#hiphop turns 50

[ausetkmt]

Bob Berg/Getty Images | Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Published on: Jun 13, 2023, 7:45 PM PDT

Wu-Tang Clan, Mary J. Blige, EPMD and more have been tapped for a Funk Flex-curated Hip Hop 50 concert going down in the heart of New York City.

In addition to the aforementioned names, Tyrese, Sean Paul and special guests Mariah Carey and Maxwell will also perform at the show, which takes place on September 15 at Madison Square Garden.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (June 16) via Ticketmaster. Fans can also use the code “DISCO” for Live Nation’s pre-sale on Thursday (June 15) at 10 a.m. ET.

You can view the full lineup below:

Hopefully fans get to see Method Man and Mary J. Blige come together to perform their classic hit, “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By” – which Meth recently revealed he resented at first.

During his 2022 visit to Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast, the rap vet explained how he hated the image he received from the Grammy Award-winning song and attempted to reject the love he was getting.

related news

Method Man Explains Major Difference Between Wu-Tang Clan’s Era & Hip Hop Today

June 12, 2023

“I fought that ‘All I Need’ shit,” Meth said. “I didn’t wanna put it out ’cause it was at a point now where, when we were doing these shows [with] Wu-Tang Clan, I would come out and it’d be girls screaming. Now, for me, it’s like, I’m grimy, same-clothes-for-three-days-in-a-row nigga; who wants to go the sex symbol route at this point?!”

Meanwhile, this isn’t the only concert going down in NYC in celebration of Hip Hop’s 50th birthday. A mega concert celebrating the milestone in the genre’s birthplace of the Bronx goes down one month earlier inside Yankee Stadium on August 11.

Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube and many more have joined Run-DMC on the star-studded lineup that also includes Fat Joe, T.I., Common, Slick Rick, Lupe Fiasco, Ghostface Killah, EPMD, and A$AP Ferg.

There’s a Queens of Hip Hop set that will feature Eve, Lil Kim, Remy Ma and Trina. The concert will also pay homage to trailblazers who helped pave the way like Kurtis Blow, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Caz, Roxanne Shante, Melle Mel and the Sugarhill Gang.

[seven10th]

When It Rains It Pours

pairing: hwang jun-ho x f!reader

summary: the odd police man you keep taking around to different islands reveal something that’s very familiar at the club you work at.

warning: none tbh, but reader has a bit of lore because I like world building lol :3 she has two jobs: the main one is working as a bottle girl at a HipHop club in Hongdae, the second one is captain of a small touristic boat she manages, which she followed as a passion. Also, I describe her as foreign in this for some small details but that can be ignored :D

word count : 1.3k o.0

This is my first try at a fanfic so advice is welcomed :3

September 24th, 2023

The weather has been less than kind lately, and paired up with the odd client Captain Park has redirected to you, you came to realise that maybe the tours you took in the summer for schoolchildren to see how it was on a boat were something you took for granted.

“Can you go north two hundred meters mor-“

“No.” You responded to Jun-ho, the man that kept you occupied, yet paid. “There’s too many rock formations underneath the water ahead. They might puncture the motor or the bottom of the boat. Or you if you chose to dive here.”

You couldn’t tell if he kept suggesting doing stupid things intentionally or not. He was a detective, for fuck’s sake. You did your research before agreeing on taking him on these trips, not believing it was really a man working in the korean police system that could spend almost every waking second on a boat, searching for some secret island.

As he puts on his diving suit, you glance at the photo copy of the card used to coax people into joining the game. A circle, a triangle and a fucking square are holding this man in a short leash, all his energy put into the search for this damn island…  You didn’t help him because he paid heavy, he was relatively polite or you pitied him when Captain Park told him his boat was broke… No.

It was because of that damn pink solider.

September 2nd, 2022

Since the weather got chillier, you had to lessen the ammount of trips you’d make each month, now doing them thrice a week, causing you to take more shifts at W-East Coast, a well known club in Hongdae, popular amongst both locals and tourists. Blasting Hip-hop and rap music at every waking hour,bustling with customers and bottle girls in the main area and private dancers in the back, the club was a tourist attraction itself.

And so were you. Of course you were a bit deflated upon seeing a line of girls holding their cvs, all dressed up head to toe in attire fitting for the club’s theme.

“Finally! Ma giiiiiirl!”

Upon entering the manager’s office, you were welcomed by a very stuffy room, walls covered in record cases, basket jerseys and random awards won by the club. The manager, a guy in his early 30’s greeted you cheerfuly as he held his hand up to dap him. Upon you doing so, he snatched your CV, barely paying attention to it as he turned back to look at you.

“You’re hired! Ah, you’re perfect for this job! A godsend if I say so.” He circled you, not in a creepy way but… it definitelly made you a bit awkward and confused onto why you were the perfect candidate yet when much more experienced and probably korean speaking girls were lining up for hours outsi-

“A foreigner will be perfect as a bottlegirl! Dad’s gonna be super proud of me for finding a foreigner to do this…And ya aint bad lookin either’… just need a bit of… Glam!” The manager grinned as you understood exactly why you were the perfect choice.

Not that you were complaining. No. It was actually one of the best jobs since you have been hunting them in Korea.

A club where music in a language you knew was played, surrounded by people who simply were amazed by the fact you were… you. And to be honest, you started to like 50 Cent’s songs despite them being overplayed. Salary raises came easy, especially if the manager, who you learned called himself Ty, reference to the overplayed artist, called you in for music management. It did help for your reccomendation to write ‘Assistant manager’ afterall.

Octomber 31st, 2022

Your boat hours were cut even shorter with the shortening of the day, meaning you took more and more shifts at W-East Coast, making you one of the most popular bottle girls. The customers were a bit shy to order from you, especially when you took the extroverted and friendly persona. And maybe you felt a bit like an animal in a zoo with how they looked at you all the time, sticking out even between the bottle girls, which only three more were foreigners… but it paid well. Matter of fact, very well. So well that…

“Nah, man. Sorry. I’m just the server. Dancers are back there.” You spoke from behind the bar as you refilled a ice bucket when a guy in a pink jumpsuit approached. His voice was muffled by the balck mask he wore, a white square on it.

“My boss can pay you very well. They have shown an interest in you, and are willing to spend any sum.” The guy continued, very insistent. Usually, they’d leave or ask for a photo, but this time, you felt something was odd, really odd. With the skill you earned after working for 2 months there, you looked around the club to see another 2 bottle girls having some odd business card in their back pockets, identitcal to the one the pink guy slid to you over the bar. A idea began to shape in your mind seeing as the two girls who got the card were the foreign ones, the korean bottle girls not having any on them.

You tried to ignore him, working onto the expensive order you just got but he only kept going.

“It wouldn’t take much of your time. And it’s very discreet. No one you know would know.”

Seeing you still ignoring him, he gave up but slid the card further towards you, only moving when you finally pocketed it with a roll of your eyes.

“Really? No fucking tip? And he says he knows a rich guy…” You muttered to yourself before going to serve your table, now more aware of the people looking at you. Did you really stick out that much?

September 24th, 2023

Your spaced out a bit, the memories of the halloween party from last year resurfacing in your mind, the same card in the photograph was in your drawer in the small apartment you rented.

“The one in the club didn’t seem to have a gun…” You muttered while thinking of how Jun-ho described the guards he interacted with… Tracksuit, room, guns, shapes, circle, triangle, square- It was all a big mush of ideas on the notebook he carried, which you’d look through when he’d be diving in search for some phone ‘he lost’.

A few minutes passed in a haze as you looked at the surface of the wtaer, realising the only person who had an explanation for the weird guy that day was a good few meters under the water, the sea a bit aggitated. A knot formed in your throat and suddenly you were up, tugging at the iron chain that held him connected to the boat. You pulled on it until he finally came to the surface, gasping for air.

“HEY! What was that for?” He yelled, a bit angry from being yanked out. Yet you didn’t have any explanation. You simply stared at hime, blank faced before speaking stern.

“The weather is worse. Get out of the water unless you want the waves to ragdoll your ass around those rocks.” You commanded. It was a lie. The water was okay-ish for the time of the year but a sudden fear ran through you. You have been working with him for a good three months now but couldn’t say you developed any relationship besides the customer-worker one… it was the information he knew and the strong will that drove him to keep on searching for the island that made you realise just how serious this could actually be…

[dom1re]

i just want to say, since i've joined this fandom i have admired your art SO MUCH 🥹 the way you shade clothing folds ESPECIALLY.. among so many other things, like your lineart and the way you draw faces! (and not only that, but your writing is captivating 💞💞)

not only that but i just adore sunan so much.. i was curious, in like a modern au, what kind of fashion/music would he like? 😙😙😙

(- your secret santa 🧑‍🎄 🫶)

WHY HELLO🧑‍🎄💖💖 first of all thank you, ur ask turned my insides all mushy and fuzzy... in a good way 🫶🫶 I'm just really flattered but I feel especially seen about the clothing folds hahaha the amount of dopamine i get from drawing them is not normal

That's a fun question!! It couldnt have come at a better time actually coz i bounced around some band au ideas recently. I imagine Sunan as this west coast kid who first picks up guitar after watching his high school crush play (aka his gaywakening)

He'd start listening to rock wanting to look cool like his crush and wanting to fit in. He'd probably start with 90s-00s alt/indie rock, get really into it, and work his way down to 70s-80s classic rock. His favorite song & band:

He'd probably listen to top 50 pop and hiphop too. This is a kid from a multicultural family (enter identity crisis) so i can see him exploring his identity by following big asian artists like 88rising as well as kpop/jpop

As for fashion he would gravitate towards loose comfy clothes with clean lines e.g. hoodies, sweatshirts, trainers, wide denim jeans. It's what I call "Uniqlo/Musinsa/Vans athleisure skater chic." Not a real thing but you get the idea 😂😂 tbh it's just what I like seeing people wear, makes u look cool imo... So there ya go

This was so fun to answer, thanks again!! I'd love to ask you the same when I find out who you are 😏😏 til then hope you have fun relaxing holidays hehe talk to u soon 💖💖

[favorite-music-tourney]

Hey! BambiMcD and I had a look over your list for the 2000s tourney, and there's a gap in the rap/hip hop/r&b area - it looks like you've got a lot of pop songs, but that's an era where rap/hiphop/r&b starts to become really dominant. We put together a fairly long slate of 32 songs across rap, R&B, rock, country, and some other odds and ends that could do with including!

It Wasn’t Me - Shaggy

In Da Club - 50 Cent

Yeah - Usher

Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira ft Wyclef Jean

Drop It Like It’s Hot - Snoop ft Pharrell

Stronger - Kanye (samples Daft Punk)

Umbrella - Rihanna ft Jay Z

Low - T Pain & Flo Rida

Get Low - Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, ft Ying Yang Twins

X Gon Give It to Ya - DMX

Work It - Missy Elliott

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas

Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

How You Remind Me - Nickelback

Viva la Vida - Coldplay

Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

In the End - Linkin Park

Chop Suey! - System of a Down

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeah

Bodies - Drowning Pool

A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton

Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

How to Save a Life - The Fray

Where Were You when the world stopped turning - Alan Jackson

Need You Now, Lady A

Beer for My Horses, Toby Keith

Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood

Anything But Mine, Kenny Chesney

Whiskey Lullaby, Brad Paisley & Allison Krauss

I’m Like A Bird - Nelly

Kids - MGMT

Drop it like it's Hot, Yeah, Umbrella, Hips Don't Lie, Hollaback Girl, Before He Cheats, How to Save a Life, A Thousand Miles, Chop Suey!, I Gotta Feeling, Crazy, And Vida La Vida were all added already, and separate songs by Nickelback, Nelly and Linkin Park were added as well. But I will consider the other songs if I decide to expand the list to 96 songs

[oh-my-damn]

No one asked for this but I am going to say it anyways because this blog is nothing more than my personal diary and nothing really matters

So, the truth is (this is not surprising to people who know me irl) that I was never really a huge Taylor fan. In fact, I used to side with Kanye in the entire Taylor/Kanye situation. I mainly sided with Kanye because I used to dance hiphop (fun fact, I was the national champion) and so his genre of music was what I had grown up with and was used to since its more hiphop dance-friendly.

What's even more embarrassing is that I didn't even become a true swiftie until after Taylor went on the Eras Tour in the US. I had no idea she was going on tour. In fact, the reason I turned into a proper swiftie was because I saw a clip on tiktok of one specific moment on her tour, performing one specific part of a song.

The clip was short, perhaps 50 seconds long, less than a minute, but it made me burst into tears.

My first throught was: what the fuck is this??? Is this Taylor Swift??? What the fuck is going on????

Because bursting into tears is not my usual reaction to music (well, it didn't use to be, at least).

I was never again able to find the exact clip I saw. It still haunts me to this day. I remember it so clearly, the emotion in it and how it made me sob in a way I haven't since I was a child.

All it took was fifty seconds.

I never found it again. But it looked a little something like this:

This is why My Tears Ricochet is my all-time favorite Taylor song. It mainly has to do with the fact that this song forced me to dig deeper.

That clip ended after 50 seconds and I sat there with tear streaked cheeks and asked the empty room surrounding me, "What the hell just happened?" And then I asked the hollowness around me, "Why? Why did it happen?"

None of the answers to the questions I once asked matter anymore. Because those questions forced me to listen.

It forced me to let go of my pre-conceived notion of who Taylor Swift was, and truly listen.

It resulted in me finding the album this song belongs to (Folklore) and listen to every single track, one by one, while reading the lyrics.

I desperately wanted to know that what had happened during those 50 seconds of watching a tiktok was an anomaly. That they would never happen again.

But then I listened to the entire album. And it kept happening.

Again. And again. And again. And again.

It happened with not only My Tears Ricochet, but also with Peace, with The 1, The Last Great American Dynasty and The Lakes. It happened with Seven, and Mad Woman, Exile, and This Is Me Trying.

So I had stumbled into a major problem. I had stumbled upon something that was due to rattle my entire belief system and the was I saw the world.

Because how could I love Taylor Swift?

She sings Love Story and You Belong With Me; both and more, songs that are just inherently not me.

It is impossible that she could possibly affect me and make me feel like this.

It just doesn't happen. It isn't possible.

But in my delusion, I moved on to Evermore. And that is when the old part of me died, for good. I was already dying, but I wasn't aware, not completely, until Evermore.

That is when I realized the only reasonable thing I could do, was to let go of my entire belief system.

Because yes, there is no way "You Belong With Me" Taylor Swift could have written this piece that made me cry and ache in a way that no musical piece ever has before.

I was right about that.

Because "You Belong With Me" Taylor Swift didn't write it.

It was written by the version of Taylor Swift who had evolved during the 10+ years I had refused to listen to her.

And she was and continues to be absolutely breathtakingly, earth-shatteringly beautiful. In a way that I wish she wouldn't be, because it makes me question everything about myself. Over, and over, and over again, with every single track I listen to.

I am now at a point where you could not play a single track she has ever made, that I would not recognize within the first ten seconds of listening to it. It's been about a year since I first truly discovered her, and this is where I'm at.

And I don't know whether that's normal, or right, or wrong, but I feel it. I feel her words.

And who are we really, to question ourselves in something like that?

Perhaps human.

[kaydub80]

There was a global uprising in June 2020 after the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And while many corporations attempted to placate Black and Brown protesters in various manners, the hip-hop world offered what felt like the bare minimum.

I was very cautious almost four years ago when rappers stopped rapping anti-intellectual content and got political, wondering how long it would last. As it turned out, the 2021 Grammys was the end of this faux political run.

So, Roland Clark was proven correct when he said that hip hop has lost its ability to uplift black people.

That dynamic continues today, as the biggest rap stars are often politically neutral in public, and a focus on profits has softened much of the genre’s political bite.

Rappers hanging out and joining forces with establishment politicians at events says it all. As more rappers get comfortable with the top one percent, we have already seen some of them move drastically to the right. This makes it more acceptable for rappers to continue pushing anti-intellectual content that drags down black people.

[world-cinema-research]

Week 7 Short Essay Part 1 – Sex, Lies and Videotape comparison to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 

By Christian Lavarello

The films, Sex, Lies and Videotape by Director Steven Soderbergh and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai by director Jim Jarmusch are vastly different from one another. Sex, Lies and Videotape follows the intertwined lives of four individuals living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: John Mulaney (Peter Gallagher), Ann Bishop Mulaney (Andie MacDowell), Cynthia Bishop, and Graham Dalton. John is an attorney who is having an affair with his wife Ann’s sister. Ann claims to not want sex anymore, being excessively concerned about world issues until John’s old college friend, Graham (James Spader) visits them. Graham is ‘brutally honesty,’ especially about the fact that he is impotent and the only way he can have some physical satisfaction is by videotaping women talking about sex and their sexual encounters. With his arrival, everyone’s deceptions and hypocrisies come to the surface and so does Ann’s desire to have to sex again. Director Steven Soderbergh’s groundbreaking debut shook the Indie Filmmaking scene awarding him the Palme d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, making Soderbergh the youngest solo director to win the award.  

Almost ten years later, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai was released by director Jim Jarmusch which tells the story of an urban samurai (Forest Whitaker), a man who was saved when he was younger by Louie (John Tormey), a mafioso. Sometime later, Ghost Dog reappears before the mafioso and, in accordance with his samurai ethical code, admits he is in debt with Louie. Louie turns Ghost Dog into his own efficient, uncatchable hitman and nobody knows his "real" name and they communicate via carrier pigeon-delivered messages. Ghost Dog’s only "outside" conversations are with the French-speaking Haitian ice-cream vendor Raymond (Isaach De Baukole) and a precocious girl, Pearline (Camille Winbush), whom he meets in the park, and they share books.  

One the most prominent differences between both films is that Sex, Lies and Videotape is more of an unconventional film, whereas Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is conventional. Alisa Perren wrote a scholarly review on Sex, Lies and Videotape and its’ impact on filmmaking and marketing of the 80s and early 90s, where she states, “On a cost-to-earnings ratio, Steven Soderbergh’s creation —with its $1.1 million dollar budget and $24 million plus in North American box office—was a better investment than Batman, which—at an investment of $50 million—returned $250 million in domestic box office”.

Chuck Stephens wrote a scholarly article on Jim Jarmusch's way of telling the Ghost Dog’s story where he states, “There are many stories within Ghost Dog, and Jarmusch rashomon-ically wants to tell - or retell - them all. The simplest of them is this: Ghost Dog lives alone in a rooftop aerie, kept company by a covey of carrier pigeons as he studies the nihilist koans of the Hagakure. Around him, the wind whistles with hiphop hybridity ("black Mafia mind De Niro") and moans with the "everything's changing," time-to- die fatalism of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, another film in which out-moded men are picked off like chickens buried to their necks in sand”. Both films are reviewed critically from very different aspects and the reviewer sees they excel and radiate different qualities that contributed to films of the 80s and 90s.  

During the time of the film Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area with a 6.9 magnitude, leaving behind a trail of destruction, while in 1999 during the time of the film, Ghost Dog: The way of the Samurai John F. Kennedy Jr., wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren G. Bessette are lost at sea when a plane he was piloting disappears near Martha's Vineyard, off Mass. coast on July 16, 1999. Two different tragic events occur during the time of both films which affected many individuals.  

Both films had great success in their own ways with Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai touching on the history of the warriors of Japan with a gangster American twist where the characters are understood and the story comes together at the end, whereas Sex, Lies and Videotape touched on more socially unacceptable topics of its’ time and sexual conversations making the audience work to resolve issues brought up in the movie. Their differences make these films unique and do cater to very different audiences, but both are great films to watch. 

[mileshehimwhite]

ok i know this is played out but i wanna touch on how music is generally seen as one of the most socially acceptable art forms. it is impossible to live as a human and escape music, its everywhere. however, that really doesnt mean that music is upheld as an art worth discussing.

id say its pretty fair to point out poetry and music are fairly similar mediums. they cross over all the time, and the distinction of the two is more of a matter of subjective taste than concrete lines. something interesting ive found with poetry is that its not as easily accessible by the masses as music - why not? much of poetry is melodic or could be easily transformed into song. the iambic pentameter is infamous for its specificity when it comes to syllables, very akin to how lyrics in music must conform to certain tempos or become a noisy cacophony.

the kendrick vs drake beef has brought the idea of music being poetic back into the mainstream. i say "back into" but any kendrick fan can tell you that hes always incorporated poetic devices into his lyrics and instrumentals to illustrate the theme of his song/album better. its fun! its a way for him to showcase his skills while also making the music a participatory act for the audience. almost like a scavenger hunt, you know everything is THERE, its up to you to find WHERE. however, the beef has far surpassed kendrick and drake fans, hiphop/rap fans, and has become a discussion point for those who have absolutely no background in these mediums. this is not a diss, its an acknowledgement that for those of us who have and do revere music as an artform, a lot of the talking points can come off as very beginner - because they are, they're made by beginners who are finding their foothold in this new world, just like we all did at one time whether we were 5 or 50 when we first started.

disclaimers aside, my grievances aren't with the people intrigued by accusations. i mean, i dont like 2010 pop very much but if katy perry called pink a pedophile you bet your ass id have tuned the fuck in. im not even sure if thats a comparable accusation, as i think katy perry was more popular than pink? i dont know, you get my point. the accusations are more indicative of the system they're both existing in than kendrick saying this one guy sucks and if we get rid of him and his groupies hollywood will be rainbows sunshine and happiness forever. like, we should still get rid of him, but the systems in place that let drake rise to the level hes at and profit so widely from the communities he claims to represent wont disappear with him, they'll just find the next drake, or taylor swift, or james corden, literally fucking whoever fits the mold they need them to fit into, and if they dont, then adapt to the mold assigned to them. the system continues, the gears keep turning.

i dont even want to talk about the beef necessarily, though i do want to talk about the two songs meet the grahams and Not Like Us. meet the grahams was the heavy-hitter. the one that got everyone talking. Not Like Us was the chaser. a sweeter mixture to dull out the bitterness in the audience's mouth. there's been more controversy about the lyricism in Not Like Us than meet the grahams, and i find that it comes from a lack of understanding of what artforms really are - communicative devices. they're not trying to TELL you something, as something like a report or spreadsheet would with its analysis of sourced data, but it's trying to make you EXPERIENCE something. you can hear the sentence "Treat others the way you want to be treated." all your life, but if you've never experienced a situation where you need others to treat you with the same humanity they hold for themselves, it's a lot less impactful.

Not Like Us showcases exactly what kendrick lamar has already shown us repeatedly: he not only understands people, but he knows how to get through to them. meet the grahams will inevitably go down as one of the most vicious disstracks of all times, yes, but who's bumping that shit? nobody. its not supposed to be bumped. people discuss how it sounds very eerie and frightening, and its SUPPOSED. TO. BE. the instrumentals weren't picked for no reason. the unintelligible yelling in the background? purposeful. the vocals of kendrick going in and out of rage, of him simultaneously saying he wants drake dead and also that he wants him to improve himself by going through ego dissolution? purposeful. this is not just kendrick showing his own emotions regarding the scenario, he's priming the audience to be on his side by proactively aligning himself with their emotions - which leads me to Not Like Us.

okay. like, even the title you see it clearly. Not Like Us. kendrick, even before the song begins, has the audience creating an Us VS Them dichotomy with drake and his crew. kendrick also doesnt define a clear 'us' within the song - he does directly call out drake's culture vulturism in his music, but notice how deliberate he is with it. kendrick points out how drake uses "the people" to get himself a larger paycheque. that is, purposefully, relatable to every working class person regardless of race or location. he uses specific black people in his examples because of drake's anti-blackness, and while he mentions drake being half white in a few of his songs his criticism is always very carefully cushioned by the fact that kendrick DEFENDS drake's white half. he says hes a culture vulture for profiting off of such an important artform made by and for black america, yes, but he also points out that the inauthenticity towards his mother's side of the family and his nationality as canadian is pathetic and disloyal. he SPECIFICALLY MENTIONS how drake lied about his religious views not because kendrick hates the jews secretly but because DRAKE CAN'T PROFIT OFF OF BEING JEWISH THE SAME WAY HE CAN BEING BLACK. that's why he doesn't claim being jewish as hard as he does being black, if the inverse was true i doubt drake would EVER try to 'fit in' to the hip-hop crowd, in the same way he rarely if ever mentions his upbringing in a jewish household.

this is very important and VERY strategic of kendrick. he CANNOT be making enemies in this stage. kendrick has been banking on this reaching far past hip-hop/rap crowds. drake is fluid and, to the core, mainstream. therefore, kendrick NEEDS his lyricism to be just as easily approachable. think about the difference between kendrick's double entendres. "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A Minor" has been a joke since, probably literally the day we quantified the concept of chords in music theory. some people criticize the line because of that, accusing kendrick of being a hack for using such an easy joke. what they dont understand is, THE JOKE HAD TO BE EASY. it had to simultaneously be easy to access for the general public and also still somewhat biting. kendrick already planted the seeds of drake being a pedophile in meet the grahams, and he's reaping his harvest by dropping that line and "Certified Loverboy, Certified Pedophile". they not only dont have to be clever, THEY CAN'T BE. they can't be more clever than what the layman would gather with one listen, they're his hooks in the song.

some people use Not Like Us as kendrick stepping up to the dick measuring contest on drake's terms. "oh, you think you so good cause you can write something that'll get em jumping? not only can i do that, i can do it BETTER." and i do agree with them! Not Like Us was incredibly well thought-out. it gives us basically no new information, but it doesnt need to, Not Like Us owes its purpose to beating people over the head with a few of the concepts addressed in euphoria. and meet the grahams, yes, and also to prime the audience against drake, yes, and also to show the audience that anything drake does you can get somewhere else and done better, YES! even the beat is produced by DJ Mustard, whose works are both familiar to rap fans, and widely loved. DJ Mustard producing it reinforces the Us VS Them. i mean, even casual listeners of rap have heard the notorious tag "Mustard on the beat, ho!".

im not going to claim this hasnt been pointed out before, i havent seen it, but im sure it has. kendricks discography has primed old fans to indulge in every lyric to make sure no nuance is missed. i dont think kendricks artistry has been in doubt once the entire time this beef has been widely popular. so it seems a little silly then, to start this goddamn dissertation off with a criticism of how music isnt treated with the same consideration by its fans like how a similar artform, poetry, is. and thats because... well, 1: music is way more popular than poetry, like i said. and that leads into 2: people dont recognize music as... important.

some music is. that's true. i mean, remember during the pandemic when celebrities were singing john lennon's Imagine from their mansions while the working class were dying from completely preventable causes? we can say what we will about that era, and oh boy do i have a lot to say, but it does prove that we on some level acknowledge the impact of music. why else choose a song? why not literally just say the words, or words to that impact? because music is better? well, no. people say impactful shit everyday - sans music. Inspirational speeches are a type of communication basically always devoid of music and yet they serve very similar purposes. so, no. music isnt always better. in fact, during the situation i outlined above, i could not think of anything WORSE than breaking into a little tune and jig. there is some tact necessary.

music, however, does excel in one thing inspirational speeches don't: community. this may make little sense, because inspirational speeches are notorious for being purposeful in their bonding of individuals into one united movement. but i want you to consider this: what role does the speaker hold? in inspirational speeches, they're on the same side as the crowd, yes, but they tend to hold some position above or differing from them. a figurehead or trusted authority figure to a movement. they're fighting for the same thing, but they're in a unique position to the crowd.

think about music in that same concept. the singer doesnt tend to hold that same difference. how could it? the audience sings along, the audience dances, the audience taps their foot or bobs their head, whatever participation is included, its necessary. kendrick's Not Like Us, no matter how eloquently reworked, would have NEVER gained the same traction as an inspirational speech. it would make kendrick seem too different from the masses. it would remind us that... he's a celebrity too. he isn't working class. he isn't the one getting affected most by drake's culture vulturism, misogyny, or alleged pedophilia. which would then ask the question: well... why didnt he point this out earlier?

some people are still asking that question, which i think does hold merit. kendrick lamar is not our friend. he has done amazing things for his community and black americans at large and we absolutely cannot discredit that, but kendrick lamar could personally fund my lifestyle forever and that still wouldn't mean i know him or his mindset. he is much more impactful to me because a lot of his songs about growing up in poverty or in crime-ridden environments resonate with my own upbringing, and hearing his experiences heightens that level of relatability because kendrick DID experience what he's writing about, unlike drake, but i also know me. i know people from my block, people who died or got on drugs. im aware that it isnt a black and white scenario, that someone could do amazing things in one area and hurt people in another, and that both are true simultaneously. kendrick himself is obviously aware of this, he addresses it routinely in his music.

i truly believe that kendrick lamar showcases an incredible wisdom of people in his music. i believe that is more necessary to contributing to music than having a good ear for what sounds right. music is a communicative tool, and kendrick knows exactly what to say, how to say it, and when, to elicit the response he wants. THAT is why the people who thought drake would ever win the beef were, at the very best, not paying close enough attention. roasts are not just insults, they're insights to another person's flaws. a metaphorical airing of dirty laundry to the public to initiate change. kendrick can get away with outright admitting he hates shit about drake for no reason and not be seen as petty because he articulates it in a way that has the audience agreeing with him. sometimes you hate somebody for a reason you can't pinpoint - and the funniest part is that kendrick CAN pinpoint exactly why he hates, for example, when drake says the n word. he literally goes on to say why! very explicitly! but now he's made it more comfortable for people to start bashing on drake for any given reason because "the vibes are off".

TLDR; be careful what you listen to, because theyre definitely listening to you.

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 4,572

[S] Prince of Heart: Rise up.

song used: Time on My Side by Tensei

song commentary:

Tensei:

With the Strife album, I deliberately left a lot of the background to the songs very ambiguous. There are no direct, obvious references as to what song corresponds to which character, though there are quite a few indications: each song uses an instrument that is typically associated with one of the kids in a pretty prominent way: whether it’s the piano lead in Heir Conditioning, the solo violin in Dance of Thorns, the bass and flute (shakuhachi, actually) in Atomic Bonsai, and of course the sampled beats and scratches in Time on my Side. I suppose the titles count as somewhat vague references to the characters as well.

With that said, I’m still not going to explicitly say “This song is actually a strife theme for Dave” or something like that. If Andrew chooses to interpret it as a good backdrop for a fight between Dirk and Jake, I am totally fine with that. Hell, I can totally see it working (And in fact it DID work, since the flash turned out pretty damn awesome)

I always felt like this song was a bit of the odd man out on the album. While I definitely think Dance of Thorns and Atomic Bonsai were awesome in their own right, they also feel a lot more ‘conventional’ compared to this song.

In a lot of ways, this song is actually very minimalistic. The droning bassline and guitar chugs stay on the same chord for almost a full minute while the buildup is mostly done through sound effects and overlayed orchestral sounds.

IMO, this results in giving the :53 point, where the chords finally start switching up, a much bigger impact (though the full Beatdown motif coming in probably helps too).

Something similar happens at 2:04 where after 30 seconds of the Black motif remaining on the same chord again, you get another switch, and everything just sounds huuuuuuge.

Appropriately to the title, this song has a lot of weird time-shit going on. Disc scratching in and of itself can actually be treated as a nice metaphor for time manipulation (the comic itself definitely makes grateful use of it), so it’s no wonder that it’s almost omnipresent here.

By far the neatest thing, in my opinion, is 2:35 though. The effect you hear there is actually the ENTIRE SONG up until that point, played in reverse, and sped up so it fits in a couple of seconds. The idea is literally that it ‘scratches’ and resets the song, much in the same way as happens to the entire universe in the comic, so it can lay down a wicked wah-guitar solo over the ‘scratched’ version of the song.

So yes, this song travels back in time in order to make itself awesomer.

Joking aside, this song, like most other ones I make, does also have some sneaky hidden references.

The guitar riff at 3:18, for example, is cribbed pretty much note for note from the Metallica song Master of Puppets (maybe this is a Dirk song after all?). The background strings at :37 have a very similar ascending chromatic pattern the intro to the James Bond theme. The high staccato strings at 1:50 are supposed to be reminiscent of the theme from Psycho, or really every slasher flick ever. (Black is associated with Jack Noir, Jack Noir likes to show people his stabs, etc.)

The original inspiration for this song probably comes from the least likely source imaginable. It’s not The Prodigy or Goldeneye 64 music, but actually the original score to the movie Space Jam. You probably don’t even know or remember it, but a lot of the songs have a very distinct looped hiphop beat, guitars, and orchestral stabs all over the place, much like a large portion of this song.

Seriously, listen to this from about 0:50 onward and you should hear the resemblance.

That aside, obviously stuff from The Prodigy’s Fat of the Land album bears some resemblance as well, especially with the cheesy bassline. I know that a few Prodigy songs have been used in the otherwise kinda shitty Charlie’s Angels movies whenever shit was about to go down, and that’s really the kind of vibe I was going for as well.

[kamari333]

Longpost about Dream's House #2

Back by popular demand (me), I'm here to continue where I left off in the [First Post] where I talked about my floorplan for Dream's House.

Content Warning: Spoilers for the fic An Anthology of Dreams & also warning for the use of Imperial measurements (because I'm USAmerican and all my houses are measured in feet)

Recap:

the Original Floor Plan was 3180 sq ft

Renovation #1 adding 572 sq ft to the basement and 90 sq ft to the first 2nd Floor (for a total of 662 additional sq ft) - bringing in a total of 3842 sq ft for the house

Renovation #2 added the Second 2nd Floor, which is 3882 sq ft, along with a 150 sq ft dining room (for a total of 4032 additional sq ft) - bringing in a total of 7874 sq ft for the house

Last time on Kamari333 we just finished talking about the Renovation #2, which happens in Chapter 17 (refresher: this was 6 months after Hiphop first arrived, and Dream is 14).

The next renovation happens in Chapter 19, when Falsi arrives. This is a little after Dream's 16th birthday (which happens offscreen).

Renovation #3

By this point, Dream has brought in several people on his own, but he's never before modified the house by himself (unless you count making the yard, but that isn't technically modifying the house). This is the point that Dream starts to add to the house by himself, without Ink (although we can see he is mimicking Ink, having learned from him through observation).

The first thing Dream does is manifest a new wing of the 1st floor, breaking a hole in the playroom wall to access it. This new wing consists of:

a 4x12 ft [48 sq ft] hallway of dark blue-tinted stone

a 22x10 ft room [220 sq ft] for Falsi's Clinic

a 10x10 ft [100 sq ft] bedroom off the Clinic for Falsi

This Wing for Falsi is by itself 368 sq ft.

Dream then turns around and adds more to the other side of the house, still on the first floor:

the Dining room is extended from 15x10 ft [150 sq ft] from the last renovation to 25x20 ft [500 sq ft] (a 350 sq ft expansion)

a second kitchen 16x30 ft [480 sq ft]

a second livingroom 16x20 [320 sq ft] off the diningroom

a small additional wing that is 20x21 ft [420 sq ft] off the diningroom (opposite the second livingroom)

This additional mini wing has a standard 2x10 staircase, as well as 3 bedrooms: a 10x9 ft bedroom [90 sq ft]; a 9x9 ft bedroom [91 sq ft]; and a 12x6 ft bedroom [72 sq ft].

You may have noticed that the Front Door and Back Door have been color coded in Red since the last post, since Renovation #2. If you look at the map, you will see that the new, second livingroom now extends out to block the back door. However, the back door still works; you can go in and come out through it with no interference from the new livingroom, although the livingroom itself does not have any indication for it at all. Like always, these new additions are not visible from the outside.

The house is much bigger on the inside now.

In addition, if you go up the Blue Stairs, which are the same dimensions as the Yellow Stairs and Green Stairs, we come up to a brand new floor!! It's not the First 2nd Floor, or the Second 2nd Floor, but the Third 2nd Floor!!!!

The total size of the Third 2nd Floor is 105x76 ft [7980 sq ft].

As a reminder. The original floorplan was only 3180 sq ft. The cumulative size of the house after the 2nd Renovation was 7874 sq ft. This new floor, like the one before it, literally doubles the size of the house.

The Third 2nd Floor features:

a bathroom that is 10x10 ft plus a 6x3 ft alcove (118 sq ft)

1 bedroom sized 5x13 ft (65 sq ft)

1 bedroom sized 6x13 ft (78 sq ft)

4 bedrooms sized 8x10 ft (80 sq ft each; total 320 sq ft)

5 bedrooms sized 5x10 ft (50 sq ft each; total 250 sq ft)

5 bedrooms sized 6x10 ft (60 sq ft each; total 300 sq ft)

16 bedrooms sized 10x10 ft (100 sq ft each; total 1600 sq ft)

18 bedrooms sized 7x10 ft (70 sq ft each; total 1260 sq ft)

a 18x13 ft couch space [234 sq ft]

a 31x33 ft Party Room [1023 sq ft]

a 41x30 ft Party Room [1230 sq ft]

For anyone who is counting, that is 3873 sq ft of just bedrooms; 2253 sq ft of activity space; and an additional 234 sq ft set aside just for couches. (Remember how Renovation #2 had 1588 sq ft of couches?)

Dream clearly learned how to design house space from Ink.

With this renovation, the house now has an additional 368 sq ft in Falsi's Wing; 1570 sq ft in the extended Dining Room Wing; and 7980 sq ft on the Third 2nd floor (for a total of 9918 sq ft of additional space). This brings the house to a grand total of 17,792 sq ft for the whole house.

Next

The next analysis is for Renovation #4.... And once again the Image Cap of 10 has risen to vex me: see you in [Part 3] i guess

[giovannasun]

The Rap Up Coverage | Hiphop turning 50 | BreakingDance | Street Art Wil...

[airevast2090-blog]

CANNIBAL OX; First And Foremost - I Turned 45 Yesterday, Came Home After A Great Dinner And Started Watching The Grammy's. I Looked Again And Realized My Name Was Placed Next To Proof's Of D-12 [Rest In Peace]. I'm Touched And Honored! I Have Done Nothing But Work Hard To Help Other Artist As Myself, See Their Vision. Anything That Has Worth Cimes With Pain, Trial & Error, Heart Ache And Disagreements. Get Up & Work! Then Get Up Again And Work Harder! 50 Years Of Hip Hop Was Celebrated 🍾 On My Birthday, At The Grammy's....With My Name On The Screen? I'm Blessed- Anybody That Has Followed My Music Knows I Put My All Into The Art. There Are Layers To My Hip Hop, To Show Respect To My Brand-name Is A Honor! At 5 Years Old, I Didn't Know I Would Be Loved & Repected On Such A Level. Allah Is One (Shout Out To All My Peers That Made That Stage List!) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: TAME ONE & GANGSTA BOO WERE NOT SHOWN IN THE MEMORIAL. [HURRICANE G WAS]* I NEED HELP ROUTING THIS WEST COAST TOUR - HOLLA! BRING US OUT 🎤 🔥 -VAST AIRE OF CANNIBAL OX C.E.O. OF IGC RECORDS LLC #IGCRECORDSLLC #CRIMSONGODZ #CANNIBALOX #GRAMMYS #VASTAIRE #HIPHOP #MUSIC #REELS (at United States) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoUyAE2ulRe/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jyoproductions]

Hey y'all hope you're having a good day it's Saturday I just released the reel of the video footage that I shared yesterday🔥🔥🔥 I have the video attached here by click over to the reel show your support leave a comment. I posted my song Party Wit Me verse 2 every song I turn it up as I go first verse eases you in second verse is the kill shot. Doesn't matter what style I got all styles if you go to my linktree that I share on my story and go to my ReverbNation you'll see. I'll be slowly releasing reels of them songs and if they get over 50 likes I will put them on Spotify. I hope you all have a good day and enjoy the video my homie @crea_tivevisuals did I just modified it letssss gooooo🍾🥂 #jyoproductions #followers #followersneeded #followersinstagram #philadelphia #philly #phillyhiphop #hiphop #hiphopperformer #newrapper #rapper #rappersofinstagram #rap #newmusic #newhiphop #hiphopmusic #rapmusic #realrap #hiphopartist #newrapper #viralpost #trending #trendingpost #performer #realhiphopmusic #newsong #hiphopproducer #takeoverteam #realhiphop #realliferocky (at Philly) https://www.instagram.com/p/CltmPqeLdqb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[historyhermann]

An Alternative to the Studio System?: Indie Animation Forges Ahead [Part 3]

continued from part 2. Split because Tumblr claimed there was an error in the post.

Just as exciting are the shows by Black creators. I've mentioned a few in this post already, including Creative Theory, Brandon Wright, Wisdom Nunn, Lucha Vandross, Nya, and Pia. For one, there's a 2D animated series named Jumbie, produced by a small studio in Trinidad and Tobago, GemGfx Animation Studios. Originally scheduled for release in February of this year, the Jumbie pilot was delayed to February 2023, because the studio was working on a music video for "A Better Tomorrow", a song by Mark Loquan, featuring Terri Lyons, which came out in April. With that, Jumbie is going forward.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann blog, and Wayback Machine. This was the eleventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 15, 2022.

In addition, there is an animated hiphop musical entitled Battu, which is scheduled to become an animated series on Cartoon Network. The latter has also picked up a show drawing from Nigerian culture entitled Iyanu: Child of Wonder to be overseen by a Black-owned animation studio, Lion Forge Animation. Before Disney Branded Television was headed by Ayo Davis, a Black woman, it agreed to pick up Iwájú. The latter is an Africanfuturist series set in Lagos, Nigeria. Disney is co-producing it with Kugali Media, a Pan-African entertainment company.

There are many other Black indie creators. There's Vampire Nwt's suspense mystery show entitled Blackwater Creek. It has queer Afro-Latine leads named after magic, monsters, and fruits! Even more exciting is Captain Zero. It is an action drama about a social media-obsessed superhero named Captain Zero who "must find the cause of his depression-fueled blackouts in order to save his city and himself." The series is created by a Black non-binary illustrator, filmmaker, and writer, Lamard Cher-Aimé. It is produced by a Black-owned animation company, Cutting Edge Animation.

This animated series tackles "mental health in the Black community, identity," according to Cher-Aimé. Currently, five seasons, 4 specials, and a feature film for Captain Zero are planned. The show's GoFundMe states that with enough money it can turn the show into a reality. The show, and another produced by Cutting Edge Animation, Space Friends, are often promoted by Cher-Aimé. They often ask their followers to name show characters, and showcase series art and related merchandise. Interviews, Q&As, and more further pull in potential viewers on the show's YouTube channel.

Recently, a short five-minute film entitled "Captain Zero: Into The Abyss", funded in part by Chromatic Black's Ida B. Wells fund, aired. It stars the Black trans actress Angelica Ross, who is the film's executive producer. The film focuses on a therapy session of Xerxes Hughes, aka Captain Zero, with Dr. Niobe (voiced by Ross). It was posted on the show's YouTube channel. It is within a video that is about 1 hour, 50 minute video, complete with mental health professionals, Ross, Cher-Aimé, and others talked about the film, Black representation in animation and comics, mental health, and many other topics.

These series prove what Ashley Nichols said: that "anyone can tell an amazing story." It also seems to prove that people with vision and passion can make "god tier animation". Amazing animation doesn't always need a "studio behind it with a million dollars." There is no clear answer for making indie animation viable. After all, people can still steal content of an indie animation and profit off it.

Even so, some have supported waiting longer for series to come to fruition, giving those producing it more time to rest, polish their ideas, and make the shows better. Furthermore, there is no doubt that corporate media fails to represent many aspects of society, with indie animation making cooler content despite the need for funds. There are the continual challenges of people not taking animation seriously.

Unsurprisingly, there have been calls for a website for indie animated series which works like Webtoon. The Animation for Adults site proposed an awards show just for indie animation. Creator Nation promoted a Discord server for indie creators, indie animated shows, and indie comics. Some noted news of Netflix's war with its animation department by letting go many of its animation employees. Many creators responded sharing their series or pilots in the process. It has led more toward indie animation.

Creators have seen indie animation as the way to go. Some said that creators should do promos for other indie animations or said that now is the most important time to support, and follow, indie projects. This is coupled with the realization (and recognition) that those in the animation industry don't have stable jobs.

Then, there's Project City, created by Rad Sechrist, well-known as the showrunner of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. In February, I argued that Project City has "the potential to expand the indie animation space beyond...often crowdfunded series on YouTube". I stated that it allows for "more independence for creators in the series, movies, music, or shows they create." While it is amazing that Sechrist is funding, and creating, his next film (The Brave War), co-created with Andra Gunter and Daniel Rojas, independently, progress on the platform is somewhat slow.

There was lukewarm reception to his idea that people who buy shares in a project "have the right to make and sell merch" but have to "drop profits back into our system that distributes to all IP owners". Some about the potential use of NFTs, which Sechrist realized was a good point. He is strongly against NFTs and for good reason. Others called it "iffy", said the execution could be tricky, or worried it could set a bad precedent. On the other hand, there were those more receptive to Sechrist's idea.

Project City now emphasizes its role as an animation school, including 15-minute lectures on various topics, and is now defined as a "project based platform for learning how to create animation." Back in March, Sechrist said they are continuing with F-IP (fractional IP), where people could buy shares of an IP, but are not using Blockchain or NFT, and stated they would be launching it within the next month. That did not happen. The idea continues to be developed. A tweet from the project's account used the #FIP hashtag on June 24. But, there haven't been many more updates beyond that, as Sechrist last mentioned it in a tweet on January 7.

On the other hand, on June 18, Sechrist said that they have been wanting to take steps toward making Project City "a streaming platform of creators learning and sharing their process/knowledge." He added that Project City takes "no ownership of IP people post". Anyone can post and delete any video they have posted. In addition, he said they were considering allowing people to post 1 minute clips on the site. Ultimately, Project City may be part of what Avara describes, giving people a platform who wouldn't have it "in the traditional studio setting". More fundamentally, it is part of allowing creators to share stories on their own terms.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.