#Love and Hip Hop Baltimore

[tha-wrecka-stow]

[awkwardtaco056]

I really love the versatility of this meme

(1996 VIII) (RotBB Vol 2) (Dark Oldschool Hip Hop) (Rare & Classic Tracks)

[randomvarious]

DJ Spen - "Craze at Midnight" Montreal Mix Sessions Vol. 4 by Lafleche Song released in 1999. Mix released in 2000. House

Here's a somewhat overlooked house banger from the one and only DJ Spen, a music legend from the city of Baltimore who's been at this shit for over 40 years and continues to rack up accolades and high placements on Billboard's dance chart while running his own super prolific record label, Quantize Recordings.

Before we get into 1999's "Craze at Midnight," though, let's try to trace the path that led Spen there, because it really is a little bit nuts…

Spen's career began in the mid-80s as a teenaged DJ in a now somewhat fabled hip hop crew called Numarx, who not only had Spen as one of their members, but also had future president of Def Jam Records, Kevin Liles, too. Numarx had a hardcore edge to them, and when acts like LL Cool J and Run-D.M.C. would swing by the Charm City to perform, these guys would be one of the acts who would open.

But despite presenting themselves as tough hip hoppers, the song that would inevitably end up bringing them the most success was their considerably softer "Girl You Know It's True." And yes, it's the very same one that Milli Vanilli would make world-famous in 1988, eventually ensnaring themselves into a very big lip-syncing scandal when it was revealed that the guys who were 'performing' their songs weren't actually the ones who were responsible for singing the words 😨. Numarx's original version of the tune did not fare well at home, but where it did prove popular was in Germany, which is where it's believed that Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian had first heard it and then hatched the idea that his group should make their own version of it too.

So that's one crazy piece of info about Spen. Another one is that in 1989, he was drawn away from hip hop towards dance music and ended up joining renowned Baltimore production and remix team The Basement Boys, who worked on tracks for people like Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, Erykah Badu, Ultra Naté, and Crystal Waters, including producing Waters' own biggest hit, the terrifically catchy early 90s club classic, "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)." Not entirely sure that Spen had much to do with that tune specifically, though, as a little 1991 Baltimore Sun profile of the Basement Boys and that song in particular doesn't seem to mention his name at all 🤷‍♂️.

But while remaining a Basement Boy up until 2004, Spen would also launch his own solo career as a producer too. 1995 would see him debut with a 12-inch on Basement Boys Records called "A Feelin'," which presented his gospel-house group, Jasper Street Company. More Jasper Street 12-inches would then follow, but in '99, he would drop his own Disco Dreams Volume 2 without them, on a London-based label called Black Vinyl Records.

And it's on this 12-inch that you'll find Spen's "Craze at Midnight," a terrific instrumental house jam with, really, none of that gospel or soulful flair that would largely end up defining his long career as a dance music producer and remixer. And according to Discogs, this gem only appeared on a small handful of commercial mixes at around the time of its release, including one by Montréal native Lafleche, as part of his Montreal Mix Sessions Vol. 4 on Tiga's Turbo Recordings in 2000.

So, with a small looped-up bit that's been lifted from the very song that lends its own name to this one—1977's "At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)" by Rufus & Chaka Khan—Spen manages to go effectively wild all over his beat with some very extensive and unpredictably rubbery, nylon-squeaky, and wigged-out synthesizer pizzazz. And while all this keyboard virtuosity is already enough to blissfully journey with, Spen still holds his final card close to the vest, until he builds up enough anticipation for something else to finally drop. And you get the sense that it's gonna be a new and ecstatic wrinkle that continues on this same topsy-turvy path of synthy goodness—because he hasn't used anything else yet—but you actually couldn't be more wrong, because what he chooses to unleash instead is a perfectly placed melody of swingin' jazz horns. Surprise! 📯📯📯

So Spen may have co-written "Girl You Know It's True;" he may have co-crafted some fire remixes and beats for some of the world's biggest pop and R&B stars; his record label may be a fixture of the Billboard dance chart and gotten a Grammy nom too; but in my book, one tune of his that hasn't received anywhere near enough of its deserved shine is this extremely fun and enjoyable turn-of-the-millennium knockout. Given what an entity this guy had already proven himself as, it's a wonder that "Craze at Midnight" didn't end up dotting all those big and ephemeral commercial house mixes with the illustrations or photos of sexy girls on their covers, because damn it, it should have!

And what's more is that with this version of it from Lafleche's Montreal Mix Sessions release, you also get to hear it playing alongside The Hydraulic Dogs' "Shake It for Me," another great house track that I've posted about in the past, which samples some of the Roger Troutman vocoder lines from 2Pac's own "California Love" 😍.

[moonspower]

8.  while there’s often a correlation between what a muse’s personal  &  inspired playlists look like,  what is your muse’ preferred genre of music?  what songs are playing if someone asks?   (think about the time you’re writing your character in). 

✨ @starfoam. meme. still accepting!

between vi's personal taste and the inspired playlists i make for him, it's a lot of just niche. for playlists i make for vi like when i write / his pinned posts you'll find: miami / atlanta bass, jersey / baltimore club, breakbeat, jungle, liquid dnb, trip hop, dream trance, lofi house. on older playlists when he was younger you'd find city pop, jazz fusion, jazzhop, picopop, shibuya kei, deconstructed pop, nu disco, dreampop, chillwave, yacht rock but not really yacht rock i don't even know how to explain it.

as for virote, he's a 90s and 2000s kids thru and thru... he's also a former mall goth lol. and while he likes his pop and hip hop and rnb, he rly used to listen to nu-metal, visual kei, heavy metal, groove metal, industrial, and shamefully he loved him some rap rock like limp bizkit... but then his taste in that area evolved to that 80s goth, synthwave / darkwave type shit, witch house, new romantic, ebm.

✨ SONGS VIROTE WOULD LISTEN TO / BROODY, DEPRESSED SMOKING ALONE IN HIS ROOM EDITION:

male tears / ❝hit me.❞

tears for fears / ❝pale shelter.❞

deftones / ❝sextape.❞

aural vampire / ❝leader of the flowers.❞

care / ❝whatever possessed you.❞

i mean he listens to a lot of things especially since he's a dancer skilled in a handful of disciplines, but his heart crawls back to the truth sometimes...

anyway, he will never be interested in arguing if deftones is nu-metal or not because he's not ready to get stabbed in the kidneys.

🌙 SONGS I WRITE VIROTE TO / WHAT THE FUCK WE GOTTA GO VOGUING AT THE CLUB, MISS THING:

le sserafim / ❝eve, psyche & the bluebeard’s wife.❞

coastdream / ❝soft moon.❞

lsdxoxo / ❝mutant exotic.❞

tinashe / ❝talk to me nice.❞

bebe yana / ❝vision getting blurred.❞

but also i'll write to any genre depending on the thread, the muse i'm writing against, and where my writing style is leaning. and you never know what i'm doing at that point. i might be listening to seapunk or i might be listening to 70s soul. like this blog is just a harmonic mashup of the coolest shit ever made tbh. subcultures on subcultures.

[henryrodhamkissinger]

I rarely remember to listen to them anymore…Ponytail was the soundtrack to my life. Every punky/artistically inclined kid in Baltimore in the late aughts knew, Ponytail’s playing, it is going to be a religious experience. It was for all of us. Dan too, of course—Dan Deacon shows before he was enormously famous were participatory, everyone in a big circle. Those were early days of Future Islands too, with their rough hewn bursts of pathos and heart. It was church, Wham City stuff in that era, Whartscape was a hajj. 2008 Whartscape was my entree into this city as a whole, and, I was 17, grew up rural didn’t have much experience with live music — I didn’t know what it was going to be, but what it was was pure ecstasy, pure joy and community and sweat and love. In a big parking lot. Ponytail, for us, was the true revelation. Five foot tall little femme person yelping and bouncing around with this triumphant, insanely energetic, bright, candied music, with Dustin Wong’s extraordinary unsurpassed guitar. There just was something utterly distinctly Baltimore to the scene. One day in the not too distant future, I think, I will go and live elsewhere, but it’s too easy to forget that Baltimore still has such a verdant and enthusiastic scene of weirdos making what they love with expressive abandon.

And that as much in hip hop as in rock today. Baltimore’s not known as a big hip hop city, we are not “on the map.” Well, we have our trap legends and our classic ‘gangsta’ stuff (embarrassing phrase to use but idk what else to call the subgenre.) But there’s a fertile and ever-blossoming cast of amazing artists in the hip-hop and r + b scene and it is something of a new and very cool development that a lot of the hard line between the indie rock/punk world (predominantly white ofc) and the world of contemporary Black music in Baltimore (a largely Black city, ofc) is chipping away. Besides the obvious JPEGMAFIA, I’ll name a few favorite inventive and unique and great folks in that scene in no order: Infinity Knives, 3SIDEGOOF, Jaywan, Brian Ennals, Kotic Couture, 3LON, Fonlon, Vlaad, Alienood, Zen Xaria, DZI…some of whom I’m glad to call minor homies. All of whom you should check out if you like good music. As in the wham city scene and the post-wham city scene of incredible indie and experimental rock/pop, Baltimore hip-hop is exploratory, unafraid to be weird as hell. It’s a brutal city, it can be painful to live in, and the artists here (not just in music ofc) are committed to creativity in its sharpest form, both deeply personal and expressive + socially and community grounded. Situationist International in the 60s had that saying, “Sous les pavés, la plage!” If the half-decimated, ghettoized city with its wrenching imposed poverty and attendant criminal economy is les paves (the cobblestones), underneath (sous), in the arts scene, is “the beach” (la plage). That analogy makes sense in my head but it’s okay if it doesn’t in yours, it is almost certainly my fault, haha.

Love this city. I don’t go out the frequency I used to — I’m changing that piecemeal — but Baltimore is always with me regardless where I’m at.

(For a beautiful, impassioned and harrowing analysis of Baltimore, check out David Harvey, the Marxist political theorist who spent his career here at Hopkins, in “Spaces of Hope.”)

[theeclecticmind]

Cardi  and Joseline Walked So Chrisean Could Run..

I am convinced Chrisean Rock also known as Chrisean Malone is our latest social media darling only because of the work Cardi B and Joseline Hernandez put in before her..

Well what exactly does this mean? This means Chrisean has become a part of the pop culture zeitgeist because we now have acquired a taste for a certain type of Pygmalion girl next door, with a twist.

When Cardi B first became popular on social media it was due to her outlandish and wild video clips giving her take on the hustle lifestyle and her ambitions to become a rapper. We saw Cardi go from walking down the street in the Bronx in a bikini top chatting with locals to strolling along the hottest red carpets. Cardi represents the everyday young woman who may not have the most articulate speech, may have a checked history, and may even steal your man; but at the end of the day she’s authentic and has a certain je ne sais quoi. The artistry of Cardi B is something that cannot be denied. And if she is not your cup of tea musically, her fashion sense is a whole other topic.

We should also look at the role the one and only Puerto Rican Princess, Joseline Hernandez has had on our appetite for a new “it girl”. Like Cardi, Joseline started out in the strip clubs before making her way to Vh1′s Love and Hip Hop franchise. On this series, we got front row seats to bear witness to her dysfunctional romantic relationship with music producer Stevie Jordan as well as her three way tryst with the mother of one of Stevie’s children, Mimi Faust. This relationship off and on, and all the domestic disturbances became a plot line for the series as well as our introduction to Joseline as a notable figure.

Since Love and Hip Hop, Joseline has continued to pursue her budding music career and has had several songs go viral including “Vegas" (I Wanna Ride), and “Live Your Best Life (Do it Like Its Yo Bday)”. Both of these songs went viral on Tik Tok and pushed Joseline into the stratosphere of internet celebrity. Joseline has also parted ways with Stevie J and found calmer waters with a new partner.

And right behind Cardi and Joseline, comes Chrisean Malone, a Baltimore, Maryland native with the makings of our latest internet celebrity. We first came to see Chrisean catapult to fame when she made an appearance on Fox’s Ultimate Tag show where she won a cool $10,000 thanks to her athletic prowess. Malone went on to appear on Blueface’s “Blue Girls Club” where she initially made contact with Blueface. And now two years and 7 tattoos later, Chrisean and Blueface appear on the Zeus Network’s Crazy In Love show which documents their rocky relationship.

The latest drama with Chrisean and Blueface revolves on her pregnancy and recent realization that Blue is not all the he is cracked up to be. Musing to her audience via Instragram Live, Chrisean has reflected on how the sobriety she has found in her early pregnancy  has given her perspective on the poor treatment she has received from her partner Blue.

Personally, I am cheering for Chrisean. I love to see her become more introspective and even if she does not follow through with the pregnancy I think the perspective she has gained is invaluable. She just needs to get away and stay away from Blue! I truly believe if we did not have Cardi and Joseline splashing their romantic drama and brash personalities onto the culture, we wouldn’t have the same affinity for Chrisean as we do now. I can’t say that everyone is a fan of her, but you have to admit you can’t stop watching her.

[voskhozhdeniye]

The area where I live is interesting. All of the local radio stations are country music stations, and I can pick up hip-hop and r&b from DC and Baltimore.

I went to school with and still currently work with white people who still use the old "rap music is crap with a silent c" bullshit.

They use it to try to piss me off. It does, but not for the reason they think it does. They're just showing me how limited their music taste, and usually how narrow their worldview is.

They assume because I'm black, and black people do this too, that I'm super into and knowledgeable about rap. I am to a degree, but the alter of toxic masculinity and materialism rap worships turned me away almost two decades ago, and it's been a complicated relationship.

It started with 50 Cent's "Window Shopper" and morphed from there.

Years ago, like in my teens, I made a checklist of things to listen for in rap songs. Money, cars, sex, clothes, hoes, all the fucking clichés.

In my early twenties, I got to hear a lot of contemporary country music at work. My father loves old classic country songs, but I noticed something with the post Toby Keith country. I eventually made a country music checklist too.

Pickup trucks, good times, wally world(Wal-Mart), I'm not like those other girls, beer, simple life, etc.

I'm not even getting into the nationalism.

The thing I find fascinating is that mainstream rap is all about flaunting how much money and power you have. Meanwhile, mainstream country is about flaunting how simple and down to earth you are.

I view them as different sides of the same coin, but love how much they truly piss off the people of races they're not "meant" for.

White people hated Old Town Road, that "wasn't country," but the amount of "country" music I'm hearing now with fucking trap beats disagrees.

They just hated it because it was Black.

It is both fascinating and terrifying, interesting and depressing.

It really bothers me how literally black and white it is.

And don't get me started on the white people who think they're black and approach me as such.

That's an entirely different hell.

[thecrownbaltimore]

January 20th, 2023 9:30pm 21+ | $10 | The Crown Welcome to 𝔇𝔲𝔠𝔨𝔶'𝔰 𝔇𝔲𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔬𝔫. Baltimore Club music is Legend. And if you've been around it long enough, you'll remember the Takeova Entertainment parties of our fondest memories of the mid-to-late 2000s... The Dox. The Belvedere. Club One. Ruhl Armory. 5th Regiment Armory. Club Krush. Bleu Room. I could go on... This month's 𝔇𝔲𝔠𝔨𝔶'𝔰 𝔇𝔲𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔬𝔫 is channeling all of that energy BECAUSE WE LOVE IT and we're kicking off 2023 paying homage to one of the most successful Baltimore Club promotion groups we've had. Music (hip hop/rap/CLUB) by  @duckydynamo & Takeova Entertainment's "The Club Prince" @clubprince DJ Kali Hosted by @iamthelegendarybuckshot Vending by: @Vibra.Supply (at The Crown) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnpCaq6Oa4i/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[azlovesem]

Shes got great music. But it aint hate to say some of her dhit is dlightky overrated because her fans ate crazy gir her and the hype machine behind her snd sll those ding bst bees. But good fir her but some of them albums are CB not universal classics. Maybe you just love her shit more than anyone rlse. Youre jst yiur youll grow into your heels. Me im not youg im Azriel anf im not overated m the deadliest Archengel there is. I beefed with her old msn a bit that dudnt go well fir hom. It didnt go well gir baltimore. Her shit on dome albums a lil overated. I think her earlier shit was poppier. Maybe im wrong i like early Beyonce but so what. Its not like that commentbtakes money out of her bank. Or brsin crlls out if your head do think. Never nutn to nobody. Youll look smarter. No im just kidding everyones git an opinion though and most of em sint eorty luch so why even bother. You wont get a serious sndwer about shit out of me ususlly. Fuck my opionion and uours too. And that wird hater wgst sre tou sn idiot? Everyone hstes dometimes everyone loves. Thst sthe stupidiest hop hop saying out many stupid ass punk hip hop sayings. Dont get me started renne whoever yiu are. Ive buried ddo msny of those fuckn losers iuts not funny. Thats sad i had to kill so many. But theu hate life those asshole fuxkn goofs so death was semt to put sn end to them period. If you ouss me off ill put a quick end to you yoo. On Michigsn theres a landfill. Nobody wants to look in.

I get on Twitter every now and again—Well, not anymore, but I used to—and I would always see this conversation around [...] Beyoncé being like overrated or whatever and I was like wow, people are really just bored.

RENEÉ RAPP Breaks Down Her Favorite Pop Songs for InStyle

[paolo-love-tags]

Season 2 episode 6:

The zoo host a ceremony to celebrate that one of their first animals, the fan-favorite of all of Baltimore finally returned to the zoo-grounds for the first time in decades.

That’s right, the hip-hop hippo that inspired the creation of the zoo and his little buddy Gigi had finally returned back to the zoo and both humans and Zoobsters are excited to see him….

Except a certain, giraffe who always been overshadowed by his presence in the zoo. Will things go back to the way they were for Pepper? Would she loose more than just her old pals?

Damn. I mean I cannot blame pepper for having beef with tony tho, since it is reasonable to her lol! like dont get me wrong, we all would of Hated tony if anyone was in the same situation as pepper But aside from that! I love this idea sm! Honestly would watch it definitely!!

[nathjonesey-75]

LV, NV - Part 2

As one with a complete disinterest in gambling, apart from an occasional flutter on “guess the correct score” – Las Vegas would not be a place I’d consider as a cultural paradise. Thankfully, having stayed in Paradise, the area of the Wynn-Encore at the northern end of the strip, I could discover more realistic cultural aspects to my liking. Having survived the first corporate function of the weekend on the Friday night, where my wife’s company held an incredibly decadent event at a nearby nightclub, where I made the most of the only place I’ll probably ever find measures of Macallan Single Malt to be free – I had all day Saturday to explore, before the next mystic reception.

Mrs Jones preferred a pool day, while I craved discovery. I can’t say that walking up – or down – the strip (highly confusing as Downtown was actually quite a way north from our base - so we travelled down the strip by up towards Downtown), past the other grand tacky resort hotels, I would say that not much other than the weather or overkill of everything was striking my inspiration buttons. Again, wandering among – occasionally dodging - the starry-eyed tourists, overdressed (or under-clothed) street entertainers; the only thing which stopped me in my tracks was a complete momentary chance realisation.

While passing each resort, moving south on the boulevard, I saw a group; maybe five or six people walking past me, wearing Tupac Shakur t-shirts. After a few steps, I wondered how far I was from the renowned block where he was shot in 1996. At that point of remembering what facts I could, I was convinced it would have been closer to midsummer, as my friend Lewis was only a block away and heard the shots, that year; then told me about it the day he returned, as we were both on our summer breaks from university. So, without Wi-Fi, I walked into The Cromwell casino bar to gain internet access. “Where was Tupac shot?” I typed. I scanned the first article which looked detailed on the results page, then read it and couldn’t believe what I found. Tupac was shot and killed on September the 7th, 1996; on the corner of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane.

Not only was I a couple of blocks away, while on East Flamingo Road, but it was September 7th, 2024. Twenty-eight years to the day. Was there a pilgrimage of fans, or even family or friends to remember him, that particular day? I’ll never know. This was quite a moment for me. While I had far more knowledge of Hip-Hop culture between the mid-eighties and earlier nineties, having grown up through that era before becoming immersed in House music culture from 1994 – it was one of the most significant happenings in the genre’s history from that decade and a controversial memory from my youth. On the previous afternoon, I’d eaten at El Segundo restaurant, near the Wynn and was served by; and talked at length with a guy who had moved from Oakland seven years previously. He told me the understandable reason why he left – the scarily unsafe way of life there. Also, he wasn’t the only person on the trip I’d met from Oakland, telling me the same thing. Shakur has had a street named after him in Oakland, after rising to fame while living there in the early nineties. Ironically having moved there to escape the crime in Baltimore.

These cultural aspects I mentioned, while staying in the Paradise area – certainly showed that it was no heavenly place, or soulful nirvana there; but in an abstract way, brought enlightenment and escape to people within the United States – and from outside the States. I loved the interaction with the Hispanic residents of Las Vegas, with the food options from Mexico proving so much better than the established and expected butter and oil-drenched options at fast food – and expensive hotels dotted everywhere I looked.

On that note, the topic of tips must be addressed. As a veteran hospitality worker, I have always supported a level of extra financial support for good service, Following the pandemic, bars and restaurants worldwide have been decimated in the service stakes, as retaining staff and the concept of good service – particularly noticeable in London, has been like trying to understand why the cost of living has been so absurd. You scratch your head and look around in bewilderment. Thus, in Vegas at this point; I hope that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas from a financial, tip-related culture mentality. As it makes a night out in London seem like buying drinks at a Carmarthenshire rugby club. The choice between giving a 18%, 22% and 25% tip, the banal extra delivery charge of a sandwich at poolside, as well as the tip – and this is all before tax is even added! So when you see that the cheapest beer option is $12, you would not only be excused, but encouraged to make your eyes roll backwards so that you look like you’re fainting. It could be the only way of being carried out and escaping extra costs.

Hardly a shock, then that the corporate events booked for both Saturday and Sunday – when the word “free” applied to food and drink, both were welcomed with our open arms. It was also just reward for my wife and her work colleagues, whose tireless work in the health industry gives the NHS a hope, even if their clients are blind to their blood, sweat and tears for getting the job done – and even if the reward is over five thousand miles away, in an unrelated backdrop. With the complexity of staying at a huge hotel casino complex, pre-arranged meal functions and getting around Vegas while there was so much under our noses – we enjoyed as much as we could of the locality. Some of the best cocktails I’ve ever had (especially The Mystic at the Tower Suites Bar, a mezcal-based flamer – although definitely not free!), the hotel pool, weather and views of the city. As much as navigating the strip by foot was the more interesting way of discovering – a taxi was quicker.

Reminiscent, this was; along with the strip’s retro-classical architecture and definitely hand-in-hand with the cost of bar tourism in Doha; where I spent four years, and Dubai – its Emirati neighbour. By land, the distance between the two was similar to the distance between Vegas and the California state border. Although ‘inspiration’ would be an ill-fitted word for matching the Nevada city’s influence on the Gulf cities, bearing in mind the religious constitution versus sin city’s “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” dirty secret pact, but the Middle Eastern cities have certainly copied a fair few high-end hotels and the strip’s layout in their aim for five-star, money-making touristry. One aspect Vegas, assuredly does not have (and I doubt highly that it would commence on the strip in my lifetime) is the weekend brunch at the Qatari and Emirati hotels. Expats in the Gulf replaced Western pubs from their original homes on weekends for a four-to-five-hour session at the five-star hotels where plates and more so wine and beer glasses were never empty – and nobody apart from pregnant ladies or natives, left sober. I’d imagine the one person £90-120 average price for a Friday afternoon between midday and 4pm, at a hotel in Qatar or the UAE would quadruple, should these smash-ups ever be introduced to the strip.

On Monday, despite having only limited time to do so, Mr and Mrs Jones travelled to the Arts District, on the edge of Downtown. It was something I’d wanted to have done over the weekend, as well as seeing more of Downtown, but as explained – everything took a while and seeing absolutely everything in four days, was impossible. Certainly, the antiques (in the American sense) shops, flea markets and places managed to fit in to four hours - added to time well spent on Main Street. Recycled Propaganda, Hop Nuts, Rebar and Able Baker were all places; with another few hours, we’d have happily spent more of our tourist time and money.

It was that half a working day, so separate to the Las Vegas Strip, where most of our long weekend was spent; which made me think “maybe I’ll be back, one day.” No gambling in sight, less extortion from the pocket and so much more undiscovered between there and the more renowned, seedy part of the city, where the older casino hotels such as Golden Gate and the Plaza (which was actually used as Biff’s in Back to the Future 2) are found. Plus, the conversations with local workers and the concierge at the Wynn, which mentioned little hidden gems on Fremont Street – reminded me that “everything takes a while”, so maybe another time.

We returned to the airport, a bit Vegassed-out between the walking in forty degree heat for the fourth day and the free drinks which had by now, taxed our bodies. Yet, we were satisfied with our experience. With no seeming delays to the flight this time, plus a seat with no passenger in front of me, I was confident of gaining sleep on the way back to London. Now is the perfect time to use the American word for ‘spanner’. Monkey Wrench. I had one next to me and one in front of me, in the way of two men in couples. Next to me was one with a twitch in his right hand. I was asleep, then I was not. Asleep, then not. All through the flight. Nudged constantly by a guy with whom I could sympathise with whichever condition I can assume it could have been. Otherwise, were it not a nerve-related condition, he deserved John Cleese’s giant fish from the fish-slapping dance – firmly swung across his face for the trouble. As for the spanner in front, he and his wife decided to shift right, leaving the left seat in the aisle empty, occupying the two right seats for no apparent reason. So, when he woke me up by tilting the seat back and trapping my left calf from lack of legroom, I had to strongly inform him with an angry tone – that I had no space. Bloody spanners, bloody people, bloody airlines and their seats increasingly arranged for midgets.

Needless to say, the Joneses – on our drive back down the M23 to Hove – expressed excitement for our only piece of furniture which followed us back from Australia four years previously – a superking sized bed. We returned from Heathrow thankful that our little dog, Ella had enjoyed her weekend with a new dog-sitter and companion – and had confirmation number 2024 (roughly calculated in days) that the superking bed is the best thing we shipped back from Melbourne, apart from our two dogs. Hasta la vista, Vegas.  

[nerdybynature1111]

What HipHop Is 2 Me

Hip-hop is love hip-hop is pain hip-hop is generosity hip-hop is violence. Hip-hop is fury hip-hop is the result of 400 years of slavery 100 years of Jim Crow and the never-ending scrutiny of white supremacy hip-hop is community hip-hop is activism hip-hop is dancing hip-hop is movement hip-hop is the soul of Africa bleeding through her children hip-hop is everywhere. Hip-hop is the north hip-hop is the south hip-hop is the east hip-hop is the west Hip-hop is the feeling you get when you walk into your grandmother‘s house and she got food on the stove hip-hop is the feeling you get 12 flashes that lights behind you hip-hop is the feeling you get when you and your Homies pass to the left hip-hop is here Hip-hop is DeBarge hip-hop is hip-hop MF DOOM hip-hop hip-hop is fashion hip-hop is the reason your friend group has a name hip-hop is hip-hop is science hip-hop is engineering hip-hop is formless shapeless but essential for life hip-hop is love hip-hop is hip-hop is gluttony and hip-hop is starvation. Hip-hop is Sedgwick Avenue hip-hop is Compton hip-hop is Atlanta hip-hop is Charlotte North Carolina hip-hop is Baltimore Maryland hip-hop is Washington DC hip-hop is me.

[trascapades]

🎶☀️🗽#ArtIsAWeapon

There's something jumping this weekend in #NYC for #HipHop #House #Soul and #Jazz music lovers:

🔸️@TheRoots Hip Hop is The Love of My Life tour stop at @summerstage #CentralPark with @junglebrothers4life & @planetsdigable! Tonight, Aug. 23, Doors at 5PM; Show 6PM-10PM

🔸️@soulinthehorn Summer Series at @99scott_ tonight Aug. 23, celebrating @bilalmusic & #DProsper Bdays, and 🔥 LINE-UP: @moodymann313 @bilalmusic @torturedsoulofficial @the_real_osunlade @natashadiggs @l3ni @djevildee @donis.bk @djnyack @moonbabe3000

🔸️@summerstage FREE annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival kicks off in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park tonight (Aug 23) at 7PM, featuring performances by the GRAMMY-winning @chrmcbride Big Band and the @wallaceroneyjr Quartet in partnership with @jazzmobileny, and tomorrow (Aug 24) with @carmenlundymusic, @sung_helen ft. @chrispotterjazz, @colliersworld & The Chosen Few, and @tyreek.mcdole at 3PM, plus a DJ set by @wbgojazz’s @kulturedchild starting at 2PM 🎷

🔸️Reposted from @iamdiannesmithart 🎉 **Birthday Bash Alert!** 🎉

**Hosted by:** My dear friend DJ Byron James 🎧 The Powda Room

📍 **Where:**

ROW HOUSE HARLEM

2128 Frederick Douglass Blvd, Harlem, NY

🗓 **When:**

Saturday, 24 August

7 PM - 12 AM

🔸️ORACLE Undrgrnd NYC Presents: The Give Back ✏️ School Supplies Giveaway Party! 🪩🖍️🙌🏾 Saturday, August 24, 12PM-6PM

The REP Music Cafe, 450 Nostrand Ave.

DJs:

MOON BABE @moonbabe3000

ADAPTA @djadapta

HardCandy @tasteslikecandy

Vendors:

🔮 Tarot readings with Efunyemi Thee Oracle @efunyemitheeoracle

🪬 Henna by Henna Get A What What! @hennagetawhatwhat

🍹+☕️ Libations by The REP Music Cafe @therepmusiccafe

🔸️The 8th Annual Trenton House Music Festival - The Baltimore Takeover with @dj_biskit_ @dj_oji_aka_original_man @dj_spen Rescheduled to THIS Sunday August 25, Mill Hill Park, Trenton NJ, 12PM-8PM. FREE.

#VirgoSeason #HouseMusic #Dancers #MusicLovers #MusicIsLife #DancingIsFreedom #TraScapades

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[lboogie1906]

Rob Base was born Robert Ginyard on May 18, 1967) In the fourth grade, he relocated from the Bronx to Harlem, where he became a classmate of DJ E-Z Rock. He attended Harlem public schools and loved music. Influenced by rap, he performed in talent shows and at as many open mic or hip-hop events as possible. He married April and they had a son. They took guardianship of April’s cousin Dysell. They remained together until her death (2013). He also has a son and daughter.

It Takes Two, produced a significant follow-up hit, “Joy and Pain,” which sampled a song of the same name by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. It hit the Top 10 on the dance chart and climbed to #58 on the Hot 100. Their 1988 single of the same name from the album, It Takes Two, became their most successful song. It peaked at #17 on the Billboard R&B Chart, $36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #24 in the UK. The single sold seven million records. He responded in 1989 with The Incredible Base.

He performed at the 2017 NBA Finals – Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors, at Oracle Arena in Oakland. And in 2018, he performed alone during Arena Bowl XXXI’s halftime show, at the game between the Baltimore Brigade and Washington Valor at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[raybizzle]

"Bamboozled" (2000) is a comedy-drama written and directed by Spike Lee about two homeless street performers who agree to partake in a television network show where they perform in blackface. Spike Lee examines the racist depiction in Hollywood movies featuring Black people in satirical form. Blackface became popular in American Minstrel shows during the early 1800s, many years before emerging in Hollywood movies. But in the early 1900s, blackface appeared more in films predominantly played by White people until Black people, such as Bert Williams, began earning film opportunities in the mid-1910s.

There were two primary types of blackface in early Hollywood. The first was in clown form, using some form of black paint or polish (most common in Minstrel shows), and the other was White people portraying Black people in movies with black makeup. Negative stereotypes in Hollywood movies evolved further into characters such as Lincoln Perry (a.k.a. Stepin Fetchit) or Mantan Mooreland, the central inclination of Lee's film.

Throughout the movie, there are several examples of racist depictions of Black people in film and cartoon form. However, the film analyzes corporate dishonesty, the contentious rap militant group fed up with the show's racist content, and the easily appeased audience. The actors performed very well on a complicated topic. Unfortunately, the film flopped at the box office, grossing $2.5 million on a $10 million budget. The movie requires context and understanding. It's an educational piece of artwork not only from the premise of the film but also the technical mastery in editing and cinematography. The soundtrack was a mixture of hip-hop and R&B, peaking at #60 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Director: Spike Lee Writer: Spike Lee

Starring Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Paul Mooney, Sarah Jones, Gillian White, Susan Batson, Yasiin Bey, M.C. Serch, Gano Grills, Canibus, DJ Scratch, Charli Baltimore, Craig muMs Grant

Storyline Under pressure to help revive his network's low ratings, television writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) hits on an explosively offensive idea: bringing back blackface with The New Millennium Minstrel Show. The white network executives love it, and so do audiences, forcing Pierre and his collaborators to confront their public's insatiable appetite for dehumanizing stereotypes.

Available on Blu-ray and streaming services.

[celebritydecks]

Chrisean Rock

Chrisean Rock

Chrisean Rock: The Unfiltered Queen of Reality TV Who Isn’t Afraid to Be Herself

1. Introduction: Chrisean Rock

She was born on March 14, 2000 in Baltimore, Maryland in 2000 and raised in a rough circumstances.

Chrisean Rock is a singer, athlete and reality TV personality. She has 11 siblings and her father name is Eugene Arthur Malone. He was in prison when she was young. Her mother name is Charla Malone. She struggled with addiction and Chrisean Rock often had to fend for herself. Chrisean rock was homeless for several years and she has said that she was sexually abused as a child.

She has also become more well-known because to her Relationship with the artist Blueface.

She became well-known after taking part in the reality TV program “Baddies South”. She was also featured on the reality TV show “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood.”, “Blue Girls Club” and “Blueface and Chrisean: Crazy in Love”.

She has more than 4 million Instagram followers, which shows how popular she is there.

1.1 Chrisean’s unfiltered personality

She is known for her unfiltered personality. She isn’t afraid to voice her thoughts, even when they are divisive or upsetting.

She has been contentious due to her uncensored attitude, but it has also allowed her to connect with her followers. They value her openness and her readiness to be vulnerable while yet being true to herself.

2. Chrisean’s relationship with Blueface

Chrisean Rock and Blueface have been in an on-again, off-again relationship for several years.

Their relationship has been turbulent with both individuals garnering attention for their contentious actions.

she made the announcement that she was carrying Blueface’s child in January 2023.

Blueface has denied that he is the father of the child, but Chrisean Rock has insisted that he is.

2.1 Chrisean’s recent pregnancy

Her pregnancy has been a source of much controversy.

Some people have criticized her for her decision to have a child with Blueface, given their history of toxic behavior.

Others have supported her decision, saying that she is a strong woman who deserves to be happy.

She has expressed her joy at being a mother and her anticipation for providing her child with a loving and encouraging atmosphere.

2.2 The ups and downs of their relationship

Chrisean Rock and Blueface have been involved in a number of public Clashes.

In 2020, Chrisean Rock was arrested for assaulting Blueface’s mother.

In 2021, Blueface was arrested for domestic violence against Chrisean Rock.

Their relationship has also been marked by allegations of cheating and drug use.

2.3 Supportive aspects of their relationship

Despite the challenges they have faced, Chrisean Rock and Blueface have also shown moments of support for each other.

In 2021, Blueface defended Chrisean Rock after she was criticized for her appearance.

In 2022, Chrisean Rock was there for Blueface when he was going through a difficult time.

Additionally, they have expressed their love for one another and desire to be together.