HENRY AARON hit his 755th home run on this day in 1976.
AARON finished his career as a designated hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Respect the HAMMER
July 20th, 2006Crap Music Is Making You Stupiderer…
July 20th, 2006
More hard evidence that rap music is making you dumber than you already were…
KING TEE from StapleCrops Studios posited a great question to me the other afternoon. He asked me if I thought that popular rap music was less intelligent now then say, 15 years ago. From the onset when I look at songs like ‘Laffy Taffy’ and acts like the Black Eyed Peas I think that this is a no-brainer question, but how do I answer this query based on empirical knowledge without any of the emotional baggage?
Very simply. I will study two factors that lend themselves to intelligent discussion, word count and number of polysyllabic words used. I think we can all agree that the breadth of someone’s vocabulary is a good measure to their relative intelligence which in turn correlates to other areas like their understanding of the world around them. Why is intelligence important you might ask? cRappers have become the de facto statesmen for a generation of people (mostly coloreds). If you are to trust these people to express your issues wouldn’t you want someone that has the most knowledge to represent you? After this exercise is complete we will know who we should listen to if anyone at all.
Let’s try an example…
D4L – ‘Laffy Taffy’
word count = 392 (including ‘dis’ 6x and ‘dat’ 5x)
polysyllabic words (3+ sylable) = 4 (longest = motherfuckin’)BIG DADDY KANE – ‘Raw’
word count = 670
polysyllabic words (3+ sylable) = 22 (longest = tie: perpetrating, fascinating, entertaining)
O.K., that was pretty obvious from jumpstreet. Southern rap music doesn’t pretend to be any more elevated than slavespeak. Let’s go deeper into the rap music matrix to see who matches up when true lyricists are considered…
JAY-Z – ‘Can’t Knock The Hustle’
word count = 437 (barely more than ‘Laffy Taffy’)
polysyllabic words = 10 (longest = entertainment)NAS – ‘N.Y. State Of Mind’
word count = 730
polysyllabic words = 20 (longest = tie: composition, information, investments, equivalent)RAKIM ALLAH – ‘Microphone Fiend’
word count = 550
polysyllabic words = 40 (longest = hypochondriac)
Imagine for a moment if you will the amount of ideas that RAKIM would have conveyed if he had used as many words as NAS. It’s clearly evident the less that you know and express lyrically has an inverse relationship to your popularity. EMINEM might be the anomaly to this experiment, but I leave that for you kids to examine for yourselves.
SNEAKER FIENDS UNITE!
July 19th, 2006
NIKE presents the Blue Ribbon Sports line of DALLASPENN.COM tee shirts featuring skaterboy.
Blue Ribbon Sports was the original name for NIKE back in the early 1960’s. NIKE has released a limited edition run of apparel that reflects the heritage of that early spirit.
I finish my set off with a pair of suede NL Dunks. I can sell you a set for a $125 including the socks.
Challah back.
BLACK DON’T CRACK IN BEISBOL
July 19th, 2006
I am back at the beisbol theme for this week by dropping a post on some of the older players in the league who still have game. There was a time when 40 years old was ancient for an athlete. Now that everybody is drinking Red Bull and taking lord knows what else we are seeing athletes remain competitive until they are middle-aged.
There were always a few elite athletes who were viable stars into their forties. The great and legendary negro leaguer SATCHEL PAIGE wasn’t admitted into the major leagues until he was almost fifty so it’s not like the precedent wasn’t already established. SATCHEL played many a winter season in the Cuban leagues and it’s no small wonder to me that so many Cuban players are drinking that bottled water by PONCE de LEON. But it isn’t just Cuban players that have found the fountain of youth.
It’s just that it seems normal for more players to stay in the league well past the age that we would typically want to put them to pasture. What keeps them around is the fact that they are damn good. If a guy was a bum no team would keep him on their roster. Here’s a short list of a few of the old guys that I respect for keeping their game tight and their mind’s right.
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BARRY BONDS Fuck the critics. Real recognize real. All the other “sluggers” from his era have broken down like GM cars. If MARK McGUIRE and BRADY ANDERSON were still in the league there wouldn’t be a media maelstrom about steroids. Blackness is unforgivable. |
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JOSE CONTRERAS JOSE mught be the best Cuban pitcher since LUIS TIANT. There is something about crossing the oceam on a rubber tire that makes you stronger than Superman once you get to the U.S. mainland. BRIAN CASHMAN is hating himself every five days. |
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RICKEY HENDERSON He may have been blacklisted from returning to the majors, but trust me, he is still operating at a pro level in the Pacific League. |
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ORLANDO ‘EL DUQUE’ HERNANDEZ Yet another Cuban defect and an ageless wonder. El Duque’s inimitable delivery should have gotten lower by now, but he is still high kicking and getting wins in the bigs. |
The NY Mets own JULIO FRANCO will be seventy-two in August.
GUESS WHO’s BIZZZACK!!!
July 18th, 2006
On the heels of her successful return to the pop music charts its been announced that JANET JACKSON and JERMAINE DUPRI will be getting married in the autumn of this year.
I decided to ask my Macintosh, Mr.COMPUTO, to create a rendering of what their offspring might look like if JANET decided to have another child.
