video of himself spitting 70 bars and entered it into VIBE Magazine's contest "VIBE VERSES." A few months later, Ea was declared the VIBE Verses GRAND CHAMPION and was awarded $5000 in music recording equipment along with a Full Page Article in the VIBE Magazine (Value: $50,000)."

Conservative Teabagging

2009-04-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

On the news recently there have been many stories involving the new surge in anti-federalism that has stricken the nation. It started with a few protests that were then fanned by conservative media that then exploded on to the national scene as all out dissent. This conservative movement comes on the heels of the passing of yet another massive spending bill by the Obama administration. The teabag movement (as it is called) draws it's inspiration from one of the most famous acts of rebellion in our countries history the Boston Tea-Party. The parallel that they draw between this current administration and that of King George is that both impose unfair taxation and both betray their citizens social contract. While I'm all for peaceful dissent when the government puts its' own interest above its' citizens, I feel that this movement in particular is mistimed and politically driven.

One of the reason for having these Tea-Bag parties is to protest the rise in taxes under the Obama administration. Which would be fine except for the fact that congress has just passed the largest net tax cut in US history. But this fact alone is not enough to stop die hard tea baggers. Many say that the increase in capital gains tax is to punish those who are hard working and successful and to give to those who are lazy and undeserving. This is yet another string of misconceptions that have been planted into the minds of so many attending these tea bag parties.

The misconception that an increase in capital gains tax is a punishment is utterly ridiculous. Obama has raised the capital income tax on individuals making over $250,00 a year from 15% (under the bush tax cuts) to 20% (the lowest rate in the 90's). The tax rate at 20% is lower than it was during the Reagan years. He's exempted both small businesses as well as families from having to pay the increase in capital gains.
http://www.barackobama.com/taxes/
The idea that the wealthy people in America are the hardest working is a talking point and in fact has no merit behind it. 90% of the labor in the US is done by people who make less than $65,000 a year. That coupled with the fact that the majority of rich in America accumulated there wealth by inheritance and not by working makes it painfully obvious that it is not the rich who have worked the hardest. There are 9.6 million people in the US who live in poverty. To conservatives many of these people are nothing more than dependants and are seen as lazy or undeserving of any aid. While this may be true with some of these people it is definitely not true for the majority. A third of the nearly 10 million poor are children, another 1.5 million are veterans. And a sixth (1.5 million) are disabled. But that's only those who are jobless living in poverty. There is another 14.9 million who are classified as working poor.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=...
http://tinyurl.com/SummersPaper
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/007611.html

Still with all of this there are many who still attend these Tea-Bag who fight against tax increases for the wealthy and aid to the poor. Why? It's rather simple. For those people who helped organize, politicize and sponsor these events any opposition (warranted or not) is good opposition. To them any action taken by this current administration (positive or otherwise) must be scrutinized and they will decieve, brainwash, and rile up as many disenfranchised people as possible in order to gain their support and push their agendas.

This movement isn't about holding the current administration responsible for their actions. It is about taking the frustration felt by many people and directing where they choose for political gain.

Picking up the pieces.

2008-11-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

In the early hours of November 5th 2008 the United States celebrated as Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the first Black President/Prime Minister in all of western society. The world marveled at the wonder that was America and saw in it something that for the last decade had been forgotten; the idea that in America a person can come from nothing and rise to lead the world. I, myself had to take a moment and contemplate the significance of the event and take in the reinforced feeling of pride I had in my country. Around me my parents, my grandmother, my aunts and uncles and even some of my cousins began to wipe the tears from their eyes when the words President Elect Barack Obama flashed on to the tv screen. My grandmother was crying particularly hard and without words I knew why. She had lived during a time where neither blacks or women had the right to vote, a time where she would never expect to be more than a maid or a factory worker, a time where hoping for more than what you had was almost a sin; she had lived through all of it and lived long enough to see someone like her become the leader of our great nation.

That night we celebrated the progress of the United States and celebrated a historic victory for equality in the world. But that morning our naivete became clear. In my grandmothers front yard were the remnants of her Obama 08 sign and spray painted on her car was the word Nigger. The grim reality that even though the United States elected a black man to the highest office in the land, that the world itself hadn't changed. Her house wasn't the only one. There were other homes in the neighborhood that were vandalized and it would be an understatement to say that people were upset. But my grandmother, in her bedroom slippers, walked out to the lawn and began to pick up the pieces of her sign smiling. At dinner later that week we asked her how she could be smiling after everything that had happened. She said "Wasn't no pieces of paper gettin me wound up that day." My grandmother's always been that way but I know that I didn't inherit her patience. It's hard for me at times to turn the other cheek and not want to lash out at the severe injustice that still exists in the world today. But my grandmother's example makes me start to think that maybe I should start picking my battles and not place the burden upon myself to pick up the mantle of every claim of inequality. But at the same time there's something else in me that won't let me walk away for fear that no one will take my place.