Shanetron.

Chanel Fall 2010The Caves, The White, The Blue, The Fur, The...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:18:18 -0500

Chanel Fall 2010

The Caves, The White, The Blue, The Fur, The Textures, The Color Palette, The Models.

It’s perfect.

As a boy, I can’t help but think of wampas, jedis and Hoth.

“Here’s some money, go see a Star War.”
-Lucille Bluth

According to last.fm, I have to quit listening to Cursive in a...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:06:23 -0500

According to last.fm, I have to quit listening to Cursive in a way that can be recorded

heheheheheheheeheheheehehe: - Tao Lin by Noah Kalina I...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:10:00 -0500

heheheheheheheeheheheehehe:

- Tao Lin by Noah Kalina

I really enjoy Tao Lin’s writing.

It first started with Shoplifting From American Apparel, Octoberish last year, with a single sitting upstairs at the Noble Tree, right around the time they started turning the heat on. This prompted me to buy Bed, but this time around I am not making the same mistake. Instead, I am reading them as slow as possible to merely savor it. It’s taken me since November to wander through three short stories, and I don’t regret this slow reading pattern.

Jay Electronica walking through New OrleansIt’s so mind...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:48:00 -0500

Jay Electronica walking through New Orleans

It’s so mind boggling to think that, in America, there is a whole section of an entire city displaced. It really paints the picture of Exhibit A, which is added at the end.

Sidenote: How cool is it that Jay lit a cigarette, took a drag, and gave it away to somebody in the audience? It wasn’t the first time either! He split a bottle of Jack with an audience during his recent outing in London.

Tron: Legacy trailer (03/09/10)I was initially only really...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:55:00 -0500

Tron: Legacy trailer (03/09/10)

I was initially only really excited for this film because Daft Punk is sound tracking it, but now that I know it’s going to be a campy Disney affair, set in the future, with Daft Punk soundtracking? Its only competition (thus far) is Toy Story 3.

One of the most amazing things about Biggie’s music was...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:22:00 -0500

One of the most amazing things about Biggie’s music was that it was incredibly versatile.

Take Juicy for example:

On Ready To Die, it was a feel good hit, a retrospective story from crime to hip hop, his big pop “get”. It was the least depressing song on the entire record (he ended his first record with the song Suicidal Thoughts, in which he ends up committing suicide on the record, after all). Back in 1996, it was pure magic.

Fast forward to 2002, five years after BIG’s death: Bad Boy fell off, Eminem had blown up, Nelly was relevant, and BIG’s Brooklyn alumni, Jay-Z had made “it”. Obviously, BIG was still missed, and he was remembered, especially by Jay-Z, but specifically on A Dream:

On A Dream, Jay-Z gave us an introspective look on the pain of missing his old friend. Biggie’s first verse from Juicy is sampled here and used in a way that greatly pays homage to the G.O.A.T., where Jay shows that he’s learned from BIG’s mistakes, and understands the pitfalls to a luxurious lifestyle. At this point, BIG went from sounding like a hit party record to a bone chilling prophecy, with the same verse.

In 2006, sampling hit the fan with Girl Talk. The thing about mash ups are that, sometimes they work very well, when both samples go together harmoniously, while most do not, and Girl Talk examples this on Smash Your Head:

In the beginning of the track, there are a lot of hard hitting, nearly dissonant sounds. Then, “it” happens. The great contrast that changes the meaning of the whole record. The Biggie sample (Juicy!) pops up, and then Tiny Dancer pops up, and it becomes a magical party record.

The same verse goes from being a feel good radio hit, to a chilling prophecy, to a party record. What other rapper has ever achieved that through remixes after death?

Rest In Peace Christopher WallaceHere are some old Bad Boy...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:02:00 -0500

Rest In Peace Christopher Wallace

Here are some old Bad Boy tapes. Expect more Biggie commentary later.

Bad Boy Vol I With DJ Clue
Bad Boy Vol II With DJ Doo Wop
Bad Boy Vol III With DJ Stretch Armstrong
Bad Boy Vol IV With DJ S&S

Lil Wayne is finally in jail.I was questioning my concern over...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:41:00 -0500

Lil Wayne is finally in jail.

I was questioning my concern over this rapper going to jail: why do I care so much? Why do I care if the rapper who said he’s in the “all black Maybach, I’m sitting in the asshole” is going to jail?

I have an answer, and it’s this:

Lil’ Wayne - Amen

This song is what officially set off my care for Lil’ Wayne. It gives off that feeling of running on empty, enduring too much, but wanting to go on. It was emotionally relatable for me at the time, and it clicked with me in an exact moment: I was in a car, getting emotional over the loss of a friend, as my mom called me the moment after Wayne rasped “And I don’t never wanna see her (my mother) mope for me”. It was realizing that Wayne shared the same thought I had that made me fall for his music and what he had to say.

“Real rap” indeed.

KiD CuDi - Pursuit of Happiness“I’ll be fine, once I...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:21:00 -0500

KiD CuDi - Pursuit of Happiness

“I’ll be fine, once I git it. I’ll be good”
-Keith Buckley

This video > that video, mainly because this video is way more conceptual, and this video doesn’t feature Drake’s pause worthy faces, and this video features MGMT and Ratatat.

Even if this is still a “stoner” (SIDENOTE: I get it CuDi, you like weed, and Snoop and Dr. Dre cosign, but I’m more interested in hearing about your sleep patterns/dream cycles and relationships with people after spending a lot of time “trying to make it”), it’s still way better conceptualized than the lavish slow-mo party, with the “i’m so high i’m having an out of body experience” end.

I’ve never been able to beat level 2-2 of Sonic the...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:55:00 -0500

I’ve never been able to beat level 2-2 of Sonic the Hedgehog. And now that I have it on my phone, I get to relive the infuriating experience everywhere!

It leaked.

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:34:00 -0500

It leaked.

I am so glad Reflection Eternal is coming back, because Talib...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:42:00 -0500

I am so glad Reflection Eternal is coming back, because Talib hasn’t sounded as good since.

RIP Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse)

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:30:00 -0500

News is swirling around that Mark Linkous has committed suicide.

His most recent project was Dark Night of the Soul with Dangermouse, but I got my introduction to him in the form of a b-side with Radiohead, a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. It’s a song i’ve been avoiding in recent years, but am respectfully giving it a few plays. Listen below.

"While you was blowing X amount of dollars on a bracelet, the sovereign nation of France was opening..."

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:40:00 -0500

“While you was blowing X amount of dollars on a bracelet, the sovereign nation of France was opening their files on the UFO phenomenon: I.E. spaceships. It’s just the facts, Jack. May as well face it: every rhyme I write will still get cracked in the chapter of Revelations, Adam will get cracked in the blackness of mediation. Mysterious shit: Call me Jay Dough-gone, I’m on some serious shit. Scholars wonder “Why do he bust?” The Lord blessed me with a Midas-y touch. Everything I laid to hands turned to Ethiopian gold, shiny and buff, I got a firm understanding on the minus and plus. So I ain’t got time to argue with a rapper about how he ain’t got rhymes that’s fucking with mines. I’m trying to kill Lucifer: so if I have to break because a rapper in my face telling me that he the great, you can bet a shiny nickel i’ll blast his motherfucking ass way past Jupiter. Couldn’t be stupider fucking with the Nuclear. Mayan, Aztec lion, Asiatic black man from Zion, Quetzalcoatl supreme, letting off steam. Dimethyltryptamine, make a man dream. But y’all would much rather hear me rapping about trash, the size of Erykah’s ass, blunts, and cash. We need saving, minds are consumed with swine, we need bathing…”

- Jay Electronica - FYI

There’s something about the way these words flow from Jay’s mouth over the major progression piano loop that make the world seem really light. Going through all of Eternal Sunshine is amazing. It’s beautiful, heartfelt and honest. You think “finally, someone is rhyming for the sole purpose of the art form, and not because they have to recoup label money”, and it’s fantastic. And then you get to 6:45, and then it’s just magic.

Yes, magic.

I seriously believe there are certain songs that are just magic, where certain words match up over certain melodies, and it makes you feel. There’s a part in the Bright Eyes song Four Winds that literally sends chills down my spine every time I hear it, and it’s magic. The FYI segment of Eternal Sunshine does something similar; it’s a comforting hug when no one’s around. There’s a mixture of humbleness and braggadocio in the words and the voice that feel almost parental here, like he’s hear for us, not to be confused with the y’all (those who want to hear about trash, the size of Erykah’s ass, blunts and cash), but us, his ~~fans~~ friends. I feel safe and well guarded when I’m listening to this verse, and it’s one of those things that make me hit the rewind button over and over and over.

azizisbored: Wow. Amazing work. Hard to beat the 1:04 mark in...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:32:00 -0500

azizisbored:

Wow. Amazing work. Hard to beat the 1:04 mark in this video.

wordsbycodi:

There will be a permanent smile on my face all day now.

purns:

davidcho:

Hurley Hugo Reyes - ‘Party In The USA’

This is a perfect example of the internet using its powers for good not evil.

via Vulture

Internet, you’re worth it.

I don’t even have to talk about how much this wrecks, just know that it does.

J-KWON IS MISSING

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:00:00 -0500

J-KWON IS MISSING:

chirpinhard:

I don’t usually care what Perez Hilton has to say but this is important.

“Rapper J-Kwon, probably most known for his 2004 single Tipsy, has reportedly been missing for almost a month.”

Hey, there’s a song I haven’t heard since I was 19.

Shinfo: I had a Korean classmate whose school email was jkwon. Because she was from Korea, I never got to make a Tipsy joke/reference.

I’ve been wanting to make beats just for fun in apropos to...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:37:00 -0500

I’ve been wanting to make beats just for fun in apropos to nothing for a smidgen (I’m sort of wrapping up an album… slowly). After seeing Darron Ball go in on some Sweetheart drums (which are fantastic, by the way), I knew I had to dip my toe in the water.

terrysdiary: Lil Wayne Weezy F. BabyThe F is for “Fuck...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:30:00 -0500

terrysdiary:

Lil Wayne

Weezy F. Baby

The F is for “Fuck Sobriety”. I can’t believe he’s going to jail today. I just hope Evil Empire can find a new way to make money.

Edit: maybe not today.

Daughters - The First Supper

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:41:00 -0500

Those guitar tones are far too magical + Alexis Marshall still has “it”.

azizisbored: (via jessenovak) This makes Jack way more...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:10:00 -0500

azizisbored:

(via jessenovak)

This makes Jack way more bearable.