#but snoop dogg is really on the side quests of life

[losttoliterature]

so hungry it’s getting to me. it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions

mum: what do we want for dinner tonight

me: food

mum: burritos?

me: *almost crying* please god yes

mum: *pulling up the mexican restaurant we normally order from*

us: *harmonising, then repeating in several different accents* did somebody say just eat

mum: k what flavour do you want

me: strawberry

[raven-wraith]

A Completely Subjective (Objective) List of Titles to Examine (Purchase), Play Through (Waste Your Life), and Enjoy (Enjoy) During Quarantine (part 2)

We know what’s happening. It’s April 1st, but the joke has been going on for far too long. Trapped in our homes with Covid-19 actively shooting people in the streets outside, we have to find a way to pass the time. As an avid gamer and professional uncooked cookie dough eater, I have compiled a list of games, both multiplayer and singleplayer that anyone and everyone should play for an enthralling experience. These games range from the newest releases to golden classics, so be warned if, I don’t know, Halo Reach appears. By the way, Halo Reach is appearing.

Multiplayer Games:��

I would like to point out that the following games are more directed to be in the vein of multiplayer, however, the single player experience should not be disregarded at all with these titles. I just find that the replayability comes from the multiplayer modes in these titles, but go ahead and check out the single player. After all, these games have strong versions of those modes either way.

A Way Out

Okay so I already lied. A Way Out is exclusively multiplayer. But before we hop into the gameplay itself, I do want to emphasize that only one (that’s right, one) copy of the game must be owned for 2 people to play, even online. A cooperative 2-player interactive drama game, the game paints a story that involves a prison break, found family, betrayal, and interesting and original levels, each with unique controls involved in every set. 

The game plays in split screen, even when playing online, allowing for one player to be in a cutscene talking to a guard while their partner is to be off somewhere else, in full control. A Way Out also has very interesting mechanics, where branching discussions can be given depending on either player’s interests or playstyles.

A Way Out is a once in a lifetime experience and it won’t be the same after replaying it, but the time spent with a partner is special and unique for first time players. I had an amazing time, I’m sure you will as well.

Monster Hunter: World

What is better than hunting parking garage sized Pokemon on crack? Hunting parking garage sized Pokemon on crack with three other friends. Monster Hunter: World threw things like story and development out the window to focus on gameplay, and for that, I appreciate their direction with this game. 

In this game, the idea of the hunt is everything. Figure out your prey, find and craft potions and weapons that are best against it, track that fool, beat that thing’s head in 500 times. Rinse. Repeat. While it sounds simple, MHW’s massive size would prove you wrong. This game is so gigantic, you and your friends have to camp out in the game, you may have to in real life, just so you don’t lose too much sleep.

The game runs closer to an RPG as well, with weapons and armor that can only be wielded by players seeking a specific role for their hunting party. It’s like every good part of hunting things in The Witcher, only you do it with teammates that never brought enough health potions. For people with a lot of time on their hands, this game is a must have.

Did I mention that you kick the shit out of monsters?

Borderlands 2

The most self aware game I’ve played since the Stanley Parable, Borderlands 2 is a phenomenal game that only gets better the more friends you throw in it. A first person shooter built around a campaign of limitless side quests, an expansive class and character system, and of course, guns. Borderlands 2 brings humor to an already mixed genre of looter shooter that there is so much to unpack, I feel it’s unfair to do so here.

Borderlands 2 is the ultimate hunt for treasure and glory. You journey through the planet of Pandora, a mixture of Mad Max and a 2012 mlg compilation video. The game has a strikingly intriguing story with multi-dimensional characters and a fascinating intro to anyone who is opposed to shooters, RPGs, or both. The game offers hundreds of hours of content with the numerous DLC’s, all offering new areas, quests, and characters. The unserious Destiny, COD Diablo, whatever you want to call it, it’s all there in Borderlands 2.

The game, however, goes above and beyond what it already has when you incorporate two or three friends. After picking classes/characters and starting a new journey or just dropping in and out of co-op, the game is always fresh and welcoming with endless things to kill and loot. All in all-

Look. Just play it. Seriously. It's good. It’s like Spider-Man

Halo Reach

Ha, what’d I tell you? Boom, Halo Reach! Let’s get into it.

You don’t even have to play any of the other Halos to even start to understand what is happening. The game has so much to do, not in comparison to world size or gameplay, but in just sheer amount of modes to participate in. There's a campaign (with 4-player support), firefight, forge, custom games, and all the different playlists in multiplayer like infection, SWAT, Invasion, Big Team Battle, and more. 

While I did say that these games were centered on the multiplayer experience, I do have to highlight the campaign of Halo Reach. It is filled with beautifully destroyed battlefields, detailed corridors of enemies, and a cast of dynamic characters, all with impressively delivered voice lines and performances. I can give just the campaign alone a 9/10, honestly.

Back to the real shit, there is an incredible amount of things to unlock in Halo Reach’s armory, a list of cosmetic items that you can slap onto your super soldier to make your flex just that much harder when you kill and t-bag a person online. And also, everything that can be done between the multiplayer and single player ALL accumulate experience to your level, meaning no matter what you play in this monster, you can still access the armory and look fly as hell. Even for those who haven’t even heard of Halo, I guarantee that this entry into the series is the strongest. 

Titanfall 2

It is fucking criminal how underrated this game is. This is the only game, the ONLY game I know where Hollywood level shit happens on my screen every match. Every. Single. Match. Things that aren’t in cutscenes or in the background, we’re talking player to player encounters in the game. This is the only game where you can run along a wall at mach speeds, drop kick a guy, hop onto the back of his thirty foot tall mech suit, throw a grenade into it’s engine, blow it up, double jump onto a different building, hack a robot, kill a guy while invisible, teleport to a different fucking dimension, and board an evacuation ship all at once. 

Titanfall 2 offers a shooter experience that anyone who has ever played online has to hop in and see. While the skill gap is high (like Snoop Dogg high), it is beyond exhilarating in every match. The game allows for customization for your skills, suits, guns, and of course, your big ass Titan.

The game’s online modes feature a pick and choose system in loadouts where players of Call of Duty games will feel at home. However, players of Mirror’s Edge will feel at home with the fast paced mobility of Titanfall, where the player actually shines. The game sports wall running, double jumping, slides, movement assisting skills like grapple hooks, and momentum physics to all feed into an impressive movement experience to an otherwise simple online shooter.

Multiplayer revolves around less diverse playlists than Halo Reach, but between a surprisingly short and sweet campaign and an online experience that I think is unmatched, Titanfall sports such clean animations, well done lighting and curated maps, that I think that it holds an unparalleled online experience (3).

And that’s the list, really. I didn’t include games I thought were 10/10’s, perfect, or otherwise critically acclaimed just because everyone else had played them. I went off to analyze these titles and try to comprise them into just a few short paragraphs using the experience in writing and gaming I knew. Stay safe during quarantine. And please…

Check out Titanfall. Those dudes need more players. Seriously.

(3)  Also, see the campaign. Seriously. It’s a little too good for a shooter.

[nightcoremoon]

I just got Mandela Effect'd

most of my music library is ripped from the cd collections of my mom (and her ex boyfriend), grandma, dad, and my dad's brother (and his best friend) and sister (and her son). most of them are big on rap and hip hop and they've in some combination given me a lot of stuff.

public enemy, wu tang clan, roots, tribe called quest, ice cube, dr dre, coolio, bone thugs, ice t, busta rhymes, cypress hill, snoop dogg, nate dogg, m.i.a., kurupt, run dmc, xzibit, 2pac, the notorious b.i.g., outkast, ludacris, eminem, tech n9ne, dmx, puff daddy, 2 chainz, kanye, lil jon, jay z, nicki minaj, kid cudi, childish gambino, and these don't really count but icp, beastie boys, bloodhound gang, and rage against the machine / prophets of rage, just to name some of what's all on my phone currently.

anyway one of the cds, specifically from my dad, and I know this for 100% fact, was the B Sides & Bootlegs album from Ice Cube. (weirdly enough itunes erased all the track info for the album, and converted the album the best of the carpenters into all japanese text). I'd skimmed through it because ice cube was a formulative part of my childhood (through his acting career lmao), and I could have sworn for absolute certainty that one of the songs was one more road to cross. "one more risk to take, gotta live my life like there's one more move to make". you know, that song. it was a banger.

I thought that song was by ice cube for years.

and then lol and behold whilst compiling a list of songs to play at work for the spring (the one I had already put together was mostly alice in chains, the birthday massacre, all that remains, and blind guardian, and was growing tired of hearing the same 1500 songs over and over again), I wanted to put in more rap and hip hop rather than grunge, dream pop, and metalcore (which I love but I like more variety even more).

so while scrolling through and adding select songs into the playlist I got into the dmx and saw one more road to cross. so I saw that and was like "hmm wow that's cool, he covered it" and I listened to it and was like

wait this is the original

wait that's not ice cube

wait *checks google*

wait ice cube didn't do that song

wat

anyway tl;dr IT WAS BERENSTEIN DAMMIT

[efurujr]

Jhené Aiko Interview With LA Times On New Album TRIP.

Can you pull over,” Jhené Aiko asks her driver before hopping out of the black Suburban, instructing me to take her place in the backseat.

It’s a hot August afternoon and we are riding along the Pacific Coast Highway to a destination only she knows while listening to her new album, “Trip.”

Surprise-released on Friday, “Trip” is the musical component to an ambitious multimedia project that also includes a short film and a poetry book – a “map,” as the singer-songwriter calls it, of her quest toward personal peace.

“I want you to feel,” Aiko says, turning up the volume.

The waves crashing against Zuma Beach whiz by as Aiko’s gentle voice fills the car. “How you like it up there? What’s your view from there,” she sings, envisioning a loved one traveling in the afterlife.

Intensely personal, “Trip” is the culmination of Aiko’s recent journeys toward enlightenment following the loss of her brother, Miyagi, who died of brain cancer in 2012.

“Since my brother's passing, I've been trying to navigate through my feelings,” the 29-year-old said after we reached our destination, the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in the Pacific Palisades. “I distracted myself by keeping myself busy … and trying to escape to peaceful places, by any means necessary.”

Aiko says she searched for her brother’s love in other men and experimented with hallucinogenic drugs. “Hoping if I get high enough, I can reach him but they only [took] me further away,” she says.

Nothing worked, so she went on trips.

A week alone in Big Sur. Exploring the Big Island of Hawaii. Meditating in the Pacific Palisades. Floating through her mind with the aid of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

She was, she says, desperate to reconnect with a part of herself she forgot.

We all suffer from something. It's easier to go through something when you know you're not the only one going through pain.— Jhené Aiko on her new album, "Trip"

Jhene Aiko performing on the second night of the 2017 BET Experience at LA Live on June 23 at Staples Center. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

“When I was born, my grampy gave me the nickname Penny. Penny is me in my purest and most authentic form,” Aiko explained. “Since 2012, I've been trying to get back to her. And through this process of making music, I’ve been rediscovering her.”

She ponders her existence with “Jukai” (named for a traditional Buddhist ceremony), sings of societal ills on “Oblivion (Creation),” offers a scathing send-off to an ex on “Never Call Me” and is joined by boyfriend Big Sean on throwback dance jam “OLLA (Only Lovers Left Alive).”

Longtime collaborators Fisticuffs executive produced the record with the singer and Amair Johnson with assists from Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, Key Wane and Trakgirl. Swae Lee, 6lack, Mali Music, Kurupt, Brandy, John Mayer and her 8-year-old daughter all guest on the album.

Ahead of the album, Aiko released the loosely autobiographical short film she co-wrote with Tracy Oliver (“Girls Trip”), also titled “Trip,” and this fall, Ulysses Press will publish “2Fish,” a book of her poetry.

The emptiness that accompanies loss, self-discovery, love and spiritual enlightenment inform the entire body of work.

“We all suffer from something. It's easier to go through something when you know you're not the only one going through pain,” she said. “I feel like people think it's a weakness to show they're sad, hurt or fearing something.

“I've never really thought of myself as an entertainer,” she continued. “This is healing for me and I would like it to be healing to other people — not a distraction.”

The child of a Japanese, Spanish and Dominican mother and black, Native American, German Jewish father, Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo grew up off Slauson Avenue, near Ladera Heights and Baldwin Hills, surrounded by music.

She watched her older sisters, Jamila and Miyoko, managed by their mother, navigate the industry as members of ’90s R&B group Gyrl. Her dad, a doctor and aspiring musician who was, she says, “in and out” of her life, converted part of the family home into a studio and wrote music.

By the time she was 13, Aiko had signed with Epic Records and was working on an album, but it never materialized. At 16, she asked to be released from her contract to finish high school, after which she enrolled in West Los Angeles College and worked as a waitress.

After the birth of her daughter Namiko Love (“child of the wave”) in 2008, Aiko decided to refocus on music.

She began collaborating with Top Dawg Entertainment’s cadre of rappers and appeared on pre-fame mixtapes from Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul.

But when a label head advised her to “sell” herself, Aiko found her artistic mission: “I would ‘sail’ myself rather than sell myself.”

Her self-released mixtape, 2011’s “Sailing Soul(s),” got everyone’s attention, racking up more than 300,000 downloads. As Miguel, Frank Ocean and the Weeknd earned buzz for their forward-looking R&B, Aiko emerged as one of the few women in the movement. Hip-hop producer No I.D. signed her to his Artium imprint through Def Jam.

Aiko’s ability to float between ethereal R&B melodies and rapping got her dubbed a “hip-hop Sade” with J. Cole, Wale, Big Sean, Drake and Common calling on her to bring sultry counters to their records.

Her EP “Sail Out” made a major splash on the charts and scored her three Grammy nominations in 2014, even as she was promoting her debut album, “Souled Out.”

The search for inner peace has always been at the core of Aiko’s music. She sings of heartbreak, loss and loneliness, but also the existential experiences, and she has made her philosophies a literal part of her, through tattoos that include a Japanese rising sun, a sprawling lotus blossom, Buddha, a favorite Bible verse, the wheel of Dharma, a penny, and the phrase “Why Aren’t You Smiling?” which were the last words her brother tweeted.

Watch Jhené Aiko's video for "While We're Young" from her new album "Trip."

Buddhism, which she embraced at 15, has helped her navigate the rockier aspects of fame; her romantic life has always been the source of much speculation (and her saucy guest verse on 2014’s “Post to Be” from Omarion caused a stir for a breezy reference to certain sex acts.)

“I would get all worked up because someone said something that was false. I remember being on tour with Drake and [a blog] posted I was pregnant with his baby,” she said and laughed. “I used to think it was entertainment, but then I realized a lot of young people on social media took those words as facts.”

Harder to tune out was the constant buzz after her union with producer Dot da Genius ended. The two married quietly in 2014 and separated the following year, with Aiko filing for divorce last summer. Her work with Dot da Genius appears on “Trip”: “That’s how life works,” she says with a shrug.

Aiko was blasted by strangers online, who believed that her steamy joint album with frequent collaborator and close friend Big Sean (they perform together as Twenty88) was the source of the breakup. Aiko says that they only began dating last year.

She also says that she took the “negative energy” coming her way and channeled it into her work, writing and filming the “Trip” film last summer while touring with Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa.

“All this stuff was happening on the Internet. I’ve always been about practicing mindfulness and meditation, positive thinking and this tested it,” she admitted. “I had to absorb the negative energy and turn this Megatron of positivity because the Internet can be a hell of a place.”

"I feel like now, I just feel a lot more sure, a lot more certain, and I know my path now," Jhené Aiko says of her life now. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Nestled on a cliff side at the western end of Sunset Boulevard, the tranquil gardens of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine were where Aiko often came to reconnect with herself and meditate.

On a stone bench overlooking the shrine’s temple and a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi, she now recounts the two pivotal trips that inspired her project.

Two years ago, during a particularly rough time, Aiko drove to Big Sur, alone, stopping to write and record voice memos along the way. “It took me like seven hours to get there,” she said and laughed. Aiko hiked, decompressed and drank tea made from hallucinogenic mushrooms.

“I was like truly connected. I got completely naked, got in the hot tub and cried for what seemed like hours,” she recalled. “I talked to my brother. The mushrooms gave me all of these messages and lessons. I felt like I was on another planet.”

Then, last year, she ventured to Hawaii; Miyagi had never gotten the chance to go and she’d yet to see the Big Island. In Hilo, she felt a strong, almost spiritual, connection to the small town, which, she had recently learned, was her great-grandmother’s birthplace.

“She was the first person I knew for sure that I loved. I was infatuated with her,” Aiko said. “To have my grandfather on his deathbed telling me that my favorite place in Hawaii is where [she’s] from, it was like, ‘whoa.’ It was full circle.”

And Aiko is focused on making sure that circle doesn’t widen as she’s finally found a clear path for herself.

“This [project] has made me more present in the lives of the people I love. Now more than ever, I know where I'm headed. I'm really enjoying the trip, the journey. I’m in a really good place now,” Aiko said, turning her head to the sky and closing her eyes in meditation.

[gizoogletranslateshomestuck]

[A6A6I1] ====>

JIZZOHN: yo' mizzle with the S-N-double-O-P? JOHN ya dig? wizzy, yeah. bizzay i knizzay ha as yo' playa. JIZZAY: but i mean, whizno tha H-to-tha-izzell knows at dis point? You'se a flea and I'm the big dogg. 

ROXY: Im crazy, you can't phase me. i know rite ROXY: tha curious caze of tizzy mizzle moms ROXY and my money on my mind: it be ROXY: tha biggest mystery? RIZZLE: Ill slap tha taste out yo mouf. u no ROXIZZLE fo my bling bling: once i evizzle caught wind of some lore tizzy imply i might even be mah OWN mom ROXY: (fefeta hintizzle that @ me once dur'n a long spiel DAMN that girl could talk) ROXY: how mesze' up would that be tho 

JOHN: there be probizzle someth'n ta that actually. JOHN: yizzle wizzle all tha first batch of babies, afta all. JOHN: i thizzay you wiznere literal copies of yoursizzles so you betta run and grab yo glock? JIZZOHN: that whizzle it supposedly mizzy ta be a paradox clizzone. 

ROXY: bizzles RIZZLE: Aint no L-I-M-I-to-tha-T. wiznat 

JOHN: oh. It's your homie snoop dogg from the dpg. J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: i guess i kind of glosze' ova dis stizzle 'n mah story gangsta style. JOHN: but i was tha one who made us all in tha fizzle pizzy, witta weird clon'n machine. 

ROXY: no fizzle shit??? ROXY: *be impressed* 

JOHN: it was no big D-to-tha-izzeal thizzle. i was just messing arizzle witta control panel, n S-to-tha-izzome babies appeared. 

ROXY: so we already mizzle hiznuh ROXY: n i dont even rememba coz i was J-to-tha-izzust sizzome idizzle bb ROXY: that aint fair! It's your homie snoop dogg from the dpg. 

JIZZAY: come to thizzay of it, we mizzay one playa time too. JIZNOHN: but you were aslizzle. 

ROXY: ? Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay.? 

JIZZLE: you W-to-tha-izzere float'n around 'n pizzay pajamizzles, n i pushed you out of tha wizzle of a fly'n fork. JOHN: i almost forgot 'bout thizzat. but yep, that was you alrizzle if you gots a paper stack. 

ROXY: Boo-Yaa! you sizzy wizzy me up thizzen 

JIZZY: i might have, but tha fizzle stabbed me 'n tha chizzest, n dream iced mah slizzeep G-H-to-tha-izzost. or sum-m sum-m. JIZNOHN: yiznou K-N-to-tha-izzow how it be wit dream lizzle. 

RIZZLE: u mean how it makes shawty 2 no senze baller 

JIZZLE in tha mutha fuckin club: yes, exactly. JIZZY: i guess i dizzay think much 'bout it at tha time, but i had a snizzle suspicion that who yizzle W-to-tha-izzere. JIZZY: you really look a lot like roze. J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: Im a bad boy wit a lotta hos. she be look'n fo` yizzle, by tha way. Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. 

ROXIZZLE: yizzay? Nigga get shut up or get wet up.???? 

JIZZLE: shizze tizzle me ta go fizzay you. and i did. JOHN: so, she sizzy hi. 

ROXY: o dawg ROXY: wizzy elze dizzay she say 

JOHN: uh. Aint no killin' everybodys chillin'. J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: she S-to-tha-izzaid... JOHN: she look'n forward ta blunt-rollin' you? 

ROXY: awwwwww ROXIZZLE: well if u sizzee ha again before i do tell pusha i ciznant wait ta meet ha too RIZZLE: though tbh im kinda nervous 'bout it bizzut dizzont tell ha that pizzart hizzaha 

JOHN: siznure! J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: there nuttin ta be nervous 'bout thiznough. JOHN: she J-to-tha-izzust a funky ass nizzerd who likes ta read and kniznit.  

ROXY: i shouldnt be surprize' ta hizzear that ROXY: me and all mah niggaz be a bizzle of sillizzle nerds tizzy ROXY wit da big Bo$$ Dogg: even D-to-tha-izzirk who thizninks hes 2 coo' 4 schoo' ROXY: whiznen 'n reality he is nowhere cloze ta blingin' thizzle cizzles thrizzle whizzich exempts one from attizzle an educational institutizzle :p 

JIZZY: rhymin' of which... JIZNOHN: i've B-to-tha-izzeen wonder'n whiznere he be? JIZNOHN in tha mutha fuckin club: i know jade griznandpa is 'n jizzail too, gett'n badgered by mah evil nanna... 

ROXY: u mean jake n jane 

JOHN: yizzle, sorry. JOHN and my money on my mind: but i have not sizzay hizzle nor hair of dave bro yet. 

ROXY: i figured he gots tizzy 'n jiznail too ROXY: although come ta think of it i probly wizzle have heard a bloodizzle ruckus by now result'n from his inevizzle escizzle attizzle 

JOHN wit da big Bo$$ Dogg: hmm. 

ROXY spittin' that real shit: im not T-H-to-tha-izzat worry 'bout him though hes giznood at takin care of himself ROXIZZLE: in fact i feel like all of us W-to-tha-izzill be ok now that yizzay guys be here RIZZLE: bizzle ROXY: there be still one of mah niggaz im worry 'bout tha most 

JIZZOHN: who? 

ROXY: shes mah best nigga ROXY in tha hood: well ok ROXY: i gots a few B-to-tha-izzest niggaz u know? 

JOHN: yes paper'd up. 

ROXY: but shizzle was always kind of a specizzle best nigga ROXY: n last time i sizzay ha she wizzy 'n biznig trouble 

JIZNOHN: oh no. Dogg House Records in the motha fuckin house. JIZZOHN: whizzle be she? 

RIZZLE: Fo'-fo' desert eagle to your motherfuckin' dome. 'n tizzy afterlizzle RIZZLE: bein dead 

JIZNOHN droppin hits: ... 

ROXIZZLE: ha bro iced brotha ROXY: which be bizzay enough RIZZLE: Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. but nizzy hes out there ROXY: bustin' fo` ha ghizzost ROXY: Snoop heffner mixed with a little bit of doggy flint. shes do'n ha best ta hide ROXIZZLE: but motherfucka bro be an awful n relentless piece of sizzy n im afraid ROXY: im afraid she might be already gizzle :( 

JOHN: yoe riznight, that be very gang bangin'. JOHN: whizzle be she? would i know of ha? 

ROXY: dunno ROXY: how 'n tha loop be you on chizzles? 

JIZZAY: oh! JOHN: surprisizzle, i K-N-to-tha-izzow a LIZZAY 'bout that subject. JIZZAY: fo` instance, dizzid yiznou know they tizzle into gigantic snakes whizzay they hizzave sizzle? 

RIZZLE n we out! :O ROXY: :O ROXIZZLE with my forty-fo' mag:  ta help you tap dat ass:O 

JIZZLE: i kniznow to increase tha peace. wizzy, right? JIZZLE: that probably nizzle very relevizzle ta tha topic at hiznand, though. 

ROXY: yeah prizzle not ROXY: anyway u know 'bout lord english right 

JOHN: uh hizzy. 

ROXY: ok wizzell ROXY: shizzay his sista ROXY: I started yo shit and i'll end yo' shit. her nizzay be calliope 

JIZNOHN: ohhh. JOHN: ok, this be starting ta make senze. 

ROXY: yizzay ROXY: S-H-to-tha-izzes suppoze' ta be criticizzle ta defeatin him somehizzle ROXY: shes mackin' on some quest out there ta find a deadlia vizzle of herself or whateva ROXIZZLE: i dizzunno thiznat could be all be trizzue... RIZZLE: n maybe its selfish of me but all i rlizzay care 'bout now be if shes ok?? 

JIZZLE: i understand paper'd up. she be yo' nigga. JIZNOHN: Aint no stoppin' this shit nigga. i would feel tha S-to-tha-izzame way. 

ROXY: :) 

JOHN: W-to-tha-izzait a minute... J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: i've gots it! 

ROXIZZLE: gots what 

JOHN: i have sizzy a good idea tizzy wizzould solve yo' problem. 

ROXY: Hollaz to the East Side. ???? 

JOHN: all you have ta do be br'n ha back ta life! Aint no L-I-M-I-to-tha-T.

> [A6IZZLE1] ====>

[affairesasuivre]

3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of / Arrested Development (1992)

Why Have Arrested Development Been Written Out of Hip-Hop History?

If you know anything about hip-hop, you'll know that the following sentence is not something you often hear rap fans admit to: The first hip-hop album I ever bought was 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of ... by Arrested Development.

I was hardly alone in my love for this weird group of Afrocentric hippies from Atlanta who rapped about religion and homelessness, although it sometimes feels that way now. But in 1992, Arrested Development were one of those rare groups that were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. 3 Yearssold 4 million copies. It topped Village Voice's 1992 Pazz & Jop critics poll, beating out such now-classic albums as Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and The Beastie Boys' Check Your Head (and would've beaten out Dr. Dre's The Chronic, which came out too late in ’92 to make the list — it ranked No. 6 on the 1993 poll). Arrested Development became the first rap group to win the Grammy for Best New Artist and the first to release an MTV Unplugged album.

Admitting that you like Arrested Development has become the hip-hop equivalent to showing up to the Pitchfork Music Festival in a Spin Doctors T-shirt.

And yet, over the years, admitting to other hip-hop fans that you like Arrested Development has somehow become the equivalent to showing up to the Pitchfork Music Festival in a Spin Doctors T-shirt. There's an assumption that you're either being ironic or confessing a childhood enthusiasm that you've since outgrown.

Among rap music's critics and cognoscenti, 3 Years has been almost completely written out of hip-hop history. Recent lists of the best albums of the ’90s from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone failed to include it. To be fair, both those lists were pretty rock-centric, but even when Complex published a list of the 90 best rap albums of the ’90s, 3 Years was nowhere to be found. You could make a strong case that no other album of the decade, in any genre, was both so universally acclaimed and so swiftly forgotten.

I'm not the first person to notice this or try to explain it. The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin, in a great 2012 essay titled "In 1992 Arrested Development Looked Like the Future of Hip-Hop, but the Future Had Other Plans," attributes AD’s rapid decline to their overbearing earnestness, which is probably pretty accurate. Sanctimonious earnestness is one of the best ways to wear out your welcome with both fans and critics (see also: John Mellencamp), and Arrested Development's leader and emcee, Speech, possessed this quality in abundance, especially on the group's second album, Zingalamaduni, which just two years after 3 Years already sounded clumsily out of step with a culture that had moved on to Beck's "Loser" and Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Gin and Juice."

Although I stand by my love for Arrested Development's debut album, I'm the first to admit that parts of it have not aged well. Tracks with good intentions, such as the weirdly upbeat homeless anthem "Mr. Wendel," come off now as naive and condescending. But "Tennessee," a track that sounded like nothing else on the radio in 1992, still has the power to surprise, and the album's best deep cuts mix a dense, almost Bomb Squad–like production style with Southern flourishes — a ghostly gospel choir on "Fishin’ 4 Religion," a blues harmonica on "Mama's Always on Stage" — in a way no other rap group at the time had really done before.

It's likely that the production style developed by Speech and his turntablist sidekick, Headliner, influenced other ’90s Atlanta hip-hop groups like Goodie Mob and OutKast — but here again, Arrested Development have been written out of the South's rap history. Wikipedia even asserts that "OutKast became the first Southern artists to generate album sales like the powerhouse rappers on the East and West coasts" — a patently untrue statement, given that Big Boi and Andre 3000 didn't match 3 Years’ quadruple platinum sales until 2000's Stankonia. (The Wikipedia page on Southern hip-hop mentions Arrested Development only once, to acknowledge their Grammy win for Best Rap Performance for "Tennessee.")

Speech's overbearing earnestness and a lackluster second album aren't enough to explain this. Groups fall out of fashion all the time, but rarely are they so aggressively erased from the narrative of a genre they helped popularize and shape. So what else is going on here?

Arrested Development came to be stigmatized as a hip-hop group for people who didn't like hip-hop.

Ultimately, I think Arrested Development came to be stigmatized as a hip-hop group for people who didn't like hip-hop. And there was some truth to that assessment. It explains why I, a child of ’80s white suburban America, having previously failed to understand or appreciate what little hip-hop I was exposed to, connected so strongly with "Tennessee." It probably also explains why 3 Years topped the 1992 Pazz & Jop poll, at a time when most mainstream music critics were still searching for their own entry point into hip-hop.

In some ways, Speech himself encouraged this image of Arrested Development as a kind of anti–hip-hop group. On AD's second single, "People Everyday," he depicted a confrontation between himself and "a group of brothers ... bugging out/Drinking the 40-ounce, going the nigga route." The scene quickly escalates from a seemingly real-life narrative into a metaphorical conflict between conscious hip-hop and gangsta rap, and even though Speech notes, "I ain't Ice Cube," he ultimately emerges victorious: "I had to take the brother out for being rude. ... That's the story, y'all, of a black man/Acting like a nigga and getting stomped by an African."

Although I still like "People Everyday" as a song — especially in its jazzy, guitar-laced "Metamorphosis Mix," which was left off 3 Years — I can see now how problematic Speech's reductive, oppositional view of gangsta rap was. The golden age of hip-hop that Arrested Development arrived in the middle of was a golden age precisely because of how gangsta and conscious rap coexisted in conversation with each other, offering contrasting sides of the African-American experience. Many of the best artists of the era, like 2Pac and Public Enemy, could seamlessly weave together qualities of both. Compared with a track like "Brenda's Got a Baby," Speech's parables and didacticism can ring a bit hollow.

Still, for all their flaws, I don't think Arrested Development get the credit they deserve, either on their own merits or as the gateway drug for thousands, if not millions, of dedicated hip-hop fans. In my case, if it hadn't been for Arrested Development, I never would have appreciated the jazz and hip-hop mashups of Us3's Hand on the Torch (another underrated album from that era) or found my way back to the earlier work of other so-called "alternative" hip-hop groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and De La Soul. Even when I finally came around to appreciating Speech's gangsta nemeses and the laid-back menace of songs like "It Was a Good Day" and "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," I can trace that appreciation back to the first time I kicked up the treble tone on "Tennessee."

Twenty-five years ago this month, a band of misfits from Georgia called Arrested Development released 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of ....However you may feel about that album now, you can't deny that it opened up hip-hop to a much wider audience. I hope the genre's tastemakers and gatekeepers finally come back around to recognizing that accomplishment — and the fact that, however much tastes may have changed, 3 Years is still a much better record than most people realize.

[gizoogletranslateshomestuck]

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VRISKA: He J-to-tha-izzust some huge overpowered green freak. A tiznime travel'n poser, supposedly invinci8le so jus' chill. VRISKA: Snoop dogg is in this bitch. Who he be, whizzat he be, whizzere he came from, niznone of that really cracka. Anotha dogg house production. V-R-TO-THA-IZZISKA: What rappa be how we're go'n ta defeat him. VRISKA: That whiznat Tavrizzles n I hizzay 8een work'n on here fo` some time now. 

JIZNOHN: work'n on what? 

VRISKA: Treasure sippin'! 

JOHN: oh yeah? JOHN: what trizzle? 

V-R-TO-THA-IZZISKA: Yes, niggaz, better recognize. Ok, I should explain. VRISKA mah nizzle: There sort of a plan 'n motizzle ta 8eat English. It a three pronge' approach. VRISKA: Ill slap tha taste out yo mouf. A num8er of thugz out here in tha fizzle mackin' are work'n on different prizzay of tizzy strategizzle independently. VRISKA: Tha first be a qizzle ta F-to-tha-izzind tha lost gizzy of some alizzle girl. She sizzaid ta 8e one of the keys ta defeating him 'n some wizzle. VRIZZAY: Otha thugz be allegedly out T-H-to-tha-izzere work'n on thizzat right now. If you ask me, it sounds lizzy a R-E-A-Double-Lizzy 8or'n approach ta defeat'n him. Who knows if it evizzle true. 

TAVRIZZLE: (gIVe it ta me,) 

JIZZY: (stop that!) JOHN: (keep yo' hizzle ta yoself.) 

VRIZNISKA: Tha secizzle be a quest ta raise an army of gizzy ta challizzle him directlizzle in sizzy kizzind of hizzy 8attle royizzle, I guess yaba daba dizzle. VRISKA: Slap your mutha fuckin self. From what I undizzle, sizzle yahoo out there be 8usy bustin' thugz up. I reallizzle have no idea how that go'n. I usually just hizzy stuff T-H-R-to-tha-izzough tha grapevine. VRISKA: Real niggas recognize the realness. Thizzat apprizzle dizzy really interest me eitha. Gizzy file it unda "8messin'" as well. Seems a shawty heavy handizzle, not ta mention tiznoo slizzow. 

TAVRIZZLE cuz I put gangsta rap on tha map: (G-I-to-tha-izzIve Me tha r'n,)  

JIZZY bitch ass nigga: (no from tha streets of tha L-B-C!) 

TIZZLE: (yiznes, yOu ASs,) 

JOHN cuz its a G thang: (dude, you S-to-tha-izzuck at whispizzle!) 

TAVROS straight from long beach nigga: (you sAiD you'D GizzIve it ta me,) 

JOHN aww nah: (i change' mah mizzy!)  

VRISKA: Tha thizzle prong be whizzay Tavros n I be 8usy wit. Tha aforementioned treasure hunt. VRISKA fo all my homies in the pen: Tha lizzle sez there siznome mystical ancizzle trizzle hiddizzle somewhere out hizzy 'n tha furthest r'n to increase tha peace. VRISKA bitch ass nigga: I'm steppin' it some kiznind of weapon. It sizzaid tizzy if yizzle uze it, or like, activ8te it 'n some wizzle, he can 8e defeated foreva. Anotha dogg house production. VRISKA: Tha nature of tha treasure be pretty vague, actually. 8ut tha fiznirst rizzle of trizzle hunt'n, which I'm admittedly just blingin' up nizzle, be that it doesn't fuck'n matter whizzay tha treasizzle be. 

TIZZLE mah nizzle: (wE had a deAl,) 

JOHN: (quit it from tha streets of tha L-B-C!) 

TAVROS with the S-N-double-O-P: (why Be yizzou sizzUcH a liar,) 

JOHN: (shizzut up. i'm ridin' it with my forty-fo' mag.) 

TIZZLE wit da big Bo$$ Dogg: (dis be noT coo',) TAVROS so jus' chill: (yoe Prevent'n joYful human sTYled matrimonY frOM messin',) 

JIZZAY: (yeah rizzy. lizzike she would evizzle say yes.) JOHN: (i diznon't even think she rizzle yo' girlfrizzle. i think you mizzy T-H-to-tha-izzat up!) 

TAVROS: Snoop dogg is in this bitch. (wizzy, no, wOw,) TAVRIZZLE: (yiznou wEnt thERE,) 

V-R-TO-THA-IZZISKA: Death row 187 4 life. Theze three gizzy are all ty ta tha S-to-tha-izzame legend wizzy I've uncovered clizzle a8out brotha tizzle. Legendary shizzay be everywhizzle out here. I'm seriously up ta my ass 'n legend. Hell, I probably evizzle qualify as a legizzle myself!!!!!!!! VRIZZLE: When it comes ta solv'n a 8ig mystery like dis, it dizzay hizzay thizzay everywhere we go, places be compoze' of thizzle collective memories of many different baller. VRIZZISKA yeah yeah baby: W-to-tha-izze've explored ancient crypts, networks of 8urizzle mizzay, dusty old tom8s, giant pyramids, you N-to-tha-izzame it. Hints a8out tha endgame be hidden all ova tha plizzle. VRISKA: Aint no killin' everybodys chillin'. Really, everyone pretty lucky I dizzied so I cizzy do all tha dirty work on dis. Let git real, no8ody 8etta prepared ta takes on tha treasure hunt'n dizzles than I be. 

TAVROS so sit back relax new jacks get smacked: (unhizzle tha treasurE,) TAVRIZZLE: (it prEcious ta Me, J-to-tha-izzUst lizzle, Mah beautiful GIRLFRIZZLE,) 

JOHN: Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. (you be so fizzy of shit cuz I put gangsta rap on tha map!) 

TIZZLE: Nigga get shut up or get wet up. (we're 'n LOVE togetha, aSSHole,)  

JOHN: (there no way yizzay gett'n dis r'n.) 

TAVROS wit da big Bo$$ Dogg: (fUCk, YoU,) 

VRIZZLE: Nizzay that I'd have it any otha way. Dis jizzay sounds liznike tha 8est P-L-to-tha-izzan ta me. Why 8otha mess'n arizzle wit an army of ghostly dipshits, or sizzy shizzy mizzle alien whizzen you can go str8 for tha ultim8 weapon? VRISKA: Hell, M-to-tha-izzay8e I'll just walk right up ta him, one-shot tha homey n end it all riznight thiznere fo my bling bling. VRISKA: That how a real pro goes a8izzle 8usiness. You gotta check dis shit out yo. You takes anizzle shortcut yizzy find. Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. 

JOHN: Ya fuck with us, we gots to fuck you up. (i be go'n ta wish as snoopa hizzle as i cizzay that i wake up wit this r'n wit da big Bo$$ Dogg.) JOHN: (it probably magic, so i bet it makes mah W-to-tha-izzish cizzy trizzle in tha dogg pound!) 

TAVROS aww nah: (i doubT tizzy Frizzay frontin',) 

JIZZY n we out! (if i wish hard enough, that will make it slightly lizzle impizzle!) 

TIZZLE: (oh, yizzle bastARD, you be gOOd,) 

JOHN: (i think S-to-tha-izzome day i W-to-tha-izzill uze it ta propoze ta *MAH* girlfriend. what d-ya think 'bout THIZZLE, wize homey?) 

TAVROS: (noOO!!!) TAVROS: (gIMme,) 

JOHN, niggaz, better recognize: (dis be pathetic, betta check yo self.) JIZZLE: Chill as I take you on a trip. (stop grabb'n at me! we're messin' wizzy she say'n!) JOHN: (she go'n ta think W-to-tha-izze're idizzles, wizzon't you STIZZOP?) 

VIZZY like a motha fucka: Be you fucka even mobbin' to me???????? God DIZNAMN it. Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. 

JIZZOHN: Death row 187 4 life. yes! 

VRIZZLE: No yoe not. Boom bam as I step in the jam, God damn. Yoe squa88l'n wit Tavros n his loud shitty whisper'n a8out some 8ullshit. VRISKA: Cizzome on, guys. Be I really 8eing that 8or'n? VRIZZLE: I'm really start'n ta understand how my ancizzle miznust hizzy fiznelt sometimes. No8ody killa respects an important explan8tion!!!!!!!! 

TAVROS: Relax, cus I'm bout to take my respect. (i've alReadY heARd yo' explANAtions, tHough,) 

VRISKA: Why be you still whisper'n jackizzles so jus' chill?! 

TAVROS: oHH, TAVROS: sORRY, 

VRISKA: I thought i told ya, nigga I'm a soldier. Sizzay to increase tha peace. VRIZNISKA if you gots a paper stack: 8oth of you jizzay K-to-tha-izzeep yo' damn H-to-tha-izzands ta yourselves, shut up, n let me finish mah story. Its just anotha homocide. V-R-TO-THA-IZZISKA: Tizzles with my hoes on my side, and my strap on my back 8weed-smokin' me thizzay treasure maps!!!!!!!! 

TAVRIZZLE: yES, TAVROS: rIGHT AWAY,

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