There was never any doubt what agency had access to the ears of GIULIANI when he was the New York City mayor. The Fire Department has always been the stepson when placed alongside the Police Department, but these dudes were totally shut out of the game with GIULIANI. Further proof that they couldn’t be heard was the fact that they still used substandard emergency communication equipment during the World Trade Center collapse even though they had a test run in that same structure five years prior.
When the Towers were under attack GIULIANI huddled directly with the police and told the firefighters they were on a need to know basis. Essentially, they would be called in for photo opportunities when someone wanted to have a cairns helmet in the background. Slowly the skeletons of RUDY are being unearthed as he continues to think that he can somehow strongarm the presidency the same way he bullied himself into the mayoralty. You already know that saying about what usually happens when you see smoke. And the firemen’s union is starting to spit that… Fire.
A few weeks ago BYRON CRAWFORD came to New York City to partake of the histrionically white Rock The Bells concert. The next thing you know a twister touches down in Brooklyn (sans Big Macs). WTF is that about? Don’t them shits only happen in the Midwest? There are a lot of new transplants in the city from the Midwest so maybe one of those meatbags brought that shit with them too.
Well there is no such thing as a coincidence when some pussy-whipped high school dropout kills his beautiful girlfriend after reading Bol’s drop on the godawful Sean Kingston song. He later supposedly tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists on the roof of a housing project before he was apprehended. I would say that was a pretty lame ass attempt since homey could have just jumped the ten or so stories and landed on his head, but maybe this dude Michael Cordero was actually using his head instead?
If I was dude’s lawyer, er, public defender, I would just publicly state that the use of synths and vocoders in the Hip-Hop song ‘Beautiful Girls’ intoxicated him into action because he thought his girlfriend was leaving him. Blaming rock lyrics for suicides is totally retro, but blaming Hip-Hop songs for inciting murder is taking shit back to the future. I’m not saying that he still won’t get served a grip of time, but when all the focus gets shifted onto the back of Hip-Hop dude might end up with a manslaughter sentence. I can’t speak for the alleged perpetrator, but if I were him I would blame everything I did on that damn song.
C’mon?!? How could you not blame this crime on that stupid song? If I’ve learned anything in the last several months about how rap music has become a pariah in American culture akin to Osama Bin Laden, it’s that money is being made by all the confusion. I think Sean Kingston’s label should press up a billion CD singles and sell them at Starbucks. Oprah will be pulling out her domestic violence programming, AND it’s summer sweeps week to boot. You know the lawyers are gonna get their chips up from this shit too. The merc’ked broads mom should be filing a lawsuit against Sean Kingston as you read this now. And all of this wild shit is going down just because Bol brought his Midwest country ass to New York City.
Did you fools hear that GhostFace Killah is being added to the cast of next year’s summer blockbuster movie ‘Iron Man’? This is the sickest shit in the world and that’s why Marvel stays winning at the end of the day. I would have been satisfied to see Ghost on the movie’s soundtrack, but to insert the wally champ into the film is a tip of the hat to the Wu Tang movement that always paid homage to the Marvel Comics legacy. Someone in the Marvel front office is smart enough to push the buttons that give their projects an underground, insider, cultural relevance.
Nothing was better than the scene in X-3 where the Juggernaut proclaimed, “I’m the Juggernaut bitch!” I was in a packed movie house in downtown Brooklyn when I along with about three other viewers yelled out the line in sync with the movie. That line was added late in the post production of the film, but still someone in Marvel’s administration was in tune with the alternate underground culture of young people and the internets.
The ‘Iron Man’ flick is still almost a year away, but images and details are slowly being leaked and even some of the costume details are floating around. Here are a few pics of Iron Man’s O.G. armor suit and a production still of ROBERT DOWNEY Jr. as he fabricates some of Iron Man’s more updated armor. Peep how dude is in a kitchen or someplace with an ample supply of Perrier and Voss artesian water. The TONY STARKS character was most definitely a baller. No way that dude is effing with cheap azz Poland Spring.
True story is that I need Mondays to catch up on my sleep because my weekends are so banana bread crazy. As soon as my 9-2-5 shut down on Friday afternoon it was on like Cheech and Chong in a Sean John thong.
My peeps at The Brooklyn Circus invited me to the launch of their summer sale called the Black Out. Brooklyn Circus is my man fifty grand from forever, AL D Square along with a consortium of his homies. Together they are taking Brooklyn’s fashion forward sense and going worldwide with their movement.
Whenever they are in town from overseas, mostly Japan, I know they have some sick shit for me to copp. They had a mean run of limited SBTG x Nike Dunks up in that piece and they were priced right as well. At the end of that day that’s all that really matters to me. Vitamin Water… Not so much.
After I left the Brooklyn Circus I slid over to the Prospect Park bandshell to eff with the Teacher a/k/a Blastmaster KRS-1. Actually, Ladybug Mecca was opening for KRS and I imagine that Digable Planets would have done a track or two in honor of ‘Blowout Comb’, but even with their initials as D.P. I couldn’t get to the park on time. KRS was on time however and he reigned supreme this night in Brooklyn.
The teacher, KRS-1
What a lot of people don’t know is that KRS-1 actually hails from the county of Kings. His classic song ‘South Bronx’ was an homage to the beginnings of Hip-Hop as he experienced them. KRS moved us to shout out loud, nod our heads, wave our hands and stomp our feet with his definition of Hip-Hop and his catalog of hit songs. Being hip to something is having knowledge and intelligence, while the hop is about getting your body up and down instead of standing still. Hip-Hop to KRS-1 is the intelligent movement of a generation. KRS-1 may be batshit crazy sometimes, but like E.F. Hutton, when he talks, everybody listens. Peep this interview with him over at UnKut dot com.
The following day started like most weekends with me giving praise to the most high for getting me through another week. I had a call on my cellphone from SoundWave who came into New York City overnight from Virginia Beach. It’s been a minute that I have seen my dude ever since he came home. I haven’t made a trip to VA Beach in forever and he usually comes to NYC in true ninja style, getting in and out in the same day.
My homie E.R. a/k/a The Black Marty Markowitz had just texted me a day earlier with an offer to go to the Zune ‘Live At The BBQ’ concert. The lineup was dope too, but I almost didn’t consider effing with it because the people at Zune shitbagged me. Back in June I asked the Zune people to sponsor the cRap Music Fantasy League. No big commitment either. Just a free Zune player to the winner of this round and in return I would take my joint out of the box and preview it instead of selling it on eBay. These dudes didn’t even return my e-mail. So I felt a little ways about supporting their brand. Good thing I called E.R. and took him up his offer. This Zune ‘Live At The BBQ’ concert has trumped every event I have been to this summer. Including the Rock The Bells concert last week.
First of all, E.R. is like the ‘hoods mayor and he had us laced with VIP status. This was the kind of VIP status that the game needs more of. Free food and unlimited free drinks. I wish RAFI could have been here because this was the event that he deserved to chill at. We’ve had to work at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and the Rock The Bells show, albeit iNternets Celebrity work isn’t actual work either, but today I got to be strictly a fan of Hip-Hop again and just chill my will. I saw some great stage shows while listening to some great Hip-Hop music.
JOELL ORTIZ opened the show up. You already know that I’m riding for this dude to win, hardbody. JOELL is the young truth in rap music today. He’s not inventing silly dance anthems or nursery rhyme songs. Nothing but straight up Hip-Hop from this dude.
JOELL ORTIZ featuring Jadakiss and Saigon – ‘Hip-Hop(remix)’
Boot Camp Clik represented with Smif-n-Wessun and Buckshot Shorty. Masta Ace came through and spit some of his joints. The Clipse, along with the Re-Up Gang did a set of their joints. Large Professor was in the building as well. While J Period held down the decks for the entire afternoon, he brought out the Lox, and even brought back together the Brand Nubians. Yes. Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar. How the hell can you say you aren’t fucking with Brand Nubians? Do us all a favor. Stick your favorite rapper’s high heeled shoes in your eyesocket and then put your head in an oven and just kill yourself.
BRAND NUBIAN – ‘Love Me, Or Leave Me Alone’
I hadn’t seen the Lox perform for a minute either since I caught this B.I.G. tribute at the old Palladium in Manhattan. Individually they all have had a gang of hits since then. Jadakiss is still one of the most underrated rappers for someone with his lyrical skill. Inside the VIP section, which was nearly as crowded as the general admit area it was the place to debate who the G.O.A.T. rapper was. Everyone’s favorite punching bag music blogger TOM BRIEHAN was in that piece and still repping the Baltimore Orioles.
BRIEHAN asked me what the deal was and why the beef wasn’t squashed yet. I told dude everything was everything, but he was like, “Nahh man, why you had to shit on me when you was going at Noz?” I couldn’t recall what was said because just like Jay-Z, I never write any of this shit down, but BRIEHAN remembered exactly. My bad TOM. There’s a place at the Hip-Hop table for you and Noz, well actually, maybe just you.
I chopped it up for a few minutes with IAN from Notes. IAN’s site was one of the places that I framed DP Dot Com after. I wanted a site that described the Hip-Hop generation for our comprehensive worldviews and our knowledge of the political arena. If you aren’t familiar with Notes From A Different Kitchen leave this site now and acquaint yourself. It’s serious like that. And the Zune concert was so serious that even Eskay took a break from his laboratory, Nah’Right dot com, to come through. Eskay prah’lee came to see the Brand Nubian reunion and the Lox performance was an added bonus.
The Zune people definitely surprised me because the shit was thorough like a muv all day long. The free food was dope, the free booze was very necessary and the headliner was the G.O.A.T. of solo rap artists. LL Cool J got on stage and did a forty five minute set that was high fucking energy. This dude gets down like it was 1987 all over again. I remember seeing LL like twenty years ago in Madison Square Garden for this concert called Fresh Fest. Run-DMC were the headliners and EPMD. Public Enemy. KRS-1, Whodini and Rakim all performed. LL did this shit were he busted out of a boom box radio. The set wasn’t even that elaborate on Saturday, but LL still killed shit without a hypeman. I hate to go on and on about this concert, but damn, I won.
LL COOL J – ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’
LL COOL J – ‘Rock The Bells’
When I got back around the way there was still over an hour of music left at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Every August their First Saturday program is centered around Caribbean culture and art. The expansive parking lot hosts a reggae dancehall party that is the precursor to the Labor day parade on Eastern Parkway. I always enjoy peeping the local snowflakes cruising for some Carib action. I tell the ladies to back up because I already have my own snowflake, and she’s a Chocolate Snowflake. It’s called the best of both worlds. C.S. and I are going to Wingate Field tonight to see LAURYN HILL in concert. I hope ol’ girl comes with her classic shit instead of that weepy crap she’s been passing off lately. We’ll see how it all goes down. Holler at a blogger when you see one on the streets.
Shouts to RAY – the founder, president, cameraman and sometimes janitor @ Mighty Healthy clothing company
