March 2012
39 posts
February 2012
36 posts
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Complex: Too $hort Breaks Down his 25 Most Essential Songs →
complex.com
I talked to Too $hort about his catalog pre-XXL kerfluffle, so I think he was a bit more candid than he might have been otherwise. He’s a no-frills sort of entertainer, which is important to understand when approaching Too $hort’s catalog. He remade songs from his 75 Girls days (‘83-‘85) all the way until 1999, with “Invasion of the Flat Booty Bitches”.
Talking to him I learned: that the “Invasion of the Flat Booty Bitches” actually sort of happened, that he knew E-40 from back in the 80’s (and that KMEL tried to turn them against one another by exploiting the Summer Jam incident), that he knew Lil Uno’s dad from way back which is how he signed The Pack, and that the “Dopefiend Beat” was called that because Freddy B would impersonate a drug addict at the parties they DJed when they were young.
“Silicon Valley, where engineers in khakis write software code, might not at first glance have much to do with the world of rap music, where artists in sagging pants write irreverent lyrics.”
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Blogger Uses Rap to Teach Pithy Business Lessons
Speaking of ledes, this is the worst one I’ve read in some time.
(via seanfennessey)
Berkeley High stays putting out good rappers. To date: The Pack, Saul Cohen, this douchebag blogger.
“As Willy Staley argued in 2010 in an online column for Next American City magazine: “In richer cities, the inequality is put side-by-side, in an uncomfortable, loathsome way; for cities left in the dust of deindustrialization, the inequality is presents (sic) as existing between cities, not within them. Gone is the city/suburb divide between rich and poor, income inequality manifests itself within wealthy cities and between cities.”
—From Charles Blow’s op-ed today in the New York Times. I feel like he could have thrown ellipses over the ‘is’ or bracketed [presents] over the whole mess as a courtesy, but of course I love to pass the buck. I introduced a stupid, massive copy error into something that I wrote two years ago, and now it’s on The Opinion Pages today. There’s gotta be a lesson in here somewhere.
Episode 13 - Internet Anxiety
Champale
Episode 13 -Internet Anxiety with Zack Cohn
After a brief and stilted discussion of Riff Raff and Action Bronson’s troubled relationship with Pimp C and Ghostface, respectively, Willy, Marko, and very special guest (and Internet marketing maven) Zack Cohn delve into a conversation about why the Internet has ruined all of our lives, or at least our ability to listen to rap music.
Consider this Champale to be an Internet support group of sorts. You’re not alone in feeling bombarded and empty — we’re right there with you.
This episode discusses Twitter’s utopian goals, and its inability to deliver on them. This leads to a discussion of rappers’ Twitter accounts and branding: Is Noreaga’s Twitter on the Shitter a bad idea for Noreaga’s ‘brand’? How is Andre Nickatina like Rob Delaney? Does a rapper need to maintain his brand on Twitter, or should he be himself?
And in the last segment, Zack turns the tables on us, interviewing Willy about his experience blogging about rap, which leads to larger discussion of how blogs, which used to surface content both old and new, have pivoted into constantly chasing the novel, the new. Has the medium ruined the message? or something? We have no fucking clue, but we hope you might feel slightly less anxious about the Internet having listened to this episode — at least you know you’re not alone.
Raps sprinkled throughout:
Riff Raff, Action Bronson “Birds on a Wire”
Drumma Boy, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane “I’m on WorldStar”
Yung Jake “Datamosh”
Lil B “Age of Information”
Future “Birds Take a Bath”
Talked to our pal Zack Cohn about why the Internet makes him, and all of us, nervous. Not for the tech utopianists among us!
What my friends think I do: [picture of man sobbing at computer], What society thinks I do: [picture of man sobbing at computer], What my mom thinks I do: [picture of man sobbing at computer], What my clients think I do: [picture of man sobbing at computer], What I think I do: [picture of man sobbing at computer], What I really do: [picture of man sobbing at computer].
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