http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 3 Feb 2004 15:15:43 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/03/151543.php MadisonJin, the Asian rapper who landed a record deal with Ruff Ryders while becoming a battle champion on 106th and Park just dropped a new video for his single "Learn Chinese." Oliver Wang posted his thoughts about the video on his weblog. And so begins the culture critiques that will mark Jin's career more than his musical talent.Oliver aka O-Dub doesn't mention whether the song is any good or not. "I do find the video fascinating," is the most we get. The rest is a break down of the socio-racial implications of what Jin chose to write and display in his first ever video. Yikes. I hope the kid has a degree in something because he's gonna need some learnin just to read his own album reviews!Here's a part of O-Dub's post that I find kinda funny: "That said, the video for "Learn Chinese" is rife with problems. One of the biggest and most obvious is Jin's gender politics - women figure in this video like they figure in most rap videos: sex objects desired for nothing more than their bodies." Rife with problems? When did sexy women in a club, happy-happy video become a problem? I think O-Dub, as an Asain hip-hopper himself is asking too much from the young kid. But I understand what's up. When Jin's album drops he'll become the resident hip-hop pundit that will represent the voice of all Asian rap fans out there. Who needs a quote from Oliver Wang or Jeff Chang when you got a Ruff Ryder ready to speak? I'm not saying O-Dub is jealous, but I certainly understand if he's scared. I'm a conservative leaning Black man who has to deal with the stupid things Stanley Crouch writes three times a week. Trust me, I understand.So even though O-Dub says Jin's video is "disappointing and generic" I think he needs to watch out for the same traps in his own reviews. (And I like his weblog, so don't beast.) Music12331@blogcritics.org Tue, 3 Feb 2004 15:15:43 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/10/11/175432.php Madison Every fad and trend needs good satire. And the popular 50 Cent has been ripe for a send-up for some time now. Enter Curtis Jackson's semitic doppelganger: 50 Shekel!This guy's website is hilarious. He jacks "In da Club" and re-makes it as "In da Shul." And his crew is called J-J-J-J-J-J-Jew Unit!He's appeared in the Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine. The Forward recently wrote this piece about his pre-history: 50 Shekel was working in Los Angeles as a production assistant when he first heard "In da Club." "They played it, like, 40 times.... so I asked myself, who is this 50 Cent?"Slowly the idea began percolating in his mind: A Jewish boy like him would not be spending his time in da club, he would be in da shul. So 50 Shekel did his own variation. Where 50 Cent raps: "Go shorty! It's your birthday!" Shek raps: "Go boychik! It's your birthday!"Ah...God bless the Jews.(by the way...I wonder if this hurts the image of other Jewish or White emcees?) Music9093@blogcritics.org Sat, 11 Oct 2003 17:54:32 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/31/165141.php MadisonYikes. Frank Leon Roberts carelessly writes an article in defense of Black gay men hiding their sexual status. The new word for these guys are "DL's" because they keep their homosexuality on the down low. Roberts explains: African American men who are on the D.L., "down-low," have sex with men unbeknownst to their girlfriends (if they have one) and families. They don't consider themselves gay, and they identify with hip-hop despite the music's homophobia. They've been a source of controversy in the black community. Ok, cool. Read on... The controversy swings from seeing the D.L. brother as the primary spreader of AIDS in the "mainstream" black community to an insistence that they "come out of the closet" so they can be "out and proud." But as the brother at the train station told me, he was out, but in a new kind of way. Moreover, he was going to get his groove on at the sex party, safely. Pause this for a second. Coming out on the "DL" is not really coming out at all. And it's definatley not proud. ...Behind these AIDS fears lies the heterosexist assumption that AIDS is born and bred in gay communities and then venomously spread outward. Much of the anti-D.L. rhetoric from the black media hides the painful fact that many straight black women and men are HIV-positive and spread the disease among themselves, without any help from "evil" gay black men. "Heterosexist assumption"? Negro please. CNN reported how Black male gays, bisexuals hit hard by HIV. The article cites a study that says gay Black men are "five times more likely to become HIV-infected than their white counterparts" and the CDC's Dr. Helene Gayle says, "Young gay and bisexual men are at the highest risk for HIV in this country." The AIDS epidemic amongst them (and us in general) needs more light to be shed on it, not more secrecy. Roberts continues... D.L. brothers are often no more insecure about their sexuality than anyone else. They've just embraced a low-key, mellow style that lets them admit to same-sex desires without necessarily coming out in the traditional sense. They "come out" as D.L. This guy must be really grappling with the shame of his own sexuality. Why would he condone being ashamed of yourself and living a lie? Being gay in the hip-hop community is difficult and even dangerous, yes. But homo-thugs or DL's or whatever they're calling themselves now are not just hiding it from their girlfriends and wives (which is not fair to these women) but also their doctors. They aren't getting the targeted health care advice and treatment as their gay, White, and proud counterparts. And this is dangerous for everyone involved. Culture7361@blogcritics.org Thu, 31 Jul 2003 16:51:41 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/21/120023.php Madison"Bucket" is a hip-hop word used in New York to describe an oversized fitted cap that's worn as low over the eyes as possible. Joe Budden, who's pictured above is a good example of someone who always rocks his "bucket" low. On Jay-Z's "Blueprint" album he opens the song All I Need with the words: "My gear is right... (check) My bucket is low... (check) My Rocawear is fittin' incredible..." Also on the Diplomats album "Diplomatic Immunity" Cam'ron says on the song I Really Mean It: "Hey yo lock my garage, rock my massage F*** it, bucket by Osh Kosh Bgosh Golly I'm gully, look at his galoshes" I explained the meaning of "bucket" to Jon a few weeks ago and he immediately added it to his own slang. Culture7107@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Jul 2003 12:00:23 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/14/131457.php Madison MTV reports that Rakim says his album will drop soon. "Me and Dre, we about to do full-steam on it, [and] hopefully we should have a single out towards the end of the summer and the album will follow shortly after that," Rakim said two weeks ago at the BET Awards. "We finally got everything on track like we wanted."Rakim has logged 16 songs with the producer and hopes to finish seven more This project is three years old which shouldn't be considered that long. The hip-hop audience has been spoiled with the DMX's and the Jay-z's dropping a complete album every year. My advice to Ra- take your time and craft a classic. The older heads will appreciate it. Music6936@blogcritics.org Mon, 14 Jul 2003 13:14:57 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/09/134743.php MadisonEven though the media focuses on the violence in rap, any true school historian will tell you that hip-hop was formed as a way to ease gang violence and create unity amongst Black and Latinos in New York. It seems that our music/culture is doing the same in Isreal for the Isreali and Palenstinian youth. Props to Rolling Stone and Loolwa Khazzoom for reporting that "Hip-hop Thrives in Israel "...Israeli hip-hop cuts across lines of ethnicity not only between Arabs and Jews, but within the Jewish community itself -- featuring artists from Ethiopian, Mizrahi (Middle Eastern/North African), Sephardic (Spanish-Portuguese and Latin), and Ashkenazi (Central/Eastern European) backgrounds. And though Israeli rappers are overwhelmingly male, young women are beginning to take center stage, such as MC Shiri, who performed at the event."It's very exciting to see female rappers," gushes sixteen-year-old Alma Ne'eman, who attended the concert with her gal pals. "It really got us going to see MC Shiri up on stage."Among artists performing were three Arab hip-hop groups, MWR (standing for Mahmoud, Waseem and Richard), Dam and Tammer, who sang in a mix of Hebrew and Arabic. "We talk about our problems," Mahmoud says of MWR's message. "As Israeli Arabs, we get it from all sides. To Arabs outside Israel, we're traitors. To Israeli Jews, we're dangerous Arabs. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Everyone hates us."Hip-hop concerts, these artists feel, provide a place where they can be recognized for who they are. "When we come, and the audience sees artists standing before them," Richard says, "they see the positive side of being Arabs.""Hip-hop is a great tool for building bridges between Jews and Arabs," agree Gabby Baruch and Shani Alder, two young women who attended the concert. "We hear each other's music and message, and we feel closer to each other." ... Politics6837@blogcritics.org Wed, 9 Jul 2003 13:47:43 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/25/162130.php MadisonThis movie may actually turn out really well. The details are sketchy so far but MTV reports: There were some cool battle scenes and a couple of exciting fights in Eminem's "8 Mile," but only one dude got shot and that idiot shot himself. The upcoming 50 Cent movie, by comparison, should be far more pulse-pounding. After all, 50 has been shot nine times, and that averages out to about once every 12 minutes of the movie.Obviously staring death in the eye is no laughing matter and so appropriately, 50's camp has commissioned a real gangster expert to tell the tale.The film is being developed with "The Sopranos" writer Terry Winter, according to a spokesperson for the 26-year-old rapper, and will chronicle 50 Cent's life from his impoverished upbringing in Queens, New York, to his emergence as an international rap superstar. The movie will likely include scenes about the death of his mom when he was just 8, his introduction to crack dealing at age 12, his years as a thug and his foray into hip-hop.50 decided he wanted to create a biopic after the rampant success of "8 Mile," which made $116 million at the box office and earned Eminem a top-charting soundtrack and a Grammy for the song "Lose Yourself." There is no title yet for the 50 Cent movie and neither representatives for the rapper nor the writer would speculate on when production will begin. Music6505@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Jun 2003 16:21:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/25/123051.php MadisonHey! Something Em did that's actually funny! Peep:EMINEM'S JOKE ON JACKSONThe world's top-selling rapper delighted fans yesterday when he emerged on the balcony of his hotel suite in Glasgow, Scotland, holding a blond-haired baby doll over the balcony wall and gleefully tossing it into the air. Then, catching the lifelike infant by the head, Eminem, wearing a Jacko-like surgical mask, dramatically pumped his fist in the air and retreated back into his room with doll in tow. It was a sick but funny parody of the Gloved One's bizarre appearance on a Berlin hotel balcony in November, when he dangled infant son Prince Michael II over the edge as horrified fans watched from below. Eminem's Jacko joke came before playing a show in Glasgow during his European tour. Music6492@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Jun 2003 12:30:51 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/02/104128.php MadisonI wanted this Bible since the first time I saw it at my local bookstore. It has a metal cover that surrounds the entire book, and has a cross etched on the front of it. It looks good but is also useful to a person like me who drags his Bible everywhere until it comes apart at the seams. It protects better than the leather bound versions, yet costs less. The only drawback for me is that it only comes in the New Living Translation and I'm more used to reading the New International Translation. Hopefully there will be other versions made later. Books5808@blogcritics.org Mon, 2 Jun 2003 10:41:28 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/05/21/120517.php MadisonIt seems that only other Black people have noticed (and appreciated) how the Matrix Reloaded sports a cast that is mostly people of color. Jay of hiphopmusic.com points out that "there are an astonishing number of people of color, for a sci-fi movie." CalendarLive.com noted, "People of color outnumber whites in the world's population" so it only makes sense that "In the city of Zion, most citizens are people of color and many of the movie's leading actors are black (Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Harry Lennix, Harold Perrineau Jr. and the late Gloria Foster.)" In that article they interview Cornel West, the famous Black intellectual who counts the Wachowski brothers as fans of his work asked him to make a cameo in the film. West further explains that the great thing about the multiracial casting that "It's not just the representation in numbers but the humanity displayed." For myself it was refreshing to see Black actors cast in roles that were not necessarily tailored as a Black character. The film falls short of reversing the taboo of Black sexuality that is deeply ingrained in Hollywood. This is strange since Cornel West has been the foremost critic of this form of racism, especially in his book "Race Matters." West himself has condemned the movie industry for setting a sexual double standard- while Whites are able to have sex scenes in movies that are loving, Black sex has an air of pornography. The Wachowski brothers wrote a beautiful love scene for Neo and Trinity yet in contrast to that, when Link (the ship operator) came home he coarsely greeted his wife with "Where's my (explicitive)!" Of course this wasn't written like that on purpose, but if the taboos West have written about truly are as persistent as he claims, it will take a deliberate effort to correct it.So, with the concern of diversity let's appreciate and praise the Matrix series for what it has done and hope that other movies follow suit and go even further. Video5488@blogcritics.org Wed, 21 May 2003 12:05:17 EDT