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How I Got Over Album Review

2010-08-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

After trying (and failing) to trim this review down, I finally just said whatever and I'm going to post it. So here it is, my (late) full track by track album review of The Root's How I Got Over album. It's pretty lengthy, but hopefully someone will enjoy it.

Originally set to retire with Rising Down as their last album, The Roots have come back with their ninth studio album, How I Got Over. They’ve brought in some lesser known names along with a few familiar faces for this record. Much like their previous two records, they’ve stuck with dark content matter, revealing the reality of today’s dented world, only this time the messages are backed by a more organic sound. Is this their best work to date, or should they have stayed on their original path into retirement? I highly disagree with the latter.
The album starts with an echoy and piano backed group of females humming, on A Peace of Light. I already get the feeling this is going to be a more organic sounding album than their past several albums. 3/5

The title itself on Walk Alone sounds dark and depressing. This book’s cover matches its content. Truck North, P.O.R.N. and Black Thought talk about an independent life and being in one man wolf packs. It definitely sets the tone for the rest of the album. 3/5
Next we catch Black Thought deep in prayer in Dear God 2. He questions God’s motives and intentions when he wonders why we’re more worried about celebrity beefs than real war and poverty. They’re topics often talked about in discussions, blogs and articles, but rarely covered in hip-hop songs. Black Thought is on point as usual as he paints a gloomy picture of today’s world. 4/5

I was really happy to see Blu on Radio Daze. He’s slowly picked up steam online and I hope this record helps him out. However, this track is just average to me for some reason. I can’t seem to point out anything special about this track, but I also won’t skip it if it comes on. 3/5

Now Or Never discusses the need and want for change. Change in personal life, change in what’s going on in the world, and change in today’s society. This could’ve been the theme song to Obama’s Presidential campaign (Or the revival of a new marketing campaign). After recently (and finally!) graduating college, I hold this particular track closer to me than others. Now on the hunt for a job, I feel the hunger for change in my own life. Black Thought, Phonte and Dice Raw all deliver, each one taking a slightly different point of view. The only thing I would’ve liked to see different on this track was Common on the guest list. 5/5

Up next is…Black Thought singing? I’ve seen it on Late Night, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on a Roots record. Regardless of the setting, I don’t mind it. It was an unexpected change of pace when they dropped How I Got Over, and one that I gladly welcome. By no means is Tariq anywhere near the level of Michael Jackson, but he can carry a tune and I’d choose him over someone telling me they can take me to the Candy Shop any day. Like the previous track, this title track and first single too talks about the need for change. Black Thought (backed by Dice Raw) properly discuss the harsh realities of growing up in Philly (and society in general), without the marketing hook claiming they f*** with Dre, now they wanna show them love. 4/5

DillaTude: The Flight of Titus is a short tribute interlude to the late great J. Dilla and Slum Villiage member Baatin (Titus Glover). Not too much to say about this except I’m glad it’s there. 3/5

The Day is another song about change. However, this time it’s more positive. Black Thought is again joined by Blu and Phonte on this relaxing, summer sounding song filled with storytelling about living life and truly enjoying it. If I smoked, I’d roll a fat one to this while laying outside in the sun on a warm summer day. 5/5

I wish Black Thought really got his write on with this next track, Right On. (Sorry, I couldn’t help the poor wordplay) This is a more upbeat track than the first half of the album. Money Making Jam Boys member, STS, brings a lot of energy, but half way through his verse it feels like he’s running out of steam and his lyrics are getting slightly ahead of him. I would’ve preferred a cleaner recording, but it’s not a bad verse. Black Thought just barely fell short on really making this track shine. I’d love to see B.o.B. hop on a remix of this track and really set it on Fire. On a side note, whenever I hear the snare roll at the end I immediately think of 75 Bars. 3.5/5

John Legend hops on the hook of Doin It Again with a live recording. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about this compared to a studio recording, but I think the recording works well. Black Thought talks about how he’s unsung, underrated, under-appreciated, The one them underachievers had underestimated. He’s standing here to let the haters know that he Finally graduated and is one of the most hated, Something that's so sacred, nobody gon' take it. I see this track as a preview of the duo Doin It Again on one of my favorite tracks of the album, The Fire. 4/5

I have a lot to write about this next track, The Fire. First off, this is an amazing track. The song is about the fire inside of you, and how you really need to push for achieving what you desire. It’s a lyrical, soulful, motivating and uplifting track. Leading up to this song I felt as if the tracks were missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on. This song has that X-Factor. John Legend encapsulates what the song is about perfectly when he sings, You don’t say good luck, you say don’t give up-it’s the fire. I love this line and will take this line with me for a long, long time. If Now Or Never was Obama’s campaign theme song, this is his in-office theme song. Everything about this song is perfect. You have John Legend with The Roots talking covering relevant and positive issues and a music video directed by Rik Cordero with a budget. There’s nothing else to ask for. 5/5

Nothing that is, besides a remix. In between changing his name from B.o.B. to Bobby Ray and back again, B.o.B. dropped several mixtapes leading up to the release of his first solo album. After talking to beautiful girls all over the world and teaching people how to wish on airplanes in the night sky, B.o.B shot to number one on the Billboard charts. After that he did what I feel is possibly one of his greatest musical achievements thus far: he hopped on a song with The Roots. There aren’t many people who manage to do studio work with The Roots. Countless artists have performed with them (especially now with them on Late Night), but few have joined them in the studio. Only recently have they started to venture out of their group of regulars. But what’s even rarer than a non-regular guest on a Roots track is a remix, which B.o.B was able to get on. He fits in well with the group, holding his own on the first verse of the song. While his content isn’t anything too original, he talks about the fuel for his own fire and brings a nice change to the song.

Tunnel Vision is a short little interlude. Unique, yet not something I feel is necessary for the album. It kind of ruins my high I was running off of from the previous track, but provides a nice transition into the final track. 3/5

Web 20/20 has a lot going on in it. There are scratches, beeps and blips doused over this track. I’m partially biased towards this track because of it being How I Got Over’s Thought@Work. Although these songs seem hard to fit into albums, I love when they show up. Two thirds of the Money Making Jam Boys go in and don’t let up until the record is over. Again, my only complaint about this track would be not having the full Jam Boys lineup on it. 5/5

STS makes a second appearance on the bonus track, Hustla, with a herd of lambs ‘bahhing’ on the background vocals. I like Right On more than this STS featured track. I can see why it’s a bonus. It’s not a bad song, but it’s not a selling point of the album either. The track flips the stereotypical image of hustling into a more positive image. Daughter of a Hip-Hopper, hustla like her grandpapa, Her destiny done been determined so you can't stop her, from being independent, earning paper and proper, More like a lawyer or a doctor, not a man watcher. 3.5/5

The End: This is definitely one of the best Roots albums to date. Smooth transitions paired with excellent lyricism and organic beats help make this album deserving of an Album of the Year nomination. The Roots are back to their old selves and still keeping themselves current and relevant. I impatiently await their next tour to experience Now Or Never, The Fire and Right On live, front and center. 4.5/5 overall.

I'm back.

2010-08-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've decided to hop back onto this thing, and hopefully update it (at least fairly) frequently.

Coming soon: The Roots - How I Got Over album review.

Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 Tour Videos

2009-10-23T21:43:00.001-07:00

Videos from the Jay-Z concert in Seattle, WA. Pics & Review coming soon:

Wale - W.A.L.E. D.A.N.C.E & World Tour:

N.E.R.D w/ Rhea Opening Sequence:

N.E.R.D. - Lapdance Drum Solo:

N.E.R.D/Pharrell - Beautiful:

N.E.R.D/Pharrell - Drop It Like Its Hot:

Jay-Z Entrance + Run This Town:

Jay-Z - Jigga What Jigga Who:

Jay-Z ft. Bridget Kelly - Empire State of Mind:

Jay-Z - A Star Is Born:

Jay-Z - So Ambitious:

Jay-Z - Thank You:

Jay-Z - On To the Next One,Venus Vs. Mars, Lucifer Swagger Like Us, Can I Get A and Big Pimpin:

Jay-Z - Encore + What We Talkin Bout:

Jay-Z - Forever Young:

One hand in the air for the big city, Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty

2009-09-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

I hope you two grab the #1 spot on the charts with this one.

Jay-Z - Answer the Call

2009-09-16T02:00:00.001-07:00

A few people asked me for streaming links for this..so here it is:

This Is It

2009-09-15T02:41:00.001-07:00

After seeing the trailer at the VMA's, I sit impatiently waiting..

Pre UFC102

2009-09-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Recap coming soon..

Blueprint 3 Review

2009-09-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

I feel like in order to appreciate this album and this (accidentally insanely long) review, there are several things which you have to know coming into it:
-All these interpretations could be completely off..I wrote this while being bored and haven’t fully taken in the album yet.
-Jay-Z has matured as a person, which is reflected in his raps; he’s not the Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z anymore. He’s gotten more mainstream sounding (or refined, in his terms), and the OG Jay-Z fans may hate on this album because of that sound change.
-Reasonable Doubt was made for his friends and family. Blueprint 3 was made for the fans, and casual fans make up the majority of any fanbase, whether it’s for a sport, art, food, or person.
-Artists have to progress in order to stay relevant.
-Kanye West had a heavy influence on this album, and it’s very apparent in his production and Jay-Z’s overall style on this album.
Onto the massively lengthy review!

What We Talkin About (ft. Luke Steele) Produced by Kanye West & No.I.D.
Jay opens up the final chapter of his Blueprint Trilogy with heavy synthesizers in front of an airy, spacey sound, much like Pray on American Gangster. I like this style because the beat sounds much more open and less structured ie. 2 bars repeated 8x for verse 1, one bar repeating 8x for the hook, etc. It sounds more like a continuing song that’s progressing, usually. This track is all about what people talk about in their songs, and what they should be talking about, himself included. We are welcomed to the Blueprint III with Jay letting us know we truly are in a special time, and history was made when Obama took a seat in the White House. He addresses e-thugs, letting them know they can either 'shoot YouTube up' or progress with him. It’s goodbye to the gang/drug content/lifestyle and hello to the now, with the line, 'Peace out Medusa, welcome to tha, blue-ah, print-ah-, tre piece-Jay-Z.” The people yearning for the ‘old’ Jay-Z are in for a disappointment, as he raps, “’Hov take ‘em back,’ I’m doing better than before, why would I do that?” There’s a small shot at Jaz-O in here which is unnecessary on a track like this. He did the same thing in 'No Hook' on American Gangster, and it just feels out of place. As usual, he lets us know how baller status he is with the line, 'I don't run rap no more, I run the map.’ One re-occuring annoyance lately he’s recycle his lines, even in the same song. Overall the beat isn’t anything special, but it’s nothing bad. Content is good, but can go over some people’s heads if you’re not paying attention. 3.5/5

Thank You Produced by Kanye West & No.I.D.
This is a weird track, content-wise. He talks about the haters, and also talks about how nice his life is. Just as the title says, Hov says thank you to everyone-well, the haters anyways. “Who would’ve thought by making birds migrate for the winter I’d be fly all summer, might I say.” The beat is relaxed and has a lounge/jazz feel to it, much like an upbeat Party Life from American Gangster with a horn trio(?) throughout the song. Jay sounds happy while rapping, as weird as that sounds. He continues on by talking about how he could’ve ended a few careers, but they did it to themselves, so thanks for doing the work for him. I believe he’s also talking about how he doesn’t try to bring on all of the attention he gets, it just happens. This hook sounds like he’s telling us that this is your song, because you’ve helped him become the person he is, and get to the point he’s at in his life. Overall this is a decent track, but nothing mind-blowing…but confusing. Just like What We Talkin’ About, this track has residue on is from American Gangster, and something makes me think this track is an AG leftover. 3.5/5

I’m skipping DOA and Run This Town, because they’ve been out for so long and pretty much everyone knows what they’re about already.

Empire State of Mind ft. Alicia Keys Produced by Al Shux
I’m biased on this track because of my love for Alicia Keys, but I think this song is amazing. Just like the first several tracks, Jay jumps right into the song after a few instrumental bars. We get no hook to lead us in, and I like this. He gives props to New York throughout the whole track while on top of a great upbeat instrumental. The beat doesn’t even sound like a track someone would rap over, which makes it unique. I can hear Alicia on the keys all over this track, with a live drummer backing her and Jay. This is a must-see-live track, making me love it even more. I’m not from New York, but I can appreciate someone giving props to the place they came from, the place they live in and the place they love. New York has countless negatives about it, but Alicia and Jay let you know this is the home of Frank Sinatra, the Statue of Liberty, home of the WTC towers, the Yankees, a sea of taxi cabs in the streets, the City of Dreams, and endless possibilities. My only gripe about this track is that as usual, Jay must put his stamp on it, telling us he helped make NY more famous. From what I read, Nas was suppose to be on this track, but I’m glad he wasn’t. His aggressiveness wouldn’t have fit in with the melodic and positive sounding vibe this track gives off. Oh yea, Alicia on the bridge that leads us into the third verse gives this track even more bonus points. 5/5

Real As It Gets ft. Young Jeezy Produced by The Inkredibles
Jeezy jock’s Hov, coming in with, “Allow me to re-introduce myself-.” This track isn’t off to a good start. Jeezy’s verse is typical, talking about guns, money and girls, and nothing else. To me, not much goes on in this track and it isn’t needed on the album. Hov talks about being baller status, taking care of people close to him, and Jeezy talks about nothing. This track is 4:13 minutes too long. The only reason I’m giving it a 2/5 is because it’s semi-catchy. 2/5

On To The Next One ft. Swizz Beats Produced by Swizz Beatz
Whoever titled this song got it 100% correct. Go straight On to the Next One. I don’t like this song at all. Swizz put a half-assed beat together, sampling an already popular and already sampled Justice track. I could’ve made this beat, but I would’ve made it better. Content-wise this is typical post-retirement Jay-Z. We get to hear about how far he’s come along and how much money he has. I do like how he took a jab at Cristal though, which made me smile. Sadly, that’s just about the only thing that made me smile on this track. To anyone not –in-the-know and if memory serves me right, Jay used to rep Cristal, til they said they won’t let any rapper endorse them or use their drink (Including inside Jay’s 40/40 clubs). The track dies by someone hitting the stop button on the turntable. If only they had gotten to the one’s and two’s 4:17 sooner. The .5 comes from it just being a Jay-Z track and me being a Jay fan. 1.5/5

Off That ft. Drake Produced by Timbaland
Timbaland’s scent is doused all over this track, from his drums, claps and techno-influence sound, to his adlibs under Jay. Sadly, Drake is on this track as well. I don’t hate Drake, but I think he’s highly overrated and doesn’t deserve to be on The Blueprint III. You’re gonna put Drake on here, but not Eminem? Come on Jay. Don’t abandon your roots completely with this new Mainstream-Jay. Your homies for life Beans, Memphis Bleek and Freeway aren’t on here once, but overrated and overhyped Drake is? I didn’t know it was gonna be like this. Anyways, back to the song. This track is upbeat and pretty mainstream sounding, especially with Drake on the hook (and thankfully, only on the hook). It reminds me a bit of Throw It On Me from Timbaland’s Shock Value album. Any fan of Timbaland’s sound should enjoy this track. I might play this in the club to see how it goes. This track doesn’t seem to be about much, except that Drake and Jay-Z are ahead of everyone else, and by the time people catch up to what’s ‘in,’ he’s already ‘off that.’ In a more mainstream sounding way than in his opening song, he tells us he doesn’t care about the past, because it’s just that-the past. Timbaland’s adlibs and cowbell carry us out of this track, with the beat leaving more of an impression on me than the lyrics. Catchy song, but not much goes on inside. 3/5

A Star Is Born ft. J Cole Produced by Kanye West & No.I.D.
Finally! After several forgettable and wasted tracks on what’s supposed to be a classic album, we get something with content again. The entire song is comprised of Jay-Z giving props to everyone in the rap game, past, present and possible future. Jay’s sound has matured away from the grimey underground sound and into much more melodic and simple sound. He paints a mural over this entire song, comprising of all of the artists he respects. I don’t want to give away any lines because I think part of the enjoyment of this song is listening to who he’s going to name drop, and what he has to say about them. One line I do have to mention, however is where Hov informs Wayne that if he continues his hot streak, he’ll pass the torch onto him..Please don’t, Jay. This seems like it was a fun track for Jay to exercise his mind lyrically by seeing what comparisons he come up with and do it tastefully and not on every track *cough*Game*Cough* J. Cole, Jay’s newest signee, jumps into the song asking if he can be a star. Judging by this verse, he’s might be in contention. He sounds hungry and aggressive and manages to not get completely stepped on while standing to the powerhouse that is Jay-Z. I guessed before looking that Kanye did this beat, and yes, Kanye I hope you take this style over into your next album in terms of using more live horns and keys again. 4/5

Venus Vs. Mars Produced by Timbaland
Timbaland’s 2nd of three beats on the album. Sounds like a modern Ludacris – Potion. Jay slows his flow down, but still manages to keep it fairly creative with his word play. Beyonce is on the hook (I think)…and sounds hot as hell. I don’t know if he’s directly talking about Beyonce in this track, or if there’s a deeper reference here. At times it sounds like he can be talking about him vs. the music game or something like that.. If I knew exactly what he was talking about, it’d make the song a little better. This track is fairly short, and not bad, but again, nothing spectacular. 3/5

Already Home ft. Kid Cudi Produced by Kanye West
More new-school people on the album. I’m still not sure how I feel about this, even if they’re only on the chorus. Kanye truly has had a heavy influence on this album. Once again we get to hear Jay-Z address more haters, who call him a camel, but he’s mastered the drought-what the F$#@ he’s an animal! Beat is alright, verses are okay, but I’ve grown tired of entire songs dedicated to this topic about 2 albums ago. 3/5

Hate ft. Kanye West Produced by Kanye West
Didn’t we just talk about this subject in the last track? The main difference between this track and the last is this track is one is executed much better, partially cause Kanye steps to the mic next to his big brother. Kanye has two short verses and they’re nicely done in a clever manner. His second verse is pretty catchy and it sounds like Kanye had fun writing it. Jay-Z takes a page from Kanye’s rhyme book with the structure of some of his flow, and I like it. It’s a mainstream sound, but still manages to be aggressive and grimy sounding at the same time. This track is short and to the point, which makes it even more likable. Instead of having to suffer through four minutes of the same topic like in the last song, we get a nice and short 2 minute track. My only wish on this track is that they would go back and forth, D-Block style, trading lines back and forth like they were having a conversation about this topic. To me, this would’ve been an instant classic if that happened. For some reason I can also see Pharrell rapping on this track and it sounding good. If you wanna know how to make better tracks, get at me Jay & Ye. :) 4/5

Reminder Produced by Timbaland
Gah..Really Jay..? Three in a row? I’ll give it a chance. The track is what its title says, a reminder about what and who Jay-Z is, incase you forgot. This beat comes pretty grimy, and out of the tracks where he brags, it might be one of the better ones. It sounds like Jay’s trying to create a mix of oldschool-Jay-Z tracks and New-Baller-Status-Jay-Z tracks, and this is a hybrid track with Timbaland on the beat. The beat and flow style take us back, but the topics are definitely new. I consider myself a pretty big Jay-Z fan, but sadly, Hov: Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t. Ain’t nothing changed for me ‘cept the year it is, I think I have to send you a reminder-here it is: People grow tired of being re-gifted the same present over and over, even if it’s in a new package. (Is that Rihanna on the hook?) 3/5

So Ambitious ft. Pharrell Produced by The Neptunes
Pharrell, you always manage to get on a track, and it never seems to 100% fit in with the album. Jay comes out and says this song is dedicated to his teachers, who said he should either be dead or a reefer head. This track takes one of his overused concepts for a track, but flips it slightly, making it more appealing. He talks about his motivation and how the massive pool of haters he’s acquired over his years have only been fuel for his fire. The beat is alright, typical Jay-Z & Pharrell collaboration sounding beat. One thing I like is that Jay has a sense of humor, and only in this situation is it related, but has also mastered the adlib’s and little voice inserts on his tracks and in his performances..The motivation for me, is them telling me what I could not be..oh well..-F#@!* off. :) 2.75/5

Young Forever ft. Mr. Hudson Produced by Kanye West
Kanye’s camp is on the mic again with Mr. Hudson. This is Jay’s own version of Usher – Best Thing, even reusing part of his second verse on from that song…did you purposely jack the title from Usher too? :/ This track is a pop sounding track that disuses what the title says..staying young vs living forever. Hov lets us know we need to enjoy life, have fun with it, and reminisce on good times while still moving forward. He also talks about staying young, and making an imprint on the world, which will live on forever. This track definitely feels like a closer for the album, and although its not a typical Jay-Z track, it suits this specific album well. 3/5

Closing Thoughts
To me, if you’re going to continue the Blueprint saga, it has to be a classic album. I don’t think this album met that expectation. That title also comes with huge expectations from people, myself included. This can definitely result in being harsher when making first impressions. It wasn’t a horrible album, but not an instant classic. For the direction Jay chose to go in I think he did a pretty good job. Also, just like Kanye West’s Graduation, this album has definitely done a good job on capturing a wider audience. The only downside to this is the artist sacrifices some of the appeal to the hardcore fans in order to expand into other audiences.

Also..where's Em!? I think this album has way too many features, especially from the 'newschool' rappers, and it should've been almost completely Hov on the mic by himself, with the exception of Eminem and Kanye. Eminem on this album makes sense in so many ways..he was on the first one, he just recently put out Relapse, then the Mariah record, then Forever w/ Drake/Kanye/Wayne, then he coulda hopped on this album, then more promo with DJ Hero, then finally Relapse 2 on Nov 17th. Continual marketing done, and its basically all free.

Jay-Z said this is his version of 808’s & Heartbreak, minus the autotune, and in certain aspects, I agree. It definitely seems more melodic than other albums..from what I can remember anyways. It’s not a classic album (yet), though it does produce a new and different sound from Jay-Z. His flow is still decent, the beats aren’t too bad, but he needs to find more outlets and inspirations for his content in his tracks…

A dedication track to Beyonce would’ve been amazing for this album, and it could’ve continued on 03 Bonnie & Clyde, but just with Jay. I understand it’s hard to find new things to talk about when you stop pushing weight and stop having to worry about making it to see the sun rise, and instead push $206 mil cash into your wallet from selling a clothing company you built, and get to see the sun rise with one of the hottest female celebrities/singers out, but that doesn’t give you a free-pass forever.

I want to call you the G.O.A.T., but without you continuing to try to strive for that title like you should and not just talking like you’re already there, it’s a moot point. I don’t mind the bragging tracks every now and then, but when a single album is littered with them and they aren’t backed by an insane flow and beats, they grow tiresome.. Especially when I know you still have it in you. Maybe you need to go spend some quality time with Talib Kweli, Common, Lupe Fiasco and The Roots (While you're at it, bring Kanye too, please). I’m sure they’ll motivate you in ways you haven’t been in a long, long time. Overall this album is just average to me, for now. Theres a few good tracks, but they're also surrounded by forgettable ones. I’m sure it’ll grow on me, but I also wonder how soon it’ll end up on the shelf collecting dust. 3.5/5

The Dave Chappelle Experience

2009-07-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday, July 14th, at about 10:15PM I get a call from a friend. He asks me if I heard about Dave Chappelle, and I told him no. He follows up by saying there's rumors flying everywhere that he's going to do an impromptu performance at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland at midnight that night. I told him I'd call a few friends to see what the deal is, and call him back. Only one of 3 people knew anything about it, and they just knew it was all rumors. Around 10:35PM I decide to hop in the 'backseat' of a pickup truck with my friend and his, and head for Portland in hopes of this twitter-fueled rumor being true..regardless of the fact that I had a midterm the very next day that I had only studied ~30 minutes for at that point.

As we're on our way North, I'm consistently staring at my phone, checking for updates, confirmations from reliable sources, or any sort of news at all. By 11:15PM I see literally over 2,000 people packed into Pioneer Square via KGW's live webcam of downtown. The clock strikes 12:00AM and there's no Chappelle. 12:15, still not Dave. 12:30..no signs of any famous comedians. We get to downtown about 12:35AM, and find parking around 12:45AM. There are probably at least 3,000 people there by that time, cops blocking off streets everywhere, and ambulances stationed nearby. By that time hundreds of people were walking away, saying it wasn't going to happen. I got up to about 5-10ft away from the stage with my friends, and we just stand wait patiently with everyone else. Around 12:55AM I see people swarming a small section, and that section is slowly making its way towards the stage.

Sure enough, it's Rick James himself. He's armed with zero bodyguards, some annoying loudmouthed girl, a girl with a guitar and mic, and another guy holding his speaker. That's right, the only sound system he has setup is a portable speaker probably about 10" tall at most, attached to the microphone by a cable. No amp, not even a power cable to plug into an outlet.

This obviously wasn't enough power to reach what was now over 5,000 people. If the speakerman pointed the speaker in your direction, and you were within the first 20 feet, and people around you were quiet, and you were listening extra hard, you could hear him. Otherwise the only thing you could hear were people's reactions to what he was saying. He said he only expected about 200 people, not over 5,000, which was the reason he didn't bring a better setup. After seeing so many people there, he attempted to get a better sound system, and so we waited patiently with Dave, crossing our fingers. They slowly pulled several speakers up onto the stage, which ended up being useless after the city shut off the power to the Square.

Next on the list of finger crossings was hoping that they would be able to get a generator up and running to power the speakers on hand. Dave was very relaxed, calm, and more than willing to work with everyone and wait patiently. During this time he took pictures, greeted people, conversed with people in the crowd, watched a girl strip naked on top of the roof of Starbucks, and thank the people and the Portland City Police for being so calm and patient. Around 2:15-2:30, he finally packed up and decided to go back to his hotel, but not before my friend could run up and say whats up to him and slap him on the back. I got home around 4:15AM, slept around 6:30AM and then woke up at 9:00AM for my classes that day.

Was it worth it? For the spur of the moment experience, and just being able to see Dave Chappelle, yes. I didn't get to see his set, and only a little of random improv, but I got to see Dave Chappelle the person, just hanging out with 5,000 people, talking casually and waiting just like the rest of us. It definitely made me appreciate him more as a person and as a celebrity/comedian. And also just going for the possibility of seeing him was fun.

How It All Began:
So Dave Chappelle was staying in Portland for the day, for no confirmed reason. He had been in LA for the past few days, making unannounced, unplanned and unmarketed performances at small locations...with sets lasting four hours. People talked with him casually as he went around Portland going to grab a bite to eat and just explore the City of Roses. Then he went to a store and rented out speaker equipment, and when asked what it was for, he responded with 'a free show in Portland.' The entire city took to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, local forums, and emails and the rumors started. Where was this show? When was it? How much would it cost? Would he really be there? Why was he doing this? No credible source could confirm this, even the people who manage Pioneer Square said Dave had never rented out the venue or even asked to use it. Dave was in Portland, but why? And why would he throw a show for free out of no where? People asked him about it throughout the day as they ran into him, and he said there was going to be a show at midnight, but these stories all came from unreliable sources. It seemed like a huge stretch that this was real, let alone free. Around 8:00PM something credible happened. A stage was being put together at Pioneer Square. The rumor mill had just been doused in gasoline and the internet's main topic became Dave Chappelle in Portland Oregon. It flew up to the top TWitter Trend, and the number one Google Trend. If you typed in 'Dave C' into Google, it would finish it with 'happelle in Portland' followed by 'Chappelle Pioneer Square' and finished off with 'Chapelle Free Concert.' Over 5,000 people joined in on the flash mob which was a 100% rumor, even after the rumored concert start time. That's more than the amount who attended Greg Oden's draft pick, more than the Rip City event and other events for the Blazer's being in the playoffs this past season. I've never seen that many people in Portland in such a small space before, let alone based on pure rumor courtesy of Twitter.

Randy Couture also made an appearance to do a meet and greet promo for UFC102, and Carmelo Anthony decided to throw a party in Portland of all places. Rumor is he wants to be a blazer????? Shall I cross my fingers again?

Homie Tell Me What's Good

2009-07-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

The heavy hitters in the rap game are all coming out of hiding and announcing their return to the game for this fall. In the word's of Diddy, LET'S GO PEOPLE!

First up, formally known as Def Jam's allstar lineup, Jay-Z featuring Kanye West & Rihanna on Jay's second official single, Run This Town, from The Blueprint 3. On paper, I expected this to be an aggressive track, hard hitting beat, fairly uptempo, much like a Def Jam version of Swagger Like Us. Instead I was surprised with a slower, somber, marching beat. I can't deny that I don't like this song, but I feel like it definitely could've been better. Something on the execution of this track seems to be not quite right. It might be the tempo, it might be me not being too impressed with Jay's verses, it may be the beat itself, I'm not sure yet. Jay talks about making money as usual and being on top. His second verse comes in better than his first. Rihanna sings the hook, with Kanye closing out the song with the third verse. I think I like Kanye's verse more than Jay's. :/ I see this as an attempt at Hip-Hop's 2009 version of Queen's We Are The Champions with a twist. I expect this to get big partially just because of the lineup. I expect a good album from Jay, and this definitely isn't a bad track, but it hasn't sold me on BP3 being a classic album, or Jay's next album even holding the title Blueprint 3. To Jay's credit, I've had less than 12 hours to warm up to this track, so I might edit this and completely change my mind in a day or two. We'll see.

The Roots are back! Despite their almost daily commitment to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Rock The Bells, Melanie Fiona, OkayPlayer, and Twitter, they've managed to put together a new album. And with their first single, How I Got Over, it sounds like they haven't missed a step. Not only have they not missed a step, but Black Thought stepped up to the mic---to sing. He doesn't sound bad at all, and there is NO auto-tune involved, which makes it even better. They tackle raw real topics as usual. I may be semi-biased because I feel that not only have The Roots managed to outlast countless other hiphop artists, while do something no other group has done before, but they've continued to progress and get better and better with every album. After Game Theory I wasn't sure if they could put out something better than that, but they proved me wrong with Rising Down. Anyways, back on topic.. This song is a nice upbeat track, tackling the topic of the chorus 'Out on the streets, where I grew up. First thing they teach us, not to give a F***. That type of thinking can't get you no where, someone has to care.' It's 3:36 long, but for some reason it seems short to me, which isn't a bad thing. I've left the table with my stomach full of good, quality food, but wanting even more, unlike Jay's track, where I was only half-full of decent food.

This is going to be a great 2nd half of hte year for hip hop...Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Reflection Eternal, Jay-Z, crossing my fingers for Eminem and Kanye, even 50 Cent will be coming out the same day as Jay-Z. (I'm really hoping 50 can come with another classic like his first album...but thats another topic completely)

Last but not least..

You thought I was down..You thought I was gone..that I went around..thought I left you alone....But look up in the sky, just look up in the sky..see that I'm everywhere, shining down-on you...

Well well, is it our little author, coming back humming his hymns a little altered Lupe announces his return to the rap game with his first single, Shining Down, off of his upcoming album, Lasers (We Are Lasers? L.A.S.E.R.S? This album title has changed so many times I don't know what it is now..) This is the Lasers version of Superstar. Lupe uses auto-tune, then raps, "Now if we autotune that shit we can hear the songs from that opera grown fat b*tch," talking about how its the death of the game, (It's not over til the fat lady sings). I could write out this whole song and break it down and talk about the lines I like and dislike, but I'll just leave it at this: This track tackles relevant topics like he usually does, with a clever flow and good rock and electronica influenced beat, backed by Matthew Santos on the beat. It's not quite as good as Superstar, but I expect nothing but a third classic album from Lupe this fall, and I see this as just a short preview of whats to come.

Ready for the heat.

2009-07-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

Ready to take on the 95 degree heat tomorrow in my new clothes.

Woke up quick, at about noon

2009-07-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Got a surprise knock on my door around noon today, and these were handed to me.

Reunited with one of his brothers..now the third and final brother needs to be rescued from someone's hands.

Let the package deliveries begin.

2009-07-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm bored, and ended up here. I should be studying for my Econ midterm tomorrow..but oh well.

It finally turned into summer weather here..~90 degrees today :( I don't mind that weather, as long as I have an air conditioned home...which I don't.

I'm not sure how many people have already seen this article/story..I found it awhile ago, but just randomly saw it in my bookmarks a few minutes ago, and I think its worth sharing. It's about a girl's dying wish to see Pixar's movie, Up. Click Here to Read

If you haven't heard of Melanie Fiona by now and you like soulful R&B/pop voices/styles, I suggest you go look her up. I'll probably do an album review for her album once I get bored again.

In more Michael Jackson news, he took over the top 9 of the top 10 album spots on Billboard this week. :) He sold over 422,000 copies spread out over 9 albums. Nicely fitting, 'Number Ones' took the top spot with 108,000. Thats more than several new artists debuted at, and this album is six years old. The only non-Michael Jackson record to grab the 10th spot was a re-issue of the Woodstock movie soundtrack. From what I remember this was also the first time that a non-debuting album has taken the #1 spot and beaten out albums that released that week..Which means he kept the Black Eyed Peas' new album, 'The E.N.D' from debuting at number one, and not just by 1 spot, but by 3. What's also crazy is that even before he passed, his catalog still pulled in 297,000 album sales for the 2009 year up until June 21st. He owns 25 out of the top 75 Hot Digital Download sales. Thriller saw a 3,551.00% increase in sales. Just more evidence on how much of an impact he had on music and the people.

I definitely wouldn't mind seeing people actually request his music enough for it to break into top 10-40 radio countdown lists. His music was and still is better than most of the garbage that's flooded the radio over the last several years. I'd pick Smooth Criminal over Soulja Boy - Turn My Swag On any day of the week.

I think I'm going to see Public Enemies to escape the heat tomorrow, so expect a movie review shortly after :)

I paint picture jot it and dot it/but won't print it/my project is photogenic

2009-06-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

When the boys with the Tech's throwin up they sets..

And the spot so hot the ceiling starts to sweat..

That’s when the beast come out:

The poor result of boredom late at night. Might actually take this concept and turn it into a (decent) collage later..when its not 2:45AM.

Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness

2009-06-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

Using this as a way to kill time while waiting to get tired enough to sleep. Hopefully it won't backfire and actually keep me up.

LIFE:
Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. And for those of you who didn't, I hate you. Just kidding, I really don't care who did/didn't say it..I've never been big on celebrating any sort of holiday/event, let alone my own birthday. Today was just an ordinary Sunday for me, with the exception of a recovering back and two(?) pulled muscles in my neck.. Work 8:00AM-5:00PM, attempt to study from 6:00PM-8:00PM. Watched the BET awards at 8, and now I'm sitting here. Maybe I'll celebrate later on this week. We'll see.

I was nervous about taking summer classes for the first time in college, but so far its going well, even though I've already missed 1.5 days of classes. I had a test already in my 4 week Econ class. I didn't really study too much and got a B along with scoring ~10pts above the average..I hope the class is curved. Midterm in that class later this week.

LOVE:
Put up an old blend of Michael Jackson - Remember The Time blend w/ Cypress Hill by Ron G :)

Two new Lupe snippets of what is said to be tracks off of We Are L.A.S.E.R.S. leaked earlier tonight, and I'm liking what I hear. One of them sounds like hes rapping over a Dre beat. My biggest complaint is with the music leaking in general, because his album isn't even scheduled to drop until December, even though hes 95% done with the album already.

The 2009 BET Awards were tonight..Live. What a mistake that was. This years show (and past) seemed very unorganized and not very thought out. I give them a half of a pass this year because of completely restructuring the show literally last minute to honor Michael Jackson. But when you're BET (Under MTV's giant label, which is under Viacom), you should have a staff capable of producing a quality live show. Even things such as Jamie Foxx (the host) not knowing when they were coming back from commercial, or the sensors letting the swear words slip out, and then censoring words after that, which were just normal words. There were also dirty versions of songs being played for award winners stage entrance music. I'm also not sure how much of an influence BET has on artist's acts, but some of them were set up weird and just not made for that type of show..some parts shouldn't have been made for anything :(

Onto the performances in no particular order..

Beyonce had a great performance as usual, singing Ave Maria and..something else..I forgot. It was solid as always. I wasn't really feeling the little wedding gown type outfit she had on..but its Beyonce, so who cares.

Keri Hilson's performance was just eh..I think she needs to work on her live singing a bit. Shes hot though, so I don't care. Jamie Foxx & T-Pain performed Blame It,. They switched it up by having Snoop come out and mashed it up with Drop It LIke It's Hot beat..but Snoop didn't really do anything which was lame. Then TRavis Barker came out and they flipped it again. Travis always provides so mcuh energy into his remixes and always delivers. Ciara had a shoddy MJ tribute..

Maxwell gave an always solid performance of Pretty Wings. If you don't know who he is, I suggest you check him out and watch the video above.

Ne-Yo did a good job doing a MJ tribute performance also. Not too sure about those glasses, but the singing was on point.

Jay-Z performed D.O.A, which sounds muhc better live than on the track. The live instruments give it that extra bang and hard hitting sound it needs on the beat. I hope No ID adjusts the beat for the album version. I feel like the beat needs to come a little bit harder, Takeover style.

Besides that, they did several tributes to Michael Jackson like Jamie Foxx dressing up and moonwalking. It definitely looked and felt rushed, but it was, so I give them a pass on that.

The best (and hardest to watch :/) part was at the end of the show. Janet Jackson came out (big props to her for doing that so soon), saying few words, but displaying miles of emotion, and then Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo closed the show by doing a nice duet of Jackson 5's I'll Be There. I just wish that it was a better awards show that went on instead of a BET/MTV event. :| I'm assuming some network/company is going to put together a 2-5 hour tribute special within the next week or so though with tons of interviews and performances. I sit eagerly awaiting.

Afterwards Jay-Z's D.O.A. music video premiered..I wish I could be in Vegas this weekend to see him tear it down live with this. Video below:

AND THE PERSUIT OF HAPPINESS:
We keep getting new items at work..and I keep wasting my money on them :|

Haven't tried any of them yet, but I've heard good things about all of them, and they all sound good.

Finally, after about 4 (Yes, four) years I invested in some insoles for my work shoes. It took me this long to finally buy them because of such a big selection. I was always too lazy to look and see what materials are the best, what brands, what a decent price is, etc. But today while at work I decided to waste some time and take a quick look at our selection. I landed on these because I figured the fabric/memory foam ones will eventually just get smashed down and be ineffective, whereas gel shouldn't, or not as much anyways. I'll report back with results once I work again. Does anyone else use gel insoles? Are they worth it? Can you feel a noticeable improvement?

I feel like everything is spinning around me right now..so that's probably a sign I should get off of this and go to sleep.

continuing on with the tiny tributes..

Pickups

2009-06-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Some of these are old, but I'm trying to avoid doing homework, so they'll have to do for now.

And...junk food:

S'mores!

Found it!

2009-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

“There’s only a couple people in this world that are supposed to be immortal…we just lost one” -Estelle

Homie Tell Me Whats Good

2009-06-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Time for an actual post with (little) content.

I haven't been doing too much lately. My life essentially consists of being in class, at work or at the library. If everything works out schedule-wise, I'll finally be done with school this coming Spring term. Ended this past term with a 3.65 and i'm hoping to get about the same for summer term.

I feel like I'm really old right now..I'm almost 24, I messed up my back somewhere inbetween walking home and sitting down to eat dinner earlier this week, and then on Friday messed up my neck between the time of me waking up and getting dressed. My body is giving out on me :(

Although I have more money right now than I have in awhile, I've also went on a spending spree..expect pictures late next week once I get all my packages. I also really want to build a new computer to replace this ~8 year old desktop I currently have, but after buying a bunch of stuff I feel like I should put it off for a bit.

My Vegas trip has been killed, because no one has enough money to go right now..and I don't want to go by myself :|

Maybe I'll have an amazing birthday to make up for it..but i doubt it.

I started watching the TV show Weeds awhile back, and I definitely think its worth watching. It's light and easy to watch, and the episodes aren't completely dependent on you knowing exactly what happened in the last episode or whats going on in the big picture. It has some nice darker humor in it and a good amount of 'oh shit!' moments that suck you into watching the next episode.

Ever since I first heard about Twitter, I disliked it. Even after hearing about Talib Kweli & ?uestlove using it, I still didnt like it, and refused to join it. I saw it being the next big social networking site, and the social networking site of 2009 (Which it has become), even though I thought it was a dumb idea. Both myspace, facebook and essentially every other networking site out there has a 'Status Update' feature that isn't limited to 140 characters, and they all have several other features. But Twitter's simplicity (and celebrity usage marketing) made me think it'd be successful. It's also something quick and easy to use anywhere, especially on phones. I finally gave in and signed up only to attempt to win a pair of shoes (which I didn't win), but recently gave into using it as a way to kill time.

Art vs. Artist

2009-06-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

At just about mid afternoon nearly every major news, blog and social networking website experienced a slow down, and some even came to a complete halt. CNN seemed to slow along with BBC, while Twitter completely stopped working completely for me, and Reuters gave out even before Twitter. TMZ's single article skyrocketed to the front page on Digg.com receiving over five thousand digg's in under 40 minutes, with almost two thousand of those coming within the first ten minutes, at one point averaging at over 150 Digg's every thirty seconds. All social networking status updates turned to one topic, and nearly every radio station across the nation all began playing music by the same artist. This is definitely the biggest artist/celebrity/famous person to pass in a long time. From what I can remember anyways.

Even though I didn't follow his music too closely, I still liked and enjoyed everything I heard from him and definitely respected his work and his huge legacy and influence on music and art as a whole.

I've seen a lot of people talking trash immediately following his passing because of his obscure lifestyle, and I think Questlove said it best: "I think its time we let him rest in peace and learn to separate the ART and the ARTIST. --that is the MJ i will forever remember." It's interesting how the media and news companies can spend so much time prying into a man's life and tearing it down for the last decade, and then in an instant do a complete 180 and praise his legendary status.

I hate some really good quote to end this post...but I can't find it now :[

Locked in!

2009-06-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

In the famous words of Diddy...LETS GO PEOPLE!!!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-24T03:34:00.000-07:00

Just got out of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen midnight showing about an hour ago..and now its time for a review.

There aren't any spoilers in this review, so read on, even if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Preface: I've heard a lot of people talking trash about the movie, saying how its filled with overdramatic camera shots, corny lines, too much action, and a simple/predictable storyline. What I have to say about that is that this is a Michael Bay movie based on an 80's cartoon of giant transforming robots. You should know what to expect from him before you even see a trailer of the movie. Don't expect to see some deep and meaningful movie like Crash, X, or Citizen Kane. If that's not your type of movie, you probably won't like it. But it's like going to see Up and saying its bad because you prefer live action movies instead of animated movies. With that being said, lets proceed:

We Showin' You The Good:
This movie was filled with essentially nonstop action like the first, along with wide angle rotating panning shots, some great shots of landscapes and cityscapes, slow motion explosions, dramatic music, amazing special effects, long fight scenes and humor accompanying even more Autobots and Decepticons than the first movie, and of course, Megan Fox running in slow motion.

The overall story of the movie was done fairly well, although it could've been executed better in delivery of certain scenes. They did a decent job at taking you along the journey while also stopping to explain what's going on,although some parts seemed useless. It's all basically straight forward and laid out in front of you, which people may or not like. I think with a movie like Transformers, that should be expected though. I don't go to see an action movie with giant transforming robots to see a movie that will make me think on a philosophical level. I go to be entertained.

Another good thing was seeing specific Autobots/Decepticons and parts of the story from the original series.

They managed to (attempt to) insert a lot of humor in this sequel. There were several corny lines, but I expected those coming from a Transformers movie. Some of the humor worked well, some of it came across as trying too hard and could've been delivered better, and some was just a swing and a miss. Needless to say, there was a lot more humor than in the first, and several lines/scenes had the entire theater laughing.

The Bad:
Be prepared for a long movie. Two and a half hours long. Although I definitely thought this movie was long, I also thought The Dark Knight was long, but still good. The first thing it reminded me of was Bad Boys II, with its long run time and a long fight/action scene at the end. Now that I actually think about it, these movies are very similar with their overall plot setup, insertion of humor and action, and of course, directing style.

The Ugly:
Just like the last one, the special effects were amazing. At times, much like the first one it was hard to tell exactly what was going on in the fight scenes because there were so many pieces of metal flying around and they were all the same color, making them blend together when the two bots clashed. I don't see much of a clear cut solution, and I'd much rather have these more realistic looking bots with incredible detail than a bright pink Autobot fighting a neon blue Decepticon with clear fake outlines that make them look like unused ideas from Power Rangers.

Also, at times, even for a Michael Bay movie there were some unneeded wide angled rotating camera shots..ie. someone just getting out of a car. I think the main issue with this one compared to the last was execution wasn't done correctly on certain scenes.

This Is For The Hood:
The movie was a lot more overtly sexual and much more vulgar than the last. This can go either way on whether or not it makes the movie better or worse. At times I thought some of the profanity was too childish or unnecessary and detracted from the movies overall appeal, but at other times it helped make the scene/line as funny as it was.

As far as the movie being over-hyped, I think thats another thing that's all personal opinion. Its a sequel to a movie that's grossed over 708 million dollars, and also based on a hugely popular 80's cartoon which in itself spawned it's own wave of movies, toys, lunch boxes, apparel, etc. So I think it is to be expected that this sequel will be heavily marketed. Whether or not the consumer falls into this 'over-hyped' movie is all up to them. I think many people have fallen into it, especially those who have never even seen the original series or toys. But I also think there are people who just liked the first movie and hope the second one is just as good, if not better.

You Got, To Love Me:
As far as whether or not it's better than the first, I think that's more up to personal opinion. I thought it fell short of the first one mainly because certain scenes should've been much better than they were. But I still look forward to seeing it again in theaters, only at the IMAX the second time around. Overall this was a fun and enjoyable movie which surprisingly had me emotionally attached to several characters, drawing out anger, laughter, sadness and happiness. If you liked the first one, you'll like, if not love the second one. This movie was worth my $9.50, being surrounded by high schoolers (who made me feel really old) and waiting in line for over two hours to insure good seats.

In the jungle with the leaders

2009-06-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated with any real content in awhile...hopefully i'll do that later today. Heading up to Beaverton for a hopefully smooth dentist appointment in an hour :/

We in the house..

2009-05-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

Who wants to go with me?

Wasting Money

2009-05-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

Some things I've been wasting my money on lately..

F#@&!!!

2009-04-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

I hate not being in control of my life.
I hate people fucking me over.
I hate people telling me one thing, then going back on their word, resulting in the previous.
I hate people not following through with important things they tell me they will do.
I hate people feeding me bullshit.
I hate people being late on me when I'm on a fairly tight schedule.
I hate bees.
I hate letting people down.
I hate when people let me down.
I hate people talking useless shit to an undeserving person.
I hate allergies.
I hate being under appreciated.
I hate being sick.
I hate seeing people suffer and not being able to help them.
I hate trusting people.
I hate where I am in life.

Beats By Dre Tour Review

2009-03-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

So I recently made an impulse buy on the Monster Beats By Dre Tour in-ear headphones, and I thought I'd review them out of boredom. First off, here's some quick notes about them:

Made By: Monster
Retail Price: $149.95
Comes with: carrying travel case and 5 sets of earbuds

Onto the review.

Presentation & Style:
Even before opening the box you can tell that these are a very stylish pair of earphones. The overly done Apple-influenced Monster package looks nice, but isn't necessary, and most likely adds on ~$15-25 to the market price.

After taking the cover-sleeve off, a magnetically sealed case is inside. Inside the case we find the earphones and travel case housed in a nicely felt lined display along with a booklet insert with manual, warranty information, waste disposal information and a small advertisement for other Monster sound products.
The earphones themselves are definitely bold and unique looking. The red cable alone attracts attention.

The signature 'b' logo is placed on top of a brushed aluminum circle on each earphone. The red color used looks nice and gives them a unique style without looking overly flashy. I've taken these out in public twice and gotten positive comments on them both times.

Sound quality:
First off, I hope people don't expect these to sound as good as the full headphones, because they don't. That's not to say that they sound bad, however. These are obviously made for bass-heavy sound, specifically hip-hop music. I tried these hooked up directly to my computer and also on my ipod. On the ipod they seem to work best with the EQ's turned off, but some computer program's EQs enhance the sound. The sound gets too overpowered with 'Hip-Hop' and 'Heavy Bass' setting on the ipod. They also do a decent job of noise canceling, but probably not good enough for some people.
I ran through several Dre tracks to test them out with his own music, and they passed with flying colors. The bass isn't too heavy or overpowering and has a nice clear sound. The highs could be a bit louder, but the sound quality was still good. I tested them with all sorts of music, from hip-hop to emo to techno and they all sounded good.

Functionality/Practicality:
This is an area Monster has consistently made a selling point with its revolutionary tangle-free cord that took ten years to perfect. It's much thinner and slimmer than I expected it to be, and has worked out as Monster promised so far. The cable also has a piece that keeps the cable straight near the plug end of it, most likely to prevent the wires from bending harshly and going out quickly like most headphones do. The cord is a good size, probably too long for some though. The bulk of it is 3ft long, then it splits into the earphone cords which are ~15" long each, giving you ~51" of total cord.
Despite the tangle-free cord and hefty length, this is probably where the earphones take the biggest hit.

The first and probably biggest downside is with the earbuds. Although they come with five different sets, none of these seem to fit well for me, and many other reviewers. The default ones probably fit best, but still don't do a very good job. When sitting in place they work alright, but still aren't comfortable. I haven't used these for longer than a few hours at a time, but even then they get uncomfortable and start to hurt my ears. I think this is because of the large speaker size used. On the go these earbuds let me down even more. They consistently fell out of my ears about every 30 seconds while walking to/from class. I think part of this has to do with a rubber part on the cord acting as a weight, pulling them down out of my ears. They also stick out of your ears more than normal earphones, which is probably another factor. Unless you're going to sit perfectly still or have abnormal ears, plan on re-adjusting these earphones frequently.

Extras:
Some people complained about having a very hard time switching out earbuds, but I didn't run into any trouble at all. Directly pulling them straight off feels like i might rip them, but twisting them on/off seemed to work well for me. Also, you can definitely tell when you have these inserted in your ears properly from a sound quality that jumps up several notches.

Bottom Line:
The quality of these headphones are good, but the earbud fitting and bad build for on-the-go use ruins these for me. I feel like I can only use these when stationary, and I would have just gone and spent a little more for the full headphones if I had known that were the case. Also, it should be made clear that you aren't paying $150 purely for sound quality. You're paying for good sound quality and a giant markup price because of the Monster and Dr. Dre names attached and for the style. I see many people complaining about the overpriced pricetag attached to these headphones, but at the same time have an Apple computer. After so many years of Apple's form over function marketing it should be clear that anything with the name Monster, Apple, Louis Vuitton, or even Nike attached to the front of it is going to be overpriced. In the end, if these had fit my ears better I would have been completely satisfied with them for the under-retail price I got them for. If you do end up paying retail, I highly suggest you try a pair out first, or buy them somewhere that has a good return policy.

Day N Nite..

2009-03-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

This song has been out for what seems like forever now, the remix has been somewhat of a house anthem for just about as long, and the video has now been out for awhile too, but I'm bored and so I thought I'd post it up, regardless of my tardiness.

I never thought this song was anything amazing, but definitely not bad. But this version of the video brings this song to another level. The editing style was pulled off nicely and the video has virtually seamless transitions that work well with whats going on in the video and also connect well with the lyrics.

Pick ups

2009-03-09T03:39:00.001-07:00

been too busy with school to post on here recently..not that there's ever been anything worth posting about anyways. Spent 20 hours at the library within 2 days, slept at 7AM and then 2:30PM the next day..it wasn't too fun.

Anyways..heres some random crap i've picked up recently..well most of its recent.

And finally..having a sweet tooth + sales = bad..

Hello, Again, and goodbye.

2009-02-22T00:49:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted or even gone on here in a long time.. been too busy :( Not that I ever post anything of actual content anyways. Hopefully I'll post some more sometime soon..

For now,

R.I.P Dorothy Kiekhaufer; 1917-2009.
Always Loved,
Forever missed,
Never Forgotten.

Seven Pounds

2008-12-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

I was able to watch Seven Pounds today. This review it going to be hard for me, because I feel like the less you know going into the movie, the better. The trailers don't really tell you what the movie is about, except that it's a fairly serious movie with a pretty good cast. I guess I'd say it's about Will Smith trying to fix things, in many different ways.

On a semi-side note, usually as movies get closer to their release date, the trailers reveal more and more of the movie's plot. This held true for this movie, and for the most part I don't agree with that decision. Although they don't give too much away, I think the 'mystery affect' is part of whats drawing the consumers to the movie. I know several people who have said 'Oh that movie looks good.' But don't even know what it's about. The only reason I can see them doing it is for marketing purposes. By creating a mystery movie, they're counting on sales that mainly come from the start power involved, not because the movie sounds/looks interesting. By revealing more of the story, you bring in an audience who wants to know what happens.

Anyways, onto the review. I really liked the cast, and thought they all played their parts well. Will Smith said it was his darkest role yet, and I agree with him. His character in this is semi-typical..a fairly strong male saving the universe. Well, maybe not the entire universe..but saving people. He's able to showcase his acting ability in almost all areas in this movie from happiness to hate. Rosario Dawson also does a good job. I haven't seen too many of her movies, but I thought she did a good job diving into the role of her character. I was definitely able to get attached to her character in the movie. And on a side note: Rosario Dawson is hot.

The story/structure of the movie was kind of confusing in the beginning to me. There were a few flashbacks shown, which I didn't realize were flashbacks til later on. I think the beginning is the only time when it's better to know part of the overall story, or at least what should be going on in the first few scenes. Besides that, the movie flows well, and Will Smith and Rosario Dawson take you on an emotional ride. There are many bittersweet moments, that tear at your emotions.

I liked the soundtrack as well..besides two songs. One song sounded like a My Chemical Romance (?) cover of Michael Buble - Feeling Good, and whatever that song was, just didn't seem to fit as well with the scene as different songs could have. There was one other song that didn't seem all that great either..but besides those two songs, it was good.

All in all, this is a dark romantic feel-good-while-being-stabbed-with-a-knife movie, and I'd recommend seeing it.

Goals unmet.

2008-12-15T00:36:00.000-08:00

So late Saturday night I decide to make a planned impulse buy for early Sunday morning. I woke up at 6:15AM, and at 6:45AM called a cab to take me to a store. I arrived there at 6:55AM and was greeted by a line of ~10 people waiting outside. After waiting in line for 5 minutes, figuring out whether or not to buy out the entire store's stock of Nintendo Wii's for reselling and a ~$35 cab ride, I found myself back at home with this:

And these:

Winter Break Goals

2008-12-14T01:17:00.000-08:00

Finally on winter break.. and I have some goals for it:

•Register for classes
•Vacuum & Dust my room
•Keep my room clean

•Find a roommate
•Make one new friend
•See as many friends as possible while I actually have free time

•Go up to Beaverton at least once

•Read one book
•Maintain a fairly steady (and normal) sleep schedule
•Work out 5 times a week
•Eat healthier

•Eat out less
•Spend less than $100 per month, excluding expenses
•Attempt to budget my money for the next 6 months
•Deposit 50% (Or more) of each paycheck into my savings account
•Never have more than $200 in my checking account, unless it's to pay for bills.
•Sell clothes and shoes

•Finish my concert picture project (Whenever I get my $300 from work)
•Figure out what new phone to get and when to get it
•DJ for at least 5 hours per week
•Reformat my desktop????

Red Friday

2008-11-29T01:36:00.000-08:00

This year I didn't know anyone who planned on spending a lot of money for Black Friday. No one I knew, including me needed/wanted to make a big purchase, regardless of the fact that there were no really good deals. Getting a $1189.99 42" 1080p LCD HDTV for $581 beats any of the TV sales I saw today. I went out shopping just for the hell of it, and partially because I felt like I was obligated to at least go and window shop/browse. My goal for the day was to spend under $250 total, including random stuff like food.

Black Friday started at about 1:55AM on Thursday night, when I began waiting for Amazon to put some bluray movies on sale. The actual day started out at Best Buy around 7:30AM. I picked up a few DVD's, then headed to the Streets of Tanasbourne mall, mainly for Express. I only walked out with one sweater, well on my way to meeting my spending goal. After Express we went to Banana Republic just because it was basically next door. I somehow talked myself into buying a $59.00 scarf, basically regretting my purchase as I was making it. That is, until I saw it rang up on sale for $34.50 :)

Once we were done with that nice surprise, we stopped by REI, which did a pretty clever promotion. They gave shopping bags to customers entering, and each bag had a random gift card in it, ranging from $5.00 to $100.00. Both Jason & I got $5.00 :( But it definitely made us both feel like we needed to buy something. $5.00 off a clothing/sporting goods store anywhere, especially a store like REI is not a good sale at all, when there are North Face jackets running at $400. But the fact that are giving you free money makes you feel obligated to spend it. In addition to that, they didn't really even have any sales going on, which just brings them in even more profit.

Anyways, after that I went to a differnt friends house to go on Part II of my shopping spree. We went to the Nike Employee store..which was really busy, and shitty. They denied me as a guest, but I still got access to Friends & Family stuff later on. :)

After the Nike disaster, we went downtown. We stopped by several small stores, then went to the REI downtown. I spent the $5 gift cards on Odwalla drinks, because I couldn't find anything I actually wanted.

After shopping at those ~5 stores we went to eat at Mio Sushi, which was good as always, then headed over to Puma and Adidas. I ended up getting a pair of Puma x Evisu jeans at Puma. This put me pretty close to maxing out my $250 goal.

Pic of the jeans didn't come out so well, and I'm way too lazy to take a better one right now..

Next up was Niketown. On the way there, we heard some yelling and then 'I SAID GET ON THE GROUND!' I looked in the direction of the shouting and saw a man laying face down onto the sidewalk, and then saw a cop holding a shotgun, aiming it at this man on the ground. Then a few more police cars pulled up. We decided to take a detour route to avoid that drama. Later, while on the detour route, we saw the man yelling at the cops saying he didn't do anything, and why white cops gotta act like this to black men. :/ Wonder what he did, if anything.

After that interesting moment, I found my way into Niketown's checkout line, buying a pair of shoes, putting me over my $250.00 limit :\

Once I was done wasting my money at Niketown, we wasted a little more time, talking with a store owner, and managed to get a 30% off Nike/Niketown/Nikeoutlet/NikeWomens :) Then I went back to Best Buy so we could look at DVD's, then being unsuccessful at finding all the DVD's my friend wanted, we went to a different Best Buy, which had plenty. I walked out with more useless DVD's the second time going there.

I finally ended my spending spree at a nice, cheap, sit down, Thai restaurant around 8:30PM. Over 12 hours of being out and about shopping, walking and eating, ending with a relaxing dinner and a nice train ride down to Eugene. Except I fell asleep on the train, and now I'm not tired, and I have work at 9:00AM today.

I brought my camera up..but forgot to take it anywhere..so theres no pictures of any stores/scenery/food :(

Total Amount of Damage done (Minus food): $359.44 :/

Final Group Shot of my what I got..minus a few DVD's I bought online and haven't received yet.

Reaching for Mountains

2008-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Spending Spree Conclusion..hopefully.

2008-11-20T01:28:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this is the conclusion of the rampage that has eaten up my bank account. I've looked at all the Black Friday ad's and have only seen a few random small item's I want..so hopefully I won't spend over $100 then.

and a new case for my Nano.

Little Big Planet is awesome, by the way.

Sweet tooth.

2008-11-16T23:14:00.001-08:00

I've had a big sweet tooth lately..and I keep buying random stuff.

Got these within the last week, both are pretty good.

It's all G.O.O.D.

2008-11-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

De La Soul, Mos Def, Will.I.Am, Nas, and Kanye West havin fun at G.O.O.D Music's after party.

SEMTEX TV: DELA SOUL, MOS DEF, NAS, WILL I AM, KANYE WEST, DAMON ALBARN ROC THE MIC @ THE G.O.O.D. MUSIC AFTER PARTY, LONDON, UK from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo

...Almost done wasting my money

2008-11-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

Got these and a few other misc. things in the mail last week.. Waiting on 3 more packages, then going to attempt to sell ~$700 worth of stuff, then hopefully be done wasting my money for awhile.

Change.

2008-11-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

bored.. and putting off hw...

Election Day

2008-11-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

Have you voted yet?

I'm happy to see so many celebrities endorsing Obama. A lot of times celebrities won't speak their political views because it can hurt their public image if people don't agree with them. And it's not just hip hop artists, or African-American's, it's everyone from Jay-Z to Sarah Silverman to Jennifer Anisten to Sacha Baren Cohen.

5 Friends:

5 More Friends:

I've been pretty disappointed with some of the tactics the Republican party has used this year. They have a lot of people misinformed about the other party and Barack Obama himself, leaving them uneducated and jumping to harsh conclusions. I've heard everything from 'He wasn't born in the US' to terrorist claims to 'he doesn't address McCain as 'Mr. McCain,' so he doesn't get my vote.'

On the other side, I just hope there aren't too many people putting all their eggs in this basket and assuming if elected, Barack Obama will completely turn around this country in his four year term. I think some people might have too high of expectations and don't realize that no president is physically capable of fixing every single problem in that amount of time. Instead stand by his desire to implement change. Support him for what he stands for and represents not only as President of the United States, but what he represents for the future of this country.

I'm definitely not very political, but I think this election has been more important than the past several, if not all elections, so I've tried to pay more attention to it. Even if you don't support Barack Obama, the Democratic party, or agree that the political voting system is highly skewed and disoriented, go vote for change. At the very least, we'll have the first ever female vice president in office. (I'm not going to go into whether or not I think shes the best choice for that role)

So go vote. I did.

And if you need an incentive, go vote to get free stuff:
-Starbucks is giving away a free tall cup of coffe
-Ben & Jerry's is giving away 1 scoop of ice cream between 5:00PM-8:00PM
-Krispy Kreme is giving away a free doughnut
-Chick-Fil-A: Free chicken sandwich

Crater Lake Trip

2008-10-28T01:02:00.001-07:00

So on 10.19 I went to Crater Lake and a handful of other places for my Geology class.. and over a week later I finally go around to taking a look at the pictures.

Annie's Creek:

Beaver Marsh:

Crater Lake:

Salt Creek Falls:

Diamond Peak:

Mt. Mazama Viewpoint:

2008-10-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

And the spending spree continues...

•Bathing Ape Black Crystal Camo Crewneck

•Olevia 2 Series 42" 1080p LCD HDTV
•Philips HTS3565D/37 1000 Watt DVD 1080P HDMI Upconversion Dolby 5.1 Home Theater with iPod Dock

The TV's regular price was $1189.99..I got it for $580.99. The HTS is $229.99 on Amazon.. grabbed that for $69.99. :)

More stuff.

2008-10-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Preparing for the colder weather :O

Random pickups

2008-10-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

Recent pickups...

Shoulda had him sign my picture..but its okay.

And finally, my first ever ipod:

808's and Heartbreaks

2008-09-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

So, about a month ago Kanye debuted the first single, Love Lockdown, off of his upcoming album, 808's and Heartbreaks and set a release date for December 16.

After hearing Love Lockdown I thought this album would be garbage. The track sounded unfinished and from a technical and production point of view, the song definitely had its holes. It sounded like an unmastered rough cut. Apparently other people (including himself?) thought the same thing, and he redid the song.

This second version had new drums, slight changes here and there in the beat, and he re-sang the whole thing. This new version came out cleaner, crisp and much more complete sounding. People were able to shift their focus from 'this sounds unfinished and bad' to recognizing that Kanye yet again was able to switch up his style and bring something new and unique to the table.

When Love Lockdown first came out, and I heard autotune would be heavily featured on the album, i was disappointed. Kanye is definitely out there having fun right now, which is nice when hes a feature on a track, but I don't I want a full album of that style. Although he will appeal to a wider audience by going the more mainstream sounding route like he did intentionally with Graduation, I would still prefer something more lyrical and creative like his first two albums. I think hes also much more limited on song content if hes not serious and/or using autotune frequently. This has already been proven by the release of Graduation. There were no Two Words', Spaceship's, 'Get Em High's, Gone's or Diamonds from Seirra Leone's on that album. Nonetheless, I'm still confident that he will come out strong with a fairly solid album. After that little rant, you might ask why do I feel that way? He did most of his recording while in Hawaii..which is where Jockin' Jay-Z was spawned, proving that he was in a zone while there. I don't expect this album to be as thought out as College Dropout or Late Registration, but I expect a style that's straightforward and in for your face. Love Lockdown isn't the most aggressive song ever, but it's raw and straight forward like Jockin Jay-Z. I'm also still confident that he has enough gas left in his tank to continue to bring originality to the game at the very least. About a week or two ago, he announced he's pushing up his album to sometime in November, and I look forward to yet another album I can basically listen to front to back.

Rockin the Bells and Seeing Invincible Sounds of Summer

2008-09-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

So..What have I been up to..?

1. ROCKIN' THE BELLS

I Worked 14 of 16 days, then on Friday September 5th I worked 8:00AM-1:00PM in Eugene and then hopped on a 3:25PM-5:25PM bus up to Portland. Was able to see a few friends, and relax for a bit, before going to sleep and waking up at 6:00AM on Saturday, and leaving for Rock the Bells 2008 in Quincy (AKA the middle of no where), Washington at 7:00AM. We went straight there and arrived in Quincy around 1:00PM. We were greeted with a giant line, 85 degrees and sunny weather, an almost indescribable venue, and some great music.

There were some classic artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Mos Def, along with some new faces like The Cool Kids as well. We headed out around 10:00PM and drove our ~2 1/2 hour drive to Seattle to check into our room at the Hilton around 12:45AM, Saturday night. After a ~45 minute attempt to find food, we finally landed at a small casino a few blocks up the street from the hotel. We sat down and ordered at about 1:50AM. Both of us got bottled water, and for some reason at 2:00AM they had to take out drinks away..even though neither of us had even opened them yet. We were allowed to drink non alcoholic beverages again around 2:10AM..I'm not sure what kind of rule that was, unless they remove all open drinks from the floor to make sure no one drinks alcohol after 2:00AM. Whatever.

On Sunday we went shopping and ate at the Taphouse Grill, a really nice upscale yet relaxed looking lounge/bar with a great atmosphere and food, but slow service. I got a random combo of food consisting of a halibut burger, Parker Sushi roll, and watermelon lemonade. The slice of watermelon tasted amazing after soaking in the lemonade for a bit. Then we headed back to Portland around 4:30PM. We arrived back at home around 7:15PM, and then at 8:00PM I headed to downtown Portland to sit on a train from 9:10PM-11:45PM, then go to work from 8:00AM-5:00PM on Monday.

2. SEEING INVINCIBLE SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Then last Friday I went to N.E.R.D & Common's Seeing Invincible Sounds of Summer concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater down here in Eugene. I wasn't too sure how much fun I'd have before the concert because I hadn't listened to any Common music in awhile..especially his old stuff. I was more familiar with N.E.R.D's material, but like Common, their older material was hazy.

I held these doubts (especially after sound ussues with the openers..) all the way up until N.E.R.D. set foot on the stage, grabbed them and immediately smashed them while coming out to Anti Matter. Running through the majority of their new Seeing Sounds tracks like Spaz and You Know What, while mixing in old hits such as Rockstar and Lapdance. Their set was filled with nonstop energy, yelling, jumping, and Pharrell's weird dances. (Videos available here.) If this show had been over after N.E.R.D's set, I would have been completely satisfied.

Enter Center Stage: Common.

Common's set was more relaxed, but still full of energy and fun. It was a more 'controlled' energy, and less Spazzing if you want to. He ran through his catalog well, covering tracks from every album. One ~13 minute medley was my particular favorite. He covered everything from Universal Mind Control to Timbaland - Way I Are, to Busta - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See to Drivin Me Wild. After a mix of old, new, and brand new joints, he finally closed the show with a freestyle, mentioning everything from MLK Blvd to Taylors Bar & Grill to UO to the weed in Oregon.

Was it worth $32 before fees? Yes, definitely.
Would I pay to go see the exact same show one more time? Yes.
Should you try to go if they come around to your city? Yes.
Should I go to sleep now? Yes.

Mind Controlling, Blueprints, Self Destructing and 808's and hopefully some Detoxification

2008-09-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

It's about to get real hot this winter..
November: Kanye West: 808's & Hearbreaks
November 11: Common: Universal Mind Control (Invincible Summer)
December 2: Jay-Z: Blueprint 3
December 9: 50 Cent: Before I Self Destruct
December: Dr. Dre: Detox (Hopeful, but doubtful)

Good morning

2008-08-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

Non-Cam version finally out..Good morning.

More Pickups

2008-08-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I picked up this

In exchange for these:

Then I finally got these in the mail.. (Not for myself, obviously)

And finally a few days ago I made an impulse buy and found myself sitting in front of the TV with these:

2008-08-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Some random stuff arrived at my doorstep over the last few days...

Good deeds for the month

2008-08-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

-Reporting a fire that was starting outside of someone's house while they were too busy trying to get high.
-Buying dinner for 7 people
-Giving all my cash to someone for helping push my friend's car

Music Musings: Part I

2008-08-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

Warning: Long read ahead

I can't sleep, if you can't tell by the number of posts within the last hour or so, so I'm going to write about music, splitting it into two parts.

Part I: Where My Fellas At?
I don't know if I just haven't been looking under the right rocks, turning the wrong corners, or just walking right by, but with the exception a few artists like Wale and Anthony David, I haven't found any new male artists that have caught my attention as of late. I have, however, found several female artists who I think have potential to expand and become huge hits.

Something I feel that is limiting male artists from growing is this their egos and feeling the need to fit into mainstream. In the hip hop/rap industry, all of these young bucks (no pun intended..or was it???) feel like they need to either be gangster, ballin', or lyrical. I have issues with each of these 'requirements.' With the way hip hop is now, people aren't interested in gangster music at all. Hip Hop has gone into its 'disco era' where everyone just wants to dance. 50 Cent and G-Unit dropped their sophomore G-Unit group album earlier in July. Did you even know it came out?

Flossin', being iced out, ballin', or whatever you want to call it is unoriginal and gets boring, just like gangster rap. Unless you're Jay-Z and you can talk about buying professional sports teams (NY Yankees soon to be added to that list?), selling clothing companies for $204 million cash, signing a $150 million record contract, making over $21 million on tour, or be in Bill Gates' retirement video, flaunting your cash and diamonds around your neck gets played out quickly. Did I mention it's also boring? Most of these rappers can't even afford all of the things they have in music videos and just rent out cars, chains and girls. But even when you're someone like Jay-Z, we still grow tired of hearing about it. Look at one reason why his Kingdom Come album didn't do so well: He had no substance or variance in topics. With the exception of one or two tracks, he just talked about having money. Note: Regardless of this, I'm still a huge Jay-Z fan, and I give him a free pass on this issue because of it :)

Switching gears and moving into the R&B/Pop scene..When boybands were big you would hear them praise their woman all the time. Then the boyband era died. Until Robin Thicke came out with his sophomore album, you would rarely hear anyone acknowledge not only did they needed their girl, but were proud of having her by his side and her accomplishments. R&B and pop is filled with love songs, breakup and cheating songs, but you don't hear the other sides of the story coming from men often. Women on the other hand, have been talking about both sides ever since the beginning. We would hear tracks about a woman both needing and not needing a woman. You would hear about wanting a man with dignity and self respect, not just money and looks and you would hear tracks about a woman being proud of her man as a husband and father. Just because you're a male doesn't mean you can't break out of the R&B or hip-hop mold and show your sensitive side.

Jumping back to hip hop, not many artists are able to come through with original ideas lately. With the exception of people like The Cool Kids talking about bikes, Lupe Fiasco talking about zombies, child rebel soldiers, blood diamonds and clothing, and a few others who I'm too lazy to get into right now, hip hop currently doesn't have much substance.

After Nas proclaimed 'Hip Hop Is Dead,' numerous people sought out to prove him wrong. Kanye came out and beat 50 Cent by a landslide, selling just under a million copies in the first week. Jay-Z proved he's still a threat with American Gangster, Lupe Fiasco showed up with a near perfect Cool album, Common found Forever, making timeless music, and Talib Kweli made you Listen!!! with Ear Drum. These, along with several others made their attempts to disprove Nas' statement. With these established artists coming hard, a new wave of mainstream artists attempted to follow. People like Flo-Rida, Young Berg, Lil Boosie and others tried to bring the 90's back, when mainstream hip hop had some lyrical talent. But just because you can spit a 16 filled with more words than this post doesn't mean you a 'lyrical MC.' There are a few possibilities: 1) You're just making wordy rhymes that don't actually go anywhere or say anything, or 2) You don't know how to shorten your 16's into 8's, and cut out the bullshit and get your point across. I do give them props for trying, and not going the Soulja Boy route though. (Not to say I don't give him props, but he gets them for different reasons)

These aren't the only issues with artists, but I feel they're some of the bigger ones. With all of this being said, I feel that the issue of male artists not knowing how to project themselves, (and the over saturation of artists caused by everyone and their 2 year old brother thinking they can become a music artist) is limiting the men in the industry and they need to step their game up by stepping outside of the white line. Let go of the rope that's guiding you and make your own style and image. Women like Estelle are bringing some flavor over from the UK and spicing up pop/R&B with their own unique twist. Janelle Monae comes with an amazing voice, raw talent and vivid imagery illustrated into her songs, creating a whole story out of her Suites. Santogold is mixing up jazz, rock, R&B, pop, electronica all into one melting pot of original styles. Jazmine Sullivan is an upcoming R&B/Reggae artist bringing unique ways of presenting the same old love songs, in a deep and meaningful manner. Finally Karina Pasian is 16 At War, showing off an amazing voice that even has Alicia Keys taking notice, singing about mature topics, but not so mature that they don't fit her style and age. Not only are these girls giving the 'queens' like Alicia Keys and Mary J Blige a run for their money, but separating themselves from the rest of the crowd by creating their own new sound and style. Maybe I'll write something bout each of them later..but not tonight.

I don't think this post makes much sense..and I realize i didn't go in-depth into any of these female artists I'm feeling right now, but I'm tired and i want to sleep. Maybe I'll do that later. Actually, I'll probably re-read this post later on and edit/delete it, depending on what I think of it when I'm actually awake.

Up Next: Breaking into the hip-hop and R&B industry and why it's hard for new R&B artists to succeed.

Goals, Reunited.

2008-08-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

•Read 2 books
•Fix my UO email address
•Register for classes
•Rearrange My Room
•Keep my room clean
•Replace my phone
•Find a roommate

•Go to at least one concert
•Go to Seeing Invincible Sounds of Summer Tour
•Go to Rock The Bells
•Buy new drapes
•Watch The Dark Knight
•Make one new friend
•Finally go over and see Amanda, Danny and the new baby
•Do a good deed

•Maintain a fairly steady (and normal) sleep schedule
•Work out 4 times a week
•Improve my cardio
•Go swimming once(?) a week
•Eat healthier
•Learn to cook more / Put my cookbook to use
•Finish my concert picture project
•Start DJing again
•Build a new computer

•Eat out less
•Spend less money
•Spend $100.00 or less a month (Excluding bills)
•Sell my expensive clothes I don't wear anymore

~~•Become a supervisor (ha)~~
•Get a raise
•Go to work in a good/decent mood, and maintain that mood throughout my shift

•Waste less time
•Stay busy
•Have fun

To Give or Not to Give?

2008-08-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was sitting at Applebee's with a friend. The service was slow, business at the time was slow, and they never gave me my debit card back. For the first and third issues, I give them some lenience because the restaurant location had just opened so the employees were most likely new. With the debit card, I should have noticed they didn't give it back to me, so I don't put the server completely at fault.

Their food was something I did not agree with, however. My stomach felt like it was twisting inside me before we even got up to leave. After that not so pleasant experience we ran a few errands my friend decided to drop me off at home, but not before making one last detour. We were about 10 blocks away from the gas station and the car slowed, then came to a stop and died. After stopping and re-starting the boat we inched our way closer to being able to pay $4.18(?) per gallon. Two minutes later I found myself outside pushing a station wagon down a pothole filled street by myself. A few blocks ahead I saw a group of ~22 year old guys sitting on the curb. I waited for laughter and taunts as the distance closed between us. Then of them shouted, 'You're almost there!!' But his friend got up and asked if I wanted any help, and I said sure. So him and another friend helped me push the car to the gas station. After we pushed it to a pump I told him thanks and that I appreciated their help. He responded with 'hey, this is an awkward question, but do you have like 50 cents for a 40?' I took out all the cash I had in my wallet and gave it to him and told him to keep it all and buy a few for his friends. I thanked him again and told him to take care and have a good night.

I told my friend the story, who said i was dumb for giving him all my cash (it was only $8.00).

My reasoning:

These guy's could've done three things: 1) Mind their own business and not even look at us, 2) Make fun of us, or 3) Get up and help. They chose the third option, without me or my friend asking for help.

Even if he had a goal of getting beer money, who's to say that's a bad thing? Bill Gates makes millions of dollars a year, but also donated $500,000 to the relief of typhoon Frank in July and gives millions a year to charity and schools. Steve Jobs has donated countless Apple computers to schools with hopes of kids asking their parents for an Apple computer after using them throughout school. Is that so bad? I don't see why some people think win/win situations are so bad. Anyways, I'm getting off track as always, I'll end it with this: He showed me that at least for that moment, he was a good person, and good deeds should be rewarded.

Blueprint 3

2008-08-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

Kanye West decided to bring out my friend during his last Glow in the Dark Tour performance in NYC at MSG

BLUEPRINT 3 from kwest on Vimeo.

Hyperdunks

2008-08-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Now I too can jump an Aston Martin

Nike Employee Store

2008-08-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

Went to the Nike Employee store on Wednesday and picked up a few things.. Woulda had 2 more pairs of shoes, but they didn't have my size :(

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2008-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

The trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, played at this year's Comic Con, and as of now there's only a cam version of it out..but I'm assuming within the next couple of days the full HQ version will officially come out. Looks promising..sadly we have to wait til next Spring for the movie though.

Find more videos like this on The Spill.com Movie Community

I saw Gambit, Deadpool, Sabertooth, The Blob and someone else who I can't remember in the trailer. I hope Deadpool & Gambit are done right.

Doll Face

2008-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

a pretty good short video about how far women are willing to go to achieve 'perfection' defined by the media/society.

Dollface
by xenofilms

The Dark Knight

2008-07-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

Went to see The Dark Knight today, at 10:00AM on a Monday morning, and there were still a good 30-40 people who joined me. Strangely, the majority of the audience was older, ranging from 45-60. Anyways, enough about that, onto the movie.

I thought it was great. I don't know if I'd call it amazing just yet, but I have a feeling I will be after seeing it on Wednesday at the IMAX while I'm more awake. Since it was still early I was semi-sleepy while watching, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot more when I see it at the IMAX when I'm awake. The storyline was well thought out, full of twists and turns, action, and let each character shine in his or her own light, both in character and acting. It kept me guessing on where they were going to take it, and what they were going to do with each character.

Heath Ledger did an amazing job as The Joker. Although the definition of 'psycho' was different when Jack Nicholson played the role, I think Ledger was able to take it to another level and outdo Nicholson. I think his role in this movie will be celebrated, enjoyed and appreciated even more after his passing. I was also surprised to see a few characters in the movie. But I tried to avoid any new/media/information about this movie before seeing it, so they might not be a surprise to others who have seen trailers/read up on it.

My only complaint about the movie is the length. Although I never found myself checking the clock (Although at one point I did wonder), or being bored, it still felt a little too long. For some reason part of me was left wanting an even bigger and grander finale, and I think this has to do with the length of the movie. The movie continues to progress throughout the entire 2 1/2 hours, and it made me want the movie to go out with a bigger bang. (Not to say that it was a bad ending, though)

This movie is ~~in the process of~~ breaking records already, and it's only been out for 3 days. It grossed $158,355,000,000.00 during its first three days, and beat Spider-Man's $151.1 million opening-weekend record. it sold over $18 million on the midnight showings alone, which is more than some movies debut at for the whole weekend. There were seven Thursday midnight showings at one theater here, and by Tuesday night six of them were sold out. Worldwide it's at $199.655 million. But after all the hype, all the trailers and all the numbers, is it worth it? My answer is Yes, definitely. It has edged its way into my list of favorites already, and is definitely worth your time and money. I highly recommend this movie, and I feel it's a must-see in theaters to get an even better experience.

Goals Updated.

2008-07-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

•Read 2 books
•Fix my UO email address
•Register for classes
•Rearrange My Room
•Keep my room clean
•Replace my phone
•Find a roommate

•Go to at least one concert
•Go to Rock The Bells?
•Watch the new Batman movie
•Make one new friend
•Finally go over and see Amanda, Danny and the new baby

•Maintain a fairly steady (and normal) sleep schedule
•Work out 4 times a week
•Improve my cardio
•Eat healthier
•Learn to cook more / Put my cookbook to use
•Finish my concert picture project
•Start DJing again
•Build a new computer???

•Eat out less
•Spend less money
•Spend $100.00 or less a month (Excluding bills)
•Sell my expensive clothes I don't wear anymore

~~•Become a supervisor (ha)~~
•Get a raise
•Go to work in a good/decent mood, and maintain that mood throughout my shift

•Waste less time
•Stay busy
•Have fun

Photography

2008-07-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

Testing out a few features on my digicam..Here are the (lame) results:

2008-07-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

cleaned up and almost done rearranging my room. Just need to find a new desk, or two for my computer & turntables.

2008-07-14T13:38:00.001-07:00

pow.

Summer Goals

2008-07-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

in no particular order:
•Read 2 books
•Fix my UO email address
•Register for classes
•Rearrange My Room
•Keep my room clean
•Replace my phone
•Find a roommate

•Go to at least one concert
•Go to Rock The Bells?
•Make one new friend
•Finally go over and see Amanda, Danny and the new baby

•Maintain a fairly steady (and normal) sleep schedule
•Work out 4 times a week
•Improve my cardio
•Eat healthier
•Learn to cook more / Put my cookbook to use
•Finish my concert picture project
•Start DJing again
•Build a new computer???

•Eat out less
•Spend less money
•Sell my expensive clothes I don't wear anymore

~~•Become a supervisor (ha)~~
•Get a raise
•Go to work in a good/decent mood, and maintain that mood throughout my shift

•Waste less time
•Stay busy
•Have fun

Pick ups

2008-07-11T00:02:00.001-07:00

Bought another shelf for the shoes, bed risers (not shown) and a few other random things:

Also changed my closets up, more to come on that when the project is done. Hopefully I'll have a new desk soon too :O

New shoe shelf!

2008-07-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

I bought two stackable shelves to use as a shoe shelf today :) They turned out fairly well..i wish they had just a little bit more breathing room heighwise, and i also wish the wood was black, and not 'espresso,' both for $12 a shelf they were worth it. I'm gonna get one more on Thursday so I can put more shoes in it :O

Pick ups.

2008-07-02T01:40:00.000-07:00

Movies

2008-07-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

With school all done for the term, my days off from work are actually real days off. I don't have to worry about homework, studying, or going to sleep early to get ready to sit through classes the next day. So today I went to the mall and ended up seeing two movies to stay out of my hot apartment.

This movie turned out better than I thought it would be. It's a fast paced fun action movie that was filled with a good amount of humor. Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman did a good job, and so did Common..even though he only had a few lines. Two things I didn't: The actor of the younger kid, and the end. If they had someone else play the kid I would've like the movie a lot more. I'm not sure if I didn't like the story of the end, or the execution..but something about it I didn't like. But despite those two fairly big factors, I still enjoyed the movie overall. Worth the watch. Watching in theaters will also make this movie a lot better.

Another good movie. Like Wanted, the more trailers I saw for the movie, the lamer I thought it would be. But both movies managed to prove me wrong. This isn't a kids movie at all. Will Smith added another notch to his belt with this movie. This movie is filled with everything from action to humor to drama. Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron do a good job letting the audience in and becoming emotionally attached to them. Even though they're two completely different types of movies, I think this one was better than Wanted. This movie also gets bonus points from me for using The Roots in the soundtrack. Worth the watch in theaters, even though the theater atmosphere and big screen don't really add much to the movie.

Now I just need to see Wall-E and maybe Get Smart.

This summer has been filled with good movies so far...These two, Iron Man, Hulk wasn't too bad, I'm hoping Get Smart is good, Wall-E has gotten nothing but good reviews, and there's still more movies to come..Dark Knight, Hellboy 2, Righteous Kill Pineapple Express, Step Brothers and some more I can't think of :O

Music!..finally.

2008-06-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me.

Thanks to the one person who called me and the one person who texted me.

Finally some music..

Artist: Anthony David ft. India Arie
Song: Words
Genre: R&B

So I've been listening to this song for awhile now, and now that I have this blog, I can waste time making a post about it that no one will read. I really like Anthony David's voice, and I think the concept on this song is put together well, and him and India Arie work well together. Theres different interpretations about this video, bu the overall theme is the same: Actions speak louder than words. Basically what the chorus says. India Arie sounds great as usual. I think that India, Alicia Keys & Keyshia Cole have some of the strongest, purest and best sounding female voices in the R&B game right now.

Artist: Wale
Song: Dance
Genre: Hip-Hop

Another track thats been out for awhile. Wale is stirring up a big buzz lately, most recently with his mixtape, The Mixtape About Nothing . He remix's Justice's D.A.N.C.E track here, resulting in W.A.L.E. D.A.N.C.E. It's a good upbeat song, and Wale's got a fairly good flow and some good lines. The only issue I have with him, (which maybe be intended, hence making a mixtape with the name THe Mixtape About Nothing) is that at at times he isn't really talking about anything. He also uses the same flow structure for most of his songs, and has a fairly repetitive monotone style. But he's been called the next big thing by many news sites, blogs, and ?uestlove himself. If you liked that song and want to hear something more serious from him, check out Artistic Integrity, below (Which I probably should post and write about too.)

Out of no where unreleased Kanye & Lupe music has been popping up. I'll put it up later.

My sneakers more cleaner than yours.

2008-06-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Couldn't sleep last night..Didn't fall asleep til about 4:30AM, then had to wake up at 6:45 to work an 8-5PM. I ended up taking a nap at about 7PM tonight..hopefully that didn't mess up my sleeping schedule too much. :/

What boredom/attempts to get tired lead to at 3AM last night:

Forgot to change the ISO level so its pretty noisy :/

More pickups...

2008-06-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

bored and trying to fall asleep, so I'll post some more stuff I've gotten recently.

More posts with actual content in them coming soon..

And to whoever asked, anyone can post comments. You don't have to have an account to post.

Part II

2008-06-25T00:20:00.001-07:00

Found it on the bus.

Found things : Part I

2008-06-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

P.S. F U Alden.

Hello

2008-06-22T20:24:00.001-07:00

a couple things I happened to find on the streets..

Test

2008-06-22T01:58:00.001-07:00

Test ...a real post coming soon. :O