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 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:22:24 EDT 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/2006/07/26/002224.php T-SquareFar more entertaining than Snakes On A Plane...TV star Mo'Nique calls it racism; United Airlines calls it a disgruntled passenger. Either way, according to a report in the New York Daily News, Mo'Nique was escorted off her flight from Chicago to New York on Sunday after a verbal confrontation with flight attendants over a hair dryer.Mo'Nique and her stylist were traveling to New York when the stylist placed the hair dryer in an overhead in first class, where Mo'Nique was sitting, according to the actress. The stylist returned to her seat in coach.The flight attendants refused to believe that the hair dryer belonged to Mo'Nique."Tell your people that the next time they have an attitude, they are being thrown off... Since 9/11, we don't play around," Mo'Nique alleged one flight attendant said."Are you equating my hair dryer with 9/11?" Mo'Nique said she retorted in the News article.The exchange ended in Mo'Nique being escorted back to O'Hare Airport, and a United supervisor calling local police to complain of a "disgruntled and belligerent passenger."Mo'Nique was not arrested or detained and another United agent booked her and her crew on the next flight to New York where the actress taped two episodes of The View as a guest host.The actress told her story on WBLS' The Steve Harvey Morning Show, as well as to the New York Daily News.Mo'Nique is trying to rally support for a boycott of United. Culture50763@blogcritics.org Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:22:24 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/26/221131.php T-SquareIt's pretty much just a "Meh" for me. It's more dancey/lovey than it is "I got shot nine times."Many critics are saying that 50 has gotten soft...I might tend to agree. "The Massacre" is a good collection of songs, lots of danceable tunes and all, but not what I was really expecting. I actually had hoped that the radio play I was hearing was the extent of the softer stuff. But nope, it was just the beginning.The thing that really hit me was that the stuff I was hearing on the radio was not any different from the CD version. Meaning there wasn't much that was editied out for radio, cause it just wasn't there to begin with.The dis track "Piggy Bank" wasn't that much of a dis really. If that is as hard as you can come at them...just stop. Hell, you spit more hatred toward The Game during y'alls week-long family rap war.Overall, its just a middle of the ground CD for me. Nothing spectacular. I like the fact that there are some tracks I can dance to, but the overall standing of "The Massacre" is just so-so. Music27320@blogcritics.org Sat, 26 Mar 2005 22:11:31 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/24/200918.php T-SquareWhat in the world is going on with our kids??? The following all occured in the past week, heck few days really:School shooter kills 9 Bemidji, Minn. - A high school student went on a shooting rampage on an Indian reservation Monday, killing his grandparents at their home and then seven people at his school, grinning and waving as he fired, authorities and witnesses said. The suspect apparently killed himself after exchanging gunfire with police.It was the nation's worst school shooting since the Columbine High School massacre in Jefferson County in 1999, when 15 died, including the two gunmen.Teen's kill list: Start with mom White Lake Township, Mich. - His mother's name was at the top of his kill list.After that, he named students, teachers, administrators and two police officers. A 10th name was scratched out. It didn't stop there: He had another list he labeled "maybe," and it had four classmates on it -- three boys and one girl.School "kill list" was a hoax (this one was at my little brothers school and the school we had discussed switching my oldest son to) Aurora, Colo. - A 13-year-old African-American boy who was trying to "fit in" confessed to a hoax that prompted parents to pull their kids out of Laredo Middle School on Wednesday, officials said.The boy, a Laredo seventh-grader, created two "kill lists," discovered Tuesday, that included a racial slur and threatened harm to roughly a dozen black students, police said. The suspect included his own name, said Kathleen Walsh, spokeswoman for Aurora police.WTF???? What are we doing wrong as parents? As a community? As a society?What happened to the cry, "It takes a village to raise a child?" Are these kids missing some sort of love or nurturing? Are the parental figures missing tell-tale signs? Or will we just never be able to see this type of thing coming?I don't have the answers, I have far more questions than I can type right now. But I want to know, need to know, what are the schools doing to protect my kids from this? What is my community doing to protect my kids?More importantly, what am I going to do protect my kids? I can't shield them from the harsh realities of life forever, but I can do something to try to at least alleviate some of the fears that I have and my kids have.Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Help me out here...I will take all the help I can get on this one. Culture27236@blogcritics.org Thu, 24 Mar 2005 20:09:18 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/01/18/043057.php T-SquareIf you believe everything you read then The Game is the best thing to come out of Cali since Snoop Dogg hit the scene.With his new release, The Documentary, its time for all the hype to stop and for the real deal to show up.The Documentary just may be the kick in the ass that the West Coast rap scene needs. The Game is a former gangbanger, he has been shot, he has the dark past that every rapper needs...but he has something else. He has the lyrics and the flow to bring about the resurrection of story telling.The Game is spitting lyrics about his past, but it ain't just a laundry list of who shot who, bitches he bagged...naw, he tells stories. He pulls you into what he went through. He makes you feel the moment.The track about the birth of his son, Harlem, is not your typical macho bullshit. He actually tells you from the heart how he felt. Running for the camcorder, cutting the cord...that ain't gansta, that's real.My initial reaction to this CD was lukewarm...but sometimes you need to take a second listen, in a different atmosphere to really hear something. For me it was in my car...I turned the volume up and just drove and listened. I listened to the music, I listened to the words, I listened to the story.Dr. Dre just may have done it again...only time will tell, but if hype lives up to reality then The Game has just begun.Read more of my reviews at my site In Over My Head Music24358@blogcritics.org Tue, 18 Jan 2005 04:30:57 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/01/08/215300.php T-SquareThis sure as hell ain't the De La I remember. Now I will go on record here as saying I wasn't really a huge De La Soul fan back in the day, but I know "3 Feet High and Rising" didn't sound anything like this."The Grind Date" has a whole new flava, a whole new edge to it that made me have to stop and think about what I was listenting to. I really liked the whole CD.No real super star production, just a conglomeration of underground producers bringing beats that De La can work their lyrical prowess over.In the midst of a bunch of mediocre mainstream crap "The Grind Date" is a refreshing trip through Hip-Hop...making me want to listen to this CD over and over again.Lyrics with meaning, orignal beats...in this day and age I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by these basic feats of simplicity."The Grind Date" has been on numerous Top 2004 list running around the 'Net...and without question it truly belongs on each and every one of them.If you haven't copped this yet...what are you waiting for???Read more of my reviews at my site In Over My Head Music24042@blogcritics.org Sat, 8 Jan 2005 21:53:00 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/01/04/050129.php T-SquareDamn...why is it that an artist will put out a kick ass CD and from then on out never really hits that mark again?Ludacris' newest release The Red Light District is OK, just not up to the level of what I expect (think "Back For The First Time" and "Word of Mouf").There are, for sure, more than a few club bangers on the CD, but I just am not getting the feeling that Luda is into this. There's a little dissing going on (Chingy knows he got called out), but other than that it's really just the beats that get you.And these beats - all this stuff is starting to sound the same. Good beats, danceable beats, great beats for that Saturday night party ... but they all sound the same.Ok, so now that my rant on beats is over, as short as it was, let's get back to The Red Light District...The first single from the CD, "Get Back", is pretty good. I like the video, I like the premise. Many times I feel like telling folks to "Get Back." I can dance to it, something that T-Square does not do very often. I like it!The CD has some good tracks, but nothing great and nothing that is gonna make The Red Light District memorable outside of possibly being Luda's last release on Def Jam.It seems like lately a lot of the actual good rappers are getting lazy. Me thinks some may have forgotten how it was to be on the grind to get that first hit, how hard they had to work and what level of commitment they had to put out.I like Luda a lot, I like The Red Light District a little, but that is about as far as I would go with it...Read more of T-Square's rantings at In Over My Head Music23888@blogcritics.org Tue, 4 Jan 2005 05:01:29 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/23/205419.php T-SquareNews has it that rapper DMX suffers from Bi-Polar Disorder...which really does explain his erratic behavior. Is the hip-hop community ready to deal with this? Is it too much to ask these "hardcore gangstas" to deal with mental illness?Now, BPD does not make X crazy, hell way more folks suffer from it than you would imagine (someone recently suggested that yours truly should be checked out), but is it like the dirty little secret of hip-hop?About 63% of African Americans believe depression is a sign of weakness and almost 2/3 believe that the condition can be healed through prayer and faith. But self help for a severely mentally ill person is very unlikely. Unfortunately this is compounded by the fact that many minorities are without health insurance. Dr.Wiliam Lawson of Howard University says "Either we're in such bad shape that we're all depressed or we're so resilient that we're not depressed. The symptoms look the same regardless of culture, so it goes under diagnosed. Too many people believe it's not a disease and that its a character flaw." Will the other rappers embrace X and try to help him or are we destined to hear wack ass rap after wack ass rap dogging him out for being crazy? Music23589@blogcritics.org Thu, 23 Dec 2004 20:54:19 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/01/220842.php T-SquareIs this the best Trick Daddy CD ever?It just might be...I for sure haven't dropped this one from the rotation in my changer since I got it.Its got your "crunk", its got your "miami bass", its got your flowing lyrics...it got me moving!Trick Daddy teamed up with hot producer Lil' Jon on the huge crossover hit "Let's Go" to get things going . The sampling of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" just pushes this song to a new level for me. I LOVE it...probably because I love "Crazy Train" too.But that is just the surface, that is just the song to get you to pick up the CD...its damn near every other track on the CD that makes it worth buying.I was surprised by the coupla tracks on the disc that were, shall we say, inspirational. "I Wanna Sing" and "The Children's Song" seriously made me just stop and say "Wow". A T.H.U.G. gets it and expresses it...nice. "Sugar (Gimme Some)" and "F**kin' Around" really stood out for me as well.This CD is chock full of guest appearances: Ludacris, T.I. , Cee-Lo, Trina, Ying Yang Twinz...the list just goes on and on. But rest assured, Trick Daddy stands out on this one.I was never all that into Trick Daddy, I mean I liked the radio play hits, but never really went much further than that...so you can color me pleasantly surprised and quite happy that this CD is as good as it is.And no review of "Thug Matrimony" would be complete without a few words about the phone call skit between Kiki and Grandma...I nearly had a fender bender cause I was laughing so hard when this came on in the car..."Like wet dough...won't sell nowhere"...not one for the kiddies, dirty adult humor ;)Check out my site and more of my reviews at In Over My Head Music22814@blogcritics.org Wed, 1 Dec 2004 22:08:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/11/13/220747.php T-SquareDAMN!!!Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, one of the founding members of Wu-Tang Clan, collasped and died in a Manhattan recording studio.O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing.He was 35-years-young.Just when the Wu was getting back on track...tragedy strikes.Just damn... Music22211@blogcritics.org Sat, 13 Nov 2004 22:07:47 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/11/09/131353.php T-SquareWho said Crunk just hit the scene? It may have become the mainstream thing of now, but its been around for many years...even before Lil' John could be heard on every radio station in the country...OH KAY?TVT Presents Crunk Classics takes you on a journey through the hip hop South complete with the hard hitting bass lines to lead the way.It's all there, from Three 6 Mafia's "Tear Da Club Up '97" to Pastor Troy's "No Mo Play In Ga" to UGK's "Pocket Full Of Stones". And of course you can't forget Lil' John and the Eastside Boys with their huge crossover hit "Get Low"...from the windows to the walls...WHAT?The CD displays the uniqueness that is crunk...from the Miami Bass sound to the Atlanta underground the beats flow right into the Pimp Cup.My two favorite crunk tunes found their way to the CD, JT Money's "Who Dat" and Archie Eversole's "We Ready".The only thing that seemed totally out of place was Petey Pablo's "Raise Up". Not that its not "crunk enough" or not a great song...it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the tracks.Check out more reviews at my site In Over My Head Music22040@blogcritics.org Tue, 9 Nov 2004 13:13:53 EST