The Mailing List: September 2009 (#4)

4. Man on the Moon: The End of Day



Loosies:
KiD CuDi - Soundtrack 2 My Life
KiD CuDi - Enter Galactic
KiD CuDi - Pursuit of Happiness

Finally. After what seems like a million (not really) features and mixtapes and videos, another one of the Freshman 10 is dropping their ish. KiD CuDi's (is it required that we type it like that) 'Man on the Moon' is set to release on September 15, although, in typical blog fashion it was leaked (not gonna share the link with you; buy that shit for real), but what I'm really looking for is the deluxe version with the DVD and a few unreleased, unleaked tracks on it. I can't say much more about CuDI that hasn't been said before. This man is a breath of fresh air for hip-hop, not in the mold of Lupe where he brought back complex lyrics, but musically. CuDi deviates from the norm so blatantly, that he has to blow up. His electronic-laced sounds and free-flowing lyrics harken vibes of De La Soul, and his penchant for marijuana makes that link all the stronger. Honestly, this summer has been mediocre in terms of albums, so I'm looking forward to this fall, with Cudder and Wale on deck for September and October. Check some loosies (above), the track list and trailers for KiD CuDi's 'Man on the Moon: The End of Day'...

ACT 1 – THE END OF DAY
1. In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem) (Produced by Emile)
2. Soundtrack 2 My Life (Produced by Emile)
3. Simple As… (Produced by Plain Pat)

ACT 2 – RISE OF THE NIGHT TERRORS
4. Solo Dolo (nightmare) (Produced by Emile)
5. Heart of A Lion (KiD CuDi Theme Music) (Produced by Free School)
6. My World f. Billy Cravens (Produced by Plain Pat & Jeff Bhasker)

ACT 3 – TAKING A TRIP
7. Day N Nite (nightmare) (Produced by Dot Da Genius)
8. Sky Might Fall (Produced by Kanye West & Co-Produced by KiD CuDi)
9. Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1) (Produced by Mat Friedman of ILLFONICS)

ACT 4 – STUCK
10. Alive (nightmare) f. RATATAT (Produced by RATATAT)
11. CuDi Zone (Produced by Emile) (Produced by Free School)
12. Make Her Say f. Kanye West & Common (Produced by Kanye West)
13. Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare) f. MGMT & RATATAT (Produced by RATATAT)

ACT 5 – A NEW BEGINNING
14. Hyyerr f. Chip Tha Rapper (Produced by Crada for Motion Music)
15. Up Up & Away (The Wake & Bake Song) (Produced by Free School)

Aubrey, please just shut up

Now, I believe in freedom of speech, but this chick needs to be lobotomized for her stupidity before she can speak. Fine as she is (not taking into account how much of a schmeeze she is), she is as dumb as a rock. Hitler and Castro probably wouldn't even accept the cosign. I know I don't. What's even funnier than Aubrey's lack of sense is that the rest of the cast didn't even want to acknowledge her. You know you're career is over when not even Fox News can bang with you...

Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day

Sequels always mess up the first movie in some way. I'm not even lying. Find me a sequel that hasn't changed your opinion of the first in the slightest negative way, and I'll find you a negro polar bear living in Argentina. The Boondock Saints is one of the biggest cult classics ever. It's lackluster performance in theaters relegated the shoot-em-up story of brother vigilantes to word of mouth, where all the real buzz showed up. The sequel looks promising (doesn't every trailer?), but I can't help but think that the story ended on a good note in the first movie. I don't know how they could possibly one up the first, but regardless, I will probably be seeing it. Check out the trailer for Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, which hits theaters October 29th...

Dear Marvel Comics

The last super-empire is finally falling to the Magic Kingdom... SMH

via The Guardian:

The Walt Disney empire is to buy the superheroes stable Marvel Entertainment for $4bn (£2.5bn) in a star-studded Hollywood deal that unites family names such as Mickey Mouse with lucrative characters including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men.

Disney hopes to put Marvel's 5,000 characters to work on its television channels and in video games, theme parks and movies. The agreed takeover is for a mixture of cash and stock, with Disney shares accounting for roughly 40% of the buyout price.

While Disney has traditionally been known for its wholesome family creations ranging from the Little Mermaid to Lion King, Hannah Montana and Pocahontas, the purchase of Marvel adds an edgier, more violent element – it recently scored a box office success with Iron Man, a movie starring Robert Downey Jr as a billionaire inventor who creates a hi-tech suit of armour to battle evil.

I suppose the recession had to hit every sector in some way. It's just a shame when its an entity that doesn't need it. Marvel, for over 70 years, you've blessed my preteen fantasies with images of superhumans in the most human of situations. It's been nothing short of fantastical how comic books shape young men. Even if comic books and their sharp decline in sales were the reason for your bankruptcy in 1996, I still see the genius in your art. What I can't see the genius in is being sold to Disney. Though economic pundits (who are basically speculators) write the move off as brilliant, I can't help but thinking the Magic Kingdom and the Marvel Universe wouldn't be able to coexist well. By that I mean, if Zac Efron shows up in the next Iron Man movie I will burn any Disney or Marvel paraphernalia that I've ever owned. I'm serious. And if Tobey McGuire breaks into song during the next Spiderman, there will be riots. No, I'm not prophesying that Disney will take the hotness that is Marvel and turn it into a superhero-laced High School Musical, but it's a far stretch for Disney to venture into this lane. Hannah Montana's secret identity seriously cannot compete with that of Bruce Banner, nor should it have to...

Hall of Justus - Reservoir Dogs

Hall of Justus - Reservoir Dogs

Group mixtapes, especially new groups and loose alliances (R. Kelly & Jay anyone?), are hard to make. The idea of taking two or more solo MCs and having them rap on the same track, or the same album, is hard for so many reasons. Rappers have egos, rappers have their own sounds, and rappers also have so much legal crap to go through with nowadays. If you can put together a good group album, that says something about all the rappers involved and the production. Reservoir Dogs says one thing: Watch out. Chaundon, Big Pooh, Joe Scudda and Jozeemo are heavyweights each in their own right and have the firepower to challenge any group right now. Their slick lyrics over both original production and popular beats is impeccable. The best thing about this mixtape is how varied the content is. They vary from the silly with Pancake, to stories of drugs ruining lives with D.R.E.A.M., to wordplay bangers like Til Infinity. These guys are all professionals, but the only caveat is that if you don't like drops, this mixtape might irk you. The mixers, DJ Skillz and DJ Warrior have so many tags on every track that I wanted to cut my ears off. But if you can get around those, this is easily one of the best mixtapes of the year. Check the covers, d/l link, tracklist, my picks, and of course some goodies to roll with...

Cream of the Crop:
Hot Fam
D.R.E.A.M.
Til Infinity
Trunk Battle
Quentin Tarantino

Cream of the Crap:
Every single tag, drop or random outburst from DJ Skillz and DJ Warrior

Loosies:
Big Pooh x Joe Scudda x Chaundon x Jozeemo - Next Selection

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Every guy in his right mind has played Grand Theft Auto at some point in his life. If you haven't, then I pity you. Regardless, the saints (I call them saints because only they could release such hot games) at Rockstar Games have decided to bless us with another installment of GTA. No, it's not a complete game. It's based off of the character Gay Tony, who was a minor character in GTA IV. From the trailer, it looks like there will be more of the same from every guy's favorite game. You can pick it up on October 29th...

Neighborhood Newsletter (9/2)

Top 5 Ways BET is Ruining Black People

Man Goes to Jail to Get Away from Wife

Happy 40th Birthday to the Internet!!

A Radical Solution to End the Drug War: Legalize Everything

Why Women Lie, and Why Men Lie

Why Did People Become White?

8 of the Most Dangerous Places (To Live) on the Planet

Being Bad is (actually) Good for You

Dear Colleges

So, ummm.. Yeah. We tackled the freshmen in college, providing them with wise words to guide them through the insufferable bullshit factory that is college. Today, we're gonna extend a helping hand to the people that make all the bullshit possible, the colleges themselves. This is more tongue-in-cheek than the previous post, so if you're an administrator, please don't cut my financial aid or something stupid like that. It's just jokes (kinda)...

So, now that school is in session (for damn near everyone but me), all the financial aid bills are coming in, classes are starting, and everything is going back to norman ($10 to anyone who can tell me where "back to Norman" came from). But alas, is everything really gravy on college campuses? In short, no. If you ask the average college student if he's completely satisfied with his experience, I guarantee he'll have more than a few gripes to send to the Dean. As with any institution, there will be imperfections, but it seems like college is becoming infused with more and more BS by the day. Check out some ways for our higher educations institutions to raise their standards even higher:

1. Step the food up. No, I'm serious. If you ask 9 out of 10 college students what they could improve on campus, this is the first thing. I'm 100% sure, I'm not the only undergraduate student on the planet who's tired of nasty meats, under or overcooked veggies, rock hard cookies and brownies, bad conditions in eating places or the ubiquitous lack of food at times. It's a sad day and age when we have to be subjected to meal plans that take our money more than take our appetites down. Seriously, stomach viruses aside, I'd love to see a college campus whose food is as good on orientation day (with parents in attendance) as it is in the middle of November. It always seems like the food on campus gets worse and worse as the year goes on. My stomach and wallet shouldn't be subjected to that. I'm sure out of the fifty stacks you're squeezing out of your thousands of students, you can find some guap in there to give us food suitable for students not inmates...

2. (via the incomparable Joshua Bennett)Increased diversity would be a pretty good idea. Not that I have a problem with people of any background, but it would be a nice touch to see a different mix in my classes. For those of you not culturally savvy to see through the hidden meaning in my rhetoric: I'm tired of being the only black kid in my class. Yeah, I've been doing it for a while. Yeah, I can still blow people's minds if they get into racially charged arguments. But once, just once, I'd like to be able to sit back and let the discourse take place without everyone looking to me for the "black opinion". On another note, diversity doesn't just mean race. It means people of different CULTURAL backgrounds, whether different economically, educationally, regionally, or whatever. It's not enough to put an insert in your brochure talking about how many different races attend the school. It has to be a concerted effort to get ideologies of every kind into the melting pot. We as students would get a lot more than diplomas if that were the case...

3. Public safety, and campus police, BACK OFF. Whether it's random interrogations because of less-than-silent music, impromptu parties broken up, being accosted for strange "smells", or just the stare of Johnny Law making me uncomfortable as a black man, campus police 9 times out of 10 are not the answer. Not only do these rent-a-cops have no real authority over us, other than to call the real police, their understanding of the law in and of itself is shaky enough. I've seen public safety officers violate the rights of my peers on numerous occasions, entering into their domiciles without warrant, holding them against their will and even beating them unjustly in public. These men and women aren't real police officers for a reason, and I don't think it's because cities are running out of funding for them. Perhaps more attention should be paid to the spirit of the rules rather than the enforcement. Perhaps the rules should be revised. I'm not an administrator, so my bearing on this issue is strictly one-sided. However, for the few actual risks to campus safety, there seem to be a great deal of officers standing around annoying students. 7-11 is a mini-mart, not a campus safety hangout...

4. Cut the bureaucracy. No, this is my biggest gripe of all. College is such a business. Though the websites may say .edu, and they may seem all warm and fuzzy on the brochures, colleges are truly out for one thing: money. By that token, you guys will stop at nothing to make our money, your money. If I'm lying, give me back a substantial amount of my tuition and you can stop reading this post. But, given that I am right, why is it that when my money comes into play, you guys can take all you want, but the prospect of giving turns a college into Ebenezer Scrooge? Why is it that I can be put on hold for 30 minutes when trying to determine my financial aid status for the year, but you can call me immediately when you want to collect money? Is it just me, or have the educational and enrichment aspects of college gone haywire? Even before college, we have to pay to take a test that evaluates us for college. Hell, we even have to pay to apply for college. Don't get me wrong. I understand that higher education has its price, but somewhere a line must be drawn. Stop squeezing me for ever penny I have, and educate me in the way you so eloquently swindled me into buying into three years ago...

5. Speaking of educating me, stop understaffing your classes. If you as an institution are going to be swindling my money away for whatever maniacal purposes have you, at least make sure the classes you purport to have are there. Seriously, I'm tired of trying to register and having each class I WANT and NEED to take filled up by God knows who. To me, if you see where a class is in high demand with a low supply, the job of the college is to meet that demand by adding an extra supply of classes (simple economics, right?). That way every student who wants a certain class, gets it. If a class is damn near empty, then why even have multiple sections of it? Doesn't that seem counterproductive? Hell, doesn't that seem plain old stupid? It does. So why then are colleges struggling to find classes for their students? Maybe I'm crazy, but the practice of understaffing academic departments just so you don't have to add an extra section is robbery, especially when the department is a strong point of the school. Teach me what you need to, and stop making me take a muddled, circumspect route to my diploma...

That's all for the colleges. It's sad that in a day where higher education is a must, the purveyors of that amenity are finding ways to swindle us students into an underwhelming version of it. Administrators can never complain about unhappy students if they aren't willing to simply address the (pressing) needs of their students. Not to gripe or bitch or whine, but are any of those demands that egregious? They seem like pretty reasonable things to ask of colleges. Readers, what do you think? Is college a starting to rip you off? Do you wish they would give as much as they take? Toss some comments either at my e-mail or in the box below and listen to another college themed jam...

Nike's Class of 2010 (Part 2)

If you were following the blog in July, you know that Nike had leaked a bunch of photos of their upcoming 2010 lineup (see it here). Well, we have more and more and more heat showing up for next year, all of which are retroes of Nike's most famous releases. Check out the 2nd part of Nike's Class of 2010:



Air Penny III Retro


Nike Sportswear Dunks



Air Pippen Retro


Air Jordan White Cement III (this is a definite cop for me)


Air Jordan Infrared VI

Neighborhood Newsletter (9/1)

This embodies how I feel on the daily at times...

Who still uses internet cafes?

James May to stay in the world's first house made entirely from Lego

How It's Made - BACON

How Many Solar Panels Would It Take to Power The Entire World?

Teacher who lost job for wearing a bikini is now a porn star

Holy Cow, Giant Japanese Hornets Are Freaking Huge

How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone

Chris Brown -- "I Don't Remember Beating Rihanna"

Dear College Freshmen

Yo, yo, yo... It is the first week in September, which means only one thing: back to school (HAHA to all of you because I don't start till the 20st). Now, I'm far removed from the recess and rigid class schedules of grade school, so I decided to do my own back to school lists. Here's the first, addressed at those mindless young'ns that invade campus every fall, the freshmen:

Now that orientation's over, and you've shaken what seems like every hand on the planet, and those dreadful 101 classes are coming up, you're starting to wonder exactly what this whole college thing is all about. You see all of the upperclassmen coming back from their summer vaycays and it might be overwhelming. Well, let me tell you, it isn't. College is an amalgamation of the same bullshit from high school, just on a wider and grander scale. Also, this bullshit has the potential to set you back over $40,000 if you're not careful. But have no fear, Junior is here to set you straight and let you know what the dilly is with freshman year. Listen closely, because you might not get this from anyone else:

1. Meet as many people as possible. I know you hate dapping people up and risking getting their cooties just for some ritualistic greeting, but the point of college in this day and age is NETWORKING. Get out there. Join clubs, play games, strike up conversations and become the extrovert you've always wanted to be. Not only will you probably not get another chance to do this for another four years, expanding your social circle can only benefit you in the long run when it comes to finals or getting into parties for free on campus. Don't be a dorm rat. Meeting people also makes you better at talking on the fly. Because everyone is on 'people overload' you only really have one impression to make. Be sure that it's a unique one and that you're not just a face in the crowd, which brings me to my second point.

2. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, try and reinvent yourself drastically. I know a lot of people consider college a chance to make new friends on a whole different steez than it was in high school. While your identity in college should change from that in high school, don't switch it up to the point that you lose who you were. That not only leads to confusion on your part but makes for messy situations with your new and old friends. So, don't go all "The New Guy" and try to make yourself something you're not, because it will come to the light soon enough.

3. Experiment. No, I'm not talking about doing speedballs off a girl's stomach or mixing every alcoholic beverage known to man in a Death Cocktail. But, in college, you will be exposed to a host of new activities and ideologies, which you should keep an open mind to. There's no shame in trying something, not liking it, and keeping it moving. There is, however, something wrong with hating something having never tried or experiencing it. I'm not specifically referring to drugs, either. College is THE last chance you'll have to do new, interesting and even dangerous things without the risk of losing everything you have in the "real world". Make sure you take advantage of everything there is to offer, so you have no regrets after you get that diploma.

4. Speaking of diplomas, which are the reason you are in college (DON'T GET IT TWISTED!!!), here are my tips for getting the most out of your academia (this is a recreational post, but something needed to be here about the books:

- DO keep all of your syllabi, so that when the term is over, you know what you studied, what you didn't and what you need to cram all night for.
- DO make the effort to go to your classes. I know that 7 AM Bio Lab is a drag, but missing it can hurt more than help you. Some professors grade on attendance and participation, which are basically free points. Take advantage.
- DO take advantage of down time. In college, you're not always going to be partying or going down Slip-N-Slides on the green. Do some work and at least TRY to get that 3.0 you promised your parents.
- DON'T take more classes during the term than you can handle (at least during freshman year). Just because you graduated at the top of your class and got a 4.0 in high school, doesn't mean you can do it here. Learn your limit and make the best of it.
- DON'T be that guy in your classes. No one likes the professor suck up, the guy who asks too many questions, the guy who is always late, the guy who snores loudly in the back or the guy always hung over and smelling like stale beer. It behooves you to make your class experience as smooth as possible, and all of the above personas can make shit bumpier than an acne commercial.
- DON'T forget to make friends in your classes. This is self-explanatory. Although you might not be one for group study sessions, having notes from other classmates is more precious than gold, especially if you have NO CLUE what's going on in the class.

5. Back to the fun. Keep your exploits on the low. I can't tell you this enough. If you're going to smash a chick / dude, make sure only you and that person know. There's nothing hot about having an audience for that walk of shame the morning after. In college, gossip spreads faster than warm butter on toast. By that token, if you're going out there broadcasting who's digging out who, your dirty laundry will be out to dry before you could even wash it.

6. For the most part, after a few months you'll want no part in the campus dining options. Not only are they hastily and unlovingly prepared by a fat man with a hairnet on, they are most likely laced with laxatives to keep you "regular". So do yourself a favor. Learn how to cook, so that you can eventually wean yourself off of the atrocious mess they didn't tell you about as you were feasting on filet mignon when your parents were there. It's an invaluable skill that can come in handy on those hungry nights when Ramen noodles just won't do. Also, the freshman 15 (it's starting to become 30 around my parts; Q-Rich out this bitch!!) is no bueno during summer vacation, which is all the better to learn how to throw down in the kitchen for yourself...

7. Keep in contact with a select few friends from high school and your family at home. Your best friends from high school will most likely still be your best friends, given that they followed rule #2. Never, ever burn bridges unless you have other means of transport. Like I said before, college is about connections and networking. Even if you and the crew aren't as tight as before, you'll still have a foundation to connect over, which can and should never be broken. In terms of family, make sure to give mom and dad a link every week or so, just so that they know you're not dead and that their hard earned pensions aren't going towards massive consumption of alcohol.

8. In terms of dating, leave the cuffing until you're an upperclassman. Don't go into freshman year with a significant other. Even if you make it through that first six months, chances are, both of you will have changed more significantly than phone calls, text messages, e-mails, video chats, letters and vacation meetings can display. Not only is temptation rampant in college, you're much more likely to have a fulfilling freshman year if you're not constantly tethered mentally to another person hundreds of miles away. If you must hold on to that relationship, at least make sure your transportation options are well-rounded. But for the most part, just drop the high school sweetheart. She / he will probably be digging someone else out by year's end anyway...

9. Last one. Be your own person, in the existential sense. I said it numerous times in this post, but here goes again: This is probably your ONLY time to do some of the things you'll see in college. So just do it. Stay up late, dress like an idiot, make stupid videos, laugh loudly, make peace, jump, run, learn, live, breathe, understand and experience. It'll be worth your while and you'll come out of college with much more than a diploma...

There you have it froshies. Enjoy freshman year, check back for another college post tomorrow and check out the quintessential college song...

The Mailing List: September 2009 (#5)

5. West Indian American Day Carnival Parade



RAAAAAAAHHTID!!!! Next Monday, September 7 is the Annual West Indian Day Parade out on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. If you are West Indian, West Indian American or just like waving flags, make sure you are there partaking in the fuckery that is Labor Day in New York City. In addition to the parade, which is becoming bigger and BIGGER by the year, there's Jouvert the night before if you're in the partying mood. If you come hungry, I guarantee you will leave happy with the never-ending host of West Indian food to burn your palate with. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the women.. The women, the women. Let's just say that this is clearly one of my favorite days in New York City out of the whole year. Check my favorite dancehall track from the summer and make sure you're there on September 7th...

Drake & Trey Songz - Successful

So umm, yeah... Another hit from Drake, another lackluster music video arriving months late. No I don't not like the song anymore. It's just that Drizzy's timing with everything seems a bit off since the summer's started. I feel like this video should have been out in July. Regardless of the time, the video is shot well. It matches the dark tone and the message of the song, although it did seem a bit simple. The Barack Obama quote at the end seems wrong considering the song, but I suppose everyone gets a free pass on Obama allusions this year. Check the video for Successful and try your best to be successful this coming school year (that goes out to all of my college people)...

Dear Jay-Z (and Brett Favre)

Those aren't personality glasses anymore at your age, Jay...

By now, if you haven't been living without the internet for the weekend (like I have), you've seen that The Blueprint 3 by the elder statesman of hip-hop Jay-Z, has been leaked. I have soooooo many issues with this man right now that I'm literally bursting at the fingers to get them all out before I forget or they become muddled in my illustrious rhetoric. Regardless, here goes...

Jay-Z - Hate f. Kanye West
Jay-Z - A Star Is Born f. J. Cole
Jay-Z - Venus vs. Mars (prod. by Timbaland)
Jay-Z - Reminder (prod. Timbaland)
Jay-Z - Off That f. Drake (prod. by Timbaland)

Jay, what is good with all of the leaks? Within a week-long period, over half of the album has been leaked, which more or less makes buying it pointless. Then, what's worse is that every song that's leaked has been worse than the previous one. Whether it's lackluster lyrics, over-done ad-libs (AUGGHHHH!!!), features that didn't live up to their billing or beats that weren't suited for you, Jay, you've really just made a mess out of this upcoming record. With a week and change until BP3 "drops", I'm becoming less and less disgusted, and more and more indifferent to what you do. It's a sad day when the most celebrated rapper in the past decade has become an afterthought. No matter what the Twitter Trending Topics say, you can't hide that most people are unimpressed with what they've heard from the album. It's to the point that I don't even want to sully my computer's hard drive space with your elderly ramblings.

Seriously, Jay, I'm tired of hearing about why everyone else doesn't stack up to you. It seems like you're digging deep for relevancy and finding it in promotion and names than your own lyrics. You're faking the funk Jay. I made this analogy on Twitter earlier today, and I stick by it: "J. Hov = Brett Favre". Think about it, Jay. A seasoned veteran of the game, who's already had an amazing career, stepping into a new role on a new team (CEO of ROC Nation), with controversial returns and retirements. I know you love rap, much in the same way Favre loves football. You both feel child-like happiness when you step onto the field (into the booth), which is a beautiful thing. It's just a problem when you seem over the hump. Both hip-hop and the NFL are surging into a new era. New rappers (and quarterbacks) are emerging from the gullies of youth and the underground. They deserve a chance, not to say that it should be given to them. But to both Jay and Brett, the sign of a great, to me, isn't the ability to stay on top, but is the ability to leave a legacy that others can follow to get to the top. Now, I know nobody wrote a handbook for either of you, but both of you are in a position to close your careers and active legacies well. Don't sully either by failing to know when it's best to hang your cleats (microphone) up. Lord knows nobody likes seeing you like this Brett...

Neighborhood Newsletter (8/28)

Only in America...

The 30 Most Hilarious License Plates

The 25 Worst Business Failures in History

10 party rules every athlete should obey

Naked man hijacks bus carrying students

French hostage escapes after killing captors

How Our Health System Screws Over Women

Reading Rainbow' Reaches Its Final Chapter

Cute baby animals

Freestyle Friday (8/28) - Part 2

I don't care that I already posted two freestyles. This needed to go up. I'm tired of all of these Jay-Z stans denying what I've been saying for a while: Jay-Z needs to RETIRE. Blueprint 3 will probably sell out. We probably won't hear the end of any of the tracks on it either. That doesn't mean what he's doing is good. Nor does it mean that he should continue. This freestyle with DMX is an ode to the OLD Jay-Z, more concerned with function than fashion, and more focused on being an innovator than a critic. Check the Jay-Z that I actually liked...

Dear Pastor Anderson

via Talking Points Memo:

Chris Broughton, the man who brought an assault rifle and a handgun to the Obama event in Arizona last week, attended a fiery anti-Obama sermon the day before the event, in which Pastor Steven Anderson said he was going to "pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell", Anderson confirmed to TPMmuckraker today.

Anderson also said Broughton had informed the pastor about his planned show of arms-bearing, but "he planned out the AR15 thing long before he heard that sermon," delivered Sunday August 16 at the fundamentalist Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ.

This is the second example of the gun-toters at the Arizona Obama event tied to the violent fringes of American life.

"I don't obey Barack Obama. And I'd like Barack Obama to melt like a snail tonight," Anderson said in the sermon.

So, umm yeah... Is this really how we go around spreading God's love? By wishing misfortune and death on our president?? Clergymen carrying around assault rifles and planning out gun-toting demonstrations?? What for? This is why America is just a messed up place. We have people purporting themselves to be the leaders of what is supposed to be a bastion of morality, yet they encourage violence, for seemingly no reason. What's worse is that he did this in a prayer, a conversation with God. Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Golden Rule (from the Bible) to "do to others what you would have them do to you"? Somehow I don't think President Obama would wish death on you, Pastor, though I do think he's gonna be less likely to want to give your church a visit now...

Freestyle Friday (8/28)

J. Cole - Back To The Topic Freestyle

Freestyle Friday. You know what it is people. This week we got J. Cole doing a verse on the beat from some random Cassie song. He has bars for days, and isn't afraid to use them. He needs a little work on switching up his flow at times, but you can tell the lyricism is top notch. The second one I've posted before, but I still can't get over how dope it is. It's from Illecism, the Sacramento native. Listen to this man. I'm not kidding. He's unbelievable.

The Mailing List: August 2009 (#1)

1. Mac OS X - Snow Leopard



I'm a Mac, and I love it. All you PC's out there need to stop trying to fake the funk with Windows Vista (aka Insect-central) and upgrade your life to Mac. When I say that Mac upgrades your life, I mean it. In today's world, you are intrinsically linked with your computer, whether you like it or not. Why not have a computer that simply outperforms in every way? Whatever your preference, Apple is releasing their newest operating system, Snow Leopard. While the name is a little silly, you can't deny the improvements Apple made this time. In addition to making the OS more powerful, they refined their newer features like Time Machine, Stacks and Spaces to make them more streamlined. They've re-written the entire OS in 64-bit so that everything is faster. There's a new version of Quicktime and, hell, even startup is faster. If you're a Mac, do yourself a favor and buy Snow Leopard. It's only $29 this time around. Check more features at Apple and some screenshots below...

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