Selling You the Cat, Rat and Dog on a Bun

Went to the Yankee game tonight with the illustrious Mr. Charnas (check his reports back from Israel). When I was a young buck coming across the bridge to see Graig Nettles and Mickey Rivers, I'd have never imagined that one day there would be so much hip-hop at Yankee Stadium. Or sushi, for that matter.

Seeing baseball in person makes me appreciate the amount of athleticism in this game, all the mundane plays look damn impressive up close. Also, I know there are a bunch of Sox fans here, but even y'all gotta admit that Derek Jeter is the muthaf*&king man. I know y'all know what I'm talking about. Just stop. I see you. Stop fronting.

I shall be in Montreal until Monday, after which regular blogging shall commence.

Anyway, Like I was Saying

I was invited to join this Nike blogger thing and declined.. the only way I'd feel comfortable teaming up with them is if I could get something subversive in there about sweatshop labor, and Jonah Eyebeam Peretti already took that angle as far as it can go. But that's not to hate on anyone who joined in, there are quite a few cool folks in there with cool shoes.

-------------

This Tom Cruise thing really is icky. (I mean him getting interviewed by Sway, of course.)

-------------

Common, on the other hand, sounds quite sensible looking back on Erykah.

-------------

So, like, we won the nuclear thing, right? I dunno, the image of Yoda keeps popping into my mind, shaking his head at Obi-Wan like "Victory? Begun, the clone war has.."

-------------

Are you ready for brain downloads? I can't wait to do some P2P mindsharing on Brainster.

Rise Up Radio Special, Tonight 7-10 PM

If you listen closely at the end of this program, it is possible you will hear me singing with Nellie Mckay. Either way you should tune in and support:

Rise Up Radio, WBAI 99.5 FM
Fri., May 20, 7:00-10:00pm
The Rise Up crew will be speaking with Ray Ramirez and Hector Rivera
from the Welfare Poets and playing tracks from their hot new album
Rhymes for Treason (available as a premium). Also: youth news and
updates on military recruiting in high schools. Our show will close
with an exclusive interview and performance by Nellie McKay. Tickets
to Nellie's perfomance at CUNY Graduate Center on June 15th will be
available as our second premium.

Revenge of the Sith Review

Okay, the hype was a little overrated. But only a little.

Not better than the OG Star Wars. But way better than Phantom and Clones. As promised, this chapter is dark and lovely. A sumptuous feast of death and dismemberment.

Ian Mcdarmid steals the show, as advertised. And I never thought I'd be saying this but Hayden Christiansen actually stepped his game up. Outside of the scenes with Natalie which were brief but painful as ever, he was quite tolerable as Anakin this time.

Everyone else, uhh, does their best with the lines and guidance they are given. As always with Master Lucas the dialogue is brutally (often hilariously) clunky, and the only good performances from his actors seem to come despite his work directing them.

The weaknesses of Master Lucas are as obvious here as they were in the other 2, the other 5, really. All these flaws were there in the old ones too (go back and peep young Luke whining about his "power converterrrrrs"), but back then the flaws were outshined by his strengths.. and after Master Lucas' dark side overpowered him in the last two, his strengths finally won out again this time.

George has never been adept at manipulating the little pieces of storytelling, writing lines of dialogue and such.. but when it comes to working with the big pieces, molding the basic elements of a story into a structure that holds together and resonates, he's never lost his touch. Or maybe he did lose his touch and we're just lucky he wrote this whole story back in the 70s. Either way it all works out in the end.

That mastery of mythmaking combined with his gift for visual splendor has allowed him to create a mythology with truly lasting power.. The Matrix seemed to promise this before ultimately betraying us, and Lucas flirted with the same disaster but I think he's pulled it together in the end.

Just as parts 4-6 must now be viewed as the story of Anakin's redemption, for me the end of this trilogy brings the redemption of Jedi Master Lucas. Balance has been restored at last.

Justo R.I.P.

Shocking. Got many a record from him back in the day.

Justo Faison, Founder Of Annual Mixtape Awards, Killed In Car Crash

The hip-hop world was dealt a crushing blow over the weekend by the news that Justo Faison — who founded the annual Mixtape Awards back in 1995 — had been killed in a car accident on Friday night. Faison's sport utility vehicle ran off of a highway in Richmond, Virginia, striking a guardrail before flipping over and slamming into a tree...

...Faison founded the annual Mixtape Awards, which acknowledged the efforts of innovative underground hip-hop, R&B and reggae DJs nationwide... Faison was also a renowned rap record promoter, who held positions at Nervous, Atlantic and Epic Records over the course of his career.

Help!

This week is our fundraising episode on the radio show, so if you appreciate what we do on the Railroador here on the site, and want to hlep keep non-commercial outlets like WBAI alive, please tune in Sat. night at midnight and give whatever you can! I'll be your friend forever.

---------------

My chat with Bun B is up at SOHH.com..

---------------

Alas, another hip-hop dream is deferred in Winnipeg. Should have stayed away from the Pimp Juice.

---------------

Did you see that avalanche on the highway in Washington Heights? That's exactly how The Huffington Post hit blogville this week, an onslaught of textual debris that is a nightmare to sift through. I spent 5 minutes trying to find the Quincy Jones post I'd heard about, then finally gave up and searched in Technorati for someone else's link back to the correct page.

No way to browse by author or topic, no search function, no comment or trackback, and as poplicks said practically no people of color = no buzz. Maybe they'll get it together though, or perhaps someone else will start a "Huff Post Digest" blog to sift out what's actually worth reading in there.

Craig Carton and Ray Rossi , The Racist Jersey Guys

Asian Media watch found a recording of the already infamous anti-asian tirade from NJ 101.5's "Jersey Guys" Craig Carton and Ray Rossi. It sounds just as bad as it reads. If you want to send a complaint, or perhaps try to to explain to these guys what the word "American" means, AMW's page has all the contact info.

----------

BTW in case you missed them, I had little chats at SOHH.com with Mike Jones, Saul William and Common, and a panel of hip-hop industry women including Kim Osorio.

Join Us on the Radio Tonight

Once again we hit the airwaves tonight at Midnight EST, with our radio show the Underground Railroad. You can hear us online here, or on WBAI 99.5 FM if you live in the tri-state area. And while you're listening you can talk to us live in our chat room (we're testing out a new chat, let us know how it works for you)

Taking the "Versus" Out of "Rap vs. Hip-Hop"

Gangstarr broken up, can anyone confirm or deny?

-------------

More evidence that Jay Leno is secretly a lefty: letting Conor Oberst rock that song last night.

-------------

My friend Hashim and I disagree often, but I have to side with him and Omar on the Rap vs. Hip-Hop issue.. I can understand the sentiment behind it, but any construct based on "the hip-hop I don't like isn't really hip-hop" just doesn't add up, any more than saying "Condi Rice isn't really Black" or "Republicans aren't really human beings."

The reality is that what you and I might consider vapid commercial rap is a big part of hip-hop culture in 2005, just as Republicans are a big part of American culture.. and we need to be real about that, that they are a part of us, if we hope to address their influence constructively.

(to whatever extent hip-hop can be considered a culture, which is always open for debate)

The End of Hiphopmusic.com

I am sad to announce that I have to shut down this website. For I now know the truth, that I have been promoting the work of Satan all along.

Yah Wah, Eee Chop Yah Wah

Again someone switches my chocolate for carob: Why did I just rent Empire Strikes Back and then come home to find Return of the Jedi in the case? Not cool. (And all these changes on the "special" edition are making it even worse. I want that Ewok song back!)

---------------

Who's further detached from reality right now, David Mays or Bizzy Bone*? It's a tough call.

*scroll down and grab the mp3

---------------

As far as I'm concerned everybody on both sides of this little drama is looking silly.. obviously commercial hip-hop doesn't have the copyright (NPI) on macho childishness.